Life After Crimson Desert (Your Voicemails) - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

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Kinda Funny Gamescast: “Life After Crimson Desert (Your Voicemails)”

Date: March 20, 2026
Hosts: Greg Miller, Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Special Format: Voicemail episode with audience-submitted prompts and super chats

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Episode Overview

This week, the Kinda Funny Gamescast pivots from a single-topic deep dive to a community-driven conversation, featuring voicemails and live questions from fans. The team reflects on the aftermath of Crimson Desert’s controversial launch, anticipates what’s next in gaming, and shares heartfelt stories of both letdowns and cult favorites, all while dissecting how the review process and audience perceptions have changed in the current landscape.

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Main Themes & Purpose

• Reflecting on Crimson Desert’s Release: Examining its contentious reviews, the challenges of reviewing constantly-updated games, and what it means for big releases going forward.
• Community Engagement: Answering listener questions about most anticipated games, disappointments, and hidden gems they loved against critical consensus.
• Industry Trends: Discussing day-one patches, changing reviewer-audience dynamics, and the growing complexity of massive game launches.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

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1. Crimson Desert’s Tumultuous Launch

(Timestamps: 06:47 – 18:28)

• Day One Patch Hell: Multiple callers share frustration over massive day-one updates and broken save files. Reviews and guides themselves quickly became outdated as the game morphed post-embargo.

  “I'm just trying to figure out what's up with all these day one patches. Why are they so long? I live out in the country, so it took a long time for a 35 gigabyte patch...” – Caller Paul (10:50)

  • Greg & Blessing relate: “Yeah, we had codes... played, then the next day, boom: ‘A new patch is coming. You’ll need to restart.’”
  • Blessing points out that this is now the industry standard: game ‘goes gold’ but launches with massive required patches.

• Impact on Reviews:

  • Games media is forced to “binge” games, sometimes producing reviews on versions meaningfully different than what real-world players experience.
  • Examples: Fast travel points added post-review, huge balance changes, etc.
  • Quote:

  “Man, I cannot tell you how stressful and shitty it feels to put a ton of work figuring out how to best guide players on an upcoming game—and then a surprise Day One patch invalidates a giant chunk of that help.” – Brendan Graeber (from BlueSky, relayed by Greg, 13:04)

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2. When Critics and Crowd Disagree

(Timestamps: 18:28 – 23:52)

• Crimson Desert vs. Days Gone:
  • Caller Travis draws parallels to Days Gone: hyped, then dogpiled/rejected at launch, only for a hardcore community to later rally around it.
  • Blessing: “Fuck consensus, fuck the 78 Metacritic… If you fuck with it, you fuck with it. Art is allowed to hit people in different ways.”
  • The hosts encourage positive disagreement but caution against dismissing critics as “invalid”—diversity of opinion is the strength.

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3. Most Anticipated Games (Post-Crimson Desert Landscape)

(Timestamps: 24:08 – 32:23, 43:43 – 69:34)

• Starfield PS5:

  • Multiple listeners (e.g. 479, Kaiju Corey) eagerly await Starfield on PS5 after middling reviews but are energized by the forthcoming updates and content changes.
  • Blessing: “When you go in with measured expectations, I think there’s enough ‘Bethesda-ness’ to enjoy... but I just don’t think it’s nearly as good as Fallout.”
  • Discussion of iterative improvement and possible “No Man’s Sky moment.”

• Fable (Playground Games):

  • Big hype among callers (“could bring Microsoft back from the brink”), but both hosts are cautiously excited, doubting a 2026 launch.
  • Greg: “As long as that’s gestated, as good as Playground is—even though they’re known for Forza—the demo looks so special... but I just don’t believe it’s this year.”
  • Blessing: “Nerdy RPG darling, but maybe not a console mover.”

• Control Resonance:

  • Anticipation for Remedy’s sequel—“looks absolutely insane,” gushing over the prospect of a hack-and-slash, ‘superhuman’ experience à la Prototype or Infamous.

• Wolverine & Star Wars Galactic Racer:

  • Wolverine seen as “almost a given,” hoping Insomniac delivers a truly standout story.
  • Blessing is eager for Star Wars Galactic Racer, teasing embargoed “hot takes,” and believes 2026 racing games will be an exciting slate.

• Other Anticipated Releases:

  • Soros (Housemarque, Returnal follow-up)
  • Mina the Hollower
  • Mouse PI for Hire
  • GTA 6: Ubiquitous enthusiasm, but tempered by distance since GTA 5—hype likely to spike when marketing cycle reignites.

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4. Games That Broke Our Hearts

(Timestamps: 26:42 – 27:07, 59:26 – 65:00)

• Starfield:

  • Caller from 916: “Still broke my heart with how uninspired it felt compared to previous Bethesda releases.”
  • Conversation centers on how hype and platform needs (e.g., “game of a generation”) can doom even solid releases in the eyes of fans.

• Anthem:

  • Callers lamented promises of “Iron Man simulator” that instead ended up “a crap simulator.”

• Assassin’s Creed 3 & Unity:

  • AC3’s unfulfilled promises, and AC Unity’s infamous bugs and rough launch, still sting; but some found fun, especially in multiplayer.

• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions:

  • Disappointment over middling critical response even though it was beloved by Spidey fans.
  • Greg notes: “At that time, superhero game expectations were so low, Shattered Dimensions actually being fun was a shock.”

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5. Games Critics Didn’t Love, But Fans Do

(Timestamps: 66:02 – 68:03)

• Lost Records: Bloom & Ridge

  • Caller: “A really touching, wonderful game, and it just did not get good reviews.”
  • Greg and Blessing discuss how multi-part releases and low early scores can doom a game’s long-term critical reappraisal.

• Yakuza Kiwami 3

  • Love for the franchise’s third entry despite its sometimes-cold reception—some experiences just hit differently.

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6. Community Grievances and Cult Classics

(Timestamps: 41:31 – 43:35)

• The Glover Defense
  • Sasquatch Oni passionately defends classic N64 underdog Glover, and Blessing retorts:

    “Let’s say it was top 25. I’ll tell you right now, Glover’s not a top 25 N64 game… The bench ain’t that deep, though!”

  • The N64 top games debate always triggers nostalgia and heated defenses for cult classics.

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7. Meta: Reviews, Consensus & the Changing Discourse

(Timestamps: 39:34 – 41:23)

• Are Reviews Still Used the Same Way?
  • Greg: “We don’t need to know everyone’s opinion, but now we have everyone’s, all the time… It’s the firehose.”
  • Hosts discuss the growing impact of user reviews (like Steam’s aggregate) versus critics.

    “Day one, critic reviews still drive hype… but a year later, Steam reviews mean way more.”

  • Blessing: “I buy a lot of old Steam games and those user reviews totally sway me if the critical buzz has faded.”

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8. Industry/Insider Chatter

• Cory Barlog’s Unannounced Project:
  • Speculation about rumored God of War Fae prequel (after leaks), its potential impact, and how rumors and telephone games mutate expectations.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Greg (on review difficulties):

  “You’re serving your audience and your community and the experience you’re having with your time with it. But yeah, to get it out and be like, well, this is dramatically changed from what it is… These quality of life features—do then go and negate this thing.”

• Blessing (on consensus):

  “Maybe I like a bad thing—that’s okay. And I’m not calling Crimson Desert a bad thing… but, hey, fuck consensus, fuck the [Metacritic], if you fuck with it, you fuck with it.”

• Caller (704):

  “A game stands above these that could steal game of the year, single-handedly save Microsoft... and that game, of course, is Fable, a series I grew up tuckling the teat of back in 2004.”

• Greg (on Fable):

  “I want Fable to be as good as it looks because that’s a game of the generation—but I just don’t believe Fable’s this year.”

• Blessing (on Wolverine):

  “Make the story fucking hit... Make the story one where it’s like, ‘yo, y’all ain’t ready for what they do with Wolverine.’”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------------|-----------------| | Opening/Crimson Desert Review Fallout | 06:47–18:28 | | Audience vs. Critics (Days Gone, Consensus) | 18:28–23:52 | | Most Anticipated Games Post–Crimson Desert | 24:08–32:23, 43:43–69:34 | | The Frustration of Day-One Patches & Guide Woes | 10:50–13:04 | | Reviewers vs. User Review Impact | 39:34–41:23 | | Glover Takes Center Stage (Cult Classic Defense) | 41:31–43:35 | | Games That Broke Our Hearts | 26:42–27:07, 59:26–65:00 | | Games Critics Didn’t Love But Fans Did | 66:02–68:03 | | Meta Discussion on Changing Review Landscape | 39:34–41:23 | | End—Wrap Up and Closing Anticipated Games | 68:14–70:00 |

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Tone, Style, and Community

• Irreverent and playful but thoughtful—typical Kinda Funny banter (“What up, wieners?”).
• Deep appreciation for community; listeners’ stories and vibes inform the show.
• Transparent about the review process and realities of making games media in 2026.
• Willingness to embrace subjectivity—celebrating both highs and heartbreaks.

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Final Thoughts

This Gamescast is a showcase of why Kinda Funny’s community-driven, generationally savvy approach hits: it captures not only what’s hot and what’s not in gaming, but also how it feels to be a fan, reviewer, or tech-support survivor in the era of forever games and forever updates. Whether anticipating Fable, surviving Crimson Desert, or defiantly loving Glover, this is a snapshot of gaming culture in its messy, passionate, ever-evolving state.

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Next Steps:

• Join the conversation on YouTube or Patreon with your most anticipated titles, heartbreaks, and critic-bashing confessions.
• Pick up a Kinda Funny membership for more ad-free, unsponsored content and support independent games coverage.

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Transcript

[Greg Miller]

Your candy stache just got an upgrade with fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots. Grab the shot. Dive into that sweet boost for your sweet tooth. Order now at 5hourenergy.com or Amazon. What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Kinda Funny Games cast for Friday, March 20, 2026. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller alongside Forbes 30 under 30, aka New York Game Awards nominated aka Bicep Poppy. It's blessing at the. Oh, yay, Junior.

[Blessing]

Good day, Greg.

[Greg Miller]

Good day. How are you?

[Blessing]

Doing well. How you doing?

[Greg Miller]

Good. We already had. We just had this.

[Blessing]

We did.

[Greg Miller]

We just had this conversation on Games Daily.

[Blessing]

How bad is that? I might be back with you because I saw people in chat pointing out like, oh, it's blessed, it's blessed. And I was sick.

[Greg Miller]

It's not bad. It's just clearly you're going through. It's. It's not blessed. You know, I feel the same way as I'm dealing with allergies right now. Now, granted, allergies are on the back of me coughing for a month. So it's like, yeah, I haven't heard you coughing.

[Blessing]

No, you coughed.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, but it's the allergies now. Right. So it's like a whole thing. But yeah, I'm not doing the horrible wheeze. I went to the, you know, I got the fucking inhaler. That's all done. Oh, we're done with that. Thank goodness. So we're fine with that. Now we get to hang out all day long. It is that.

[Blessing]

I feel like it's been that year because January, we all got like January to February, we all got sick one at a time, starting with Franz. So last time we left, we let Fran into the office.

[Greg Miller]

I think it was hanging out with you guys on your anniversary. I was like, all right.

[Blessing]

I don't know if it's us that did it to him or him that did it to us, but like, whatever happened to Fran? That man, he never.

[Greg Miller]

He was never the same again. He was never the same again.

[Blessing]

Like, he was in the hospital. He was wearing a cast on his arm for some reason, he didn't do that. But, like, I just imagine him looking like Bear. You saw the episode of spongebob where they were delivering chocolates and you had the. The woman.

[Greg Miller]

Chocolate.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Did you say chocolate or.

[Blessing]

No, I'm thinking of. I mean, yeah, those are the characters, but there's another character in that same episode that was like, my bones are made of glass every day I wake up. Oh, yeah, that's the same episode. Because he's like swindling them into like, buying more chocolate from him. Yeah, because he's faking a medical thing to like, pay for bills. That's how I picture framed Mirabella this last January, where he's going through it. Well, that too, but more. More. So he's just, you know, a very sickly man that month.

[Greg Miller]

Let's talk about Fran for a second because, you know, we love to do it. I've known Fran a long, long time. As many of you know, Fran used to be on Kind of Funny a lot at the old studio, the comic book studio and then his streaming stuff, our schedule, us getting more employees. It's kind of, you know, calmed down. We don't use Fran as much anymore. Right. But we still love Fran. The other night, and to be clear, I don't text Fran a lot. All right, the. So like the before this text on Sunday night, I texted him previously of like, do you want to be on the marathon review? Which he did. Right. And then double checking that he's on the marathon review because we hadn't talked in forever. And then it's a few, you know, you start going back and pretty quickly we're like, there's one in December. One time I texted him in November. Before then it was September. Like, we're not like texting a lot, right?

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

So Sunday Mike says in the thing, I'm sick. I'm going to be down. You say, hey, I'm going to be down. Andy says, hey, I'm going to be down at 8:17 on Sunday night. I text Fran, you want to do kind of funny games daily tomorrow? And Fran responds, hey, man, probably shouldn't. A few things are piling up after gdc. Unless it's urgent, in which case I'm always there to help out. And I started drafting. I'm like, fran, how often do I text you Sunday night at 8 7? And I'm like, you know what? I just thumbs up the message. And I was like, I'll do the. I'll do games daily. I'll do games daily.

[Blessing]

That's funny.

[Greg Miller]

It's on my side. Everyone's dropped unless it's urgent. Frank, why would I be Texting you at 8:20 on fucking Sunday if it wasn't urgent? It was.

[Blessing]

The more I learned about Fran, the more. The more I hang out with Fran, the more I'm like, I get it now. I get.

[Greg Miller]

You get all these stories.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

These years and years of IGN stories. God, I'm excited for this Gamescast blessing.

[Blessing]

Yes. I'M excited too.

[Greg Miller]

I talked about it on Greg Way today, of course, which you can get with your. Your kind of funny membership. Patreon, YouTube, Apple, Spotify that. I think we've been doing a. There was an energy to that review for crimson Desert. It's 3pm we're live. We're election night in America. Everything's coming in. And then since then, now using both games daily, obviously the continued coverage of the launch of Crimson Desert. The obviously the Gamescast plays Andy's amazing stream last night. Great job, Andy. And then gamescasts of all. Right, cool. This is a controversial review Middler. Come in. Let's talk about other controversial video game reviews today. When we got when Friday's Gamescast got moved to Monday because of all the sicknesses where we were gonna check in on Procopopia two weeks later there was this conversation of what does this one become? And you were like, well we could do a voicemail one. And I was like oh, interesting. And then the idea bubbles of course. What if it was? We asked the audience to voicemail in with what's our most anticipated game after Crimson Desert? What's an anticipated game that broke your heart? What was an anticipated game that critics didn't love but you loved? And I was like, oh man, I want to applaud you audience who answered the call. You all a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of great voicemails that we're excited to dive into right now on the kind of funny gamescast because we're here each and every weekday. A live talk show about video games. We cover reviews, previews and just things we need to talk about if you want to be part of the show. Maybe you missed the phone call voicemail segment. You can super chat YouTube.com kindafunnygames tell me what you're anticipating after Crimson Desert. Tell me about the time an anticipated game broke your heart. Tell me about the time you didn't agree with the critics about a review. We'll try to pepper them in as we go through some fantastic voicemails. Do it all on YouTube.com kindafunnygames with your super chats. Of course we couldn't make this show happen and this company happen without our patreon producers on patreon.com kinda funny. So thank you Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm twining for now, let's begin with what is and forever will be topic of the show. Crimson Desert is here for some a game of the year contender is what they were trying to build this, as some still saying it is their game of the year contender Paul Tassey. Fair enough, fair enough, fair enough. And I'm sure many of the audience will at one point be there too. However, now that we're there, and of course it's been an interesting week of it, like I said, most anticipated after Crimson Desert, the anticipated title that broke your heart and again, in a game critics hated that you did. I put these questions out in the voicemail so many of you wrote in, but I feel like it would be unfair to not start with Crimson Desert and talk a little bit about that. Can I get the first voicemail from

[Caller]

the 903 now that Crimson Desert is out? My most anticipated game is Crimson Desert because I am still installing the plethora of updates on my base PS5.

[Greg Miller]

Damn. Hate to see it. Your base PS5, how's that going to be running? Bless.

[Blessing]

Yeah, it might look blurry, but there's a lot of articles that are going to help you with the blurriness of that game.

[Caller]

I.

[Blessing]

It was funny because I think I had the same thing during the review cycle where like the initial install was fine.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Actually, have you told, have you told the story about.

[Greg Miller]

I mentioned it briefly on the review, but didn't go into the weeds, so feel free. Go for it.

[Blessing]

So we get the codes and day one of the codes it's like, all right, cool. Actually, how does this go?

[Greg Miller]

Because we got it on a, like, we got it like a afternoon on a Tuesday, I want to say.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And then was it later that night where we got it was that next morning was the next morning.

[Greg Miller]

So yeah, we get Crimson Desert. We know it's going to be a big game and I mean like large in terms of hours and things to do.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

So yeah, ran home, kissed Jen on the cheek, got Ben to sleep and I went downstairs and I played through the intro well into the world, I thought enough to come in and have opinions the next day.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And luckily I only played like 45 minutes.

[Greg Miller]

But when I woke up I opened Slack and what did I find was.

[Blessing]

Yeah, so I was in the discord for the reviewers and there was an announcement on the discord that, hey, we're going to push an update soon later today that is essentially going to require you to restart your save. You're not going to be able to take the progress you've made in the game so far into the new patch, so play accordingly. Which we're like, oh, that sucks.

[Greg Miller]

And then it got worse and I want to make sure to be clear, this is not me. Somebody said definitely off on the wrong foot. Annoying for sure. None of us held this against.

[Blessing]

This isn't something you can hold against.

[Greg Miller]

And again, what I want to. What I'm about to say will also not sound great. But this is, this is the job. And it's not Pearl business fault at all by any stretch of the imagination. I don't want anybody getting bent out of shape with them. Hey, we're get you a patch that's going to do the thing. Okay, cool. The patch will be here hopefully by the end of the day. Whatever end of the day rolls around, it's going to be maybe by midnight. Midnight rolls around, it's going to be tomorrow morning. And then the next morning it was so it was already big day embargo would have been like just I think a solid two weeks, maybe two weeks in a day if everything worked. But suddenly now you're in, you're past that two week thing and it's like, damn, you got to go. So if you have a Paul Tassie, if you have a Blue Thunder, a Tiktoker we love over here, like these people who are like, I put 100 some hours into it, you need to know they know lifed the shit out of where that's all they did. Which is. Happens a lot in our job. But I think also then to have this problem after problem and problem isn't even right. Right. Like again, no company owes us a review code and then to get it out and then, hey, we're still fixing the game and doing stuff that's.

[Blessing]

It's an opening stumble, you know what I mean? Like when like the bullet goes and it's like, all right, you got to, you're running and you take that opening stumble, it's like, oh man, you know, it's so hard to get back up. But you do it right because it's part of the job. And yeah, like I'm. I'm sure the people that are talking about hundreds of hours, I'm sure that first day they probably put in a lot of hours and like how to restart. And that's frustrating.

[Greg Miller]

Well, that was the thing in the discord too. There were the conversations of people who remain nameless. And I don't know if they did it, but they were like, well, technically I guess I could turn off automatic updates and just keep playing. Like, you know, I don't know what it was fixing, but you would have had a completely different experience.

[Blessing]

That's the thing is you can't Review that. Yeah, you know, like with the amount of updates they're pushing. Because then the other one was midway through getting an update where it was like, all right, you're going to download 30 gigs or something like that. And me being like, ah, shit. And then like Steam being like, you do not have the space. And then having to go into my computer, be like, all right, what do I have to delete? But honestly that was a blessing in disguise because then I learned I've had Cyberpunk 2077 downloaded on God Galaxy.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, wow.

[Blessing]

Like forever apparently. So I got to get rid of that and free up some space in my. In my thing.

[Greg Miller]

Well, it's funny that you keep bringing this up. We're talking about updates. Yeah, I'm giving Bear a little. I was Baron, I was, I was gonna, I was gonna go as long as I needed to for you to run. Because our next voicemail will take us into this. Can we go to the 737?

[Caller]

Hi, this is Paul. I've been watching our show for a couple years now.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you, Paul.

[Caller]

Just became, Just started funding.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you, Paul.

[Caller]

I didn't even know what this phone was, but I just downloaded Crimson Desert. And of course there's a 35 gigabyte day one patch. So I still haven't been able to play. And all I've been hearing about kind of mid reviews and it's kind of just upsetting me. I'm just trying to figure out what's up with all these day one patches. Why are they so long? I live out in the country, so it took a long time for a 35 gigabyte patch to go in, you know, half a day, that's all.

[Greg Miller]

But never would have guessed you're out the country. Paul.

[Blessing]

Paul. That first sounded like a Slim Shady skit. Oh, remember the Paul skits of like, hey, it's Paul. Yeah, yeah, that's what that sound like.

[Greg Miller]

Call this motherfucker from Connecticut. Great question, Paul. And also I should shout out if you missed the whole phone number thing yesterday. I didn't tell what people they were calling it in for. I did just put out the number and then I just BS did equipped it, whatever. Put out the phone number and then let people call. So a lot of people were like, oh, okay, I explained it in my voicemail thing, whatever. Great question, Paul. And great way jumping into it. And again, bless. Yeah, this is modern video games, right?

[Blessing]

Yeah, I mean the game went gold

[Greg Miller]

fucking forever ago, months ago.

[Blessing]

And we were like, oh, snap is ready. I'll snap is ready. It's like, no, you can. Nowadays you can make a game go gold whenever you want. Because day one patches are a thing, right? Like, you continue to work on the game after you pressed it to disc. And so like, that's what happens nowadays. And like, I think the big day one patches can be kind of annoying, but you come to expect them. I. I get more annoyed when I haven't played a game in a couple months and I come back to it and just on a whim of like, I want to boot up this thing real quick. And I boot it up and it's like, download. And I'm like, fuck, dude.

[Greg Miller]

The amount of times I turn on Steam and it's something I forgot to install and it's getting. And I'm like, oh. Or uninstall, I should say. And it's getting an update. I'm like, oh shit, fuck, cancel that. I'm never going back to that uninstall. You know what I mean? Get it out of there.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And I wish they were faster. Like, I think part of that is with the hardware. I remember, I feel like PS4 for some reason had really long download times for things and I think they got better internal.

[Greg Miller]

The internal modem or whatever. I know it's not really the word, but you know what I mean? Whatever. Your WI fi, Ethernet connection. Yeah, they had a problem on how they could process all that jazz.

[Blessing]

Exactly. So some pieces of hardware better than others.

[Greg Miller]

But this I think leads again in the conversation we're having though about crimson Desert Day 1 patches in video game reviews. Bear, could you have the first bs? That's a Blue Sky Tim. I put in here from Brendan Graber. Of course. Brendan does amazing work over at IGN. He's a senior guides editor. But yesterday he BS'd blue sky Tim. Man, I cannot tell you how stressful and shitty it feels to put a ton of work figuring out how to best guide players on an upcoming game. And then a surprise Day one patch invalidates a giant chunk of that help. Time well spent. Happy for the players who don't have to deal with it. But damn if you needed more. I put in a chain that this is how I originally saw this happening. Brendan responding to Will Borger quote tweeting or quote bsing Mitchell Saltzman from ign. Mitchell said they added a fast travel point in town with the day one patch. Lol. Oh my God. God. The game you all are playing is not the one we did pre release. Will saying, I'm going to become the Joker, bro. Are you kidding me? Then Mitchell on his own response was like, good, I'm glad this is a good addition. That removes a big pain point for the game, but also, why wasn't it there from the start? And then you see more conversation here. Brendan found out. I found this out immediately after publishing a tips page on early stuff like where to unlock your first fast travel point. Will says, brendan, I genuinely would have lost it. Brendan, even better. They added a fast travel spot to the gray main camp 30ft from the one you have to spend 50 hours progressing to learn how to unlock. At that point, I stepped away from the computer to stare at the sun for a while. I know exactly what they're talking about.

[Blessing]

Yep.

[Greg Miller]

Because in the gray main camp, which is a big deal, I unlocked it, I went away from it and then I was like, how do I get fucking. I gotta. I get back to it. And then I was running around, I found what will be the fast travel point. I assume 50 hours in covered in ivy and stuff. But you couldn't use your bow and arrow there to burn the ivy because I guess it's going to be something that I was so like, what the fuck is going on here? Like, I'm not even worried about the camp that I'm out of here.

[Blessing]

Yeah, this is like one of those ones where like, obviously, you know, we're on the Internet, we're on social media, we see people complain about game reviews, game journalism, all this stuff. Right. And most of those complaints are like, oh, people are just mad to be mad kind of kind of stuff.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

This is one of those things where I think it's a genuine conundrum of how to tackle and like, I don't think there is any right solution as far as like how video. How much video games change from the review copy to the consumer copy.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Blessing]

The day of, a week after, a month after where like this goes back to me for, to Cyberpunk 2077 of reviewing that game and like it being a similar ish situation. Here's a PC copy. I'm playing the PC copy in actually honestly a worse situation because Cyberpunk was so buggy on PC and me being like, well, they have told me they're going to put out a day one patch. So what does my review of this game look like when I know I am playing the most broken version of this and there's a chance that like, as I'm talking about this game during my review, the people that play this game aren't going to see half the bugs that I'm seeing, like, is that going to happen? And then I don't want to say thankfully, but it didn't end up that way. Right. People end up seeing. Still seeing a bunch of bugs because that game was broken. Regardless, that continues to be a thing, especially of games of this scale. Games that go for it like this. Right. Like there's. There becomes a bigger risk of more things going wrong. But you have the hype. You have an audience that's. That's bought in. Like, it. It's a weird thing. You could go, well, let's not review it until end of week one. But then who are you serving with that when the game's for sale and there's nothing? It's a weird thing.

[Greg Miller]

It's an. And it's been a problem, not my entire career, but as the Internet and day one patches and everything else have come along to change how we get games and review right. Where there isn't a right answer. Right. You're serving your. Your audience and your community and the experience you're having with your time with it. Is it. But yeah, to get it out and be like, well, this is dramatically changed from what it is. And again, this might not sound like a dramatic change as you. Okay. A fast travel point got added to camp. It was annoying. It was. And I. The way I circumvented all this, if you want a Crimson desert pro tip, of course, is that this game is inspired by several other games. And just like Breath or I'm sorry, Tears of the Kingdom. There's the sky, islands above you. Right. They call it the Abyss. And so when I didn't have a fast travel point for where I wanted to get to, I would go to the abyss, jump off the side, and I'd put all my points so far into flying. So I'd fall down, fly out, run out of stamina, fall, stamina, regens, fall, you know, fly, fly, fly as far as I could to get as close as I could to what I wanted to do. Now, would a fast travel point been better? Yes. When I was exploring the world, was I looking for those? Yes. Like, that was a big part of me trying to go out there and do it. But these quality of life features that are getting added in do then go in and negate this thing. And as critics and pundits and video game press or whatever you want to call all of us, the problem is that we have our experience and move on. And then, yes, the players have their own experience that then crystallizes and again changes over Time we sit there and we have to binge games, right? So we can get it for the review embargo or just for the conversation. Whereas somebody who even bought Crimson Desert yesterday at launch is now going to play that for seven months. You know what I mean? So like in three weeks they're going to be playing a different game than they are right now, but they won't even know it because they haven't gotten to that part yet. So on and so forth. But I think it leads to an interesting conversation that we kind of started having on Games Daily. And we'll continue here with a call from the 8:01.

[Caller]

Hey, this is Travis. I just was thinking about Days Gone seem to follow this exact same cycle right Where Days Gone everyone's super hyped and then comes out reviewers Greg in particular didn't like it. People blasted Greg thinking oh Greg just hates open world games. Even mentioned open world fatigue. And I was like he doesn't get it. He doesn't understand it. And it comes out and just kind of fizzles. And that was heartbreaking for me. I was. I was one of those super excited for for Days Gone and I just see this exact same cycle with Crimson Desert. It's just exactly the same thing. Anyway, that's all I want to say. Love you guys. Thanks.

[Greg Miller]

I'm going to be fascinated to see what the audience reception is for Crimson Dawn. Like we were talking on Games Daily at thank you so much at the end of the year.

[Blessing]

That was Roger. That was the Roger Mike bit from last year.

[Greg Miller]

Them so much Crimson Desert at the end of the year right when we get there and it is the people who have been playing it the entire year have seen the updates or just are doing things the mix right now we're at a 50 whatever 53% mixed review on Steam. When those swing back because of updates. If this the other how it's running on PlayStation Ba Ba Ba if it's going to have this is the audience with it the way they were with it with Days Gone where Days Gone is a notorious one that did not review well for the most part. I know like there's people who love it. There's always gonna be people love it. But for the bigger sites right. And then there was then this undercurrent to it of like they don't get it. We get it.

[Blessing]

Yeah but isn't that all art? You know what I mean? Like doesn't all are even for the people that that would say unanimously this thing sucks. There's still those People that are like, you don't get it. Like, Greg, for me, this is gonna be something that's tough to admit for me, right? There's a rapper named Chains the rapper, I'm sure you're familiar. He has an album called the Big Day. This album is like a historically bad rap album. Right. Everybody talks about how this album is the worst. Anthony Fantano, I think, gave it his first zero out of ten.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, wow.

[Blessing]

When I tell you I really like the Big Day, I think it's a great album and I don't think people got it. And guess what? Like, I'm. I, like, I can't sit here and seethe. Like, you know, that the world, like, guess what the world decided that they don't like this thing that's just on me. Maybe I like a bad thing that's okay. That I like a bad thing, right? Like. And I'm not calling Charisman Desert.

[Greg Miller]

No, no, no. I don't think so.

[Blessing]

But it's the thing of like, hey, like, fuck consensus, fuck the 78 Metacritic or whatever. If you fuck with it, you fuck with it. If you think people are wrong, you think people are wrong. I think the world's wrong about so many things, but it's okay. Yeah, we'll get through this together. But yeah, I think, like, I. To your point, right towards the end of the year, I think we are gonna probably be in that days gone situation to like a greater extent. I think there's gonna be like a. A crazier discrepancy where people are really, really gonna fuck with Crimson Desert and be like, yo, critics were wilding or whatever. But I think that group of people is not gonna be the vast majority by any means. Yeah, I think most people that play Crimson Desert are probably gonna be like, ah, it's fine. Oh, it's okay. And kind of crap.

[Greg Miller]

I forget who it was yesterday. Was it just yesterday that we reviewed this? No, two days ago when all this was happening and they were out there on bs. That's a blue sky too. And being like, I love this. I love seeing this. 78, 77, whatever it was at the time on Metacritic. And being like this means that Pearl Abyss took a swing. They didn't make a boring safe game. They. They did something that is going to resonate with some and alienate others. And I am 100% in that camp.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And it goes back to what I was talking with Jordan about. You hear me on these shows all the time of like, how blessed we are to have this plethora of voices talking about video games. So it really is that, like, when I say I don't like it because of X, Y and Z, but you know what I like? Usually you can then compare it to somebody who you align more with, less with whatever, and see why they like to be like, oh, this will speak to me in a way it didn't speak to Greg, and vice versa and so on. Like, I love the idea that people are making art and it is that thing of like, oh, geez, man, I forget what episode of what we were doing or getting ready for, and I asked for reader comments and stuff and it didn't make the show, but it was me. Maybe it was just a live chat or whatever. It was me talking about how much I love story and video games. Right. It's someone. And I'm way out of school on this one because I'm not familiar with the quote, but the person writing it was like, Damon Hatfield says video games don't even need to have story. Or he doesn't like story in games. I don't remember what it was. And it's like, both opinions are totally valid.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

It's like, okay, yeah, I need that to anchor myself in a game, right?

[Blessing]

Yeah. Greg, what I, I think what I appreciate, and I saw this a lot yesterday with people talking about it, right? What I appreciate is Tony being like, hey, that person's wrong. This thing's actually great. And here's why I appreciate that. What I don't appreciate is people being like, hey, that person doesn't know what they're talking about.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Blessing]

Hey, that person 100%. They have bad opinions. Oh, that person. Like, they liked X things, so I'm not gonna care about them saying. Talking about Y thing. I think when.

[Greg Miller]

Well, I can't trust them because they rushed through it and they didn't. I like combat. They don't.

[Blessing]

Like, that's where I roll my eyes and I'm like, dude, that. Right. Like, art is allowed to hit people in, in, in different ways. And it's okay to think other people are wrong, but I don't think it's okay to, to go. They're invalid. Like, they're like, they, you know, they don't know. Like, when you get into those personal attacks, that's where it's like, oh, we're talking about video games here. You're being a baby. Like, let's, let's grow up, grow up a little bit here. It's okay for us to have different tastes in what we're looking for.

[Greg Miller]

Here I agree 100% with you. And luckily I've never been wrong. I've never been the odd man looking out and so let's just go to. Let's move on to games. People are still anticipating this year. There's so many great games still to come this year. Take me, Barrett to the Four Seven Nine.

[Caller]

Hey, kind of funny crew. My dad and I were both really excited for Crimson Desert this year, but after the reviews I'll prob just wait till it goes on sale. So right now my most anticipated game coming up is Starfield for PS5. My first ever RPG was Oblivion when I played at 8 years old. I played every Bethesda game since. I've just kind of been waiting and as a no man, I think taking a few years to improve your game, I'm excited to jump into Starfield and see what they've done with it.

[Greg Miller]

How many people do you think are like the 479 out there?

[Blessing]

I'm so curious. I'm so fascinated by how much Starfield sells. Yeah, because we've seen Xbox games come to PlayStation. We've seen how well Forza Horizon does when that comes to PlayStation. Do you think Starfield has the same sort of juice to blow up?

[Greg Miller]

Yes and no. I keep seeing it on the subreddits and stuff of what are the most popular pre orders and whatever. And like Starfield was right behind the two versions of Crimson Desert. And now that they're out right now on the PlayStation store.com it's Starfield Premium Edition for 70 bucks followed by Lego Batman, followed by Double oh7, followed by Starfield Vanilla Edition. So it's like always hard to say like what does that actually shake out to? But like it's been so crazy for me this week as a Starfield sicko that suddenly everybody's excited about Starfield. They're positive about Starfield. They're talking about Starfield. I, I talked about this in Greg way today too. The fucking Starfield subreddit that was so toxic. I had, I just started going to no sodium Starfield where I'm like, I just want to enjoy what I enjoy. The Starfield subreddit is positive and like you got it Bethesda. You know, I'm proud of you, Bethesda. Like what the fuck is going on? Like suddenly this happened.

[Blessing]

There is. I will tell you, I. If I'm comparing Starfield and Crimson Desert in my time reviewing both because I think both of them I would give around the same score. Even though Starfield actually finished, I, I Enjoyed Starfield way more than I enjoyed Botanic Crimson Desert Fair. So take that for what it's worth.

[Greg Miller]

Not everyone agrees with you. Can I get the 916 in here? Talking about an anticipated game that broke their heart.

[Blessing]

Give me just a second here.

[Greg Miller]

I'll give you all the seconds you need. Don't worry about it.

[Blessing]

I like you shouting out the area codes too because I've been looking them up.

[Greg Miller]

Oh yeah, Yeah. I should have done that ahead of time.

[Blessing]

A couple. I forget the name of the person from the 801. That's Salt Lake City, Utah. So Travis.

[Caller]

So one of the games that came out recently was highly anticipating that kind of broke my heart was Starfield. Now I did enjoy the game, but I will say it still broke my heart with how uninspired it felt compared to the previous releases from Bethesda. Thank you very much. Love you guys.

[Greg Miller]

We love you, 916. Thanks for writing in. That's the question for Starfield PS5 is that if you were a PlayStation player or just a Looky Lou who could have gotten on PC and Xbox but never did and you've just seen this thing dragged out into the streets and beaten and just wailed on for years and years and years, your expectations have to be so low. Go back to where 916 was talking about. Right. It still broke my heart. How uninspired. Like compared. Like I always go to it. Remember Mike was like starfield has to be a game of the generation. Like that was the fucking hype and intention and need for the Xbox platform for Starfield.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And so, yeah. No wonder like it just collapsed under the weight of all that stuff.

[Blessing]

Yeah. I'm so fascinated because I'm. When we look at that, the pre orders for it being at the top of the charts. Right. Like to your point, you have to know, like people have to understand what Starfield is by now. And I think for those people they might be very pleasantly surprised because I think when you go into Starfield with very measured expectations, you still have enough of the Bethesda isms where you can get through and enjoy it. Right. Like for me, Starfield was a game that I wanted to love as much as I love a Fallout. But I just don't think it's nearly as good as a Fallout. And so I was very disappointed.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

However, like there's still that. There's still like, you know, it walks like a duck enough to where I'm doing the quests, I'm getting into the combat. I'm doing enough things Where I'm like, yeah, this is giving me enough of the gameplay loop, even though I want more of a traditional open world. And I didn't like flying around space. Yeah. Some of the map stuff, I just didn't vibe with me. I didn't like how, like, the procedurally generated, like, worlds that are like, this procedural generation design of the planets when you land on them and kind of, like, have not as many pois. Yeah. Pois. Like, man, that stuff didn't vibe with me. But if I knew that going in, like, if I knew what I was

[Greg Miller]

getting going about it, though, this is literally what we're talking about with Crimson Desert.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Is that they've fixed so much of that or are promising to fix stuff with this April 7th thing.

[Blessing]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

So it's the thing of. I think people will jump in. And I remember what. When they launched Escape, which was one of the creations that Bethesda put up on the creation shop I was telling you about, I'm like, dude, like, this is what you and I were looking for at launch. And now, having finished all the tracker bounties they just put out or whatever, like, dude, those five are all like, you're back. You're back. Bethesda of, like, really cool. It's not just run into this place, shoot everybody to death, and grab the McGuff. It is a choice. It is a swerve. It is. We're taking away all your stuff, and now you've got to fight from zero. It's like, damn. You really understand what I think so many people expected out of Vanilla Starfield. And even before Shattered Space and before the creations, Right. Like, they were doing the updates of the 60 frames, and they were doing the updates of. All right, you know, you don't have to be encumbered anymore. You can really tailor your experience where it's like, obviously, I've loved Starfield from the jump, but I told you at the time when I reviewed it, and I think I gave it a seven or whatever, maybe I ate it. We're even doing scores then. I don't fucking remember. But, like, it had plenty of room to grow. And it's grown so much that I really do feel like you come in with the expectations for the reviews you heard at launch. I think you're gonna be not blown away, but I think there's gonna be a lot of the. Why was everybody complaining and, like, not understanding? Like, no, no, this wasn't what the experience was.

[Blessing]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm fascinating to see what it does. Numbers Wise, sure.

[Blessing]

But more the no Man's sky moment, the resurgence.

[Greg Miller]

This is another one that keeps coming up on Greg ways of people being like, you know, they've said that this isn't 2.0, but it really feels like a 2.0. And I think again, like that was a measured choice by Todd to come on our show and say that because I think it was. Let's knock that expectation down so you don't. Your expectations again are low. And then you see Freelance and you see the Terran Armada and you go, oh, wait a second, what the fuck? Like it's what I had been predicting. Even though they say they're not stopping that. It's. Here's the complete edition of Starfield. Like I think this is like the, this is our vision for what this game always was. Because the back to it of like I'm right there with you of like landing on it. Same recycled pois. Same recycled. Oh, I know what I look at this building that the Crimson Raiders are in. I know already what the layout of the building is because I've done it 17 times or whatever.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And they, in our, the presentation they gave, you know, Tim Lamb was very much like, like we've gone in and tweaked all of that so that they aren't appearing as much and that there's more of them now. So like, you know, the pois are going to be more randomized and it's going to feel like no, you're not getting the same shit all the time. Okay, we'll wait and see if they can do that. But right now, playing it, I'm having so much fun. I can't wait for April 7th to get all this extra content and get in there. What will it do, you know, sales wise on PlayStation? Well, but it's, you know, we're coming off games daily with the circana charts. Whereas, you know, at the top was Resident Evil Requiem and then a bunch of old ass games until you got to like, what was it? 11 Mario fever. Like there's still so many. A new game is easier to break in if it's got some juice behind it. So I expect Starfield to do well on that front. But I don't know if it'll be like, you know, I mean, for the

[Blessing]

rising five was on there too. On the top 20 list.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing]

I'm hopeful.

[Greg Miller]

We'll see. I want to stick with heartbreaking things and especially blessing breaking people's hearts.

[Blessing]

Oh no.

[Greg Miller]

But first I'll tell you about the patreon kinda funny YouTube apples the subscription that keeps us going. Remember, if you like us hanging out and talking games, we couldn't do without your support, pick up a kinda funny membership. Patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple Spotify. You give us $10 a month. We give you more than 80 episodes of ad free content. Your daily dose of me, Greg Miller and a 15 to 20 minute podcast called Greg Way each and every day. And of course good karma for supporting an 11 person 11 year old small business. But right now you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by five Hour Energy Indulge your sweet tooth with a fruity Rainbow Extra Strength 5 Hour Energy Shot. It's basically a candy store in a bottle. We're talking juicy berry bursts, tangy citrus squeezes and a pop of tropical vibes. All hitting like your favorite chocolate sweets but with an actual boost. The sweet treat that you won't feel guilty about. Packed with B vitamins, nutrients and that all important caffeine to keep you going. Just as pocket sized as your favorite candy but with zero sugar and zero sugar. Crash. Forget boring. Find the rainbow. Grab the shot. Dive into the sweet boost for your sweet tooth. Visit FiveHouseEnergy.com or Amazon today. This podcast is brought to you by Rula. I know I'm the strongest person you know, but even I, Greg Miller, struggle with mental health and know how important it is to talk to someone when you're going through it. That's where Rula comes in. Rula makes therapy simple, affordable and fast. They work with most major insurance plans and the average session copay is just 15 bucks. That's 15. That's basically the cost of lunch. But instead of a sandwich, you're investing in your own headspace. And with Rula you're not just matched and left to figure it out. They check in and make sure you're actually making progress. Getting started couldn't be easier. You answer a few quick questions about what matters to you and Rula connects you with in network providers who actually fit your needs. You pick the time and you could be talking to a therapist as soon as the next day. Thousands of folks have already used Rula to finally get the care they needed. Don't keep putting it off. Go to rula.com kinda funny and get started today. That's Rula. R u l a.com kinda funny take the first step. Get connected and take control of your mental health. This podcast is brought to you by Factor. Somewhere between the first warm weekend and realizing short season is getting close, eating well stops feeling optional. But not if you're like me and have Factor delivered to your door. It's never optional, it's always happening. Get fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs. Ready in two minutes. No planning, no cooking. Factor makes a mashed potato that would make Andy Cortez blush because they only use quality, functional ingredients including lean proteins, colorful veggies, whole food ingredients and healthy fats. There's 100 rotating weekly meals to keep things fresh and delicious through every season with options including high Protein Calorie, smart Mediterranean diet, GLP1 support and ready to Eat Salads. I love Factor and you will too. Head to factor meals.com kindafunny 50 off and use code kinda funny 50 off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year offer only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with Factor. Finally, the Williams is have come back to San Francisco and this time they're going to make Nick and Andy answer for it. Join James and Elise Willems, Nick, Andy, Lucy, James, Max Scoville and more for a live trivia show March 21, 8pm at the Swedish American hall in San Francisco. It's the only trivia show where being funny is just as important as being right. And we all know Nick is never right, so he's gotta be funny. But too bad he's also never funny. Head to kinda funny.com answerfor it for tickets and info. Score more with the college branded Venmo Debit card and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash. Got paid back with the Venmo Debit card you can instantly access your balance and pay spend on what you want like game day, snacks, gear, tickets and more. The more you do, the more cash back you can earn. Plus there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Sign up [e-mail] collegecard the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. select schools available. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at venmo me termsterms max $100 cash back per month Spring starts at the Home Depot and we are bringing the heat to your backyard this season. Fire up the flavor with our wide variety of grills for under $300 like the next grill 4 burner gas grill that's perfect for hosting your spring cookout.

[Blessing]

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[Blessing]

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[Blessing]

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[Blessing]

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[Blessing]

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[Greg Miller]

And we're back. A couple super chats before we pivot any further. Kaiju, Corey wrote in and said my Starfield game save on Xbox is nine days and I can't wait to play on PlayStation 5.

[Blessing]

Wow. Nine days.

[Greg Miller]

Nine days. Yeah. I thought I was pushing something with six, but yeah, nine's insane.

[Blessing]

And I know there's 216 hours.

[Greg Miller]

Crazier numbers than that out there. The Starfield sickos are out there and we play like crazy things. Yeah, I refuse. I mean, don't be wrong. Do what you got to do. But I can't leave. My Starfield is Becky Lynch. That's the story. You know what I mean? So I can never. I can't walk away from that now and start fresh and go in there. Bam, says Greg. Do you think. Greg, do you think our reviews are used the same way they were used before, compared today like they are now? I'm glad I'm not crazy when I

[Blessing]

read these things because I'd be struggling.

[Greg Miller]

I understand the box is small. There's A bunch of different things. So are video game reviews being used the same way today as they were back then? Oh, I think so. I think it's more the fact that me and Jen talk about this all the time of, like, we don't need to know everyone's opinion. That's. That's the thing right now, right? Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, bs, that's a Blue sky team, et cetera. It's the fire hose of just everyone puts out their opinion on everything. So then it becomes a well, what do we do?

[Blessing]

I don't.

[Greg Miller]

Who do you want to trust? What do you want to believe? What do you want to read? Who do you know?

[Blessing]

What do you think is a better driver for sales critic reviews or user reviews?

[Greg Miller]

Oh, man. I think it was. You know what?

[Blessing]

It's a weird one.

[Greg Miller]

I'll tell you the honest answer. I don't think I can tell you.

[Blessing]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

I think, you know, there was a conversation with you and Rodrif, like, but are we distanced from. Are we. Do we have. Do we have objective sight on this? I think as somebody who writes the reviews and then does not use user reviews that way, I couldn't give you the honest answer. And I think there's a big difference between. You want to get it in the first week, we'll say, right. Because obviously day one, there's only critic reviews versus you want to get it a year from now. Because I think that's where that.

[Blessing]

Sure. Steam. That's a good point.

[Greg Miller]

The Steam aggregate means way more to point of what you said a year ago when the game was whatever it is.

[Blessing]

That's a really good point, actually. Yeah. Because I think that day one, I would say it would be the critic reviews. Right. Because, like, that is the. I think that's the core of where. From. Where the hype generates from.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

But yeah, a year later, like, there have been so many Steam games that I buy that are older Steam games that I see, and I'm like, oh, this looks cool. And then I immediately go to the Steam page and look at the user reviews and be like, all right, people, it's mostly positive. Yeah, let's check this. Check this thing out.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah. Let's take Blessing a task. Can we go to the 5, 7, 4.

[Blessing]

One moment.

[Greg Miller]

No problem.

[Blessing]

Where is that? Oh, here we go. Seven.

[Greg Miller]

Here we go.

[Caller]

Hey, games cast. This is Sasquatch Oni. This one is in particular directed a little bit at Blessing, because when you guys were doing the Nintendo 64 list, I said Glover and I haven't let that go. Glover is a good game. When you were a little kid and you were like, whoa, dude, I'm playing as basically Mario's Glove, that was the sickest shit ever. You go back to it, you know, okay, sure, it's not the best game of all time, but it is iconic. There is only one Glover. There was supposed to be a second, and we were robbed of that. Okay. But to write it off, no way, man. That's a solid game, one of a kind.

[Blessing]

The fact that you knew there was supposed to be a second Glover, I didn't even know that.

[Greg Miller]

Glover fan right there. It's a real Glover fan.

[Blessing]

The ncd, I'm like, typing in a game where you play is Mario's Glove. So this must have been a shit list. That's awesome. And, like, I don't remember doing an N64 list. It must have been. Let's say it was top 25.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Let's say it was top 25. I'll tell you right now, Glover's not a top 25 Nintendo 64 game. Like, I don't know what else to tell you. Like, Ocarina exists. Smash exists. You know what I mean? Like, native 23 of them.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I was going to say Nintendo Library. The bench ain't that deep, though.

[Blessing]

Mario 64.

[Greg Miller]

All the Mario parties, all the wrestlings.

[Blessing]

All of the Mario parties. All the wrestlings, all the Mario parties, all the Mario Spin Offs. That at least is 20 games right there. Pokemon stadiums, both one and two, which I was looking at the Wikipedia for yesterday, because that's what I do here.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

And like, I learned, like, Pokemon Stadium 2 has lower reviews than you would have thought. At least that. Than I would have thought.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Blessing]

But like, Pokemon Stadium 2, fantastic video game. Need I go on Donkey Kong 64?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

I mean, there wasn't a Metroid. The Earthbound got canceled. Banjo. Oh, Banjo.

[Greg Miller]

Oh.

[Blessing]

All the rare. Literally every rare game. Yeah. No, sorry, Glover.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. When you're.

[Blessing]

When your platformer competition includes Mario, Banjo, and the dog from Jet Force, Gemini, it's like, no, you're not going to make it. Sorry. Conquer Nana.

[Greg Miller]

Let's move on back to some anticipated titles. Start me off with the 704.

[Caller]

What's up, wieners? First off, congrats on earning the ire of the Internet by telling them Crimson Desert and Cliff, AKA Cat Bar Milk Toast, wasn't, in fact, the second coming of Christ.

[Blessing]

I like this guy.

[Caller]

So here we are, Crimson Desert. And what game am I absolutely jonesing for? We've certainly Got a lot to pick from Soros to Wolverine to GTA to 007 first. Just kidding. Nobody's looking forward to that. One game stands above these that could steal game of the year, single handedly save Microsoft a game that's left us doubting its existence, only to come out years after its announcement with the most impressive show I've seen in a long time. And that game, of course, is Fable, a series I grew up tuckling the teat of back in 2004. And the recent showing was so impressive. With the reinvented systems, if they aren't pulling a Peter Monolu on us, this could truly be something special. Anyway, I'm running out of time, but we need to see under the hood. We need to see the magic systems, the weapons and all that. But it looks like it could be something that pulls Microsoft back from the brink. Anyway, that's it. Don't call me.

[Blessing]

I like this guy. We should have it on an episode.

[Greg Miller]

We need a full episode called Us Wieners. What up, wieners? Listen, but I did love the dunk. Yeah. For 007 standing there.

[Blessing]

Okay. I have a few points here. One, I like that guy. He's from South Bend. Shout out to out, not to dox you.

[Greg Miller]

Two, I have North Carolina.

[Blessing]

Unless the 574.

[Greg Miller]

704.

[Blessing]

Oh, maybe I miswroted. I wrote 574. Maybe that was the previous guy. Either way, cool guy.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, 574 is the Glover who you hate.

[Blessing]

You're gonna go, oh, that's right. That was Glover, man. Yeah, South Bend. Secondly, I don't like this double seven shade because I stand by it. I o interactive. I'm not counting. I'm not counting them out until they're out.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. All right.

[Blessing]

I gotta get my hands on the game first before I'm like, no, this ain't doing it. Thirdly, Fable, A Fable, I would say is probably like a top three most anticipated game for me this year.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Blessing]

After they're showing at the.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Blessing]

For sure. I was really convinced. I was really blown away by what they had to show. But now that we're post Crimson Desert, we've been brought down to earth, me and you. Like, what does that do for your anticipation for Fable?

[Greg Miller]

It doesn't affect Fable.

[Blessing]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

I look at Fable and I mean, Crimson Desert, I felt was so out of the blue of just like Pearl, the black desert online. Guys, I've. I've heard of that game. I've never actually seen it. Like what? You know what I mean? Like, could you possibly get all of this in the game and have a compelling story and have an open world that runs and all this different stuff like Fable. As long as that's gestated. As good as we know playground games is. Even though they're usually known for Forzas rather than, you know, know our open world RPGs that demo them coming out be like, nope, everything's handcrafted. None of those people are AI. You can go follow them all because we did it. You really get into, oh, oh, fuck this. I hope this is as special as it looks. My thing about it is I can't wait for Fable. Fable is at the top of my most anticipated game. Was probably. But I don't believe Fables this year.

[Blessing]

Oh.

[Greg Miller]

And I think a lot of that is just me setting my own expectations. So I'm not always caught up in the hype of Fable.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

But I could easily see that being a game that they're not going to get out this year. I hope I'm wrong. I hope they get it out. I can't wait for it.

[Blessing]

Honestly, I'm okay with it. Like, it's already such a big year that if it gets kicked out of the same year of that GTA is coming out.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Blessing]

Even though you believe that GTA coming out this year is another question. Yeah. I'm like at a place where honestly delay all your games. It's been a year. I have so many things to play. I think this is only going to continue as far as there being so many games coming out and me not having the bandwidth to try all the different games I want to play. I've wanted to play way more marathon than I actually got a chance to in the last couple of weeks. Like, like, hey, everybody, delete your games. I don't care. I'll get to them when they come out. Take your time.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

That's where I'm at.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. Fair enough.

[Blessing]

I'm okay with Fable Delane. But I'm really looking forward to that game.

[Greg Miller]

I feel like again too, like, I. I want Fable to be as good as it looked. Because that's like, that is a game of the generation. What we saw in a very brief presentation. Don't get me wrong. But if you nail that, I mean, come the fuck on.

[Blessing]

Like, oh yeah.

[Greg Miller]

To the point. Would it bring Xbox back from the brink? No. Fable's not going to sell enough to bring Xbox back from the brink of wherever they're about to hurdle off into. But it'd be awesome to see. And I'd Love to see it just

[Blessing]

seems like too nerdy of an rpg, you know, I mean it seems like too nerdy of a video game to be like the one like I think Mike nailed it when it, when he was talking about it having to be Starfield because Starfield is Bethesda big rpg, right? Mainstream appeal like that is going to sell well. Even if it's not that great, it's going to sell well, right? If that was a generation defining thing, I think that's a. This can hold, this can carry a console on its back sort of thing. Fable, I think is going to be a prediction, is going to be a darling, right? It's gonna be one where we're like, yo, it did X, Y and Z thing. It reminds me a little bit of like Indiana Jones. Even on a, on a bigger scale though, right? Where Indiana Jones comes out and it does things that like nerdy video game reviewers really like because it has systems and it has, it like asks you to solve things yourself and explore and do all these things. And it really invokes what it feels like to be Indiana Jones. There's something about that type of game design that I think resonates with a lot of people that are, that are critics in the video game world. And I think Fable is going to have a lot of that stuff too, hopefully.

[Greg Miller]

Let's stay with the anticipated games. We're going to move on to the two five two.

[Caller]

What up? Kind of funny. So I think my most anticipated game of this year is definitely going to be Control Resonance followed closely by Wolverine. But Control Resonant definitely edges it out. Sorry for the bell. I'm out of school. I work here. Control Resident just looks absolutely insane. I love the first Control, but what I love more are hack and slash style games. Games that make you feel like a monster, like prototype or infamous. And this game is definitely taking some influence from it, I think. Looking awesome. Can't wait. The game that bummed me out by the reviews was definitely Anthem. I really thought Anthem was going to be Destiny, but more of an Iron man simulator and it ended up being more of a crap simulator. That's a bad joke. But either way the game was wildly disappointing. So yeah, thank you for letting me be involved. If you'll even hear this call, who knows? Nobody does. Have a great day.

[Greg Miller]

You too.

[Blessing]

Imagine like you're in seventh grade. You walk into your teacher's class huddled

[Greg Miller]

over like he's on his phone calling a games podcast.

[Blessing]

Who are you talking to? Oh, I found a phone number on the Internet. I just dialed in.

[Greg Miller]

He's like, listen, you know, do as I say, not as I do. Yeah. Control Resident, where's your anticipation level for that?

[Blessing]

Oh, very high. Very, very high. I think all of us here loved Control, and even the people that are playing Control for the first time coming

[Greg Miller]

very late to it. Yeah.

[Blessing]

Coming into it still, like, adore it. Right. I think it being so different is the thing that has me, like, oh, interesting. I love so many of the aspects of the first control. Right. Being in the fpc, reading the notes and, like, the weird shit that goes on in the FPC was so cool. And so it being such a dynamically different game, I think is really interesting for it. And I want that to.

[Greg Miller]

Are you scared by that?

[Blessing]

A little.

[Greg Miller]

Firebreak was a radically different game, right?

[Blessing]

Yeah, I'm a little bit scared. But they're pivoting to things that I like a lot because I like melee combat and I like an open world melee combat action game that feels like a prototype or an infamous or a Spider man kind of thing. So that seems cool. The last big gameplay thing they showed was, like, showing off, like, fighting a boss and how the different kind of poles of gravity work when you're jumping between things. And it's a really cool presenting game. I just want that to translate into when I'm playing this game for hours. Right. Like, being engaged and being like, all right, now I need to do this now I need to fucking dodge and parry. And it's still of the kind of same track of their other big releases, right?

[Greg Miller]

Yep.

[Blessing]

Whereas what was the BC Fiber Break?

[Greg Miller]

I just threw that in there for the conversation.

[Blessing]

I know. Like, such a big, weird pivot where. Yeah. I'm interested to see you. Like, what they. What they do to make this feel different from both. Like, obviously the gameplay of Alan Wake, but even furthering control of all the weird shit you can do.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, I can't wait. Like, you know, Remedy is a day one, you know, front of line for me every time where I want to see what they're up to and to have it be back here in that Control universe. Yeah. And be getting weird with it and giving that. That superhero sci fi fantasy part of it and shake it up from what Control was like, yeah, hell yeah. Let's see what's up.

[Blessing]

I think I'm partly curious on if this splits the audience at all.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Blessing]

Because I think I could see myself as Barrett even brings up the. The gameplay here. I look at this and I'm like, there's a good chance that all like this more than control one. But I'm curious to see if there's people that are like, oh, no, this is too different. Like, I actually like the gameplay of control one more because of the telekinesis and the flying and all this. Right. Like, it's just such a different game, which is ballsy.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I like that for sure. Yeah. Remy keeps doing weird shit, which is both awesome and then terrifying.

[Blessing]

But then you're in a place where it's like, I think for so many video game sequels, the sequel's automatically better because you're learning from the first game and going, all right, take this, upgrade this, take this, make this better. Like, we know the places that we can improve. When you're making a sequel that is so different from the previous game, you run the thing of, like, hey, no, now it's not just about making everything better. It is about re exploring what makes this compelling. And that's, again, ballsy. That's a big challenge, and I love that they do it.

[Greg Miller]

Well, let's talk about being ballsy. Let's talk about a different challenge. Let's take a call from the five eight five.

[Caller]

Hey, what's going on? My most anticipated game is honestly a game that hasn't even been officially announced yet, which is the untitled Corey barlog game. You know, I can't wait for that, no matter what it is, because I love, you know, everything he's done. But, you know, after the recent leaks about the fae video game, I honestly, that's. That's just all I want right now. I think it's gonna recontextualize the Norse games, and I think it'll be amazing. And the game that came out, that

[Greg Miller]

kind of cut this part. We don't need to do that part. I want to focus on the Corey Parlock.

[Blessing]

I don't care about the rest of it.

[Greg Miller]

Well, as you know, people ask her all the questions at once. That's great. But for this part, I just need the Cory Barlog part.

[Blessing]

How much do you believe the fae

[Greg Miller]

game thing where there's smokes, there's fire, Right? Like, I mean, I feel like that's the common occurrence in our land where, you know, okay, we know something's happening, and then something like that happens, and it seems like it's got enough juice and people behind it. You go, okay, that's what's going to happen.

[Blessing]

On the other side of it, the rumored 2D metroidvania God of war game was rumored to be an atreus video game for the Longest time that ended up being like a weird game of telephone. I feel like. Yeah, I don't remember the trace thing. Yeah, that was like the. An aspect of it. It was like Atreus going to like Greece or something was like a part of the rumor mill for interesting.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

See I. I feel like that's one of those ones where people will conflate like what. Let's say it's Jeff Grubb saying it, right? What Jeff is saying that he heard versus what he's speculating. Because I remember, I remember that coming up, I think maybe casually in conversation in terms of throwing what it could be. Yeah. But like I remember the hard. And maybe this is me. Here's the thing. I heard from my sources too that that game existed for a very long time. And so like for me it was very straightforward of like two D. Metroidvania, God of war.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Greek game. And I'm like I sick. Like we got exactly what. What that was.

[Greg Miller]

You heard?

[Blessing]

Yeah, what I heard about at least.

[Greg Miller]

How are you feeling about this, Cory Barlock?

[Blessing]

I think the fake game thing is really interesting. I just got to see it. I don't. For some reason I'm not like totally in on the idea, but I think that's just because I'm not seeing the trailer. Once you show me the trailer, I'm probably gonna be like, damn, that looks awesome. Yeah, maybe I just gotta go back to Godwin Ragnarok and like re watch the. The face stuff. I just never pegged her as a character that I'm like, oh, that's who I want a full game around. But maybe that's what I was fighting.

[Greg Miller]

I think when we see her as a giant doing whatever she's doing, combat wise, gameplay wise, I think that could be super fun.

[Blessing]

Especially with Shrier talking about like it's not a new IP but it's going to be made to feel like a new ip. Like I do wonder even like bless you. Going back and looking at the face segments of Ragnarok or even like looking back at what they were doing in Ragnarok. I do wonder how much of a pivot it is. Even like gameplay and design wise, that's like a top down Diablo like game.

[Greg Miller]

Hell yeah. Let's do it. Let's stay in the PlayStation ecosystem. Give me the 309.

[Blessing]

Damn, she fine. Wait, the. Sorry. Oh, 309. That's West Central Illinois. That was confusing because there's the 309 time as well. Hold on. Is like that's like Bloomington. Yo. This is my cousin. Is my cousin calling in?

[Greg Miller]

Or maybe it's Addison.

[Caller]

Yeah. I'd say my most anticipated game of the year, Wolverine. I mean, insomniac rarely misses, but second place if it actually comes out this year as a Star Wars Galactic racer. Always need good Star wars games that aren't, you know, Jedi survive. You know, just got around being a Jedi.

[Greg Miller]

I call this one out for Wolverine and I should call out. Of course, 90% of them all started like. Well, my most anticipated game I'd be boring is gta. But everybody, everyone knows everyone wants gta. It's interesting to see the second places that are filling in there. But you owed the Star wars part of it.

[Blessing]

Well, yeah, because I've been very much looking forward to Star Wars Galactic Racer. Yeah, I got a hot take that I can't share right now.

[Greg Miller]

Is it embargoed?

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Have you played it?

[Blessing]

No, but like, there are other games that like come in to play when it comes to Galactic Racer for me, where I'm like, it's gonna be an interesting year, man. I'm excited for this year of racing games.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. This is one that, you know, I'm not the biggest Star wars guy, even though I do love a good Star wars video game and I'm not the biggest racing guy. So this is one I. The I think rare times I get to really sit on the bench and watch you guys have of hype for something that I look at and go, neat, but I won't play it.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Do we know anything of like when this game is coming? I know they said 2026.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

I don't think we have a specific date for this. See, that's what I need to know. I need like, what is the right window for a Star Wars Galactic Racer?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, that's a good question. That's a good question.

[Blessing]

Is this like a summer? Can I expect a summer turnaround? Is it summer?

[Greg Miller]

Seems good. Summer, yeah. Like a good spot to drop it. Right.

[Blessing]

Where did we hear about this? Was it Game Awards? Game Awards was when it was officially announced. And then I think the other trailers have just been from like them randomly dropping maybe like one of the recent state of plays or something like that. But yeah, it's been here and there. Yeah. Yeah, this is looking right.

[Greg Miller]

Meanwhile, Wolverine, I feel like is in that GTA conversation another superhero from Insomniac. Fuck yeah. Cool. That's gonna be great. Good to great. Whatever.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I'm Sue. I can't wait.

[Blessing]

I think it's like, it's almost so much of a given of what. What that game is gonna be that it's boring.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

You know, I mean, like, I'm like, I played all the insomniac Spider man games, you know, I know what a Wolverine game is supposed to look and feel like. I'm sure that game is gonna look and feel like an insomniac Wolverine game, which will be fun to play for 15 hours and probably get the platinum.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I'm. I'm juiced to see more, but I do feel like that's a. I know what that's gonna be.

[Blessing]

What I want. This is my extra credit assignment for Insomniac. Make that story fucking hit. Yeah, I know the story's gonna be good. Like, I don't expect y' all to make a bad story. Like, all the Spider man games have good stories, but, like, make the story one of the ones where it's like, yo, y' all ain't. Y' all ain't ready for this. Like, that's what I want to say coming out of the review. I want to go into the review and be like, yo, y' all ain't ready for what they do with Wolverine. Like, that's the feeling that they need to invoke for me. Okay.

[Greg Miller]

Sticking with superheroes, let's move on to a heartbreaking superhero story. This one's from the seven eight one.

[Caller]

Hello, Greg and Kind of Funny Crew. Video games I was super excited for, but broke my heart upon review. Embargo releasing Spider Man. Shattered Dimensions was my world for nine months leading up to it, and that came out the kind of middling reviews. I still loved it when it came out, just because Spider man is My Life. And Also Assassin's Creed 3, of course, I was looking forward to that game, watching the trailer every single day, waiting for that October 30th release. And, yeah, so that's my take. Thanks, guys. Bye.

[Blessing]

From the suburbs of Massachusetts.

[Greg Miller]

It's a good take. I would have told you and expected Shattered Dimensions to have a great Metacritic. I loved Shattered Dimensions. I remember, really like it. And I think, you know, you go back now. Hillary over at IGN reviewed it back in the day, which I remembered he gave it an 8. Metacritic right now for 360 is 76. And it's like, oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense because you start conflating it. The story, of course, for Shattered Dimensions was it was Beenox making a Spider man game and getting to make their own. It wasn't tied to a movie. It wasn't some licensed bullshit. So it like, expectations were so low at that time for superhero games that shattered dimensions and jumping in and being four different Spider Man. Like, it was awesome. But yeah, I guess it wasn't eight awesome. You know what I mean?

[Blessing]

I don't know. It was eight awesome in. In my heart as well, because, you know, doing the. It was the black and white, like Detective Spider Man.

[Greg Miller]

Spider man noir.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Spider man noir. Like getting introduced to, like, different versions of Spider Man, I think, that were not in the mainstream at that time. Really cool. And then having different gameplay styles.

[Greg Miller]

I just. What my point is, it's crazy. Not crazy. I wouldn't expect this to be in, like, it broke my heart at the review embargo. Yeah. Because, like, I remember expectations being so low that when Hillary was like, no, this is great, I was like, oh, fuck yeah. And I went home and played it versus. I wasn't expecting a 10, I guess I wasn't expecting a nine.

[Blessing]

Right, right, right. AC3, I get though.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, AC3, for sure. You're coming to America. That's gonna be awesome.

[Blessing]

Oh, parkouring on all of this new geometry we've added into this game is not good.

[Greg Miller]

Nothing is tall here. Nothing is tall at all. How long does it take me to get into being the assassin? Oh, shit, this sucks.

[Blessing]

Great villain, Haythen Kenway. Honestly, number one villain in the series.

[Greg Miller]

Let's give Grand Theft Auto it's due and get through all the questions in one from the 619 Rey Mysterio.

[Caller]

All right, I'm back. Figure it out. So most anticipated game is obviously Grand Theft Auto 6. I just feel like Red Dead Redemption 2 was amazing. And this is Rockstar's return with, you know, one of the most famous IPs in video game history, probably. And then a game that really made me depressed. Assassin's Creed Unity. I was so hyped for that. It was the next generation of Assassin's Creed, and even though I got shitty reviews, I still kind of like it. Me and my friends played online multiplayer and that shit was amazing and good times. Still think it's one of the better Assassin's Creed games as far as movement goes and combat, but, yeah, I miss those ones. Thanks. Bye. Love you.

[Greg Miller]

Love you too.

[Blessing]

Unity is interesting because I feel like I, for me as the person who really like Assassin's Creed that much. Yeah, Assassin's Creed Unity, when that was shown off, the PS4 and Xbox One still had like the new console smell. So I remember seeing the trailers and being like, oh, damn, that seems kind of dope. Oh, and this co op, like, again, not really caring about Assassin's Creed, but

[Greg Miller]

like just watching the trailers and the power of the new generation.

[Blessing]

Yeah. I'm like, oh, that seems kind of cool. And then had probably one of the most memeified, like, launch cycles I remember as far as like, like the. The faceless.

[Greg Miller]

The floating eyeballs. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Blessing]

Crazy. That was the iconic one. I remember still to this day where that review embargo was the morning of the game coming out. So technically reviews came out after the game was available to buy. I still went to that GameStop and bought it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, you did.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, you did.

[Blessing]

Yeah, fucking did.

[Greg Miller]

Gta.

[Blessing]

Yep.

[Greg Miller]

We talk about it in these kind of conversations all the time, but I feel like that's the one where it's like, yeah, of course. Can't wait to play it, but I don't jones for it. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing]

And I think it's. Maybe it's been. Maybe it's just been so long since GTA 5 that we've come out of the other side of just like, not even like being. Not even jonesing for it anymore. Just being in the place of like, it'll happen when it happens. Like when we. When it comes out, we'll play it and that's when we'll get hyped for it. But like, you know, after being. After it being so long.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Last gta, I'm kind of just like, it's that thing. I've lived life now without gta.

[Greg Miller]

I feel so interested. It's. I'm so more. Granted, there's GDC behind this to a degree, but I feel like it's all the smaller indie stuff. I'm way more stoked about like that taste they gave us of Mouse PI for hire. And that's like imminent. I'm like, yeah, let's go fucking do that. Yeah. I mean, I really want Mina the Hollower. Yeah, I can't wait. I want to jump into that. Obviously Starfield updates, which doesn't go to thing, but I mean, like to show that there's bigger games. Soros.

[Blessing]

Yeah, Soros around the corner.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Yeah. There's like so much where it's like. Like we're on the precipice and I can see them where I don't think about a Grand Theft Auto and I think about a Fable and maybe. Yeah. Just getting closer. Even at Wolverine. Like. Yeah, I'm excited for September. Right. That's what it is. Like when we get there, I'll be there I'll be ready for it.

[Blessing]

But I think I have a weird thing, too, where. Well, I think there's a few things, right, because they said the marketing cycle will start this summer.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Blessing]

And maybe I think once we see the next trailer, that's when it'll like us. I think there's something to that. But also, I think a personal thing for me is that I'm just way more of a San Andreas person than like, a Vice City.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Blessing]

It's like, I'm excited for GTA 6, but, like, if this was like, if you go back to the GTA 5 marketing cycle, like, I was fucking. I was like, oh, man, we're back. We're so bad. Like, I was obsessed with the idea of GTA 5, and now GTA 6. I'm like, I'm still in. But, you know, when we get to. When we get to GTA 7 and we're back to San Andreas, you're going to see another side of me where I'm like. Like, I'm. I'm turning up the Tupac in the radio. I'm like, fucking. You know, I'm wearing a bandana.

[Greg Miller]

I'm doing

[Blessing]

crazy. So excited.

[Greg Miller]

We got two more before we get out of here. Let's go to the 207 specifically for one the critics loved. But you. I'm sorry, the one the critics didn't love and you did love.

[Caller]

Hey, what's up, y'? All? Okay, so I'll hit you with a quick two first. Number one. I was gutted that Yakuza Kiwami 3 does not have the juice. I love the original Yakuza 3. I strongly recommend that to anybody. It's a shame that they really blew it on that one. What else? So Lost Records, Bloom and Ridge. Get this. It's actually a really touching, wonderful game, and it just did not get good reviews. But. Yeah, I know. For your consideration. All right, have a good one.

[Greg Miller]

I will have a good one. Yeah. Yakuza or Yakuza. Good for you. Yeah. And I understand that for me, it was The Lost Records 1.

[Caller]

1.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Of that was the one of. I did the preview. I thought it looked cool. And then I forget what else I was reviewing. When Joey and Roger tackled the act, maybe you. Me.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And tackled part one, and then it was. Part two was months later. Part two dropped fanfare.

[Blessing]

It was like a month later.

[Greg Miller]

A month later. It was like such a bad rollout. I. And you guys were so lukewarm on the first one. It's like, I Think about Lost records. A lot of like, yeah, I should. I should get that on my. My rag ally and have it so that when I have that down to go play.

[Blessing]

So that has a 74 on Metacritic. So it's like firmly in the yellow.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

And yeah, the tough thing is when you give a two parter and it's a month between and we're not blown away by the first part, it's impossible to ask us to pick up that second part. Especially when it's like it wasn't a code situation right at that point for part two, you have to wait for it to be out for everybody. So it's like the question of, well, we don't have time to review it because we're getting it at the same time as everybody else. So if we get to review it, people aren't gonna click through to the review. So it's like, if we're gonna play it, it'll be for the love of the game.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

And I don't really have love for this game, so. Man, that was such a tough one because I know from even just part one, I'm sure I believe the caller fully. As far as it probably being a touching story, especially for you. Right. But like, man, I think you needed a bit more to get me to that touching part of the story. Especially if it's like that toward the end.

[Greg Miller]

One day I'll get back. I'm sure maybe you will not. Our final call is our final most anticipated game of the year. Take me to the 978.

[Caller]

So for me, the most anticipated video game at the moment is Sorrows from Housemark. It's going to be good, I hope, because it's followed up. Returnal and Housemark is really well known for the gameplay, so that's. That's the one for me.

[Greg Miller]

Soros is another one that I, I can't wait for. But I'm not obsessed with like Rahul Awesome. We love him, obviously. Friend of the show. And then Housemark, a studio whose games I've loved for so long, back to podcast beyond to be here with it. I just look at it, it's like, okay, cool. So it's Returnal with Rahul and I need to be told, slash shown what is. Why it's more than that, I think to be like, oh, I can't wait to get my hands on it because I'm looking forward to playing it for sure. Yeah.

[Blessing]

I mean, if you remember the year eternal came out. I want to say that was 2021. Returnal was my game of the year that year. So, like, if we're using the like, transitive property of game of the year, like, Sorrow is probably a front runner for what could be my game of the year 2026. And like, I think I'm kind of with you as far as, like, I look at it and I see returnal again, which excites me because, like, that means I'm really, really going to love this game. Yeah. But I think there's a level of, okay, is there something for me to discover? Is there something for me to learn to be like, oh, shit, that's how this works.

[Greg Miller]

All right, let's log in.

[Blessing]

And I'm, I'm like 80 sure that that will be here. And so I'm excited for it for that. But it's another one where, like, I don't think I'm gonna really think about it too hard until it shows up

[Greg Miller]

when it's the point of like, we should have review code for that. Why don't we have. That's when I think that's what I'm

[Blessing]

gonna be like as soon as you hit hit my dm, be like, here's the game. Yeah, I think that's what I'm gonna be like. Everything stops. Like, I'm just playing sorrows now. Like, nobody make any plans with me anymore.

[Greg Miller]

Hell yeah, everybody. Great job with these voicemails. I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Blessing.

[Blessing]

It's a really fun one.

[Greg Miller]

It was a fun one.

[Blessing]

Do this again sometime.

[Greg Miller]

We will do another one. Maybe we can keep this phone number because they. I didn't use the old one enough and they close that one down. Everybody, let us know your most anticipated game, the game that you are anticipating that broke your heart and the game that you think critics got wrong in the comments. Remember to like subscribe, share. But most importantly, pick up a Kinda funny membership. We of course are a business all about live talk shows. Right after this, you are getting a party mode for plate up. It's gonna be super fun and exciting. If you're watching or listening later, pick it up YouTube.com kindafunnygames but more importantly, pick up the membership patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kinda funnygames apple and Spotify to get all of our shows ad free. Get your daily dose of me. And of course get good karma for supporting a small business. For now, it's time for party mode. So until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you. Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster zero Ultra. That's the og it kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise and Vice Guava. And they all bring the monster energy pump.

[Blessing]

So if you've been living in the

[Greg Miller]

white can, branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe, and every single one is Zero Sugar. Tap the banner to learn more TikTok Tnmas Short Dramas de los que puedo terminar Cade Episodio Tedeja Queriendo El Cigiente Descarga TikTok Aurora y Prevalo.