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Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast
Greg Miller & Parris' Top 10s 2024 - Kinda Funny Gamescast
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- [00:00]
Paris Lilly
Foreign.
- [00:08]
Greg Miller
What's up, everybody? Welcome to the kind of funny games cast for Tuesday, January 14, 2025. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller, alongside the best voice in the business, Paris Lilly.
- [00:21]
Paris Lilly
Hi, Greg.
- [00:22]
Greg Miller
Hello. How are you doing?
- [00:23]
Paris Lilly
Great.
- [00:23]
Greg Miller
Good to see you. I'm sorry you had to do games daily with Tim.
- [00:25]
Paris Lilly
I know.
- [00:26]
Greg Miller
I'm sorry. I had to interrupt so many times. I'm sorry. That as soon as I put on my amazing Xbox sweatshirt, Ben came up and give me. Gave me a peanut butter kiss, you know, he's eating the peanut butter toast, a little kid and this. God globs on you. And there it is right there. Ready to do about it. You know, you remember those days.
- [00:40]
Paris Lilly
Oh, I remember them very well.
- [00:42]
Greg Miller
You miss them.
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Paris Lilly
I don't.
- [00:44]
Greg Miller
Has it only gotten back?
- [00:46]
Paris Lilly
You know what? I actually. I do. I do. I really. Those. Those are the best times, seeing you with Ben, even yesterday. It's great. I miss it. I really do.
- [00:56]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [00:56]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [00:56]
Greg Miller
You were very nice to play Mario Kart with Ben at home last night before dinner. He was very appreciative of that. Thank you, uncle Paris. That was nice.
- [01:01]
Paris Lilly
Yes. Always fun.
- [01:02]
Greg Miller
How has your visit to the bay been?
- [01:04]
Paris Lilly
It's been great. First time I've ever driven across the golden gate bridge.
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Greg Miller
Wow, look at that.
- [01:11]
Paris Lilly
That was very touristy.
- [01:12]
Greg Miller
All the sights and sounds.
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Paris Lilly
It's been fun. It's been good. It's been good to see everybody. I'm not up here enough.
- [01:18]
Greg Miller
Yeah. You should come up more.
- [01:19]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, I should.
- [01:19]
Greg Miller
We'll try to make that happen for you. Okay. Of course you're here. Because yesterday was kind of funny's game of the year 2024. Of course, what we all do is vote. Thank you. Kevin. Send in our personal top 10 list. Barrett weights them, scores them, and then we all find out as well as you what the 10 best games of the year are when we build up to that number one. But rather than what we've done in the past, which would be do game of the year, here's the game of the year. And then Barrett breaks down all the stats and also goes into all the personal tops. And we also. Well, this is my list. That was my list. We thought, why not celebrate game of the year all week long? So all week long you will be getting breakouts like this where we sit down two on one on one, three people, three way. I think they call it a menage a trois. Where they will sit and we will all run through our personal top 10 list. So you see how we scored our games what we thought defined our 20, 24, and so on and so forth. Of course, the notable exception to all that is tomorrow. Tomorrow's gamescast is not going to be the game of the year top 10 breakdown because the one, the only Shuhei Yoshida. That's right, has finally left PlayStation after 31 years and his first stop. Thank you Kevin, now that he is an unemployed vagabond, is to pop onto the Kinda Funny Gamescast and do a one on one interview with me tomorrow. Of course, Shu is in Japan, which means timing will be different. So Gamescast will be live at 4pm tomorrow. We are starting later in the day with Kinda Funny Games Daily. We will then roll on into the kinda Funny stream and then at 4pm a one on one with me and Shu talking about his career, where he's going from here and of course, first question out of the gate, who do you hate? Who do you hate at PlayStation? That you can never say. I wanna know. My money's on Sid Schuman. Just kidding. Sid. We love you. Of course, everybody. Like I said, this is the Kinda Funny gamescast. Each and every weekday we talk to you about the biggest topics in video games, whether they be reviews, previews or just things we need to say. If you like that, of course pick up the Kinda Funny membership. You can get it on patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple or Spotify. No matter where you get it, you'd be getting every one of our shows more than 20 a week ad free and me in a daily dose we call Greg Way. That's right, a vlog podcast. However you want to get it, where I just talk to you for like 15 minutes. It's great. We have fun. It's good times. If you're on Patreon. If you're on YouTube, you can also get us recording the afternoon podcast like we did yesterday with Kinda Funny Podcast with Paris where Paris laid out why he hates Tim. And we appreciate it. Of course, no bucks toss your way, no big deal. You can just watch everything for free on YouTube.com kinda funnygames or listen for free on podcast services around the globe. No matter where you get the show and consume it, please support it. Like subscribe, share. If you're watching live as we record it right now or tomorrow, shoe interview, of course, YouTube super chats on YouTube.com kindafunnygame are how you can be part of the show with your thoughts, opinions and more housekeeping. Like I said, tomorrow's a crazy schedule. I think it's Kevin, if you can. I guess I could do it. I know I don't have it open. I think it's 11:30 for Games Daily tomorrow is what we're doing. Then the stream after that and then like I said 4 o'clock I got the calendar open. I'm clicking it in 11:30 for Games Daily Stream. Then the shoe interview at 4:00. There's a new kind of funny podcast app, you know that blah blah blah blah. Of course you already got Games Daily today because we're 11 person business all about live talk shows. Games Daily today had our live reactions to the until dawn movie footage. The stream after this is Roger's special movie game. It's just a. It's just when they Rogers special movie game makes me think of things that it isn't. Instead it's Nick with a football for some reason constantly trying to guess actors. But it's a fun thing. You'll enjoy it if you're a kind of funny member. Like I said, you can get today's Greg Way. It's all about my one man show that's coming to Chicago this April. Thank you to our Patreon producers Delaney Twining and Carl Jacobs. Today we're brought to you by BetterHelp, ExpressVPN and MeUndies. But we'll talk about that later. For now let's begin the show with what is and forever will be the topic of the show. I'll tell you what, Mr. Lilly. Yes, I am more excited for this podcast than I was Game of the Year overall. I enjoy talking about the games I love and that defined my year. And I think that's where I want to start the conversation with you before we go into all this. How did you approach your game of the Year list? Like when you, when you have to do a top 10, what are you thinking?
- [05:39]
Paris Lilly
My first thing was games that I completed. I needed to have rolled credits on them or I would not have it on the list. So as an example, metaphor was not on the list because I didn't complete it after that it just comes down to fun factor. How much fun did I have playing this game? Was it something memorable about it that stuck in my head that carries on after I roll credits where I still think about it could be the story, could be the gameplay, art, design, level, whatever. But there was something memorable about it that stayed with me and that's how I catered my list.
- [06:13]
Greg Miller
Gotcha. Yeah. You know, I really hate top tens, top twenty fives, top fifties and To a degree, Game of the Year as well. Cause I hate the arguments and I hate. Because when you start arguing about it, right. It always feels to me that it's come down that, well, no, we have to objectively say this is the Game of the Year. And it drove me crazy at ign and obviously, kinda funny is a way different beat. And what I love about the way we do Game of the Year, especially in the blind, is the fact that this. These are the 10 games for each person that matter to them for some reason. This is. This is what defines their 2024. And I think that is, for me at least, having been at IGN for so long and been very serious about that, that carries a different weight to me than IGN Game of the Year did. Because I distinctly remember, I want to say it was. Maybe it wasn't shit. No, I was thinking, I can't remember it. Whatever year, the Walking Dead season one was the talk of the town, it was up for Game of the Year. I remember being in the conference room, we had argued for hours about all this stuff, and it was down to Walking Dead. And I want to say Journey, but that I don't think is actually correct. But it doesn't matter who the opponent was. But we're arguing. And I had pushed Walking Dead the whole entire time. The entire time, the entire time. And we got to this choice and I got up and I was like, all right, cool. Now that we're here, it's got to be the other one. Kebab says it was Journey. I'm like, it's got to be Journey. Like, Walking Dead is a great game and experience. It is broken, it is buggy, it is this. Like, I, for me, when I was like, IGN putting their stamp of approval and saying, this is Game of the Year to me when I worked there, meant that, like, in 30 years, you should look back and be like, oh, that was this amazing game. And I wouldn't want to be booting up. You're like, why does it crash every time Lee climbs the ladder? Which was one of the issues, right? Whereas with this one, I come in here and, you know, yesterday it was revealed at the end of our thing, like, of the games on our top 10, which are more than 10, which we'll get to in a second, only two of those were on my list. And to me, that doesn't invalidate my list. It makes me so excited that I played different things and had a different perspective and did a different thing. Not. And it's. But if I would have been at ign I think there would have been more of like, all right, I didn't play Final Fantasy remake like beyond the first two hours, but I can. I know how quality is and da da. So like am I then entering into an argument to then are you? Even though I didn't play Final Fantasy against something else. Like, we just don't have to do that here. The votes go in, the answers come out and we all get them to get do this cool stuff which I'm always a big fan of if you want to know. Everybody, ladies, gentlemen and enbies watching right now. Of course our top 10 for kind of funny broke down like this. Of course this is a spoiler if you're for some reason not caught up on yesterday's show, but I think you're going to be okay. Number 10 was a tie between Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and Tekken 8. Number 9 was Dragon Age the Valeguard. Number 8 was nine souls. Number 7 was Hades 2. Number 6 was Animal well, number 5 was a tie between Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown and Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree. Number four was Balatra. Number three was Metaphor Refantazio. Number two was Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. And number one, our game of the year was Astro Bot Paris Lily. Kick it in reverse and start with number 10. What was your number 10?
- [09:24]
Paris Lilly
My number 10, ironically enough, was Black Ops 6. So that's why if you go watch.
- [09:28]
Greg Miller
It, I was like, so far you're one for one.
- [09:30]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
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Greg Miller
Nailing it. You're right on.
- [09:32]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [09:33]
Greg Miller
Why?
- [09:35]
Paris Lilly
Because I thought like I even said on, on the Game of the Year show, it was the complete package of Call of Duty that had been missing for a very long time where every mode was really good. I was pleasantly surprised at how good that campaign was and not on my shoulder too.
- [09:52]
Greg Miller
Ben. God dang it.
- [09:53]
Paris Lilly
You know, the multiplayer is what what it is now. They've obviously had the Omni movement itself into it now, but the multiplayer is a lot of fun. Great Friday, Saturday night sessions, you know, with the friends having a blast with that zombies was really good. And I never really had been a zombies person before, but playing that had a lot of fun in that mode too. Very polished, high production. Treyarch. And was it Raven?
- [10:15]
Greg Miller
Yeah, Raven.
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Paris Lilly
Raven. They knocked it out of the park. I thought it was again, one of the best Call of Duties we've. We've had.
- [10:21]
Greg Miller
Did this surprise you? I know you, of course, as Paris Lilly, Xbox fanboy, xbot. You know what I mean? Phil Spencer's right hand man. Can't trust the word you say. But also the Destiny guy.
- [10:31]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
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Greg Miller
So, like, is it rare that a Call of Duty is going to break into your top 10?
- [10:36]
Paris Lilly
In recent times? It is. Again, if you go back to, like, the original Modern Warfares and the Black Ops, I mean, yeah, those were all in my wheelhouse, but I had definitely fallen off Call of Duty, I would say, over the past probably eight years or so. Whereas, like, yeah, check out the multiplayer campaign wasn't really doing anything for me. But this campaign was really good. As you strip in front of me, it's great, man.
- [10:59]
Greg Miller
I look at this, I'm like, there's got to be a line for how much of my son's bodily fluids I can have on me.
- [11:05]
Paris Lilly
But. But no, I mean, that. That pretty much sums it up. I just thought they delivered a very solid package. And like I even said before, we typically just take Call of Duty for granted because always it's going to be always there. It's always going to sell well, the whole thing. But this one was really, really good.
- [11:20]
Greg Miller
So now, does this inspire confidence in you that next year you're going to see another Call of Duty on your list? Or do you think this is like.
- [11:25]
Paris Lilly
I would. I would hope so, but it wouldn't surprise me if it took a step back.
- [11:29]
Greg Miller
Got it.
- [11:30]
Paris Lilly
And that's, I think, the. The curse of the yearly release of Call of Duty. Whereas you got to have one out every year.
- [11:36]
Greg Miller
Yeah, of course, of course. Okay, fair enough. I like that pick. I'm glad it resonated with you and stuff for me. My number 10, path of exile 2. This is a conversation we had on the show yesterday, but early Access games are available for being voted on and being in here in our game of the year when we before, it's been completely freewheeling of like, whatever you want to play, you can put on the list kind of thing. Barrett wanted to crack down a bit this year. And so what we came down to was, of course, the game had to be released this year, but that includes seasonal updates. That includes a giant update content. One of the. I waded into the Reddit last night where people were having many respectful conversations about our list or whatever, and there. There was somebody saying, well, now that Haiti to Hades 2 made the overall top 10, it's for 2024. It's going to be impossible to put on 25, which is untrue for us, where if there's a big update, which I would assume Hades launching or whatever it's going to be. I don't even know what number they're on. Point one of whatever. They'd still be able to. And I think Path of Exile two for me is still very much in that running. Path of exile 2, is that the top 10? The 10th entry for me because it's fantastic, obviously. But mainly because it is early access and it came out late and I haven't. I didn't get to endgame with it and all this other stuff. I've played a bunch of it. I'm wowed by it and I'm going to stop, I think, until it is time for the next major update or here we are, we're fully launching the game.
- [12:58]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [12:58]
Greg Miller
Because path of exile 2 and this is coming from a Diablo sicko. Right. Is so impressive in what it's done. And I know I've talked about it, but that's what we're doing on this show. So strap in, everybody. It's the idea that I love Diablo four warts and all, everything else about it and burned myself out on Diablo 4 this year, which shockingly, we'll get to eventually. In my top 10 list. Path of Exile 2 coming. I looked at it and I was like, all right, it's more Diablo. I'm not going to want to stick with it. I started up, oh, I don't get to make my own character. Oh, I got to pick a pretty. That's just not a Greg thing. Oh, you get in and it's very boss based of here's the skulls and go find. To get in there and find the rhythm of combat and be like, oh, this is weightier, this is slower. This is more methodical of I walk in and yeah, you can get killed by a boss or anybody and then respawn very close and not lose anything. But I want to beat that boss and I want to do that thing. So now I'm doing the souls, like of all right, when do I dodge? When do I attack? What is your thing? What do I need to be using for, let alone again, how much content there is here for an early access game for an incomplete game like path of exile 2 wowed me for what it was, especially for as late in the year as it came. So it's one of those I can't wait to get more of in 2025. And I'd be shocked if they fully release it or put out a giant update that it doesn't inch its way back into my list next year.
- [14:11]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, I mean, this for me was I haven't played it and I kept hearing about it over the year coming out and I just didn't know what to expect but to see when it came out how people just resonated with it. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not surprised that it's on your top 10 list at all.
- [14:25]
Greg Miller
Yeah, I'm very excited for the future for Path of Exile to and see where that all sh out. Paris, what was your number nine?
- [14:31]
Paris Lilly
My number nine was the Plucky Squire. It's a game that I had been anticipating for a few years, ever since they revealed it. And something about just the animation, obviously going from 2D to 3D. I, I, I just love it. I just, I just think it's such a, a visual showcase in that way. And I thought the puzzles were a lot of fun. I loved just some of the variety that you would have with those puzzles. I loved how you'd have to move around different words to go and it's like this storybook thing and you're changing it along the way. I just love the game. I, I get the criticisms that people have had about it. Like it didn't really do anything super unique beyond the 2D, the 3D thing. But for me, it, it was, it was a special game that I'd been anticipating for a long time. And then when it came out, it hit. I thought they were able to nail what they were trying to accomplish with another great entry coming from Devolver.
- [15:33]
Greg Miller
Yeah, Pluggy Squire. I'm one of those people. I remember we talked about that when I did review it. I forget what I gave it, but my thing was I felt like it didn't live up to what it could have been. But I think that also throws the baby out with the bathwater. When you start boiling down the conversation, it is gorgeous. I forget for Dice where we were talking about innovation and being up for this jump from 2D to 3D is impressive. I just wanted more from it and I thought, yeah, it was too easy. I know one of the things they've done since launch is put out a patch that does like you can turn off the hand holding so it would be more. Hey, we're not every time telling you to go here, do the next thing, go do this thing. I thought Pluggy Squire had a lot of juice and I just didn't think it delivered on all of it. But I don't ever want to take away from still totally enjoyable experience.
- [16:16]
Paris Lilly
My, my thing is no one else is doing that. You, there's not another game out that's doing that, that, that has attempted to Try this. And that's why I think it resonated with me so more. Because it felt very unique. Yeah. In that way for sure.
- [16:30]
Greg Miller
And I totally get that. I totally see that. And my hope this is. You know, it's always funny when you know how the Internet is either love it or hate it. So when I hate a game, which I didn't for Plucky Squire, but when it doesn't, I don't think they got all of it. I'm sitting here and watching it left, hoping they do too. Do a pucky Squire suit, take all the feedback, get a little bit looser with it. You know, I didn't think the minigames at the three minigames they had in there, if I remember correctly, were all that great in terms of the bow and arrow and stuff. So, like, move away from that. Let me do more. Give me more complicated puzzles. That's what I would really want out of this and really elevate this because I think it's a great idea that just need a little bit more. Not even time to bake because the game's very well done for what it is, but more time in that stage of like, all right, we have these mechanics. How do we make them more interesting in the long term?
- [17:13]
Paris Lilly
And I think that's the long term potential that if they are able to do a sequel, there's going to be a lot of lessons learned from this to your very point of they'll be able to improve on this concept. But I think even for what it is, this is something that I would recommend people to go play. I think you'll. You'll enjoy your time with it.
- [17:30]
Greg Miller
In a similar vein, my number nine is Caravan Sandwich. This is one that I had put out. And if you're an audio listener, that's caravan sand, like sand on a beach. Witch, like a witch at Halloween. Not sandwich, like you're eating. This is one that came on late in the year for me as well. I saw somebody share a trailer and I clicked on it. I was like, wait, it's a exploration, open world, but no combat. Just driving this van around and like hearing the story of these gorgeous visuals. And it come out in September, I had completely missed it. I jumped in and I found it to be like, again, my top 10 is the games that define my 2024, right? And this is a game that came along exactly when I needed it. I had been jumping from review to review to review and then jumped into this game where it was. There isn't a gun at the back of My head to go do this, go do this. To get to the review embargo, to do whatever. It was like I could go and I could explore and I could take in what is a gorgeous game. Like, if you're an audio listener, I fully encourage you to go look at the visuals for this. It is a stunning game. I feel like it is an appended game where you are this one character who drives this van around this desolate town slash landscape looking for clues, doing little missions. You know, you've seen using tools of yanking down doors to get the thing and connecting with this cast of characters. And there is, you know, I, when I described it to Andy when I was playing it, when he walked by, he's like, what's going on? I'm like, oh, well this woman's sister has been missing. But now they've got an emotional connection like, oh, say no more. It's a great game. I'm like, well yeah, but like it's not even so much the Greg part of it as much as the hey, here's a beautiful game both in terms of sight and sound. Just run through, explore it at your own pace. Do what you want to do with it. I loved Caravan Sandwich and I think I loved it. And I forget what I gave it when I reviewed it. I didn't give it a 10 out of 10 by any stretch of the imagination. I think it was like mid sevens, maybe maybe an 8. But look me up and tell me it's one of those of just like done so well and what I needed in that moment and that like little respite and this. What games can be that it can't. It doesn't need to be the biggest fucking thing in the world. It can be. I'm running around talking to my dad who I haven't seen, like what's going on? I loved it.
- [19:40]
Paris Lilly
That's great. And full disclosure, it's my first time seeing it.
- [19:43]
Greg Miller
No, I mean that's what I love. Right? You know what I mean? Like that was. I talked about it over dinner with you last night, right. Of the idea here of when we did our list yesterday and somebody in chat was like, I've only played two of these games. And I'm like, I love that games are that diverse and our thing is that crazy that you can go ahead and do this. So yeah, great stuff.
- [20:00]
Paris Lilly
Awesome.
- [20:01]
Greg Miller
Mr. Lilly, what is your number eight?
- [20:04]
Paris Lilly
So my number eight is never, never. Did you play it?
- [20:10]
Greg Miller
I did. I didn't roll credits. I did play.
- [20:12]
Paris Lilly
Okay. Because when you talk about grand Gas games. Yeah. This seems like it's a great guys game.
- [20:17]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [20:17]
Paris Lilly
To me. And this was probably the most emotionally invested I was in a game this year where I might have shed a tear or two.
- [20:27]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [20:28]
Paris Lilly
Playing this game, literally there's only one word spoken the entire game.
- [20:32]
Greg Miller
Never.
- [20:33]
Paris Lilly
Never. And that's all you freaking need.
- [20:34]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [20:35]
Paris Lilly
It. Whenever that goddamn dog would be in danger. Oh yeah. We got a savor. But you know it's. It's a side scroller. There's puzzle elements in it. There is some, some combat in it where they do some. Some unique things on it. You know as you're trying to traverse through levels or all that. I mean you're looking at it right now.
- [20:55]
Greg Miller
Gorgeous. Just.
- [20:57]
Paris Lilly
Just such a freaking beautiful game. Really beautiful game. And it's so funny because it's one that I wasn't even considering and I, I got to give a shout out to Danny Pena. He played it and he was like you got to play this. You have to go play it. And I was like okay, let me see what all the hubbub's about.
- [21:14]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [21:14]
Paris Lilly
I downloaded this thing and I started playing. Instant hooked me instantly.
- [21:20]
Greg Miller
Not long.
- [21:21]
Paris Lilly
Yeah. Not a long. And. And you don't need. It doesn't need to be long but.
- [21:25]
Greg Miller
Oh, I didn't mean as a negative.
- [21:26]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you can get in. You can play this. It's like I said, it's. It's a beautiful game to look at. The gameplay is good enough.
- [21:34]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [21:35]
Paris Lilly
In it to carry you through. And by the time you again. I'm not spoiling nothing. But you might cry. Yeah. You just might cry.
- [21:44]
Greg Miller
Didn't roll credits on it. I enjoyed my time with it but it was one of those that I felt. I forget if I think I just looked at my trophies and they're a little bit cumbersome to figure out but I feel like I'm a third of the way through it. Or two maybe. No, whatever. It was one of those. I'm enjoying this and I like it. But I put it down and move on to the review.
- [21:58]
Paris Lilly
Did you get to the winter part yet?
- [22:00]
Greg Miller
I have completed summer. No, I have not gotten to winter. I have no completions on winter. It looks like that's where I gotta go. I'll fast. I'll put it on a fast track. I want to get back to it. Yeah. Because it was from the look of it, gorgeous. And then playing it I was like I'm enjoying this. But I early I guess in where I am. I just didn't have the hook in me of like, I got to see this through.
- [22:17]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [22:18]
Greg Miller
Especially when it's like, don't tell me if I'm right or wrong, but I feel like you kind of know where it's going or what you're gonna do in terms of a story like of the tearjerker. You're gonna put the dog in danger and this, that the other wolf, whatever, you know, we'll see. We'll see. Don't tell me anything. My. Oh, that's funny. It started doing this all screwed up. That's why it's all screwed up. Anyway, so that was, that was your eighth, right? 10, 9, 8. Yeah. So then my eighth, I put down his Monster Hunter now season three, Curse of the Wandering Flames. Between you and me, everybody. Nothing that special, I think about season three. It was Monster Hunter Now. And again, as I talked about earlier this week, Monster Hunter now has come so far in its first year, of course, launched last year then to be out here. And I know already, Neo Aoshi says, lol. Probably lolling me saying, I just put it in the back door. Didn't make sure Barrett would put it on my list and not disqualify me. Right. It is the idea that I play games differently now and having been and chasing around the playground and all these different things. Like when I get downstairs and I think my year is defined by. These are games I loved. These games defined my year in a way that when I sat down and I played Final Fantasy Rebirth for that two hours, I was like, this isn't hitting for me and I don't want to force it.
- [23:29]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [23:29]
Greg Miller
And when I, you know, when I played metaphor and I was like, I put 10 or 15 hours into it or whatever it was, and I'm like, I get it, this is great. I don't want to do turn based strategy. Another 70, 80 hours and it's like, I'm gonna go play the things I need to go play. Right. Or want to go play outside of the reviews I'm doing. And so Monster Hunter now is something I had played at launch was like, okay, get it, whatever. To come back a year later and like be into it the way I am and like you jump in and there are so many quests to do the, you know, the quality of life improvements they've made of, you know, before it would have to be. You'd have to be local with somebody to battle with them. Now there still is that, but there's portals where you can go fight the bigger monsters with people from all over the world. There's marathon monster portals to go into where, you know, Ben's doing whatever he's doing, and I get to pop in and I just do five monsters in a row. Maybe I leave early and I get the rewards I had or whatever, but it's in there. It's grinding. It's. I like the battle pass has so many great visual, you know, cosmetic is what I'm trying to go for. Improvements to armor that I'm going in Chase Nano. I want this set for that. Oh, I love this set of armor, but I don't like the stats on it. So I'm grinding just like in Real Monster Hunter. And you know how I'm an. I'm a monster hunter sicko grinding for this, you know, Lego, whatever the hell armor it is. But I don't. I only want the visuals of it. I don't want the thing. I just need to build it. It's like they have all the real hooks of Monster Hunter in here. And is the gameplay challenging? No, but it is invested in a way Pokemon isn't. This is what Tim always talks about when I bring it up, right? Of, like, he loves Pokemon, but Pokemon is totally, you know, whatever. Set it and forget it. You don't have to worry about. You're throwing the ball, you're doing whatever. Whereas this, it is tap, tap, tap. But it is, oh, when do I reload? When do I dodge roll? Can I get a perfect dodge on this? You know. Oh, I love the game for the. Again, the mission structure of Cool. I'm set with my Mr. Beast sword that I got off whatever dumb event. That is a pretty great sword. But then there'll be the. Oh, well, today's challenge is use this explosive grenade or do this whole thing. And so I'm suddenly trying a new weapon that I didn't think I would like, but now I do like it. And I'm learning also, like, oh, this control is completely different than my. Like, it's a. It's a very, very deep mobile Monster Hunter game. And I think it was. It is very easy to look past that, especially in the United States where this has not caught on. People are not playing it. But, you know, we had a friend, one of Jen's friends over who lives in Japan, and he casually. I'm like, you play Monster Hunter now? He's like, oh, yeah, everybody plays in Japan. I'm like, oh, tell me all about it. Yeah, well, they just. I'm like, oh, I know. I almost. I wanted to go over, but I couldn't it was like to find people who are also connecting with it and talking about it, being excited about it is so exciting for me because it is a game here. Like, like many games on my list this year, which I love for the diversity. It's like, I really like this. Nobody else here does. That's fine. That's great. That's cool. But it's like, I would love to gush about this. I would love to go have a group to go wander out and go, you know, Tim walks around the block every day to go get his Pokemon.
- [26:17]
Paris Lilly
Go.
- [26:17]
Greg Miller
I'd love to have people to go do that with. Monster Hunter now, I think is in a very special place, and I'm excited for it. They just announced yesterday a February event that will tie in now to wilds, where you go through and you play the stuff in now and you'll get the stuff in wilds. Like, I can't fucking wait.
- [26:30]
Paris Lilly
Awesome.
- [26:31]
Greg Miller
What is your number seven?
- [26:34]
Paris Lilly
All right, so I kind of hyped this up a little bit.
- [26:38]
Greg Miller
You did Yesterday. You've been teasing your number seven, which, I mean, I can guess what it's going to be.
- [26:42]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, it is Indiana Jones in the great circle.
- [26:47]
Greg Miller
But, Paris, you and I are the only people in the industry who hated Indiana Jones. We hated it, didn't we?
- [26:53]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, allegedly we hated it. But you can tell people just looked at a number and didn't actually listen to what we said.
- [26:59]
Greg Miller
Well, again, IGN gave it a nine, so you giving it a seven. A good. On the kind of funny scale, me giving it a 6.5.
- [27:06]
Paris Lilly
And.
- [27:06]
Greg Miller
Okay, that means we hate it. That means we hate this game and want to see it fail. That's my favorite thing. We want to see it fails. But.
- [27:13]
Paris Lilly
But the reason. And. And I. I put it at 7. A little bit tongue in cheek, honestly, probably could have been higher on my list. And here's why. So we obviously did the review. We, you know, we. We talked about the things that we didn't like about the game, and all Those are still 100% valid.
- [27:27]
Greg Miller
Sure.
- [27:28]
Paris Lilly
None of that has changed for me, but I had someone say to me, but you love Indiana Jones. Part of the appeal of Indiana Jones is kind of the slapstick combat, and that actually plays into the way that the AI is dumb as bricks. That is part of the appeal of Indiana Jones. And when that person said that to me, I was like, you know what? You're kind of right. I. Maybe it was me expecting more out of the gameplay versus them actually nailing what makes Indiana Jones Indiana Jones. Yeah, which they did in absolute spades. That, that was the thing about it. Obviously. We know Troy Baker was phenomenal as, as Indiana Jones. I mean, hell, you would have thought he was Harrison Ford.
- [28:13]
Greg Miller
Yeah, 100%.
- [28:15]
Paris Lilly
But it is the third best story in the, in Indiana Jones saga, in my opinion, behind Raiders and, excuse me, the Last Crusade. It was that good. The car, the other supporting characters in there were fantastic as well. I even said in the review I love the puzzles. Puzzles were freaking great in it. I mean, obviously the, you know, this, this world spanning adventure that you went on was something that Indiana Jones would do. They never portrayed the character of Indiana Jones. There was nothing Indy did in this game that I was like, he wouldn't do that. That has something Indiana Jones would do. All this is stuff that he would do. So in that regard, fantastic story, fantastic performances in here. I mean, graphically, everything, it was great. Sure, I was very harsh on it for the dumb AI. I still am, but.
- [29:07]
Greg Miller
But you weren't very harsh. Is like. Like you're letting the Internet color. We weren't harsh. We were just like, hey, this doesn't work in these. In. Why, you know.
- [29:15]
Paris Lilly
No, yeah, but. And I guess when I say harsh, it's just as far as obviously we've seen other people call it their game of the year. 9 out of 10, 10 out of 10, things like that. I'm knocking it down a few pegs because the video gamey parts of it weren't what I expected it to be, especially coming from machine games. But it's almost kind of in retrospect thinking about it, like, okay, I see why people are so in love with this game because I am too high.
- [29:42]
Greg Miller
That's.
- [29:42]
Paris Lilly
That's the hilarious thing about all of this. I love the goddamn game. It was never a thing of me not liking the game. It was me trying to just review it for what it was from a mechanical standpoint, all those things. But.
- [29:55]
Greg Miller
And I think that's, you know, for me, coming in and talking about it from my perspective.
- [29:58]
Paris Lilly
Right.
- [29:58]
Greg Miller
Like, I like Indiana Jones fine, but I've never been a hu fan. So for me, this was strictly coming in as a video game. And it was very much like, I didn't get references and I see people talking like, oh, okay, yeah, yeah.
- [30:07]
Paris Lilly
And I think that's part of it too. Whereas you, you don't have that love of indie that I do because I feel like I grew up with it. So I get a lot of some of the quirks and the things that like this whole scene right here. This is 100% something Indiana Jones would do in a game, so. Or in a movie, I should say. So. Yeah, I. I loved it. It is definitely something that people should play. I. I think it is one of the best games that has come out this year.
- [30:34]
Greg Miller
One of the top seven, according to you?
- [30:36]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, according to me, one of the top seven. That's why I gave it seven out of ten. Right. But yeah, it was fantastic. It's a great game.
- [30:41]
Greg Miller
Why too. Jervis in the live chat says Greg hated it because it's on Xbox. Jk. I will tip my hand and let you know. I'm gonna do a fake review when it comes to PlayStation just for social, where I'll come out here and have the thing going. I'm gonna say all the same stuff I said, but. But now it's on PlayStation so it's a 9. Post it, no context, and be like, I updated my review. My number seven shocks no one, I'm sure. Diablo 4, vessel of hatred. This is a similar thing to Monster Hunter now of like, similar but different. But same where I never stopped playing Diablo. I love Diablo. Everyone knows I love Diablo. It's another game that nobody here gives a real shit about. So Joey does, but not like, I mean, like today they dropped the, you know, the next season season of Witchcraft and I was like, oh, fucking. I'm like clicking. It'll stop me. Yeah, I want that. Oh, then they're doing these improvements over my. Oh, this fucking right? Doesn't matter. Throughout this year and what the summer sl. Yeah, I'll say summer, but probably a little bit before that. That's when they really started dropping the quality of life stuff, getting ready for this. And when I went and previewed it, right, got to talk to Rod and everybody else and Rod was on our shows and talking about the fact of, you know, we could have held on to these quality of life improvements, right? The loot reborn stuff, but instead for Vessel of Haji, but instead put it out early. So it's like I'm including that here when I talk about Vessel of Hatred, because I think so many people came back to this game and found, oh, man, the loot's better. Oh, man, this is going on. Oh, man, they got Hell ties. They got this blah, blah. Let alone a new class in spirit born, let alone the new environment of not to like all these different things they're doing in Diablo. And of course, my story goes that I burned out on Diablo. I made the stupid thing of on the. I wanted it platinum before the. The Expansion got here.
- [32:16]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [32:16]
Greg Miller
So I went and played the expansion for preview down at Blizzard, came back hungry, starving for more Diablo and then over eight, just over eight, platinuming it and platinumed it and then put it down. I was like, I don't want any more. This dropped. Jumped in and went through it and I already reviewed it and then I played it on my own too. I love it. I. I think I'm. I'm hungry that I'm excited for the next season here of Witchcraft. I think I'll be back for that or whatever. But. But it was like just overeating on my thing. But I don't want it. That's a take away from what they did here and the amount of hours I put into it. Right. This is my most played. Diablo is my most played game. I believe this year. My PlayStation stats aren't anywhere I can easily get to them anymore. But it was like such a thing for me all year long and it would be so foolish. It was the first game I played in 2024. You know, I'm still playing it obviously with this break right now. But I thought they did such a great job this year listening to the audience and I know that's a loaded statement because of course the Diablo audience is very large and everybody wants something different from it. They've transitioned the game into something that I really like and again it is that idea of jumping in and it's instant combat, instant rewards, you know, blah blah, blah. Like I understand that some people don't want that and they want the Path of Exile thing more, which again, I love Path of Exile. I just think this is such a nice. In a. Such a nice spot right now for what it is. And I'm excited to roll a new character for the next season, which is crazy of like. I think as long as games as a service have been talked about, whether it's me at IGN or me @ Kinda funny, you've seen me want something like this. I want a game to constantly go back to. I love having a lineage in stuff. I love sitting down and be like, I want to play something tonight, but I don't want to start a new thing. So is there new stuff in my old games or something? A reason to go back and a reason to go do this. I think Diablo is doing a great job of doing that for me and I know that's not for everybody and I know the hardest of hardcore people have plenty of complaints, but I am not trying to go through and set speedrun times and I like to Go in there, level up the character, beat the shit out of some things, get cool gear, play with my friends a little bit, play with Jen. Right. And go out there.
- [34:19]
Paris Lilly
Awesome.
- [34:20]
Greg Miller
That was my number seven. So what is your number six?
- [34:24]
Paris Lilly
So my number six is the Legend of a Zelda. Echoes of wisdom.
- [34:31]
Greg Miller
I am not gonna lie. I'm jealous. This is a game that I, I've. I had seen obviously for so long. I wanted to play. We only got the one review code, which meant I went on a different review and I still haven't gotten back to play it.
- [34:43]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [34:44]
Greg Miller
And it's that thing where it's like, it looks so good. Paris.
- [34:46]
Paris Lilly
Yeah. And, and it is. And, and the thing about this is obviously it's taking the link's awakening, you know, remake, you know, art style on there, which I love right off the bat. But you think coming off of Breath of the Wild, what could they do with Zelda? How about I get to play as Zelda?
- [35:05]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [35:05]
Paris Lilly
You know, so that number one was in an instant checkbox for me. But I love how you can take the echoes. And it, it varies the play style of how you just. The common enemies, the mini bosses, the bosses that, that you'll have and how you'll traverse through these levels. There's so many different unique combinations of how you do it because you can virtually take any object in the world and recreate it to use in combat. To use to get across the level. Right. Whatever the case. So in that way, I think everyone's play style is going to be unique because people are going to do different things. It's damn near whatever your imagination comes up with. And obviously there's, there's certain creatures and objects you'll have to find in the world first to be able to use that. But once you get out into that open world and you're able to start doing that and you go to some of these dungeons, I mean, it's classic Legend of the Zelda style dungeons that you'll have in here. Some classic boss battles that you'll have in here. Like you're seeing now with the tables you're able to create that. You stack them up. You can get on top of the trees. You can do all this.
- [36:08]
Greg Miller
I gotta make time for this.
- [36:09]
Paris Lilly
Yeah. It's again, it's, it's Nintendo. It's. It's Zelda. No one's playing this and going, yeah, wasn't that good? It's freaking great. You know, it's fantastic.
- [36:20]
Greg Miller
And you roll credits on this. Where did it take you?
- [36:23]
Paris Lilly
I know, God, I think about. It's not that long. Maybe like 12 hours.
- [36:27]
Greg Miller
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I started, you know, in my quest lately that we covered on games daily last week of like, I want to play some. Like, I picked up Switch and I saw it. I was like, I really should finish Link's Awakening or start. I went and started Link's Awakening and I started that, but then the performance was so bad, I jumped out of it. And so now it's like, can I just skip to this? Like, what do I want to do? How was performance in this one?
- [36:47]
Paris Lilly
It seemed fine to me. I didn't really have any issues. I never played it in dark mode. It was all just. Just on the Switch itself and it was fine.
- [36:54]
Greg Miller
Okay, rounding out the bottom five, right? My number six. And remember, this is a safe spot. These are the games that defined us. Yada, yada, yada. All right? And I will give you. I will count to 15 because I know it's on chat. You can give it to me and then we're going to get serious about it. All right? My number six is Starfield. Shattered space. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Thank you. I see a lot of people and say, we're done now. We can stop now, right? We can talk about this. Because for me, Shatter Space is the parallel to Diablo where Starfield, of course, was not the game many people wanted, right? Starfield has a boatload of issues at launch and to this day, obviously. But you're talking about a journey of about a year, right? And how much Bethesda has put into Starfield in that year to get to this point where it is 60 frames on consoles now, right? It is the creation shops. It is the ability of going in there and being able to change a boatload of gameplay modifiers to make the game easy, harder, whatever to get you more XP or less xp, whatever you want to go do, right? To make the game your own. And then, of course, for me, this is the first Bethesda game. And I know this is crazy for so many, but remember, I'm a console kid and I'm usually the review kid, and I bounce. No, come back. This is the first Bethesda game where I've actually done the mods, where I go into the creation suite, right, and download all manner of different things to make the game more what I want or more what I'm trying to get out of it, right? To go into creations in the creation kit. And so I have had such a ball, you've probably heard me both as the joke and as the real thing, talk about how much I love Starfield. Starfield is the most connected I've ever been to a role playing game. And I love Western RPGs. I play the shit out of Western RPGs. I adore Western RPGs. But this is the one where not like I did the whole spoiler cast where I told you my Becky lynch story, right? And all these different things like that has only continued. And I still feel that and I still make these little changes here and there to get to continuing this narrative of who she is and what the character is doing and what's going on in the world. So to get all those improvements, to get the car, right, the rav. Whatever the fuck it called, and then of course get Shattered Space drop and to jump into shattered Space and have Shattered Space be what I want out of Bethesda. It isn't here. Fucking, you know, let's go craft a fucking table and make an outpost. Yeah, it's. No, you are our own here. We. You have been transported to this one planet, right, with this one settlement for House Varun. You have heard about them throughout the base game. Andreja, of course, this. And this is my whole Starfield story to a tee. That, like, if you haven't paid attention, there was a bug in my game that worked out perfectly for me in Andreja. And then the. The new game plus of Starfield works so well into that bug that I had that it was like everything has worked out so well that then get this DLC that's about the character that I married that I'm in love with, that I've made this narrative with, right? Like it was basically in the stars, no pun intended, that I would want to be a part of this and love this. And again, I've seen so many criticisms of. Well, there's not this much or this choice doesn't matter and da, da, da, da, da. Yeah, but it's still light years ahead. What than what we had in base game in terms of all that. And to have, you know, after what I'm. I'm currently at 5 days and 20 hours or whatever on my save, right? So before this, when I was at four days or whatever the hell it was to have suddenly this new planet with all these new colors and all this new stuff, right? Like it was when I in like kebab's choices in RPG that no matter what is this 2012, I'm of course bring out what the haters think the choices matter to me. I think it matters in terms of what my character is and what Becky is and yada, yada, yada. But then, you know, even yesterday, where even though I missed it by a month somehow because nobody gives a shit about Starfield, the Doom drop of content, the. The Bethesda putting out the quests on the creation thing of all right. There's this little one about, you know, trying to find this perfect recipe and now there's this weird escape room thing and yada, yada, yada, like, they keep giving me a reason to turn on Starfield and continue to exist in this world in a way that I just adore. And I understand that people hate Starfield and it's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. There's something special to Starfield if you give yourself to it, which I did and I drink the Kool Aid and I'm not saying again back to the start of this show. This is the sixth best graphics story complete like it is. This is how much this game mattered to me in 2024.
- [41:32]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, absolutely. Excuse me. And to just go on that, like, I have not played Shadow Space yet. And I will fully admit part of the reason why is I saw the negative reviews around it and we're trying to do 10,000 other things at the same time. I'm like, I will eventually get to it, but one thing that I'll always hold on to is your love for it, because I love Starfield. I had a great time, you know, with the original campaign. And then when I saw some of the criticisms about the dlc, I'm like, I just. I'll eventually get to it at some point when I have a break in free time. I still think there's a lot of potential in this world and in this game. Obviously all the stuff that's coming out of the creation kit that they have in there, but, you know, we'll see. I'm sure they're still doing a major expansion, right?
- [42:15]
Greg Miller
I think it's been. Mum's the word.
- [42:17]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [42:17]
Greg Miller
If I was a betting man, I would say no, I.
- [42:20]
Paris Lilly
Interesting.
- [42:21]
Greg Miller
I would. I don't know anymore what they're on the hook for.
- [42:23]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [42:24]
Greg Miller
And I don't. And I think they'll continue to support it through Creation Suite. I think they'll continue to do updates.
- [42:27]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [42:28]
Greg Miller
But in terms of another, hey, major expansion thing, I don't know what was promised in the season pass chat. You probably know better than me or not the season pass, but like the, you know. Yeah, I can't remember Deluxe Edition, whatever The hell it is. Yeah, I. I would imagine that they're going to be like, you know what? We're not going to do this. You know what I mean? Like, we're going to keep supporting and keep doing this thing, but all hands on deck for Elder Scrolls keep pushing Fallout 76 content, which I know I'm jumping studios, but you know what I mean, we're going to take our foot off of this and worry about it.
- [42:55]
Paris Lilly
I mean, I don't know my whole thing. And ironically, if it's both Bethesda games.
- [42:59]
Greg Miller
Albert says there's one more coming for sure called Starborn.
- [43:01]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, that's why I thought so. I thought so.
- [43:03]
Greg Miller
Oh, okay. Trenton says it's copyrighted Starborn. It's supposedly the next expansion, which kind of. I want that. I love that. Again, like when you're in these scenarios where everyone just wants to. And I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about Bethesda and Starfield. Everyone wants to dogpile on the game and they hate it because of X, Y and Z. I don't know at what point you have the turning point where it is like, okay, cool, this is universally great. Or there's something here. Like, I think from the jump, there's been a lot to enjoy about Starfield. I just think that Starfield, the hype to it, got ran away from reality. Where when Mike was like, this needs to be a game of the generation, I was like, I can tell you straight up, that's not going to happen.
- [43:40]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [43:40]
Greg Miller
And what was it? It was another Bethesda game. These are the kind of games Bethesda makes and I fucking love those warts and all. Understanding that they're not the greatest thing of all time.
- [43:49]
Paris Lilly
Would it be fair to. Would this be a good comparison of what we saw with cyberpunk? Now, obviously cyberpunk had a lot of technical issues which held it back, but look at the redemption that they had, what, three years, four years later, whatever it was with fandom, Liberty. Whereas now you talk about cyberpunk, people do see it as this Apex, top shelf game that, you know, people adore.
- [44:12]
Greg Miller
I don't think so. I don't think that ever happens for them. And I think there's a bunch of different reasons for it. But like, I would wade into like cyberpunk's issue. Yeah. Was, hey, the game's broken, it's not running, it's this, that, the other. Right. Like I played it on PS5, the PS4 version, had a great time with it, enjoyed my time and Platinum Day once they fixed the one little bug I had, right. I think Starfield is way more like, yo, base building is meaningless. Yo, this like the, you know, eating is meaningless. Like you put all these systems in there.
- [44:42]
Paris Lilly
The.
- [44:42]
Greg Miller
My main. I. I still, when I turn on and play this game, I still can't believe the UI is ugly as it is. Where nobody has been like that. Nobody in this. I'm sure somebody at Bethesda is working on it, but nobody has come through to be like, let's make this look cool. Like this not cool like, you know what I mean? Like, Cyberpunk was the. You sold us a raw deal. Where I think Starfield is. You just didn't live up to people's expectations because even that they showed all this stuff. But then you got it. You're like, oh, well, it doesn't matter. And now my own counter argument to be as a Starfield Stan, right, would be, of course, well, you can go in now to the settings and make all that matter. Like, I want the bonus xp. So I go in and I've turned on status effect. So I do have to eat and drink of this game all the time because it gives me the thing to level up faster to that. But it's like, I think there are so many core turnoffs to Starfield, even for me, where it's like I play RPGs right? For that ding. That level up. What's the new skill, what's the new thing? Blah, blah, blah, Starfield, you level up so painfully fucking slow and even when you do, there's all these like minutiae things. Well now you got to do it 500 times to be able to unlock the. I don't pay attention to any of it. Like, my character is of course already a God. Like I've been playing so long, right? Like, and she's gone through the unity so many times. Like it's not. None of that matters. Like I'm not. But I've already. It was such an uphill battle to get the perks I wanted that I have the build and the character I want. Where it's like, that sucks. And that was never Cyberpunk's problem, right? Cyberpunk was always cool, whether you're using the gun or using the blade or doing this thing. Like, this is just a very particular rpg, I think. And I think it's such a turn off to so many people the way it is. Whereas for me, I'm like, I can look. I. I don't want to do any of the crafting I don't want to do this stuff. I just want to run out and fun stories and shoot my guns and get my doom slayer suit and have a great time. So I digress. We are into our top fives everybody. But before then I'll remind you we couldn't do the show without you. I have some super chats I want to get back to when we come out of this ad break. But remember if you are watching live you can super chat over at kind of funny.com I screwed up YouTube.com kind of funny games super chat on this episode with your top five so I can go through and compare them to ours. What you think of our bottom five and our soon to be top five et cetera, et cetera and so on and so on. But remember, we couldn't do the show without you. So please consider picking up a Kinda Funny membership whether it be on patreon.com kindafunny, YouTube.com kindafunnygames, Spotify or Apple Podcasts you can get the show ad free. You can get the ability to watch on some of those sites the afternoon podcast lives. We record them. And of course you get a daily dose of me in a series I call Greg Way each and every weekday. But for right now, you're not using those benefits. So here's a word from our sponsor.
- [47:17]
C
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- [50:33]
Greg Miller
I want to get into the super chats like you can send over on YouTube.com kind of funny games where chocolate fox 9 super chats twice to say loved the Game of the Year show yesterday. Wanted to throw mine out if possible. So for the first time ever here I'm kind of funny this is chocolate fox's top nine of 2024. Number five, Mario Party Jamboree. Number four, the Kinitsugami. Number three, Unicorn Overlord. Number two, Metaphor. And number one, Infinite Wealth. A good list.
- [51:04]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [51:04]
Greg Miller
And I see how you lean with your games. I appreciate that. You know what I mean? Yeah, I appreciate that. And then his follow up was thanks for yesterday's show in Paris is awesome. Oh, they love you. Then Michael Berg, super chat and said sending love to Paris. I appreciate how well thought out and genuine your picks, opinions and insight are.
- [51:22]
Paris Lilly
Giving me way too much credit, but thank you.
- [51:24]
Greg Miller
Yeah, it's kind of offensive that they say that and leave me out of it. You know what I mean? I appreciate how well thought. Like, my, my picks aren't well thought out. They aren't genuine. This is the most genuine shit you're ever gonna hear. I could have just fucking said metaphor. Could have just said metaphor. I could have not taken the Internet hate I get for enjoying games that people don't enjoy. Y'all suck. Paris, what's your number five?
- [51:43]
Paris Lilly
My number five is Stalker two. And this is a case where, because remember we kind of did the in progress review with Mike talking about it and the main theme was the bugs.
- [51:56]
Greg Miller
Yeah, you, if you don't remember, pre release, there was codes went out, but they didn't have a day one patch. The game was buggy. Then day one patch hit. So every plane on day one was like, I'm not seeing anything the reviews are seeing.
- [52:05]
Paris Lilly
And we're like, I can only judge by what I played because it was before the day one patch. That day one patch has released along with a lot of other patches, and it fixed a ton of the issues that I had with the game. Really made it very playable. And I, I'm, I, I love this, the zone. I love this open world that is constantly trying to effing kill you. Yeah, everything is trying to kill you.
- [52:30]
Greg Miller
And it kills you in like two shots. Is that the whole thing about.
- [52:32]
Paris Lilly
It's a survival game. You got to be smart with your resources. You know, as you progress and get towards the end, you, you definitely get more beefy and you're able to handle these encounters a lot, a lot better. But I would say the early to middle parts of the game, pretty freaking rough. Yeah, but it's good.
- [52:47]
Greg Miller
Are you still playing it, like, actively?
- [52:49]
Paris Lilly
I have not. Not actively right now. I mean, I completed it and moved on to playing other stuff, which we'll get to. But playing it over the holiday, once all the patches came Out. I loved it. Wound up putting about 35 hours into this.
- [53:06]
Greg Miller
Okay.
- [53:07]
Paris Lilly
And I mean, it's really good. I highly recommend this to anyone if you know it's a survival game. It is not easy. I cannot stress that enough. But they have it in a great place right now to where it's very enjoyable. Like I said, everything is trying to kill you.
- [53:22]
Greg Miller
Yeah. Yeah. I downloaded this when y'all were talking about it. I never actually cracked it and got into it. Now I feel like the moment's gone because it's one of those again that at the. They had a zeitgeist in that moment and then I haven't heard much about since then.
- [53:35]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [53:36]
Greg Miller
But I'm glad it made your list.
- [53:37]
Paris Lilly
Yeah. Good.
- [53:38]
Greg Miller
We have another top five for you over in the YouTube super chats. This comes from Mad Rocks, my top five of 2024. Number five. The were. The Were Cleaner. The Were Cleaner. W E R E Cleaner. Is that an abbreviation for something? Say it in chat. I don't know the hell that is. Number four, nine souls. Number three, Uni two. Number two Hades two. Number one Path of Exile. Hell yeah. I admittedly did not have a lot of time to play games in 2024. So good picks there for the ones that I understand.
- [54:11]
Paris Lilly
Absolutely. Yeah.
- [54:12]
Greg Miller
I assume Unicorn overlord is uni 2.
- [54:14]
Paris Lilly
Maybe it is.
- [54:15]
Greg Miller
Maybe.
- [54:16]
Paris Lilly
Maybe that's what it is.
- [54:17]
Greg Miller
Werewolf cleaner. Oh, it's werewolf cleaner. I know. Werewolf Cleaner is. I gotta look into that. Kevin, show me what Werewolf Cleaner is. I'm looking for it. Then people trying to just decide what uni is. Under night in birth. Uni is a fighting game. Interesting. Anyways, thank you for those pics. What is this is Werewolf cleaner.
- [54:42]
Paris Lilly
We're cleaner.
- [54:43]
Greg Miller
Oh, damn. I thought it was a werewolf. I want to be a werewolf cleaner.
- [54:46]
Paris Lilly
Wait, or is he?
- [54:49]
Greg Miller
Come on, Greg.
- [54:50]
Paris Lilly
It looks like the Fox Cleaner.
- [54:51]
Greg Miller
So wait, it's just he turns into a werewolf and he keeps cleaning? Hey, you wanted more than that. I mean, you know, people.
- [54:57]
Paris Lilly
I mean, I mean, is he killing people? He's cleaning.
- [55:04]
Greg Miller
Kevin. What? I need to know what you let it keep playing. We're find out what platform this is on. We might have a new. I might put this on my 2025 list. Get some DLC, you know I'm saying really pissed Baron off. Test times. Oh, it's a USC game. Wow. Wow. Oh, it's a free indie game. So this is just on PC on the App Store. If I don't do it right now, I'll forget. Okay, so there we go. App store. And then you go this thing and you go here and you go, hey.
- [55:37]
Paris Lilly
I have an emote now, I guess.
- [55:39]
Greg Miller
Hey. Damn. There, I'm getting it. A werewolf janitor. I say, hey, take my face. Andy is quick. Shout out to that Mason Saberhawal. Our first game. Oh, that's another Kyle. Kyle is a janitor. He's also a werewolf. And now he's got the night shift. A stealth comedy game with surprises around every corner. Now selling plushies.
- [56:05]
Paris Lilly
Fuck.
- [56:05]
Greg Miller
I'm in. Thank you very much. This is the best part of the show when the audience turns me on to a new game. Thank you, Mad Rocks for that. I'm very appreciative that. That's a great. That is a great emote. It's kind of terrifying, but it's great.
- [56:15]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, it's kind of terrible.
- [56:16]
Greg Miller
Radden. Put it in their top five. Number five, Indiana Jones. Number four, Silent Hill 2 Remake. Number three, Astrobot. Number two, Prince of Persia Lost Crown. And number one, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. I appreciate that. We will move on to find out that my number five. And I'm not gonna even accept the booze on this one. Not even gonna accept the Booze. My number five is WWE 2K24.
- [56:41]
Paris Lilly
Boo. I just did it for everyone.
- [56:43]
Greg Miller
Thank you. I appreciate that. Here's the thing, ladies, gentlemen and enbies, I should look up my thing because I can't remember now if this is my number. No, this is my number three. I think most played game of the year, we all like to sit here and say, oh, the wrestling games will never be as good as they were on N64. And then you pick if you want, you know, WCW, NWO revenge if you want WrestleMania 2000, if you want no mercy. I'm done living in the past. I'm done not feeling that I can sit here and openly admit that this is the best wrestling video game of all time. Like we're talking about what made those N64 games great, right? And it was easy to learn, difficult to master, gameplay to jump. It was the idea of jumping in and going for it. It was the idea of all this stuff. The couch battles we had out there on that TV for this game, WWE 2K24, the idea that we would just start it and this is when Roger's just learning who these people wrestlers are, right? We're in there, we're doing triple threats. We're doing ladder matches. We're having a great time. There's all this stuff. It is the pick up and play. It is the sit there and like, Roger loves wrestling because he's just learning it. But we're watching Jay uso's entire entrance as he comes down like it was the culmination of what Andy's speech was in our studio launch video of. I wish we had a big TV and we played video games on it. That has not happened for Smash Brothers. That has not happened for college football. That has happened for WWE 2K24. I'm just leaving controllers out there and people coming together and playing and doing the damn thing. And then you get into it of like, from a harder core, whatever you want to call it. Standpoint of me loving wrestling games my entire life being, you know, threat through line, through my entire career of reviewing all the smackdowns and Raws, like, once again, the creation suite too much for me, thankfully. The ability to go into the creation library that people have made and download anybody as soon as somebody. The arenas, the characters, the gear, the signs to go get what you want to make it there. The fact that even 2k and I know, again, I'm getting into the. You can go into the hardcore thing that they're not doing enough to update it. But they were updating it where it's like, oh, they made Jay USO's entrance more like this X, Y and Z. Oh, they added in the cheers for this thing. They're doing like, they're going through and making all this shit work in a way that I still think this should be a live service platform game where I buy it once and I get characters like Fortnite and do a whole bunch of different things. But this is what I always wanted wrestling games to be when I was playing it. Like, I think the way we all have rose tinted glasses for those N64 wrestling games, of course, is nostalgia. But as somebody who allegedly has no mercy on his Steam deck and you go back and play that story mode, you're like, oh, wow, this is a lot more bare bones in basic than I was. And of course the 2k ones are always over the top, hokey as shit. You're back there, you talk to Austin Creed and he yells at you and challenges you, like, yeah, but that's what wrestling is. If they want to continue this story, do you want they could go the opposite way and really embrace, you know, kill Kayfabe. And it is backstage jockeying for politics and trying to put on, like, there's an argument for that. And I can see that as well. But there's so much to love about WWE 2K24 that I think it's crazy that people still just go, oh, well, it'll never be as good as N64. And I'm like, I think this is so much better.
- [60:05]
Paris Lilly
Nothing you said was wrong. But you're forgetting something very important. This is not the best wrestling game ever made.
- [60:13]
Greg Miller
What are you gonna go?
- [60:14]
Paris Lilly
It's pro wrestling on the nes, okay? There always will be.
- [60:17]
C
It always will be.
- [60:18]
Paris Lilly
It's goddamn Starman. You can't tell me how you abuse.
- [60:21]
Greg Miller
It with the kick.
- [60:24]
Paris Lilly
You can never convince me any different.
- [60:26]
Greg Miller
I know. That's why it's not even try. It's worth talking to you about this. You know what I mean? Good Lord, Paris. God. What's your number four?
- [60:34]
Paris Lilly
My number four is Prince of Persia, the lost crown. Quite simply, it. It was the first quote, unquote, big game of the year for 2024 that came out. Came out in January, and it is arguably one of the best 2D metroidvanias I've ever played. I just. I love the combat in this game. I mean, obviously, from a visual standpoint, level design, all that. The boss battles were great, but combat was so fluid. And as you. You progress towards the end, I mean, you're damn near a goddamn God.
- [61:06]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [61:06]
Paris Lilly
By the end. And it was just really good. I highly recommend this because I don't think this game has gotten the love that it should have gotten, because for a very long time, this was my game of the year. This wasn't my number one. I just loved it that much, and I think it kind of got lost in the shuffle throughout the year because it came out so early in the year. But ultimately, this is definitely one of the best games that I played in 2024, and that's why I have a number four on my list.
- [61:35]
Greg Miller
Yeah, Chat, help me out. I reviewed another Metroidvania and I didn't adore it, so I went, yes, thank you so much. Thank you so much.
- [61:48]
Paris Lilly
Because that's kind of the comparison I have to this. That was attempting to do what Prince of Persia. Well, I'm not even talking to Mike. That was attempting to do what Prince of Persia was doing, but not at this game.
- [61:59]
Greg Miller
And I'm not the Metroidvania guy, right. But I reviewed a lot of different stuff and played a lot of different stuff this year. And so when I was playing Zau and not feeling it, I went and played Prince of Persia just the opening hour. And it. Even though I'm not the Metroidvania guy, it was that story that pulled me. I played this like Holy shit, this is great. And I want to get back to it. Still haven't.
- [62:16]
Paris Lilly
Of course.
- [62:16]
Greg Miller
It's on the Steam deck. I probably never will. But just that little bit I played, I was impressed and I was like, I see why Tim loves this. So.
- [62:22]
Paris Lilly
Oh, yeah.
- [62:24]
Greg Miller
My number four is thank goodness you're here. You know, finally probably getting back on track with games people actually like and not just weird. Greg. Shit. Thank goodness you're here. You know, we talked about during the DICE Awards. It popped up a few times in the nominations when Stella and I revealed those last week. But thank goodness you're here. Does what I find so impressive and that's make a funny video game. Commit to being a comedy video game. Comedy video games are few and far between because comedy is all about timing and timing. When you have the sticks, when you are in control, you screw up the timing of so many things right where it just doesn't happen. You just don't see it work. And so for them to commit and they say, we're making a comedy game. We are making a British as comedy game about Barnsworth or whatever. It's like. And it's just a slap former. You're just gonna walk around, you're gonna slap little things. That's gonna cause the joke to happen. It's gonna cause this thing to happen. You're gonna progress the plot doing all this. You know, we talked about this in. I think it was the dice one, but maybe somewhere else. I remember Barrett some or somebody talk about it, but it's the. Oh, the smileys. The rule of three where you're coming back and forth over and over to these things doing something very similar and then it's giving you a different punchline to build up to the big punchline. Like, I loved this game. I can't believe more people didn't talk about it. Still don't talk about it. Every time I bring it up, somebody's like, I've never seen this before. I'm going to go pick it up. I think it's so well done, so funny. I love the animation. It looks like Adult Swim. And that was the whole thing of the build up to it. When we saw it initially, it was like, oh, well, this looks like a cartoon. How are they gonna make it an interesting game? And the fact that they actually did and even over here, you know, shout out to Nick's bricks or whatever. Like the things they put in there peens like. Like the things that I still walk around and quote. So well done.
- [64:12]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [64:13]
Greg Miller
Appreciate this game. So Much and urge everybody to go play it.
- [64:16]
Paris Lilly
And I always love this. These type of visuals that. That pulls me right in 100. Like. Like actually very similar to Plucky Squire. Yeah.
- [64:22]
Greg Miller
Way. Paris, what is your number three?
- [64:26]
Paris Lilly
So my number three is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
- [64:31]
Greg Miller
Nice.
- [64:32]
Paris Lilly
And for me this was an interesting one and I have it pretty high for this reason. I was not into Final Fantasy 7 really back in the day.
- [64:41]
Greg Miller
Oh, back in the day. Okay.
- [64:42]
Paris Lilly
Because I am not. I'm not a turn based guy. Just meaning it just. It doesn't grab me. I can watch someone play it, but me playing it never, never grabbed me. I've always understood the appeal of Final Fantasy 7. I did not play remake. So I jumped into this effing lost. Like the Barrett and the Cloud and tf. Like I don't know all this stuff. But there was such a great story that was unfolding in this that as I progressed through I was starting to understand the relationships that. That you're having. Obviously the open world that's there. Everybody loves Queen's Blood, you know, the card game that you play. But it was that combat of taking turn based elements and adding it with, with, with, you know, with. With real time action.
- [65:33]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [65:33]
Paris Lilly
At the same time it clicked for me. It worked. And I was having fun with that with the different spells and the combinations and using the different characters in those combat situations and some of the boss encounters that you would have throughout it. I just think it was an overall well put game.
- [65:51]
Greg Miller
Sure.
- [65:51]
Paris Lilly
That. Sure, I get it. Like I get it now. Like, funny enough, I was in studio right after we had all played, you know, the review and Mike was doing remake and I'm like, shit. Maybe like I almost feel like I need to go back and play remake so I get even more.
- [66:09]
Greg Miller
It's crazy that you didn't. That you just jumped in because.
- [66:11]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, hey, review. We want to play it.
- [66:14]
Greg Miller
I hear you.
- [66:15]
Paris Lilly
You know what I mean? But I got enough out of it that I can appreciate it is. And again from a visual standpoint, from. Excuse me, like I said, the combat already, the. The design of the open world, that was another. Another thing about it. I didn't have open world fatigue with this game.
- [66:31]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [66:31]
Paris Lilly
I thought there was always something to do. There was always some side mission I could go off on or mess around with a chocoboo and ride around or whatever. Right. But there was always something in here. And like even listening to Blessing all them yesterday, talking about all the relationships and the dating and all that, some of that went over my Head. Because again, I don't know the history and the legacy of it.
- [66:52]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [66:53]
Paris Lilly
But I got enough of it that I could appreciate it.
- [66:55]
Greg Miller
That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I. This is. I feel like one of my. This. I know this is gonna sound loaded. It's not. I mean, in a different way. I'm disappointed in myself for Remake Rebirth because I loved Remake. That was the first final Fantasy I rolled credits on. I had a great time, yada, yada, yada. But I had cooled so much and forgotten so much that by the time I got here and I looked at this, I was like, eh. And I wasn't on the review. And there was always something else. And I was always like, I need to get the mood. I need to get the mood. I need the mood. And when Pro dropped and I jumped in and played, I was like, just not. It's just not hitting. It's not making me want to go play it. And that sucks because I again, liked Remake so much. I would love to still be connected to it. I just don't feel like I am.
- [67:36]
Paris Lilly
And I will say this. Which. This camera there. You know, I remember when this came out on X Cast, I made a comment about this not being on Xbox and some people got grumpy at me. Suck it. Because it's coming to Xbox.
- [67:47]
Greg Miller
Damn. There it is. Also, maybe switch to number three for Greg Miller. Dragon Age the Veil Guard. I don't think this surprises longtime listeners. They saw me really connect with this game. It's the first Dragon Age. I've loved. The Dragon Ages before just never worked for me. I was a different gamer probably when they were out because it was a different lifetime ago when there was Dragon Age games coming out. I thought, again, the art style is so good here. I love the story here. I loved making my rook and making these choices and seeing these bonds formed with these people. I think so much of that I'm able to say and do because of course, I had no baggage to what Dragon Age looked like before or who characters were before all this other stuff. I thought they gave me a great introduction to what was going on with Solas. We were off to the races and I was having a blast. And I think so much of that comes down to. I think the gameplay is fucking awesome. You know, if you've listened to Greg Miller for years, you've heard me talk, talk about Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning and how great that combat system was and how I would just play it and mute the game and listen to podcasts and have no Idea what's going on. Like, this gave me an amazing story, I felt, and great relationships and this awesome gameplay. That really was a system I wanted to get lost in and build my rook and go through and do and see what the choices would net out for. I think the game's failing points for me is the fact that there should have been more choices. You have a giant one in the very front. I think there should have been like two to three more of those to really make it branch, branch, branch, branch, branch. I understand how hard that is. I understand this game didn't start as this game when it was being worked on that way. But for me, when I think of 2024, it's one I'll look back to. I think they do such a great job. I think the ending. Powerful is the right word because I don't mean emotionally powerful, even though I guess it is. But I think having committed and bought in all the way through, getting to the ending in the little red herrings they do and the deaths or whatever, the changes and things that worked so well for me. And as I've said, like, it was so good that I've never played it again. I didn't want. I was going to platinum it. I had every intention. But I liked how my story ended so much that I was like, I just need to push off here and not come back before credits and go through and do this. Like, I loved Dragon Age of Elgard and I understand why other people didn't. People have problem with the writing. I'm a big old idiot, as you know. So I didn't like. I mean, there's scenes where it's like, okay, that's what. But like, even the character I chose and the responses I was choosing and the relationships I went off on, I thought it all worked, but I know that is. Andy and I have talked about it. You start with a different backstory. You start talking to this person, then why are you saying that? It's a whole bunch of different stuff. But Video Game Fury in the chat says Vailgard felt like watching a young adult show. I don't disagree with that. It was really well animated. And I like. I like it for that reason. Like, I don't mind that it how they did it, but I understand other people wanted a more gritty Dragon Age. That wasn't what I needed. I had a great time with it. It's another one of those RPGs that I adored.
- [70:32]
Paris Lilly
So this is one where I'm. I'm with the people that had issues with it. You know, I did the preview, and I started playing it, and I just. I couldn't continue.
- [70:43]
Greg Miller
Wow.
- [70:44]
Paris Lilly
It didn't. It never grabbed me on multiple levels. Gameplay, I think I was. Let me back up. Was never in a Dragon Age. So this is almost like the Final Fantasy thing where we're talking about where I'm just jumping in and starting to play. There was nothing there that grabbed me to. Compelled me to want to continue. So kind of just stopped. Yeah. Kind of the young adult thing kind of makes sense to me. It.
- [71:08]
Greg Miller
That's a really good way to put it.
- [71:09]
Paris Lilly
Yeah. Yeah. It just. It never. It wasn't what I wanted from a fantasy rpg, from a story standpoint. And again, the combat, to me, it just didn't do it.
- [71:19]
Greg Miller
Understandable.
- [71:20]
Paris Lilly
Yeah. Yeah. Different strokes.
- [71:21]
Greg Miller
Yeah. I mean, I get it. Like, you know, you got to be in the mood. You got to be the thing.
- [71:23]
Paris Lilly
But, like.
- [71:24]
Greg Miller
Yeah, for me, I mean, just how colorful and beautiful in this world and, you know, the necromancers and this. And the environment, like, I fucking love this game. Paris, what did you love for number two?
- [71:35]
Paris Lilly
My number two is Blotro.
- [71:39]
Greg Miller
There it is. There it is. You knew it was coming.
- [71:41]
Paris Lilly
I said it yesterday. This game is cocaine. If. If I knew what cocaine was like, that's what it would be.
- [71:46]
Greg Miller
Yeah. If you.
- [71:47]
Paris Lilly
If.
- [71:47]
Greg Miller
If you knew.
- [71:49]
Paris Lilly
But I don't. But. No, no, but being serious, I mean, it. This is another one where I. I kind of played it throughout the year. I understood the appeal of it. I was like, all right, yeah, this is. This is real cool. You know, I had completed some of the basic decks and things like that, and I got sick over Christmas and had nothing else to do, and I started playing this thing, and it sucked me in so freaking much. Like, the addiction is real. Like, hell, even last night, what do you think I did when I left? I was playing this. It's. It is a roguelike with all these goddamn jokers. And you. You get into the celestials and the. The. The. The mega packs and the spectral cards, and you're just creating all these different combinations and these multipliers, and you come up with a strategy of. All right, I'm. I'm gonna focus on getting straights and flushes as an example. Right. That's going to be my play style. So you build your decks around that. You build the jokers and the multipliers around stuff like that, and they'll throw something at you with one of the big boss blinds that will just completely f up everything that you're doing and you're trying to scramble so that you can just literally survive to get out of that round so you can continue. Because you. You have to get. And I'm blanking on it now, but you have to get the. Starts with an A. Why am I blanking? No, the. When you complete a round. You know what I'm talking about. Chat. But anyways, I like the chat.
- [73:18]
Greg Miller
They'll get that chap in one second.
- [73:20]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, the auntie. Thank you. But because you have to get nine of those to quote unquote, win.
- [73:25]
Greg Miller
Okay.
- [73:26]
Paris Lilly
Right. And there's an option you can continue to play beyond that endlessly, or you can start over with a different deck up. The difficulty, stuff like that. There's all these unlocks that you can get with the various cards that you want. There's just so much shit in this game.
- [73:39]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [73:40]
Paris Lilly
And one dude made it. It is the craziest thing to know that one person made this game and wasn't even thinking it was going to be a big deal. Just like, hey, you know, hey, I want to try and make something. Totally sucked me in. Yeah, completely. So much so that now when some of this DLC stuff's coming out, I'm near day one. Yeah.
- [73:59]
Greg Miller
Balatro is, I mean, a phenomenon this year.
- [74:02]
Paris Lilly
It really is. I have this now. I have it on Apple tv, Apple Arcade. I have it on Steam Deck and I have it on Xbox. And I'm just.
- [74:11]
Greg Miller
And you're not alone, right?
- [74:12]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [74:12]
Greg Miller
That's such a common story for people.
- [74:14]
Paris Lilly
Who have a lot of nuts. It. It is such a. And well, I'm sure we'll get into it the next game too. But this is what video games is all about. Not everything has to be this 300 million dollar blockbuster. Thousand people were making it. One dude made this on whatever his budget was. I'm sure it was tiny.
- [74:32]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [74:32]
Paris Lilly
But anybody that plays this, you just get sucked in.
- [74:36]
Greg Miller
Yeah. I mean, it's been awesome to see people continuous. Continuously fall in love with it and not be able to stop playing it. And like you said, I think yesterday. Right. Of like the people who talk shit when it gets nominated and then they try it like, oh, I get it. Okay, cool.
- [74:49]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [74:51]
Greg Miller
My number two. I did my best, everyone. I'm sorry, everyone in the chat Yesterday, my number two is Helldivers 2. It was like watching a car accident in slow motion yesterday as game of the year was going on. And as we got deeper and deeper and deeper into list the chat starting. A little swell, a little hubbub, a Little buzz of like, oh, it's gonna be hel divers two. Oh my God, Helldivers two is gonna be next. Oh my God, is Helldivers two tied for number one? I was like, are you fucking crazy how I'm the only person at kind of funny who's obsessed with Gary's a part timer of the core people, the people who voted yesterday. I'm the only person who like is obsessed or was obsessed or whatever you want to say with Helldivers 2 and with Good reason. This is another game that took the world by storm this year and you know, I have talked about it to death in so many shows. But like as somebody who loved Helldivers 1 so much on PlayStation, playing on the plane, sitting there with my Vita, the ability to do the cross play, cross save. Like the dream realized of what the Vita was meant to be, right? To wait nine years for a Helldivers 2 and look at it. It's like, oh, it's a new perspective. Okay. It's just more shooting. Okay, where are we at in 2024 for another live service? Multiplayer PlayStation exclusive, slash, PC, whatever. Shoot. Like is this going to go in like for this game to come out and find such a new audience to find, like to blow the doors off it be so successful again. You can point at many missteps this year from PlayStation side, from Arrowhead side, but for the to be real, just have this incredible post launch journey of war bonds and DLC and this giant expansion they drop at the game awards like Helldivers is such a great game and you know, you hinted at it and I think you might have been talking about Astrobot, but I would use it here. What a great reminder of what video games are all about. Jump in with your friends, you are all going to die a bunch. It is part of the charm, the fun. You're getting killed by these bugs, the fact that people are taking it. And again, it's a games as a service, it's a live service product and that continues out onto Twitter, onto Blue sky, whatever where you're seeing people tweet about what's happening on super Earth and everyone basically role playing online of like oh for democracy, you know what I mean? Kill the bugs. Yeah, ignoring the genocide there, like so fucking good. So. And I mean just a arrowhead knocked it out of the park with the game. But like then just have this reception and have this thing like those streams, like, you know, I'm just not that guy. The games I play, as you know, on this list are not that those games for. Kind of funny. When this dropped and we were doing the five hour streams every day, we're canceling podcasts so I can stay in there longer and play with Joey and Mike and everything else. Like, what a dream come true for me. Like, that's what I. You know, everybody thinks the job is playing games all the time. And like for one, two, three weeks it was. And we're getting post kid into it. We're having a great time. Like, I loved this game. I love this game so much. You know, the return to it I've had recently during break for the newest DLC has been so much fun. I can't wait for more. It'll be interesting to see if they drop whatever they drop for expansions this year, if that is enough to get it onto my list and go there. But I adored Helldivers 2 and it broke my heart yesterday watching everyone get their hopes up being like, no. Oh, my God. How many of you are brand new here? Like, Mike would be my. My closest compatriot and he doesn't like PvE, so he does not give a shit about Helldivers.
- [78:20]
Paris Lilly
Like, fuck. I mean, I think I missed my window in this. I forget what was out at the time. But there was other stuff I was playing.
- [78:28]
Greg Miller
It was February. Right. So it was right around.
- [78:30]
Paris Lilly
Yeah. So I was probably found a fantasy. So maybe I got sucked into that or something and I missed that initial window to jump in and play. But this is totally a game I would love.
- [78:39]
Greg Miller
Right? My one thing I would tell you, it is not too late.
- [78:41]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, it is not too late.
- [78:43]
Greg Miller
You could easily say, hey, you want to play tonight? Me and Gary would be there. Gary, of course.
- [78:47]
Paris Lilly
Oh, yeah, Gary's.
- [78:48]
Greg Miller
I love it. And I'm like 70 hours in. Gary, of course, has more than a thousand hours in. He's got nothing. He'll run just to do it. He jump. He. Every night, anytime I just turn on my steam deck, I see that Gary Whitter is playing Helldivers. He's just running with randos. He's having a good time. I hit up Gary this weekend. I was like, hey, friend of mine's never played this game. Do you want to help Sherpas? And he was the nicest, most helpful person ever. Yeah, very much. Unlike Gary. Yeah, he's usually a fucking cock. You know? You know what I mean, Nick? Yeah, he knows what I mean over there. It is time to reveal our number one picks, and they're the same game. So, Paris, take it away.
- [79:25]
Paris Lilly
I mean, it's Astrobot. Yeah. I've been pretty vocal since it came out in September about how much I've loved this game. And at first was kind of tongue in cheek going Astrobot game of the year. But then I started to realize, oh wait, no, this is game of the year. This is my favorite game that I've played this year.
- [79:45]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [79:45]
Paris Lilly
For what we're just talking about is just such a video ass video game that I love. I'm a platforming junkie. Yes. This is taking elements from 3D Mario. I mean they obviously fully admitted it themselves during the game awards and that's fine. But they did it at such a high quality level. I mean, what Team Sobe was able to do with this, I, I just freaking loved it. It obviously celebrating 30 years of PlayStation at the same time. You know, some of these levels that you'll go into. And we talked about it before, the Uncharted level, like that God award level. The first time I went to that, I was like, I am so effing.
- [80:22]
Greg Miller
Yeah.
- [80:23]
Paris Lilly
On this, I, I loved it. But then it was when you get to those challenge levels and I realized that, oh, there is a difficulty scale here now. Now I have to really lock in and focus to try and complete this. And the sense of satisfaction that you would get when you would complete these. And then obviously the, the end level. Getting past all that is just. It does it. All right. Not to mention you feel compelled to want to get every puzzle piece. You want to get every, every Astrobot on the level. You want to 100% platinum this game.
- [80:55]
Greg Miller
100%.
- [80:56]
Paris Lilly
I, I freaking love it. And not to mention they've continued to support it, you know, since it's come out. You know, even yesterday. We're talking about the Christmas level and all that coming out. We know they're going to continue to support it as we go here into 2025. It again, my favorite game of 2024. I loved it. And I will say to anybody again that disagrees, which is fine because we all don't love the same things. Play it. Just play it. If you actually play it and invest some time into this game and you still feel the same way. Totally valid. But I think a lot of people that have criticisms about it have just simply not played Astrobot. It was that good.
- [81:33]
Greg Miller
Yeah. I mean, I echo everything you said and everything we said yesterday and the fact that like it is just a pure gameplay.
- [81:41]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [81:41]
Greg Miller
Grab. I mean it's like it is just pure video games. Like I feel like it's the definition of what video games are of just like you get in, you jump in, you forget your worries, you're playing this game and then yeah, your worries become how can I survive this level or do this quicker, whatever. But it's like it is that idea of like, wow, what a great distillment of why I love video.
- [82:00]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [82:00]
Greg Miller
Like it is a perfect video game and I don't use that often. I think it is a perfect video game. Like I have no critiques, no notes. Like this is so much fun to play. It is so ingenious. It is so inventive. It is so cute. It is so colorful. The soundtrack is awesome. Like yeah, the controller rumbles are impress like it's a perfect video game. And I think that again, this is a little bit of what I was talking about of trying to decide like an IGN game of the year. Right. It just happens to be the same thing. I'm just like it's the best experience I had in games this year and I didn't want it to end and I never want it to end and I want more from it. And I'm so happy I got what I got out of it. And I would recommend it to anyone to go off and do stuff like since it's insane. Astrobots Incredible.
- [82:41]
Paris Lilly
Yeah.
- [82:41]
Greg Miller
And well deserving of our game of the year both for Kind of Funny and Paris and Greg.
- [82:48]
Paris Lilly
Yes. And a lot of other places too. Yep.
- [82:50]
Greg Miller
I got a few super chats to close this out before we watch Rogers movie game special movie game. Jeff Bull Jr. Super Chats and says what should I get for lunch? I say chicken wings. What do you think?
- [83:03]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, I love a good chicken wing.
- [83:05]
Greg Miller
Demon hacker says when WWE 2K25 comes out running to viewer match we could look into that for you for a stream. I would love that. Bam. 25, 50, 19 super chats and says my top five are number five, Tekken 8, number four Dragon Ball, sparking zero, number three, Marvel Rivals, number two seller Blade and number one, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Thanks for the amazing content everyone. We are happy to be there for you. Bam in great picks. I know it's one of those. What a fucking year for a video game. Yeah, Marvel Rivals didn't make our list. Sparking zero didn't make our list. But neither stellar Blade. But these are all games that got talked about on the show and how much people loved.
- [83:41]
Paris Lilly
Oh absolutely. By the way, before I forget and I saw it in the chat because it reminded me I wanted to bring this up. So Dungeons of Hintonburg is a game that didn't make my top 10, but almost did. And I think it deserves a lot more love than it's getting because it was a fantastic. The social aspects of it, the dungeon crawling things about it. I loved it.
- [84:04]
Greg Miller
I've talked about it a lot on these shows, if you've missed them before. It was a game I played on vacation, which was great because the whole concept of the game is you are on vacation and your vacation is going to dungeons and beating these monsters and meeting people. And I was like, I loved that game. Love, love, love Dungeons of Hintenburg. Yeah. And it was a similar thing where I think if I hadn't played Caravan Sandwich this time around, I think this would have taken that place probably or you know, that end of the top 10 list out there. But really, really loved this game and think, yeah, people didn't give it a shot. It is Game Pass. You can get it obviously.
- [84:33]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, it's on Game pass, the best dealing game and you know, and animal well was on the came in the top 10. I was pleasantly surprised because again, I only started playing it a few weeks ago, so I haven't completed it. But yeah, everything that Roger was talking about, I love that game. I can't wait to dive into it more. Keep playing.
- [84:49]
Greg Miller
Shane Bailey super chats and says Astro Bot is easily the greatest game of 2024 and has made its way out of my top five of all time. An absolute masterpiece and a fun platinum. A great Platinum. I really, really enjoy. They. Hats off to Team Asobi. They crushed that.
- [85:04]
Paris Lilly
Absolutely.
- [85:04]
Greg Miller
And then our final super chat for this episode of the Kind of Funny Games cast comes from Trevor, who says as someone that didn't grow up with Nintendo after playing Astrobot, I wished I did. Best way to describe it is pure joy. I agree with Paris. The God of War level is one of my favorite levels. Slash sections of any game. Hear, hear. Well done. Yep, Paris, well done for hanging out with us these first two days of the week.
- [85:26]
Paris Lilly
Yeah, it's awesome. Like I said at the top, I need to. I need to be here more.
- [85:31]
Greg Miller
You're always welcome, you know that. Just like you're always welcome to watch us. Of course, we're kind of funny. And each and every weekday we have a number of live talk shows for your viewing and listening pleasure. Of course you can catch us on Twitch TV, kindafunnygames, YouTube.com kindafunnygames Podcast services around the globe. But if you love what we do, the best way to support us is with the kinda Funny membership. Pick it up on patreon.com kinda funny YouTube or apple or Spotify of course get all of our shows ad free, the ability to watch the afternoon podcast on select platforms, and of course get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller in a series we call Greg Way Game of the Year for Kinda Funny is far from done. Like I said, the big top 10 is up from yesterday, but the rest of the week you will be getting everybody coming in to reveal their top 10 so you can see how the votes actually went down. However, tomorrow's a very special day. Remember we are beginning the programming a little bit later. 11:30 you get kinda Funny games daily. Then you get a stream and then at 4pm Pacific time I sit down with Shuhei Yoshida to talk about his 31 years of PlayStation. Now that they're done, who does he hate? I will find out or I will die trying. Everybody, for now, Roger has a special movie game for everyone to play. So until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you man.