6:00

tell the NHS that because

6:02

of this country. Quite

6:06

how I'm on meds and they gave

6:08

me like progesterone on top of that.

6:10

Which I mostly sort of lay at

6:12

the feet of my age because this

6:15

country goes on and on about young

6:17

trans people. They don't give a fuck

6:19

about some 40 year old over the

6:21

hill bitch. No, look

6:24

the trick is be over 40 and

6:27

then don't correct your GP when they

6:29

think you're cis on like some bit

6:31

of form where like you get invited

6:33

for a cervical smear or something you

6:35

just don't correct them and then you

6:37

go oh my levels are low can

6:40

we do something about that and

6:42

just like act as if it's menopause and

6:44

just don't correct them if they don't ask

6:46

about it and that's how you get sorted.

6:49

There we go, there we go that's the

6:51

business. Anyway luckily that part of my regimen

6:53

there can also be gotten over

6:55

the counter with a little bit of vernagling

6:57

so I'm unable to um

7:00

it's not, it doesn't bring me

7:02

back up to my full lot

7:04

but it's something and it should

7:06

be fine but my fucking god.

7:09

For a clinic to just disappear

7:11

and nobody in the NHS knows

7:13

how to, like knows where my

7:15

treatment went. Fucking

7:17

hell. I wish I

7:19

could say I was surprised. Can

7:22

I just quickly add that any trans people

7:24

in the UK it's really

7:26

easy to get meds now online,

7:29

um they, it used to

7:31

be you needed like crypto and shit. Um

7:33

I have heard through the grapevine that it's quite easy to

7:35

get it with PayPal now so if you do want to

7:37

DIY for legal purposes I

7:40

don't recommend it but I totally do

7:42

if you need to because uh how

7:44

else you're gonna get it in

7:46

this country. The way this country

7:48

is going I wouldn't say it's

7:50

a bad idea to know what

7:52

options are out there. Yes I

7:55

have that as a contingency. Yeah.

7:57

Welcome to Pogquisition, we talk about

7:59

video games here sometimes as well

8:01

as Talking about ways you can

8:03

sidestep medical professionals. And if we

8:05

don't have any content, we'll just

8:07

exploit our various medical conditions for

8:09

discussion topics. Ooooh, we're mentally ill.

8:11

Ooooh. Um. In

8:17

my head, the thinking there of shaking

8:19

the bottle was I was gonna be

8:21

like, um, the rattling chains in a

8:23

Christmas carol. Like, that was

8:25

my thought. I don't know if that carried

8:28

further. No, I didn't know what

8:30

you were doing, but I'm really glad for the

8:32

visuals. You've got a ghost making a sort of

8:34

rattling effect. That happened

8:36

in a media once. Who's played stuff

8:38

this week? I think I've got two

8:40

to talk about this week. What

8:43

about you, comrade? How many have you got on the list this

8:45

week? I've got two, but one of them's the same as Steph's.

8:48

And the other one is one you've already played, so.

8:51

Okay, well, I'll kick us off then this week. I've

8:54

been playing Elden Ring this week.

8:57

And there's a lot of stuff to talk about Elden

8:59

Ring, and I will have a good laugh about that

9:01

in a minute. But I'll start off with what I've

9:04

actually been doing in the game, because it's

9:07

hard to not notice a DLC for Elden

9:09

Ring came out called Shadow of the Urd

9:11

3. Can I just say, I couldn't fully

9:13

enjoy the Elden Ring DLC. After

9:16

I beat one of the bosses, I got this

9:18

text, and it really upset me. Um,

9:21

so, also just to say that I'm taking a

9:23

bit of a hiatus. I'm sorry. Sorry,

9:25

tell us about the Elden Ring DLC. I

9:28

didn't mean to disrespect what you were saying, Laura.

9:30

I'm just saying, no. Oh, boo! No!

9:33

Don't boo that! Don't- what though? Look,

9:36

if that joke is the worst thing

9:38

a content creator has done on the

9:40

internet this week... Ha ha ha ha!

9:43

Ha ha! So, here's the thing

9:46

about that Elden Ring DLC. I was

9:48

honestly like a bit nervous to boot

9:50

up Elden Ring, because I beat

9:52

Elden Ring, what was it, a year ago, two years ago, whenever

9:54

it came out. I put my 120 hours into it. I

9:57

had a great fucking time. bit

14:00

of game I needed to play before going to the

14:02

DLC because it was nice to have a warm

14:05

back up to this game and remind

14:07

myself like how my build worked against

14:09

some bosses I'd already fought before. I

14:12

think that was to my benefit rather than

14:14

just jumping into the DLC after one

14:17

or two years of not touching the game. That

14:20

being said, I'm about to start the DLC

14:22

and I fully expect to suck at it

14:24

because I generally like have to beat my

14:26

head against these games and you know I'm

14:28

not afraid to look up cheesy strats to

14:30

help myself win. I fucking love that dragon

14:32

head you can summon that applies rot that

14:34

I use to cheat my way through so

14:36

many fucking bosses. Cheesy time is great time.

14:38

Right! I always say a From Software game

14:40

will punish every mistake you make, punish

14:43

it right back. There is no cheap

14:45

strategy in a From Software game. You

14:47

use whatever you can. That's

14:50

the point. Exactly. I am

14:53

a big believer that summoning whatever other

14:55

players to help and use the fucking

14:57

mimic tier that makes a second version

14:59

of your character and use the rot

15:01

head that sort of spams damage over

15:03

time and do whatever little shit you

15:05

gotta do to get through. Yeah, take

15:07

the piss. But that being said,

15:09

there's a bunch of people who don't feel that

15:11

way about Souls games where they're like no if

15:13

you ever use a walkthrough you're cheating and if

15:15

you ever summon you're cheating and if you use

15:17

the mimic tier you're cheating and you've

15:20

got to brute force your way through these things who

15:23

haven't been enjoying the DLC and it's

15:26

bringing me some real fucking joy. I'm

15:28

gonna be honest. I am having such

15:30

a fucking good time watching this because

15:32

for anyone who somehow managed to avoid

15:35

this, the Elden

15:37

Ring DLC is getting review bombed

15:39

on Steam for being too hard.

15:42

And this is from a lot of people

15:44

who are the kind of people you'd usually

15:47

see going like oh stop asking for accessibility

15:49

in difficulty modes. games meant to be hard

15:51

oh just get good. You mean the kind

15:54

of people who would review bomb a game

15:56

on Steam you mean? Sort

15:58

of explained it. It's always excellent because I

16:01

recently just bought a new Roost, so

16:03

it's brilliant watching all this. Can

16:06

I say my favourite trend I saw in

16:08

those Review Bomb reviews? And it was fucking

16:11

hilarious because it points out how disingenuous all

16:13

this shit has always been. More

16:16

than once I saw people making the

16:18

argument, game journalists

16:20

gave this a too good

16:22

of a review because

16:24

they didn't realise it was too hard

16:26

because there are no lifers who have

16:28

all the time in the world to

16:31

bash their way through these problems. Not

16:33

like regular gamers like us that can

16:35

tell when a game is too hard.

16:37

How is it? Daxie! Right?

16:39

Mate, there is a mod, a really

16:42

popular mod right now that reduces the

16:44

difficulty is called Game Journalism Mode. Yeah,

16:47

but genuinely multiple times in the

16:49

Steam reviews I saw people going,

16:52

game journalists are

16:54

like, won't notice that a game is

16:56

too hard because they're not having the

16:58

same problems we are, real gamers. That

17:01

they flipped the fucking game journalists suck

17:03

at video games narrative because they were

17:05

that upset about difficulty. At

17:07

the same time, they have still managed

17:09

to completely misunderstand what it means to

17:12

be in the games media and having

17:14

to do reviews. Yes. Oh god, yeah.

17:16

Like they're assuming that we have all

17:18

the fucking time in the world to

17:21

play all of these games. Yeah,

17:23

no, fucking games journalists reviewing this DLC were

17:25

doing it with no guides to go look

17:28

up to work out how to cheese through

17:30

things. Yeah. On a

17:32

time crumb. There was no guides, no, unless

17:34

they found them themselves, there were no exploits

17:36

they knew about. And I need to point

17:38

out like for, you know, obviously every, for

17:41

years, the game is too young about

17:43

a crack at games journalists for being bad at

17:45

games and all of this. Cuphead. Cuphead, yeah. Let's

17:48

not forget the first wave of

17:50

people in the West to rave

17:52

about Demon Souls. It was fucking

17:54

games journalists. It was me. Hi.

17:56

Yeah. Loved that game. Yeah.

18:00

I wrote a fucking a big

18:02

article about how it was one

18:04

of the purest multiplayer experiences Because

18:07

of just what it was doing with the the phantoms

18:10

and all of this like it was

18:12

highly reviewed among game journalists Before people even

18:14

knew what it was and then Dark Souls

18:16

came out and all these newcomers came to

18:18

it And then they were like our games

18:21

journalists would hate this like you This

18:23

disingenuous is the word Laurie. You're

18:25

right. It's that's the word you've

18:28

disingenuous little fuckers I

18:30

think it's worth noting like quite how disingenuous

18:32

some of this shit's been from like I've

18:35

made videos before talking about like sometimes

18:38

Games that pride themselves on being

18:41

difficult make themselves difficult for

18:43

difficulties sake not necessarily because that increased

18:45

difficulty is making those games More fun.

18:48

Yeah, I've made videos talking about like

18:50

the fact that what is difficult

18:52

but eventually Overcomable for one person

18:55

isn't going to be the same

18:57

bar for everyone and that like

19:00

Adjustable difficulty for these games might be

19:02

something that like would help other people

19:04

have the experience you love with those

19:06

games Yeah And I see all

19:08

the fucking like I I get the brunt of

19:10

all those fucking comments of people going like oh

19:13

It's you know, you just get good. Oh the

19:15

game would be broken if you tweak the difficulty

19:19

The you'd be disrespecting the game developers

19:21

vision if you ask them to make

19:23

it easier ten years on and people

19:25

still say I Demanded an easy mode

19:27

in Dark Souls when I said I

19:29

wouldn't mind if it had one I get

19:31

daily comments on YouTube videos that are

19:33

years old about this shit still and

19:36

it's been weirdly fucking gratifying Watching

19:38

these people start using Sent

19:41

like word-for-word the sentences I've been

19:43

saying for years because apparently once

19:45

it's them who can't can't progress

19:47

further through a game Now

19:50

it's a problem Show how

19:52

it's impossible to you know Really understand

19:54

another person's point of view unless you've

19:57

walked a mile in their shoes But,

20:00

I mean, what I love about the

20:02

Gamer Boys is they manage to still

20:04

not understand someone else's point of view.

20:06

They just appropriate it. Yeah.

20:10

Um, so there's been a couple of things about

20:12

this that have, like, that have amused me. First

20:15

of all, watching this all play out, it's

20:17

clear these people have never had to Google

20:20

how do I cheese my way into making

20:22

a Souls game easier. Because

20:24

if you're not afraid to do that, it's very

20:26

well known already how you make this DLC easier,

20:28

is there is a new item in the DLC,

20:30

you can just fucking run around, look up a

20:33

map of where they all are, run around the

20:35

map picking them up and, like, not fighting things

20:37

and just grabbing them, and make yourself overleveled for

20:39

the DLC. You can do that if you want,

20:41

but they won't fucking let themselves do it because

20:44

they pride themselves too much. Of course. The

20:46

most popular mod for the DLC has been

20:48

Make It Easier. Um, but there

20:50

is a news story I do want to drop in here

20:53

that happened, like, half an hour

20:55

before we recorded this and I think it's

20:57

great. Elden Rings had its

20:59

first balance update since the DLC came

21:01

out. Not only does it

21:03

make, you know, bits and pieces of

21:05

the DLC easier, it makes the

21:07

first 50%

21:09

of the DLC considerably easier. They

21:12

have heard gamers asking

21:14

for Elden Ring to

21:16

be easier and made

21:18

it easier. Apparently the

21:20

developers of that game are capable

21:23

of hearing maybe, maybe, a little

21:26

bit less difficult would be more enjoyable and

21:28

acting upon that. Just not when, you

21:31

know, it's any one but whiny Gameboy saying.

21:33

The DLC's still playable though, yeah? The wheels

21:35

haven't fallen off, they haven't ruined the point

21:37

of the game by, like, reducing it a

21:40

bit. No, no, no,

21:42

no, people, those gamers are celebrating

21:44

that Elden Ring got made easier.

21:47

They're celebrating that the fucking DLC got

21:49

easier. I feel like

21:52

I've swapped dimensions and I

21:54

can only laugh because it's...

21:57

I will be bringing this up for years, anyone.

26:00

I never did those last few bosses.

26:03

I still have some hesitance because the bosses

26:05

have been described as very much a certain

26:07

type of boss and it's like one of

26:10

my least favourite types. Which

26:12

type? Orphan of cards from

26:14

Bloodborne. Very fast,

26:16

aggressive, maybe one

26:18

window in which you can hit back. And

26:21

they are beautifully designed fights.

26:24

Things like Orphan of cards, Nameless King,

26:26

all of that. Beautifully designed. I

26:28

don't find them fun. Personally.

26:31

And, you know, I'm fine with them being in a

26:33

game and I will fight them. But if they

26:36

are all of that or are very similar,

26:38

I'm probably not going to have too fun

26:40

a time. That's fair. I'll let you know

26:42

once I've started playing it. Yeah, please do.

26:45

I'll give you a little situation report. But, uh,

26:48

yeah, what about you both? Either of you want to

26:50

jump in with a game you've played? Well,

26:52

I think we both played Still Wakes the Deep this

26:55

week. Oh my God. I actually forgot about that

26:57

one. I managed to forget

26:59

the game that I've been beaming about

27:01

the most. Oh

27:04

my God. I have

27:06

started on this. I haven't put as much

27:08

time as I want to into it, but

27:10

I can see it's something special, so I'm

27:12

excited to hear more from you both. I

27:14

cannot stop beaming about it. It is, in

27:17

my opinion, a genre classic and

27:19

a masterpiece. Yeah,

27:21

I would, uh, I would probably agree with

27:24

that. Now, I am not the first person

27:26

horror guy. I'm not even the

27:28

first person guy, generally speaking. Um,

27:31

but I did think that this was as

27:33

a package, just phenomenally

27:36

strong. Like every sort

27:39

of element of it is very

27:41

effective. And it's the

27:43

thing I love about it from a

27:45

gameplay perspective is how like directly linear

27:47

it is. Like there

27:49

is no faffing about, there's

27:51

very, like I don't mind reading lore in

27:54

these kinds of games because I think that

27:56

that can be valid, but that's not the

27:58

kind of game this is. This is not

28:00

that interested in developing out the

28:02

history of this corporation or any

28:04

of that shit. It

28:06

is about the in the moment situation

28:09

and dealing with that. It's an interesting

28:11

way in which they took their walking

28:14

simulator experience and applied it to a

28:16

different type of game that has that

28:18

feel. But you know, you've got all

28:20

the platforming and obviously the horror to

28:23

deal with. But you can see the

28:25

DNA of, you know, Rapture and Dear

28:27

Esther and all of that in it.

28:30

And they've just applied it

28:32

incredibly well. Yeah, they

28:34

have. I did get the walking simulator

28:36

achievement. Me too. I was so delighted.

28:40

Yeah, that was great. Yeah. The

28:43

audio design is... Oh

28:45

my god. Immaculate. The

28:47

vocal cast is... Oh my god.

28:49

I don't know if I've heard

28:52

a better all round

28:54

cast of voice actors. It's

28:56

Scottish, very thick regional accents. I

28:58

was so grateful that they had

29:00

English localization in those subtitles. The

29:03

banter is spot on. Like they've got

29:05

the spotish pattern right down. It's so

29:07

natural, the dialogue. Some of the best

29:10

scenes are the flashbacks of just the

29:12

protagonist Kaz arguing with his wife. Because

29:14

it's just so believable.

29:18

Yeah, fantastic. The script alongside it

29:20

as well. It's so natural. It's

29:23

how people on an oil rig, like

29:25

that sort of type of relationship, goes

29:28

down. And the

29:31

regional application as well, especially, you know, for

29:33

a region that is

29:36

very, very commonly stereotyped

29:38

in media, to

29:40

actually see a realistic

29:43

representation of Scottish people. It's

29:45

just fucking refreshing. Yeah. And

29:47

the fact that the monsters

29:50

still talk in their

29:52

accents while just

29:54

the monsters and the protagonists calling

29:57

each other cunts and it's

29:59

fucking... lovely. And the

30:02

monster design is fascinating

30:05

because there's a part

30:07

of me that looks at it and wonders.

30:09

I wonder if they were having some engine

30:11

problems and then decided,

30:13

hey, you know what? This weird tentacle shootout

30:16

thing that we have that is a glitch

30:18

is creepy as fuck and we work with

30:20

it. Like, cause it

30:22

doesn't feel right in the

30:25

context of technology, you know,

30:27

of the games as

30:29

we know them and yet it

30:31

feels right for this product. It's

30:33

fucking eerie. And yeah, there

30:36

is that slight, this isn't right feeling to

30:38

it. It's not what, it's not the kind

30:40

of physics we're used to in a game.

30:43

And yeah, these, this

30:45

flesh just has

30:47

these tendrils that they

30:49

don't so much, they even

30:52

saying they shoot out does

30:54

a disservice to this rapid sticking

30:57

onto something. Yeah, they just,

30:59

they explode out of them and

31:03

back in almost like just feeling

31:05

around and it's so sick.

31:08

The game is just beautifully sickening.

31:10

I love the meat taffy everywhere.

31:12

That's how I'm referring to what

31:14

this thing is. It's just meat

31:17

taffy stretched out and gross and,

31:19

and yet beautiful at the same

31:21

time. Like, you know, there's obviously

31:23

all this horrible blood and gore

31:25

body horror, but stuff

31:27

gives off these colorful lights or

31:30

you see light kind of throbbing

31:32

inside the membranes to create these

31:34

sort of pretty white

31:37

lights and red lights and everything.

31:39

It's so, it's so

31:41

gorgeous and yet so fucking

31:43

disgusting. To say

31:45

nothing of what you see when

31:47

you study the taffy and

31:50

you look in it and you

31:52

see like people fixed in, like

31:55

their, their faces frozen in screams

31:57

while parts of their head are

31:59

melding into to another head, just

32:01

limbs twisting out with new limbs

32:03

growing onto them and... And just

32:05

a big hand in the middle

32:07

of nowhere. Yeah, yeah. Just a

32:10

big fucking head, where'd that come

32:12

from? In terms of just visually

32:14

communicating suffering, which is

32:16

what I think body horror, I think a

32:18

big part of body horror is

32:20

in doing that. Like, you know, the

32:23

thing is, as a film that you kind of have

32:26

to bring up when talking about Still Wakes the Deep.

32:28

The Thing is one of my favourite films

32:30

of all time, and really up there with

32:33

when it comes to horror. And

32:35

the scene in the kennels, like that

32:37

scene, with what is done to the

32:39

dogs in the kennel, that

32:42

kind of hopeless

32:44

suffering is

32:46

really, like, it's really affecting. And

32:49

it's something that they really drive

32:51

home to with the dialogue from

32:53

these monsters. Like, so

32:56

often we get, you know, oh, scary

32:58

dialogue, but it's not like... It

33:01

doesn't create a sense of sympathy for the

33:03

suffering of the monster. These are... These

33:06

things are wandering around, seemingly wondering what

33:08

the fuck is happening to them, too.

33:11

And it's terrifying. There's some

33:13

great bits when, like, yeah, they'll

33:15

scream insults at you and curse

33:18

you out. And

33:20

then as you're running away, you're

33:22

just here among the cursing, don't

33:24

leave me, and shit like

33:26

that. Like, they are just as... They

33:29

are, you know, murderous and they've lost

33:31

their minds, but they're still terrified. And

33:34

yeah, yeah, just the communication

33:36

of that misery and that physical

33:40

suffering. It's what really

33:42

separates body horror from other

33:45

types of horror, I think. It's not just, oh,

33:48

they've gone a bit meaty. It's

33:50

no, they... Physical

33:52

chaos has devastated their

33:54

bodies. And that

33:57

devastation comes across so

33:59

fucking... well. I

34:01

do wish there'd be a bit more physical

34:04

variety in some of the enemies. Yeah,

34:06

and I think that that's the fact that there's just

34:08

only like a handful of them too. Yeah, yeah. There's only

34:11

like six or seven. I think that I'd have liked them

34:13

more diverse because of that. But one of

34:15

the benefits of having Sophia is

34:17

none of them are ever just referred

34:19

to as that thing or that creature.

34:21

They have names. Yep. These

34:25

are Kaz's co-workers and friends.

34:28

They know who they are and the monsters

34:30

know who Kaz is. They

34:32

know each other and

34:35

they never once refer to them as

34:37

anything other than who they are. And

34:40

that is also just a beautiful

34:42

bit of writing that just really sort

34:44

of reminds you every single time. This

34:47

happened to people. They're

34:49

not just a threat. And

34:52

one of my biggest bugbears in

34:54

modern gaming is the corruption.

34:57

I call it. Where so

34:59

much so many quote unquote

35:01

villains in games, aren't even

35:04

villains. They're just some sort

35:06

of nebulous infection, corruption,

35:08

darkness. And to

35:10

have this where the creatures aren't

35:13

just more than the

35:15

corruption, but they are people

35:17

and you are always reminded

35:20

of their humanity. It's

35:23

exactly the antithesis that I

35:25

want. And I love that.

35:27

It's like four hours. That's

35:30

the other great thing. It's four hours. And

35:32

it does not need to be any longer.

35:34

No. I did not know that before

35:36

going in. I started playing it

35:38

this morning and then I found out it was only

35:40

like four hours long. It's like, oh, thank God. I

35:42

fucking this has been a good year for like

35:45

four-ish hour long, very good games. Yeah. Put

35:47

this in with indica. Give me give me

35:49

a shot. I can finish in an afternoon.

35:51

Yeah, I can't extol it enough. As

35:54

far as you know, I love I am

35:56

the horror girl. I love horror. I love

35:58

horror games. I love horror movies. I love,

36:00

you know, I grew up with

36:02

horror and body horror is my

36:04

favorite type and there's... I've

36:08

never seen anything come close to the

36:10

thing. A lot of people bring

36:12

up The Void. The Void is... the

36:16

first half of it is funny

36:18

enough, but it still is not the

36:20

thing. Out of

36:22

all the body horror media, I've watched

36:24

Red saying, this is

36:28

worthy of the thing. This

36:30

is worthy of it. Yeah, I agree with

36:32

that. It's a fuckside more a thing game

36:34

than the thing game was. The one thing

36:37

about it, and this is a thing common

36:39

in first-person horror, and it's part of

36:42

the reason why I... I

36:44

get frustrated by it, is that it

36:47

is one of those situations where it's

36:49

possible to not see a scary thing.

36:52

At times. Yeah. I should see. That

36:54

I should be made to see. I should be made

36:56

to see the scary thing in some way because that

36:58

would reinforce it. Like, I

37:01

didn't see really

37:03

trots the first time. I

37:06

just passed through the area, right?

37:09

And pour one out for trots,

37:11

our comrade, our fallen comrade. That

37:14

is an issue I find in first-person horror

37:16

games because of the agency that the player

37:19

has to not look at a thing. That

37:21

might be necessary or important for the play.

37:23

That's the only thing

37:25

about this that falls short for me.

37:27

My God, though, the image

37:30

of the fella whose legs

37:33

are now many intestines just

37:36

slamming that door over

37:38

and over, just staring

37:41

through. It's just amazing.

37:44

It's amazing. Showing an idol,

37:46

like a monster in its

37:49

idle state, just doing

37:51

that just to do something. Just to

37:53

have something to do. Just

37:56

incredible. Yeah. Picture perfect.

37:59

Truly great. game. I'm

38:01

glad it was on game pass because

38:04

I probably wouldn't have played it otherwise. And

38:07

God bless Ron. Or is it Roy?

38:10

Roy. Oh,

38:12

what a great character. Yeah,

38:15

beautiful. And like we mentioned

38:17

the writing is good. The writing

38:19

is so good. Like the plot

38:22

construction deployed here, the beats

38:24

that they hit, the things that they set up and

38:26

pay off. It is a

38:29

perfectly bookended piece of

38:32

work that just

38:34

starts at the place it needs to

38:36

start and ends at the place it

38:38

needs to end. And none of it

38:40

is like startlingly surprising

38:42

necessarily, but the execution is

38:44

so on point that

38:47

it's just perfect. It's a cut above.

38:50

There are games that will tackle some

38:52

of this subject matter and the

38:54

themes and that type of horror. And

38:57

they just... this

38:59

transcends that it really does.

39:01

Also, shout out for the level design. Oh

39:03

yeah. When I've talked about the game I've

39:06

had some people being like, oh it's not

39:08

one of those fucking chasey hidey games. It's

39:10

not like Outlast is it? There's a little

39:12

bit of that, but it's not like that.

39:14

Yeah, the problem is I can't

39:16

bluntly agree even though I

39:18

should because it's

39:20

yes, but one

39:24

of the big different... one of the issues

39:26

that can be had with a game like

39:28

Outlast or something like that is you constantly

39:30

feel harassed and you're trying to

39:32

do something and then an enemy keeps showing

39:34

up and you have to run backwards and

39:36

get lost and backtrack and spend ages hiding

39:38

in a in a locker. I didn't hide

39:40

in a locker once in this game by

39:42

the way. I didn't feel the need to

39:44

hide in a single locker. I did it

39:46

the first time it presented me with the

39:48

option to hide in a locker because I

39:50

thought, uh-oh something's about to happen and it

39:52

was really just demonstrating to me that I

39:54

could do it and then I never had

39:56

to do it again. Oh I did that,

39:59

yes. I got into the

40:01

first locker and then I saw them about, but

40:03

what is so fucking great about this,

40:06

um, this level

40:08

design is it drives you

40:10

forward. Yep. Everything is that

40:12

the vents and crawl spaces that you

40:14

can be safe in are so clearly

40:19

presented to you. Yellow. Yellow, yellow, yellow paint.

40:21

I'm gonna do a whole video on how

40:23

much I love yellow paint by the way

40:25

because I love yellow paint. I love yellow

40:28

paint too and this one uses it so

40:30

well. So well. Like if at any point

40:32

you are at all confused about where you

40:34

need to go just be

40:36

Hal Jordan on the lookout for the fucking

40:38

yellow lantern people because that's what it is.

40:41

You find a good yellow you know where

40:43

you need to go. Yeah, and and so

40:45

the way that's laid

40:47

out and the way vents

40:49

and hiding spaces very naturally

40:52

for the player lead

40:54

to each other. They've done this great

40:56

thing where it usually makes a lot

40:58

more sense if you're spotted

41:00

by, you know, one of the the creatures

41:03

to go forward not back. Yep. Yep.

41:05

You book it to the next vent

41:08

and that constantly keeps you forward as

41:10

well as never spending

41:12

ages hiding in a locker.

41:14

I never got chased backwards.

41:17

I never had to backtrack. Even in the

41:19

swimming sections, which I know you had some

41:22

wasn't too fond of them though. I'd have liked

41:24

to view her. Yeah, I wasn't crazy about them

41:26

either, but I will

41:28

say that they do sign post

41:31

where you need to go very

41:33

effectively. It's a the

41:35

longest of these sequence the hardest

41:37

of the swimming sequences is timed

41:39

out really well. Like

41:41

it's just long enough that

41:44

you can accomplish it and feel like it was

41:46

a threat. Yeah. Even knowing where you need to

41:48

go. I did feel like the

41:50

whole sort of swim grab

41:52

push yourself off thing was

41:54

very poorly explained. I

41:56

really struggled. It was poorly explained, but

41:58

I fucking love that. that it's there.

42:01

It's a great idea. It's just it

42:03

never felt it could have been implemented

42:05

better. It never felt as fluid

42:07

as the rest of the game did. As someone

42:10

who used to swim a lot, that

42:13

is a an action that is very

42:15

familiar to me the idea of pulling

42:17

yourself along a surface while underwater. Oh,

42:19

it makes total sense as a concept.

42:21

I agree that the implementation may not

42:24

have been the best and the explanation

42:26

is not good. In fact, I think

42:28

a lot of the on screen prompts

42:30

the first time you get them climbing

42:32

and then grip and things like that

42:35

need a little bit better explanation about how

42:37

they work and what you need to do.

42:39

Yeah, because they do act just a tiny

42:42

bit differently from other games. The way you

42:44

interact with a ladder where it's like holding

42:48

to go up and letting go to

42:50

shimmy down, it's not a major difference.

42:52

It's just slight enough that when you

42:54

first start playing, you got to

42:57

get your sea legs a little with it. You know,

42:59

you get a little you're a little bit wobbly with

43:01

it. Yeah. Anyway, great

43:03

game. Love it. Gorgeous. Beautiful.

43:05

Yeah. Nice. I played

43:08

a couple of demos of things. I've not got a huge

43:10

amount to say about them. But I you know, I think

43:12

they're worth bringing up. I

43:15

played the demo that's currently up on

43:17

Steam for Thank Goodness You're Here, which

43:19

is a very

43:21

British point and click ish video

43:23

game. It's got like Matt Berry

43:25

doing some voices in it. We just like this little

43:28

yellow guy running around doing mischief

43:30

and maybe helping people out with their

43:32

problems. And it's it's very

43:34

traditional point and click in as

43:36

much as maybe you

43:38

see a man who stuck his arm down to drain

43:40

and we need something to lubricate his arm to get

43:43

it out or go to the bakery to get some

43:45

butter. Oh, their door is broken. We

43:47

need the locksmith or the locksmiths at the pub. We've

43:49

got to fix the pub. Be a

43:51

tap so that he can have a drink so that he'll

43:53

open the door to get the butter to like that kind

43:55

of thing. But what I think

43:57

really sells it and that sold me

43:59

on very

54:00

promising just for some people it's

54:02

just gonna be too much of a faff that's not

54:04

quite worth it. Yeah. I've

54:07

played one other thing that like I've not

54:09

played a huge amount of but is really

54:11

interesting. It's one I want to sink more

54:13

time into. I've started playing

54:15

a game called Zet Zillions which

54:18

is a roguelike deck building game

54:20

that has some really interesting stuff

54:23

aesthetically and mechanically. So the gist

54:25

of the plot is that it

54:28

is a very clear direct

54:30

parody like you are not supposed to

54:32

think that you are playing as the

54:34

the heroes. You are playing

54:37

as essentially humanity has

54:39

you know a bit of

54:41

a history of colonialism and

54:43

gets access to space travel and

54:46

decides okay earth's

54:48

kind of falling to shit what if we just go

54:50

spread ourselves across the galaxy and try and find a

54:52

new planet to be on by doing

54:54

space colonialism and clearly not in

54:56

the right. It is it is

54:59

very much terrible people

55:01

going on their warpath across

55:03

the galaxy being faced

55:05

with increasing opposition as they go because they

55:07

are clearly the villains. The

55:10

art style is really strong it reminds

55:12

me of stuff like there's an anime

55:14

studio called Studio Trigger who do really

55:16

high quality work that a lot

55:18

of the character design work on the cards

55:20

and for the characters is really strong here

55:22

reminds me a lot of their work. There's

55:25

a lot of really good voice acting in there as well

55:27

that they put a lot of effort into but

55:30

mechanically this is the thing that's

55:32

kind of got me gripped is it

55:34

is a deck builder that like on

55:36

the surface a lot of the cards

55:38

do very simple things deal damage

55:41

to health deal damage to shields

55:44

that kind of thing but there's a

55:46

couple of mechanics that they've thrown in

55:48

that i think are thematically and narratively

55:51

really interesting. One of them is that

55:53

basically any two cards that you have

55:55

from in the game can be combined

55:57

to make a new card instead that

56:00

will do something different. And there is no cost

56:02

to do that. You have your hand of cards,

56:04

you hold one over the other, and it'll show

56:06

you if you combine them, you won't

56:08

have two cards anymore, you'll have only one,

56:10

but it'll do this better thing. So

56:13

there is a lot of, you've got your hand

56:15

of five cards, but that hand of five cards

56:17

might essentially be a much larger hand because you've

56:20

got flexibility to combine cards to create a

56:22

card that will do the thing you need

56:24

in that moment. And that really feels like

56:26

it helps a lot with flexibility

56:28

and consistency for a deck builder, which

56:31

I really appreciate. But the

56:33

narratively interesting mechanic they have

56:35

is a lot

56:37

of cards, at least in the early game

56:39

that I've encountered, have this mechanic around literally

56:42

just firing people from your

56:44

team to the other

56:46

planet or space station or whatever

56:48

it is, not to

56:50

do anything immediately. And there

56:52

will just be a little counter of how many of your

56:55

people are hanging out on that other planet or other spaceship

56:57

that some cards can then later be used

57:00

for a certain benefit to like, essentially

57:02

attack the space station from inside or

57:04

do some kind of big damage on

57:07

their shields by like getting them to

57:09

explode, the people you sent over there

57:11

to explode themselves at a pivotal moment.

57:13

It's using people as

57:16

a slow burn resource that

57:18

you accumulate quietly to

57:20

do big powerful attacks later on.

57:22

Mechanically and narratively it is pretty

57:25

unique, I've not seen that kind

57:27

of thing done with this sort

57:29

of deck builder. I'm real

57:32

intrigued by it, I want to put

57:34

more time into it but it's doing

57:36

a lot right to set itself apart from

57:38

other rogue-like deck builders. It's

57:42

intriguing, so that's zet

57:44

zillions which I definitely want to put some

57:46

more time into. But

57:49

yeah, I think that's everything we've all played this

57:51

week. I have one more actually, I'll just zip

57:53

it through real quick but I didn't realise the

57:55

bolt gun, why am I 40k bolt gun head

57:58

DLC? And

58:00

that came out real recently. I

58:02

forget what it's called, Forge years of corruption, something like

58:04

that. Something to do with a forge. It's

58:06

mostly more bulk gum, but

58:08

on what's becoming a bit of a theme for this

58:10

episode, they did seem to

58:13

think that more fun

58:15

challenge means just filling

58:17

the screen with so many enemies that you

58:19

can go from full health to seven points

58:21

of health in a second.

58:24

I've gone in accessibility and turned invulnerability mode

58:27

on more than once, and I'm not ashamed

58:29

of it. Fuck yeah. And the biggest problem

58:31

with it is, it's

58:33

like that from the first level to

58:36

the last. There's

58:38

no escalation because they start at 100.

58:42

It's just an endless overwhelm

58:44

of space marines and demons.

58:48

And I'm on what I think might

58:50

be the last fight. It's certainly got the

58:52

climax to it. And it involves two greater

58:56

demons. You've got

58:58

the Lord of Change and the great unclean

59:00

one. Each of which are

59:03

massive bullets, sponges, and can take

59:05

your health down to zero themself

59:07

in a couple of seconds. While

59:10

hundreds, and I mean hundreds

59:12

of enemies are spawning

59:14

in. And then

59:18

there's a Dreadnought, the Hellbrood, Chaos

59:20

Dreadnought, that is, I think it's

59:22

new to the DLC, and it

59:24

takes forever to kill. And

59:27

as soon as you kill it, there's another one. And

59:29

then as soon as you kill it, there's another

59:31

one. And it's so ex- It's like

59:33

a piss take. And as

59:35

a space marine, I don't wanna feel

59:38

like I'm a wet sheet of paper,

59:41

but that much fire

59:44

power coming at you, chews

59:48

through you. And then you run

59:50

out of ammo because there's more

59:52

enemies than you have bullets. And

59:55

again, as a space marine, I don't wanna

59:57

be running around looking for

59:59

bullets. It's

1:06:00

really important they understand the difference between wet

1:06:03

and dry saunas, and a wet sauna if you

1:06:05

wore a towel you might get moldy or a

1:06:07

yeast infection or something. So you have

1:06:09

to be naked in front of the boss to

1:06:11

write a good story. Wow. Wow.

1:06:16

Now, in fairness, this

1:06:19

is always a policy I've had with Jonathan

1:06:21

Holmes. It's true. In

1:06:23

fairness. Otherwise,

1:06:26

oh my word. When

1:06:29

pushed on this, his initial response

1:06:31

was too bold. First

1:06:34

of all, his defense was,

1:06:37

well, I don't want to waste my time

1:06:39

having to explain what the difference is between

1:06:41

a ruska-bani or a dry sauna. You have

1:06:43

to feel it. Not really addressing the, you

1:06:45

have to be naked in front of the

1:06:47

boss element of that. Yeah, I'm pretty sure

1:06:49

I could experience a sauna without doing it

1:06:51

in front of my boss. Yeah,

1:06:54

yeah. Why doesn't the boss just pay for

1:06:56

people to go to the sauna at their

1:06:58

leisure to get that experience? Oh,

1:07:01

we get there eventually. Oh, good. But

1:07:03

he's got another defense to do first,

1:07:05

which is, you know, to write

1:07:08

a scene in a sauna without being in

1:07:10

a sauna, that is technically possible. In theory,

1:07:13

it could be possible. But he

1:07:16

then asks, would you hire an engineer to

1:07:18

build an aeroplane if they didn't understand the

1:07:20

mechanics to make a plane fly? That

1:07:23

is his like, you

1:07:25

could maybe write a scene in a sauna,

1:07:27

but if you don't do the naked sauna

1:07:29

with me, that's like letting an untrained engineer

1:07:31

make a plane. You know

1:07:33

what? I'm glad

1:07:35

he's not making a first-person

1:07:37

shooter. If we

1:07:40

look at all of the games

1:07:43

and what they're

1:07:45

about, you know.

1:07:48

Yeah. Summer. Yeah. So

1:07:52

after defending himself again and again,

1:07:54

he eventually sort of almost

1:07:57

kind of maybe almost backs down.

1:08:01

This picked up a lot of traction and then he

1:08:03

starts going like, Okay, okay,

1:08:05

um, my choice of words

1:08:07

was bad, I didn't state my intentions

1:08:09

clearly, I didn't explain why taking a

1:08:11

sauna is so important and practically essential

1:08:13

for me. I wasn't expecting

1:08:16

it would be received as pretentious and

1:08:18

cause negative connotations, and my use of

1:08:20

narrative goals was wrong and meant only

1:08:22

to convey the narrative team at the

1:08:24

time was all female. And

1:08:27

I'm very passionate about the sauna experience. Clearly.

1:08:30

Yeah, he now says that, like, if they

1:08:32

insist it is okay for them to take

1:08:34

a naked sauna without him, that

1:08:36

they can still learn what a sauna's like

1:08:39

without their boss being there while they're naked.

1:08:41

It's just sticking to his guns on

1:08:43

the sauna though. The sauna is mandatory,

1:08:45

I just, you don't need me there

1:08:48

with you. Yeah. Amazing.

1:08:51

So, this man's company has not

1:08:53

been well received, I think it is fair

1:08:55

to say. Yeah. Uh...

1:08:59

Remarkable. Yeah. Uh, I've

1:09:02

got a nice... He's been wrecked over the

1:09:04

coals for it. Yeah. Wow. What

1:09:06

a sauna for ya. Well

1:09:08

done. I'll don't get stamed. Uh,

1:09:13

I've got one story to end us on

1:09:15

today, and this one, it's just one that

1:09:18

makes me laugh, but also just a good

1:09:20

opportunity to remind people of a thing. You know,

1:09:22

like six years ago we got a trailer for

1:09:24

Beyond Good and Evil 2, a

1:09:26

decade after we previously got a trailer for Beyond

1:09:28

Good and Evil 2, that game

1:09:31

that's definitely real and definitely in

1:09:33

development and will definitely release someday.

1:09:35

Yeah. Ubisoft promises it's definitely

1:09:37

still real and it's definitely still coming.

1:09:40

Don't worry, it's definitely still real, we're definitely

1:09:42

still making Beyond Good and Evil 2, it's

1:09:44

definitely still real. So,

1:09:46

he'll accept responsibility for the abuse

1:09:48

he oversaw before we see Beyond Good and Fucking

1:09:50

Evil 2. Well, well,

1:09:53

you say that, we got a

1:09:55

step closer to Beyond Good and

1:09:57

Evil 2 this week, because Beyond

1:09:59

Good and Evil 2 is... got

1:10:01

a re-release, remaster, whatever on consoles,

1:10:04

and there's a mission in it that

1:10:06

was pitched as it's a prelude mission

1:10:08

for Beyond Good and Evil 2. From

1:10:11

what I understand, that is overselling it.

1:10:13

There are shops in the game in

1:10:15

which you can buy new cosmetic outfits,

1:10:17

which each have like a line of

1:10:19

dialogue vaguely referencing that one trailer for

1:10:21

Beyond Good and Evil 2 that they

1:10:24

released. Like you

1:10:26

can early on in the game buy an

1:10:28

outfit, like a set of overalls for Paige,

1:10:31

your pig uncle, and

1:10:33

it just, the description is Paige's

1:10:35

overalls that he wore when he

1:10:37

was a chef, which you

1:10:39

see him being a chef in the trailer. It's

1:10:42

like, okay, cool, I guess that's making

1:10:45

it canon in the first, that the

1:10:47

second does exist and is a prequel.

1:10:50

I have a question. Yeah? Which

1:10:52

in your estimation is a better

1:10:54

tactic, putting these tiny

1:10:56

little nuggets for Beyond Good and

1:10:59

Evil 2, or saying

1:11:01

if you buy Rayman Origins,

1:11:03

Beyond Good and Evil 2 will come out? Hahahaha!

1:11:10

Oh, I couldn't, I couldn't,

1:11:12

I couldn't choose between the two, honestly. But

1:11:14

that's an improvement, it's an improvement, I think.

1:11:16

It's at least in Beyond Good and Evil

1:11:18

now, and it's adding some new,

1:11:21

something of value. There's new cosmetics in Beyond

1:11:23

Good and Evil 2, that is a thing

1:11:25

of value, I guess. Yeah, they're not just

1:11:27

explicitly holding the thing hostage. Yeah, but I

1:11:30

do want to remind people, I think this

1:11:32

is a great opportunity to remind people. The

1:11:35

only reason that Beyond Good and

1:11:37

Evil 2, I very strongly believe, didn't

1:11:39

get cancelled long before this was, this

1:11:42

was Michel Ancel's baby. He's

1:11:44

been advocating for it left to right and center. He fought

1:11:46

tooth and nail to keep this thing alive. And

1:11:50

then, a few years ago,

1:11:52

he mysteriously left Ubisoft, right

1:11:55

when Beyond Good and Evil 2 was finally greenlit

1:11:57

and happening, and in development. Why would you do

1:11:59

that? That's so weird. Well,

1:12:01

it was right around the time that

1:12:03

Ubisoft was doing an internal investigation of

1:12:05

its executives to see whether

1:12:07

any of them had been, you know, part

1:12:10

of abuse that had been going on. Well,

1:12:12

that's an unfortunate coincidence. Yeah, because right when

1:12:14

that was going on, Michelle Ansel decides completely

1:12:16

unrelated. I don't want

1:12:18

to work on Beyond Good and Evil

1:12:21

2, my magnum opus anymore, actually. I

1:12:23

would like to go operate a duck

1:12:25

farm in the woods instead, and leave

1:12:28

the games industry before this investigation begins.

1:12:30

Completely unrelated. Look, we've all spent a

1:12:32

decade working on a project that's very,

1:12:35

very close to our heart, and then

1:12:37

suddenly with no, you know,

1:12:39

reason to abandon

1:12:42

it, other than, you know, it

1:12:45

just finally being secured and guaranteed

1:12:48

to happen, abandon it immediately. We've

1:12:50

all done it. It's

1:12:52

perfectly normal. It's part of the creative process.

1:12:54

I mean, in fairness, it's how a couple

1:12:56

of fucking promotions have booked me in wrestling.

1:13:01

But no, yeah, like, a bit of

1:13:04

interesting timing. It's

1:13:07

just an interesting bit of timing. So,

1:13:09

hey, anyone who is waiting for Beyond

1:13:12

Good and Evil 2 to happen, remember,

1:13:14

the one person at Ubisoft actually fighting

1:13:16

for it to exist went

1:13:18

and left to run a farm in the woods for

1:13:21

not suspicious reasons. So,

1:13:24

yeah, I think that's it for this week. I think we're

1:13:26

done. Wow. Okay. Wow.

1:13:31

Um, none of us are running any duck

1:13:33

farms. But. Laura,

1:13:36

you're constantly running the show. You're running all sorts

1:13:38

of things, all sorts of schemes. Can

1:13:42

you tell us about some of your machinations? I

1:13:44

can tell you about some of my machinations. I can tell

1:13:47

you where you can find them. You can find them at

1:13:49

LauriKBuzz pretty much everywhere on the internet. Got that good unified

1:13:51

branding. This week I've

1:13:53

got going up a new episode of Control Alt

1:13:55

Access that'll be going up on YouTube. It

1:13:58

is tentatively titled, Nintendo. for Girls

1:14:00

Only now, sorry. So

1:14:02

look forward to learning why me and Aravia

1:14:05

think that Nintendo is only for Girls Now

1:14:07

and boys aren't allowed. I've

1:14:09

got a new accessibility episode going up

1:14:12

on Friday about the lack of accessibility

1:14:14

discussions at Summer Games Fest this year,

1:14:16

and why that's kind of disappointing in

1:14:19

the wake of last year seeming

1:14:21

like it was going to have some improvement on that front,

1:14:23

and the sort of why that might be and what we

1:14:25

can do about it. Um, what

1:14:28

about you Conrad? Where are you out in

1:14:30

the internet? Oh, you can find me at

1:14:32

Conrad Zimmerman on Instagram and Blue Sky. You

1:14:34

can hang out with me on Twitch at

1:14:36

twitch.tv slash that Conrad Zimmerman. I'm on Sundays,

1:14:38

Mondays and Tuesdays. You

1:14:40

can buy anti-capitalist propaganda and

1:14:42

Jimquisition merchandise at mercenarycreative.com and

1:14:45

everything that I do online gets supported through

1:14:47

Patreon at patreon.com slash fist

1:14:49

shark. And you know who else has a

1:14:52

Patreon? Who? Stephanie Sterling. The

1:14:54

rumors are true. patreon.com/Jimquisition. That

1:14:56

supports this show, the other

1:14:59

show and the jimquisition.com. Do

1:15:02

check out this week's Jimquisition if you

1:15:04

haven't. It basically puts into perspective by

1:15:06

sort of collecting and giving a potted

1:15:08

history of Embracer Groups bullshit. If

1:15:11

you've been watching or

1:15:13

listening to this show, you will have heard us

1:15:16

log all of the Embracer shit. So

1:15:18

it's a good sort of collection of

1:15:20

that really. Has been an

1:15:22

eye-opener for a lot of folks. And

1:15:25

over on the jimquisition.com, there is a review.

1:15:27

Still Wakes the Deep, which

1:15:29

I'm really pleased with. So I recommend that

1:15:31

as well. My next wrestling appearance is July

1:15:33

7th. I will be

1:15:35

in Huddersfield, where I will

1:15:37

be hosting Tidal Wrestling's next show. I shall

1:15:39

be the commander of ceremonies. So

1:15:42

you'll see me at that show from beginning to end.

1:15:44

What a treat. So

1:15:46

yeah, July 7th, Tidal Wrestling, Parrish

1:15:48

in Huddersfield. That about wraps

1:15:51

it up. Thank you all so much for your

1:15:53

support as always, and we will see you next

1:15:55

time. Bye. Bye. Bye.