SnowBikeMike's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review (FULL SPOILERS!) - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast
Episode: SnowBikeMike's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review (FULL SPOILERS!)
Date: December 15, 2025
Host: Tim Gettys with Greg Miller & Snowbike Mike

---

Episode Overview

This episode delivers a detailed, spoilery deep dive into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33—a “masterpiece” turn-based RPG that captured the hearts of both critics and players, sweeping the Game Awards and earning an impressive Metacritic score of 92. The episode centers on Snowbike Mike’s passionate review and story recap, with Tim Gettys serving as discussion partner and Greg Miller listening in, having given up on the game and satisfied himself with the Wikipedia summary. The team explores the game’s emotional story, mechanics, character arcs, and ethical dilemmas, comparing its impact to Final Fantasy X. Full spoilers follow, including ending discussion and standout moments.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Impressions & Context

• The episode is introduced as a full spoiler show for Expedition 33, a game that Mike completed and Greg bounced off of.
• Mike is immediately effusive: “This game is a masterpiece. This game is fantastic. It is a 10 out of 10. The narrative, the story, the characters all are amazing. You fall in love with everything.” (08:00)
• Mike compares the emotional journey to that of Final Fantasy X, citing moving storytelling and powerful character arcs (07:58).

2. Character Attachment and Party Dynamics

• Mike discusses the diverse cast, specifically calling out Gustav (“all the way to Stupid Sexy Ben Star, as I call him. Stupid Sexy Ben Star steals the show in Act 2.” (08:12)), but says upon getting the main female party lineup—Cl, Mayel, and Lunae—he flips to an all-female “YRP” squad in a nod to Final Fantasy X-2.
• Monoko, despite “the greatest theme of all time,” hits the bench due to party composition preferences (08:50).

3. Story Setup, Twists, and Emotional Themes

• Mike goes in unspoiled and praises the early misdirection: “I thought she was coming on the party. I thought the whole time I was like, oh, she must be the same age as him. They’re all going to go off on this boat together. She’ll be one of the main characters. Absolutely not.” (14:02)
• Early story choices prompt ethical questions about sacrifice, legacy, and choosing between staying behind to help or risking everything for a better future: “That was a good question to kick it off.” (11:51)
• Tim highlights the subtle emotional engineering of the game’s opening: “What an excellent setup there. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.” (13:08)

4. The Central Mystery: Painters, Renoir, and Shifting Allegiances

• The narrative repeatedly blurs the line between heroes and antagonists. Mike says: “...the whole time, my mindset is that. And I love this game because it makes you think about it. At the end of the day, I was like, oh, you got me a couple of times. Because at first I was like, oh, I got to defeat the painters. Then all of a sudden, I was like, well, maybe the painters is good. And then... back and forth.” (16:04)
• The introduction of Renoir as an “uber-powerful” antagonist (voiced by Andy Serkis), with echoes of Sephiroth and Dracula, draws awe and fear (17:27, 28:23).
• Layered character relationships: “He just wants to live forever. That’s how I’m taking it right now. I’m like, oh, he just wants to live forever. He’s found eternal life. Like, that’s fine.” (41:47)

5. Combat System & Progression

• Mike goes from doubting turn-based gameplay to enthusiastic praise: “I don’t know if I’m a turn based jabroni... there’s this mix, there’s this stew in the pot and they hit all the right ingredients... to the dodge and the Perry, keeping it semi active during this turn based battle... it was all just so well done.” (10:01)
• Forgiving but deep progression: “...the combat allows you to break the game so much. But then you can also choose do that. But it reminds me so much of the classic Final Fantasy games…” (23:24)
• Side content and mimes: “The mimes are just so much fun of like I love. I was waiting for a mime all the time because I wanted that cool outfit change. I wanted to see what else they had for me.” (24:26)

6. World Building & Side Activities

• Praise for unexpected side activities, notably the “Only Up” climbing challenge and Jestrel Beaches, drawing comparisons to Chocobo Racing for providing levity: “Reminds me of Chocobo racing, where it’s like... let’s relax. Let’s climb up to the top while this guy throws water balloons at you.” (36:02)
• Collectibles and world detail: “What’s my favorite thing to collect in video games? The audio diary. They did a fantastic job.” (43:08)
• The use of party member backstories and friendship bonds: “All of them had their own backstories, and you gotta play through, like, their full friendship bond levels to get a lot of good stuff.” (26:33)

7. Late-Game Story & Emotional Choices

• The group is floored by the Act 2 finale, which upends player expectations and dials up the tragedy.
  • Mike, in disbelief, as characters are erased: “Stupid, sexy Ben Star. What have you done? Oh, my God. They’re getting gorbached. No, not the children. Look at the children.” (50:25)
  • Tim: “If the game ended here, I would have been like, God damn, that was moving… Very dark. But then it keeps going, and I love it.” (52:02)
• The game’s twist reveals the entire story takes place within a painting, a family’s grief, and a child’s way of coping, culminating in a final decision that is both morally complex and deeply affecting.
  • “And then you get this awesome moment of, like, here’s the decision... she’s now developed her whole entire life because all she can think about is she’s a little baby orphan. She’s lived this life... She doesn’t want to leave it. And he’s like, you gotta stop.” (52:54–55:04)
  • The two endings: siding with Verso (embracing reality and loss) or with Maelle (staying in the painting, refusing to let go of grief). Both have heavy consequences, neither is a truly happy ending.
  • Mike: “Both endings are so dark and so real and present. The realities of the world that they set up here of what’s the right call? There isn’t one.” (56:46)
  • Tim: “It reminds me so much of the Matrix when Cypher is there talking about the state. Right? It’s that conundrum which I always find so damn fascinating.” (57:29)

8. DLC, Legacy, and What’s Next

• The postgame and DLC are teased: “And then them going, guess what? We’re going back, and I’m gonna give you Baby Verso’s World. And I was like, stop it... Candy canes, cotton candy hands. We got lollipops everywhere. I’m like, yes, I’m all about this, right?” (58:17)
• The hosts express excitement for whatever Sandfall Interactive does next—whether more in this world or something new.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This game is a masterpiece. This game is fantastic. It is a 10 out of 10. The narrative, the story, the characters all are amazing.” – Mike (08:00)
• “It makes you question everything that you’ve done. And then on top of that, they have music that is just so good. There is non stop music in this game. I don’t think there’s a single bad track.” – Mike (10:01)
• “It was such an interesting premise of, like, they’re getting erased off the earth, right? Because out on the other island, the fracture, there’s a painter out there that’s putting numbers up... If your number gets called… you’re out.” – Mike (15:34)
• “I loved that, of like, when the shit hits the fan and everyone is murdered on a beach by an old man who shouldn’t be alive, are we still committed to the playbook?” – Greg (18:00)
• “Who’s bad, who’s not? ... I’m just trying to get to the painters, big dog. And if I got to go through you, I’ll go through you. Like, that’s how it is right now.” – Mike (41:38)
• “Both endings are so dark and so real and present. The realities of the world that they set up here... what’s the right call? There isn’t one.” – Tim (56:46)
• “That look is gonna haunt me for the rest of my days, because that was the one I chose and rode for.” – Mike, on Lunae’s reaction to his chosen ending (18:39)
• “You just took that from me... she gives you this stare that I still get goosebumps thinking about.” – Mike (55:37)
• “I can’t wait to see whatever’s next for them.” – Tim (58:27)

---

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 08:00 – Mike’s opening review: 10/10, “masterpiece”, and character love
• 10:01 – Discussion of music, combat, and “stupid sexy saxophone”
• 13:08 – Opening story themes: “do we go or stay?”
• 14:02 – Mike’s shock at early twist (Sophia’s fate)
• 16:04 – Ongoing twists: Painters good or bad? Player uncertainty
• 17:27–28:23 – Renoir as antagonist, “Sephiroth” vibes
• 23:24 – Combat systems and fun of “breaking” the game
• 36:02 – Side activities: Jestrel Beaches and “Only Up”
• 41:38 – Manor segment, layered family stakes
• 50:25–52:02 – The Act 2 climax and fallout, emotional peaks
• 55:04–56:46 – Ending choices, emotional impact, ethical ambiguity
• 58:17–58:27 – DLC tease, excitement for Sandfall’s future

---

Episode Tone & Style

• Energetic, passionate, and conversational, filled with humor and honest emotion
• Mike’s storytelling is vivid and unaffected, full of expressive language (“stupid sexy Ben Star”), direct comparisons to JRPG classics, and stream-of-consciousness reflections
• Greg and Tim alternate between teasing, facilitation, and sincere engagement with Mike’s enthusiasm and the game’s “big themes”

---

Conclusion

The Kinda Funny crew delivers an unfiltered, emotional, and highly detailed spoiler-cast of Expedition 33 through the perspective of Snowbike Mike. The episode navigates the game’s immense narrative ambition, mechanical depth, and emotional challenges, comparing its resonance to Final Fantasy X and celebrating its place as a generational JRPG. Both endings leave the hosts unsettled in the best possible way: haunted, eager to discuss—evidence of the game’s uniquely lasting impact.

---

For those who haven't played: this summary captures the twists and weighty choices at the heart of Expedition 33, alongside the joy of party banter, side quests, and discovering a modern RPG classic.

Transcript

[Mike]

This episode is sponsored by Once Upon a Galaxy. It's a new card game that I'm having a delightful time with. You can download it right now for free on Steam or [e-mail] Galaxy this

[Greg Miller]

episode is sponsored by Arc Raiders, where you and your squad can explore future earth and brave killer robots to secure the best loot on the planet. Arc Raiders is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X S and PC foreign.

[Tim Gettys]

What's up everybody? And welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, marking the beginning of the final week of Kind of funny content for 2025. Of course. I'm your host, Tim Gettys. I'm joined today by Greg Miller.

[Greg Miller]

Hi, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

What you playing?

[Greg Miller]

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond.

[Tim Gettys]

How you liking it?

[Greg Miller]

It's a game, guys.

[Mike]

That's cool.

[Tim Gettys]

Y to hear it. And rounding out the group today we have the master of hype, Snow bike Mike.

[Mike]

Good morning and happy Monday to both of you.

[Tim Gettys]

Happy Monday to you.

[Mike]

I did send you a text. Him.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, we don't need to talk Cole Beans.

[Greg Miller]

You want to give him a shot?

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, look at him. Look at Cole.

[Mike]

Look at that dog.

[Tim Gettys]

Look at me.

[Mike]

What a shot. I love me.

[Greg Miller]

This is a big deal right now, everybody. Of course Cole is in the office again. He's going to be here all week. Last time he was here on a work day, not game awards where he protected Ben the entire time. I felt like he was finally getting a vibe for the office. And so I said, you know what? He's going to be a free range dog this time.

[Tim Gettys]

No bag.

[Greg Miller]

Look out for peas, look out for poops. But he's going to. We're going to see this dog free. We're going to see what happens if we just let him be.

[Mike]

Dog's looking right at me.

[Tim Gettys]

He knows what's up. He knows. You have something to say.

[Mike]

I got food.

[Tim Gettys]

Something to say about Expedition 33. I was cutting you off there though, Mike. You did text me. We don't need to talk about it.

[Mike]

We don't need to talk about it.

[Tim Gettys]

We should talk about it.

[Mike]

Yeah, let's do a Greg way one day.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, we got to figure me and

[Mike]

all that because the chat. The chat's all over me. But they know how I feel.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And we got to talk about.

[Greg Miller]

I listen to the games daily. Daily. You have the wrong opinion. I was also hoping maybe you change.

[Mike]

I'll never.

[Greg Miller]

I don't know. I meant physically. Like, I don't like looking like we're father, son and or clones. I'm not sure what the deal is with our crew. Neck, sweatshirts and glasses, beards.

[Mike]

Tomorrow I'll shave into a mustache. I'll say, Greg didn't like the beard.

[Greg Miller]

No, I like the beard.

[Mike]

One of us should have changed. I could have changed.

[Tim Gettys]

I guess there's a lot to talk about today. I just do want to off the rip, let everybody know we're talking about Expedition 33 and we're going all in. This is a full spoiler show. This is going to be Snowbike Mike's review and full spoiler cast to whatever extent he wants to take it for Expedition 33. Greg Miller is here because he gave UP on Expedition 33, does not want to keep doing it. Has decided that has read the Wikipedia. He's already been spoiled. This, this is just. He's a victim of circumstance at this point, but by choice.

[Greg Miller]

And I as a Greg, you know, Friday's Greg Way was very much my holiday gam plan, right? And I was very much like, hey, don't tell the guys. I'm going to try again. I'm going to start up Expedition 33 and try again. See if now I'm in a mood now if I'm there and I started up over the weekend, I'm like, Nope. I was 100% right about who I am and how broken I am. So I've heard. Yeah, I've read the Wikipedia. Now I'm ready to hear the from Snow Mike.

[Tim Gettys]

Mike. So he's going to hear it from Mike. So don't worry about Greg to talk

[Greg Miller]

about if we get there.

[Tim Gettys]

But that's what I'm just trying to

[Greg Miller]

Originally I was going to do Pokemon dlc. Then Mike beat this. We're like, oh, this is better than Pokemon dlc.

[Tim Gettys]

So Greg's here. That's why he's here. So the chat. If everyone's like, why is Greg here? That's why he's here. If we get to it later, if we have the time, GRA going to talk about some games. Otherwise, Mike, it's all about you. But give me one second. Let me let the people know that this is the kind of funny games cast. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, please support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcast to get all of our shows ad free and a daily exclusive show for A chance to be part of this show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Little housekeeping for you. Celebrate the end of my hero academia with Mike and Barrett as they watch the entire final season live for the first time this Saturday at 5pm Pacific live on Twitch TV. Slash kind of funny games. That is very exciting. Are you excited about that, Mike?

[Mike]

Very exciting. We're ending the era. We're ending my hero in a big way. Hopefully it's going to be hard to beat because they had a peak season there, but we're building up again and I think they're going to take it to the top.

[Tim Gettys]

Are y' all watching the sub or dub? People are asking in the chat.

[Mike]

We'll be watching the dub all the way up to the finale which will be in sub because it doesn't have the timing quite right. But man, Tim Midoriya, you know my main man, Bakugo. God, main man. Come on.

[Tim Gettys]

We're an 11 person business. All about live talk shows. Games daily went into Casey Hudson debunking the rumor that Star wars fate of the Old republic wouldn't see the light of day until 2030. Do you believe balls on this man.

[Greg Miller]

Do you believe?

[Tim Gettys]

I love, I love the Internet, you know, I love the best way of plans.

[Greg Miller]

I love the energy too. And I like Casey Hudson. He's a industry friend or whatever you want to call him. Acquaintance. I, I believe at this part of the journey, when you're hiring this whole team and you have your timeline on the whiteboard, you're like, we're hitting 20, 28.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I will be shocked.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, definitely shocked. But there is a world where what if they just scale correctly? You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

That's what Mike was saying. People are gonna be upset, right? Like, don't we all?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, but the people, you just commit to the thing, get the reviews, change. Not going to have change in the industry until the change happens. We need the shift. Casey Hudson, I believe in you. I believe in you. After this, it's part two of Nick's Dispatch playthrough. And after that, something very, very special. Greg is sitting down with Netflix's in your dreams writer and director Alex Wu to talk about why kids movies don't have happy endings anymore. But more importantly, Greg finds out what it's like when someone interrupts his show with a phone call. Except this time it's the Office's Craig Robinson. Catch the screencast after the stream. Anything you want to say about that?

[Greg Miller]

I didn't like it. I Don't think. I think that's rude.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I can do it because it's. It's friendly to do.

[Tim Gettys]

Friendly? Oh yeah. Always friendly. From Greg if you're a kind of funny member. Today's Greg Ways 15 minutes on work hours. Thank you to our Patreon producers Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining for now, let's start with the topic of the show. It's Snowbike Mike's Expedition 33 review. The Steam description is as follows. Lead the members of Expedition 33 on their quest to destroy the painters so that she can never paint death again. Explore a world of wonders inspired by belle epoch France and battle unique enemies in this turn based RPG with real time mechanics. Developer was Sandfall Interactive the publisher Kepler Entertain Interactive the Metacritics 92 and it won nine game awards including game of the year making it the highest game award winning game of all time. But who cares about all that stuff? Who cares about the opinions of the many? I care about the opinion of one Snow Bike Mike. Mike, earlier this year you went down a journey that I wish I could experience again for the first time. Final Fantasy 10. You absolutely fell in love with it. It skyrocketed up your list of favorite games of all time. It was a story that moved you. Yes, and it moved me 20 something years ago as well. In a very similar way to you playing Expedition 33 hit in a very similar way to me. You and I sat down, we did your spoiler cast. One of my favorite games cast of the year. I wonder are we about to get a follow up right now what is your review of Expedition and this is full spoilers.

[Greg Miller]

We've said full spoilers. Your chance to peace out.

[Mike]

If you don't want Tim, we're gonna go deep and Greg, you're along for the ride. So I hope you're ready.

[Greg Miller]

I'm excited.

[Mike]

This rocket ship is about to take off. There's nothing I love more than a

[Greg Miller]

mic review and recap. I don't even need this.

[Mike]

I'm done.

[Greg Miller]

Let's go.

[Mike]

Mike Entertainment I could close my eyes and recap this whole game because that's how freaking good it was. They had me at the beginning, then they twisted and turned me and at the end I didn't know where I was going to be and I loved every moment of it. This game we'll just start off with the top level review. This game is a masterpiece. This game is fantastic. It is a 10 out of 10. The narrative, the story, the characters all are amazing. You fall in love with everything. You are along for the ride. You're on this journey. There are twists, there are turns you don't want to stop. Then on top of that, there are characters that I fall in love with. Right? I love all these characters from Gustav all the way to Stupid Sexy Ben Star, as I call him. Okay. Stupid Sexy Ben Star steals the show in Act 2. Shout out to that guy. Of course. But it's all about the ladies in this one. It's all about yrp.

[Tim Gettys]

In position, baby. Let's go.

[Mike]

Now, this is of course a Final Fantasy 102 reference, because the moment that Gustav left my party and we of course brought in the ladies like cl. Like Mayel, Mayel, Mayel, My Myel. And of course my gal, Lunae, I was like, guess what? This is my squad. I'm going Full Final Fantasy 102 on this. I'm never looking back. So, stupid Sexy Ben Star, you're on the bench forever.

[Greg Miller]

Bench.

[Mike]

My main man, Monoko, with the greatest theme of all time. Come on, you're on the bench. Wow. And so you have all these fantastic, incredible characters. You have a story that you're just totally in on. You have a finale where you question everything that you've done in the past. You question life. You want to call your mother up right now and say, man, I love you so much. Call up my little brother and just say, I'm sorry for being a bad brother. Because it makes you question everything that you've done. And then on top of that, they have music that is just so good. There is non stop music in this game. I don't think there's a single bad track. I think actually all the tracks are incredible. Every single time that stupid sexy saxophone comes on during those paintbrush jabronis fights, it's like, what are we doing here? Who let this guy get off the rails? It's like the Fluke guy in the game Awards. They gave this man a saxophone and they said, just make car. And he did that. He did that every single time to. I mean, the Renoir fight song was fantastic. All of a sudden, the man's got a guitar. We haven't ripped that hard the whole entire game and now we're ripping it. And it's like the music just added so much to the story, the characters and the combat. Right? I'm coming off of Final Fantasy 10 where it's like, I don't know if I'm a turn based jabroni. I don't know if I want to get lost on the gr grid and all of a sudden there's this mix, there's this stew in the pot and they hit all the right ingredients from the pictos to the the lumines or whatever the hell it is, where you add the secondary pictos onto that to the dodge and the Perry, keeping it semi active during this turn based battle. To the just the team working together and to the break mechanic, it was all just so well done that I couldn't get enough. Every time I thought, I don't want this, it's like, no, I want all of this and I want it every single time. Want more of it. And then the awesome open world that you could go and make your own adventures on. There were so many side bosses, so much side content to do. I have more to do. And they hit me with free content, of course, right now to end the year. It's like there's just so much into this. And when I look back on, I'm like, yeah, this game stood head and shoulders above an already incredible great year. That's why they won the most game awards ever. This game is that good and some. And so at the end of the day, it's a 10 out of 10 masterpiece for me. I loved every moment of it and now I just can't wait to talk about it because I'm left wanting to talk so much.

[Greg Miller]

So my question is, did you come in completely unspoiled? Did you know twist the turn?

[Mike]

Oh, didn't know a single thing. Didn't know a single thing. When I turned on, of course, I had an hour playthrough before this, which was getting up to the goage and I didn't know what, where, what, where it was going to go. And so the moment that Sophia, she goes, I didn't know what was going to happen. And I was like, oh, snap. Because there you are. Okay. We're in Paris, France. It's kind of up. It's a weird.

[Greg Miller]

Not kind of, it's up.

[Mike]

And like you don't know what's going on. What's. Why are all these people gathered in the street? Why are so.

[Greg Miller]

Wait, you didn't know that part either?

[Mike]

No.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, okay.

[Mike]

Why are there so many red and white flowers? What's the deal? You know, we can't even get blue or purple flowers. Like, why is it only red and white? And she's wearing a necklace. I'm over here dressed up. I'm like, what is Gustav doing right now? And why are we getting these feels? And then out of nowhere she gets go modged and it's like, oh, that means erased. And I'm like, I'm in. Like, here we go. What's the deal? And like to think that there have been so many. And then just the first question of, are you going on this expedition? That's life or death. The opportunity to save the future for those who come after, or are you staying behind? Are you enjoying your final365? Are you staying behind to help the children, the people who are still there on this little island? Or you going off and it's like, that was a good question to kick it off because it's like I don't know where I'm going. You know what I mean? I'd like to say I'm going on the exhibition, but I'm a creature of habit and I like to just stay home and like, like maybe there's a cute girl back home and I don't want to leave her.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what I mean?

[Mike]

Like, I'm not. And yeah, that was just so wild of like people going like, you didn't have a kid, that's messed up. And she's like, I'm not having a kid because I'm gonna go get go like, what, am I gonna leave this child here all by himself? And it's like, that was cool.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, what an amazing, like, I'll call it subtext to that intro bit, right? The kind of dynamics of these two people were together at one point. They're not together anymore, but they're sharing their final day together. And it's like, why aren't they together anymore? And it is the, the conflict of do we bring a child into this world where one wants it, the other doesn't? When they know that they're not going to be able to be there to, to raise him or are they going to be able to complete the expedition and change that? What an excellent setup there. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. Mike also, Greg. Mike was so unspoiled. I recommend you watch so many of the moments of his stream because it's all on his YouTube channel. His genuine reactions to all the twists and turns of this game. Mike delivers, Mike delivers in every single one. But even that, the opening bit of, of her getting gamaged, like seeing you be like, what the fuck? Because you genuinely believed she was about to be a party member.

[Mike]

Oh, I thought she was coming on the party. I, I thought the whole time I was like, oh, she must be the same age as him. They're all going to go off on this boat together. She'll Be one of the main characters. Absolutely not.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what I mean?

[Mike]

Also, do you know he had a sister? I didn't know. You know what I mean? He had a sister.

[Greg Miller]

Can we hear what? Sound? Can I hear what sound here? Barrett, hot on the. Here we go.

[Mike]

Oh, no, not that lady. Oh, and dick. Oh, kids, not richard. Whoa. I'm here. What? No, she's going.

[Tim Gettys]

All right, you. You can stop it there. God. Every time. It gets every single time, man. Is your reaction as good for Gustav?

[Mike]

Gustav? Yeah. Very interesting vibe there.

[Greg Miller]

You know, I want to see that eventually.

[Mike]

Cuz, like, yeah, it's like, such an interesting premise of, like, they're getting erased off the earth, right? Because out on the other island, the fracture, there's a painter out there that's putting numbers up on this giant monolith. And if your number gets called when it's going down the list of ages, you're out, right? It's like, what does that mean? What's going on here? So I leave this island, and the goal is simple. It's like, you gotta go defeat the Patriots. And I'm like, all right. The whole time, my mindset is that. And I love this game because it makes you think about it. Okay? At the end of the day, I was like, oh, you got me a couple of times. Because at first I was like, oh, I got to defeat the painters. Then all of a sudden, I was like, well, maybe the pages is good. And then I was back. I was like, no, the pages is bad. Then I was back over, and I was like, the pages is really bad. Then I was like, no, actually, the pages might be good. They got me the whole way through. Just keep setting it up, which I loved. And so, yeah, when we left the island, you, of course, get hit with the. What are we, the disaster expedition. Because there's some stupid, sexy old guy out there, and he wants nobody on this island. He doesn't want to stop his plan. And it's like Renoir, AKA Ronald, is, like, just out of nowhere.

[Tim Gettys]

Andy Circus, uber powerful.

[Mike]

Perfectly acted. So cool looking on a character design level. Like that scar on the eyeball. Whoa. So cool, man. All the character designs were fantastic. The facial animations were great. Here's my one thing. Now that this team is going to have a bunch of money, they're going to elevate that so much. There was a lot of moments where, like, you're having this really strong speech and a passionate moment, and, like, the character model is, like, either super stiff or not looking at the other one. And that's simply because, like, they clearly didn't have enough budget to just go over the top. This next game they make, it's going to be crazy. Like, it's going to be super insane. So I'm very excited for that. But get into the. Oh, my main man, Charlie Cox. Come on, dude.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike]

I did a good job. He did a really good job. I know he didn't want the praise.

[Greg Miller]

I was gonna say, I'll tell you right now. Give it to his mocap person.

[Mike]

I'll tell his mocap he did a great job and the mocap person did a great job. When he's at the tree and he's like, I gotta wrap this up. There's no way I'm making it. And you get introduced to Lunae, and she's like, no, no. You and I are captain and assistant captain. Your ass is getting up. We're gonna go over to the tree. We're going to find our people, we're going to get out there.

[Tim Gettys]

When one falls, we continue. When, not if.

[Mike]

So good, Tim. It's so good.

[Greg Miller]

And then start arguing about it. I like that, too. In terms of, like, all right, cool. You're the one going away from standard procedure. Like, I. I loved that of, like, when the shit hits the fan and everyone is murdered on a beach by an old man who shouldn't be alive, are we still committed to the playbook of what it is? I thought that was cool.

[Mike]

Yeah. When they make what if I told

[Tim Gettys]

you this is jumping way, way, way, way, way to the end, but there's the two different ends. And if you choose the ending, that essentially means that this world's gonna disappear. Lunae looks at him, pissed off, and the final thing she does, she just sits down.

[Mike]

The fiercest look.

[Tim Gettys]

The final one did not just stand, and it's just so, so good. That might be one of my favorite moments of the entire game.

[Mike]

Yeah, that was a powerful moment, Tim. And that look is gonna haunt me for the rest of my days, because that was the one I chose and rode for. I went really back and forth on that. Like, it was a tough one. And I was like, she's being selfish. He's being selfish. But he's in the right. She's in the right. Like, you go back and forth. I'm excited to get to that point. We'll end this episode with that because it's a great conversation to have. But, like, yeah, you get introduced to Lunae, and all of a sudden it is the conversation. Like, we have to Find Myel. Where is Myel? We have to go get her, right?

[Tim Gettys]

Even before we get there though, like something that I was so shocked by is how quickly things go to like when Renoir is showing up and you get to this island and. And everybody that you just met getting wiped out. For the most part, a couple of them were scattered, but like that was such a scary scene. And when Gustav's like running and like the big creatures are just like killing people and one of the dudes that you were talking to the most in the opening scene helps you and then just gets fucking got it just set the tone in a way of just like what are we setting ourselves?

[Greg Miller]

Like everyone war movie. Like when they storm Normandy, right? And people are just getting wiped out and there's like the ringing and it's just insane. That's why I think it was so powerful to be at the tree and have the gun and have they pop up. Be like, there's still hope. Let's get back on track.

[Mike]

Yeah. Well, it's interesting of like who they chose party member wise, right? Cause you meet so many and you talk to a couple of them and then they're just never going to be a part of the game at all. Which is wild decision there. But yeah, I mean then you get introduced to the combat as well, which is just a blast, right. At first I think everybody starts to like figure out am I just taking the damage? Okay, no, I got a dodge, right? So like let me practice my dodge. And then the chat was like, when you start hitting perfect dodges, that means it's time to learn how to parry. Like the Perry is going to be key in this video game. And man, the sound design of knowing when to parry, when not to the game playing tricks on you with all the hesitation, all of the triple moves where you're like, I got one. Oh no, he's in a five hit combo. And now I'm stuck in this cycle and I gotta be perfect. It was just over the top, fantastic. And then on top of that they had the super parry you had to do where you suck up all the picto paint and you throw back at it. It's like, oh, this is so sick. Yeah, I loved the combat on that and the upgrades were good. I do. It is funny. At the beginning of my playthrough, someone said, you're going to find you're going to dump all of your points into health and agility, which is like agility, you're going to get more turns and health. Of course you want to have more health. And it's like, it's funny to look back on that. All of my characters set for my l have that. It's like, oh, like, there wasn't much play on that. It very much felt like, you're gonna get into this. My ally only did defense and agility simply because she was a glass cannon. And that sword that I had was into defense. If it was a different weapon, I probably would have gone health on that. So wasn't much, like, freedom or play on that. It felt like at the end of the day, when I look back and it's like five out of the six characters all have health and agility on that. So. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Do you regret it? Do you wish you ignore.

[Mike]

I mean.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, or what?

[Mike]

I was super tanky. I was able to battle. There was never a battle where I was like, I'm out of this. Especially at the halfway point. Greg, you unlock the cheater picto and you unlock the picto that lets you go above 9,999 and, like, the whole game changes. Right. Cheater lets you go twice in a row. So that means I'm setting up for killer combos on that. And going over 9,000 is, of course, you have to have that because the health bars get so meaty. But there was moments where I was one tapping people, right. Like, I one tapped Verso on the final fight, it's like, okay. And then me and Renoir, I think I, like, close to three or four tapped him. So it wasn't a fight, right?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Like, that's because I built into everything. I played the game my way and strategically where it was supposed to be like, yeah, I'm super powerful. No one's going to stand in my way. I could have played it differently, where maybe I went straight to him instead of the side quest. I could have taken myself down a little bit or tried new things. Right. I think I got into such a rhythm of Lunae is gonna build into the Super Typhoon or whatever the hell it was, right? Where it's like, she's gonna do the fire move into the ice move. Bang. She's got the ultimate elemental move. Like, I just knew that was the play style.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I knew on cl, I wanted to target and mark something. I didn't really play much into the darkness, but, like, she had two powerful moves. She became a tank as well.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And then Maelle was just like, oh, once she started doing three to four hit combos over 9,000, it's like, oh, she's just amazing. You know, and so I, I don't know. There was a lot of play. There's a lot of freedom. Very grid. Like I, I like I missed the grid. I had some grid vibes. But the Pictos are fun to play with. I love the back side of the Pictos where It's like here's 100 points. Greg. Choose 20 of the pictos. You haven't. You're not currently using but you still get their special move from it. That was cool.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, I really love how the. The combat allows you to break the game so much. But then you can also choose do that. But it reminds me so much of the classic Final fantasy games, the classic 90s Final Fantasy games of being able to get the legendary weapons. And I feel like a lot of the times like some of the most fun parts are being able to go over 9,999. Right. And that was always like almost a post game thing. So I like that this game kind of allows you to do it earlier if you want to. And if you're really paying attention to how all the things are adding up and the different systems of kind of. I forget what they call it but like prestiging the difference Pictos, right? Where it's like after you use it like five times you get so cool. The passive ability and all that stuff. Like I really feel like they throw so much at you but they do a good job of like explaining how it's going to work. And then you're able to use your team and actually put the different things on each person to like allow yourself to break the freaking game and have the final bosses be pushover status or like lean into it in a different way and have it be a bit more of a struggle. But like using unique abilities. Like it's pretty cool.

[Mike]

They did a fantastic job with this system. It is awesome. Of course I'm playing it different than most people, right? Like I'm playing it nine months after release with a hundred plus people telling me what to do. I'm getting all of the good gear on day one. So it's like I'm playing it differently than most people would have played this journey. But I loved it. I love the mimes. Did you experience one of the mimes at all? I don't know if you saw that in battle. Yeah. And the battle. The mimes are just so much fun of like I love. I was waiting for a mime all the time because I wanted that cool outfit change. I wanted to see what else they had for me. So I Was always hunting the mimes. I would always freak out because, like, the mimes are pretty tough, right? You got to get that break to kind of put them down and to build up to the break. I was doing a lot of moves that weren't building the break bar. And I was like, man, what am I doing wrong? And that's just. You got to get in there and tinker. You got to try some things. You got to test some different moves out. And so I loved that. And so the combat kept me going. And, I mean, you find my L with the curator, the faceless man in the manor. You're like, what is going on under the sea right now? How did we get into this manner? I just went from under the ocean to you in this manner with the curator. This guy who's creepy as black status, super clean. And you don't got any excuse to me besides, oh, he's just been nice to me and took me in. It's like, what's going on here, lady? Okay? And, man, it's like. Like, I didn't know who the curator was all the way up until, like, the very end, to be honest with you. I. I think I said, like, oh, it's definitely the curator. People got pissed at me for that one. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know it was the dad.

[Tim Gettys]

I will also say it is definitely a. A mystery box game. Like, there's a lot of things where it's like, they. They want you thinking, they want you questioning. And, like, is the Pinterest good? Is the Pinterest bad? Is the curator who I think he is or is it not who's this little boy? And obviously, hindsight's 20 20. Once you know the whole story, they do such a good job setting everything up that it's like, well, obviously this was that character or whatever. But, like, when I was playing, I also wasn't sure of who people were. Like, I wasn't sure the curator was Renoir until later. I had a hunch. You know what I mean? But. So I'm with you, Mike.

[Mike]

I love that. And then, I mean, of course, we get to introducing cl, which was great. She was an awesome character. Like, all of them had their own backstories, and you gotta play through, like, their full, like, friendship bond levels to get a lot of good stuff. But. But, man, oh, man, all of them had some tough ones, right? How she doesn't like to swim, and that backstory of, like, she just went out there, she didn't want to get saved. And that guy, that little bag of wine saved her, which was so funny. That was crazy, man. And then, yeah, Lunae and her parents and what she. What they wanted her to be, what they expected from her. That was crazy as well. It was all so well done. And I'm down with all the characters. And then the end of Act 1, you get introduced to Renoir once again, and he's like, hey, we're gonna have a conversation. And bang. Stupid, sexy Ben Starr comes to save the day, but Charlie Cox is dead. And she's like, you gotta. He said before that he was like,

[Greg Miller]

we have a reaction video of this.

[Mike]

If we see this man come, you gotta run. And she's like, I'm not running unless you're running and you're running. If I'm running. Oh, you him up. Music. For those who come after. Oh, yeah. We blazed a trail, right?

[Greg Miller]

You promise. That looks like my neighbor.

[Mike]

Looks like your neighbor. So cool. Looking.

[Tim Gettys]

So cool. So sephiroth. What a moment.

[Mike]

I'm in my field. Good Lord, you know, I don't know. I don't know how I get playing

[Greg Miller]

it for the camera.

[Tim Gettys]

You're also 12 hours deep into, like, one stream.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah, I did play this on one.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, now I just finally dawned.

[Mike]

She broke. She broke the bubble. And so here's a fun moment because you're introduced to Renoir, but you also introduced to the girl in the mask. And there I'm questioning everything. I'm like, is this you, Myel? Is that my own? A different world? Like, what's going on here? And they start doing the mind moment where they start doing this. You're like, okay, is that the same girl over there? Like, what's going on here? And I started making the joke of, like, Charlie Cox as Verso was her brother. Father, right? It was like she was. She was adopted. She was an orphan. They were close. They were like brother and sister. But also, like, he took her in with Sophia. So, like, they were kind of like a father to her. So I was like, as long. Yeah. And so, yeah, Ben Star shows up. They got to jump on. And I love that, like, we go into, like, super down, man. We lost our boy. And I'm questioning everything because at that point, it was Verso was in, right? I wasn't with the all girl squad yet. I had Verso. I was learning Verso. I think you just got introduced to CL as well. So it's like I wasn't ready to switch up my formula that I had. And then I had to. And then of course, stupid, sexy Ben Starr's like, don't worry, I got your brother's arm. It's like, come on, stupid sexy Ben Starr. You can't see we're grieving right now. He's like, don't worry, I got a plan. And that's when the expedition really begins, right? Because we gotta go. Here's the heart of the painters, right? We gotta go put Charlie Cox to bed. And he's like, don't worry, I know this beautiful canyon. We're gonna put him down there. We'll leave his arm there. And it's like, okay, Slappy, we don't need to. But that's fine. We don't need to. He's already dead.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, I want to hear way more about your expedition. After a quick word from our sponsors

[Mike]

guys, we had indie company reach out to us, hoping we could help promote their card game. I checked it out and I'm having a delightful time. It's called Once Upon a Galaxy. I downloaded it and it's really easy to get started. I instantly started finding crazy combos, developing my strategy, and admiring the beautiful character arts. Something super unique and cool is its PvP, but but there are no timers. Start a game, set your phone down for five minutes and pick it up and jump back in right where you left off. How do they do this PvP with no timers? I don't know. It's magic. The games are quick, but really lives up to the phrase easy to learn, impossible to master. I keep finding new stuff every time I play. I love the themes and the art of the cards, from fairy tale heroes and villains to sharks with lasers on their heads. I also love setting up sweet so support characters on my backline to help boost my frontline cards. Once Upon a Galaxy is crossplay on your phone and PC. You can download it right now for free. Head over to kindafunny.com galaxy to check it out.

[Greg Miller]

If you live for high stakes runs, tight teamwork, and that rush when the extraction timer is ticking down, this might be your next obsession. You've already seen us obsessing over Arc Raiders, the multiplayer extraction adventure set on a lethal future Earth where mechanized killing machines rule the surface and humanity hides below. As a Raider, you brave topside to loot, complete quests, fight ark robots, and extract safely if you can, underground. In Speranza, you'll upgrade your den, boost your abilities, and gear up for raids. On the surface, there are no rules. Swarms of drones, massive robots, and rival raiders make every trip unique. Choose solo, duo or squad of three, but rival players are never far away. Team up or take their loot. What kind of raider will you be in the Rust Belt Arc Raiders is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X S and PC.

[Tim Gettys]

This episode's brought to you by HelloFresh. You may have heard of HelloFresh. They're the number one meal kit in America, making home cooking easier with chef crafted recipes and fresh ingredients delivered straight to your door. But this fall, all they're serving up even more to love. This isn't the HelloFresh you remember. It's bigger. HelloFresh has doubled its menu. Now you can choose from 100 options each week, including new seasonal dishes and recipes from around the world. Get steak and seafood recipes delivered every week for no extra cost. Now with three times the seafood options. So many of us here at Kinda Funny have been using and loving Hellofresh for years and now you. You can too. The best way to cook just got better. Go to hellofresh.com kind of funny10fm now to get 10 free meals plus a free breakfast for life one per box with active subscription free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com kindafunny10fm to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. This episode's brought to you by Aura Frames. Here's my hollow holiday pattern. Tell myself I'll be thoughtful. Panic at the last minute. Buy a gift card this year you can skip the panic and give an aura frame. No lie. Aura frames are undeniably the best gift I have ever given and I'm gonna be sad when I run out of people to give it to because I'll never give a gift this great again. Families, friends, partners. Everyone loves being able to have beautiful frames showing off their loved ones and favorite memories. Multiple multiple people at Kind of Funny have aura frames on their desks and it's always a treat to walk by and see what fun memory is there. There's unlimited storage so you can add as many photos and videos as you can find. Just download the Aura app and connect to WI fi with no hidden fees for a limited time. Save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get 35 off or as best selling carver mat frames names number one by wire cutter by using promo code Code Kinda Funny at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code kinda Funny this deal is exclusive to our listeners and frames sell out fast so order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking, maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home with agents who close twice as many deals. When you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get [e-mail], own the dream. Spring is here, and there's a whole new way to chai at Starbucks that's made perfect for you. Choose your sweetness, dial it up, or keep things light. Add a touch of pistachio, a hint of strawberry or vanilla, or make it a spring classic with lavender. Because this season, there's endless ways to chai at Starbucks.

[Tim Gettys]

So here we are, Mike. We have the team assembled. We're going on the expedition to kill the paintress.

[Mike]

Yes. Tim and I have a lot of things that I've written down that I want us to do. Okay. I'm recapping the story with you because there's so many awesome moments and beats that I want to talk with you about. There's also some other things I want to make sure we slide in there. Like the only up section. Yeah, that's right. The Jestrel beaches were fantastic when Mike's

[Tim Gettys]

team of the year.

[Greg Miller]

When Mike came into the office the next day and ran up to you and he's like, he's only up in this game. Fucking insane.

[Mike]

I cannot believe they put only up in this game, too. I would have taken 20 more of those. You know, they could add as many as they wanted that. Never be mad, but that was fun. That's a fun little side activity. Reminds me of Chocobo racing, where it's like, hey, let's take your mind off of this grind. Let's get away from, like, the mayhem of it all, and let's just. Let's relax. Let's climb up to the top while this guy throws water balloons at you. Why not see what you can do? Beat the timer, right? They were all fun. I didn't have anyone that I wasn't mad at. The Perry one was a little questionable at some moments, right? Because it is tough of, like, the Perry only goes so far. You clearly want to be in the middle, so you can turn left, right, or center, but like. Like, the Perry doesn't go far enough. So you kind of have to take two steps, which means now you're kind of butt naked on the backside. You got to run over there. And they did a really good job at getting after me on the Perry one, but I conquered it. I conquered all of them. And I. Mad props to the team whoever did the Gestral Beaches. Just for the funsies of it all. Great job. They were fun. I liked them all. But then back to it, Tim. Okay. Stupid sexies. Ben stars. Like, I got a plan, but we need someone. I'm not strong enough. We got to go see my boy at Monoco Station. And you're like, who? Oh, my God. And guess what, Greg. During this time, we had been introduced to Nexons. Nevrons. Nevrons. But they weren't evil. They were good. And these were these paintbrush people that were fantastic. The paintbrush throws the gesturals. Yep. Reminded me of the big dudes and Zelda underneath the volcano. They're like, pump up. You know what I mean? These guys just like to fight all the time. And they were super cool.

[Greg Miller]

And they were like the Gorons, but I'll let it slide.

[Mike]

They were led by the awesome leader, A great leader. Galgra. Yes, that's who it was. Galgra is amazing. Okay. Fantastic character, awesome music. Okay. Great music. Then they're like, guess what? There's more. I don't know if you know, but Minoko, my dude, he's got a crew up in the ice world. And they're living. They're trying to get out there as well.

[Greg Miller]

They're living.

[Mike]

They're living underneath the rock, you know? I mean, we're all kind of hiding right now because it's not a safe world out there. But we meet Monoko. Killer theme.

[Tim Gettys]

Maybe the best character theme in the game.

[Mike]

He also likes feet.

[Tim Gettys]

Most fun, for sure.

[Mike]

So I drew the line right there, said, no, sir, we're not chopping people's legs off so you can clean up these feet and then use their powers for good and become even stronger. I said, you're done on. You're on the bed. You gotta.

[Greg Miller]

You gotta have. You gotta have a line. That's your line.

[Mike]

I like that line. And so, yeah, we got introduced to him. He was a really cool character. Great character.

[Tim Gettys]

Who does he reminds you of, gameplay wise?

[Mike]

Oh, of course. Kamari. Yeah, of course.

[Tim Gettys]

This guy knows Final Fantasy 10. I don't even know that.

[Mike]

No, it's like. It felt very Final Fantasy 10. Here's the deal. Are they the Final Fantasy 10 characters are they Lulu. Absolutely not. Okay. Lulu had a baby with Wonka. That's just crazy. More child poop. Tell you, that devil will haunt me for the rest of my days. A man named Chapu was in love with a lady named Lulu. And he said, I'm gonna give my life for this lady so she can live in a world free of Spira. She can live in a world free of sin. I'm gonna go out there and do this for her. And what did she do? She went and had a baby with his brother.

[Greg Miller]

That's up. You hate this.

[Mike]

But, like, it was a beautiful story. They had to do it.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what I mean?

[Mike]

They had to do it. And so back to it. But Monoco Station was fantastic. I love that. They were like, yeah, we spar as well. But we sparred verbally. And you had to hit him with some poetry. Some slam poetry. Gave me the best outfits in the game. The all white outfits.

[Tim Gettys]

Yep. Those are my favorite.

[Mike]

They were fantastic. Okay. All my gals were all white. They were the captain. Maelle did have one cooler with the dragon spike coming off of her shoulder. But everybody looked great in white. And the French bobs had to have the shoulder length cut. Okay, we just got out of a breakup. We wanted to keep it fresh. We wanted to keep the future in front of us. So we cut everything off just so we could remember it. So that's great. We go out there. Awesome moment. This is the big reveal moment, right? This is when you start questioning everything. Monoko tears down the center of Luminaire City, right? And it's like, oh, he's so powerful. He didn't know that, right? Boom. We get split up. And you get the little tease of like, wait up a second. Stupid sexy Ben Starr might be related to who? And then they immediately cut to Maelle and stupid sexy Ben Starr on their own journey. You're like, what's happening here? Is stupid sexy Ben Starr related to Renoir? Of course he is, right? He has to be. But, like, maybe he's not. They were on the same. You look a lot alike. Maybe they're just two bros. You know what I mean? And it turns out once we get to the manor, stupid sexy Ben star just wants to get in. He just wants to get in. And he wants to put a stop to his father, who's doing some things. And he's like, dad, you gotta stop. And dad's like, you're getting in the way. And you start questioning things like, well, what's dad doing? And why does stupid sexy Ben Starr, want to stop this? Is he really that bad? Because from what I'm seeing right now on the outside looking in, the painters is the bad one right now. But Renoir is pretty bad as well. He's been messing up my flow here. Who's bad, who's not, right? I'm just trying to get to the painters, big dog. And if I got to go through you, I'll go through you. Like, that's how it is right now. And he's painting a picture of like. Like, I'm not bad. Like, you're clearly going to mess this up. We found eternal life. Like, I'm a vampire. I'm Dracula. We're going to live forever. And you're like, okay. Like, him and his son are living forever. They got the masked girl behind them now. They got the introduced, the faceless mother in the background too. They got a family in this manner. And he just wants to live forever. That's how I'm taking it right now. I'm like, oh, he just wants to live forever. He's found eternal life. Like, that's fine. But, like, I have to.

[Greg Miller]

Good for him.

[Mike]

Yeah. What do you want? The dream. Why is Ben Star so mad? And it's like, I get it, right? Like, if I was around my dad for eternity, maybe I get a little frustrated too, right? Maybe I want to join some expedition, shut his ass down eventually. Because he was like, I've laid so many people to rest. All of my friends, new expeditionaries have come. I've watched them die. I'm getting old. I'm tired of burying my friends. I don't want eternal life anymore. And so I'm thinking to myself, okay, Ben Starr, like, you just want to end. You want to stop the cycle. Like, that's cool, right? And all of a sudden, of course, we fail. The manner goes away, and he starts throwing a temper tantrum. He's all mad. He's like, oh, man, we've messed up. We'll never find it again. And we're like, stupid, sexy Ben Star, stop throwing that temper tantrum. It's gonna be fine. And Minoco's like, you know, there's another way. And he's like, yeah, there's another way. But, like, it's impossible. You couldn't possibly do it. You're not strong enough, right? He's like, we gotta go get these Axon hearts. There's three of them. Okay. One to the north. Way too strong. Greg, you gotta be level 999. You'll never get there. Stella, my crew Right. There's one to the west. Pretty beefy. One to the east. Me and my boys have beat it down a little bit. Kind of weak right now. Maybe you could take it on maybe. Just maybe. So now we have the setup for that. We get introduced to some great stuff. What's my favorite thing to collect in video games? The audio diary. They did a fantastic job.

[Greg Miller]

All the other expeditions.

[Mike]

Yeah, all the other expeditions and getting their stories and how far they can game along with the flags. Right? Every single flag. You would see like how far this group got and how cool that was. The one expedition group was all the climbing expeditioners. So they put up all the handhold climbing stuff that was so displaying the world design. Oh, my God. It's like, fantastic job to that team. And they did the great stuff of, like, the audio just plays Greg, which, you know, I know.

[Greg Miller]

You know, I love that. You know, I love that.

[Mike]

Just like, give it all to me. And there was so many. I wanted to collect them all. So, like, I definitely want to find them all. Also the little gestural babies. That was pretty cute, too. He's like, I lost my little baby boys. You gotta go find them out there. It's like, maybe I'll find them. I don't know. You know, I'm not committed to this.

[Greg Miller]

But if I see him, I'll get him for you.

[Mike]

Promises. There's a big world out there. Then you're introduced to the open world map as well. Because then eventually you get our boy. What's the wine bag's name? Oh, S.K. everybody loves ski, okay? And I get it. You know what I mean? I get it.

[Tim Gettys]

It.

[Mike]

And it's like, cute little backstory as well. Greg. He's the dog. You know what I mean? He. That's cute. That's cute. Like, I get it. You know what I mean? That's cute that he's in the game. He was the dog of the kid. Like, that's beautiful. It's like little cold beans. Cole. Cole becomes the wine bag. That's pretty cute stuff right there. SK Was his doll in real life,

[Tim Gettys]

Manoko was the dog.

[Mike]

I, I, I, I. In my mind, he's got two dogs.

[Tim Gettys]

That's.

[Greg Miller]

That's his mind, Barrett.

[Tim Gettys]

He's got two dogs.

[Mike]

Dogs. Two dogs in the game, you know? But that was fun. He was super cute with the rock and the little turtle man who stole his rock. He was mad at him. Their next door neighbors. It's a Mike and Andy situation. You know, they're just two best friends.

[Greg Miller]

One might not want 1440pmonitor.

[Mike]

Exactly. I want a 1440pmonitor.

[Tim Gettys]

Andy, help me out.

[Greg Miller]

Have you followed this yet?

[Tim Gettys]

No.

[Greg Miller]

Today was introduced with Mike's weekend, where he didn't play any video games. He started researching getting 1440pmonitors, and when Blessing asked why, he said, well, that's what Andy uses. That's all he knows. That's all he knows.

[Tim Gettys]

That's true.

[Mike]

I wanted is right. I mean, Tim, it's just so good. And then we. We get to the end towards of Act 2, and we get the reveal that, like, maybe the Patriots isn't bad.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, even before you got to take down the two guys, right?

[Mike]

The Axon. Oh, I mean, telling lies to hide the truth. That was fun. I also, like, didn't understand that of like, I took out three masks there. To do what? Just to add on to my gameplay timer. Because then I fought a giant mask. I lost to it. He became the man. So I don't know what I've really earned fighting those three masks.

[Tim Gettys]

His battle would have took a lot longer. Have you not taken the masks?

[Mike]

Okay. Okay. Well, I kicked ass on that one. That was a cool fight. I think the dancer was a better fight just because of how mesmerizing and awesome that was. Also flying monsters or just a nightmare, Right? You have so many cool moves. None of that matters. You have to shoot at them. And you're like, that sucks. Like, but then, like, you get so powerful, they don't matter, you know? But I do like that they would put up, like, the mines around them or the flying sparks, and you'd shoot them. Extra damage. That was really well done. Because the flying stuff sucks. I hate the flying.

[Greg Miller]

You don't like the flying stuff?

[Mike]

Well, because I had sick moves.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And I'm. I'm really. When I did the Pierce move, with my luck. Pierce, that thing from the ground up, it looked down and move out of the way. Dodge that. It hurt me.

[Greg Miller]

It hurt me.

[Mike]

Those are two cool ones, Tim. I mean, there was one moment of, like, Ben Starr's like, we gotta kill this guy underneath the dancer. Yeah. I'm like, ben Star, do we have to kill this guy?

[Tim Gettys]

I don't know that we need to kill him.

[Mike]

We have to kill this guy. I'm like, ben, sorry. He's just over here, like, sewing silk. Like, I don't think we need to do that. And Ben Star's like, if I could kill him. If he breathes, we kill him.

[Tim Gettys]

I love it, dude. It's a great moment. It makes you as a player feel conflicted. You know, it's like, it's that last of us thing, right? If they're saying their names, like that whole thing, I love it. Just kind of introducing that bit just for this one boss fight. It's very cool.

[Mike]

So I murdered him.

[Tim Gettys]

Hell, yeah.

[Mike]

Sexy Ben Star told me to murder him. I murdered him, you know? And so then we get to the end of Act 2. We finally get the heart. We get the sword, we get the heart. Piercer right there. And we break through the barrier, which was the coolest one because you learn Expedition 60 got butt naked. And they were so strong that they were able to get through the barrier. And you're like, whoa, that's pretty crazy stuff. So shout out to them, right? Like, that was cool stuff back then. And then we get to the top and, like, I'm faced with a question, like, have I been doing this all wrong? Because the mom is just grieving. We get hit with the mother. We are inside of Verso's painting, and Verso is AKA stupid sexy Ben Starr. And he gave his life to. For my living, to save her from this house being caught on fire. There's a whole backstory outside. There's a war going on between the creatives and the non creative, the writers and the writers. Like, what's going on here? And there's a sister now involved.

[Tim Gettys]

This moment, though, Mike, like, the battle against the painters, would you assume is the end of the game?

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Tim Gettys]

Every single thing has led to you fight the painters and that's it. The fight is so epic, so large scale. Like multiphase music's popping off. I'm like, okay, they're using the best, most crazy song here. There's no way there's more game because this has to be it. You start getting her down, you start getting your ass kicked, and all of a sudden she starts healing you.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Tim Gettys]

And you're like, what the. Why is she healing us, Greg? Why is she healing us?

[Mike]

Why is she healing?

[Tim Gettys]

And it's just like Final Fantasy 10 when you have to kill all of your aons one by one. The peoples that have helped you along the way. That's some powerful shit, Mike.

[Mike]

Damn, Tim, I didn't even think of it like that. That's crazy because. Yeah, now you're introduced to the whole backstory of the family. You're introduced to. The mom has gone into the painting to create a life for herself because she doesn't want to let go go. And she wants to be with her baby boy. And she's now created a whole family. She lives in that. She got a society. She's got a world in there. And the dad is like, I'm just trying to pull my wife out of here. You're like, oh, that's crazy, man. Like, I get it. And he's like, here's the deal. She's out here creating. I'm the one destroying because I'm trying to end this. I'm trying to get her to get out of this painting. We got a life outside. We got to get to it, right? Like, we can't just be hiding here, here. And you start battling with the themes. You know what I mean? Grief. Like, what would I do if I lost you, Greg? I would stay in that painting. I'd be deep in that painting. You know what I mean? Like. But, like, Andy would come. Like, you gotta get out of the painting, you know? And so we got taken to the tippy top, Tim. And you could have ended the game right then and there. Like, that could have been the end of the game. I would not have changed my thoughts in this game either way. But it's like, no, no. Turns out the paintress wasn't all that bad. Depends on how you look at it. But, like, she was creating. She just wanted to live in this life. This mom just wanted to stay there. And all of us are pieces within the painting. Do we. Do we want to see Mike's reaction to the end of Act 2?

[Tim Gettys]

Yes.

[Mike]

Here?

[Tim Gettys]

Yes, please.

[Greg Miller]

Yes, please.

[Mike]

Perhaps you differ from your father and your sister as I differ from Mike. No, don't you throw that in the ocean. Death. What will you paint?

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, my God.

[Mike]

Stupid, sexy Ben Star. What have you done? Oh, my God. They're getting gorbached. No, Not the children. Look at the children.

[Tim Gettys]

No.

[Mike]

Oh, my God. What's happening here? So the painters, AKA the mother, the whole time was protecting them from the father who looks to paint destruction. No, not Luna.

[Tim Gettys]

No.

[Mike]

And his ass is at the end of the dock. Oh, she's getting clapped out, too.

[Tim Gettys]

No way.

[Mike]

She's getting gifts.

[Tim Gettys]

Insane stuff. And like. Like, you just kind of said, mike, if the game ended here, I would

[Mike]

have been like, God damn, that was moving.

[Tim Gettys]

That was insane. Holy. Like. But then very dark. Very dark. But then it keeps going, and I love it. And I know that this is kind of a point of division for people of, like, there are a lot of people that don't like actors. I am not one of those people. I love it because the whole time I'm like, what is happening? Why is all this happening? Any question I had going through the game was answered all of a sudden, where it's like, why does it look this way? What's that? It's in a painting. Oh, my God. All of the stuff that they're doing, the. The idea of the being able to create with the. The painting and them dealing with the grief through the different paintings, it all being Verso's painting. This little kid is just painting and painting and painting to allow all this stuff to happen. All these characters, all the gesturals, all like, why did they exist? Because it was his. I freaking love it. What about. You loved it.

[Mike]

I mean, that's when you get the fun Alicia backstory, right? It's like the sisters, like, the fun

[Tim Gettys]

Alicia backstory you got. That's one way to put it.

[Mike]

You got to keep that painting. Get mom and dad out. I got to go handle outside. Like, shit's hitting the fan. Figure it out. And so that's an awesome reveal. I loved every moment of this. And, yeah, I think the game, if it ended right there, would have been totally fine. Fine with. I would have been totally happy with. But I enjoyed the final question, right? Of. At the end of the day, we make it to the finale. I defeat Dad. I stop him, right? He's kicked out of the painting. And he looks at you and he goes, you gotta leave, too. She's like, I don't want to leave, Dad. I don't want to leave Daddy. He's like, you gotta leave. And she makes him a promise. She's like, I promise I'll go when it's time. Like, it's time. I'll go, right? And then you get this awesome moment of, like, here's the decision. This little boy's painting, and Verso doesn't want him to paint anymore. He's done. He's like, this is the time. You gotta stop. I don't want this anymore. And she's now developed her whole entire life because all she can think about is she's a little baby orphan. She's lived this life. She's made friends. She's got this beautiful world. She doesn't want to leave it. And he's like, you gotta stop. Like, you can't be selfish here. You got a world. You got a life outside. I gave my life for you to live. You got to go live that life. It's like, I don't want to live that life. I want to be with you. You're the person I want to Be with. And she's got a pretty bad life out there, right? She doesn't love mom and dad. She might not love her big sister because her big sister loves Slash, also holds that grudge against her that, like, Verso gave his life for you. So she doesn't really love it outside. And I get that she's not a big fan of being outside. And she's like, no, I want. I want him to keep painting. I want to live this life we're going to live forever. And he's like, we're not doing this. That. And I was like, who do I go with, Greg? Who do I go with? Because I. I'm. I. I rode with Verso at the beginning. I said, she can't be selfish. He gave his life for her. She has to go. We're not going to let this little boy continue to paint when it's time to put it behind. I know we've been grieving, but we have to put the past behind. We have to look forward, and we have to end this right here, right now. And so I said, verso, let's fight my L and let's kick her out the painting. And of course you get the ending. You kick her out the painting, everything ends. And you get that scene where they're looking over him as they bury him. It's like, now we're moving forward, and she's definitely not happy forward, but, like, you got a life outside the paint. You gotta live. And so that's the side I rode with.

[Tim Gettys]

That's the size you rode with. That Verso's End. Dude, what an moment. It ending and being like, oh, I to need to choose one, and I need to fight the other. So good.

[Mike]

So good.

[Tim Gettys]

I didn't want to. I really didn't want to.

[Greg Miller]

Who did you pick?

[Tim Gettys]

I went my L. I went my L. And then immediately after I beat,

[Mike]

we got to talk about my.

[Tim Gettys]

Because did you do the same thing? You beat it. Got to go back and see what happened.

[Mike]

The ending really quick. Like Tim said of, like, all the characters coming out right CL looking at you, and then Luna giving you the hard stare of like. We just went on a journey to stop this. We went on a journey to bring everyone back. We've been promised that we're going to bring all of our loved ones back and we're going to live this beautiful life. And you just took that from me up. And she gives you this stare that I still get goosebumps thinking about.

[Tim Gettys]

It's so good.

[Mike]

Did I make the wrong choice? There. But no, I didn't. But then you choose my else ending, and you're like, oh, snap. What does this mean? She's gonna keep painting. And you know she's never gonna leave that painting. You know what I mean? She promised dad she'll leave it. She's never leaving that painting. And when you get it back to the opera house and you see Verso up there getting ready to sing because his passion is singing. He was going to let his voice be heard. And she's sitting there CL her husband. She looks over Gustav and Sophia walking up, you're like, oh, she got everything she ever wants. She got the life. And then the paint starts running down her eyes, and you're like, oh, snap. She's in the paint. She's never leaving the paint.

[Tim Gettys]

Discord and just piano key playing like, leading into this, the final Ben Star performance of him saying, I don't want this life. Come on, man. It's so damn tragic. It's so damn good. I love this game so much because both endings are so dark and so real and present. The realities of the world that they set up here of what's the right call? There isn't one. People are lose. Gonna lose their lives, lose their memories, lose whatever it is. I think it's just so, so damn good that there's even the opportunity for us to have the conversation about what was, quote unquote, the right ending. Which one do we prefer? Like, it reminds me so much of the Matrix when Cypher is there talking about the state. Right?

[Mike]

It's like.

[Tim Gettys]

It's that conundrum which I always find so damn fascinating. But, like, yeah, both these endings are up, man, and earned, entirely earned from

[Mike]

the story they built from the start to the finish line. It was awesome. And the twists and the turns of against the painters. Not with the painters. Against dad. Now with dad. No, I'm against Dad. No, I got accepted. Send these kids out of the painting. Fantastic. And then we wrap all this up with an incredible appearance at the game Awards. Getting so many awards, getting that team the love and flowers they deserve. And then them going, guess what? We're going back, and I'm gonna give you Baby Verso's World. And I was like, stop it. Right? This whole world that's already been colorful and beautiful. We take it up to 11 now. Candy canes, cotton candy hands. We got lollipops everywhere. I'm like, yes, I'm all about this, right? So I cannot wait. Wait to jump into the extra DLC now, because that looks awesome. And like the idea of like, well, we can keep painting. We're not done painting forever.

[Tim Gettys]

We'll see, we'll see, we'll see, man. God, I can't wait to see whatever's next for them. It's going to be very interesting if it's just a Claire Obscure something totally different like in that world or if it's just a totally new project or if it's a direct follow up to this. Either way, I am so, so excited for it. What about you, Mike?

[Mike]

Like I want that Verso Monoko prequel so you're still.

[Tim Gettys]

You're still stuck.

[Mike]

You want the. The pilgrimage from our ejector I. Dude, I can't believe that I walked out of this. Just like Final Fantasy 10 where I'm like, give me those dudes. Give me the game, give me the pre. I'm totally fine with that. Yeah, it's crazy of like the world that they set up where they could go the expeditions they could explore or just drop all this and do something different. Like this team is super talented wanted. I'm excited to see what they do. Yeah, can't wait.

[Tim Gettys]

Very, very excited. Mike, thank you so much. That was excellent. Once again.

[Mike]

Thanks.

[Tim Gettys]

Rushed it. Let us know in the comments below what you thought of Expedition 33, which ending you chose and what you want to see in whatever Sand Falls follow up is. We have a full day of content left for you after this. We have a stream is going to be Nick continuing his dispatch journey with episode two. That's going to be a great time. Until next time. I love you all. For those who come after.

[Mike]

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 punch. So if you've been living in the 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.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Are you dreaming of the perfect prom? But there's just one thing holding you back. Speak English, Mom. Welcome to Ethnosync Ethnic Modification.

[Mike]

What is this place?

[Greg Miller]

We help you reach your true potential.

[Mike]

How are you feeling

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

to be Hawaii?

[Mike]

Hey, new girl. Hey.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Look at what you've done to yourself.

[Mike]

For a new plant to grow, the seed has to die.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Slanted Rated R Only in theaters March 13th. Side effects may occur.

[Mike]

Close your eyes.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Exhale.

[Mike]

Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today?

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contact. Oh, my gosh. They're so fast.

[Mike]

And breathe.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order, 1-800-contacts.