Tim & Blessing's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review & SPOILERCAST - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: Expedition 33 Review & SPOILERCAST - Detailed Summary

Podcast Information

• Title: Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast
• Hosts: Tim Gettys, Blessing Adeoye Jr.
• Episode Title: Tim & Blessing's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review & SPOILERCAST
• Release Date: May 20, 2025

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1. Introduction

In this episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, hosts Tim Gettys and Blessing Adeoye Jr. dive deep into their official reviews of the highly anticipated game, "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33." This episode stands out as both a review and a spoilercast, offering listeners comprehensive insights into the game's multifaceted elements.

2. Initial Reception and Ratings

Blessing Adeoye Jr. opens the discussion by awarding Expedition 33 a 9 out of 10, highlighting its exceptional combat system and immersive storytelling.

“[05:10] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: This is tough because I go back and forth between a 9 and a 9.5. I'm not out of 10, but for now, I'm going to settle on a nine.”

Tim Gettys aligns closely, rating the game 9.5 out of 10, praising its world-building and character engagement while noting minor navigational flaws.

“[11:13] Tim Gettys: I would give this game a 9.5 out of 10 because of the little things that hindered my experience, but everything else has me absolutely transfixed.”

3. Detailed Review

a. Combat System

The hosts commend the turn-based combat, emphasizing its depth and strategic diversity. Each character boasts unique combat styles inspired by various genres, enhancing the gameplay experience.

“[05:39] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: The combat system could be really fun, like, if you roguelite-ized it.”

They discuss the layered complexity of Pictos and Lumina systems, which allow for intricate character upgrades and status effects, making each battle engaging and dynamic.

b. Story and Characters

Expedition 33 excels in storytelling, with a profound narrative that evokes strong emotional responses. The game effectively mirrors the depth of epic tales like "Infinity War", maintaining suspense and wonder throughout.

“[07:10] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: They do such a good job of pulling your interest from the get-go... It reminds me of the end of Infinity War.”

The ensemble cast, including characters like Maelle and Verso, receive high praise for their development and performances, particularly Ben Starr's portrayal of Verso.

c. Art and Presentation

The visual artistry of Expedition 33 is lauded for its unique blend of hyper-realistic and abstract styles. Inspirations from games like Persona 5 and Metaphor Refantasio are evident, contributing to a visually stunning and cohesive world.

“[09:00] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: This game is so good to look at... It just comes together so well.”

d. Soundtrack

The soundtrack is a standout feature, with orchestral performances and French choir elements enhancing the emotional weight of key moments. The music seamlessly integrates with the gameplay, elevating the overall experience.

“[10:10] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: The soundtrack's fucking awesome.”

4. Critiques

a. Navigation Issues

Despite its strengths, Expedition 33 faces criticism for its navigational design. The lack of a mini-map and similar-looking environments often leaves players disoriented, detracting from the otherwise immersive experience.

“[10:10] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: I think orienting the player as far as where you need to go... could have been figured out better.”

b. Menu Systems (Pictos, Luminas)

The complexity of managing Pictos and Luminas can become overwhelming, especially with the rapid acquisition of abilities and upgrades. This system, while rich in depth, poses a learning curve that may hinder some players.

“[24:34] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: The Luminas... there's so much you can equip that it becomes unwieldy.”

5. Spoilercast Section

Transitioning into spoiler mode, Tim and Blessing dissect the game's narrative twists and ending choices between choosing Maelle or Verso.

a. Ending Choices: Maelle vs Verso

The decision between Maelle and Verso is one of the most divisive in recent gaming history. Both choices carry significant emotional weight and narrative consequences.

“[34:27] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: This is one of the most controversial video game choices since Life Is Strange one.”

Blessing initially chooses Maelle, influenced by her role throughout the game, but revisits Verso's ending upon experiencing its emotional depth.

“[35:13] Tim Gettys: I chose Maelle for similar reasons... but I still think Verso's ending being more right.”

b. Emotional Impact and Storytelling

The hosts highlight the game's ability to handle themes of grief and loss with subtlety and depth, drawing parallels to acclaimed narratives in both gaming and film.

“[38:17] Tim Gettys: It's hard to explain, but this game feels like watching a French indie film... the combination of good and bad.”

c. Character Performances

Character performances, especially Ben Starr as Verso and Andy Cortez as Renoir, are praised for their authenticity and emotional resonance.

“[75:14] Tim Gettys: Shout out to Ben Starr. Him singing in the credits... impeccable.”

6. Community Feedback

During the episode, several listener super chats provide additional perspectives and critiques:

• JG says Renoir was right.

  “[54:26] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: I totally understand where Renoir is coming from.”

• CJ splits on the moral of the story being "go touch grass."

  “[55:23] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: They can go touch grass, but that doesn't bring their son back.”

• Dean8149 praises the game's parrying mechanics.

  “[56:11] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: If I'm ranking the Perrys, I'd put Expedition 33 at number two.”

7. Game of the Year Discussion

Tim and Blessing engage in a lively debate about Expedition 33's prospects for Game of the Year, considering its critical acclaim and impact compared to other major releases.

“[76:14] Tim Gettys: I think Expedition 33 is going to win Game of the Year this year. It’s a no-brainer.”

Challenges are acknowledged from other strong contenders like Ghost of Yote and Death Stranding 2, but the hosts remain optimistic about Expedition 33's standing.

“[78:14] Tim Gettys: It could be a top contender despite other great games.”

8. Conclusion

Wrapping up, Tim and Blessing reaffirm their high praise for Expedition 33, emphasizing its narrative depth, engaging combat, and artistic excellence. They express hope for future expansions or sequels, noting the game's potential to influence the RPG genre significantly.

“[80:42] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: This story feels like an epic poem, and I’m so satisfied with where we've left off.”

Listeners are encouraged to share their own experiences and choices regarding the game's ending, fostering a community dialogue around its impactful storytelling.

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Notable Quotes:

• Blessing Adeoye Jr. [05:10]: “This is tough because I go back and forth between a 9 and a 9.5. I'm not out of 10, but for now, I'm going to settle on a nine.”

• Tim Gettys [11:13]: “I would give this game a 9.5 out of 10 because of the little things that hindered my experience, but everything else has me absolutely transfixed.”

• Blessing Adeoye Jr. [34:27]: “This is one of the most controversial video game choices since Life Is Strange one.”

• Tim Gettys [35:13]: “I chose Maelle for similar reasons... but I still think Verso's ending being more right.”

• Tim Gettys [76:14]: “I think Expedition 33 is going to win Game of the Year this year. It’s a no-brainer.”

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Final Thoughts:

"Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" emerges as a standout title in the gaming landscape, blending rich storytelling with innovative gameplay mechanics. Tim and Blessing's in-depth analysis underscores the game's strengths while constructively addressing areas for improvement, making this episode a must-listen for enthusiasts eager to explore the depths of this compelling RPG.

Transcript

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Foreign.

[Tim Gettys]

What'S up? And welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Of course, I'm your host, Tim Gettys. I'm joined today by Blessing. Adio. Yeah. Junior.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Good day, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

Good day to you. It's a great day actually.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

It's a very rare time that me and you are in this very position where we are reviewing a all Things Considered new game. Yeah, but like not at embargo, but it is like our official reviews of the game. Like while the game's still kind of in the conversation. The conversation still relevant. Course is still relevant. Like it's kind of a fun place to be. Obviously you and I, very busy men for different reasons. Gallivanting the globe. You literally going all the way to Japan. I went to Vegas for. For WrestleMania, you know what I mean? Yeah, there was a lot going on. But no, because of all of that we weren't able to. To be here and actually be on the review For Claire obscure expedition 33 with the rest of the crew. But it's also cool because there was a lot of voices. It's not that common that the majority of Kind of Funny are all into a game enough to prioritize playing through it for a review conversation, let alone a spoiler conversation.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I feel like usually when that's the case, we're talking about the game of the year.

[Tim Gettys]

Usually. Yeah, it's usually.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Usually the game of the year.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. And that I feel also is there's a couple factors at play there. Normally I would say PlayStation games, there was a lot. PlayStation Studios games. A lot of the gamers here tend to like those type of games.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Budget, prestige, narrative, action, adventure.

[Tim Gettys]

In addition to that, PlayStation are usually very good about getting us as many codes as we want. Whereas on the Nintendo side we normally don't get that we get one code per game, no matter how good it is, which I do think, I mean definitely hinders our ability to have multiple people having big conversations about the games in the moment that they're coming out. And there's been exceptions to this, but often we don't end up doing a full multi person review of big Nintendo games just because like the conversation kind of like moves on a little bit. Right. Then there's the Xbox side of it. Xbox are amazing about getting us codes. I just feel like we're still kind of in the point of the Xbox games being a little bit more tailored to interests.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Like not everybody here is going to play Doom. You know what I mean? Not everybody here is Going to play a Hellblade or a. I mean, south of Midnight, I think. Got it. The good majority of us.

[Tim Gettys]

Yes, that's a good point. Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But it's like, you know, it. It's kind of here or there as far as what Xbox Games are going to speak to all of us at the same time.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. And so for. For a game like this to come out and to have all of us so interested, so many people like fighting to be on the review like they're. There was so much interest that it was like, oh man. We have more than enough people and conversations to have around this game and the audience wants more and more conversations about this game, which I think is very special and cool. So I'm happy to be here with you and have this space to be able to talk about all this stuff today. And that's what we're going to be talking about. Everybody clear obscure Expedition 33. You'll be getting me and Bless's official reviews on the game on the kind of funny scale, but also getting into our spoiler thoughts. We will make it very clear when we're getting into spoilers, we will keep it top level, review friendly and all that stuff in the beginning and then we will let you know because this is the kind of Funny Games cast. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about video games, all the things we love about them, the things we don't like about them and everything in between. If you like that, you can get the kind of Funny membership and get the show ad free. You also get a daily exclusive, Greg Way today. It's a big one. Greg is talking for 24 minutes about the best and worst feedback he's ever gotten from from mentors. I'm sure that's going to be a very fun one to check out. If you are a kind of funny member, shout out to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney Twining. They're going to be able to hang out just like you can during our kind of Funny happy hour later today. All of our $25 level Patreon members get to be a part of that. You can actually call in and talk to us or if you can't be live, you can just watch that later exclusively at that level on Patreon. A little housekeeping for you. You already got an episode of Games Daily with me and Greg. Then after this, the stream is going to be Mike and Roger finishing Death Stranding. They're actually going to do it. They made it so close to the end during their marathon stream. But now they're actually taking it across the finish line. Today. We're brought to you by Subway Surfers and Factor, but we'll tell you all about that later. Let's begin with the topic of the show. Remember, get all of your super chats in. If you have your review of this game and want us to talk about it, please send that in. If you have questions, if you want to get our thoughts on anything specific about the game, please super chat them in and we'll get to all of those. But I want to start with you. Bless. You've played Expedition 33.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I have.

[Tim Gettys]

You've beat Expedition 33.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I have.

[Tim Gettys]

When?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Two days ago.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay. So we just fresh on the mind.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And then again yesterday.

[Tim Gettys]

And then again yesterday.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And again yesterday. I had to reload my save, experience the ending one more time.

[Tim Gettys]

Of course, of course. Bless.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes.

[Tim Gettys]

On the kind of funny scale, what would you give Claire? Obscure. Expedition 33.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This is tough because I go back and forth between a 9 and a 9.5. I'm not out of 10. I'm. I think for now I'm going to settle in on a nine. A nine out of ten for this game. I love that facial expression you're giving me.

[Tim Gettys]

I just want to cut you off real quick, Wes, because I just want to say I'm somewhere between a 9 and a 9.5. I can't give it a 10, but please continue.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean, I think the, you know, when we talk about video games we often, and especially in a review sense, I think we often want to talk about the whole. We want to talk about like the whole within w. You know what I mean? We want to talk about the entire product and how it results at the end thing. Because at the end of the day, video games are the entire package. The gameplay, the story, the art, how it all molds together. However, for how I want to start off talking about Expedition 33 for my review, right. I want to talk about it in parts because I do think that is where this game shines the most. Where I look at the parts, I look at the combat and how well fleshed out the turn based combat is. How each character has their own combat system and their own style of combat that are each very inspired. Right. I think it's one thing to be toward the beginning of the game and have a new party member and go, oh, okay, they got a different thing going on. And then like, you know, kind of like find that to be cool versus being in the, let's say second Half of the game and looking at a character and being like, oh, this is inspired by Devil May Cry. Oh, this is inspired by this. Oh, like, you know, you want me to think about using this character in this specific ways, let alone looking at the Pictos and Lumina system, right? Which is all. The entire. Almost the entirety of how you upgrade your character and add special abilities and all this stuff, right? How that stuff layers with, you know, status effects and applying burn. But your other character has this thing that if you attack them while they have burn, they then get plus two ap, which, you know, allows them to use their special moves quicker. Right? Like, it all builds on top of each other in a very cool and fascinating way. I made a tweet last night or a post on Blue Sky, I should say last night that there's some game or pretty much me playing any game is me playing it and being like, man, this would go hard in a roguelite mode. And I. That was inspired by me playing clear, obscure Expedition 33 and being like, oh, dude, this combat system could be really fun, like, if you roguelite ized it, right? And like, that's more so me being like, I fucking love this combat system. I just want to get into the combat. I think that's part of that part of the game is excellent. When you talk about story and characters. My God, my God, my God. They do such a good job of pulling your interest from the get go. That prologue segment. I. I played it alongside a friend, right? And like, we were watching it and we were like, yo, this is fucking awesome. I love how from the get go, they. In the first couple hours of the game, you invoked certain feelings I had toward the end of Infinity War, right? Like the fact that you can pull that out of me and then I think sustain a lot of wonder, a lot of interest in, all right, what is this world? What's going on? And then really deliver later on in the game as far as, like, really fleshing out this world in ways that you wouldn't expect. It reminds me of the words they said a lot during the Nintendo Store preview that we got to go to. They used the words surprise, surprise and delight. This game surprised and delighted me at so many moments of the story's twists and turns. Made me fall in love with the characters. I love the utter grim tone of it or I don't know if grim is the right word, like dower tone of it, right? It's a sad world. It's a sad fucking story. There is death and there is a lot of Hopelessness. And I. I don't know, I like when worlds kind of live in that stuff to make you really appreciate when you do have the warm moments or characters sharing stories with each other or characters having like sharing friendship, sharing romance, having these moments. Like that stuff is uplifted so much when you're surrounded by fucking death and destruction. And I think this game does that so well. But then the last part I want to touch on is the art and the presentation of it. This game is so good to look at. It does. You know, I'm a big fan of Persona, Persona 5, one of the best looking games I've ever played. I'll say the same for Metaphor Refantasio. As far as what those games bring in terms of art style and UI and all that stuff, you could tell that this game was inspired. Not directly as far as like what it does art style wise, but I think inspired as far as how hard you should be able to go or how, how hard you should go to really uplift that stuff. When you look at the combat UI and you see kind of like the like ink animation coming off of like certain parts of the UI and how in motion everything looks and how like you the choreography, the moves look sick. And then like the timing thing of the quick time events, how cool that looks, it all just comes together so well, let alone the environments, let alone how dreamy and weird everything looks, but in a way that still comes together and really fits the mold of what they're doing with this world. I. This game for me was just so amazing to look at from beginning to end. I didn't talk about the soundtrack. Soundtrack's fucking awesome.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh my God.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, this game does so many good things. That said, I do have critiques here and there and like stuff that's not even just like super minor. Like stuff that I think really could have been figured out. Things like I think orienting the player as far as where you need to go. And I think that's both in when you're in the levels and you go to a save point and come out of it and being like, all right, everything kind of looks the same. So which way was I going there quite a few times where I think the game would benefit from either, either a waypoint or a mini map or something like, I don't know what the solution is, but I think there's a solution that they could have happened upon to orient the player in the right way. And then also like there are parts toward the latter half of the game, even the last Third of the game where I'm looking at the overworld map and I'm like, okay, where have I been? Like where? Like, what's the right place to go? I think they had all the ingredients there, but I think small things as far as pointing the player in a direction or maybe like a menu that is like, all right, you've done this, this and this. This is what you have left to do. I don't know, small things here and there could. Could have helped there. But yeah, overall, love this game. Tim, what about you?

[Tim Gettys]

Bless. I mean, me and you agree about a lot of things.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

It's rare though that I'm like literally right exactly where you are. Every single thing you just said. I. I am right there. I would give this game a 9.5 out of 10 because of the. The little things you're talking about I think do add up to me as, oh, they hindered my experience. And it really could have enhanced it that bit more because everything else in this game has me absolutely transfixed. Jake Baldino and I were talking in Los Angeles last week and he said something better than I ever could. I never would have been able to put this into words, but the moment he said it to me, I was like, that's exactly how I feel about this game. It's so rare that a new world is introduced to us that immediately we're like, I want everything. I want comic books. I want the anime, I want the movie, I want the sequel. I want the dlc. I want that. And that's what this is for me. Like this, this is reminds me of being a little kid and wanting to know every single thing about every character in Final Fantasy 10. Reading the strategy guide just to get some backstory that I might have missed from the game or whatever. I cared so freaking much. Playing this game made me feel that way as a 35 year old man that has played so many video games since Final Fantasy 10 in 2001. And I don't know that there has been a game that's made me this all in on its world and characters and just wanting to know more. And that was true from the jump of this game. Like you're saying that prologue immediately gets you hooked, but throughout the entire game, the twists and the turns and the way that it just keeps giving you more and more and more. I was absolutely enthralled from moment one and that's just talking about the story and characters and worlds. You add on the gameplay here and oh man, every single battle is fun. Every single random Enemy feels like it matters. Feels like you're getting better at the game. You feel like such a badass when you pull off a parry. And that's just the gameplay. Right. And you were saying this, but the moment that a new character is added to your team, you are immediately like, okay, cool, but I got my squad. Yeah, I'm gonna stick with my squad. And then something will happen and be like, all right, this enemy's doing this a lot. I wonder if this strategy will work. I'm gonna use. I'm gonna pull them off the bench. Let's see what happens. And all of a sudden you're like, wait a minute. Oh, yeah, that's how that works. And then all of a sudden your. Your main team is a totally different looking squad. You know, Then eventually you get the Charlie's Angels and you stick with the web. But I love the flexibility there. I love the costumes. I love the. The way that this game drives me to want to explore every nook and cranny to make sure that I'm getting every piece of outfit for each person. So I get to choose how my team looks like. It's the little things that feel like they add up and matter, the amount of pictos and all that stuff that are just everywhere throughout the world. And you see all the different abilities and you're like, how this is so overwhelming.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Very overwhelming.

[Tim Gettys]

And it continues to be overwhelming. Yeah, Right. But as you continue to play through it, you start to understand it more and you start to see how the different strategies can place and how the passive abilities are adding up across your entire team. And then you're facing enemies that feel like they need that. And then you hit this point that you're just absolutely destroying people. And are you that damn good or are you just kind of doing what the game wanted you to do? Either way, it feels right. Right? It is. And it feels backed by the story and backed by what's happening. I am. I'm so impressed with this. I do really think, though, that I see in the chat already, and I know that people disagree about this, but. But I do think this game needed a mini map. I do think that even on the world map, it needed a bit more than just a compass of northeast, west and south. So many amazing decisions in this game. And I understand that there are a lot of things guiding you. That doesn't stop the fact that I got lost a lot and that that was the only times I wasn't having fun with this game. So it's like. But there was enough of that. That I'm like, all right, it did get in my way. But like, man, this team, Sandfall Interactive, what the magic did they just do?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Where did you come from? You know what I mean? I think one of the things that as you were talking right. Lit up in me was as you were talking about how I. You want. You want to be in this world. You want the comics, you want the adaptations. Like, you know, I'm. I'm sure if they made a, like, they sent us like little, little figurines of the characters, we'd probably fight over them. As far as who at this office wants them at their desk. Right. Like, I think part of that too is as you're playing this game, you can tell from its from a team of like human beings that want to put themselves in the game. And like, that's. I know I could probably say that for any video game, but there's something about this one where it's both. I think the fact that I'm sure you, Tim, as you're playing this game, you're probably identifying so many different inspirations. It's like, oh, okay, there's some Final Fantasy 7 remake here. Oh, there's some Final Fantasy 10 here. Oh, for me, it was like I saw so much near right. Like, there's so many different thing, different JRPGs that they're pulling from, let alone like I mentioned, Devil May Cry or like, I'm sure a billion other different inspirations. So I think it's that you can tell that it's from people who are fans of video games. But then the French culture of it all, I think really gives this such a unique edge as far as, oh, you guys really put yourselves in this video game. Like, you guys really wanted to tell a story that only this studio located in France could tell.

[Tim Gettys]

Absolutely. And I, I do. I, I was saying this in, in my early hours playing on the different pieces of content I was on, but I was just like, I didn French had it that way. Like, I real talk. It's like I didn't know that the, the style was there. These characters, their outfits, the way they talk, the way they interact with each other. Just the. The world itself. Like, there's something on my. Oh man. I have never in my life really been interested in visiting France, period. And now I'm like, you know what, dude?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I have the exact same thing. I, as soon as credits hit, I was like, yo, I kind of want to go to Paris.

[Tim Gettys]

This game oozes culture. Like, there's, there's like A a voice to it. And you mentioning all the inspirations, like they're, they're so clear whether it's in gameplay, story, characters or just like visuals. Right. Like obviously the Persona kind of battle system UI at the very least. But I look at so much of this. The way the weapons are, the magic comes out and like just looks. It looks like Final Fantasy 15 like as cool as Final Fantasy 15 looked. But in my opinion, it plays the way that I wish that one did. Like, there's something about this that I'm just like I. I'm so into how the combat works between each of the characters and the way that the attacks look and the camera moves when you're you, you do the dodges, you do the Perry. And then when you go into for the big team attack, like it feels like you're doing something sick. And yes, a lot of this is QTEs. But why are we praising it so much? Because it's them done perfectly.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like it's not about the randomization about of it. It really is like, I guess I don't know what it is about these two tes that does work so well for me because I think I mentioned to you before that weirdly enough, you know, I love action games. I like turn based games. But weirdly enough, when I'm playing a Mario RPG and I have to do the time button press with the turn based stuff, it breaks my brain a little bit. And I don't know why, but here like my brain adjusted to it so well partway through the game. At first I was still struggling a little bit, but like, once I got used to it, there's something about it that just feels right. And maybe it is just the coolness factor of seeing the animation and then the sound design being like the. And then like being able to hit it on time and see the seeing the perfect, seeing the critical hit, seeing the yellow text. They nailed that. Like they nailed how to make a player feel good in doing that.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, man, they really do. And you know, we didn't even talk about performances.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Oh my God.

[Tim Gettys]

Like this is the type of game that here we are in in May, right? And we said this earlier, but this is a first game from Sandfile Interactive, right? And we heard about this less than a year ago at. For the very first time at Xbox's showcase in the summer. And we all looked at it. We're like, okay, this is cool as hell. But like this is so ambitious. No way they pull this off. Well, here we are. They pulled it off. And I think the conversation is what categories of the game awards are they not going to be nominated for? Because real talk, I feel like going down the line, you could fit this into so many different places. And my question is, who, who gets nominated for best performance? Because there's too many great options, right? You think about the soundtrack of this. Yeah, damn, this is going up there. And guess what? Bless, this will be nominated for game of the Year, if not winning game of the year. And that means we're hearing the soundtrack performed by the orchestra at the game.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh my gosh, the clip, Scoop.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh my God, I've been listening to it non stop and like it's, I mean that's.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

For me, that is the mark of a great soundtrack, especially a great JRPG soundtrack is how much like how quickly do I go over to Spotify or to YouTube and look up certain songs from it. And yeah, there are two songs from the I think Flying Waters level that I have on repeat all the time right now that are in my Spotify playlist. But it's that plus, like, you know, I think another mark of a good, of a good soundtrack is when I'm in the moment, right when you have that swell of emotion happening and the music is hitting just right. And there's so many moments in the last hours of the game where there's like a French choir just going off and I'm just listening to it as like the action is building or like these moments are building in the game and I'm just, I'm just in it and I'm like, I don't think I've heard anything like this in video games before.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, again, it goes back to there's a unique style here. And like, you know, we've talked on a lot of different shows about like the making of this and the more information that kind of comes out in, in the last month for this game. But like the composer was found on SoundCloud.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Crazy, right?

[Tim Gettys]

Like the writer was found on Reddit. Like, this is just such a, a special moment and I'm just so happy that a video game can come out now when I feel like we needed it most. You know, a new IP that we can all just rally behind. And like one of the highest, if not the highest rated Metacritic game of all time. At least it was time. It was for a moment. I don't know if it still is right now, but like a couple of weeks ago, yeah, it was like, dang, man, that's wild. And I look at that and going into this review, I've been thinking a lot about what am I going to give it on our scale.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And it was hard for me because I hear all this, like, you know, better critic number one and all that stuff. I'm like, really? Is it really, like, are we really putting this up there? That seems a little hyperbolic. And then I keep thinking about, like, but do I disagree? You know what I mean? Like, there's something there where it's like, real talk. My criticisms come down to the. Some just annoyances, quality of life stuff that I think they can easily patch and fix.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I think there's just a couple options they can give that would just enhance this experience. And just to explain a little further my problems with the. The navigation and all this is I wanted to explore everything. So I feel like they're trying to find every nook and cranny and, like, hill and mountaintop and rock to climb and all that stuff. To find all of the hidden stuff, which there's a lot all over the world. I think that is what gets you lost. The game does a good job of guiding you exactly where you need to go, like with the lamp posts and all that stuff. But the moment you're trying to go off the path, I think it gets a little too easy to get turned around.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Because while each area is incredibly beautiful, each area kind of looks very similar.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Exactly. That's. And that's my one. That's my big thing. Right. Where I think, as far as, like, could it use a mini map? Could it not? Right. Like, I understand either or I think even if you don't have a mini map, I still think navigation is just an issue from. Yeah, like, the levels look cool as fuck, but when you're in a level like the Flying Waters, like, over this area over here all the way to the right looks like this area all the way to the left. And yeah, like, when I go down the optional path to get something, I'll come back and I'm like, oh, all right, which way am I going? Because this looks like there's so many times where I was just running in circles, especially specifically in the Flying Waters, I think, actually where I'm just, like, going and going. I'm like, where? And then I realize the right path is like, oh, I had to do the grappling hook thing. That's way over here. All right, cool. Now I'm on the right thing. Right? But it's. I think it's tough. I think the arts, it's the, you know, gift in the curse of the art style where the art style is throwing so much at you as far as the environments and how broken everything is and how abstract everything is. That's cool to look at. But yeah, sometimes it makes it tough. As far as. All right, I. I passed the building that's sideways over here and like the weird looking trees over here. But they have that over there too. Like I think that would be the. That would be the thing to figure out. I'm sure they'll. If they make a sequel, which I don't know if they'll make a sequel but.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, we're getting a sequel.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You think so? Oh, 100 I hope so.

[Tim Gettys]

Yes. Real quick. Golgoth in the chat says this is why there's no mini map. You want to visit everything because this world's insane. So providing a map or a mini map would go against the idea of searching for to discover on the world map. In my opinion. And we're all entitled to our own opinion on this stuff. I don't think I there I have so much glowing things to say about the world. I don't think that any of the areas are that interesting. They're very clearly like video game designed paths. Right. You're just going in paths. This game is as linear as Final Fantasy 10 or Final Fantasy 13. I love those games for that reason. But like let's not over exaggerate like how well designed the world is. Like this is not an Elden Ring type thing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

In my opinion. Thank God. But I don't think a mini map gets in the way of, of that. I think in fact it enhances going through a bunch of very pretty hallways.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And honestly like even if it's not a mini map, a just a map for when you're in the levels. Like if I press the touchpad or whatever just bring up.

[Tim Gettys]

Absolutely.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like just let me just know like where I'm going or whatever.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And that's like not even my main critique. I know that was the first thing I brought up. Right. But like I think for me it also goes back to things like Pictos and Luminas and I love those systems except for like you mentioned earlier how overwhelming they can be. Especially when I go into. I always get them mixed up. I think it's the Luminas where you.

[Tim Gettys]

I get it messed up too man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. The ones that you can equip after you do a certain number of battles and then you go in and you have like 50 points or whatever that you allocate. There's so much that you can equip and so much to manage. And at times my brain would love it because I love getting into the nitty gritty. I love being in menus and being like, okay, well if I have this character that can start off with Rush but then also apply Powerless, but then also if they do their base attack, they can do Burn. And like I love going through all of that. But at the same time, when I'm managing a number of different characters and I am acquiring pictos at like such a quick rate because there's so many of them, it starts to build up in a way where it becomes unwieldy, it becomes.

[Tim Gettys]

In the menus.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

In the menus. Yeah. So like that's another one. And like I think it is the compounding of a lot of small things that I think bring me back from the 10 out of 10. Plus like it wasn't like a, the number. Giving a game a number obviously is arbitrary, but also tough in ways for me where a lot of the time when I'm giving a game a 10, I have to ask myself, is this the greatest video game I've ever played? Because if the, if I'm leaning on a yes, then I'm like, okay, this is a 10 out of 10. If I'm not leaning towards a yes, then I'm like, all right, 9.5, 9, 9, 10. And that's, that's kind of where I'm at with Clear obscure, where they're the small things. But then also this game blew my mind in so many ways. I'm not, for me, I'm not like this is the greatest thing I've ever played, but it's in the conversation for maybe top 40 things I've ever played. Right. Which is for me very high.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I, I, I'm with you. I, I feel like just based on this conversation, I might be even a little higher than you are. Where I, I do think that this is, you know, the reviewing a game and the conversation of best and favorite and all this, there is some mix there, right? And I think that there are different things. Cuz while I would give this game a 9.5 mainly because I do have some concrete problems that I have with the game that I really think could be and should be addressed that are there and that got in the way my incredibly positive experience. On the other hand, I'm going to remember this game forever and I feel like I can recommend this game to the majority of people I know that like video games and they're Going to have a great time with it. Like, this game has all of the stuff. I mean my, my best friend Curran, I've known him most of my life at this point. I played games with him and like, he is like my gaming guy when it comes to just like my, my kind of coming of age into taking video games more seriously than just, you know, me and Kevin playing as when we were little kids, like on the Nintendo. It's like, oh, we're like thinking and caring about video games in a very different way. And a lot of that was bonding over Final Fantasy 7 and 10. And I often will give him codes for games and they're usually Spider Man 2 or God of War things that are these known quantities. This is the first time I've ever given him a code and been like, I'm giving you this. Download it, play it. I promise you're gonna love it. Don't look into it at all. It is now one of his top three favorite games of all time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's fucking awesome.

[Tim Gettys]

And I just, he just kept texting me like updates as he's playing. And that's another special thing about this game that's just a story about my one friend. The amount of people I know that have been texting me about this game as they got through act one, got through act two, like, et cetera, et cetera, this shit's special, man. Like, this shit. And I'm not alone. I know a lot of people here. Like, we're having these check ins with people in our lives because we're all experiencing something incredibly special. This story is awesome.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I was surprised when I went to Yusuf's house to hang out and his apartment to hang out, right? And like one of the first things he asked me was, he was like, are you playing a clear obscure. And he was like, dude, I'm halfway through it. It's fucking sick. And I was like, oh. Like, I don't even, I don't, I don't think about this being the type of game that you play, which it might be, but I like the fact.

[Tim Gettys]

That you love Final Fantasy 10. He's a man of taste and culture.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's a really good point. So yeah, this is actually tailored for him. But the fact that you like randomly brought up, I was like, oh, shit. All right, this is like hidden for people. Like, this is making the, making the rounds. And I do think, like, the more I, I think about this game and the more I see people talk about it and the more I just talk about it myself, right? Like I think this is gonna be the one of the ones that has like a breakout. I'm sure it already has had breakout success. Right. But like I think continues to have that. I think this is one of those games that strikes me as, oh, you, you've done everything you needed to to like hit that level of special for people. And like not just for a specific audience. I'm talking about for a wide audience of people. Like I think there's a lot of people that are gonna play Claire Obscure who probably don't play JRPGs or probably don't vibe with turn based stuff as much that are going to. They're going to vibe with it because it just, it does so much right.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean and not only does so much right, it does so much so much the same, but more importantly so much different. This is through and through a traditional jrpg, but it has a hyper realistic style and it doesn't let that get in the way of, of the enemies you fight being these gigantic insane monsters. This feels like playing a vintage pixel based final fantasy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Where you're this little guy gets up going up against this giant monster. But it doesn't feel weird even though visually it should. But it's like they build the world so well that it just kind of feels like we don't see things like this that often. Right. Like it's just like I think totally. There are examples of it but sure.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And like I think also tonally to the same point you're making. It is a turn based game that has quick time events where you're fighting big monsters and going through a fantasy world internally. It keeps it so serious. Like this game is so like real when it comes to the subject matter and like how it tackles topics of grief and like even certain cinematic choices that don't even feel video game inspired. This feels inspired by some, I'm sure like critically acclaimed French movie from 1940. Like the ways in which they use framing and like the aspect ratio like changes or it goes into grayscale or like the presentation is so interesting and cool and it feels like they understand the art of what they're doing here in the fact that like oh, just because we're making something that inherently I think lends, lends itself toward being a bit more like lighthearted and goofy or whatever which it has those moments from.

[Tim Gettys]

Sobster says it's also really funny.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's also really funny.

[Tim Gettys]

Really funny and really goofy in that classic way that we love. But it doesn't get in the way of.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It doesn't feel weird. It balances it so well.

[Tim Gettys]

Exactly, exactly. I feel like the humor isn't something that we need to kind of like write off or be like, well, you know, it's funny because this, it's like, oh no, no, this makes sense, right? God, I want to talk so much more about this. This has been our spoiler free review of Expedition 33. Once we get back from a word from our sponsors, we're going full spoilers, baby. Starting with the end.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Here's an ad.

[C]

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[Tim Gettys]

And we're back.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And we're.

[Tim Gettys]

We're in spoiler mode. Everybody Bless and I are about to spoil the living hell out of Expedition 33. I have to start at the end. This is a game where we're not given many choices. Bless. No, this is a Final Fantasy RPG in all the classic sense of you're along for a story here you're not really changing things until the very end. You have to make a choice. Are you choosing Verso? Are you choosing Mal?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This is one of the most controversial video game choices since Life Is Strange one. I don't know if you ever, I don't know if you ever played Life Strange One or heard the discourse about the ending choice. But like that's one of those ones where everybody has a very strong opinion about what the right choice is. And this was one of those scenarios where, and this is rare for me, maybe this is a first for me where I made my choice because I knew where my allegiance lied. I chose Maelle because I think partly because I spent most of the game with Maelle as like my main party member, right? Like I leaned all the way into her combat system, loved playing as her. And then also like Verso, I got the out of here. Halfway through the game there was a boss fight where like Verso was in my team. And then like that boss fight made me realize that Versa just wasn't doing what I needed him to do.

[Tim Gettys]

Do me and you had the exact same experience.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's so I was like, Versa, you're out. Get in here, get in here, Luna. And so like I, that's what I did. So I, I was leaning towards male because of that. But then also I think story wise, the game, the way the game orients you leading into the third act and like going through learning what the nature of the painting is and like what Renoir's motivations are and what the painters is and all that stuff, right? Like I think the game teaches you that the Maelle and the team of expeditioners are the ones fighting for life and doing all this stuff, right? And so I think as I made the male choice, I was still in that mind frame, but then seeing the cutscene after and then like well, seeing the cutscene after, I think made me feel this feeling of like, I don't feel good. This didn't make me feel good, which is beautiful because games aren't like. Games don't have to make you feel good. Stories aren't like, meant to automatically make you feel good. Right. So like, I think there was something about that that made me go, did I make the wrong choice here? Is this really about letting. Is this about the process of grief and I guess like facing reality to some extent. And so I went back yesterday and I replayed the ending and then I watched Verso's thing and Versal's ending. Also very sad, but felt more right. And so I think my. I think I lean more towards Verso's ending being, I guess, my canon ending. Even though originally I chose male. What about you?

[Tim Gettys]

I also chose Mael for very similar reasons. I feel like she was one of my go to's throughout the game. She wasn't from the jump though. Like, I got her out pretty early and eventually she. She made her way back in. And I feel like some of that was story based. Like, I think that there are. This is an ensemble cast and obviously you would imagine that Gustav is your. Is the kind of lead, but then you learn pretty quickly, no, he's not right. And him getting replaced by Verso. I obviously love Ben Starr's performance as Verso. I do think Versa was one of my least favorite characters in the game though. Like, and that's probably just because I was attached to Gustav. They did their job. Right. And over time, definitely with. As the story elements kind of added up, I. He started winning me over. But at that point, I feel like I was. I was sympathetic and vibing with Myel and her. Her story and the grief she was dealing with because I was kind of feeling it too.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, she just lost Gustav. So did I, you know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And also just her being on the. The menu screen and the. The music that's playing being like hers, I. I kind of see her as if there had to be a main character, it's her. So by the time we got to the end, even though getting to that choice felt a little like, oh, whoa, we have to do this. Like, well, you guys are against each other on this. I was like, I gotta go with my girl here. And then you see that cutscene and. Oh, I felt like, yeah, but I loved it though.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Because I feel like it was very earned. It was set up and earned and I believe it. And I understand the, The Desire to be. Like, if I was in this position, I would move on. I don't know that the majority of people.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

No, we wouldn't, you know, Absolutely not.

[Tim Gettys]

And I think that there's something beautiful about that also that everyone's in their own positions. And like, if you were given the opportunity to not have everything you love taken from you, dude.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like, I mean, you look at. That's why I think that was the tough thing for me, was looking at males point of view and being like, do you want to stay in this world with these people that you built relationships with? And this is as far as, I guess Mayall has her. Does she at that point have her memories from living outside the painting? I'm like, at that point, yeah. So, like, at that point, I guess she has kind of both things, but, like, she kind of grew up in the painting as well at the same time. And knowing what her life is outside of the painting that is filled with grief, that is filled with pain, that, like, she can't even speak the ways that. That she wants to. I think I just identified with the idea of, like. No, I get it.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. And it's. It's so dark. But again, earns. And I don't think, like, just like, dark for dark sake or anything. I'm like, oh, this is the end and I buy it and I'm here for it. Then of course, immediately booted right back up. I got to go Verso and. Because I want to see what the other ending was, but also because while I wasn't fully vibing with Verso and he was winning me over throughout the game, it wasn't until choosing my L and the dialogue that Verso has with my L that I'm like, versus the right choice.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, and like, that's before I even saw his ending. Just the way he responds to it with the whole, like, I don't want this life. Like, oh, man, we're getting some real good stuff here. And then seeing Verso's ending, it's like, incredibly tragic and dark as well, but also incredibly earned. I don't know that I've ever seen a game specifically present two endings that I am equally happy with that are so different, but that both were built up to, I think perfectly. I think both of these could be the canon ending. And I. I also kind of like, they're not needing to be a canon ending. And we'll see what they do with the sequels and stuff. But where they. They ended up in this, I just think was so beyond my Expectations and the fact that we even had a choice of the fact that there are two outcomes and there's enough to talk about and enough to debate what is right and what is wrong and what would you do? And. And all of that, like, it's in a world where we are 10 years removed and still talking about Joel's choice at the end of the Last of Us and the ethics of it and what's right, what's wrong, what we would do. I think this game kind of presents all of that stuff in. In such a beautiful way with so much artistry that it really does put a nice bow on the game of making the entire story feel like one of those beautiful epic poems that you would read in high school that you're like, damn, how they have bars like this.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what I mean? Where it's like, you're reading through it and you're like, I don't really fully understand what's going on. But by the end, it's like, oh, they were getting here and they. They pulled it off.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. I'm like, dude, whoever. Whoever put together the bones of this story, y' all were going through something like, whoever, like, wrote some of this dialogue. It's like, what were you feeling? Because I feel it now. And I think one of the things I want to commend this game on, you know, you mentioned that by the end of it, Mael feels like the main character. I'm somebody who. I never watched through Game of Thrones, but I know the broad strokes as far as, like, big story moments that kill a main character. And now, like, people are like, whoa, that's crazy that they did that. And then you go on to go on and the story continues and you find new characters. Right. I think this game does that. I mean, literally. And also just in terms of structurally, how act one, the main character is Gustav, act two, the main character is Verso, and then act three, the main character is male. In fact, I think the acts are named after them.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And I was impressed by how seamlessly that worked for me. Of course, Act One and Act Two, they kind of. They literally, like, have to cut you off from Gustav. Right. Which wanna. We'll. We'll talk about in a second. But I want to ask the question of, like, were you surprised that they never brought back Gustav? Because you look at the skill tree. And I was like, oh, he'll be back.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And he never came back.

[Tim Gettys]

And I was like, dude. Oh, yeah. That was like, I haven't. Like, that is such a Surprise. How the did we just get a main character in an RPG die? And it hit us this way. Yeah, like, I feel like, oh, Ben there done that. No, man. Like this was wild. And you know, we do technically get him back in the very end of if you choose my El story kind of sure. Storyline wise at least. But yeah, no, I thought we were getting in back. I also didn't expect him to die, period. But I did not expect him to die the way he did as early as he did. Like, it was like such a. The fact that this game can have so many discussion points where you're like, how far are you? Okay, cool, talk to me.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We'll talk to you later.

[Tim Gettys]

And it's like you don't want to spoil the things, but like it has such great. Once you know the whole thing. It's like the Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, like there were. It's so well designed to have these gigantic moments that have so much to break down and talk about and like feel your freaking feelings about, man. Like some real stuff happens here where you're like, I care so much about this squad.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So to go from. Yeah, they. They do that transition from Gustav to Verso, which is a little sudden, but then also like, it's like, okay, well that's what this world is like. It is death, it is destruction. Right. And then the transition from Verso to Maelle felt so seamless because as soon as male's act starts, I had no question of, oh yeah, this is my main character. Like, and I don't know when that happened. I don't know when I made the turn to like. Because Verso was. I was like, okay, this game is out versa.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, for sure.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And then very naturally I was like, oh, yeah, this game's. The male is the main character here.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, dude, there's. There's so much great stuff and you know, main character doesn't need to be good and also doesn't necessarily mean that they're bad with the choices they make and things that they do. I'm so impressed with how the game is structured where I feel like the majority of people playing once they're in act two, towards the end, you're like, oh, cool. Is it the end of the game?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, dude. I literally do it, people. I was like, I texted one of my friends. I was like, okay, cool. Hey, I just beat this game. So I'm down to go to the gym now or whatever. Yeah. I come back and I was like, oh no, this is still going.

[Tim Gettys]

Like, we got. We Got a lot more. And, you know, I think that I've already seen people disagree with me on this because I've seen a lot of people talk about how this felt like spring of Last of Us Again, Last of Us two. Kind of the Santa Monica section where it's like, oh, yeah, there's more. Yeah, but like, and like, story wise, it makes sense, but like, it does kind of just feel like there's just more just to have more. And I really disagree.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I disagree wholeheartedly.

[Tim Gettys]

Like, I, I'm gonna bring up the Tomorrow War, a movie that I fucking loved and something that I loved so much about it. Light spoilers for the Tomorrow War on Amazon Prime. I was so shocked that it felt like a trilogy of action movies in one movie where it's like, we kind of get to a point pretty early on where it's like, oh, that would have been the end of film one in a trilogy. And then you get to the second part, you're like, oh, well, they just beat the big bad. What are they gonna do next? And then you just get entirely different take on it. And I was like, whoa, this is cool. But this is the example of that done so much better with a cast of characters that I've spent dozens of hours with and I care so much. And the moment that we get into the real world in the beginning of Act 3, after we face off against the painters and the painters heals you. Bless.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, my God.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, she heals you.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Incredible, incredible stuff.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, it's funny because I was, I.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Was so concerned at that segment because I, my, I was down to my last, last stand and my characters had so low health and they also had burn. And so when I saw those, one more, one more section left of that fight, I was like, oh, no, I'm gonna, I literally was like, oh, I'm gonna die. And then she healed me and I was, like, goated. This game is goaded.

[Tim Gettys]

It just, it makes you, you really, like, question things and fear for what's going on. It's so good. But then you get to it and they start answering questions that you weren't asking, and they're also answering questions that you were while also introducing concepts that I, I, I. Again, I'm going back to, like, criticisms. I've seen, I've seen people be like, like, oh, we didn't get enough about the writers and we didn't get enough of the. I love that. I love that. We got just enough for me to be like, holy crap, I didn't Know that I could be even more compelled by the story and world of this. But the idea of a war between writers and painters because they're able to make worlds that actually exist, what are we talking about? That is the dopest thing I have ever heard. And I feel like they did just enough to have us think about this world that doesn't currently exist yet. That's what a sequel's for. What's the sequel gonna do? Is it gonna be in the real world dealing with that? Is it going to be going into a different painting? By the way, the painting that we're in being versus fucking painting and being his, like, the. The. His little homies that he made up are like, all the people. What are we doing, man? This is perfect.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's so cool. It's so cool. Yeah, getting that. That, I guess. Yeah. I would call it a twist, right? Of like. Yeah. Being outside the painting, I guess. For sure it's a twist because you finish the expedition and it's like, all right, cool, game beat. And then fucking everybody gets taken away. Fucking cool. But, yeah, getting then outside the painting and then sort of the backstory. At first I was like, what. Like, what is going on here? But then I think one. It adds. It adds a lot as far as questions we had about the world, right? And like, how. What. What is this? But then also, I think then starts to paint. I mean, pun intended. It starts to paint the themes as far as the grief they're going through and putting your grief in your art or putting your grief into something and, like, how much of that can you do until you take it too far, right? Like, it started to make me think about the game in a lot in a deeper way. And then the fact that it is Verso and Alicia's parents that are, like, then having this thing of. Do we get rid of this thing that. That. That is. That was created by this person that we're grieving and, like, kind of like having this as last remnants of him and finding some solace in it. But then, I don't know, there's. It goes deep in a way that I loved and had my brain just turning. And I love when games do that.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, absolutely, man. And I love even just, like, how expanded everything feels like the twist in terms of Renoir, where. And also the performance. Andy Circus. Absolutely crushing it, but nailed it. Every appearance the character has in the game is, like, such a pivotal moment. Like, I feel like that is like the. All right, lock in. I want to hear every word being said. We're building here. And I think they did such a good job of keeping the air of mystery throughout the game while also, like, giving us stuff. It wasn't just, like, big mystery box. Like, it all actually does add up to. Oh, cool. There was a design around all this stuff. It's not all just pretty floating goop, you know?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes.

[Tim Gettys]

It's. It all has a reason and a design language to it all. And I'm not even just talking about visually. I'm talking about, like, in terms of why this world is the way that it is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Why everything is kind of abstract and weird and, like, why you can kind of see the Eiffel Tower, but it's, like, weird version of the Eiffel Tower. It's because this kid was painting this shit. Right. It was his interpretation of it.

[Tim Gettys]

It's so cool. And I was so fascinated by the sister character in the real world.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Clea.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Or is that the mom always get the Aline clay aliens.

[Tim Gettys]

The painters clay is the sister.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay. I get the mix up.

[Tim Gettys]

The very, very minor back and forth we get with. With that character, I think is so cool because it's, again, just, like, it allows you to expand your thoughts on what's happening out there so much where it's not this, like, clear, good, bad. What happened with the fire? Why was it caused?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

How was it? I think that was my one thing where I was like, oh, I. I kind of wanted more on that. I understand why they didn't. Because that's not what the story. The story isn't about, like, what caused the fire. Right. The story is about the result. But I. They had, like. I was confused for a second because I was like, did I miss it? Because this.

[Tim Gettys]

You.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You cut to that and it is, I think Verso, right. Standing in the fire and turning and then, like, us learning what the fuck happened. Yeah. I think I would have. I would have wanted, like, a little bit of context around.

[Tim Gettys]

See, I feel like. I feel like the context is there. Like, I feel like they're. To me, they did a great job of, like, putting all the pieces there that you can, like, put the string and be like, okay, cool. This is what happened.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But I feel like all we need to know is that there is a war either brewing or active between writers and painters. And. Yeah, that's what happened. Like, the writers started the fire. You know what I mean? But why was Alicia dealing with them? How was she dealing with them? Like, what. Why was she the cause of this? Like, that, to me, is so freaking fascinating. And her being in the state that she's in now, like we're not going to know. Unless maybe we. I don't know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean, I don't think so. For me this is the end of this story. I think if we see sequels or if we see spin offs or whatever, I imagine it's going to be maybe an entirely different painting or maybe it's a writer story. Maybe we get the story of like one of those written notes or poems or whatever it is. Right. And like it is an entirely different thing. But I don't think we're seeing, I, I don't think we're seeing more from the Dassaundre family and nor do I want to see more. Like for me, I'm so satisfied with where we've, where we've left this off again.

[Tim Gettys]

This goes back to my overall thoughts on this of like wanting just more of this. Like I feel like I'd be satisfied anyway. I feel like there's so much more they could do with that family and that part of the world, but also if they just did something different within the broader world or in a different painting or in a writer story.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

There's just so many, like there's ways that they can make this all work.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And because I think my big thing is this story that they told here feels so full circle, especially with the choices that you're given of this is being a story about. I guess like grief would probably be the biggest theme here. Right. Like, I feel like we got it. I feel like the. From you know, introducing Gustav Maelle, getting to Versal's part of the story, getting to what actually happened and then having that final, those final confrontations between the expedition and Renoir and then Verso and Maelle. It feels so perfect. Like I, like, I don't know how you add anything to that story without opening up a can of worms again and having to like maybe find what the next major theme is or the major thing being told here is like I think this is like you clip this off and find an entirely different thing.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I mean man, it's, it is great though that I just want more.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Because it's just, I want to keep playing. Like there's, there's so much fun post game content to just go back and do again. The combat is just so satisfying and revisiting the worlds. There's like just a lot of cool to find a different like strategies to play off and like it's just so fun seeing the numbers go up and they go up Real big in this game.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, I've seen. Yeah. I've heard about, like, broken builds and shit. And like, I wish I got. I never got to that point. I kind of wish I did. But also, I'm. I don't know now we're talking about, like, the future or whatever, but I. I'm so fascinated by this studio and what their plans are from the perspective of. They put in a lot of work into this game. They established a combat system. They established a system where any new character has their own systems that feel fresh, that I feel I can. I feel like you can keep doing that. And like, I. I wonder for them as far as the way they think about their games. Right. I wonder if they're in a place where. All right, we did all this work on Clear Obscure. We're gonna. We're gonna continue, like, using the bones of this in our sequels, whether it is even a new game. Right. It's still gonna work off of this turn basis because I would not blame. I think that would be probably smart in a lot of. A lot of senses, because they got something here. But. Yeah. And I could, like, I. I would love to see their interpretations of, like, five new characters in the. In this same combat system, just to see what that looks like, because I think that could work really well.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. And I think it'll be fire. Like, I think that each character will have, like, a bunch of abilities that we're like, wow, these work so well with the other characters. Like, very cool stuff. We have a whole bunch of super chats that I do want to get to. JB says Renoir was right. Jb.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean, I think so. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. That's the thing is I. I think that the game doesn't. Doesn't question what's right and wrong, but it's more just about, like, your interpretation how people deal with things, you know, so it's like. It is. Yeah. I feel like from different perspectives, there are people that are right and wrong in this, but everyone has their own needs and their own desires and where that all kind of matches out. I think it's very.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'll say.

[Tim Gettys]

Interesting.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Renoir wasn't wrong.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what I mean?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's more. My feeling is, like, I totally understand where Renoir is coming from.

[Tim Gettys]

Shea Slay says. Are y' all reviewing Rune Factory? No, I don't think there's any interest here from anybody. CJ splits on, says, the moral of the story is go touch grass. I mean, I feel like I don't know that that's my takeaway.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But yeah, I'd be curious to hear more of. Yeah. What you mean as far as like that being the moral.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah but I mean it's good moral.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Overall because I guess they were. I mean yeah, that's a good. I mean good moral for life.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But I could, I guess I could see it from the perspective of a lot of this is caused by people getting lost in the paintings.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But like again that's grief.

[Tim Gettys]

They.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

They can go touch grass. Right. But that's not going to bring their, their son back.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Getting lost in paintings not necessarily a bad thing. You know we played Mario 64.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

How many times do you think about Mario 64? I'll play this game. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Same fucking life. Especially once we got into Act 3. I was like yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I was like when are we going to jump into an actual Bob on battle?

[Tim Gettys]

Let's go.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. God.

[Tim Gettys]

CJ splits on says is this the best feeling parry in gaming?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm gonna put it. If I. If I'm ranking the Perrys I'm gonna put it at number two. Behind behind Seiro Shadows Die twice. I still think the Seiro period is unrivaled as far as how good it feels but I think this is a number two.

[Tim Gettys]

Number two. That's very high.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Very high.

[Tim Gettys]

I. I didn't expect that. I. I feel like I'm not qualified to. To really get my thoughts on it but. But I will say that it feels damn good.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It feels pull it off especially when you pull off multiple at the same or multiple in one go.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh yeah. Oh oh yeah. Dean8149 says so excited to get to this once I finish just one more blueprints run. We're just talking about great time for games man. I do love that the conversation right now is to like budget priced games from unknown devs that just put out absolute bangers dude.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm telling you the independent space is going to be so vital for putting out unique and I mean this has been true for a very long time But I also think like going forward as we're talking about shareholders and how money is drying up a bit right. And like how AAA is often having to resort to like maybe canceling the games that might be a bit more unique or interesting or whatever. Right. I think it's going to be a lot up to dubs like Sandfall or devs like the ones who made blueprints and Larry in for Baldur's Gate three Hades. Right. Like I think it's gonna be up to those folks to really put out the bangers in the future.

[Tim Gettys]

Louis says, did they create their own Final Fantasy universe as now they can go into any painting or world. It can be a whole new story. Without playing the previous games. Yeah, I mean I think, I do think that that's, it's interesting. I mean I feel like there is so much potential. And look, the talents here, they've proven it. Like they can pull this off. Like everything about this game is impressive at the very least. Like the fact that it's a 50 title that was on game pass that it runs this well. I played it majority on Steam deck just because I was traveling a whole bunch. And yeah, it wasn't the prettiest version of it, but it worked. It worked damn well. So yeah, I think that there's a lot going on here and I think to, to this they definitely could and I think that they could almost pull a better version of the Assassin's Creed thing of yeah, these are all games that take place in different timelines or whatever. But there's this animus, there is this like real world story that is building.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, that would go so hard.

[Tim Gettys]

And if they have the talent and if they just stick to it and like grow correctly and don't just annualize this or turn it into like a disaster, I think that yeah, there could be a lot of different painting or writing or I've seen people in the chat talk about music, like what if there are other art disciplines as well? Yeah, like very cool ideas that those be the games. But then there is this like story building in that the, the real world that could be pretty damn cool.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The only thing with that is I, I, if we're talking about a, like a sequel to this coming out every five or six years, I don't know if I can handle that. But I do wonder what their timeline looks like as far as putting out like another one of these or if they want to put it. I, I hope they want to put out another one of these. Right. Like I know if it could, if they could hit everything three years, then yeah, like I think a real world in the background story building over time could be the sickest thing.

[Tim Gettys]

And the thing is I, I think that they could like, I feel like from what we've heard, this was like a five year development cycle. Obviously they're going to have a lot more support now than they did before. And I, I do think that if anything this, it proves it doesn't need to reinvent the wheel in a bazillion different ways. Just do something very well. We got three Final Fantasy 13 games. You know, we always talk about final fantasy like, seven, eight, nine, like, how'd they come out? And 10 even, how'd they come out so close together? And that was crazy. We're talking about some of the best games ever. Bomb fantasy 13 trilogy. I get not so much. Like, I understand that the level of quality is not what we want from this, but my point is, I do think that with the right direction and the right producers involved in terms of funding and keeping everything on track, there's potential for them to really do something special in the space that we haven't seen since the glory days of RPGs back in the day.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. God, I hope so. Yeah, yeah, it's. It's such a balance because, yeah, I think to your point, you said, like, don't want to see. Don't want to see it annualized. And I think there is that. Like, I think you could either put these games out too quickly or too slowly. Like, there's like, I think a sweet spot as far as, like, what you want to do narratively and building. If you want to build the universe, like, I. That. I think that's going to be tough to do while also maintaining, I think, the freshness of it and having people go, oh, wow, this is like. I think the advantage that this game has is that this is kind of unlike anything I've seen before in a lot of ways. Not in every way, but like, in a lot of ways as far as what they're doing, art direction and like, tonally, I'm like, oh, man, this is. This feels very fresh as a video game. If they give us something very similar three years from now, I think like most of us will still be like, oh, this is good, right? But is it gonna lose that, that spice? Yeah, it is gonna lose that. You know, that original hit.

[Tim Gettys]

And that always happens, right. I feel like majority of people lose the. The shininess for sequels because it's not the first time, right? Yeah, but like, God, this first time hit hard the first time. That's. The thing is I. It's. You said it earlier, but like starting with an Infinity War level of investment and feeling you can't do that again, like, it's just. That is special. Jake says, did anyone get any save file issues? I had a day off and played about five hours and it was auto saving. I left and came back and I only have a new game. Damn, that sucks. That sucks. Didn't.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, it's fine for me though.

[Tim Gettys]

Mental gear Gaming says the.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The blueprints to me, like, so.

[Tim Gettys]

Sorry. I hate it. The cuties are perfect. They have precise purpose rather than just to keep you engaged during a cut scene. They feel more strategic than tacked. Yeah. You know, I mean, this game really is about. It's as much Parappa the rapper as it is Final Fantasy. You know what I mean? It's just like. Yeah, it's like you just kind of memorize, like, the different patterns and stuff, and then you just perform them. And I feel like once you start to understand my. All right, cool. You're Gustav. And then it's A, A or X, X, whatever. But then you do another one. It's like xx and you have to do it so fast.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And the first time you do it, you're like, this is overwhelming. But then the 100th time you do it, you're like, you're hitting it every single time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. I think for me, though, like, the. The only times where those would really catch me off guard would be the ones where it's like, immediately, like, those ones would me up. But then after I got used to those ones, the QTEs became kind of natural in my brain to where they kind of were routine. But I don't think it was bad routine. I think it was good routine because, honestly, the parries and the dodges is where I want my brain to be locked in. Like, I don't need the. The QTEs to be tough on top of the parries. Yeah, like, the parries are enough.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, that's very, very true. Melo says, what's your fave boss, boys? Mine has to be the duelist. That song, the Duelist, was, for me, the moment that the game kind of picked up in terms of the music matching the epicness. And obviously that matters a lot to me. But before that, we get the one that kills Gustav. I forget what his name is. The key Master, man, he had.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That was a while ago.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, whatever it was. And that. That. That was cool. But Duelist was definitely the one where I was like, oh, shit, we're cooking here.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

When I forget when you fight the duelist Lamp Master.

[Tim Gettys]

Not key master. There we go. Duelist is, like, maybe two, three hours after Gustav dies.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

When you fall pretty damn far down.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah, I remember the Duelist. I don't.

[Tim Gettys]

That was. That was the one that kicked up for me of, like, oh, like, I'm hella engaged. This feels hype as hell. But I think that my favorite boss overall was the. Was the painters at the end. Like, or ended back too.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But like that stuff that, that had the, the vibes that I loved so much about the end of Final Fantasy 7, the end of Final Fantasy 10 of like, yo, we're all here, we got the squad. It's an all out assault on this like insurmountable obstacle.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Well, the Pinterest had this, had the phase where like everything goes giant and then like you're on top of ska and then she's like throwing the fucking projectiles and it's like you have a zoomed out view. That shit was insane.

[Tim Gettys]

Love that stuff.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, that one was great. I think my favorite might have been the face one. Like the visages, the mask one. Yeah. Because I did not do the thing of going and like, I think if you go the different routes, you can take out like some of the masks to then make that boss easier. I didn't do that.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And so that shit was a while. That shit was hard. But that was where I started to lock in on combat and really had to.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I think that that, I mean from everyone I've talked to, that seems to be the skill check moment of the game of like. Cool, you understand parrying. That's cute. You need to understand abilities, motherfucker. You need to understand the different systems here or else this guy's just going to keep healing. This guy's just. He's going to get the better of you over time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What was your favorite Pictos? Have a real conversation here.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I'm having the problem that this has now been a couple of weeks since I've touched the game, but I was a big fan of any of the ones that gets you the AP early in the.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, early.

[Tim Gettys]

So you're just like ready to go and like just jumping in there and like starting to use the abilities. Because I feel like otherwise there's. There is that kind of like one or two turn. Kind of like not waste but just like, okay, cool, let's just get through this to like get the ap. So I really liked like being able to jump in there, especially once I have my Charlie's Angels out there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because now I'm thinking, now I'm realizing what, what came to mind. I don't think it is a Pictos. There comes an ability. I don't know, it's the weapon. It's like the big weapon you get with male that every attack you do with against an enemy that has a shield gets you that shield. That one is not a pictos. But like that Ability goes fucking hard.

[Tim Gettys]

What a guy says Roulette, baby. I never use.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, you're crazy.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, that is the thing too is like once you start realizing that critical hits matter so much more than like attack damage or like so many other stat points. Yeah, once I started just like putting a lot of my stat points into the critical hit stuff, then I was like using a lot of the pictos and Lumiose that are just like enhancing my critical chance anyways because then you're just ripping through the enemies.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I love hearing about people's strategies because so much of my strategy revolves around Burn, which ended up not being as great in the second half because I realized I was using Mael had a weapon that I believe automatically inflicted burn. And so I started to make my whole strategy around that. And I would start off with each fight attack everybody with mail Burn. Everybody use cl. She has like a move that applies foretell to anybody. With Burn, I was like, oh, we're.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, we're cooking so fucked.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And then I had to switch my weapon with mail because I just wasn't keeping up with like the level of it and oh man, that shit. I had to adjust, dude.

[Tim Gettys]

And we're talking spoilers here. Yeah, I see. My girl. You know, I love that we get this cast of characters and we don't get the full on Final Fantasy 7 and remake style, like a rebirth, specifically style of like. And now we're gonna do Barrett story. It's not so much that, but the support system of being back at camp and being able to talk to each of the people and getting those special moments right in the journal. All that stuff hit so hard for me every single time. I was like, I need, I need more of this. And as you start getting the different relationships between the characters I was so in and hearing, learning about CL's backstory and her relationship with Verso and her relationship with who she lost. Right. Like, oh, it hits so hard and. And I'm like, damn, this. This is why this game's great. Like there's a million things we could say, but like this supporting cast we love and believe in and care about. Like one of the most heartbreaking moments of this game. Like one of the most emotionally resonant things of this game for me is when you choose Verso's ending and Lunae just looks at you and just slowly sits down and it's just like, yeah. God, that hits. Yeah, that's good stuff.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, dude. It's a good game. It's a good game.

[Tim Gettys]

Good game. Everyone ERPG says Child Verso created most of the world. The Gestrals, Grandis and Ski Aline made Lumiere and all the humans to escape her grief, adding sadness to the world and why only they gamage.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Interesting. Okay. I didn't put that. Put that together. I did. You want to talk about like heart wrenching moments? For me it was the ending where Verso approaches like, I guess his childhood soul that is like painting and is like talk to him. Oh my God, that shit hurt.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, that shit hurt. God. And even throughout the game, finding all of the like the remnants or whatever. Yeah. Just like the disappearing, like paint people that all have like bits of a story. It's so tragic. And.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And then all of the dead expeditioners everywhere, like, God. The beginning of this game, obviously the. The first gamage we see.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So good.

[Tim Gettys]

It's so good. I learned that gamache means erasure.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes. In French.

[Tim Gettys]

Which is cool.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But I. That stuff was like hidden so hard. And then the moment you go out on your expedition, which is pretty much immediately after the initial scene, you are greeted with one of the most violent, insane openings ever. Like the team just getting destroyed. Like, I was like, oh, we're fucked.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Like there's. Dude, survive this.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Renoir is sick as hell. Dude.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like every. You mentioned earlier, every scene with Renoir goes hard and I. I love that character. I think even more. It's not just the performance, even though I do like the performance a lot, but it's just like they gave him the sickest combat animation.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like just. Just him doing this.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, come on.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Just the, like just a swipe of the arm.

[Tim Gettys]

Just so sick.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Taking people out.

[Tim Gettys]

Dude, that. That was so good. But I. I loved getting into Act 3 and then having the. We got to get the team together. I'm such a sucker for that shit. But when the team is a bunch of the dead expeditioners assembling this army.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Dude.

[Tim Gettys]

Holy crap.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I was surprised by how quick that segment went. Went by though. I thought totally that it was going to be another. All right, now as a player, go here, here and here and collect all of the chroma or whatever. I'm kind of.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm kind of montage.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes. I'm kind of fine. That was a montage. But I wonder if that was like a thing where they were like, okay, we're gonna have the player do this. And they're in. In development. They're like that we ain't got the time for this.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. There's another thing, though. That I, I want to talk about where. Which is the subtlety of some of the character development and like how much stuff that you can miss that's optional in this. Like, I feel like some of the most resonant good storytelling is the side conversation. So, like, if you're playing this game, go to the camp, talk to everybody. You're gonna get so much from it. But even in the beginning, like when you first start up this game, take your time in the prologue area, there's like so much cool world building stuff because they kind of throw you in to the deep end. If you don't know the premise of this game, it can be kind of confusing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But if you do, it's really fascinating. And I actually went back after beating it just because I was like, I. I felt like I sped through the prologue the first time and just walking around and getting to learn like where Lumiere is at with the context of the whole story they go on is so fascinating. And I'm blanking on her character's name. Is it Sophia? Gustav's?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, the one. Sophie.

[Tim Gettys]

Is it Sophia? It's one of the two, I think probably Sophie.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like Sophie with a accent. Egg U on the E. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Like the, the story between the two of them might have been explicitly said at some point in a required way. But the more you kind of talk to all the characters around in the prologue and, and to her and the game, starting with you and my El, like going to see her and all that stuff, you start to realize there's this like deep conversation about having children and what that means in a world where if you were to have a child now, when we're at expedition 33, you are dooming that child most likely to die by the age of 14, 13, 9, whatever it is. Right. And like these are the type of things that are like, oh, that's fucking good stuff. And the reason that Sophie, Sophia and Gustav broke up is because they couldn't decide about the ethics of having a child. That's some good fucking stuff, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Really good shit.

[Tim Gettys]

Right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I also did the thing where I rushed through the prologue. Like, I tried to talk to people, but I was like, okay, there's a lot of people to talk to. And so I just ended up going through it. But now, honestly, this game does a thing that I love where now I'm kind of like, yo, I should replay the whole thing. You talk about, like the conversations you have with like the people that are fading or whatever. And it's like, oh, now that I have the context. I want to go back and see all those conversations.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, yeah, me too. And it's a thing where I'm so happy that this game's available in as many places as it is. I played on Steam, which led me to play on Steam Deck and then on my high powered PC on my TV as well. And I loved both ways. Obviously loved on the TV a lot better just in terms of performance because this game is stunning and it pained me to like drop the settings, but I do wish I played it on PlayStation because I would have been incentivized to want to platinum it and want to go back and do everything and it's. And the dumb goopy gamer Goblin Blade I have is not allowing me to be like, well, I can still do that on Steam. For some reason I'm like, nah. But now here's where I'm at now. Plus yeah, why am I thinking this way? I'm like, well, eventually this game is going to be announced for Switch too. And I don't know why that excites me.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean you could also just replay it on PlayStation.

[Tim Gettys]

I know, but. But I'm thinking if I'm replaying this, I do feel like that'll be a travel thing. That'll be like I'm chilling in bed or whatever. But yeah, I don't know. I just want all the success for this game and I hope it all checks out. CJ splits on says mature adult stories. A miscarriage story. Yeah, that's handled well. Like I feel like this stuff, it's. They don't shy away from like real in this.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah. And that's one of. I wanted to mention this earlier, like towards the middle part of the show because we're talking about how this game totally like, you know, goes into very serious places. Right. And like how that compares to other things. Like I don't want to take it away that other JRPGs oftentimes can be an art serious and like again, I think this game takes so much from near that also I think has really good serious shit going on. But I think it's the. I don't know, I think stylistically what it does like combined with. Yeah. Kind of the subject matter combined with the realistic presentation of its characters. Like, I don't know, it makes for a mix that makes me feel like I am watching like a French indie film.

[Tim Gettys]

Dude. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, that's like so good. The combination of the good and the bad.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Sometimes you're feeling we, sometimes you're feeling woo.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh that's good. I like that.

[Tim Gettys]

There we go.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I like that.

[Tim Gettys]

It would be a great place to end, but I'm not going to because we had a couple more super chats here. Limstar says safe to say Jennifer English's work is one of the greatest of all time. It's that good.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Who is she?

[Tim Gettys]

Male. Incredible stuff, right? Like, really incredible stuff. We've been saying this, but. Shout out to Ben Starr.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Shout out to Ben Star. Oh, my gosh.

[Tim Gettys]

Him singing in the credits.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, my. Oh my God.

[Tim Gettys]

Come on, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

He's so good.

[Tim Gettys]

He's so good. Andy Circus crusher. Charlie Cox. Surprisingly good. And I say that just because we hear, okay, it's an actor. Their first video game. What's that gonna look like? Impeccable. Absolutely impeccable.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

There's some line delivery from Mael in the last fight versus Verso that like, I had to do that fight a few times because I, when I did Verso's ending, my Verso was not leveled up for me because I stopped using him. And so I, I lost like three times. And I was like, all right, I'm gonna go into the menus, redo my pictos and all that, that stuff. But like there are certain scenes where she's pleading to Verso of like, stop like all this stuff. And just the inflection, like the delivery is so good.

[Tim Gettys]

It's so good, man. This is the type of game that is going to get a full orchestra concert at some point. Yeah, I'm there. Day one. Bless. I hope you're all alongside.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I want, I want to be there.

[Tim Gettys]

Mr. Hawk says before the patch I hit 21 million damage on a single hit. Hell yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Send me the build.

[Tim Gettys]

And then the final one for today comes from Golden Spider saying, how likely do you think Expedition 33 will win game of the year this year? To me, it's a no brainer. Only thing I can possibly see challenging it is Death Stranding 2i before jumping in because. Before you jump in because you have hands on experience with death stranding too, I think that it is incredibly likely that Expedition 33 wins Game of the year this year.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

From whom?

[Tim Gettys]

From the, from many of the big outlets. So Game Awards, IGN, GameSpot. I. I could see that happening. I also think it is a fairly easy lock for kind of funny numbers based. Sheer numbers based. Right. Because I, I feel like the, the majority of us are going to have it very high on the list. It might not be everyone's number one, but I think it being everyone's number two Makes it the number one just because of how the numbers add up. Right. But Blueprints is getting robbed.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

See, I. I would be with you, except I think it's a very stacked year. So we're talking about Ghost of Yote. I think that's going to have a big impact. Right. I think everybody's going to play. Ghost of Yote was the other one. I mean, destroying two.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Mario Kart World.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Metroid Prime 4.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, yeah. No, there's. There's a lot of great games. Again, I don't think.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think it'll be top five for sure.

[Tim Gettys]

For. For kind of funny. Yes. But in terms of, like, overall, even with the games you named, I do think that this one, I. I think that this is going to be, at the very least in the conversation.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, yeah. This could win game of the year.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think it's in the conversation at every single outlet.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think at the very least, people are talking about it or people. There will be a person at least from every single outlet. That's like, oh, no, it's clear up. Scare Expedition, I think. I think it'll win some. I think this year is going to shape up to be very competitive just because, like. Yeah. Switch launch. And it's like how many games. How many banger games come with that? Let alone. Yeah. Like, when you're talking about the nerds, I mean, blueprints, of course, is like a personal one, and that's going to be a smaller percentage. But yeah, I think people are going to get split between all these games. I think some are going to rise.

[Tim Gettys]

I think that that is an important point to break down. Just talking about. Kind of funny.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I do think that Expedition 33 is that type of special. That despite all the games that you named, I think that some of us are going to love some of them, but I feel like so many of us love this that it. Even if it was the number two to all of the. If Ghost is your death Stranding is your number one, Ghost is Greg's number one, and Donkey Kong is my number one or whatever it is. I still think Expedition is going to be most people's top three. You know, just. Yeah, like, Greg's the only one. I think that, like, that hasn't played it. That has played it. That is, like, not gonna have it in their top five.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean, but I think that could be enough, you know, I mean, I think if Greg doesn't have it in his top five and everybody has Ghost of Yote in their top it reminds me of Mike.

[Tim Gettys]

Mike is the other one. But we're this close again.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, Mike will come around.

[Tim Gettys]

I think Mike's gonna. That's the. That's the thing. Mike just needs to play this and he'll get. He'll. This motherfucker's out here playing Final Fantasy 13. Like, yeah, he'll love this when he gets to it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And Suit and Chat says camp votes are weird since not everyone plays all the games. And to that I'll say nobody at every outlet plays all the games. Like, that's how it works at the wide majority because there's just way too many video games.

[Tim Gettys]

This is what kind of funniest game of the year is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, it's all like they played to a certain extent. Right. It is about the bubble. It is about the community. Right. It is about literally, it's called kind of funnies game of the year. So it really is going to come down to how many of us are interested and fascinated and then blown away by a thing. And I think you're right. Clear Obscure is a. Is a top contender for that.

[Tim Gettys]

But you play Death Stranding, I think.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That'S Training two is going to be a top contender for that, I think for sure. I mean, it's a tough thing where I look at you and I'm like, I don't know if it's going to be on your top five.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I mean, I. That's training too. I am so blown away by everything I'm seeing. I'm going to start this game up and give it a real shot. I doubt heavily I'm gonna stick with it, but I am definitely playing this.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But that's one that like, based on seemingly. I assume Roger and Mike are enjoying Desk Raining for the fact that they're being today. Like, I think it'll be all the people who. With Death Stranding, I think it'll be on all their top threes. And I think that'll be like a good handful of us.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But maybe not all of us. Maybe probably not all of us.

[Tim Gettys]

Honestly, probably not. God Games Edition 33 video games. Everyone let us know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Can I shout out the one Super Chat because they gave a lot of money. Jordan says completely unrelated, but I want to hear Blessing's opinion on another generational rap battle that's going on right now. As a New York Kendrick slash TDE fan, I'm in heaven, just like last year. But Joey is up right now. Here's what I'll say. Joey Badass's latest diss track Pretty sick. It's actually really great. People are underestimating Rayvon. Rayvon, he's a West coast rapper. He was part of tde or still part of td. I'm not sure, but, like, he put out some diss tracks lately. Oh, he cooking? Yeah, he's cooking. Right now I'm on the West Coast. I love Joey Badass, but right now I'm on the side of the West Coast. All right, you got Daylight, you got Rayvon, you got a crew there that's cooking. That's all I'll say on it. They're cooking right now. I'm gonna put you on all this.

[Tim Gettys]

Please do. Please. Yeah, I'm very, very out of the loop on all of it. Let us know in the comments below what you thought of Expedition 33 and who you chose at the end. How you feel about that? I really want to know after this. We're about to do a stream. It is going to be Mike and Roger playing through Death Stranding 1, finishing it up. So they're getting ready to go to the beach. On the beach. Till next time. I love you all. Goodbye.