Arcane Season 2 Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: Arcane Season 2 Review - Detailed Summary

Published on December 10, 2024

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Hosts:

• Andy Cortez
• Jerrica
• Kevin
• Greg Miller

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1. Introduction to Current Gaming Experiences

Andy Cortez opens the discussion by sharing their recent gaming endeavors, including playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. He mentions the challenges faced during boss fights due to being under-leveled, but emphasizes enjoying the game's combat system:

"[05:39] Andy Cortez: ...I'm having a good time with this video game."

Jerrica reveals she completed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, highlighting her focus on the narrative over gameplay depth:

"[07:09] Jerrica: Yes, and surprisingly, I have completed it... I'm here for the narrative."

Andy also touches on interest in Path of Exile despite its overwhelming skill tree, expressing excitement about its difficulty and hardcore nature:

"[03:04] Andy Cortez: ...Path of Exile really interested me because of the difficulty..."

Kevin contributes by discussing 1000x Resist, a narrative-driven walking simulator developed during the pandemic, praising its storytelling and emotional depth:

"[14:20] Kevin: ...a lot of really really good conversations with characters and dialogue."

The conversation shifts to Nine Souls, where Andy recounts his initial frustrations with the game's map system and art style but acknowledges the engaging combat mechanics:

"[16:12] Andy Cortez: ...combat is fantastic... really hard and really enjoyable."

2. Arcane Season 2: General Impressions

The hosts transition to reviewing Arcane Season 2, a Netflix series based on League of Legends lore. Andy provides a non-spoiler overview, rating Season 1 a 9/10 and Season 2 an 8/10, appreciating the visual brilliance and emotional moments:

"[30:21] Andy Cortez: ...season two a Netflix show based on League of Legends... rating on season one, I'd give it a nine out of ten... Arcane season two, I'd give it an eight out of ten."

Jerrica agrees, noting that Season 2 delves deeper into character complexities and builds upon the foundation laid in Season 1:

"[34:35] Jerrica: ...enjoyed season two more personally because you got... complexity to these characters."

3. Arcane Season 2: Spoiler Discussion and In-Depth Review

Andy initiates the spoiler section, discussing key plot developments and character arcs. He reflects on the introduction of Singed and Warwick, praising the integration of League of Legends champions into the storyline:

"[51:04] Andy Cortez: ...Singed... a champion from Noxus... introducing Warwick as the name in parentheses."

Jerrica elaborates on the significance of Mel and her role in Noxus, expressing curiosity about future developments:

"[60:09] Jerrica: ...Mel being sort of a commander... interested to see like how that takes Mel's character."

The discussion highlights the show’s ability to balance intense action sequences with deep emotional storytelling. Andy emphasizes the show's stunning animation and creative visual elements:

"[37:36] Andy Cortez: ...just a really well told story... it's still super emotional and just... really, really well acted and performed."

Key Moments Discussed:

• Jinx and Vi’s Relationship: The emotional tension and unresolved conflicts between the sisters.
• Victor’s Reveal: The complex portrayal of Victor and his motivations, leaving room for future storytelling.
• Black Rose Introduction: The enigmatic faction and its impact on the narrative, with Jerrica noting the lack of prior exposure in Season 1:

  "[49:56] Jerrica: ...they didn't know what the Black Rose was or why what was happening."

Critical Points:

• Pacing Issues: Both hosts agree that certain plot elements felt rushed, particularly the introduction of complex lore and time-jumping mechanics.
• Character Development: While Season 2 deepens character relationships, some interactions lack the emotional weight expected, such as the absence of romantic developments between key characters.

4. Final Thoughts and Future Expectations

Andy concludes that despite some narrative pacing issues, Arcane Season 2 remains a visual and emotional triumph, solidifying its place in top-tier animated storytelling:

"[64:31] Jerrica: ...Flutter Frames... [Note: likely an editing error; context suggests final reflections on Arcane Season 2]."

Jerrica expresses excitement for future content, including behind-the-scenes documentaries and potential continuation of character arcs:

"[37:02] Jerrica: ...Riot put out a little documentary... how long it took to get approval on everything."

Andy and Jerrica both acknowledge the open-ended conclusion, hinting at possibilities for future seasons or spin-offs that could further explore the rich League of Legends universe.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Andy Cortez on enjoying challenging RPGs:

  "[03:04] Andy Cortez: ...the combat always felt good and fun and engaging to me."

• Jerrica on her approach to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth:

  "[07:09] Jerrica: ...I just want to know what happens next in this story."

• Andy appreciating Arcane's animation:

  "[36:35] Andy Cortez: ...really, really impressive stuff."

• Jerrica on character dynamics in Season 2:

  "[34:54] Jerrica: ...season two more than one now because I love the complexity to these characters."

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Conclusion

The Kinda Funny Gamescast episode provides an insightful and comprehensive review of Arcane Season 2, balanced with personal gaming experiences from the hosts. While praising the show's visual artistry and emotional depth, they also critique its pacing and some character developments. The discussion underscores Arcane's impact as a standout animated series within the gaming and broader entertainment landscape, leaving audiences eager for its future installments.

For fans of Arcane, League of Legends, and animated storytelling, this episode offers valuable perspectives and thoughtful analysis, making it a must-listen for those looking to delve deeper into the series' intricacies.

Transcript

[Andy Cortez]

Hello, gamers. Welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for December 10, 2024. My name is Andy Cortez and I'm joined by Jerrica. Welcome back for another appearance, Jerrica. We're going to be Talking Arcane Season 2, but we're going to do that after the word from our sponsors and after the break. First, we're going to talk about what we've been playing. That way, you know, at least people stay here to hear video game talking. And if you want to stick around for our arcane thoughts, I'm sure there may be a couple of unintentional spoilers. We're going to do our best to not spoil any big story beats though. But again, that'll be after the break, so just kind of be prepared for that. But Jerrica, how are you? How are you this morning?

[Jerrica]

Doing good. I ate a lot of egg salad yesterday in preparation for this. I don't know if that helps me or not. Probably not.

[Andy Cortez]

Ah, yeah, I've, I've never really thought of eating an egg salad sandwich as. Or is it a sandwich or just a salad?

[Jerrica]

I always put on bread, so I do a sandwich. I don't know if I can do it by itself.

[Andy Cortez]

I think 10 year old Andy may have died had I had eaten that because he was very allergic to eggs back in the day.

[Jerrica]

Oh God. Oh yeah. That would have been super deadly.

[Andy Cortez]

Stop being. Yeah, I used to just eat eggs because I felt bad at friends sleepovers and I'd break out in hives. I'm like, throat would kind of close up. Yeah. You know, and then their parents would be like, andy, you don't have to eat it. You could tell us, no, we didn't know you were allergic. Like, we are adults who are not going to feel bad if you say that you're allergic. So yeah, that's how, that's how I was growing up. This is the Kind of Funny Games guys, everybody. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, please support us with Kind of Funny membership on patreon or on YouTube. Support us with the Kind of Funny membership and get our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be a part of the show, submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats. We'll be reading some YouTube super chats as we go along with the show, so make sure you get Those in Housekeeping. You already got Rocksteady just, you know, yanking the plug on Suicide Squad content on kind of funny games daily. And the stream afterwards will be Joey, Mike, and maybe Greg. I'm not sure what the status on Greg is, but they're playing Path of Exile too. A game I'm hoping to start up. A game I didn't know was in Early Access. Is this something that you plan on playing, Jer?

[Jerrica]

I heard about it recently. Took a gander at what gameplay could look like. So it hasn't been on my radar. I don't know if it's my cup of tea, but I'm very interested in to see what kind of game it is. I didn't realize there was a the Path of Exile one, you know.

[Andy Cortez]

Right. I mean, very, very popular sort of top down action rpg, very Diablo style, if you've ever played Diablo.

[Jerrica]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And Diablo is a game that I kind of passively will enjoy and I'll play it for the first, you know, 30 or 25 hours and then eventually move on. Not a Diablo sicko like Greg is. But Path of Exile really interested me because of the difficulty that they were talking about and just how hardcore this version sort of seems. And it's one that I want to try out. But I also thought it was just going to be a full release. I didn't know it was early access. I have poured so many hours into early access games this year that it is really impeded me playing other games that are actually fully out. So maybe my tune is sort of changing on Early Access because I don't know if I could do another 30 hours into an Early Access game that I'll then have to wait for the big sort of release of it. But I don't know. I'm super interested in it. It's one of those games where when you open up the. In Path of Exile one, one thing that it went really viral viral for was the skill tree. You see the Skill tree and you just immediately get really, really turned off by it. Like it is one of the most overwhelming skill trees you've ever seen in your life. I'm not sure if Path of Exile two tries to correct any of that, but it's a game I'm somewhat excited for. So I hope the. I hope the Stream team has fun. If you're kind of funny member, there will be a Greg way. We don't know what that is though, but I'm sure Greg's doing it somewhere, wherever he's at. Thank you to our patreon producers Carl Jacobs and Delaney Twining. Today we're brought to you by Imperial and Aura Frames. But we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's begin. What is not the topic of the show that's later on but we're just going to talk about right now. What have we been playing recently? I haven't really been on one of these games cast in a while Jerrica where I just get to talk about games I've sort of referenced. Yeah, I'm playing this and that but I haven't really gone into depth into what I'm playing. And you've been playing some stuff as well. So we'll talk about that as well.

[Jerrica]

How do you say that? Me neither. This is my first one.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow. Welcome in. Welcome in the first for every first time for everything. Everybody we've been. We did some Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth over the weekend. Me, Snowbike Mike had another mako freak out here at the studio and had had about an eight hour stream. I'd say about five hours of it was me struggling with boss fights because I'm severely under leveled. Getting told at every turn that we are severely under leveled and not really, not really feeling very confident about these last several hours. Especially knowing that a lot of people just talk about how difficult the, you know, the rest of the experience will be. But I'm having a good time with this video game.

[Kevin]

Andy looks real good.

[Andy Cortez]

I mean the VOD. I mean we streamed in 4K VOD quality was fantastic. Oh my God. This happened the other day to the lights are freaking out in here.

[Kevin]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Really, really freaked me out. Yeah.

[Kevin]

But no one can see it. So it's. If you just pretend it's not happening.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. But I feel like a ghost is in here. Maybe it feels like a ghost. It really does. It's communicating to us the final Rebirth. I mean it's just such a good game and I'm still learning so much about it. Shout out to all the very patient chatters out there letting us. Letting me know what all the strats are because there. It's just. It's so deep combat wise that it's really hard for me to kind of fully grasp what the hell's going on at any given moment. But I'm just so impressed by its combat. I'm. It's one of my favorite combat systems ever. And I think the game still does some really wonky type of stuff. There's certain character moments and dialogue and cutscenes that me and Michael look at each Other and be like, what the hell is that all about? You know, like, it still has enough of those moments that kind of turn me off. And then, you know, an hour later, we'll get some amazing revelation and a really emotional cutscene with great performances. The game is amazing, and I have a lot of problems with it, but it's. It's one of those things where it's like, I can't see myself not having it in my top 10 as a contender, but I don't know. Have you played this yet, Jerika?

[Jerrica]

Yes, and surprisingly, I have completed it.

[Andy Cortez]

Whoa.

[Jerrica]

It was my first game I finished this year and how many hours, I have no idea. But I did have to. Oh, it's so much game. You definitely get what you're paying for, plus some. But I will say, like, when I got to. I can't remember the location, but it's the canyon. You're flying on the chocobos, right? Like, gliding around. When I got there, that's when I was like, okay, there's so much to do. I got to finish this game. I got to mainline it because I do not know how much longer I can stay playing it. It's fun. It's cool. Flying the chocobos through the canyon sort of pissed me off, but I think that was the point where I was like, okay, I'm going to dive into main story content. Because I was. As far as, like, gameplay is concerned, I didn't try to challenge myself too much. I think, speaking to your points, you can get really, really deep into putting your magical gems and all your weapons and really timing your attacks and using the right companions. And unfortunately, I didn't get the time to sort of gamify myself and be really good at it. So I played on easy. I'm here for the narrative. I just want to know what happens next in this story because I've never played the original, so I have no idea where the story is going. I haven't spoiled myself. I knew, like, a couple of big story beats that have happened, but ultimately, like, a lot of this is brand new to me. Yeah, really exciting.

[Andy Cortez]

Exactly the same. I. Here's the thing. I. I refuse to put it on easy only because I love the combat so much and I love the challenge. And that's. I think that's such a testament to how good and fun it is when there's plenty of games that by the end of it, I go, I'm dropping it to easy. I'm just trying to get to the story. I'm not having Enough fun with the combat right now to justify being challenged in this way. So I'll just drop it here. I, like, I just can't do that because I do have so much fun. And I get a lot of satisfaction after, you know, strategizing and finding the right thing. Or sometimes not finding the right thing. Sometimes just Chat. Being like, Andy, you're doing this wrong. So that definitely helps quite a bit. But I'm having so much fun with it still. And you're right, there are. It can get really overwhelming once you see the amount of things that are collectible. But I want Chat to know that whenever the next Mako freakout happens, I just looked it. Look at me dead in the eyes. I'm let you know things are changing. That's all I'm gonna say. That's a little hint for later. Things are changing. I don't know what that means really, Kevin, but just gonna put on easy mode. No, I'm just saying, like, you know.

[Kevin]

I think that's what I mean.

[Andy Cortez]

Maybe Daddy Andy prepared for some stuff. Oh, you know, just keep that in mind. Chat.

[Kevin]

Switch that easy mode when he.

[Andy Cortez]

When you guys prepare to switch to difficulty. Been playing a couple of other things, but, Jerrica, you've also been playing Dragon Age. Where are you at with Dragon Age? When are you at with Dragon Age? How far into it?

[Jerrica]

I've had a difficult time answering this question for people because I haven't really got a. I don't have a grasp on how because my girlfriend Audrey, she's beaten it and she tries to ask, hey, where are you at? Have you done this or that? But I feel like certain chapters or quests get sort of brought up when you complete certain main missions. I believe. So I have. I'm past the first big choice where you get to choose what city. I don't know how we are. I don't want to spoil anything. I'm beyond that. Where you have to choose the city. That's all I'll say.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Jerrica]

And one of the companions have. It seems that romances could be in the air. Like, I don't know if it's something they want or not, but they're interested. I think. So I haven't had that happen until recently with a companion.

[Andy Cortez]

Lovely.

[Jerrica]

I have all my companions, though. I think I have them all. Yeah. Love it. I am a huge fan. I think I love it so much, to the point where I am doing every mission just because I'm sort of broken from Mass Effect 3.

[Andy Cortez]

Of course. Yeah.

[Jerrica]

And I'm Terrified. I'm terrified that if I don't make all my companions happy and do all these side quests that I could lose them at some point. I don't know how this shakes up. I haven't been spoiled. No, but I just want to make sure we are prepared. No spoilers were to happen.

[Andy Cortez]

Don't be a dickhead. Chat. I'm excited for you and your journey through this. I still will, I still will die by the my feelings on this game where near the end of it I was like, this is probably going to be a 7, 5 or an 8. And then once I beat it, I think this is a nine. This like, I think it just ratchets up in such a great way and it felt so earned. And all these, you know, moments were, you know, the goosebump type moments just kind of kept on happening near the end of it. And I, I love this experience. I, I, it's such a fun game and if there weren't any games, I would be playing it again. And I had already kind of planned to, but then other stuff kind of came around. I was like, I need to work on these games for my top 10. But yeah, giant HBO guard. That's a really good video game with some really, really fun combat that reminds me of Ghost of Tsushima where you can get. I, I don't begrudge anybody for getting tired of a combat system. If something starts to get repetitive for you, I understand. I'm not saying that you're wrong in that. But me playing Ghost, me playing Dragon Age, the combat always felt good and fun and engaging to me. That I never ever felt like, okay, this is kind of, this is kind of, you know, getting, you know, it's dragging on. I'm ready to kind of move on with it. I just took every encounter that I could because I was having so much fun with it. A real good video game. Really enjoyed it.

[Jerrica]

Yeah, I've really. So I'm playing as a warrior and I recently like, I love that you can sort of reuse your skill points and like completely redo your skill tree anytime. Because going through like I'm playing as a warrior and I've, when I first started, I just, you know, picking all the skills that I find interesting and not really trying to strategize anything because I really didn't know like how these things were going to play out. As I was learning how to play the game, I've gotten really into the reaper side for the warrior, like throwing my shield, building up the rage. I love Just the death of Necrotic and how all those attacks look. But I am constantly throwing my shield, which was way different than how I was playing last week with just, you know, my sword and even the two handed weapon to sort of knock out opponents a little bit easier. I am having so much fun with the shield throws now that I sort of understand like how I could I guess make my DPS a little bit more sustainable because you can like call back the shield and like time it perfectly to get like three more.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh yeah.

[Jerrica]

Tosses in. And that's so satisfying. That was fun because like a completely. I've completely changed how I'm playing the game and you know, the span of a week. So just if anyone's getting bored with how it's feeling, you know, maybe respec and like try some different builds. That's what I did.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it's a great call. It's one of the biggest, I would say, snubs of audio design. I think one reason why that shield feels so good is because it sounds so good to use. And yeah, that's. I. I think I had nominated it for. For sound design or best sound or whatever because I was just. Everything felt crunchy and sounded awesome and satisfying to use. So yeah, game's really, really good. A couple of other games I've been playing. Well, one game I beat over my sort of Thanksgiving break and this, it's weird because these next two games are the, you know, the games that Barrett's been talking about all year and Kevin's running the show, but Kevin can probably become Barrett in this moment. I beat 1000x resist. If you don't know what 1000x resist is, it's a very, very small game from a team who worked on like, I think films and movies and stuff. And then they decided what if we made a game and 1000x resists. I beat it on my Steam deck. It is a. I would, I would call it a walking simulator. There are gameplay elements that, you know, kind of pop up every now and then that. I wouldn't say that. Oh, it's going to become a big traversal slash adventure game. I think it's like just a lot of really, really good conversations with characters and dialogue. And I don't really want to talk about a whole lot else other than this game was developed during the pandemic. And it's the story about a girl who is essentially a big sickness, has sort of taken over everything and she's the only one that can't get sick. And the Fallout from that. In addition to just a lot of really amazing cultural and familial stories that you could tell. This is like just so near and dear to these developers hearts when it comes to the stories about the family and how everything sort of is interwoven. It is some of the best writing and best dialogue and I, I just really enjoyed the story. I do feel like there were about seven or eight epilogues and I just kept on thinking the game was going to be over at any moment. And then that sounds like a bit of a complaint and it kind of is. It's like a little diet complaint. It's like a diet. It's like a complaint. Zero, you know, Kevin, like zero carbs or whatever. Coke Zero, by the way. Like, yeah, just shout out to Coke Zero.

[Kevin]

It's not as good as regular coke, but okay.

[Andy Cortez]

I would say it's better though. You don't get like the gritty teeth feeling. Anyway, that's it.

[Kevin]

I think, Andy, I'm a little concerned.

[Andy Cortez]

About your teeth conversation for a different time.

[Kevin]

Yeah, I mean, it's just like you're having feelings that most people don't have.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. You know, so the, the little tiny complaint I've got is that when the epilogue, another thing would happen and I would think the game was already crescendoing and holy shit, it's about to end here. And then you would get another sequence and I would go, ugh, I don't know if I need this. I don't know if this is needed for this experience. And then it would still win me over because of what it's doing is compelling enough to go, oh shit. I actually kind of want to keep on going and see what the hell is happening. And that kept on happening. There would be another epilogue and I'd be like, oh man, this is where they really jump the shark. We don't need to continue this anymore. And it would still find a way to wow me and impress me. But some of the cool story moments and story turns, I just really, really enjoyed what it was doing. It's so bizarre, it is so unique and it's a game that I can't really recommend to everybody because it's not, it's not. You're not hopping into a Metroidvania or a platform or you don't have a whole lot of gaminess there. Where I would say like, oh, that's a, that's a video game everybody should play. I think it's just a very acquired taste, but it is super emotional and just Again, really, really well acted and performed and I totally understood the hype after the game came out and everybody in games media was like holy shit. This game is really, really special and a stunner for this year. Will it be a contender? We'll have to wait and see Kevin, because I don't know because this year I have just have no idea what the top 10 is looking like. But Thousand X Resist highly recommend it if you are into weird sort of story type things. If you're a Greg Miller of the world who wants to have awesome converse conversations and introspective moments, I would say it's something you should check out. But if you're looking for a side scroller platform or if you think this is an action game, it's not that at all. It can, yeah, it may sort of like turn you off if you know, a couple hours in you're like oh, there's like nothing happening. It's really, really good though and I still recommend it to anybody who wants an awesome experience. Another game that I've been playing, it's one that I went back to, it's a game called Nine Souls and Nine Souls is a game that I man, I recorded a Nine Souls. Let's play for a demo on the kind of funny channel about like four years ago or three years ago and I was like so all about whenever this game was going to come out and then it did and I was excited for it and I hopped in and I just really didn't vibe with the map system. I didn't vibe with some of the. I think the art is brilliant in a lot of moments and some of the art kind of turns me off because it feels very flash gamey. Like the main character is all sort of hand drawn and hand animated so all of his movements look amazing. But a lot of the enemies are what I was explaining to Tim are puppet tooled. So it's like everything is just. They're kind of just like a cardboard cutout where their arms are, you know, like nothing is really hand drawn, it's just hand moved. Right. And a lot of that art style just didn't really work for me. But again I was mainly frustrated with the walking around in this game because this is a Metroidvania that is very, very hard. It's very SEO row styled combat. A lot of deflections, a lot of, you know, timing your parries perfectly. It is really difficult in the best ways because the combat is fantastic. But everything else was sort of turning me off and I finally got back into it. And I, I don't think there's a tougher thing than to hop back into a Metroidvania after time away. Like it's one thing to hop back into a third person adventure game when you've had time away, because you're still going to likely be familiar with a lot of what the mechanics are. You may not be fully up on the story because you last experienced a story six months ago or whatever, but you're back in and it's kind of easier to hop in. A Metroidvania is so hard to hop back into because so much of the experience is knowing where you are and where you've been and where you're going. And that can be really tough. Especially when the walking around and navigating the world was really, really difficult for me and kind of unfun and frustrating. But I persisted and I was like, I gotta hop back into this video game because I just know that everybody keeps on saying how amazing it eventually gets and it's pretty fucking awesome. It's really hard and really enjoyable and there are moments where you feel incredible and a lot of the bosses that have those full animated move sets look incredible and I'm still frustrated by the ones that just look like a little cardboard cutout walking around like co op or whatever. That one little walking game, you know, I'm still frustrated by a lot of those little art assets, but it's still got such a weird, intriguing story. I, I'm so fascinated by what the hell is happening in this game and how tragic they make some, some of the characters because on its surface it's a cute little cat, mouse, whatever the hell you are, and it gets really violent and really vulgar and gross looking later on. But it's a lot of fun so far and I'm happy I'm continuing with it. I know that it's not super long of a game. I think it's around 14 hours. Jericho, are you into Metroidvanias? What's the last Metroidvania you've played? Is this something that looks like an interest to you?

[Jerrica]

Yeah, personally, not too much. It depends on the difficulty. I think the last one I actually beat was the first Ori game, a game I saw, the latest one, fantastic. I think for me it's a, it's a. I don't have a broad stroke of, hey, you know, buried entry here. How easy is it for you to get into it if you don't play a lot of these style games? But for me it was not as Difficult. And I will say this. If Jericho's beaten the first story game, I know the second one, maybe she can do that again. But for anyone that might be hesitant to jump in, like, Ori is a good place to start. I have played a little Celeste. You know, I usually. This is where I become a backseat gamer or passenger for my girlfriend who plays the heck out of these games she completed. Celeste found all the hidden strawberries. I think that's. That's what everyone was chasing. And then watching her play Prince of Persia earlier this year. Right, The Lost Crown. Very. I love watching her play. I love watching you play the difficult Metroidvania games. But for me it just depends how quickly I can get into it because I gotta get on to playing something else. But of course Ori was a good time. I did enjoy that game a lot. And this has actually been on my list for a minute because I see it on a lot of every. What like everybody else's list and I saw it on Game Pass. So I. It's downloaded. I just haven't tried it during the difficulty. Might be something I. I don't know if I feel confident diving in. But I was actually. The art style is what sort of captured me and I was like, that looks cool. Let me download it.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I'll give it a try. The levels of production that the game has, whenever you are entering a cutscene, it'll do like this really cool. You know, we are showing you kind of comic book strip stuff of what's happening story wise. And then it'll do like you'll have these really great moments of silence and solitude with your main character. And maybe he's in a transport elevator heading somewhere else. And then, you know, he'll get sort of called in his codec, we'll call it right now, for the lack of a better word, his codec will call him and he's talking to another character in the world. And those moments I think are just really awesome because you could tell a lot of work and talent was. Was behind those sequences. But when the game also is. When the game shines with combat, it really shines it it again, it's hard and I know I've mentioned that a lot, but it is really satisfying. Once you can kind of get the rhythms of it down and an enemy throwing a shuriken at you and you deflecting it back to it and the enemy just then charges you and you deflecting at the right moment. You also have this little talisman that you can attach to them. To the enemies with the right bumper. And if you attach it and keep on holding it, it explodes. And your character has this cool little thing where he's like posing in a neat way as it explodes. It's super sick and super stylish. And I am, I'm already at the point where I know I'm going to keep on playing it and beat it. But for a while it was, it was a little touch and go there. When I kept telling Barrett, like, man, I hop back in and it's just not working for me, man. I finally kind of like I've. I crossed that sort of that little line where I'm like, all right, now I'm good now I'm comfortable with it again and I'm super into it and I'm excited about where it's going to go because it's, it's, it's kind of wild. Again, this, the aesthetic can look really adorable and kind of cute at times, but it gets fucking brutal in some moments with characters and how violent it can be. But yeah, that's wild because.

[Jerrica]

Yeah, because I was like, oh, this looks cute. Let me take a look at this. So what a shift.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it does.

[Jerrica]

Now I'm curious.

[Andy Cortez]

I think that's another cool thing about it. Yeah, I think there's a level of curiosity. I'm like, how much further can this go? Not that I'm saying it's like some gore fest, but there's been sequences. I'm like, oh, shit. I was not expecting that. Maddie time in the YouTube chat asks, I just joined. What game are they talking about? We're talking about Nine Souls. Nine Souls is a side scroller platformer. Metroidvania. It's basically 2D. Sekiro is what I would say with how much they want you to be deflecting attacks and timing all that. Those parries perfectly. Really, really good time. And I will see that adventure through. Make sure you all get your super chats and let me know what you've been playing lately. And we're going to get to the real topic of the show right now after a word from our sponsors.

[Greg Miller]

This episode is brought to you by Imperial. Imperial is a complex, challenging, feature rich action RPG In a far flung corner of the galaxy. An expedition arrives on a hitherto unexplored planet to find a colossal monolith built by a lost civilization. There are no more ruins, the monolith is filled with danger and the expedition mission is ill equipped to unearth the secrets within. All eyes turn towards an elite mercenary who may succeed where all others have failed, venture inside the monolith and face the automatons that yet remain. Remnants of the impossibly ancient civilization that built this unknowable structure, survive and uncover revelations that transform our understanding of humanity itself. Imperial features a memorable cast of characters with personal quest lines and multiple ending for each one. Of course, you can unlock new abilities to personalize your playstyle and upgrade and modify the loot that you find. Your only hope of victory lies in mastering a unique and complex combat system. So get on it. You can Wishlist Imperial now on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam. Wishlist Imperial Today this episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. Isn't it funny how the people we love most are often the hardest to shop for? Luckily, there's one gift that everyone on your list is sure to enjoy. An Aura Digital Picture Frame. Our frames make it incredibly easy to share unlimited photos and videos directly from your phone to the frame. And when you give an Aura Frame as a gift, you can personalize and preload it with a thoughtful message and photos using the Aura app, making it an ideal present for long distance loved ones. Greg, Kevin and a ton of people at Kinda Funny are obsessed with their Aura frames. It takes about two minutes to set up a frame using the Aura app. That means you'll be able to easily add all the photos of the new memories that you will create this holiday season. Save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get $35 off Aura's best selling carver Mat frames by using promo code Kinda Funny at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code kinda Funny. This deal is exclusive to listeners so get yours now in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions apply. Our frames.com promo code kind of Funny.

[Andy Cortez]

And we're back for a topic of the show. Tots Tots Tots. No graphic. Kevin, what's going on with that? Bringing up a random YouTube video? The topic of the show?

[Kevin]

I said this last time, whenever we have someone calling in that's a different window. Of course, of course the topic button is not on that. Me I'm doing. There it is.

[Andy Cortez]

Thank you. Thank you very very much for the topic of the show. We're going to be reviewing Arcane Season 2. We will be spoiler free for the first five minutes. Just very kind of top level thoughts of what we thought of Arcane Season 2 and then we will let you know when we go full spoilers. And Kevin, I would love the big spoiler mode graphic whenever that happens. And you know which one I'm talking about. Just kidding. I'm acting like I prepped something for you. I didn't prep.

[Kevin]

I don't think we have that.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, you can just do a. Throw a little. Throw a little, like, text thing and obs. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, you got it. You got it.

[Kevin]

Spoilers. You got it, bro.

[Andy Cortez]

Arcane Season 2 a Netflix show based on League of Legends. It again. With the way TV works now, Jerrica, it's like you'll get a season of TV and seven years later, you'll get season two. Kind of like the rhythms that we're in right now. Very, very odd. And I don't love that. And I. I'm glad. I. I'm happy for the people that didn't have to wait too long because maybe they waited to watch Arcane Season 1, but the wait was kind of excruciating for Season 2. Arcane Season 2 finally came out. And these. I fully understand why it's only two seasons because apparently the budgets were astronomical. And it makes sense because they're essentially making three movies. You know, like these are. Each season is nine episodes, and you're essentially making about three movies per season because it ends up being about two hours per, you know, per third. Right. The way Arcane is broken up is the first three episodes can kind of be their own standalone season, right? Not really, but it's like its own arc. And then episodes 4, 5, 6 are its own arc. And then 7, 8, and 9. It's all still one thing, but that's kind of how they are segmented. Arcane Season 1, I ended up re watching it back over Thanksgiving break. And because I bought the 4K Blu Ray and that thing's a stunner and got real. Hell yeah. And unfortunately, I was talking to Tim about it. He goes, man, I don't think I can watch season two on Netflix because I have to wait for the 4K now because of how amazing season one looks on 4K. So season two comes out, and I'm trying my best to not be spoiled on Twitter, and unfortunately, it's just not super possible. I got a lot of images spoiled for me, but luckily I didn't really fully understand the context, and they still, for the most part, caught me off guard. My top level thoughts on Arcane Season 2, I non spoilery, non spoilers. I liked it and didn't love it as much as season one. If I were to give a rating on season one, I'd give it a nine out of ten amazing Arcane season two, I'd give it an eight out of ten. Great. I think that. I think I enjoyed the class struggles in season one a lot more than I did kind of the more magical mage sort of story beats and. And everything happening in season two. But I still think when it needed to be emotional, when those moments hit, they really hit. I still think it's such a stunner of a visual feast. Every episode, it felt like there was a new AMV to kind of watch. And they're always choosing, like, the cheesiest, corniest songs, and I love them for it. Like, every song choice is always one that you. You kind of just roll your eyes out. You're like, all right, let's experience this. Like, I. I think it can get kind of goofy with some of its choices, but I thought it was still an amazing story, and I think it did a really cool job of still leaving some surprises for you and wrapping things up while also setting things up for maybe future, not. Not maybe for definite future League of Legends properties in the future. Because they've already mentioned. Yeah, there's a lot of other shows in other worlds that we are going to be exploring animated wise. Jerika, what did you think of Arcane Season 2? Top level thoughts. And then we'll go full spoiler mode after that.

[Jerrica]

Yeah. Similar to you like it, season one was just so good at, like, building a foundation to the world and, you know, we'll probably get into this later, but I'm not an avid League of Legends player, but I played a lot in college, so that's more than me.

[Andy Cortez]

I have not booted it up. I have not booted up the game once. I've never touched it.

[Jerrica]

Oh, wow. Yeah. But honestly, there's not a lot of story foundation there. It's. If you want to dig deep, you can find some stuff. Sort of reminds me of, you know, Destiny's a little bit more narrative driven now, but reminds me of Destiny 1 where you have to go in and read a lot of lore to sort of get the world to the Grimoire cards or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. So they had a lot of Runway that they could sort of do whatever they wanted. But with season one, they laid a lot of foundation to these characters and what this world was, what it was like, and where are these characters coming from? Who are their friends? Who's their families? What do they like to eat? All those sort of things were being built, built out. So with season two, like, I enjoyed season two more personally because you got you Already knew a lot of those things. The foundation was laid and you got to see a lot of characters in almost like the opposite of opposite situations. And being able to see their dynamics change was definitely something that solidified. Like, I enjoyed season two more than one now because I love the complexity to these characters that we didn't have in season one. Like landing on a number. Like it's between an 8.5 and a nine for me right now. We'll talk a little bit later of like what some of my critiques are. And that's really. I think a lot of folks have the same thoughts on it. But yeah, overall, like, impressed. I cannot believe. And I keep saying this. I can't believe they landed the plane.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Jerrica]

With most everyone, mostly live, not talking about characters, but just like all the moving pieces to making this show. It's wild. I don't know if you've ever watched Bridging the Rift. It's like the behind the scenes making of the first season.

[Andy Cortez]

No, no, never have.

[Jerrica]

Yeah. So like Riot put out a like, little documentary and it's. I think it's like six or seven episodes.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, shit, that's exciting. I've never watched it. I'm. I'm so into that stuff.

[Jerrica]

Yeah, please check it out. And they talk about like all the pitches to getting this made. You know, Christian and Alex, executive creators, like on the show, talk about like how they were pitching the ideas for this all. All the things and just how long it took to get approval on everything. Yeah, exactly. So. And they go behind the scenes with like the animators at Fortiche. It's so freaking cool. Like I. I can't believe this all came together and it was as good as it is.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, super impressive. I would easily recommended to anybody who just wants awesome storytelling with great characters. This is not something you need to know about. This is not. This is a very adult story. I know it's animated and it may look like a cartoon or whatever. And I know that can turn people off at times, but it shouldn't because like this, this is just an amazing story and it's some of the best animation and creativity you've ever seen. It always just felt like every episode they wanted to add a new element to kind of like just throw everything off and suddenly it's not this 3D anymore. But now this segment looks like it's all painterly or this one's all sort of hand drawn. Really, really impressive stuff. You don't need to know anything about League of Legends. I've never played It. I don't know anything about these characters. It's just a really well told story. If you are a League fan, you'll have the little, you know, touches and nods here that'll make you go, oh, that's their move. Whenever they do that, power up. But it's. It's something that you don't need to know anything about the ip. It's just an awesome story. And yeah, so that's my. Those are my thoughts on Arcane Season 2 and Jericho's thoughts on Arcane Season 2. Let's get full spoilery. Let's bring up the little spoiler bros right now. Yeah. Hermit homeboy. And along with Jericho, also mentioning Fortis, just setting the bar with animation. Freaking incredible job that they did. Arcane season two. I. I mean, just right off the rib. Do we think Jinx is dead?

[Jerrica]

No.

[Andy Cortez]

Me either. Not at all. Nope. Get that airship at the end. Yeah, you get the airships. You always wanted to ride one. All those little touches and callbacks. But that was an emotional moment near the end. Like, that was, I thought, extremely well done. I. I do think that there are certainly some moments that felt rushed and some moments that didn't feel incredibly earned. Like, I understand that we need to cause conflict between characters, but I didn't always love the way that we got there. And one example is when Jinx and Vi are fighting and the. Caitlyn has the shot. She can shoot Jinx right here in this moment. And Vi's like, that little girl was there. That little girl's. And it's like, okay, well, we saw Caitlyn just shoot off Jinx's finger. We know she's an incredible shot. You're. We need to have this in order to create, like, tension. And I get that. But there are some moments that weren't, I think, super well done. But overall, incredible stuff. All of the sort of stuff with Victor at the end. I think there was a lot of confusion leading up to the ending. And the ending gave me a lot of revelations and I was like, oh, okay. All of those moments I may have been confused about. Now it's all completely clear. But I still don't think that they did a great job of fully explaining what the fuck was happening with a lot of the future and time jumps. What did you feel about all the time jumps happening? And the multiversal stuff? Once I got spoiled on Twitter, there was, like, multiversal stuff. I was like, oh, no, I don't want this. And I still think they did a pretty, you know, Great job at letting you know exactly why these things were happening.

[Jerrica]

Yeah, I definitely enjoyed seeing how that was going to be implemented because we know, like, I guess at least with Echo, we know from his lead character that he can manipulate time and, like, how is that going to be introduced? And just hearing and like, learning about what. Where Jace went, you know, in his alternate reality. Where and when was really. Yeah, for me, at times, like, a little confusing. I'm like, when and where is he? How is this working? Because, like, I think for a little derp like me, I'm like, I need some science explained in this fictional universe. Like, what are the rules? Are we all going back in time at the same time or are we just different moments and is it alternate realities or we just went back in time. Yeah. So it was a little confusing for me, too, to the point where I was just so. So many big spectacle moments and just cool shit was happening on screen where I'm like, I'm going to have to go back and rewatch this and, like, listen and have the subtitles on so I can see what is. Be, like, what is being said and what's happening. Because there is a lot of. And I think we. We touched on it, like, they had to squeeze in so many. They introduced new things and they had to squeeze in all of this and wrap it up in only nine episodes. So, yeah, it was a little confusing for me to really understand at first, like, what was going on there.

[Andy Cortez]

Right. Yeah. The. The. The second that Jace walks, appears out of the anomaly and has a beard and long hair and he's super. He's even sexier now somehow. Yeah. And having that moment with Salo and, you know, and Victor speaking through solo and that violent moment ending the episode was like, oh, this is a. Initially, I'm like, this is not the Jace that we know, but it's an even better reveal that it is the Jace that we know. It's just a Jace who's been through a lot of shit that we didn't really. We didn't get to see any of that. And I love that all of those moments in the anomaly, which. When we're. When we're talking anomaly and when we're talking Victor in this nebulous sort of godlike vibe, I'm like, ah, you're losing me. Arcane. Like, you're getting a little too cute with these sort of concepts because I really just. Again, season one, being about class struggles, I think was fantastic. And I think they did such an amazing job with just having it Be the people down low really, really aren't cool with the people up top. And there are. There's a big divide here. And all that stuff is, like, so relatable. And I thought they did a great job of having those analogies. And once we start to get into. Hopping into. Is it, oh, it's a wild rune, all that stuff just like, oh, man, you're kind of losing me right here. But to their credit, still brought me back in a really big way. Once we kind of understand what the fuck even happened to Jason there, why he became what he became. And I'm still kind of conflicted on, you know, how much of Vic, how much of it. Was Victor actually planning to sort of have this vision of everything's peaceful, but because there's. Everything's peaceful. There's no free will. There's no, you know, there's no decision making. You know, that's like a boring, awful world to live in. Just because everything is peaceful and there's no suffering, that still means that these people are just essentially zombies, you know, that are really having fun or enjoying life. I. All of that stuff started to lose me quite a bit. But I do want to jump back just to the sort of, like, episode one or episode two reveal where we get that lineup of all the squad with their weapons.

[Jerrica]

So dope, man.

[Andy Cortez]

Once they. In that moment, I'm like, oh, Tim is going to lose his shit in this moment. That every episode had kind of like a. Oh. Type of thing for me. And that was one of the big standout moments early on when we realized, oh, they're taking the fight down there. They're using the Hextech. You know, maybe I don't fully agree with this sort of extreme force of power, but it's cool as shit regardless, because we're going to get awesome fight scenes, you know. And then episode two and episode three, sort of continuing with the. With these themes where Jinx is essentially lost and kind of not even feeling like she. It's almost like she's wanting to distance herself from a lot of this chaos. And I thought it was really neat, the fact that even a faction called the Jinxers pops up. I don't know if they were actually called the Jinxers or whether they were.

[Jerrica]

I like it.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Whether they were just called that in the moment, but I thought that was a little fascinating thing that, you know, essentially they saw her as a hero. You are. You are fighting for us, the low people down here. You're fighting for our cause. All the different Factions, I thought was fascinating, but anytime we got back to mentions of Hex Core Runes, I'm like, oh, man, here we go. Here we go. I really enjoyed the. Even though I felt it was sort of forced. I think the divide between Caitlin and Vi was really well done. Having that stunner of a moment where Ambessa essentially tells. Tells Caitlyn, you are going to lead this now. Like, what a great sort of Game of Thrones moment where you're like, oh, shit, this is not good for our characters. So we are going to have a lot of heartbreak and anger here. But I still was really excited by that.

[Jerrica]

Yeah, I didn't really. The whole first episode, or I guess, yeah, first two episodes at least, when Bessa is sort of learning about all the higher ups in Piltover. And it's cool to see the show's so good because Steve Wayne, Season two, they tell so much. And this goes back to the animators telling so much about the characters without dialogue and just, like, little details. You might notice, like in the first scene, like, Embezza, like, talking to some of the guards and, like, talking to, like, before they attack the memorial.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Jerrica]

Like, you see little bits where she's probably involved. And even Vi looks up at her and is, like, wondering, hey, what are you doing? Yeah, and just all this political, like. Like, just learning about what all the. I guess the counselors, who they are, are they. Are they tough? And can it be someone I put in power? And literally, through the grapevine and like, through just casual conversations, learning that, like, Caitlin comes from this big family. And immediately, like, her light. Her eyes, like, light up. She's like, okay, the name. That name carries a lot. So her sort of forcing, not really forcing, but just, like, throwing that at Caitlin. You saw it on her face. She was like, oh, okay, I guess this is what's happening now. And just her sort of just going along with it. And that whole, like, shot of her, like, standing looking at the city, like, with the blue sky, that was so fucking dope. That was like, oh, my God, like, what a great still.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. I mean, every. Every frame of painting, essentially, in this show. As soon as we are introduced to Mel getting locked up and thinking she's seeing her brother and the black rose moments, a lot of those elements, I feel, were really, really rushed. I. I don't think that they explored those nearly as. As well as they could have. It did feel like throwing a really massive element of storytelling at you amongst all of the other massive elements. You're already kind of Dealing with. So that felt a little overwhelming where suddenly we're in a prison and she thinks that she's talking to, oh, my God, I thought my brother was dead this whole time. I'm talking to my brother right now. And then the sort of realization, wait, you. You are not my brother. Having this sort of Black Rose moment and realizing that, oh, Mel, you. You're. You're a mage. You have powers. This is kind of sick. And you're about to become even cooler than you already were. And I love what it set up, essentially. I just don't know if it was executed the best way.

[Jerrica]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Because it did feel like, oh, we're getting another sort of. I know it wasn't the first time we'd heard of the Black Rose because we see that moment where she's ambassador, is confronted with that, with these sort of red thorns kind of going around her hands and all that. It's not the first time we've seen it, but it was like just a really large aspect of storytelling thrown at us, and we're already kind of drowning in. In a lot of lore already.

[Jerrica]

You know, it's sort of like, I wish they were able to touch on that in season one, but I think I remember reading, like, it wasn't maybe, like, last couple of years, you know, riot sort of trying to solidify and put everything into one kind of type of canon for riot stories. And, you know, that's going to take a lot of time. But I don't think in season one, they knew for sure, like, how this was going to be canon in League of Legends and all that. So that might be why we haven't seen a lot of the Black Rose, like, story beats yet. Because in season one, I don't think they were necessarily, like, sure that they were going to bring in more lore from the game because there's a whole other champion tied, like, multiple characters tied to the Black Rose. So I wish it would have been something they sort of started introducing in season one. Because it did. Yeah. For a lot of my friends that, like, aren't obsessed with it, like me, you know, they did didn't know what the Black Rose was or, like, why what was happening. So they're like, that was a little confusing. We don't know who they are. And they just sort of get introduced and you're just like, okay, yeah, I agree with that.

[Andy Cortez]

I was also very shocked by the Vander is still alive kind of reveal. I thought that was so expertly done because I. You're sort of teased with It. In a lot of different ways with. With the character Singed. Singed, right. I'm saying that correctly. Yeah. And I. I thought they did a great job with him because that's one character where I feel like even though they may have not a full. They may not have had a full plan through season one and two as to what Singed was going to be, to me, it didn't seem that way because it felt like they were teasing him properly enough through earlier episodes in season one and even through season two that we are gonna have a large moment with Singed here with as much as we're kind of getting more and more of him. And suddenly you see this gigantic beast chained up, and I. I had my suspicions of, like, that, like, it's. I know it's a werewolf, and we're hearing. We're hearing, like, growls, and we're sit. Like, my subtitles always say, like, beast roars or whatever. So it's like, okay, it could just be a monster, you know? But then you have that reveal where Jinx is being attacked by this werewolf, trying to fend it off and doing a great job, by the way. Like, she's insane in her sort of fighting because she's all glimmered up. But, yeah, having that moment of the beast looking at her and saying, I believe the moment of Powder is what he says.

[Jerrica]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And then her going, vander. And the episode just ends. And, like, oh, what a great little cliffhanger that was.

[Jerrica]

Yeah. Another introduction to a champion that didn't have a backstory in League of Legends. Warwick. That is who Vander's character is, is that champion. So that was a cool way for them to sort of bridge the gap between lore established in League and what they're trying to do with Arcane, like, giving. A lot of these champions are now having, like, origin story situations happening because, like, even Jinx and Vi, like, it was sort of hinted at, but they've never called each other sisters in the game until season one of Arcane, so.

[Andy Cortez]

Gotcha.

[Jerrica]

It's really cool. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Loved. Yeah. Well, that's another interesting thing, is that the subtitle said Warwick as the name in parentheses, and it said Powder A power. Forget exactly what he said. And immediately I was like, no, that's got to be Vander, though. And I Googled it. I was like, oh, okay, that makes a lot of sense. And that is a neat way to kind of, like, tie all those things. The. I was really confused by all of this sort of robot automatons that Victor is essentially building for his army. I don't think it was cool though. It was cool shit. Visually awesome. Very creative. I just don't. I felt like they needed some elements to kind of make the audience fear what Victor is capable of. And I think like these really off putting, creepily moving, fast killing machines was a great way to do it. But I thought the only time we would see it was when Jace is confronted by it when he's in the, the big sort of council hall with Mel and he's talking about like he's all bearded up and he's like, man, I've seen some fucked up stuff. And he's got his hammer that doesn't look like his hammer anymore. It looks like it's sort of been fused by all of these different powers. And then he gets attacked by, I'd say like an avatar of what Victor is. And in that moment I thought that was the only element that we'd ever see of these automatons. And the fact that he's essentially building an army and that the Noxian army wants to use all of them, I thought was a little rushed as well, not as developed as it could have been, but it was still a really cool sort of visual stunner when we see, you know, when we see Ekko flying away from them and doing all his stuff near the end of the episode. But I, I do feel like that sort of final battle happened really quickly as well. And you know, it's purposefully done that way, but it did kind of feel out of nowhere like, oh, it's already happening right now and a lot of our squad is dying and we're watching.

[Jerrica]

Them just get just like, oh shit.

[Andy Cortez]

We'Re watching to get clapped all over the place. Yeah, that happened really, really quickly.

[Jerrica]

I wish that whole last episode was like an extra 40 minutes. At least give us that. Because it was so like, you know, Avengers endgame. Like everyone's here fighting together and it just was over so fast.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, the moment where I'm blanking on the character's name, but the moment where Mel puts that shield around her when the character is about to kill.

[Jerrica]

Caitlin. Maddie, Maddie, Maddie.

[Andy Cortez]

That bullet reflecting on the shield was insane.

[Jerrica]

Frickin.

[Andy Cortez]

That was the whole fight.

[Jerrica]

I loved that fight so much. Just being able. Because you also with season two, you get to see a lot of characters fight and work together that haven't interacted at all really in season one. So seeing Caitlin and Mel like sort of take down and Beza, you know, Mel's mom together was so badass. That was cool.

[Andy Cortez]

Really cool.

[Jerrica]

Team up. Yeah. Well done.

[Andy Cortez]

And I mean, getting to the end of the episode, you know, you have this, this sort of final moment where all of the questions you've had are starting to become answered, where Victor is essentially, Victor was the hooded figure in episode two of season one or whatever it was when we were first introduced to Jace, which was like, I'm sure a lot of people saw that coming. I, I sure as didn't because I just didn't. I, I didn't put it together.

[Jerrica]

I sort of thought it was either gonna be Jace's future self because I was like, oh. Like based on what I sort of been reading about, like speculation, I was like, could be, yeah, future him or, or Victor. It was going to be one of the two. Or maybe a new character, maybe three options, but those were the three.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. And I just really enjoyed the idea of, of essentially doing the Doctor Strange Avengers endgame. Of all the different outcomes, this is the one where we win. And I, I really enjoyed seeing that sort of play out where Victor, the far future Victor, giving this young Jace a different rune every time in hopes that he gives him the right one. And I, I, I thought all of that stuff was done really well. Even though what it took to get there may have felt a bit kind of confusing at times. I think that the, this answered a whole lot of questions where suddenly you're not worried, suddenly you're not wondering about the character motivations anymore. You kind of fully understand why he even rescued Jace at all. Right. Because a lot of it could have just been, you know, I just love the story of a future character going back or, you know, essentially trying to save an outcome of what, you know, could possibly happen and trying to save him from himself, essentially. I thought that those revelations were really, really cool. Having that moment at the end with the different runes, the moment of echo kind of just sort of ripping his little time machine and like, we gotta go full max. Even though Heimer Dinger's face blew up, which is another a great sort of reaction to that. Yeah, I thought all that stuff was really, really well done. What did you feel about the sort of final moments dealing with Victor and all of the, essentially the time hopping with his face sort of split apart in a very, you know, very unnerving way.

[Jerrica]

It was cool. I, I was the only thing I was just like, I didn't like that was just like, what happened to him? Are they alive or dead? Like, I don't want to be in an ambiguous Place here at the end of this series. It's supposed to be the last episodes, you know, for these characters. And I'm like, oh man, I don't know what that means. I got sucked into this crystal, I think. I don't know if they're alive or dead.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, the. Yeah, the. I really enjoyed the moment of him telling sky goodbye when he's up in his weird ethereal heaven space kind of vision area because it, it was never her to begin with. I just love the sort of heartache that he's dealing with in that moment. I thought his voice actor and that performance was fantastic. But yeah, the. I think the ending was obviously left open for a lot of future storytelling. We see this, this raven kind of, you know, biting at the remains of whatever was in that little crevice and possibly taking that on to future areas. I. Is there anything you could tell me, lore wise that where it could be leading to? What are the sort of speculations there?

[Jerrica]

I've just read like, you know, obviously with Mel, with, you know, it seems that she is now sort of one of the leading, one of the leaders now for Noxus. But you know, I'm not a, I'm not a professional here with my League of Legends lore. I've just read because I love Arcade. But you know, Noxus is a very. It's a region that's very military based and a lot of people that obviously are strong enough to take over other regions. So Mel being sort of a commander of this, this squad that have seen Embezza, you know, fall and now they're following Mel on a ship to probably going back to Noxus. I'd be really interested to see like how that. Where that takes Mel's character specifically and how we get introduced. Because I think the character that's, you know, being teased as the raven with the three eyes is a champion from Noxus.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, gotcha.

[Jerrica]

Maybe, maybe sniffing around to see like, hey, what was this battle about who we got going on? You know, the Black Rose is more than one person to my knowledge. So with what Mel's done, I'm curious to see like how they react to her. Sort of say, no, I'm not gonna bow to you either. You know, I'm my own person, my own mage here to find my own way. So I'm sure the Black Rose isn't over. Like there's more people involved with the Black Rose.

[Andy Cortez]

Love the reforming of the Council and Zaun joining the Council, the nation of Zahn, sort of being represented Now I think is pretty great and hopefully doesn't lead to any more turmoil. I was kind of shocked that we are essentially saying goodbye to this region and saying continuing in other regions.

[Jerrica]

Yeah, it's. It's bittersweet. I could definitely see. So, like, with Vi and Caitlin, like, they are partners in League. Like, they are both, like, enforcers working together. You never have this backstory of understanding, like, how did they meet and how did they become partners? So, like, having that context now, like, I. One of my favorite parts of Caitlin's character is when she gets to be the sheriff. Like, she is known in League as the sheriff of Piltover. So, like, I would love if they continue to do any other kind of projects. I definitely want more of Caitlin and Vi, like, you know, solving crimes and beating people, beating people up. That'd be cool to see. I hope they do something like that, like, you know, a couple episodes here and there, but I have no idea. But it's sad.

[Andy Cortez]

It's sad we had that that much more. I wouldn't say graphic sex scene, but it went further than I thought it was going to go.

[Jerrica]

Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

But no kiss between Victor and Jace. Like, what are we doing there?

[Jerrica]

My girlfriend, you know, we're celebrating two ladies having a beautiful seat, and my girlfriend's over there. Like, but what about Jason, Victor? They had such a better relationship this whole show. I'm like, what are you talking about? You're right. Like, literally, you know, they've been partnered for so long and yeah, I was starting to feel like, okay, man, dang.

[Andy Cortez]

A lot of Salmon Frodo vibes, you know?

[Jerrica]

Yeah, for sure.

[Andy Cortez]

Just sneak a little kiss, a little hug or whatever. I, I, yeah, I did think that we. There wasn't a whole lot more romance happening with Mel and Jace after he comes back. Like, all of that is just essentially taken away from, as if they were never together to begin with, which I thought was kind of interesting. And it may be that they didn't want to belabor that point and they maybe didn't want to retread over something and they just kind of let it be in the past. But I, and I by. And I'm talking about the storytellers. It may just be like the, the people writing these stories maybe didn't want to have that distraction. But I thought that it was odd that when they do reunite, that they're. There was just, like, cold. There was just no indication that they ever had anything for each other, which I thought was a little surprising.

[Jerrica]

A little weird. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Overall, though, I mean, those are. That's kind of what I've got. I think the show is fantastic. And I agree. I do think that it landed the plane. Even though I don't think it was the safest, best smooth landing. It was.

[Jerrica]

Still a few folks might have a bump on their head.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it was still really impressive. I really enjoyed the show. And do you have any final thoughts, Jerrica, on season two of Arcane?

[Jerrica]

I can't wait for the Blu Ray to be here. I'm so ready.

[Andy Cortez]

2027, whenever that is. They would have outlawed Blu Rays by then, most likely.

[Jerrica]

Also, the art book in the making of Sorry to Interrupt is phenomenal. It's one of. I don't know why I keep pointing over there. You can't see it, but just got it in recently and just jam packed of so much art. Like, if you are obviously a big fan of the show and just looking at the show because it is gorgeous. Gotta get the art book. Like, it's so cool to see, like, from beginning concepts of season one to even the current season two, like plans and character designs, it's all in there really good.

[Andy Cortez]

I would be an idiot if I didn't at least mention the. The Flash, not the flashback, but the alternate sequences were silco. And everybody's just chill with each other. Yeah, it was heartbreaking. It was just like. It. It's hard to describe my feelings in those moments because I was so. I was so happy to see everybody kind of existing in the life that they would have existed and had things just been okay. And I. I thought it was beautiful and really well done, man.

[Jerrica]

And it's also too, like to look at that point too to consider, like in both reality is like, it's. It's like, you know, the story's always been about the sisters, you know, Jinx and Vi. Like, overarching and it just builds from them. But in both of those realities, like, one just can't exist and be happy if the other one's around. You know, like, because Vi was dead and then alternate reality, it just sucks. It's like no matter where they're at, they just cannot both be thriving and happy. Like, one is always getting in the way of the other. It's sad.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, great.

[Jerrica]

It's sad.

[Andy Cortez]

And yeah, it's incredible. Super depressing. But yeah, essentially with Jinx near the end, realizing I can't. You need to let me go. And that's a big reason why I don't think that she. That she's still alive, even though there's a gigantic explosion. I think there's enough there to say that. Like I just need Gene. I need Vi to think that I'm dead so that she can move on and become a happy human being. Because I am, for whatever reason, just always getting in the way. We're getting in the way of each other. Even though we really love each other, it's just not. Some bad shit will always kind of happen around us. Yeah, those are my thoughts on Arcane. Fantastic show. And I do have one random super chat to read that has nothing to do with the show, but it was from earlier in our what you've been playing Demon Hacker? Ask has Andy played mouthwashing? No, but I've seen a lot of clips of gameplay, of mouthwashing Demon Hacker and I have no idea what it's about and I don't really want to know. It looks very off putting and odd. Very creepy sort of looking game. Kind of reminds me of like Click holding that other really weird game. Very similar vibes. Jerka, where can people find you?

[Jerrica]

You can find me everywhere at Jerkachu. Also my podcast that I do with my co host Kayla. We talk about games every week and also talk about Arcane. The last of us we have another show, Clicker Bait, so JK Games podcast. You can definitely check us out. We're also the JK Games podcast everywhere. Would love to have you send us some questions, participate. We love it.

[Andy Cortez]

Be a part of the show. Thank you everybody for watching this episode of the Kind of Funny Games Cast. Appreciate you all hanging out with us right after this. We are. Well, I won't be, but they Mike, Joey and maybe Greg will be playing path of exile 2. Stay tuned for that on Twitch and you'll see the VOD afterwards on YouTube. Appreciate you all hanging out. We'll see you next time. Gamers.