Greg Miller's Video Game Hot Takes 2024 - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: Greg Miller's Video Game Hot Takes 2024

Episode Release Date: November 19, 2024

In this engaging episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, host Tim Gettys is joined by co-hosts Blessing Adeyoye Jr. and Greg Miller to delve into Greg Miller's "Hot Takes" for 2024. The discussion navigates through critical perspectives on major video game releases, the evolving landscape of gamer culture, and the challenges of content creation amidst growing online toxicity.

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1. Introduction and Setup (00:24 - 04:06)

The episode kicks off with Tim Gettys introducing the show and welcoming Blessing Adeyoye Jr.. The conversation is light-hearted, with playful remarks about the show's streaming setup and a brief, albeit skipped, advertisement segment promoting Angie Hicks and her home improvement services.

Notable Quote:

Greg Miller: "Hello everybody, it's me, Greg Miller, trending gamer." [00:59]

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2. Greg Miller's Hot Takes: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth vs. Metaphor Refantasio (04:04 - 34:04)

Blessing Adeyoye Jr. spearheads the episode's main segment—Greg Miller's hot takes—which centers on his mixed feelings about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and his preference for Metaphor Refantasio.

a. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Critique

Blessing expresses disappointment with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, finding its performances "wooden" and its combat system less engaging compared to the remake.

Notable Quotes:

Blessing Adeyoye Jr.: "I don't wanna play more of it. That sucks." [09:05]

Blessing Adeyoye Jr.: "Barret's saying, everybody, I'm looking at this Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and I'm like, you are the most wooden people in the wooden performances." [08:19]

b. Comparison with Metaphor Refantasio

Contrastingly, Metaphor Refantasio receives praise for its turn-based combat system, which Greg feels bridges the gap between traditional turn-based mechanics and action-oriented gameplay. Greg commends the game's character development and party-building mechanics, describing them as "addicting."

Notable Quotes:

Greg Miller: "Metaphor is one of those ones that really works." [33:58]

Greg Miller: "The archetypes are so good. And that system, I think is very engaging." [34:04]

c. Broader RPG Discussions

The conversation broadens to encompass other RPGs like Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls Online, and Elden Ring, with Blessing grappling with indecision over which games to commit to. The trio explores the nuances of combat systems, narrative engagement, and personal preferences in RPG gameplay.

Notable Quotes:

Blessing Adeyoye Jr.: "I'm ready to play out of this dungeon. I'd like to move on to the next thing." [21:00]

Greg Miller: "You have to play some Elden Ring." [26:33]

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3. Naming Controversy: Caravan Sandwich (40:09 - 47:56)

A significant portion of the episode humorously critiques the indie game Caravan Sandwich for its unconventional name. Blessing Adeyoye Jr. and Greg Miller brainstorm alternative titles, highlighting the challenges developers face in naming games that resonate with audiences.

Notable Quotes:

Blessing Adeyoye Jr.: "This is one of the worst names for a video game I've ever heard." [40:59]

Greg Miller: "Desert drive. That's also very generic." [46:34]

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4. Gamer Culture and Online Toxicity (47:58 - 57:03)

The discussion shifts to the state of gamer culture, with a focus on the rise of online toxicity, "gamer rage," and the impact of content creators on community behavior. The hosts lament the divisive nature of modern gaming discussions, attributing it to factors like social media algorithms and the monetization of outrage.

Notable Quotes:

Blessing Adeyoye Jr.: "Gamers are too angry. I wrote that down." [52:01]

Greg Miller: "People have taken the marketplace of ideas and turned it into a thing of, oh, I'm gonna hate somebody because they don't want to hear my ideas." [56:39]

Tim Gettys: "It's all just a business, period. What we're doing is a business." [56:44]

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5. Recommendations and Community Engagement (57:03 - End)

Towards the end, the hosts share game recommendations suitable for specific gaming setups, such as the Steam Deck, emphasizing titles like Hades 2 and Inscryption. They also engage with community super chats, addressing listener suggestions and personal anecdotes related to gaming challenges and preferences.

Notable Quotes:

Greg Miller: "Inscription. Fantastic on the Steam deck. So that'll always be my recommendation." [48:53]

Blessing Adeyoye Jr.: "This is the game I needed right now in terms of like, hey, this is a great catch your breath moment." [42:32]

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6. Conclusion and Final Thoughts (57:03 - End)

The episode wraps up with reflections on maintaining civility in gaming discussions, the importance of supporting each other within the community, and a humorous nod to Greg's unresolved "hot takes."

Notable Quotes:

Greg Miller: "But none of those are hot takes. In fact, that was a cold take that I just gave." [61:39]

Blessing Adeyoye Jr.: "We're supposed to support each other out here. You know what I mean?" [61:47]

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Key Insights and Takeaways

1. Critical Evaluation of Major Releases: Greg Miller's skepticism towards Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth highlights the importance of evolving game mechanics and narrative engagement to meet player expectations.

2. Appreciation for Innovative Combat Systems: The praise for Metaphor Refantasio underscores the potential of hybrid combat systems that blend turn-based strategy with action elements to enhance gameplay depth and player investment.

3. Challenges in Indie Game Marketing: The humorous critique of Caravan Sandwich's name emphasizes the broader challenges indie developers face in creating memorable and marketable game titles.

4. Impact of Online Toxicity on Gaming Communities: The hosts express concern over the increasing divisiveness in gamer discourse, attributing it to algorithm-driven content and the monetization of outrage, urging for more constructive and civility-focused interactions.

5. Strategic Game Recommendations: Tailored suggestions for different gaming platforms and preferences demonstrate the show's commitment to catering to a diverse gaming audience.

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Engagement with Listeners

The Kinda Funny Gamescast encourages listeners to share their own hot takes and opinions on debated topics like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth versus Metaphor Refantasio. The hosts emphasize the value of diverse perspectives while advocating for respectful and meaningful discussions within the gaming community.

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Overall, this episode offers a thoughtful examination of contemporary gaming trends, player preferences, and the socio-cultural dynamics influencing the gaming landscape in 2024. Through candid discussions and relatable anecdotes, Kinda Funny delivers a comprehensive and entertaining exploration of what gamers are passionate—and sometimes passionate about not—this year.

Transcript

[Greg Miller]

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of angie.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

One thing I've learned is that you.

[Greg Miller]

Buy a house, but you make it a home.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And for decades, Angie's helped millions of.

[Greg Miller]

Homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. Get all your jobs done [e-mail].

[Tim Gettys]

What'S up and welcome to Kinda Funny Games cast for Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Of course, I am your host. I'm joined today by Blessing Adeyoye Jr. Good day, Tim. We have Snowbike Mike running the boards and ones and twos contributing a bit throughout the show. Don't laugh, Blessing. It's a whole thing here in the streaming labs. Okay. We're trying our best in here. I love. It's always just so off putting though.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Even when you know the one frame of the thing that filmed before is coming, it still freaks you out for a second.

[Tim Gettys]

A little bit weird. And that last voice you hear right here is the man of the hour, Greg Miller.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Hello everybody, it's me, Greg Miller, trending gamer.

[Tim Gettys]

This episode is going to be all about dropping your hot takes for video games in 2020.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It sure is.

[Tim Gettys]

What's this crew deck going on? I like it.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I rocked this on a games daily the other day. This is a new Mill Valley pasta company thing. We of course love Tony. We support Tony. You see the heart is made of pasta.

[Tim Gettys]

I do.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I did not rip cage with a spaghetti heart in there. Very disgusting. Very off putting.

[Greg Miller]

I like it.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I like it. It's just like it's one of those things where, you know, some people have that thing where they can't look at like spaghetti. No. Well, I mean, I think this spaghetti made into a heart, set into a heart. All right, everybody.

[Tim Gettys]

Remember everyone, this is the kind of funny games cast. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, please support us with the Kinda Funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free. Watch us record them live and you get a daily exclusive show for a chance to be part of the show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. And today I'm going to need y'all to show up. Couple special things. If y'all have some hot takes, drop them super chat them in. But if you have takes on Greg's hot takes, that's what I really want to hear.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And I'm clearly I'm going to need you to say you're in. You agree? You're with me because you know, Tim's already trying to skew it. You know what I mean? What a surprise. The man who wouldn't feed Snow Bike Mike trying to take care of his other star athlete out here.

[Tim Gettys]

I wouldn't feed him.

[Greg Miller]

What happened?

[Tim Gettys]

He was just so hungry and I was like. I just wanted him to take me to dinner. Bless.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

We're going to the sphere now. We're going here. This cab drive is going to come.

[Greg Miller]

Gordon Ramsay restaurant. Didn't you?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

He went to Wolfgang and Puck.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, Wolfgang and Punk. All three.

[Greg Miller]

Good for you.

[Tim Gettys]

Good lord. A little housekeeping for you. You already got rumors of PlayStation buying from software's parent company on Games Daily. That was me. And Bless. Great episode. We crushed it everybody. So go check that out.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It's worth pointing out you crushed it and I loved the vibe of it because you were in on the couch again. If you're an audio listener, hopefully you don't even know the difference. But we're not at the professional desk today. Something cool is being filmed in there. So instead we're in the streaming room on the couch. Which I think gives the shows an extra laid back flavor.

[Tim Gettys]

Definitely.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Except for Bless right now, who I've never seen look more uncomfortable.

[Greg Miller]

Like I'm sitting on a pillow right now.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It's going to be a three hour long thing of my hot takes.

[Tim Gettys]

I love. Oh, you're going to sit on the pillow. I love Belmonting.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

He's belmonting like they did.

[Tim Gettys]

The boys did such a good job with the lab. Like. Are you kidding me? Like this is like. Are we 8K? We look like what the PS5 box promised. You know what I'm talking about?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It's true.

[Greg Miller]

God, we got that pisser in us. I'm sorry, the pssr.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

That's what we're doing. That is the vibe of the GameStop.

[Tim Gettys]

After this will get the flight simulator with Mike and Nick. And if you're a kind of funny member, you can get today's Greg Way in the afternoon. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs. Delaney Twining. We appreciate you so very, very much today we're brought to you by Sonic and topgolf aura frames and visual triangle merch. But we'll tell you about that later. For now let's get into it. The topic of the show.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Tots. Tots. Tots.

[Greg Miller]

Tots.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Tots. Tots. Tots. Tots.

[Tim Gettys]

Greg Miller's video game hot takes of 2024. Now, Greg.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

What was the impetus of this. Bless and I were talking about this, and this definitely felt like, oh, Greg has some things to say.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

That's right. Yeah. I had a moment playing a video game and then playing another video game where I was like. And then I was like, you know what? That should be a show. But then it was that idea of like, well, sorry I touched your knee. It'll happen.

[Greg Miller]

I have to apologize by retouching it.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I was like a graze before. I gotta commit. You know what I mean? Look at how good me and Gary are friends now because of me. Touching, isn't he? You remember?

[Tim Gettys]

True. I don't remember.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It was an up at Noon episode two. Yeah, up at two. God. Episode two. Is that right?

[Tim Gettys]

I think it was two.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Wow. Anyways, yes. So I had this great bit, great conversation with myself. Cause I podcast in my head. Of course. I gotta keep myself entertained. Lord knows Ben's not saying anything interesting. You know what I mean? I get it. You like Chase from Paw Patrol. You like Marshall. He's clumsy. We started talking a lot more about Spider Man. That's cool.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

But then I'm describing a kind of funny podcast last night. I'm sitting there with him, and I'm reading the goddamn book, and I'm like, who's this? Who's that? And he's like, he's nailing it. Spider man, Miles Morales, Ms. Marvel. He's crushing it, right? He just learned Captain Marvel in the new book, so he's like, I don't. I'm like, it's Captain Marvel. Then we introduced Thor, and he couldn't say Thor, which was very cute. But then in the next book, when Thor popped up and I pointed at him again, I'm like, who's this? You just learned? Didn't know Thor. Come on.

[Tim Gettys]

Come on, man.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

He's using the same fucking hammer.

[Tim Gettys]

He's the God of thunder.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

You know what I mean? Very serious.

[Tim Gettys]

Get it together, buddy.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

What are you, the God of hammers? Anyway, so then I was like, you know what? I got a whole hodgepodge of things I've been sitting on. You know what I mean? They're not full meals, but they're great appetizers, you know what I mean? And the year's over, so you're cleaning out your fridge, and here it is. I'm going in there, I'm finding these olives, I'm finding this bread. I'm like, I can make something out of this. You know what I mean? I can make something out of this. And I know that everyone out here likes to think that their opinions aren't trash. But a lot of people on this. A lot of people. No, no, no. I'm talking about this company.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Trash opinions. So somebody needs to set it straight.

[Tim Gettys]

Yes. And it's gonna be you.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It's gonna be me.

[Tim Gettys]

You are the star of the show.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

That's right.

[Tim Gettys]

Where do you want to start this? Well, first off, is there an order to your takes? Is it from hottest to least hot or are these so hot?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

We'll start with the hottest one. We'll start with where the take is.

[Tim Gettys]

The glasses are on everyone.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

That's cause these takes are so hot. I'm gonna need sunglasses. All right. That's why we're here in black and white. All right. I put them in different orders and this will be. I understand. A lot of people are sitting there and they're like, oh, my God, Greg, I've been following you since podcast beyond episode one. I've been with you since game scoop 33. You know what I mean? I remember you at the Columbia Daily Tribune. I've been watching game scoop 33. Well, I started somewhere in the 20s, but I didn't get good til 30s. I've been around a long time. I just want you to monologue this entire episode. Kick the other guys out of the room. I said, no, this will be participatory. We're going to have conversations. You're going to get in there participating. It's the eye. Okay? I went to the eye doctor today. All right. I took the puffs of air to the face. So just how does that feel? You're making fun of somebody. Puffs of air to the face goes to the eye.

[Greg Miller]

Why?

[Tim Gettys]

You ever know that when they check your eye they go poof.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And you have to like, yeah, you gotta get your eyes checked. Get your eyes checked.

[Greg Miller]

I do. Constantly.

[Tim Gettys]

You might have glaucoma when you go home. That's why that's popping, dude.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, you should be getting puffed.

[Greg Miller]

Well, for me it's like more of almost like a poke.

[Tim Gettys]

Poke.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, it all been there.

[Tim Gettys]

Ain't supposed to be poking your eyes, bro.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Anyways, we're gonna start with this. Last week we got that PlayStation 5 Pro. I'm like, okay, here it is. Time to start Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. All right.

[Tim Gettys]

Hell yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I jump in there, play it for an afternoon. But you know, of course, emails are pulling me, stuff like that. I got through the flashback, whereas, you know what I mean? So there. So there's a healthy part of this Game or whatever, right? Put it down. Go home. I'm like, what do I want to play tonight? You know what I mean? Like, I don't ever want to push something. You know what I mean? If I'm not feeling. I'm like, you know what? I need to get back to metaphor. Refantazio. All right? I turn on metaphor refantazio. I play about 30 seconds. I just go, what a better game. You know what I mean? You want to talk about the dog water that is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth compared to metaphor.

[Tim Gettys]

Re.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Fantasize. What are we talking about? We're talking about one game that I was like, oh, my God. And I. Oh, yesterday, everybody. Oh, yesterday. Oh, man. Aerith deserves a voice actor. Barret's saying, everybody, I'm looking at this Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and I'm like, you are the most wooden people. You are the most wooden people in the wooden performances. Here. This flashback, are you talking? And I'm just like.

[Greg Miller]

I'm mad at it, honestly.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Thank you very much. This is the thing. I understand. Hold on, let me put him up. Cause I'm talking to you as a human being now, all right? Not your leader. Listen, I understand some of this is going to be shocking, all right? But you just need to brace yourselves and be. Don't be resistant, all right? Be a reed in the breeze. All right? Bend a little with me and you'll find some truth. Thank you very much.

[Greg Miller]

What do you think about that?

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, I think it's absolutely wild. I feel like there's some choice words used, like wooden, which I'm interested in, because there must have been something specific that triggered you to say that.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

No. We'll toss back on the glasses now. All right. For this part now, I'm no longer.

[Tim Gettys]

In the real glass or whatever.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

No. Because this is what I want this show to be a little bit about. I'll give you the hot take and then we'll talk a bit about it. I want. I don't understand why I wasn't excited for Rebirth and why after starting Rebirth, I don't wanna play more of it. That sucks. I loved Final Fantasy 7 remake. I think I did vote it for my game of the year. It won our overall game of the year. I forget if it was my number one or where it was. Barret's not here to have it all, like his crazy lizard memory. They can just tell you where you're at.

[Greg Miller]

I'm trying to think of it right now.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

Cause I'm usually good at this stuff. I wanna say yours is Blasticles.

[Tim Gettys]

Blasticles 2.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Perfect. Okay, great. So. But I really loved remake, right? And I was so excited when it was over. And then to be so many years removed from remake, have Rebirth coming, and I was not able to find the excitement for it, right? And then I didn't review it with y'all. Cause I was reviewing something else and then never find, like, even starting it. I was just like, man, I'm not even. I'm not connected to the characters. Like, it's not. And I remember back when it was. And I remember finishing Remake and calling Tim immediately, being like, hey, I really liked it. What the fuck's going on? Like, I. It wasn't a story thing for me, so it was a gameplay thing for me. It was the battle system for me. But then I think maybe jumping into this. And again, this is just personal preference going in there. I'm not enjoying the combat like I guess I did with remake.

[Tim Gettys]

That's wild. Cause it is so vastly improved in remake.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

But here's my thing, and I think this might be at the root of the cause for me right now. This is more even action, right? Would you consider this more going towards Devil May Cry esque? No. No. Because that's my thing right now is like. And again, I know I'm early. So again, I'm going to play more of this. I want to. And especially with all the Game of the Year things. And again, as much as I like Remake right now, when I'm playing it, I'm almost feeling like it doesn't matter what I do, where I'm just pounding the buttons and I'm doing the thing and then I hit the thing and I do the thing and it's like, everybody's dead. Everybody's over. I'm not, like, I'm not engaged in the combat. It's a spectacle. It's beautiful. No one's trying to say that, right?

[Tim Gettys]

Did you get to the Serpent? The Serpent boss?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Is that what ends the prologue? Because I'm out of the flashback. I'm out of the flashback for sure.

[Greg Miller]

Are you in the first town?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

He's not gotten to the open world yet.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

No, I've not gotten to the open world.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I mean, it sounds like you're so early that it's like. Like what you're talking about even, like, I feel like, isn't even reflective of the gameplay then. Right? Because, like, I forget the actual opening. I forget what the prologue is. I remember there's like the. Oh, I do remember. What the prologue is. Okay, so you went through the. You had a couple fights with Sephiroth.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, I've done the whole flashback.

[Tim Gettys]

Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I think we can spoil the prologue.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

That's why I've met Mother. We saw Sephiroth go bad. Oh, my God.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay, cool. Yeah. The flashback stuff, I would say.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

How much more do I need to do?

[Tim Gettys]

I think you need to get to where the game opens. You need to get. It has that the moment of, like, you go through a tunnel, and it's like, oh, we're out in the world now. Like, I think that is, like, when Rebirth becomes Rebirth, as opposed to just kind of like a. I feel like the prologue is the bridge between Remake and Rebirth.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. The open world. Like, when you get into the first open section, I had a moment where, you know, I'm going around doing the activities, and then it turns into me being like, oh, I guess I'm going to 100% this area. And halfway through, I was like, oh, very clearly. This is a Greg Miller Ubisoft game.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

And so you were actually the person I had in mind of, like, oh, I think you'll probably end up liking this even more than Remake, just based on what the gameplay is of it. But I understand where you're coming from in terms of characters and especially jumping into metaphor, which I think just has a bit more.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

What a game. What a game metaphor.

[Greg Miller]

It's a bit more striking. Right. When you jump into it, where it is, oh, this is fresh. This is different, this is new. I don't know. I've not met these characters before. This world is a world I've not been in before. Right. And it's doing so much that I think immediately pulls you in. Whereas Final Fantasy 7, Rebirth, especially, is coming into it, assuming that you're already invested in what's going on.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Sure.

[Greg Miller]

And so if you've had years or, like, if you've not been thinking about these characters or whatever.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

Like, I can totally understand, you know, being put in the shoes of Cloud and being like, oh, man, this guy's a wet blanket. Because for me, Cloud is a wet blanket.

[Tim Gettys]

He's a wet blanket.

[Greg Miller]

And so, like, I understand you having those opinions where you're at now, with that.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I know. I'm not promising that, like, you're gonna love the story this time around or, like, that stuff's gonna grow on you, even though I think that stuff is good. But I think when you get into the open world, I Could see you being like, oh, man, I might lose some hours.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

The combat gets a little bit more engaging.

[Tim Gettys]

The combat gets way more, like, incredibly more engaging. Mainly on the, like, it is still fast paced and like, what was beautiful about Remake is being able to switch between all the different characters on the fly. I feel like there are more characters and they're more varied in Rebirth. To be able to come up with a team and like, loadout that you actually like switching between everything and the abilities they have. Specifically with the synergy stuff of working together with different combinations of the team like that, it gets really deep and it really allows you to play how you want to. So I feel like combat wise, I mean, Rebirth is, I think, just vastly superior to Remake. Do you agree with that?

[Greg Miller]

For combat, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

For combat, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

It's like. I mean, it's almost identical is the wrong word. But it really is just building off of that same combat system.

[Tim Gettys]

It's just better. Right. I feel it solves some of the problems of the first one, how slow paced some of the things could be and how limited. I feel like the amount of things you had to do were. Whereas in Rebirth, it's like there's never. You're never waiting for something to build again. You can always do something else that feels viable.

[Greg Miller]

It also took me a little bit to readjust back to the combat as well. I think I was at the same place where you're at, Greg, as far as doing the combat and being like, ooh, I don't know if this is grabbing me. And I had the same fear that early in the game. And then it was somewhere in that open world section where the stagger system, you know, I got back into it and where I'm like, oh, yeah, okay, this is how this works. Oh, yeah. I can scan enemies to get a sense of what their weaknesses are. And now I'm focusing on the weaknesses. Oh, yeah. Now I got to build up the ETB to then be able to pull off these moves. It takes a little bit to kind of be, I guess, just re reminded of what's going on there.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Sure, sure. Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

And I think from a story and character perspective and you saying, like, the performances are wooden or whatever, like comparing that to metaphor, which I am 20 hours into, or something like that. Like, I think that even without knowing how that game ends and how the story goes, I can say without a shadow of doubt, like, the story and plot of metaphor is better than Rebirth. Like, it. It feels really good. It feels like there's something Build to, towards. I'm like constantly like, what is about to happen from a story perspective, because I don't know, Where's Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth? I feel like it's the type of game that like really just rewards. The more you know About Final Fantasy 7, more you care about all the different projects, like, you're going to care a lot more. So I am primed for it and I get it, of course. And I feel like the characters and all that stuff, I'm like, I'm blown away by it. And there's choices they're making. Some I like, some I don't, but that's good. Like, I feel like I'm engaged with the choices they're making there. I do think that you're not going to be sold on the story and narrative of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. And I feel like they almost don't give a shit about that, which is not a great thing. You know, like, that's not ideal. But I think that they really do care about the characters and I think you're going to love the characters. Like, I think that if you were to keep playing, I don't think you would refer to any performance as wooden. There might be characters you don't like as much because to bless his point, Cloud kind of sucks. But like, that's not the point. Like him sucking is like, it's very much a cast of characters and the relationships between them. And if you don't see Tifa and Aerith high fiving and feel something, I don't know, man. And you're going to.

[Greg Miller]

I think overall, for somebody who's beaten both now, right. I think Metaphor Refantasio has the better overall story. But I do, and a lot of people might disagree with this. I do think Final Fantasy Son Rebirth has the better character. In fact, I think I said during the review, a conversation that we had is like, yo, this is one of the best cast of characters in a video game.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Right?

[Tim Gettys]

Agree.

[Greg Miller]

I put it up there with Metal Gear. I put it up there with the recent God of Wars. Like, it is a great cast of characters, but I still hold that Cloud is a wet blanket. But yeah, you're right, it's not just about Cloud.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

There is a cast of characters that are being highlighted so well. Aerith's story in the game is so good. The dynamic between Tifa and Aerith is so great. You get introductions of new characters that I think are very likable and very awesome. Right. Again, not all of them are gonna hit, but I think once you Get a bit further in. Like you're gonna see some of that come to fruition.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Okay, fair enough. But also, how good's metaphor? Oh, I mean, you know what I mean? Like, come on now. What a breath of fresh air that's been. What a fun little time that's been getting out there. Killing everybody again. I'm not the turn based battle guy. Here's my problem with it though.

[Tim Gettys]

Here we go.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I'm playing metaphor like a true gentleman should. Handheld via Steam deck, of course. The successor to the Vita, the Vita 2, the PC Steam Deck. And the problem there is that I'm doing it in such small doses here and there that I feel like I've been in the same dungeon forever. And that's starting to drive me up the wall where I feel like that's hampering my enjoyment of it. Cause I'm ready to move on to something else. Which has then had this weird one. Tim, you're gonna like this. Cause you hated the other one. You'll like this hot take. It's making me miss Pokemon Violet.

[Greg Miller]

Good.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Oh, I don't get a lot of credit for man of taste here, all right. I do a lot for this company.

[Greg Miller]

Pokemon Violet coming up twice in the season.

[Tim Gettys]

I know. Crazy.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I don't get a lot of credit for Poke Violet. All right. You talk about, you know, Greg Miller playing games. I put more than. According to my switch. According to my switch. More than 25 hours into that this year.

[Tim Gettys]

That's why.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

You know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

Wow. You know how many hours I've put into Pokemon Scarlet and Violet? 140.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

That's a lot.

[Greg Miller]

Which I don't think there's that much content in the game.

[Tim Gettys]

No, there is. Bless when you gotta catch them all. And I want every male and female version and everything. I'm crazy. I'm fucking crazy. No, but no, hey. 25, that's. That's wild.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah. Cause I did in the beginning of the year, remember when Ben found the cartoon and we watched literally one episode. I was like, damn, this is making me want. This is actually giving me context for the. I've never had contacts this way. And so I went and played it and had a great thing. I beat all the gym masters, right? And I'm ready to go challenge. But I wanted to do everything. And I bought the DLC as well. So I'm like, still there. But the problem is then review season happened. I put it in there, I walked away. So now what I'm finding, right here's, you know, hold on he's been on the glasses again. The glasses are back on, right? For one of my other bullet point hot takes. Cause they're all kind of connected, right? It's just the funk of not loving a game, not being in love with a thing, you know what I mean? Where you can't throw a rock right now on my PlayStation, Steam Deck, Switch, Xbox and not hit a great game. There's a great game out there to play. But when you hit the Final Fantasy thing, you're like, oh, this ain't hitting. But I know I need to play it. I need to play it right? Then you get into that thing where you start grinding and you're like, is this hampering my same thing, Even with metaphor, like I'm saying, where I really enjoy it. But I'd like to get out of this dungeon. I'd like to move on to the next thing. I'd like to fast forward. I don't feel like I need. And so then it's like that idea of I'm like, well, what do I want? And I've been hopping around, I've been doing this, I've been doing that. You know, I think coming off of Dragon Age and loving that combat so much, I've been looking for more. Okay, well, I want a more action based thing. But then I contradict myself because I'm like, well, I love metaphor and I'm having a great time with that. And it's great handheld and it's great to have a conversation with Jen while I play it or, you know, do whatever or, you know, commit to it. I'm like, well, if I just want the battle systems, this is how fucking crazy I've been. Should I go back and play Final Fantasy 7 instead? And then just regular Final Fantasy 7? And then I'm like, well, you know what I've always wanted to do Chrono Cross. I've always wanted to do Chrono Trigger, right? Should I go back? Because I love time travel. Should I go do that? And I'm like, I'm overcomplicating rage D2D.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

This morning we're sitting there, we're watching Pokemon. Ben's sick. And then he goes, tim, you fucking love this kid. He goes, can we play Pokemon? And what he means when he says that is Pokemon Go. Cause that's what he knows. So I bust out pokemon Go. And he starts throwing. He's a little sick boy. Just throwing the ball. I want the blue balls. Here you go, you get the blue balls. You know what I Mean, he's throwing the blue balls out there. He's catching, he's doing this thing. Then he said, I want to battle. We got a team rocket guy right outside. We went and battled this motherfucker and then it's like, again, you'd love this, Tim. This could be your life one day if you want to take Ben or have your own kid. We sit there and I'm like, all right, let's battle him. And so we open up the battle screen. Him and I both just tap on the same screen.

[Tim Gettys]

Great.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Just father and son tapping right there, you know?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And then he gets mad because I'm tapping the wrong guy. I'm like, it doesn't matter, but okay, I'll catch up. You know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

But again, this. Then I had the light bulb moment of like, well, what? Fuck, maybe this is what I'm looking for. Maybe I just want some turn based battles to jump in and out of, get the xp, do the damn thing when I want to, you know? So do I just go back to Pokemon Violet? Do I pause metaphor, Pause Final Fantasy, Go, just play more Pokemon? Which doesn't seem like a right move for content, but for your heart. Is that what it is?

[Tim Gettys]

I'm going to say.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And then I've been thinking, fucking, you know, I love Dragon Age. I'd love another RPG like that. Do I go play Elder Scrolls online? Do I?

[Greg Miller]

What's happening?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Do I now that I have found a vein, all right? I found a vein that cares about fantasy for some reason, at least for this moment of time. Do I go roll a fucking Skyrim character?

[Tim Gettys]

Whoa.

[Greg Miller]

I think somehow we're gonna end up with Greg's beaten Hogwarts legacies.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It's the thing of. Remember, I put 30, 40, whatever, hours into Skyrim, but I never rolled credits on. I never did a damn thing. You know what I mean? But I'm out there, shield and sword banging around, looking like Dianeth and mascara.

[Greg Miller]

There's a new Dragon Quest game coming out. You think about that?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I did when I played it. I booted that up. I did that. You're talking about three or two remakes. Hd.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I was like, hey, this could be exactly what I want. I've never played a Dragon Quest. Me and Tim had to hear the goddamn Dragon. You want to talk about Pavlovian kicked in. I started up Dragon Quest on the Steam deck and the music hit and I'm like taking back to GameSpot, Manager, GameStop Manager Expo, whatever, 2018 or whatever. It's triggering Anyways, I was like, maybe this is what I want. I jump in. I go immediately. I don't like how they present my side characters. They're like, oh, you just get hire party characters. They're everywhere. I'm like, oh, this is already. Because I had the moment of that doesn't hit. I'm like, do I go back and try to finish Octopath Traveler 2? Because I put, like, 30 or 40 hours into that too.

[Greg Miller]

Did you think about Baldur's Gate 3 at all?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

No. This is such a combat thing of, like, I want. Because this is what kills it for Dragon Quest, where I was like, all right, I don't like how they're doing side characters. And this is a preference thing, not a quality thing. I was like, okay, not it. And then I got into the first battle, and I was like, ooh, this is what battles look like here. First person fireballs just coming in off the screen. I'm like, oof, no, I'm not gonna play 20 hours of this.

[Tim Gettys]

Hmm. I'm very interested in what this actually shakes out to look like. Cause I do think.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

But the problem is the guilt, you know? The guilt.

[Greg Miller]

Well, this is early on, you mentioned content, right? Like, oh, I'm gonna play this, but it's not gonna be a bunch of content. I am of the mind of sometimes. Fuck content.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Well, I mean, look, I'm making content right now. You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. You know, I think my thing is the more I try to play games to keep up with, like, the conversation, whatever, the more I miss out on games that I end up falling in love with. And some of my favorite games, I discover, is because I'm like, all right, I have a free moment.

[Tim Gettys]

All right?

[Greg Miller]

Fuck. Trying to play, you know, this game that came out last month that people want me to have an opinion on for game. What if I just play something that I missed out on last year that I know everybody was talking about? Which is why, like, you know, in the last week, I looked at Lorelei and the laser eyes and I was like, oh, I'm gonna try this. Because everybody's talking about it started. It didn't really click for me. Immediately thought about Silent Hill 2 because everybody's been telling me to play that. Downloaded it, didn't even start it up because I'm not in the mood for Silent Hill 2.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yep.

[Greg Miller]

Picked up Case of the Golden Idol.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, exactly.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I got a code for Rise. And I was like, well, I want to play Case first. Start playing Case, and immediately I'm like, oh, this game's fucking awesome. Yeah, like I should have played this game a year or two ago whenever this came out. And I for me, those are the cases of finding the games that I'm like, oh, this is one that I'm going to be obsessed with. And my like a thing I would say for you is like, have you thought about just going either typing in on Google just like 10 out of 10 video games.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

Or like masterpiece games, like the games that people are like, we swear by this. This is an all timer, like finding one of those games that you missed or haven't played.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah. And that's the problem again because I see so many people shouting out like they're telling you to try octopath too. Before then they were like octopath so good. Remember I put in these are all games I've put sizable time into. Like I feel like I know octopath. And that was when Jen's mom was sick and we were up in Canada and I played a whole bunch of that and it's the same thing. Somebody shout out there was a bunch about Sea of Stars in there. In Sea of Stars I enjoyed a lot. Not nearly as much as Barret, but I was playing it until whatever came along and I moved off. And so it is. I remember I thought I was getting. The problem with turn based combat is I feel like it can get all turn based combat. I would say any combat can get repetitive. I feel a turn based combat has that razor thin edge of it's repetitive but it's enjoyable or it's just repetitive. And I'm starting to feel like I want and I feel like that's kind of as much as I love metaphor. That's where I'm at right now with it, where it's like psyching myself up to try to get out of this fucking dungeon is like, all right, but it's gonna be a lot. And I know I can auto battle and I can do stuff when I'm auto battling. Then I'm sitting there going like, why am I even playing fucking game? What am I doing? What was the point of this? And so yeah, I have thought about that and I have jumped around and I have tried a bunch of different stuff and you know, we'll talk about a game later this week or next. I forget that we did a preview of and I'm excited to talk about how that fits into this puzzle piece equation I'm doing or whatever. But it feels like I feel like I want a big rpg but I Don't think I want it to be turn based right now. And that's why I'm like, maybe I actually commit to Elder Scrolls Online, which I tried at launch and did stuff there. And I think maybe a PlayStation. I touched it for two seconds and then same thing for. Well, what if I went and did Skyrim again? I know Skyrim, but at the time of playing Skyrim, I remember being so disconnected with the world that it was the. I was sitting there, crouched, listening to podcasts, hitting the same monk in the back to slowly level up my stealth one point at a time or whatever. It's like if I went back and gave that a chance. But then again, like, why would I do that? I could play Elder Scrolls Online, do this.

[Greg Miller]

I think you gotta play some Elden Ring.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Do you know?

[Greg Miller]

Did you download Elden Ring?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I downloaded Elden Ring. That's what it sounds like. But it's like. And that's the thing. I was like, I kept going through what am I looking for? And I'm like, well, I wanna level up. I want third person action. I wanna be doing this. And then it was like, I'm like, that's starting to sound like Elden Ring.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, you just describe Elden Ring.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

But the problem is I've never been Perry Poppy. You know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is your thing. It's funny hearing you say all this stuff.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Cause it's like, this is a safe spot. I mean, the sunglasses are off.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm not talking the combat of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is kind of exactly what you're explaining where it's not the difficulty of El or any of that, but it is. It's way more fast paced and it doesn't feel like the most repetitive thing in the world. It can be if you want to make a loadout that way, get yuffie and just fucking spam triangle. Like, I know about that life. Yeah, my favorite life right now, but so damn good. But yeah, it is funny though. Cause like, on one hand I really want you to play through Rebirth. Cause like, I love Rebirth and I want more people to play it and enjoy the characters and understand what I like about it. But the other side of it is like, I don't know, I think it might be too late for you for it. Like, I feel like Rebirth is the type of game that Greg Miller specifically you would have benefited from the zeitgeist of having other people talk about it and be a part of the spoiler cast.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I tried, man. When we got codes, right? I remember Talking to you. Should I do it? Because this would, I feel like be my chance or whatever. I forget why I went some other direction.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Also, it's huge. It's a huge game. So it's weird where it's like, on one hand, knowing you, Greg, I wholeheartedly recommend the game because the combat's awesome and the characters, which I know mean a lot to you. That stuff is so good in the game. And the Ubisofty type stuff that a lot of people don't like. I can see you getting really good.

[Greg Miller]

That's Greg Miller's shit right there.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. But the other side of that is, I know you also do want a story that you're invested in and understand what's going on. And I don't think that this is for you.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And see, again, one of the things that I'm jonesing for after Dragon Age is that RPG nerdy shit of like, oh, I'm putting one into stealth.

[Greg Miller]

So elderly.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I'm putting one into. Who is it?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, but I mean.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Cause you don't do that in Final Fantasy.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, no, but you have the materia system, which, like, I think, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

With the boss.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Which like, that, to me, is like the manageable version. But, like, I like the Final Fantasy system because it allows you to tweak characters immediately. You do a battle and you're like, all right, cool. I like this, but I want more of that. And you can go in and change it, and it's awesome and fast, and you actually feel like the changes you're making are affecting your gameplay immediately. Whereas the God of War way of doing the. Oh, you're 02% up. I'm like, what the fuck? I don't care about that. It's just numbers. Elden Ring, obviously, is way more like, you are investing in this shit and you need to really, really, really care and know about what's going on. It's just too much for me.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I mean, I don't think. Because you mentioned you're not Perry Poppy. You don't need to be Perry Poppy. You can't be Dodge Daddy.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah. And I do like dodging. You know that.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. And there's so many different.

[Tim Gettys]

Don't call him Dodge Daddy. I don't.

[Greg Miller]

You don't like Dodge Daddy?

[Tim Gettys]

Not. No.

[Greg Miller]

But he can be Dodge Daddy if you don't have to be Perry. You can be dodged at. Like, you can also just be Shield Sally.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Shield Steve.

[Greg Miller]

I think there are so many different builds and so many different ways to play Elden Ring. The problem is that I know you. You've played through Bloodborne.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

It's not like you don't know.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Right. So like if Bloodborne wasn't the. Oh, I absolutely love this type of game for Greg Miller. I don't know if Elden Ring is going to change.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

But it still sounds like what you're looking for, so.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Okay, okay, okay. Can you read the super chat there? That was Skyrim. Greg.

[Tim Gettys]

Average John says Skyrim. You should play Skyrim. Greg Eso doesn't hit the same. Also, you can do a games cast contrasting all different Bethesda flavors. Now that you Roleplay two, it would.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Be good, but again. Oh, yeah. Another role play too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. There's a lot to figure out here.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Then we got Trevor saying people can hate on me, but I've only been able to play 12ish hours of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. And it just feels like a chore. Unlike playing just the demo for metaphor. And I'm immediately. I asked for it for Christmas.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Mike, where are you? Cause you're pointing. Mike's been doing a lot of emoting, which I like. You know what I mean? Cause I'm stunning. Fools over here on the couch, they don't know what's happening. They're locked out there.

[Tim Gettys]

You stunned me for a minute.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

They're looking like Mike Tyson biting their gloves. Mike's over there, though. He's dancing, he's reacting, he's freaking out.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm vibing a lot with the Skyrim want. I am someone who loves Skyrim. I think that would be up your alley. I do think that Elden Ring just that difficulty is just a little too much to have just a fun time with and explore that fantasy world. For what? I'm thinking of you right there, Greg. So I'm on the Skyrim side. I am blown away by you with this hot take of metaphor over Final Fantasy. I'm a guy who've gotten lost in the Final Fantasy world. I actually don't like the combat. So I'm there with you, Greg. I don't vibe with the Final Fantasy combat. I'm in it strictly for the story in the world. But you're kind of selling me on metaphor. It's like, maybe I'll look it up. But then I get, you know, I get a little sleepy when it comes to turn based.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, I know.

[Tim Gettys]

Take a nap.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

See, that's my thing where it's like. And I feel that so much with turn based games where I personally think it's egregious to be like, oh, it's 100 hours of, you know, come on. Because I'm the same way. Where it's like, turn based is fun. But eventually I hit that wall. I'm just like, I've had enough of this. And so if I hit that wall 20 hours in 30, 40, 50, like, I feel like. And I know stories and hooks and I mean, I'm the Persona 4 guy. So like I'm not like saying fuck them all, but it's just like for me, it's such a rare one that like, even with metaphor, as much as I'm enjoying that, I don't see the world where I finish that I don't see a world where I'm like, I'm so committed. Unless I suddenly, I think again, my biggest problem. No, sorry, the biggest Greg Miller problem fault issue with metaphor has been that I was robbed of that New York flight. I was prepared to sit on the plane for six hours out playing and six hours back playing. And I think that would have locked it in. I would have made so much progress. I would have felt like, I got it now I can take it in bite sized chunks and instead fucking Ben, you know what I mean? I love you, Ben. He got sick and I couldn't go. So then it's like I did 30 minutes here, I do an hour here, but then I get tired and I fall asleep. And so it's like I feel like I've been doing this dungeon for fucking ever. When in reality I haven't. In game hours.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

That's the tough thing is I understand where you're coming from. Because I couldn't imagine playing metaphor if I had like a family.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah. You like what, 10 hour days, 12 hour days or something?

[Greg Miller]

I'm out here playing this game chunks at a time. And so like you're talking about being stuck in a dungeon and I'm like, oh, that was two sittings for me because I paid fucking seven hours. Like, you know, that's the way that, that's the way that I needed to play that game. Or to like, you know, be able to put my all and be able to actually get.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, for sure. That's why for me personally, I love reviewing a game. Cause then it becomes, okay, cool, I gotta do this. I'm playing and I'm doing this. I'm booking time at work to do it.

[Greg Miller]

I will say though that if you're willing to take your time with it, it's gonna take you a while to finish it. But when you're comparing metaphor to other turn based games or Persona games, I think metaphor does a better job than most turn based RPGs at that. Carrot on the stick. I'm upgrading my character and I can see where I wanna take these characters to. And there's something about the character development and party building that for me has me so excited to get into a battle just so I can level up and be like, all right, cool, now I'm gonna unlock these moves and create the perfect build. And it only gets better and better and better at that as it goes. So the carrot on the stick, they.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Do such a great job with the. You know, I don't remember what they call it, but the Persona tree. Yeah, the archetypes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

The archetypes are so good. And that system, I think is very engaging. And at a certain point for me, pretty quickly, honestly for me, became addicting as far as what it did for me and how much it enhanced the turn based combat. Like, it's almost. It almost felt for me like playing an action game. And I totally understand where you guys come from in terms of like turn based not sticking, because oftentimes turn based doesn't stick for me. Right. Like, you know, I think I'm more into turn based compared to you guys, but I think most of the time I'll pick up a JRPG and I get into battle, I'm like, nah, I'm good.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

But metaphor is one of those ones that really works.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

See, it's so bizarre right now. I need to just fucking sit and play metaphor and not get distracted and not do anything. Cause again, what I like, I sit here and I'm like, I would love to get back to Pokemon because I feel like I'm so close to the end of Pokemon. Like the true end. Right. And again, those battles, I think go so quickly and you're bouncing around. I also think they're fucking easy. Like, you know what I mean? I was never. There was never any thought in my Pokemon battling. Right. But again, I think maybe that's what I want out of Turn based right now, is that I want to drop in and just zone out.

[Greg Miller]

I love that this turned in from Greg's hot Takes. Greg's like, RPG support.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

How do we do it? Wood? We're all having fun here. Thanks for hanging out with us.

[Tim Gettys]

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[Greg Miller]

Lasers are a commonly used technology, snakes.

[Tim Gettys]

Have been replaced by small robots and.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Nobody noticed the government tells us we.

[Tim Gettys]

Must choose between resolution, frame rate and quality. We will not be lied to. For the first time in this long, bloody war, the full power of the visual triangle is ours. On Sale [e-mail] store.com. and we're back.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Oh, my God.

[Tim Gettys]

He got caught with it. RDJ himself. Super chats in saying, Greg, play an immersive sim like Prey. It's got the RPG elements you're looking for.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, I played Prey at launch. It was one of those. I forget how many hours I got in. It demoed really well for me, but then at the time didn't click for me as a game. I wanted to go for all the way.

[Greg Miller]

I love me some Prey.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

But also I'm just a sucker for those games.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Trevor coming in with a hot take here. My hottest take is Bioshock Infinite was the best game of 2013. Memorable story, fun combat with fun traversal with Skyhook. Elizabeth is probably one of my favorite.

[Greg Miller]

Video game characters, man, Bioshock Infinite. A game that I feel like I forget about often. But then I think about how much I enjoyed it at the time. I loved that game when I played it, but yeah, that was such a stacked year. That was probably in my top three or four.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

BioShock Infinite's biggest problem is that it wasn't Bioshock. And I don't mean it wasn't Bioshock in tone or culture. I mean, it wasn't the original Bioshock. So I think people came in wanting a rapture experience and this, that, the other. And they went a little aggressive there with the first person shooting, which some people love, some people don't. I really enjoyed Infinite. I remember, but I remember distinctly, it was like, oh, this doesn't feel like BioShock. Yeah. And that was where people were like, I don't like this and it's not the same. And you're trying to live up to this game that was so amazing.

[Greg Miller]

That was one that, like, I wish I was more aware of, I guess, like opinion pieces and stuff at the time, because that's one that post way post Bioshock Infinite, like, looking online, I think that game inspired just a lot of games critique and games like, you know, media think pieces and stuff. And like, I've seen so many people talk about Bioshock Infinite about like, certain parts of the writing that don't live up, certain parts of, like, its own politics that don't live up in ways where I'm like, man, if in 2024 I want to go back and play it now, like, just for where I'm at, just to see, like, if it still holds up. Because I remember at the time before I thought about games that deeply. I remember loving it.

[Tim Gettys]

And interesting here, the hot take. Not even necessarily comparing it to BioShock 1, but even just the best game of 2013 is putting it up against Last of Us GTA 5.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

So, so false, you know, Hot take. That's why you're not. You don't have a thumbnail like I do. Thanks, Mike.

[Tim Gettys]

Greg has the thumbnail. Where do you want to take that thumbnail, Greg? What's next?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I would like to take this to Caravan Sandwich. Now, not Caravan Sandwich. Like you're eating a sandwich. Caravan. Sand witch. Like a witch on Halloween.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Now, you know, usually we would run B roll. We don't have that ability. So I prepared my own B roll that. You can see the trailer right there. All right. Oh, I. Okay. You know, I gotta go against your brain on that one. This is a game I tweeted out about. It was a game that had come. I'll turn it around for you guys. It's looping or whatever. It's a small indie game.

[Tim Gettys]

Shit.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I looked it up right before Mike give me a Caravan. It's playing something or other. I forget what indie game took me, what, six hours to get through and beat. Enjoyed it quite a bit. It was the game I needed. Caravan Sandwich. It's been in a bunch of, I think the wholesome directs. The idea behind it is no death, no combat. So you're not doing that. What do you got for me?

[Tim Gettys]

This is developed by Plane Toast.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Plane Toast. I knew it was something I want to say Plane Witch, because of the sandwich thing. You know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

But it's playing like an airplane.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Not playing. Playing.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, exactly. They're always doing that stuff, right? So I'm gonna turn it off for you guys. Cause that's pretty much the end. Yeah. I wanted to come in and give this one its flowers. I really enjoyed it. I'm a fan of a wholesome game. A quiet game, I think, again, in this sea of I need to play this, I need to play that, I need to do this. This was one that I completely missed. I think the TikTok or the Instagram Vertical Video, I saw about it, which was the developers being like, hey, this came out in September and we'd love people to play it. And I was like, oh, shit. I vaguely remember this. You're driving a van around, you're Using it to solve puzzles. None of these puzzles are remotely difficult. You're collecting scrap to upgrade the thing to help out the people of this town that used to be this, basically a mining town for this big bad space organization. This giant storm that you see throughout the trailers is out there. And they all abandoned the mining town, which has left a dozen people to live here in it. You're returning after having lived in a space station for six years. The whole reason you come back is that you left because your sister presumably died. And then you get a distress call from her spaceship. So you come back to the planet, you reunite with your fathers, your friends and all this stuff, and then try to go out there and do it. It's a game I needed right now in terms of like, hey, this is a great catch your breath moment. And all these other. Oh, this, that, the other. I don't think the game, I would say on the kind of funny scale, either a 7, 5 good or an 8 great, you know what I mean? But it's another one where it's indie, which I think comes with the usual caveats of maybe not being the most respectful of your time in certain ways. Like, it wasn't until like I was at the end of the game and I was almost at the end of the game, right, And I was kind of frustrated. I'm like, God, this game needs a fucking fast travel system. And then it turns out I had been unlocking a fast travel system, but only through these portals. And maybe it's not voiced, it's just dialogue that pops on the screen. So maybe I skipped through it, But I only knew it as a story device of what I was doing with the person you're working with the most. So then to get there, I'm like, oh, this would have solved some of my anger. Not anger isn't the right word, some of my gripes. But even then the game is driving the van around and solving the puzzles and, you know, in collecting shit. So it was kind of a self thing, blah, blah, blah. I thought the story was interesting. I had a really fun time with it. And again, I liked catching my breath with it. However, really why I bring it here is a simple reason. Caravan Sandwich is the game. This is one of the worst names for a video game I've ever heard.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say good call.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And so I would like us, as this panel on my Hot Takes episode, to figure out a better name for this game. So again, so let's start with where the problem is.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay. Caravan, Sand, Witch. There's a lot of elements going on. Let's start with the sand witch. There's sand I'm seeing here?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yes.

[Tim Gettys]

Is she a witch?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

No, there's a witch you see at the very end that follows you. She's kind of like a ghost, seemingly a ghost at times where it's like you see her and you run around the corner and she's gone or whatever. That's a narrative element that is in the game. I don't think it's so front facing that it needs to be in the title for sure. If it did, I would urge them to come up with a better name because again, you are on a podcast, you are driving. You are listening to a podcast, you are driving car. Greg Miller just told you about Caravan Sandwich. And I have to stop everything to say, not Sandwich, like the sandwich. You eat sand, which terrible, awful. Yeah, not to mention Caravan means you have multiple vehicles where this is the last running van in the world. You know what I mean? So, I mean, you could do. I mean, just Van.

[Tim Gettys]

Let's just call it Van.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

We could just call Sandwich.

[Tim Gettys]

Get rid of the Cara.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Just Van Vanin. That was a good movie. If you ever want to watch a van in movie.

[Tim Gettys]

Van Wilder.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Van Wilder. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Van Witch is what you came up for.

[Tim Gettys]

So, I mean, Greg, what if the witch isn't that important? What is very important is the van important enough to be in the title?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I understand it because it does control well. It's beautiful. Roger stopped at one point, was like, what are you playing? This is gorgeous. I was like, yeah, it's Caravan Sandwich. He's like, that's a bad name. I'm like, I know, yeah. I think the van, I mean, we could base it around the title, right? It could be the search for your sister. It could, you know, we could do something with that. We could talk about this storm that's cool out there on the thing if you want to make it about that. Maybe even just calling it Sandwich. But again, you're getting too clever because again, I would say Sandwich and you'd be like, what, are you fucking me?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Although I feel like that's something you.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Can put on timeout. This is interesting. Danny says Caravan means an rv, that for you people. Caravan means an rv, that for UK people. I think, I think he's trying to say that Caravan means just an RV in the uk. It does not mean that in America. In America, that would be multiple trucks or RVs driving together. So right there they should have had a localization expert hold On a second. Not a great name. And that would make sense because I do believe, as you see, there's French subtitles here. I think they are a French studio or maybe even a Montreal studio.

[Tim Gettys]

I think if you get rid of the caravan and just call it Sandwich, that gives it that, like, it's not the sandwich you think, and that sticks with people.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

I tend to agree with that.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay, but does it focus on the witch enough? I don't feel like it does.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

No, I don't think so either again. And I think eventually they start calling her a sandwich. You know what I mean? But I don't think from the get go, like, you're here. And also, beware, there's these rumors of a sandwich out there doing this kind of thing. And even Sandwich would make me think I am a sandwich. Titling a game is hard. Nobody's saying it's not. But like, you say, oh, my game's called Sandwich. I'm like, oh, you're like that witch with the gun game. So you're gonna be, I'm on a broom and I'm flying across the desert. No, you're driving a van across the desert and there's a sandwich hunting you while you look for your sister. Huh? Huh? Don't love that.

[Greg Miller]

Desert drive. That's also very generic.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Pacific Drive comes after.

[Greg Miller]

What the fuck?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

But like, Pacific Drive, I thought worked. Yeah, they said Pacific Drive. You saw. You're like, oh, okay. I get a vibe of. I'm in the Pacific Northwest, I'm doing this kind of thing.

[Greg Miller]

Like, if there's a way to fit, like a paranormal drive, like, you know, something that implies you're getting close to what?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I was gonna bring it up a long time ago, but, like, a terrible name. And I was like, almost as bad as whatever. Ghost Drive. Ghost Ride turned their name into Ghost Drive, Whatever. You know what I'm talking about. The Anna turn.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I don't know. It's hard to name something new. It's easy to critique people for bad news.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Sure, I know.

[Greg Miller]

I'd either use the word drive. The word journey. The word something that implies, I think in Journey.

[Tim Gettys]

Because the witch looks like Journey.

[Greg Miller]

No, but also. That's a good point. The witch just looked like Journey. It's all the sand.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Neil says Van Witch. I don't hate that.

[Greg Miller]

That's what. That's what I said earlier.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

No.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And first off, you're the king of, like, saying the same thing I said 10 minutes ago, actually. I guess probably Nick's the king of that year. Yeah, So I won't take fall for that sandwich.

[Tim Gettys]

All right, well, I hear your hot take and I agree.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Journey in the sand says Mad Rocks. I don't hate that either.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Journey through the Sand. Sand through the Hourglass.

[Greg Miller]

I'm Journey in the Sand.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Destination Van Desolation Van. Leave them in the comments below.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Also, check this out.

[Greg Miller]

Sand Land.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Caravan Sandwich. If you're a fan of Greg games, you want a slow game to walk, to drive around, just collect shit, climb shit. There's no fall damage, right? So you're climbing up really high and getting stuff. You're doing stuff, you're unlocking all this different stuff. And of course you're helping people. And then they have, like a Twitter system where you're looking at their text messages and talking to them and stuff. Beautiful game. Animated really well, too, as well.

[Tim Gettys]

Alex Fraser, super chat. Saying, I'm on vacation next week for Thanksgiving and will only have my Steam Deck. What are some cool games y'all have been playing there that I should consider?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Caravan Sandwich.

[Tim Gettys]

There we go. Caravan Sandwich.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Dungeons of Hinterburg. As I've said, Hintonburg I've talked about before on these shows.

[Tim Gettys]

Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown. You're looking for something to play the entire trip. If you're looking for something tiny, Neva, I think, is really good in all doses.

[Greg Miller]

I've been seeing a lot more Steam decks on planes lately.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Ooh.

[Greg Miller]

And I always had to, like, peek to Lacey, like, what are they playing? Yeah, the ones I've been seeing the most are Hades 2 and Inscryption. Been seeing quite a while. Wow.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Wow.

[Greg Miller]

Inscription. Fantastic on the Steam deck. So that'll always be my recommendation.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It's funny you bring up the Steam Deck. One of my bullet points here. Fuck you, Valve. Listen, listen.

[Tim Gettys]

Surprise, surprise. What a hot take from Greg Miller.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

But is it coming the way you think it is, ladies and gentlemen? You know what I mean? Cause you think you know the direction Greg Miller's coming at. Val, right now. I'm not, all right? I'm saying, fuck Valve for continuing to put out better and better versions of the Steam deck after I already bought the original Steam deck. All right? The OLED drops and I'm like, God, that looks good, but I don't need it. I'm not gonna spend another thousand dollars or whatever the hell it was, right? And then I see Andy's. I'm like, With Dragon Age, I'm like, that looks fucking gorgeous. I don't need it. I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it. Then they have the audacity to put out this all white Steam deck and.

[Tim Gettys]

That does it for you.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Get the fuck. Yeah. It's gorgeous.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm surprised.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Why?

[Tim Gettys]

I don't know. I don't see you as a white person.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I didn't see Greg as a white person.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

A lot of people don't see me as a white person. Put us all back on before it gets mad.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't think of you as liking white tech, especially, like, for something like the Steam deck. I definitely see you thinking. I think about you and the Vita. I know you had your little blue one, but, like.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Excuse me, my pink one.

[Tim Gettys]

You're right. You're right.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

All right. Yeah, Yeah. I love color stuff. That's why I was ready to fight you for that Chroma white controller that's now the default controller at home. I love that. Again, I don't think. I wouldn't say that. I have a oh, that white is my color kind of thing, or like, in terms of that. But like, I love my Steam deck. I wish it was oled. And I also just feel it kind of looks ugly. I feel like. I wish the. We've talked about this before, the bezel on it. I wish I was getting more screen for it.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, it solves with, though, but I.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Don'T want to spend more money on it.

[Tim Gettys]

I understand, but like, it's a lot.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Of money for device that I still don't use all that much. I use it a lot now, but not all that.

[Tim Gettys]

My take on the Steam deck, the. With where you're at, I do not think that the white one is superior. I like that it is an option for people. I think that's cool. We talked a little bit about. I don't love the coloring. I like the black buttons. I don't really like the light gray, but that's personal taste.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I do think, though, when it comes to the Steam deck, specifically the OLED version, black's the way to go because there's less bezel and the OLED is so beautiful. Black levels that, like, you don't want to have that distracted by, like the bright white. You just don't want that. You want all the.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

It's also more. I think that, you know, you get your grubby little hands all over it. Right. I think we all Learned with the PlayStation 5 controllers. You know, you turn them over sometimes like, oh, Jesus. Oh, Give me that, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser out of here, honey. Yeah, I got one of those recently yeah, Life changing.

[Greg Miller]

I've been doing the job for me. Really?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

What are you trying to get off the walls?

[Greg Miller]

Well, mostly, like, my stove. I was trying to use them. My stove and then trying to use them. I saw something else that you used to clean your shoes. They didn't clean.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Oh, no.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

That sucks.

[Greg Miller]

I'll be honest. I'm a little underwhelmed by the. By the hot takes. I thought you're gonna be bringing it. These are like Greg grievances, if anything. These are like. These aren't hot takes.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

You got one shit all over Final Fan. Okay, well, you just be on my side. You know what I mean? You can, you know.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, but, like, if I'm on your side, is it hot? Takers.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah. You know, we're pissing the arm. Look how mad Tim was about Final Fantasy. You know what I mean? He's still.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, but I don't think you're that wrong.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I know. You've already said that. You're on my side. You got taste. A lot of people out there, they don't. They're mad, you know, like, hit me.

[Greg Miller]

Hit me with something. I wanna get mad.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Gamers are too angry. I wrote that down. I. Well, you know, again, in general, like, here, let's just go. You know what I mean? I've said it. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. I've been very vocal about it, all right? Even when I was at IGN, how much I fucking hated top 25s, top one hundreds and game of the Year. Cause it all led to us getting really angry and bickering with each other about the stupidest shit, right? We all love these games. What does it matter? Why are we doing this? Why? And then, like, all the sacrosanct. Oh, is it a list that we would tell anybody to buy? Or is it a list you tell? Who the fuck cares? We're talking about goddamn toys. So I just find it so fucking embarrassing. Like yesterday, where people get so bent out of shape about DLC being for Game of the Year. It's like, I get having an opinion, but at the end of the day, the planet is fucking dying. The planet is dying.

[Tim Gettys]

The government is incredibly corrupt.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Why are we fucking mad at Jeff Keighley? Why are we so mad about this.

[Greg Miller]

Nice thing we get?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

We get the Game Awards. We get to be excited.

[Greg Miller]

Gotta play Morphosi and Rebirth.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

All we. Oh, no. I know, I know. Totally. Totally.

[Greg Miller]

That sounds like your subject matter.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, I know. Fucking rally against Shinra out here. You know what I mean? It's like, Godd, Damn. But it's like, what the fuck? It used to be fun, I feel like, to bicker about the games and stuff. And now nobody's bickering. They're actually arguing about. Well, it's an insult to the people who made a game. The people who made the DLC made. What are you talking about? What the fuck are we. Why are we so mad about this? And then God forbid you want to make a joke about PC gamers, they're gonna get fucking mad. I'm out here entertaining, you know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

But like, I think so much of that has been heightened in the last few years by grifting content creators. For sure.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Elon Musk's changes to the Twitter algorithm and how, like, you know, much of it, I think is for. What's the word I'm looking for? I guess, uplifting, like content that might be leaning a bit more right wing.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Or might rage farming or whatever.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, rage farming. Like, you see a lot more of that stuff. Surface. That's what I'm looking for. Right? Surface to your timeline in a way where I'm like, wow, in the last year, every time I log into Twitter, I'm just mad.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I just get angry.

[Greg Miller]

And now I am reading these conversations and these arguments that all feel so bad. Faith, in a way.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[Greg Miller]

You know, I think we've seen so many people's minds and opinions molded to lean toward. Angry and lean toward, oh, I gotta be legitimately upset because a DLC is nominated for Game of the year or because, oh, man, they put too many woke people in my video game or whatever it is.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

You know, I think in the last. And this has been going on forever. Right. But I think especially recently we've been able to see a lot of that stuff, I guess, be turned into a thing that people are actually mad about. Like accounts that I recognize. Right? Yeah, like accounts that I follow for, like news or updates. I see them get mad about things and I'm like, oh, no, we are actually poisoning people's brains. So I think that's a lot of it. Of why you ec.

[Tim Gettys]

It's a really good way to put it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Like, we see a lot of it happen nowadays and it sucks. But I'm with you of like, man, I think those conversations can be fun. When they're fun.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, exactly. Right.

[Greg Miller]

Some of my favorite podcasts of all time to listen to were the Giant Beat, the Giant Bomb Game of the Year podcast. Year to year, where it is, we have all these categories and it's not a vote. We are arguing until we're able to pick three games. And that stuff was always so fascinating because it's fun, I think, sometimes to debate, it's fun sometimes to, like, for sure, you know, figure out, like, oh, yeah, let's let me hear your reasoning. Let me give you my reasoning, and let's get to the bottom of this thing. We're not leaving this room until we figure out a solution.

[Tim Gettys]

Because it's content. You're making content. And it's like the content is just a bunch of people's opinions. It's not like, hey, I am right and you are wrong audience. It is, hey, the people at this couch are having a conversation about what they think. And it's like, yeah, when you're getting together to make content, I think that's one thing. When you're then having arguments online and it becomes like an all or nothing type thing, that's not content. Or else it is. And then it's like, hey, y'all, it's just content. Don't fucking worry about it.

[Greg Miller]

People have taken the marketplaces of ideas and turn it into a thing of, oh, I'm gonna hate somebody because they don't want to hear my ideas or whatever it is, or because I perceive them as being against free speech or they're ruining the thing that I love. And I'm like, that's not what that's supposed to be. Right. It is supposed to be the thing of, hey, you can express yourself, I can express myself. And let's be civil about it. As long as you're not being hateful about somebody.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

As long as they're not being a racist or a piece of shit. Like, yeah, like, then we can have the marketplace of ideas. But people have taken that idea and turned it into a freedom of speech.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah. Say whatever I want.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. And that exists legally, but that doesn't.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

You're allowed to say whatever you want. I'm allowed to say whatever I want back and fuck off.

[Greg Miller]

But that doesn't mean I have to hear you out as an individual or allow you on my platform or have to see you on my social media or whatever it is. But people have taken that to the extreme and it's made a lot of the gamer rage way more visible and just way more annoying and harder to get away from.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah. You know, we talk about, like, the real ramifications of this. Right. I lost a real friend over this. Yesterday. I put out the post that was my whole, hey, DLC should be nominated for Game of the Year or whatever, right? And in my Instagram DMs, I got a DM from Stellacy that's too obvious. S. Chung, who said, we're fighting. And so I responded back, you are dumb. And then she responded back, no, you are. And now we're not talking.

[Tim Gettys]

Now it's just over. It's done, man, this shit's real. This shit's serious. Like, there's no going back from here, okay? Lying in the sand. You either think DLC should be Game of the Year or you should be.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Murdered, publicly executed at the game of the executed.

[Tim Gettys]

Because that's the thing about it.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

And I feel like that's what I like. I why I hated the lists, why I hated the Game of the Year conversations was that everybody brings their own reasoning to the table of what Game of the Year should be or what it is. And I don't mean to talk about the people making the list. I mean, the audience. And so then they don't care how you frame the list at all and what you did, right? And so that's the whole thing with why, you know, say whatever you want and blah, blah, blah. Like, I love the Game Awards, right? And they're the Game Awards. They are Geoff Keighley's Game Awards. And here's how they choose everything. Here's how they do everything, here's what it's going to be. And people get so mad because they don't, go make your own fucking award show, period. Go do your own thing. They've set up the ramification, the requirements, the rules, the rubric for what's happening. It's the same thing with the review scale, right? Of like, oh, well, that's a four. Shouldn't make your own fucking review scale. I don't know. It's like back when I was arguing at IGN why we shouldn't use a hundred point scale. This isn't fucking science. You know what I mean? We're not doing lab tests over here to figure out the fun value. Even though, of course, GamePro had it best fucking thing. We all knew it was very important. Everybody's so mad about just talking about things they love.

[Greg Miller]

I definitely think everybody should calm down. I also do find conversations about how to make things better and improve things. I'm always here for it. Of course, I'm somebody who will always, like, you know, if I see. I look at the Game Awards and I think, you know, Jeff has built it up to be such a great thing in the last however many years, I still look at certain things about it. And I'm like, oh, I think this thing could work.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I'm not saying, like, it's not above critique, but there's such a difference of, like, what the fuck? It's like, okay.

[Greg Miller]

And that's where I'm at, right? Is like, you know, I'm like, I don't think it's above critique, which is why I often critique. Right. But, like, I think the line is when you are so mad about it, where you are, like, taking it almost as like a personal affront that, like, you know, this award show has a weird category or whatever it is, or like, this thing wasn't nominated, then it's like, okay, we've taken it too far.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. For me, it's like, I'm right there with you. It's like, I feel like the critique is one thing. I think it's the. When you're critiquing something based on what you think or want it to be, that it's not. It's like you people that are coming in acting like, Jeff chose these. Like, there are people attacking Jeff for, oh, why did he choose this? He didn't choose it. So it's a bad faith argument to begin with. And I feel like that's the majority of what I'm seeing is people that are making an argument based off of things that are not factual. So at a certain point, it's either you educate them or they don't want to be educated. It's like, what are we even doing here? I think that's just been the biggest thing with the gamers being angry. It's. It's like, only become easier and easier for me to be able to look at people, be like, I just don't align with you at all. Like, I just do not agree with the way that you and these people think about games or think about media or think about human beings or think about so many different things. And there's a lot of overlap with it. I'm like, okay, cool. That's just making it easier to just not engage with that stuff at all, or to look at it and just be like, oh, man, I don't ever want to come off that way. You know, if I don't like it or I do want to come off this way, or I do want more people to support these type of games or whatever. It's like, find a place to be able to express that in a way that you're actually reaching people as opposed to just, you know, grifting for the money of it all. And, like, I mean that in every. Every direction. Right. Like, at the end of the day, we're making content. Talking about video games like that. It all is just a business, period. What we're doing is a business. This all makes sense. We're doing this to make content. Hopefully for people to enjoy.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, and, like, not like our purpose is not to divide, which I feel like so many people, when the goal is to divide, it's like, all right, cool. Yeah, you're gonna make a lot more money. That's great. But you're in a household, Mike.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Should we start dividing to make more money?

[Greg Miller]

I've thought about it for a while. You know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

I get it.

[Greg Miller]

It's like, what if I start saying things I don't believe in, but I know the gamers do.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Exactly.

[Greg Miller]

Make some cash. And I'm like, that's an easy way to make some cash.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, you've seen people do it. Do you have any more takes, Greg?

[Greg Miller]

Do you have an actual optic?

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

The Final Fantasy metaphor was a hot take.

[Greg Miller]

No, it wasn't.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Yeah, a lot of people agree with that.

[Tim Gettys]

That's like, what? That's just a take at best.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, exactly. That's just an opinion.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

We're supposed to support each other out here. You know what I mean? We're supposed to support each other.

[Greg Miller]

My hot take is that none of those are hot takes. In fact, that was a cold take that I just gave.

[Tim Gettys]

Hey, but here's the thing. The headline of Greg Miller's Hot Takes.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

Clickbait.

[Tim Gettys]

That's a hot take.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

For the record, everybody, when I headlined in the show, I thought I had hot takes.

[Greg Miller]

Our headline is a hot take now.

[Tim Gettys]

There we go.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Somebody would think about it again. We're making the content, everybody. I love it here.

[Greg Miller]

Can you say one thing? I get mad at one thing where I'm like, oh, fuck this guy. Can't believe I work for him.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

I mean, we. Not even we the world.

[Greg Miller]

He's gonna say Elden Ring was the real game of the year.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

The world deserves more Starfield content. All right, okay.

[Greg Miller]

Now we're getting someplace.

[Tim Gettys]

We're getting somewhere. We're getting somewhere. Everyone let us know in the comments below what your hot takes are. And what of Greg's takes today you thought were hot? The world needs to know that. And also, what do you think about Final Fantasy 7? Rebirth versus metaphor? Do you like both? Is there anybody out there that really rocks for both and can't make the choice in their mind? Which do I love more? I want to hear from you. But, Greg, thank you for this. I appreciate it.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

You guys had a great time.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Really good time here, everyone. Mike, thank you for running the show. You're killing it.

[Blessing Adeyoye Jr.]

We love you, Mike.

[Tim Gettys]

Everyone, stay tuned for a fun stream. Mike and Nick, love.