Revisiting our "Most Anticipated Games" of 2024

Summary

Podcast Title: The Besties
Episode: Revisiting our "Most Anticipated Games" of 2024
Release Date: November 8, 2024
Hosts: Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Russ Frushtick

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1. Reflecting on 2024 Game Predictions

The episode kicks off with the hosts evaluating their predictions made at the beginning of 2024 regarding the most anticipated video games. They candidly discuss the accuracy of their forecasts, acknowledging both hits and misses.

• Griffin McElroy admits his predictions were off:
  "I'm going to go ahead and admit this because I'm a big enough man to admit when I put up some real stinky bricks. And I think that my hit rate was low and my miss rate was incredibly high." (09:00)

• Russ Rush points out the challenge of predicting breakout titles, especially those that gain popularity post-launch:
  "A lot of the games on this list are like bigger games. And it wasn't necessarily the best year for big, big games." (09:54)

2. In-Depth Game Reviews

The hosts delve into specific games they had anticipated for 2024, analyzing how these titles performed against their expectations.

Dragon's Dogma 2

• Griffin McElroy shares mixed feelings about the game’s technical aspects:
  "Has that one gotten any... I love it from Capcom. I mean my position on Dragon's Dogma 2 is there's a lot of stuff I really, really like in here and then some stuff that makes me want to pull my fucking hair out." (11:41)

• Justin McElroy praises the game for delivering on its promises:
  "My take is you can't say it didn't deliver on what you wanted Dragon's Dogma 2 to have in it." (12:17)

Unicorn Overlord

• Christopher Thomas Plant expresses surprise over the game's niche appeal:
  "I should have known that it wouldn't be my sort of game because it is a hardcore tactics game and that ultimately was a huge barrier for me." (13:22)

• Griffin McElroy appreciates its mechanics but notes its limited audience:
  "There are systems to do that in Unicorn Overlord, but it's not like a fire emblem where..." (13:33)

No Man's Sky & Metaphor

• Griffin McElroy shares excitement about his increased engagement with No Man's Sky:
  "I got into No Man's Sky more this year than I ever had. Doing just like the Expeditions and playing the game sort of the way it was meant to be played. It was real fucking fun." (23:25)

• Justin McElroy highlights the community's role in enhancing the game experience:
  "When everybody had finished the game and then it was just full fucking scavenger hunt mode to see, like, what other deep, deep, deep coded secrets we could find..." (26:08)

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

• Griffin McElroy voices strong criticism over the game's departure from the original:
  "There's too much bullshit in this game, gang. There's too much baloney happening. Just do me a favor and remake Final Fantasy 7." (26:35)

• Russ Rush concurs, expressing disappointment in the narrative and gameplay changes:
  "The open world stuff was also not great." (27:33)

Persona 3

• Griffin McElroy discusses his lukewarm reception of the remake:
  "There's just something about the setting and characters and plot that don't really hook me in the same way that the other Persona games do." (29:17)

Hades 2

• Justin McElroy remains optimistic about the sequel's potential despite limited updates:
  "There's a lot of games that are looking at your lunch. The plate that says Greg, they're trying to eat it." (30:41)

Alone in the Dark

• Griffin McElroy anticipates the episode's discussion becomes self-referential as Justin plans to play the game post-podcast:
  "You guys better hope it's not, because that will be. It's going to be an itchy November for you boys trying to avoid playing it." (57:11)

3. Holiday Gift Guide for Gamers

Transitioning from game reviews, the hosts provide a comprehensive guide for holiday gifting tailored to different types of gamers.

Gifts for Parents

• Griffin McElroy suggests the Great Deku Tree LEGO Set:
  "You can build it to either look like the Great Deku Tree in Breath of the Wild or the Great Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time." (37:22)

• Russ Rush recommends the Zen Grip Ronin for Nintendo Switch enthusiasts:
  "This is the only grip that I've used that actually allows you to still put it in the dock so you don't have to like de grip it." (39:31)

Gifts for Teenagers

• Christopher Thomas Plant highlights the Undertale Kitchen Collection:
  "It's a full kitchen set. If you're getting into cooking and you just want something adorable, I think this is your best bet." (40:16)

• Griffin McElroy recommends the Divoom Ditto Pro Retro Pixel Art Device:
  "It's a little device where you can make pixel art animations or download other people's. It's an absolute slam dunk." (40:58)

Gifts for Indie Gamers Who Have Everything

• Christopher Thomas Plant suggests "Crimson Diamond" and "How a Game Lives":
  "'How a Game Lives' is the annotated essays by Jake Geller for all of his YouTube videos." (46:23)

Gifts for Old School PC Gamers

• Russ Rush recommends Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Accessories:
  "For them, that's basically what I wrote down was Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Accessories." (47:50)

Gifts for Console Gamers

• Justin McElroy envisions the Sega Genesis Mini as a hit among console enthusiasts:
  "A room full of eight kids just like pounding through the entire new Splatter House. It was astounding." (41:56)

Secret Santa Suggestions

• Griffin McElroy and Justin McElroy emphasize fun and functional gifts like pillowcases and DIY trinkets:
  "For $35, they can get a kiss of the good life with two ultra-soft comfort flannel pillowcases." (50:20)

4. Notable Insights and Humor

Throughout the episode, the hosts interject humor and personal anecdotes to keep the conversation lively and engaging.

• Russ Rush humorously reflects on unexpected game performances:
  "Every single person who plays it is on board and it's dynamite." (25:09)

• Griffin McElroy shares playful banter about subscriptions and gift shopping stress:
  "Us gamers got a game and there's nothing that can stop us." (33:38)

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with the hosts expressing excitement for future discussions and thanking their patrons. They tease upcoming content, including a new bracket battles episode, ensuring listeners have reasons to return.

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Notable Quotes:

• "I think a lot of my favorite games of the year I did not clock." — Griffin McElroy (09:19)
• "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth... Too much bullshit in this game." — Griffin McElroy (26:35)
• "The experience that we had in the... ...the social experience of reviewing that game was really, really cool." — Griffin McElroy (25:35)
• "You just don't need to cross the finish line until you have finished the beer you opened right before starting the race." — Griffin McElroy (58:54)

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Timestamp Reference Guide:

• [09:00] – Reflecting on Prediction Accuracy
• [09:54] – Challenges in Predicting Big Games
• [11:41] – Dragon's Dogma 2 Technical Feedback
• [12:17] – Justin on Dragon's Dogma 2 Delivery
• [13:22] – Unicorn Overlord's Niche Appeal
• [13:33] – Limited Audience for Unicorn Overlord
• [23:25] – Griffin on No Man's Sky Engagement
• [26:08] – Community Enhancing No Man's Sky
• [26:35] – Critique of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• [27:33] – Open World Issues in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• [29:17] – Persona 3 Remake Reception
• [30:41] – Justin on Hades 2 Updates
• [37:22] – LEGO Set Recommendation for Parents
• [39:31] – Zen Grip Ronin for Nintendo Switch
• [40:16] – Undertale Kitchen Collection for Teens
• [40:58] – Divoom Ditto Pro for Teens
• [46:23] – Recommendations for Indie Gamers
• [47:50] – Flight Simulator Accessories for PC Gamers
• [50:20] – Secret Santa Pillowcase Suggestion
• [58:54] – Karimart Drinking Rules in Mario Kart

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This detailed summary captures the essence of "The Besties" episode on revisiting their most anticipated games of 2024, offering insights into their predictions, game evaluations, and practical holiday gifting advice for gamers of all types.

Transcript

[Russ Rush]

I was making myself a deli sandwich for lunch today.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh.

[Russ Rush]

And I didn't have any tomatoes, I didn't have any lettuce, but I did have some coleslaw from like four days ago. Kind of slop that on there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, man. Four yoleslaws. That's when it starts to get good.

[Russ Rush]

Do I need to, like, is there a presentation or do I just, like, spoon it on?

[Justin McElroy]

Nah, nah, nah. Ain't no laws when you're slopping slaws. That's what I say.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I've heard that.

[Justin McElroy]

That's my thing. You just put them on there however you like.

[Russ Rush]

And I phrased it as a question, but this already something that has happened. I just went ahead and like ice cream, scooped out some slaw and plopped it on the sandwich.

[Griffin McElroy]

I tell you what my issue is, is four days is a little too late to be fresh slaw and a lot too early to be fresh kimchi.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think if you had just put it in a jar underground for a few months, then we have some.

[Justin McElroy]

Now we come back and got a holiday pudding.

[Griffin McElroy]

You got a holiday pudd of kimchi. You kind of hit no man's and no man's land lasts for several months. It's basically anything after. I mean, if you don't eat slaw more than once.

[Justin McElroy]

Like that thing with meat where nobody quite understands this, even if they pretend they do. But if you got a big hunk of meat, it gets old and then that's not good. But then if you wait a long time, come back around, coming back around, everybody's like, this is okay.

[Russ Rush]

Well, because all the bacteria of old age, they've died, so they're dead now.

[Justin McElroy]

Russ, you're God, man. Yeah, of course I know Russ. It was just a joke for the podcast.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hold on.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't think.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't think Russ is right.

[Russ Rush]

I actually don't think that's an accident.

[Justin McElroy]

Russ saying exactly how it works. That's 100%. It gets old.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

But when the bacteria dies, I bet.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

All d. That's how it happens.

[Russ Rush]

Wouldn't there be new. Wouldn't there be new bacteria to be like, yo, this is some jerky over there. Eat this jerky.

[Justin McElroy]

That's exactly how it, how it goes, Russ. That's not the process.

[Griffin McElroy]

100% scientifically arid, sterile beef.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Well, I'm glad you ate four day old egg juice. That'll go over well.

[Russ Rush]

Egg juice. It's coleslaw.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's mayonnaise.

[Justin McElroy]

There ain't much in this Life I hate more than slaw. Guys, there's not much in this. I mean, a real mayonnaise y slaw. If you get me a nice, real hearty, heavy on the slice.

[Russ Rush]

You need a good ratio.

[Justin McElroy]

Lightly sauced slaw, heavy on the red cabbage.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, delicious. I mean, let's call it what it is. Small wet salad is what slaw is. It's a little, little wet, very wet.

[Justin McElroy]

When it's more, when it's more of. Sometimes the salad part gets perverted to mean, like mayonnaise. A lot of it.

[Russ Rush]

Too much.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't like that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Do you all feel when I start talking about poopy and stuff? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Griffin McElroy]

We've been meaning to stage an interview.

[Justin McElroy]

You like slaws.

[Russ Rush]

It sounds like you don't like sloths.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This is the opposite. This is, this is. You're destroying me right now. It looks like my, my skin is like chafing off of my body.

[Russ Rush]

Carrots and lettuce and no, not just.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Like eating salt, but just talking about salt. You know what, I can eat it, put it next to some like fried chicken and like, you know, I'm at kfc. But you want me to think. You want me to think about you? Here's what you. Here's what you're trying to make me think about.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Here's the image that you're putting into the eyes of all of our listeners.

[Griffin McElroy]

And no. And no video game stuff this week, gang. It's.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, no, we're not getting into it. They're speeding down the speedway.

[Justin McElroy]

This isn't even the speedway.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And they are now picturing a bucket, a giant bucke. Like a pool cleaning tab full of.

[Russ Rush]

It's a pint, to be fair.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Okay. A pint of rotten mayo on almost creamed vegetables that you are plopping down onto two slices of white bread with nothing else. Your slaw sandwich. No, that's what you're trying to make people think about.

[Russ Rush]

There's salami on there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, well, that's fine.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, we're good.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Okay, let's talk about the show.

[Justin McElroy]

My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best gifts of the year.

[Griffin McElroy]

My name is Griffin McElroy and I would kill for some fucking slaw right about.

[Justin McElroy]

Ugh.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I know the best things of the week.

[Russ Rush]

My name is Russ Rush. I know the best game of the week.

[Justin McElroy]

Welcome to the Besties where we talk about the latest and the greatest in home interactive entertainment. This is a video game club and just by Listening. My young friend, you have become a.

[Russ Rush]

Member, and I think we need to tell the people.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

That we're recording this a little early.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

It is November 2022, so if anything has happened since then, we don't know about it, so.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's true.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. So you're saying we're recording this two years?

[Russ Rush]

I mean, we knew we would need an episode for this day.

[Griffin McElroy]

You said 2022.

[Justin McElroy]

You said 2022.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's not this year, you know.

[Russ Rush]

Correct. Yeah. It's two years ago. I mean. No, no, no, sorry. It's two years. It's today. Two years in the future. This episode is going to be published.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There's a lot of lore.

[Justin McElroy]

A lot of lore. This is a lot of lore to drop in the show. This feels more Cold open. But we whizzed past Cold open station.

[Griffin McElroy]

Many years ago, you confused the word months with years, and now you're just kind of stubbornly sticky to your guns.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Not since FROM has this much intrigue.

[Russ Rush]

I don't know what FROM is. Is that a television show that'll launch it to years.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, wow, that's cool.

[Justin McElroy]

No, actually, you do know what FROM is, and you think it is wild.

[Griffin McElroy]

And it's also great you're doing this on an episode where we are talking about something that happened earlier in the year 2024. We are returning to events discussed in this current.

[Justin McElroy]

It is an early episode. Okay. We're recording it before you're hearing it, which is the way always. So it doesn't even really bear hanging a lantern on. Okay.

[Russ Rush]

It doesn't to.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Wait, what are we doing? Should I tell people? This week, we are doing two things for you. One, we're looking back at the predictions that we made at the beginning of 2024 and reflecting on how do we get them right? Do we nail them? Or were we way off base yet again? Because I believe last year we, like, whiffed hard. This year we'll see. Then in the back half of the episode. We are going to be your holiday helpers. We are going to help you pick the perfect treats for the gamers in your life, whether that is parents, friends, kids, the Secret Santa at your office. Whoever it is, we have them covered. And yeah, we'll talk about it when we talk about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let's.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

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[Russ Rush]

Okay, how do we think we did before we look at the list of like, how do we think we did this year in terms of guessing, like, the games that we would really be impressed by?

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure, sure. I'm going to go ahead and admit this because I'm a big enough man to admit when I put up some real stinky bricks. And I think that my hit rate was low and my miss rate was incredibly high. I think a lot of my favorite games of the year I did not clock. When did we record this? Was this at the beginning?

[Russ Rush]

Was this like January, the first episode of the year? Usually.

[Griffin McElroy]

So it's possible some of my highlights were not announced yet. I guess that is entirely possible. But yeah, I feel like I might have gotten some things right.

[Russ Rush]

I think what's working against us here is it's a year where there have been a lot of games that didn't have any exposure really until launch. Balatro is a good example that we never, ever would have been like, oh, we got to watch out for that game. So a lot of the games on this list are like bigger games. And it wasn't necessarily. I mean, there's some good ones. But it wasn't necessarily the best year for big, big games.

[Justin McElroy]

It's gotten increasingly difficult, I think also to know what is a big like increasingly it feels like without the big marketing push.

[Russ Rush]

Gigs.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm talking gigs leading up to it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Gigs. You're 100 gigs or less.

[Russ Rush]

That's a big game.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't get out of bed for less than 100 gigs.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think we. I bet we did pretty. Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can we address. I guess we're going to go line item.

[Justin McElroy]

Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

And talk about that. Before we do that, can we talk about the games that are missing off of here that you feel like? Obviously I don't think any of us would have said Balatro just because we didn't know what that word was or what it meant.

[Russ Rush]

Yep.

[Griffin McElroy]

But it has certainly ever since it came out. It's doing this brutal thing to me that I feel like has only happened a couple times in the past where a game comes out on one platform and I play it a lot and then later in that same year it comes out on another platform and I'm like, oh, I guess I'll refresh my memory of how much I really enjoy this game. It's really bookended the year quite savagely for me.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, I haven't tried it on mobile specifically for that reason, but I hear it's spectacular.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's so, so good.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We didn't have metaphor on here and I'm a little surprised by that.

[Justin McElroy]

Maybe we couldn't remember the name of.

[Russ Rush]

It in the moment.

[Justin McElroy]

That's entirely popping. None of us wanted to admit it.

[Griffin McElroy]

When was it announced? Was it announced this year?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Was that okay, let's start going through the list because yeah, I thought that we probably did well and looking at it, we did do pretty well because the year was front loaded. So when I will just start from the top. Dragon's Dogma 2.

[Griffin McElroy]

Has that one gotten any.

[Russ Rush]

It has for one person.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It has for me.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I love it from Capcom. I mean my position on Dragon Sogman 2 is there's a lot of stuff I really, really like in here and then some stuff that makes me want to pull my fucking hair out. And it seems like the stuff that makes me want to pull my fucking hair out could be addressed.

[Russ Rush]

It's stuff that Chris Plant loves.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, no, I'm talking about technical. Like if I could play this thing on Steam Deck reliably, I would give it a fair patch.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I don't know if they've fixed that or ever will, but it does sound like they've done quite a bit of patches and even added some quality of life improvements.

[Russ Rush]

Still out of ladders and they're still.

[Justin McElroy]

A lot of ladders, but backtracking still.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I feel good about that. As the person who was looking forward to that game, I am really happy with what I got.

[Justin McElroy]

My take is you can't say it didn't deliver on what you wanted Dragon's Dogma 2 to have in it.

[Russ Rush]

Yep.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That is so true. If you wanted more Dragon's Dogma, they made that for you.

[Justin McElroy]

But I changed.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Dragon Zogma didn't. I did. I like this guy a little bit better than I used to, it seems. I didn't expect it either. But Dragon Zogma is Dragon Zogma. Ask Dragon Zogma game, no questions.

[Griffin McElroy]

Games can teach you that.

[Justin McElroy]

About games can't teach you that. They help you learn.

[Russ Rush]

Thank you.

[Justin McElroy]

And not just Mavis Beacon. Lots of games.

[Russ Rush]

Lots of games.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I know. My other big one was Unicorn Overlord, which was made by the people who made 13 sentinels and other games that I adore. I should have known that it wouldn't be my sort of game because it is a hardcore tactics game and that ultimately was a huge barrier for me.

[Russ Rush]

But did I. I mean, as a lover of hardcore tactics games, I found this game to be not fun.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Personally, I know that people who got in deep got in. But Griffin, did you dive into it?

[Griffin McElroy]

I think no, not beyond when we talked about it on this show. There's a lot of. Again, there's a lot of stuff I really like about this game, but the core kind of moving your troops around the map in real time mechanic didn't really grab me. And I also didn't feel like that. I feel like for a tactics game to really grab me, I have to feel like I am doing stuff to customize or improve my units just constantly. And there are systems to do that in Unicorn Overlord, but it's not like a fire emblem where it's like you level up this one guy to this ranking. You know, once you get him there, he gets to be a Dragon rider or some shit. Yeah. But at the same time, I don't think it's a bad game. I think it's just of a genre that I think only caters to a specific type of person.

[Russ Rush]

None of whom are on this podcast.

[Griffin McElroy]

None of whom are on the show, which if Chris Plant isn't that type of person, it is, I would say, a quite limited subset. Yeah, I'll tell you what, we fricking Crushed though. I don't remember if this was one I brought or what, but like a dragon. Infinite wealth still. So still, it delights me to no end that I think this one hit for everyone on the call. I think this one hit for everyone here and that was genuinely a surprise to me.

[Justin McElroy]

Russ didn't play it.

[Russ Rush]

No, I played it. I didn't play 40 hours of it, but I played probably like eight hours. Seven or eight hours. I liked it a lot. I was totally into it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Juice, you finished it, right?

[Justin McElroy]

No, but like it didn't get Russ in the way that it got the rest of us. Right. Do you think it has by this point though? Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

Well, it didn't get me in the way that like animal well got me.

[Griffin McElroy]

I tell you. I think it came out. It came out at a really good time. It came out at a time where there wasn't a ton of stuff like vying for my attention. It worked great on Steam Deck. I wasn't like traveling around a whole bunch yet. And so like it was the type of game where I was like, okay, okay.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Had an entire Animal Crossing minigame in it. Just waiting for you, dude.

[Griffin McElroy]

Gosh dang.

[Justin McElroy]

I think the grave just like January's are for like a dragon. Just like every January there's a new like a dragon.

[Russ Rush]

Well, there is one coming out in. What is that? February, the pirate.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, it's a. That's so close beat em up pirate game, right?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

But just like every January there's a new like a dragon game. It doesn't have to be a certain.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Kind, just SEGA will try to accommodate. That's what I'm getting.

[Griffin McElroy]

I feel I've loved a lot of the Yakuza games and I feel like this is the one that does all the stuff I love about this series the best in like the most sort of, I don't know man, like user friendly way. It just immediately starts dishing out like really good shit.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

And yeah, I've really enjoyed it. I think the conversation between this and Metaphor are interesting because they're both really great RPGs that handle all of this shit like in completely, wildly different ways.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I can't wait for that four hour block of the Game of the Year episode between just Griffin and I trying to parse.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. My mind can't work through how these two great games that are the opposite game are both such standouts. I am curious though, to hear everyone's thoughts now or a few months after. I think actually quite a few months after the release of Elden. Ring. The DLC shot of Mirror Tree. Did y'all finish that?

[Russ Rush]

Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

You finished that. I did, too. Yeah. I remember us did. Because we were talking about, like, this was pre Nerf Radahn Consort just, like, whipping our asses. And so the two of us were, like, back channeling. Like, I found this poison thorns build. You have to go here and max out this one stat. And then once you do that, you.

[Russ Rush]

Can fuck up Consort Radon, which I don't necessarily. I think it was. There was two mistakes that they made and we called it out. One of them, at least in the first episode, which was they made the, like, shadow seed hunting stuff way too much of Requirement.

[Griffin McElroy]

I believe he means Skadoo tree fragments.

[Russ Rush]

No, it's pronounced Shadow tree.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think it's Scott, according to Gaelic, Skadoo tree.

[Russ Rush]

Anyway, they made that requirement much more tame. So you don't need as many of them to, like, feel like you have that power.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

And if you kind of overcome that aspect of it, you're really just left with, like, a lot more. Pretty fucking good Elden Ring.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure.

[Russ Rush]

And I absorb the hell out of that game. I loved my time with it.

[Justin McElroy]

I am realizing now with this, and there's been a couple others like these, where the difficulty is a big part of the point. If it's a real mechanically deep game like this, I just don't think I'm going to be able to get back into it. I've tried so many times. I'll have one big push and then I just. And it's not just Elden Ring. I would say this about, like, I had this with Horizon. Right. Where, like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm just not going to relearn all those mechanics. Like, I don't. I don't think it's going to happen.

[Russ Rush]

I remember before Shadow of the Erdtree came out, I spent like an hour or two just fucking around in base Elden Ring, Vanilla Elden Ring. And that helped a lot. But to do that again in the middle of the dlc, I could see that being very flummoxing. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I did about the best I could do. I started a new character and did a whole playthrough of Elden Ring. And I managed to finish it a few days before Shadow of the Erdtree came out. So I feel like I was able to keep that momentum, which I really powered through that stuff.

[Russ Rush]

That's pretty impressive.

[Griffin McElroy]

Another issue that I feel like we talked about on the episode about it is it adds a lot of new stuff. It adds a lot of new weapons and new build types and whatever. But I didn't feel like fucking around with any of that stuff because there was something of a barrier of entry of like, well, if I found this cool new claw, if I want to use it, I'm going to have to go respec. I'm going to have to go grab some more fragments or whatever to upgrade it. I don't know.

[Russ Rush]

That's. That I use some new stuff. I wasn't. I wasn't too thrown by that. I mean, some of the stuff, you're right. Like, it would have been overwhelming. And then at a certain point, people just sort of start looking online and like, what would be a fun build, right? And I kind of did that at the end of my run. Like I'd finished it. And we're like, oh, if I'm gonna, you know, look at all the dungeons and shit, I want to see what else I can do.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

And then I'm glad that stuff was there.

[Griffin McElroy]

I thought. I thought it was great. It did not rekindle my, like, ferocious love for Elden Ring the way Elden Ring did.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I just wanted to call that. Justin, what you said about the not being able to reacquire those skills, I am experiencing that more and more and more. And I'm curious for you, do you think it's an age thing like that it's harder for us as we get older to pull that back? Or do you think that it really is just a. I guess a time thing? Like, no matter what your age is, the annoying part is having to, like, relearn it and now relearn it without the tutorialization that you had the first time around.

[Justin McElroy]

I think that's what it is, is that the arc on games like that is usually so well built and so, like, satisfyingly built that, like, to try to hop back into it. I always feel like I'm trying to, you know, reinvent the wheel, like learn it backwards or something and then like, reverse engineer that learning.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You mentioned the horizon one. I remember the DLC for the first game where you went to the, like the snow land and it. I feel like you, like, are unlocking the third eye for me here of like, oh, they're adding an extra act to a movie that was already a good movie, right. And when I get that extra act, it's like, well, now the pacing is entirely off. It actually breaks the movie that came before it.

[Griffin McElroy]

And, you know, it wasn't. I don't even think that's the most apt comparison because it would be more like if they put a little movie in the middle of the movie because it's not like a bigger. It's not like a thing that contributes to the rest of it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, it's true.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's like its own kind of deal. I'm also realizing we didn't have just a quick shout out to the Destiny 2 Final Shape DLC.

[Russ Rush]

Oh, yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

That is one of my highlights of the year. And I'm surprised at myself for not calling it out in our.

[Russ Rush]

That was very good.

[Justin McElroy]

I enjoyed that kind of lump together. These two that are two that don't seem like they're going to make it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Are you kidding?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

They're not gonna come out.

[Russ Rush]

What are you talking about?

[Justin McElroy]

There's a few in the list of things that we're looking forward to in 2024, and I was thinking rather than just like, hit them in order, we could just say all together the ones.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that's a good idea. I thought you were lumping Animal well in there. And I was like, no, no, Misread the room.

[Justin McElroy]

The next one is Baby steps, which is not.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know what that is.

[Russ Rush]

It didn't come out. That's foddy 3D.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And then the developer of APIs Escape.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, God.

[Justin McElroy]

Right. I just think it's interesting to hit these.

[Russ Rush]

That.

[Justin McElroy]

That too, I guess.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did Alone in the Dark come out alone?

[Russ Rush]

I think it did come out.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There's no way.

[Russ Rush]

You're kidding.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It did it. I can't believe you didn't play it. That feels like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Holy. It did. It did come out March 20th. It did March 20th. Dude, I think that was your game. I think you were brought Alone in the Dark.

[Russ Rush]

David Harbour is crying in his apartment right now.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have one of these two on.

[Justin McElroy]

The list, so I'm so looking forward to this. Seems like a derelict of duty on my part. It is a huge run. Huge, huge, huge dereliction of duty. It's got a couple of great actors and I don't know why I didn't play this. I'm gonna buy this joint right now. I'll report back.

[Griffin McElroy]

No problem.

[Justin McElroy]

Honestly, everybody. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. No worries.

[Griffin McElroy]

On a similar note, I brought Visions of Mana as one of my predictions. The first Mana game to be released in like 12 years. Something wild like that. I was like, hell, yeah, baby. We're back. About to go and, you know, ride on the flammy and just like, do all my shit. And I just completely. It was one of those where like a month later I was like, oh, Shit, that's out. And I have not gone to grab it. So yes, we all made mistakes.

[Russ Rush]

We also screwed up on Light no Fire, which didn't happen.

[Griffin McElroy]

That was again of Griffin, I think, prediction.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, but. But there is no way you thought that was that. Hello, game.

[Griffin McElroy]

I will, I will say this. I got into no Man's sky more this year than I ever had. Doing just like the Expeditions and playing the game sort of the way it was meant to be played. It was real fucking fun.

[Russ Rush]

I am so excited for that game. I don't even know if it's coming out next year, to be honest.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, and I guess Skin Deep, the new Blendo games game, did not. Did not make it out.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I nor, nor did get this Hollow Knight silk song.

[Justin McElroy]

I believe it or not, Skin Deep is one I've been looking for for years. I just. I want to put that. It's funny, we didn't even put UFO 50 on this list. And had we known UFO 50 was coming out this year, it would have probably been at the top of it. But yeah, it's a sneaky surprise. For me. Skin Deep is kind of that. It's been a few years of just like watching that listing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did anyone play the remake of Brothers A Tale of Two Sons? Because that's on here too.

[Justin McElroy]

I should have. I really love that first one. But once you know the gimmick, I feel like maybe it wouldn't be as.

[Russ Rush]

It is so narrative driven that it's just like, yeah, am I gonna have.

[Justin McElroy]

It's got a great. It's a great. There's like one good gag in it, like legitimately that makes the whole game worth playing. But like, if you've already played it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Then I don't know that there's much else there for you.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Let's get into though. Animal. Well, that's a bit.

[Russ Rush]

No, he's in the. Animal.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, I beat this one, so kick ass, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

But did you find all the bunnies? Did you get the secret developer ending?

[Justin McElroy]

Can I just say, just get four things and then.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, I just want to say.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I mean, the really easy way is you watch it on YouTube, but go ahead.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's the easiest.

[Russ Rush]

I just want to say I'm a fucking genius for calling this out so early.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

And I knew how great it was and I know myself and I know how great my taste is in video.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Games and I didn't need guides and.

[Russ Rush]

I didn't need guides to tell me that this was going to be a great game. It Turned out to be a great game.

[Griffin McElroy]

You didn't need guides to tell you this was going to be a great game. Let's understand.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You're so brave.

[Justin McElroy]

You didn't need guides.

[Russ Rush]

So brave.

[Griffin McElroy]

The experience that we had in the. There was, like, a discord for people. Like, reviewing the game was truly cool. Was truly, truly cool. And when we talk about this game and, like, the goatee stuff, it's gonna be hard for me to separate my experience of doing that because when everybody had finished the game and then it was just full fucking scavenger hunt mode to see, like, what other deep, deep, deep coded secrets we could find anytime, I was able to, like, push that forward a little bit. It was so gratifying and so cool. Like, the social experience of reviewing that game was really, really.

[Russ Rush]

And as design, like, they made the game with that in mind. So I think that is part of it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I do think it's hysterical that we bash our heads against that for like a month and then literally 36 hours later, the community playing the game had, like, torn it. Torn it asunder.

[Russ Rush]

It's a fucking planet of people.

[Griffin McElroy]

We can't compete.

[Russ Rush]

12 of us dorks cannot compete with everybody and their brainpower.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's true. That's fair.

[Russ Rush]

But we did okay. I'm proud of us. Let's talk about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, wow. This is. This is maybe the biggest whiff of the year, huh? I mean, not through any fault of ours, obviously. We're not mind readers.

[Russ Rush]

Well, Sutton, people did like it, but I certainly didn't.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think there's a real chance that this game, it will at least get nominated for the Game awards Game of the year. It could win.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think we'll be definitely on the. On the. I think we'll be on the wrong side of history on this one. And that breaks my heart because Final Fantasy VII is one of my favorite games ever made. I just. There's too much bullshit in this game, gang. There's too much baloney happening. Just do me a favor and remake Final Fantasy 7. That would be cool. Don't rebirth it. If what's happening here is a rebirthing of Final Fantasy 7, put that outside. Remake it is what I would like it to do. And don't add a bunch of multiverse fucking Garbo bullshit.

[Russ Rush]

Okay, so let me ask you, Griffin.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

If they, narratively speaking, if they were very consistent with the original game.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

But gameplay wise, they did all the stuff they did in this one.

[Griffin McElroy]

Nope. Because the open world stuff was also not great.

[Justin McElroy]

Right, Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I thought the open world stuff was the worst part about this game. And then the next worst part about this game is that in adhering to this, like, Multiverse, anything can happen.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Bullshit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Anything can happen, and everything has happened, so it doesn't matter. This big question you've had about Aerith this whole time, ooh, what if it changes but doesn't change? Like, it's so fucking infuriating. And I love Thousand Lighthouses, and Eret.

[Justin McElroy]

Dies in some of them, but not the other ones.

[Griffin McElroy]

And it's like. I really liked remake. I really liked the first part of this.

[Russ Rush]

Me too. I liked remake.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think it was different in a way that took me a while to kind of get used to, but the way that it, you know, adapted the story of the first part of Final Fantasy 7 was really cool. And then the open world stuff is just so paper thin, it felt like. And the story.

[Russ Rush]

Fucking stealth games with moogles and shit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Jesus Christ, man. It really, really. It didn't do it for me. And it makes me so angry because there are sequences in this game that are goddamn golden. When you show up to the golden saucer, that first scene that shows. When you show up to the golden saucer. It's my favorite cutscene of any video game this year. Doing a sort of triple triad or whatever it's called. Battle on a Ship with, like, Red 13 walking around in a human.

[Russ Rush]

That was very funny.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's so much good, good stuff in here, and they worked so hard, but, man, some of this stuff just makes me so, so bummed out.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

There have not been a dearth of great JRPGs this year, fortunately, which sort of, I don't know, soothes the soul a little bit.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, Well, I mean, that gets to the other one. Persona three.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I brought this one. I Love Persona. Persona 3 Portable was the one that I played originally, and so I was excited for the idea of, like, a remake that is fully 3D and more, kind of like Persona 5 inspired. I just had a hard time clicking.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

With this one, especially with metaphor coming out in the same year.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, dude. It gets. Yeah. Especially in the long, long shadow that metaphor casts over it. I think it kicks its ass virtually every handful away.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Its teeth get straight knocked in.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I just didn't really have a lot of fun with it. Persona 3 is an important game in how it establishes basically, the formula that the rest of the series would then go on to follow and metaphor would go on to follow. And so, like, from a historical aspect, it's cool. And they made some changes that like quality of life changes are really great, but there's just something about the setting and characters and plot that don't really hook me in the same way that the other Persona games do, so. But it's okay. We got there. We got our stuff. We got like a dragon. We're good over here, Marine. Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey, Justin, we did a good job here, right?

[Russ Rush]

We're not done yet. We're not done.

[Justin McElroy]

We're game that somebody was very right about this being it's Hades 2 and Hades 2 is exactly as good as you thought Hades would be.

[Russ Rush]

How do we know how good it is if we haven't been updated on the Latest updates for Hades2?

[Justin McElroy]

Oh yeah, it's been slow going, I'll admit. Our I think the last day was July at this point and that was in reference to. Now see this may be outdated by the time that you're hearing this. So it's tough to be the. The up to the minute voice on. On this. The last we have is early access patch four. Yeah, I'm not behind. There just hasn't been any.

[Russ Rush]

Okay. You've been on the pulse. I apologize.

[Justin McElroy]

I'll listen, bud. I check. I check constantly. I play this thing and there's. I will say this, Greg, from me to you, Greg Gregory, why have you. Many, many are coming for the throne currently. Greg, there's a lot of games that are looking at your lunch.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

The plate that says Greg, they're trying to eat it. And you should work. You should act fast. With the speed of Hermes, I am.

[Griffin McElroy]

Ready for this game to fall off the radar and then come back like a triumphant phoenix next year when the. When we're not expecting it and we're just hungry for. I'll. I'll gladly go back for a second.

[Justin McElroy]

There's a few crumbs of Greg's lunch left.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, Brush them right into my mouth. How about these honorable mentions though?

[Russ Rush]

We hit most of them. There are a couple that we didn't. But I'm very happy we called it out. Prince of Persia.

[Griffin McElroy]

The lost crown was fucking rips slaps ass great.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. The rogue Prince of Persia we didn't know about, but it was good too.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, that was pretty good.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Ubisoft didn't seem to know about it either, so that was.

[Justin McElroy]

Mon Dieu. Look what they sprouse this couch.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I hope by the time this episode comes out, Ubisoft is still a company. There's no guarantee. We've got a little bit of time yeah, who knows?

[Griffin McElroy]

I also want to say I really enjoyed Paper the Thousand Year Door. It was one that had been on my regret list for having not played it. I didn't finish it, but I got to the sixth sort of world before. I think another game came along and ate its lunch. I think maybe Destiny 2 the DLC, but I really enjoyed my time with it. That game is really cute and very novel and I think it really stands in stark contrast to, I don't know how the Mario RPG lineage kind of changed after this one in a way that is almost universally not as good.

[Russ Rush]

Here's the crazy thing. When we picked this game, we had no idea that the Mario and Luigi franchise would be rebirthed in a new game that is coming out very soon to when you're listening to this episode, Mario and Luigi brothership. And that very much is like in the spirit of these games. So hopefully this is like a revival of that genre. Okay, I think we did it on predictions. Great. Let's take a break I guess.

[Justin McElroy]

All right, let's do that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Us gamers got a game and there's nothing that can stop us. Even a subscription fee for the game that we're playing. But sometimes we move on to a new game and forget about that subscription fee for a long, long time and it's just chewing away at our bank account like so many termites. Well, good news. Rocket Money is here to help you find those subscriptions that you have forgotten about and help you cancel them so that you can save a whole bunch of money. I've used Rocket Money a lot in the past to catch some subscriptions for games, MMOs specifically that I hadn't been playing, or apps specifically for my kids on the iPad that I had subscribed to and forgotten about. And I cannot even fathom how much money it has saved me because of those subscriptions that it caught. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancels unwanted subscriptions. It also monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to 740 bucks a year when using all the app's features. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.combesties that's rocketmoney.combesties one last time. Rocketmoney.combesties.

[Justin McElroy]

We are officially there. We're there in the gift giving season that we're in that special gift giving time. You don't want to hear about it because it's stressful. Well, good news. How about I just fix all the stress for you right now? No problem. With aura frames. Every time you give an aura frame, it's going to feel like a hand picked personal gift. Why? Because you're going to digitally fill it with an incredible number of memories that you and the person you're giving the gift to can share. You want your grandma to see what's going on with your kids. You want to see your brother, to know what your dogs are up to, whatever. Then buy them an aura frame. You set it up on their wifi. You can do it ahead of time if you want to. And then with just a couple of button presses on your phone or whatever, you can upload photos to that person's phone. It's a really good way of staying in contact. It's a wonderful gift. It's easy to set up. We've got, we've gotten them for quite a few people in our lives and we have never had anything but a thrilled reaction. And I think that you should really give it a shot. For a limited time, visit auraframes.com and get $45 off Aura's best selling Carver matte frames by using promo code Best besties at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code besties. This exclusive Black Friday Cyber Monday deal is their best of the year. So don't miss out. Terms and conditions apply.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hey everybody. We are back and we are here to make your holiday shopping so simple. We can get you ahead of schedule. You don't need to wait till Black Friday. You don't need to wait till the last minute. You just need to get your gamers all the cool stuff. So I thought the way that we could do this cleanly without everyone sending us a description of their parent, we could just do kind of categories, right? A parent, a kid, a teenager. What would you get them? Right. I think that that's probably the safest way to do it. So to kick things off with this. Well, let's start with a parent. What would you get a parent that you know is they're into gaming? Maybe this is, maybe this is Papa McElroy. Maybe this is, you know, just, I don't know, some other parent in her life. Where'd you get.

[Griffin McElroy]

I put on here the great Deku Tree Lego set.

[Russ Rush]

I didn't even know this existed.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, they announced it with very little fanfare a long time ago. I Want to say in the summer.

[Russ Rush]

Jesus Christ, Griffin. This is 300 doll.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. So I have gotten very much.

[Justin McElroy]

Lego sets are crazy, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

LEGO sets are crazy. I have gotten very much into adult LEGO sets this year. I have also been prescribed Adderall this year. So maybe there's a fucking thread between those two things. But I did the DD set that dropped earlier this year. It was just big fucking like adventure castle thing. And then they released this great Deku tree. It does look fucking sick.

[Russ Rush]

I'll give you a.

[Griffin McElroy]

It looks fucking rad. You can build. I'm halfway through it right now, and you can build it to either look like the Great Deku Tree in Breath of the Wild or the Great Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time. So it's like whichever version of it you want. The book kind of like splits. That's really like, you can see.

[Russ Rush]

I don't think I know that they look different. I thought they were just like a tree, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I mean, I mean, yeah, dude. Look at these fucking trees. One of them has a little hotel inside. The other one has like skulltulas and shit.

[Justin McElroy]

I love that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Griffin talks about two minutes on the podcast now he can write it off on his taxes as a business.

[Russ Rush]

Right?

[Griffin McElroy]

I never do shit like that.

[Russ Rush]

Is this the first time Link is in LEGO form?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I mean, it's. I feel like Nintendo has really opened up the flood the floodgate on doing stuff with lego. Obviously they had the Big Mario sets that are very cool and they had a bunch of Animal Crossing sets that came out this year that me and Henry put together a bunch of.

[Justin McElroy]

If you haven't seen the console ones.

[Griffin McElroy]

The console ones are.

[Russ Rush]

Oh yeah, those are great.

[Justin McElroy]

My dream gift. My dream is that someday someone will buy me the NES set. So I will feel guilty about not putting it together. Instead of right now. I would feel guilty about doing it. But if someone I care bought it for me, I'd be like, well, I've got two. Or their feelings would be hurt. So that's my dream. My dream gift. The Pac man stand up arcade is also quite cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

Also very cool. Yeah. What about you, Russ and Chris?

[Russ Rush]

I had a suggestion for a Zen Grip Ronin. I mentioned this ages ago, but I wanted to call it out again. This has been on my switch since I started using it probably over a year ago at this point. And it's the only grip that I've used that actually allows you to still put it in the dock so you don't have to like de grip it. And it makes the switch, like, actually okay to hold.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes.

[Russ Rush]

While also maintaining all the, like, rumble and. And motion sensor shit that you have in the handhelds. I review everything with this. Whenever we talk about games that are on the switch, I'm holding this thing. And so if you're a parent, I.

[Justin McElroy]

Put this onto mine and this is just where. This is what I have now. I don't even know where the other ones are.

[Russ Rush]

Yep, it's great. Highly recommend that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Next category we got Teenager. I think Safe Bet is a gift card, because nobody knows what a teenager wants better than themselves. And while a gift card isn't perfect in everybody, a Steam gift card goes a long way with a teenager. But if you must pick something. Undertale Kitchen collection on Fangamer is sick. And I think we have now reached the generation of teens that grew up on undertale, which is a wild thing to say, but it's true.

[Russ Rush]

So this is a literal, like, plates and cups and shit.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's a full kitchen set.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

Wow.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So if you're getting into cooking and you just want something adorable, I think this is your best bet.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm going to add something to the list here. I'm going to say the devoom Ditoo Pro retro pixel art little device. I don't know if you guys have.

[Russ Rush]

Ever seen this traditional spelling.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's D I, V, O, O, M. If you just type that in, you'll find it. It's like a little. It looks like an old, tiny computer. It's only got six keys on it, but it connects to the app, the divu map, and it's a pixel art thing. And you can make pixel art. You can make pixel art animations or download other people's. And then it shows up on this tiny little screen. Henry has gotten super into it. Super, super into it. And, like, making his own pixel art. That is really good. It's really cool. So I. I don't know if you're a. If you have a teen in your life who is into art and games. This is. This has been a absolute slam dunk.

[Russ Rush]

I also want to just say, just fucking ask their parents what game they want and then gift it to them on Steam or something. Like, you don't need to guess. Like, just get them the thing they want. Because game buying is so tough that, like, just go for it. Sure. These are all great.

[Justin McElroy]

I would also say, surprisingly, I got this past New Year's Eve, we had a bunch of teenagers and I threw them a Sega Genesis Mini and they ended up playing the entirety of Splatter house.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've never seen anything like it.

[Justin McElroy]

A room full of eight kids just like pounding through the entire new splatter house. It was astounding.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This is my recommendation for pretty much any category is buy an emulator handheld. The cheapest one you can get. You can get them for like 30 or 40 bucks now.

[Griffin McElroy]

But don't get those. Get a night. Get an okay.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, but like.

[Russ Rush]

But you get a good one.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Preload it with everything for them. And when I say preload, I obviously mean all the free games that are not official IP that are available on the Internet. And that's all. Don't put anything else on it. Don't put anything else on it. I didn't say a damn thing about putting any other games on it.

[Russ Rush]

Just freeware that were designed to run on those machines.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Just Pico 8 stuff.

[Griffin McElroy]

Just right. Pico 8 stuff for kids. I got a good one. I'm excited to talk about this one.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

Earlier this year, the weather was shitty. We were trying to find a way to wear out our then 2 year old. And I bought myself because of like a Facebook ad which I never do. The NEX Playground nex. And it is. Check this out. A self contained Kinect. That's it. And it has lots of games on it like Fruit Ninja and Doodleheads.

[Justin McElroy]

And this thing is great, by the way.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's fucking rad.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's so, so good.

[Justin McElroy]

It's. The games are free. I guess there's a subscription in your.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, you can subscribe.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, but the games are included. You see the games that are coming out the next month and the games are good. Like they. And the thing works like. Yeah, that's the other crazy thing about it. Like they have a. I'll give you an example. There's an Elmo. Simon says that fucking good. It's really good. It's. It's all well implemented. He knows when you're putting your head on the thing and it's. It doesn't like glitch out constantly make the kids scream and cry. Yeah, they have a lot of really interesting games. There's a Hungry Hungry Hippos game that's fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

They have a minigame collection called Party Foul that is really fun. And then they added this like bullet hell shoot em up called I think Doodleheads. Is that right? Juice.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I forget exactly what it's called, but it takes a picture of your face and it becomes the ship that you. Anyway, it's a Kinect that works and has great games on it. And it wears out kids, like straight up.

[Russ Rush]

Does it have a Han Solo doing a funny dance though?

[Griffin McElroy]

No, it has good shit on it, Russ. That is great for kids.

[Justin McElroy]

The Han Solo, by the way, is the camera. It's one cube like this.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, you just put the cube in. Awesome.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's so good. It has genuinely been clutch for us this year. If we do not wear out our three year old, he will not sleep. And so when it's like rainy and shitty outside, this thing is.

[Justin McElroy]

They used to make. They used to. I've been at Griffith's house where they made an obstacle course to try to train the wildness out of their child before bedtime. A series of obstacles that he had to clear.

[Griffin McElroy]

Big sun's cool. He's over in the corner doing pixel art. Three year old, you have to exhaust him.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, this thing's great. And I really, I took a flyer on it and I've now bought like three as gifts. They're fantastic.

[Griffin McElroy]

They're great.

[Russ Rush]

That's awesome.

[Justin McElroy]

I hope, by the way, if they're listening, please do like an adult. There is a version of this. There's a branch of the subscription maybe or a different box entirely that is adult themed. That would work.

[Griffin McElroy]

Not adult, but like for parties and stuff.

[Justin McElroy]

For parties and stuff. It would be fantastic.

[Griffin McElroy]

There is a selfish part of me that hopes this thing actually does really well because I really like it and I would like new games to continue coming out that I could.

[Justin McElroy]

By the way, huge fan of this model. Similar to the playdate thing of like, you just get the games.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's it.

[Justin McElroy]

Like it? Yeah.

[Russ Rush]

And if you don't subscribe, do you lose access to the games?

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know how it works. I don't know if you can buy them piecemeal or not. The subscription is not crazy and I don't know, I can't imagine doing it any other way because my kids feel very comfortable going through the UI and stuff of the thing and would see a game and be like, why can't I play that?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, that sounds like the best part. Like the Apple Arcade experience. I wish Apple Arcade was better about blocking off the rest of the Apple store. Anyway. Other categories. Indie gamer who has everything. Somebody like Storks. Have you all played the Crimson Diamond?

[Griffin McElroy]

No, no.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hoops.

[Justin McElroy]

I have it. It's on my wish list. I know of it, but I haven't. I should, but I haven't.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh yeah, it looks like a hoops game. I wanted to get a hoops game. I. What would I get? Hoops if I were gonna get him some.

[Justin McElroy]

What to get for the hoops has everything in the.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This game. It looks like a Sierra Online adventure game, but made today.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is it text?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I believe so.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it is. Holy shit.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I'm wild and it is sick. And I tried to get something for each of y'all. Griffin, the one that I would have gotten for you is Kentucky 0. The vinyl is back in print and it is absolutely fantastic.

[Griffin McElroy]

I bet that looks cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And then frush for you. I went with the Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe, the collector's edition, which comes with a little one of those figurines that you could find in the new version of the game.

[Russ Rush]

It looks like a. What are the Amiibo. Looks like an amiibo?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, somewhere between an amiibo and a bobblehead.

[Russ Rush]

I kind of don't like the fact that they manifested what Stanley actually looks like because he's just like a sad little man. Which I guess else I should have assumed, right? But yeah, I kind of. That's interesting. I do like jokes, so I get it. That's a good pick.

[Griffin McElroy]

What about for the old school PC gamer in your life? I'm asking because I don't really. I don't know any old school PC gamers in my life.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This for me is like older aunts and uncles. I had both aunts and uncles who are like really into this space. I feel like I would always try to find.

[Russ Rush]

It's just the people that like, would spend a ton of money on like a. A flight stick, basically.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, yeah. I mean for them, that's basically what I wrote down was Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Accessories.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is that the game for uncles Are a bunch of uncles. I don't play accessories.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, yeah, that's when you're really treating your uncle well.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We have a couple more old school console gamer, which I think is like most of our listeners.

[Russ Rush]

Well, one of these I don't think is on consoles yet. As far as I'm aware, UFO 50 has not dropped on consoles.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Grand irony.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, wow. Yeah, That's a good point. I didn't even think about that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Get a PC. That's the nicest thing you can ever.

[Russ Rush]

Do for people are working to get that. Working on Portmaster at the moment. So it might actually work on one of those handhelds if you buy a copy of it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Have y'all seen the Sega Great.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know if that counts. We count. Wanna count that?

[Griffin McElroy]

Maybe Console.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Have you seen the SEGA Dreamcast trading cards? No. They are like classic 90s trading card packs all dedicated to the Sega Dreamcast. And they come out from limited run games, I think, like in the next couple months.

[Griffin McElroy]

They come out in March. Dude, this is a Christmas shopping list.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You know what you can do? You can get them like a little piece of paper that's like IOU One rain check.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, one Rain check. One Shenmue Gold Gold edition. Limited chase.

[Russ Rush]

I just don't like what? I don't know. What do you do with them?

[Griffin McElroy]

Look at them, Russ. You look at them. You have bought them. You have bought them. That's what you do with them, okay?

[Russ Rush]

And you've got them and you can buy them, and you get to see.

[Griffin McElroy]

Them and say, I have bought these.

[Russ Rush]

Here is Samba de Amigo. He's looking at me.

[Griffin McElroy]

Exactly.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Did you add the flannel sheets?

[Justin McElroy]

Is 119 a lot to pay for a set of sheets? Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Why is this now, Juice? Why is this for the old school concept?

[Justin McElroy]

Because they are old. The ultrasound comfort flannel sheet set from L.L. bean. If you want to go flannel, it is worth paying. I think for high quality bedding. We're really long fibers on this thing. You're gonna absolutely lose it, Brett. The brush softness is off the charts.

[Russ Rush]

I don't think I've ever slept on flannel sheets before Russia.

[Justin McElroy]

For us, it's a lot to pay for sheets, but it's a gift, isn't it?

[Russ Rush]

I believe in spending for beds, bedding, and footwear.

[Justin McElroy]

I think both worth spending on very important.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

What would you get for a Secret Santa right now?

[Russ Rush]

Oh, like a little gift. You're talking.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I think it's a little gift or like something that's gonna be kind of sweet and fun, but not too. It can't be too sentimental, but needs to be like. Like, you know, touching.

[Russ Rush]

I think someone put this on this list before. But I will tell you, as someone who has gifted Balatro to a person that hadn't played a game in years, it is the perfect gateway game for anyone like that. It's 15. There's no commitment. Try like every single person. We've talked about this repeatedly. Every single person who plays it is on board and it's. It's dynamite. It seems that someone else is putting a retread of the L.L. bean final. I'm sorry, this is the pillowcase.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, it's a Secret Santa, isn't it? You're not gonna spend $120 on a secret Santa.

[Russ Rush]

So just the pillowcase. So they're just getting a taste of it.

[Justin McElroy]

For $35, they can get a kiss of the good life with two ultra soft comfort flannel pillowcases. Let them see what they're missing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Incredible.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My go to Secret Santa trick is figure out what their favorite game is. Go on Etsy and get any sort of handmade trinket.

[Russ Rush]

Oh, that's a good idea. I like that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, it's a really nice way to treat them. Right.

[Justin McElroy]

I have a surprise, one that I should have mentioned for a teenager, but I think there's a lot of different people in your life. I have had. I had a surprisingly good time screwing around with like hue bulbs and other wifi lighting. This year. I started playing with them for like, theatrical stuff. But you can do so many neat things with like very pretty, inexpensive light curtains and rope lights and stuff. Especially if you've got younger kids. It's really a lot of fun. And I will say that I think I have probably improved the overall quality of my life being able to keep lights as dim as I like them all the time at a moment.

[Russ Rush]

It's funny you mentioned that because last night much of New York had lost Internet and my entire house is hue lights. And none of them were listening, which is a real problem because my entire bedtime routine with my son is like dim lights. And I was fully fucked. There was nothing I could do. So that is the downside. Maybe keep a candle light somewhere around the world.

[Griffin McElroy]

Maybe we should take a second look at all this.

[Justin McElroy]

Maybe lights are bad.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Thank you, BlackBerry.

[Russ Rush]

Someone put the Dark Souls Siegmeyer plush. I guess this is also Fangamer and makes me want to spend money immediately. That is spectacular.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This is another one where I just kept finding stuff that I knew y'all would like because there's a Zelda plush costume that you can get to put on your plushies. And did y'all see the talking Conker plush toy that they have?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's really good.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's really good. Right? It's Conker, but he gets talking.

[Russ Rush]

Does he say bad words, though?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, dirty words. Last category, the person who loves stuff that's books level boring.

[Griffin McElroy]

Just books, kinda. I added a thing that's not technically a book.

[Justin McElroy]

I will say this. If you're. If you had to buy. If I had to buy a book for someone who's a quote unquote gamer right now. And if you say that label to them, they're not like, I really would recommend changing All Stars. It's a real. And I talked about in a previous episode. But like the structure of that book I think would be very appealing to people that follow like modern television and video games and things like that. There's a lot of that DNA in it and it's saying some really interesting cool stuff and I think it's so. I would recommend it to almost anybody. It's fantastic.

[Russ Rush]

I wanted to shout out Retro Gaming by Mike Diver. This is just like an all encompassing book about retro gaming from like 1980s to basically more or less modern day. I liked looking through it and learning facts about Yoshi and shit. My son is obsessed with it. If your kids like those index books with a bunch of pictures in them, this one is great and it's pretty inexpensive and you get it in soft copy and it's been a big hit.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have messed around with many a e Ink tablet both for reading and note taking purposes and a couple months ago I got my hands on the Supernote Nomad and it is my favorite of them. It's a seven inch. It's this little guy right here. Seven inch little pad. Feels really, really good to write on. Feels more like writing on paper than I think any screen I've used. And the pins are just these thick, heavy, juicy, Juicy guys. Feels really good. All the UI stuff is really cool. Lots of like tactics.

[Russ Rush]

Seems upset. What's the matter, Justin?

[Griffin McElroy]

Why? Because I call it Juicy. Juicy guys.

[Justin McElroy]

It's just like, like it's weird.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean if you felt this pen like you would get it like it feels so.

[Justin McElroy]

It feels so good. I have had. I have tried to set up several solutions like this and I can't. There always seems to be one too many hoops that keep it from being as good as pen and paper. And I know, I don't mean to sound that Luddite. There's a specific bar it has to clear to be as like good and satisfying and easy and cheap and quick and everything.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cheap ain't it? This ain't cheap but it's really, really good. It does a cool thing where if you like write a bunch of notes down it will. You can set it to like convert it into like text, like plain, plain text which you can then sort of like put wherever you. You want to put it. I don't know, I just love the size, love the feel of it, love the interface. And I've been using it, I mean I've been using it as like a daily log journal every day. I've been using it to like take notes on stuff and I haven't Even read anything on it yet. But I'm pretty sure you can get like Kindle shit on there. But yep. Supernote Nomad.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I have a book called How a Game Lives. It's the annotated essays by Jake Geller for all of his YouTube videos. But they also include afterwords by a whole bunch of different authors, including me, the smallest fry of the bunch. But there are a lot of cooler people, including the author of Chang Gang All Stars, who wrote the foreword for the book. Cool. So it's a great chance to, like, one, read a bunch of great essays and two, a whole bunch of different voices, many of whom don't often get to write about video games, talking about them. And it's made by Lost and Colt, which is one of my favorite video game book publishers. Their stuff is just absolutely gorgeous.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, we just shouted out their handheld book recently. That stuff is great.

[Justin McElroy]

I got the first one of those. Talk about books that kids enjoy looking through. Cooper was having a spend a long time looking through the first volume of that handheld.

[Russ Rush]

Okay, I think we did it. Yeah, that was a lot of gifts. You're going to be a big hit this holiday. If you buy all of them, especially for one person, they'll be so surprised.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, you'll be ruined financially.

[Justin McElroy]

Also, I want to talk. I think there's a small canonical issue because I plan on playing Alone in the Dark right now. And so as you're hearing this, you probably heard me a couple weeks ago rave about Alone in the Dark and how much I loved it. So I'm worried this is gonna be confusing or anticlimactic.

[Russ Rush]

You can't just do the math and say, like, you're gonna talk about it after this episode airs.

[Griffin McElroy]

We don't know.

[Justin McElroy]

No, I will definitely forget about that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, also, once you've played it, every fiber in your body will be screaming to talk about this game.

[Russ Rush]

I mean, it could be a goatie contender. We don't know.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It could.

[Griffin McElroy]

Probably not though, right?

[Justin McElroy]

Let's say this. You guys better hope it's not, because that will be.

[Russ Rush]

Yeah, that would be.

[Justin McElroy]

It's going to be an itchy November for you boys trying to avoid playing it.

[Russ Rush]

Cool. I want.

[Justin McElroy]

We can't even say we're going to do next week either.

[Russ Rush]

No, there's no telling. I wanted to thank the following people for being patrons of the Besties. We have Benjamin, Caps, Tuxford and Moss. Thank you for being patrons of the Besties. Thank you to everyone else.

[Justin McElroy]

Live to hear that. They probably posted this reviews years ago.

[Russ Rush]

By this point, I'm going to let you know, the people that are listening, that we have a new episode of our bracket battles episode that's up and live right now. So you can see that.

[Griffin McElroy]

How can you say that?

[Justin McElroy]

What is it?

[Griffin McElroy]

How do you know?

[Russ Rush]

Just confidence. Extreme confidence. It is all about. Well, you're going to hear this clip and you'll know instantly what it's about.

[Griffin McElroy]

I thought you were going to talk about Kariomart there for sure.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, please, please go down that road.

[Russ Rush]

I don't know.

[Griffin McElroy]

You don't know what Karimart is? Okay. I think it was invented by. I first heard about it from my Austin friends who were playing it before I moved there. Traditionally, In Mario Kart 64, the only rule is you play a race in Mario Kart 64, but you cannot cross the finish line until you have finished the beer you opened right before starting the race. There's lots of tactics that go into this. Lots of people. My strategy is I don't. I like to drink beer sort of in general now that I'm 37 years old. But back when I was a young man with the liver of a young man, I would just try to slam it right before, you know, everybody else gets going. You slam it. You start in fourth place, but then you get all those good items. You get all those good items or you wait, like, you get run off the track. You splash down the water. That's enough time for you to blub, blub, blup. You just can't be pressing buttons and drinking at the same time. Fucking great. Really, really fun. We talked about playing it when we were on this dude's trip earlier this year, and all of us were like, no fucking way, man, am I gonna drink.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So proud of all of us.

[Griffin McElroy]

The restraint was, you know, something we.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Had a lot of. What is it? What are the non alcoholic bevs? Those new ones, I think they're just.

[Griffin McElroy]

Called non alcoholic bevs.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, there's like a short term for it, but, man, that stuff, it's really good.

[Justin McElroy]

What was it?

[Russ Rush]

I mean, you know, you heard it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Hilarious when it was. You heard it kissing myself.

[Russ Rush]

I think we did it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Let's just end the show. Thanks. Thank you for listening to it. We're going to do another one next week, so just calm down. Be sure to join us again next week for the best of us. Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?