Tired of the World? Try a Fantasy Life

Summary

Episode Overview

In the "Tired of the World? Try a Fantasy Life" episode of The Besties, hosts Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Russ Frushtick delve into two prominent video game releases: the sequel to Fantasy Life and the latest adventure from Keita Takahashi, the creative mind behind Katamari Damacy. Released on May 30, 2025, this episode provides an in-depth analysis of these games, supplemented by engaging discussions, personal anecdotes, and listener interactions.

Exploring the Week's Featured Games

1. "To A T" by Keita Takahashi

Introduction & Premise

Justin McElroy introduces "To A T", the newest title from Keita Takahashi, highlighting its musical and vibrant aesthetic reminiscent of Katamari Damacy (04:30). The game centers around a teenager named Teen, whose arms are perpetually locked in a T-pose, navigating daily life challenges intertwined with whimsical elements.

Gameplay Mechanics & Themes

The game primarily focuses on slice-of-life challenges rather than traditional action mechanics. Players assist Teen in performing everyday tasks—like brushing teeth or eating—while occasionally engaging in fantastical activities such as flying like a helicopter (04:58). The narrative subtly touches on themes of disability and accessibility, portraying Teen's struggles with anxiety and body image without making them the sole focus.

Notable Quote:

Justin McElroy [06:02]: “And you may feel like that's what the game is about. But to this point, it does not seem to be about that. Predominantly.”

Artistic Style & Music

Christopher Thomas Plant draws parallels between Takahashi's style and 1970s children's entertainment, noting the illustrative and painterly visuals and the hallucinatory nature of the game worlds (08:39). The soundtrack, praised by Russ Frushtick as "amazing" (10:07), features upbeat jazz tunes and contributions from notable artists like Rebecca Sugar from Steven Universe.

Critical Reception & Enhancements

While the game's artistic and narrative elements receive acclaim, some criticisms emerge regarding game mechanics and user interface:

• Lack of Profile System: Justin expresses frustration over the inability to create separate profiles for multiple players on a single device (11:51).

• Repetitive Gameplay: There are mentions of repetitive tasks and limited variety in mini-games, which may detract from the overall experience (13:16).

Notable Quote:

Griffin McElroy [13:29]: “And I wish it was a little bit more fun.”

Despite these critiques, the hosts commend the game for its consistent tone and aesthetic cohesion, making it a welcoming experience even when addressing heavy themes.

2. "Fantasy Life I, The Girl Who Steals Time" by Level 5

Background & Evolution

Griffin McElroy provides a nostalgic overview of the original Fantasy Life released on the 3DS, developed by Level 5, renowned for titles like Dark Cloud and Professor Layton. The original game was celebrated for its colorful, illustrative design and interconnected class systems, allowing players to engage in various "lives" such as combat, gathering, and crafting (19:08).

New Installation & Improvements

The sequel, Fantasy Life I, The Girl Who Steals Time, builds upon its predecessor by introducing a robust class-switching mechanic:

• Seamless Class Switching: Players can effortlessly switch between 14 different classes with a single button press, enhancing gameplay fluidity compared to the original (21:32).

• Enhanced Storylines & Customization: Each class comes with its own storyline, skill trees, and customizable equipment, offering a more substantial and engaging experience.

Gameplay Experience & Challenges

The hosts discuss the overlapping systems within Fantasy Life I, which, while offering depth, can sometimes lead to complex progression loops:

• Example Scenario: Unlocking an alchemist class may lead players to engage in multiple quests and missions, potentially creating a vicious cycle of progression (24:24).

• Comparisons to Other Titles: Griffin likens aspects of the game to Animal Crossing and Dark Cloud 2, emphasizing the diverse mechanics that keep gameplay varied and engaging (26:05).

Technical and Design Appreciation

The episode highlights Level 5's commitment to balancing complex systems with playable mechanics, ensuring that despite the game's breadth, it remains accessible and enjoyable:

Notable Quote:

Chris Plant 29:50: “It's a game about overlapping systems. Like it's a game about how does going out and solving these quests improve your town and how does improving your town help you save these mysterious people who are turning into household objects and how does doing that affect the future when you go to it and all of those things?”

Final Impressions

While Fantasy Life I receives positive remarks for its improved mechanics and aesthetic upgrades, some hosts note areas where the game could further enhance its player engagement and mechanical depth.

Listener Interaction: Embracing Minimalism in Game Design

The hosts engage with a listener letter from Cody, who references an Antoine de Saint-Exupéry quote: "Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." This sparks a discussion on minimalistic game design, emphasizing the importance of simplicity in mechanics and presentation.

Favorite Minimalist Games Discussed:

• N++: Celebrated for its clean platforming mechanics and minimalist visuals (34:24).

• Incremental Games: Titles like Universal Paperclips and Dark Room are highlighted for their simple yet addictive gameplay loops (35:29).

• Portal & Return of the Obra Dinn: Both are praised for their ability to stick to core gameplay ideas without unnecessary complexity, maintaining a focused and engaging experience (37:14; 38:37).

Notable Quotes:

Russ Frushtick [34:43]: “My big recommendation is if you don't have a Switch, but you want a Switch like game, this is a great option.”

Griffin McElroy [36:04]: “I am incredibly impressed by the readability and the elegance of these minimalist designs.”

Announcements & Upcoming Releases

Survival Kids Re-release: Justin McElroy introduces the re-release of Survival Kids (also known as Stranded Kids) on the Nintendo Classics Service, allowing new players to experience this classic survival game on modern platforms (47:08).

Notable Quote:

Justin McElroy [48:43]: “Listen, this was even more timely than I knew. But go check out Survival Kids. You can play the re-release now.”

Future Episodes: The hosts tease next week's coverage of "Elden Ring: Night Rain" and "Monster Train 2", hinting at deeper dives into these major titles (52:17).

Closing Remarks

The episode wraps up with thanks to patrons and listeners, reinforcing the podcast's commitment to providing insightful and entertaining game reviews. The hosts encourage listeners to join them in future discussions, ensuring that The Besties remains a go-to source for gaming enthusiasts seeking thoughtful analysis and camaraderie.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Russ Frushtick [00:11]: “…the LEGO dorks brought it hard. They wanted that hard.”

• Griffin McElroy [01:11]: “I don't like throwing the D word around that like Lego.”

• Justin McElroy [04:07]: “...two, count them, two games on tap.”

• Justin McElroy [06:02]: “And you may feel like that's what the game is about. But to this point, it does not seem to be about that. Predominantly.”

• Griffin McElroy [13:29]: “And I wish it was a little bit more fun.”

• Chris Plant [29:50]: “It's a game about overlapping systems...”

• Griffin McElroy [36:04]: “I am incredibly impressed by the readability and the elegance of these minimalist designs.”

• Justin McElroy [48:43]: “Listen, this was even more timely than I knew. But go check out Survival Kids. You can play the re-release now.”

Timestamp Guide

• [00:00] - [03:00]: Lighthearted discussion on LEGO and PEZ enthusiasts.
• [04:07] - [17:23]: Introduction and deep dive into To A T.
• [17:23] - [32:35]: Exploration of Fantasy Life I, The Girl Who Steals Time.
• [32:35] - [38:43]: Listener letter on minimalism in game design.
• [38:43] - [50:00]: Additional game discussions and personal anecdotes.
• [50:00] - [53:26]: Announcements and Patreon acknowledgments.
• [53:26] - End: Wrap-up and sign-off.

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Note: This summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the episode, providing both an informative overview and specific highlights for those who may not have listened to the full episode.

Transcript

[Russ Rushick]

So I met some LEGO dorks over the weekend. And LEGO dorks are legit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, for sure.

[Russ Rushick]

LEGO dorks do not kid around.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, they don't.

[Russ Rushick]

I went to the New York Botanical Garden, which is a lovely place in New York City, and they were doing an activation with Lego. And you have like kids come by and they build plants out of Lego and you get to keep the plants. It's really cute and cool. And the line was about three hours long. We did not wait in line. We knew to get there early because we knew about the LEGO dorks, but holy shit, the LEGO dorks brought it hard. They wanted that hard.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Is that kind of good for everybody who's not a LEGO dork? Because all the LEGO dorks ton of people write online, meaning the rest of the area wide open for you.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah, it was much more empty. I mean, to be fair, I also waited in line. But I was smart enough to get ahead of the LEGO dorks.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I resent what you just said, Chris. I did not think of the Lego. And I also don't like throwing the D word around that like Lego. LEGO enthusiasts. LEGO enthusiasts, sure, sure. They're attack. They're a tactile people. They're out there in the real world. I don't like this suggestion that they're all cyber.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. It must be surreal to live in a place with an activation. Can you imagine if there was an activation in Huntington? They would call the police. Like no one would even. What do you mean it's activated? What are you talking about?

[Russ Rushick]

It was. I don't think anyone lives with a botanical garden. I also want to say, to reiterate, I was also in line.

[Justin McElroy]

Sorry, Russ, I would have to drive three hours for the nearest activation. Guaranteed. Yeah, guaranteed. Unless you're counting the time that they use Columbus as a test market for a new Snapple flavor. Yeah, I definitely, definitely am going to have to.

[Griffin McElroy]

By the time that they put tie dye coloring in the Ritter park fountain, that was sort of an activation or.

[Justin McElroy]

That was something of an activation. Yes, yes.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah. Anyway, I'm too dumb for Lego is the upshot of this conversation.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're too impatient for lego.

[Russ Rushick]

No, no, no.

[Justin McElroy]

This is a second story in, in a month where you are not gonna wait in lines for anything.

[Russ Rushick]

I did. And I'm too. I tried to build it. It's like a ten step process. I couldn't.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It was a free flower for the ones for children. Like one of the free ones for children.

[Russ Rushick]

It was for children and I couldn't. There were instructions they had tables set up with little plaques, and they have all the steps and. And I got to step 10.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I was like, was it a colorblind? Before we make fun of you, legally, you have to tell us.

[Justin McElroy]

This is a colorblind.

[Russ Rushick]

It was not a colorblind thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay?

[Russ Rushick]

It was a spatial.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Good to rip, guys.

[Griffin McElroy]

Good to rip.

[Justin McElroy]

Was it like you were nervous cause there were other people watching?

[Russ Rushick]

Well, yes. Cause I was also building my sons.

[Justin McElroy]

At the same time, and they see that you have glasses and there's a certain expectation.

[Russ Rushick]

Well, they all thought I was also a LEGO dork, but clearly I'm not because I was drowning.

[Justin McElroy]

Clearly you're not.

[Griffin McElroy]

Clearly not.

[Russ Rushick]

Clearly not.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That is tough because they don't want to humiliate you in front of your kid.

[Justin McElroy]

They're looking at Russ and they're like, if this guy's this bad at Lego, he must love pez. That's the only other thing that makes sense.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's the rival to Lego in your mind, is PEZ for dorks. All right.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, yeah, everyone tried to have a better pull, but none came. I guess.

[Griffin McElroy]

I winex. I'm a K' nex man myself.

[Justin McElroy]

All right, that's not bad.

[Russ Rushick]

Mousetrap.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, you dated yourself.

[Griffin McElroy]

Lego's okay. I only fuck with Bionicle, though.

[Russ Rushick]

You need some circles in the mix. It can't all be squares.

[Justin McElroy]

Everybody still really thinks Pez was better.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Like, they were, like, pretty good.

[Justin McElroy]

Everybody thinking, like, PEZ is good.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's a Lego without any of the fuss. You know, I.

[Justin McElroy]

If, you know, if you know Pez obsessives like I do, it makes a lot pervert. They prefer pezverts. That's what they say. That's their word. My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best game of the week.

[Griffin McElroy]

My name is Griffin McRoy. I know the best game of the week.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

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

[Russ Rushick]

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

[Justin McElroy]

And this is the Besties, a video game club. And just by listening, my friend, you are now officially a member. Welcome to our thrall. Feels like too strong a word, but it's not wrong. This week we got two, count them, two games on tap. There's a sequel to Fantasy Life, and the creator of Katamari Damacy is back with a brand new adventure called To.

[Griffin McElroy]

A T. What's that, Chris Planet?

[Justin McElroy]

I kind of spoiled it. I got my claws.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You pretty much nailed it. I don't think people need to know anything else other than what's gonna happen in the show.

[Justin McElroy]

All right, let's take a break and we'll try to get our shit together.

[Russ Rushick]

Okay. First up, we have to a T, which comes from the creator of Katamari, Damacy. It has that musical, fun loving, bright colored air to it. Justin, you want to give the premise of this one.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. So you're a child named. Who is by default named Teen. You can name them whatever you want. I couldn't figure out how to do that on the Steam deck, so they remained named Teen on my game. And it is about a young person named Teen, beginning on their 13th birthday, who for their entire life has had their arms sort of locked in a T pose. And probably due to some sort of unknown parentage, it's hinted at, it is.

[Russ Rushick]

Sort of alluded to. Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Early on. And you are basically navigating the world as this child with seeing sort of the. Basically a lot of, like, the accessibility challenges and solutions that the child has, like, throughout the day. And there is this like, sort of whimsical element too, where the child is able to, like, occasionally spin with their arms out to fly like a helicopter.

[Russ Rushick]

Yes, yes.

[Justin McElroy]

And you may feel like that's what the game. When you see the child fly like a helicopter, you may feel that that is what the game is about. But to this point, it does not seem to be about that. Predominantly.

[Griffin McElroy]

It is not a new jumping flash.

[Justin McElroy]

It is not about that. Mainly. Mainly it is more slice of life challenges with like some kind of mini.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Games esque, different ways of getting through the world.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's like, how are you going to brush your teeth when your arms are extended in a T pose? How are you going to eat? You have the support of a dog. That helps you with a lot of things, like getting your clothes on. But it's basically just taking a very, very simple premise of you are a teenager who is in a T pose. How are you going to get through all of life? I spoke with Keita Takahashi at GDC this year, who is the creator who did Katamari. And what was interesting is it didn't originate as a game about disability or accessibility, which is surprising because once you start playing it, it feels like that's the only thing it could have been. But he really does start games from a very, very simple place, which is a problem, and then extrapolating it as far as possible. There is a creature who rolls a ball and then gradually it accumulates everything in the world. There is a person who is in the shape of a T. How do they get through their life?

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah, I mean, it very clearly has like, analogs to not only accessibility issues, but also just like the anxiety of, like, he goes to school and he like, is bullied at school and made fun of. And so there's just like a direct anxiety, like body dysmorphia aspect to it where he feels embarrassed about who he is. And you're trying to like, overcome that. Which I think in a lot of games, when you're trying to like, deal with really heavy topics like that, it can come off as pretty intense and heavy. But in this one, because of the presentation and because of the general tone, it's very welcoming. And again, like slice of Life anime is like a very good analog to it.

[Griffin McElroy]

How would you guys, like, define the Keira Takahashi sort of style to somebody who has not played a Katamari Damacy or. What was the other one that he made where you were like throwing a party for these little creatures?

[Russ Rushick]

Nabi Nobby. Boy, was that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, I think. Well, that was a different one, right? That was the one where you were stretching out, trying to, I think, encircle the moon or some shit like that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

What do you call that style of presentation?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I mean, I think it's 1970s children's entertainment, you know, and you can see it, especially in this game, whether that is the style of clothes they wear, the like, colorfulness of everything, but also the kind of hallucinatory nature of the worlds that you're in. And even the games have that 70s 80s era video game feel where the creator of the game is not really sure if their idea even works yet. They're just going in a direction and trying something new, not just doing an established genre. It just all feels like the 70s never died for Keita Takahashi, who I don't even know if he was alive during that era.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, now this game is. There's a little bubble that comes up as you start that says it was made in collaboration with AbleGamers, which I feel like is the only thing for me that, like, I think that that allowed me to sort of like, you know, I'm not the one who should be judging how these things are, like, discussed and like, what the sort of, like, most helpful dialogue is surrounding those things. So I think it's. It's helpful that they had ablegamers, like in that conversation because I think that it definitely feels. I don't know, I can't even say that feels right to me because it's not my place to judge, but I'm glad that they are involved in it to make sure it's being handled in a tasteful way.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think that's right, obviously. But I also think the metaphor here is abstract enough that I found a lot of myself in it and challenges that I had as a kid. And some of that is quite literal of having disfigurement as a kid in the way that you are seen, in the way the world reacts to you and the way that you change yourself. But also just being a kid is awkward. Being in your body is awkward. And I think this game's really interested in that. I mean, there's also the underlying puberty metaphor here that I think largely works. Yeah. What did you all think of the music? Because.

[Russ Rushick]

Oh, the music's amazing.

[Griffin McElroy]

It slaps.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah, it's so fucking good. So there's like a theme song. I think it's you're the perfect shape or something like that. It's like the theme song and it plays at the beginning of the episodes. The game is broken up into different episodes. And then there's like a mid episode theme song about a giraffe who loves cooking, which is also fantastic. It's like very upbeat jazz if you like the katamari soundtrack. Like this is all incredibly consistent with that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Rebecca Sugar from Steven Universe did one of the songs.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, great.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

To give you an idea of the vibe.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah, it's just done so with such confidence. And like the theme song is like basically telling you the premise of the game and like all the challenges that the boy goes through. Actually, I wouldn't even say it's a boy. It's a teen, non gendered. So you can be whoever you want, really. And I just thought that was like a. It was a fun way to present it. Just the structure of it being episodic and also just starting each episode with the theme song. It felt very anime.

[Justin McElroy]

One complaint that I had about this was it doesn't have like a profile system. And I really wanted my kids to check it out. And I got like Charlie played for like an hour. But then to see the sort of like beginning stuff again and get the setup for the premise, you have to like restart your entire game. There's no.

[Russ Rushick]

There is a chapter select. There is a way to specifically, if.

[Justin McElroy]

You'Re not making your own character.

[Russ Rushick]

Oh sure.

[Justin McElroy]

When you're splitting between two kids, they want their character, their progress, their. You know. So like that was kind of tough because I couldn't. I showed them. But I couldn't make as much progress because I had to start restarting the game so that they could.

[Russ Rushick]

It's time to make a family share on Steam, buddy.

[Justin McElroy]

What?

[Russ Rushick]

You can make a family account on Steam and have them have their own account and you share it.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can't comment. You out of your mind? Come home and my son has bought fucking $25,000 in CS. Go skins. I can't. I can't do that shit.

[Russ Rushick]

Down, guys. Come on, be a parent.

[Justin McElroy]

I think I do wish. I wish it was more fun. Katamari Damacy is really fun to play and I really so much appreciate what this game is doing and I think that that's really cool. There's a lot of running around with, like, confused, for me at least, confusing geometry and a confusing map trying to figure out where you're going.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And I. I wish that there was more game here because a lot of this stuff is like, repeated and things that you do repeatedly. And I get that part of that's like the slice of life episodic nature, but part of it is just like a little kind of dull.

[Russ Rushick]

They do seem.

[Justin McElroy]

And I wish it was a little bit more fun.

[Russ Rushick]

I think they do acknowledge that, like, you don't necessarily want to be doing the same mini game over and over again. So, like on day two, which I thought was pretty funny, the mom was like, you know what? If you're hungry or you're not hungry, whatever, who cares? You do what you want. If you want to brush your teeth, I don't. It's up to you. You could have disc disgusting teeth. So it does let you skip some of the aspects. But I agree with you. Like, running through the world isn't necessarily the most compelling thing, especially when you compare it to, like, being able to roll up fucking earth.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

How did your kids connect with it?

[Justin McElroy]

They really dug. I mean, they both really enjoyed it. It's very tactile, which is good for kids. It's obviously like they got the idea. I mean, they got the concept really quickly and I think that that was. That was cool. There is. There is like, they struggled some with the, like, getting from A to B at the point where they, like, give you an open world and want you to run around. It's like, it starts to get kind of confusing about where to go. There's a lot of invisible walls both like. And that got a little annoying for them. And the younger Cooper was a little bit that you have to be kind of good with, like, the button prompts because it's not very intuitive. It's a lot of like looking to see. And I had to kind of be with her to remind her what buttons are left bumper or whatever. Which is a dumb name for it.

[Russ Rushick]

Which is like seemingly intentional. Cause they wanted it to feel awkward. But I also realized that like for a kid, that's a lot to ask.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. I mean, I think this is the forever problem with Takahashi's games basically since Katamari Damacy. And I think this isn't apologizing for it. I think we just should never expect the problem to go away because he doesn't play video games, doesn't really have interest in video games and doesn't really have interest in traditional design of video games. And I think that results in these games like this. Honestly, like again, everything he's made once he's been away from a traditional developer system for context. When he did Katamari Damacy he was at a. He was Bandai Namco, I believe.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And then has been away from that environment. And I think that's why we get these games that feel just strange. And again, that's not like it's not a defense of it, it's just a.

[Russ Rushick]

It's interesting because it doesn't feel to me, even outside of the premise, it doesn't feel that experimental. It feels like a more narrative game which feels experimental to some extent for his work because it tends to be more like, you know, fluid and like open ended. This feels way more narrative, way more structured in terms of telling a story. But the game itself does not feel like that different from like a traditional game in that way. So I mean there obviously there are people that are working in that organization that are like, we gotta turn this. You know, I'm glad he had the idea about the tea. But like we gotta turn this into a game.

[Justin McElroy]

It's. But it's not. But like it's not. And I don't mean this as a criticism. It's not fun in the sense that you would think of a game being like a lot of the other games have a fun central mechanic that is pleasant to interact with and the micro, I get it. But like on the macro I just don't think.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah, we've talked about it and certainly drag games of the idea that like just moving around the world should be fun. And I'm not even talking about like the challenges that the teen faces when like opening doors. I just mean like in an open field it should feel good to run around and it feels fine. It's not. It doesn't feel great. And I think it was just not a priority for them to focus on the like, quote game feel of it rather than, again, the narrative and the like, music and the art design, like, all felt like that was the focus.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushick]

Of it. And like I'm going to put the soundtrack, when it gets added to whatever. I'm going to put it on my play mix the playlist of like fun music because it totally goes in line with the katamari stuff. It's. It's really fun to listen to. I really liked it. I am continuing to play through it. I want to know the mystery of the boy and why he is shaped like a T. They certainly be. They're certainly emphasizing that as an important plot point.

[Justin McElroy]

I know it can't be because his dad is secretly the king of all cosmos, but in my head canon.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure.

[Russ Rushick]

It'd be nice.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure. Yeah. No, I mean the tracks have been laid for that particular reveal. I'm hoping it just doesn't turn out.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't think it can. But it's a different company. He doesn't own. He doesn't even get money from. He doesn't get ziggies.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, maybe it's a Christ. Maybe it's a Christ allegory.

[Russ Rushick]

Oh, yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, let's take a break and then talk about Fantasy Life. I, the girl who's.

[Justin McElroy]

La la la la. You are the Christ child. From one Fantasy life to another.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. This one's more explicitly a fantasy Life because it's the new Fantasy Life game, the new entry in the Fantasy Life series, which I really loved the idea of. And then never. They didn't really make a good one until now.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Can you tell us a little bit about the original one? Before we dig into this?

[Griffin McElroy]

I'll tell you about the original. Fantasy Life came out in 3Ds. It was developed by Level 5, one of my all time favorite video game developers. They made Dark cloud. Dark Cloud 2. They made, I believe, Dragon Quest 11, 11, 10. They've done some work on the Dragon Quests. Their work has an aesthetic that is so incredible.

[Russ Rushick]

Oh yeah. And Professor Layton. Right? That's what I was.

[Griffin McElroy]

Professor Layton, of course. Ni no Kuni. The way that they present their games is so like illustrative and painterly and carefully thought out and just like maximum aesthetic all the time. Fantasy Life was their take on the kind of pseudo life simulator cozy genre. Came out on 3Ds in, God, I don't know, forever ago. And it let you live these different lives which are basically classes. And some of them were like combat lives where you'd run around these levels and fight monsters. But then most of them were like gathering lives so you could chop wood or go mining. And then there were crafting lives so you could make shit out of all the stuff. And all those systems were interconnected and each class, each life had a different story that you could live. And there was a lot of content there. But it was also the very definition of the mile wide, inch deep kind of criticism that is so often leveraged at bigger games. Because Fantasy Life was not that fun to play. The combat was pretty. Pretty crazy simple. And there just wasn't a lot of richness to those systems. I think they made another. Was there Fantasy Life two that came out before this? I feel like I missed one. It's possible. I was so.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I don't think so. I thought this was it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay. Possibly. Yeah. That was a game that I was super excited about because it was one of my favorite game developers taking on one of my favorite genres. And it just fell flat. This one. Fantasy Life I, the Girl who Steals Time is very much the same sort of premise. You are an explorer who crash lands on this island and you travel through time and you end up in this weird world and you gotta take on these jobs so you can earn some money so you can fly back home. But then you don't go home. You go to a huge open world and there's all kinds of shit to explore. And the whole time you are switching between these 14 different class, I think, which again are split up between like combat classes. So you can be a mercenary with a big two handed weapon or you can be a ranger with a bow and arrow. But then there are the gathering classes. You can be a farmer in this one. You can be an artist, an artist in this one.

[Russ Rushick]

But you're only gathering classes. So you're only playing as your character, but you are taking on different jobs.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is that you are only playing as your character. You're taking on different jobs in this game. They've made it like a single button press to swap jobs. It is not like a MMORPG where you're having to lock into a class and it's like a pain in the ass to change it. The idea is you have your combat class equipped. You run up to a tree and you press a and then you instantly switch to your woodcutter class and then you can start doing that side of things. But each class, you can customize the equipment of each class. You have different skill Trees for each class. You have different storylines for each class. There's like. It's pretty meaty, and I will say more substantial this time around than in the. Well, in a 3ds game.

[Justin McElroy]

Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like you would expect it. This game's out on everything. And I think that they have stuck the landing on that premise a lot better than they did the first time around. That's my setup. I'm curious to hear Chris talk about it because we have not actually had much of a chance to talk about our life series.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes, it is stuff to do. The video game, it is absurdly big. Everything Griffin just said, multiply that by 10 and you're about, like, half the way there. There's just so much shit. The easiest way that I find to think about the whole life class system is remember the last 3DS Zelda game that we loved where you would buy weapons, link between worlds, link between worlds, and you would, like, acquire a weapon and then, like, get good with it, and then you could unlock it permanently, and then you'd go buy another one. That's kind of how this works where if you think of these classes or lives as weapons, it's closer to a more traditional game structure because you are just one person. And, like, really what you're getting is the ability to use a hoe, the ability to use a fishing rod, the ability to use a sword. The fun of the game, like that Zelda game, is deciding what order of those things you want to prioritize. So, you know, right at the beginning, hey, I'm gonna need something for combat, and I'm gonna need something to harvest while I'm going from points A to point B. The challenge of the game for Completionist and Griffin. This is where I'm curious where your brain is at on this game is every time you walk anywhere, you are seeing all the other things you could be doing if you had it unlocked, every other job. So let's say you're a tree chopper and you're really good with a bow and arrow. While you're going from point A to point B, you'll chop down some trees and then you'll see all of this great stuff that you want to mine. You're like, well, shit, I better go back and learn how to do that. And suddenly you can get into a kind of vicious loop of just learning how to play or, like, unlock weapons for the game.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it is a tough game that kind of asks you to set the pace for it, which is, I think, a bit foolhardy. Because like, there's a point in the game where you're thrown into this, like, ancient city and you're like, go talk to this guy. You pick up any job you want. You'll do like a quick little introductory mission and then you can switch jobs if you want, unlock a different one, no big deal. After you do your first, like, unlock a job mission, you can skip the missions for each following job. So you can just say like, yeah, I want to be an alchemist, but I'm not going to do the fucking fetch quest for it. They just let you skip it. And now you have the class. So like, it'll take you a couple hours, but you can unlock every class. Then all of a sudden what Chris is saying is not like that huge of an issue. You do have to keep those classes leveled up if you go to like a hard dungeon because the resources there are higher level and you have to be like, able to mine those higher level resources with like a higher level class in order to take it on. So like, there's so much stuff to do, there's so much stuff to unlock, so much stuff to explore, so many different progression hooks to get stuck in. And so when you get thrown in, like, I don't know, I went bananas and was like, well, I gotta unlock every class. I'm gonna start doing these missions, start getting some upgrades. And then I went a little bit further in the story and unlocked like fucking Animal Crossing. Like, it unlocked a whole chunk of the game that I was not aware existed because I had spent so much time kind of spinning my wheels, leveling up all these different lives.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

But when you're Animal Crossing, it's just really quick to dig into that. It's Animal Crossing. Animal Crossing. It's like set up an entire town, refurbish an entire area, you know, decorate your house. It's, I mean, fully crossing Animal Crossing.

[Griffin McElroy]

It honestly reminded me of a mix between sort of Animal Crossing and the city building kind of aspect of Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud two, if that rings a bell with anyone. Because you're like putting together these houses for your, your villagers and your villagers are teammates that you can actually take out onto the field with you and you can equip them with their own shit and they'll help you out. When you're mining resources or fighting bad guys, there's multiplayer that will sort of fill that same role too. But there's this sort of offline, you know, AI companion sort of thing that you got going on. And they'll give you requests and you have to fulfill them. And so you do that and you're like, okay, cool. This is like Dark Cloud 2. This fucking rules. I'm going to do this for a while. You do that for a while and then you turn the corner and it's like, oh, by the way, here's a whole other fucking. Like here's a whole other part of the game. I feel like every few hours the game would just throw some new mechanic at you.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There's a point right, where Griffin's talking about where you've done the Animal Crossing stuff for a little while. And they're like, oh, hey, did you ever get around to going and doing that thing? And you go and do it and they're like, oh, good, you should take that item you found to the other island on the map. And you're like, oh, the one in the past? The present or the in between? And they're like, well, it's in the present. Or, sorry, the past. But actually. And then the map pulls out and you see a map view and a cloud raises and you realize, oh, there's multiple massive open worlds that they're just going to parse out through the course of the game. It feels like when people are in like junior high or high school and they're like, I'm gonna make video games for a living. Like, what are you gonna do? Well, it's gonna be Animal Crossing and it's also gonna be an open world combat game. It's also gonna be Zelda and there's gonna be a Metroid area and there's gonna be this in. What is I find shocking and impressive is it mostly works. I don't. Yeah, I don't think it's any of it's bad. It's just a lot. You sound like a. You sound completely out of touch when you are talking about this game because you're just listing off most of video games in this one little thing.

[Russ Rushick]

Well, I guess to echo the question that came up in the first section, like, does it feel good?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Is it there?

[Griffin McElroy]

It feels better. It feels better than Fantasy Life one.

[Russ Rushick]

Okay. For someone that didn't, like, doesn't feel better than like Animal Crossing. Just the move around the world.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm not even thinking about, like, yeah, that's fine. Like, I'm not talking about that. I'm thinking about like the combat. Right? That's a big element of the game as you're going through these dungeons. You can't get through the story of this thing without fighting some bad guys here and there, right? And the combat in fantasy life one was just like we press a, a whole bunch. Like there was not a whole lot to it. In this one there is some more depth to it. I think it is an improvement if this means anything to you at all, over like a rune factory, which is very much doing the same thing of like fantasy mixed with farming stuff. I think it works a little bit better than that. And I could see it being like kind of engaging. There's ways of like, as you explore the areas and you do shit and you fulfill quests and you hunt these rare monsters and rare resources, the areas themselves level up so they become more difficult and more difficult and more difficult and the rewards that you get become better and better and better. I could see that being like a pretty great little grindy experience with friends, you know, playing multiplayer. I don't. It's not like the combat is not. It's not like Hyper Light Drifter, like there's no shooting.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's a game about overlapping systems. Like it's a game about how does going out and solving these quests improve your town and how does improving your town help you save these mysterious people who are turning into household objects and how does doing that affect the future when you go to it and all of those things? So I think because it is doing so many top level overlapping systems, any one system itself is pretty simple, which.

[Russ Rushick]

Is I think fine. I mean we, you know, I look at Stardew for example, like yeah, the combat Stardew is not very good. Like it's very basic. But then we've seen games that have like evolved on the Stardew model and like made things feel a little bit better. But you're not, again, you're not going to feel like you have a full on like Zelda in your game.

[Griffin McElroy]

But to continue that analogy, I have only just unlocked farming. You don't start the game with farming. You have to unlock farming eventually. And it doesn't seem as rich and complex and fully featured and customizable as a stardew. Right. So it's like this game does a lot of stuff. It does a lot of stuff way better than the first game. Way, way better. So like I know people who have an affinity for the first game. I bet they're ba da ba ba ba loving it. And I think it does all the stuff that it does. I mean fairly well. Like better than serviceable. Like some of the stuff is I genuinely have been enjoying just running around and hunting monsters and checking off all my quests for all my different little classes and getting resources going home, crafting a bunch of shit, selling it for money, buying new formulas to craft. Like I'm pretty caught up in that stuff. It doesn't do any of that stuff. 10 out of 10. Amazing, I don't think. But it does so much stuff so well. And so many of those systems that work so well are interconnected that I don't know, I think it's just a. I think it's a really fucking impressive thing that also like looks and sounds absolutely incredible. I'm obsessed with the whole like level five stuff.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Of level five games, I think it's the most playable. The gameplay part is not always the best thing about a level five game. For me. It's usually the art and the sound.

[Russ Rushick]

I mean, I like doing matchstick puzzles. Let me just say.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, for sure.

[Russ Rushick]

Fucking good ass matchstick puzzles.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's true. That's true.

[Russ Rushick]

I will admit, like when you first pitched it and I saw the title, it sounded like Rune Factory. And I've played Rune Factory and I found it pretty intolerable, personally.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Rushick]

And this sounds more enjoyable because it allows you to like a little bit pick your own course.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My big recommendation is if you don't have a Switch, but you want a Switch like game, this is a great option. I mean the original one was published by Nintendo and they have retained a lot of that energy. If this had been published by Nintendo, it wouldn't surprise me. But obviously that's a different world.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah, it feels like Nintendo has their own slice of this pie at this point.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, they don't need this right now. Yeah.

[Russ Rushick]

We did get one letter I wanted to call out. This comes from Cody. Cody writes, hey, y' all. Loved your recent discussion of Shotgun Cop Man. One thing that stuck with me was the note by Russ who sort of alluded to minimalism, stripping back components mechanics to make it more fun. For those that aren't aware, this was on a Rusty's episode. But we talked about this game Shotgun Cop man, which was like kind of like a super meat boy with like 360 shooting mechanics to it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

You get. You do everything with a shotgun.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Basically you can jump, you can fly, you can kill.

[Justin McElroy]

Cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Anyway, yeah, it's pretty sick.

[Russ Rushick]

Back to the letter Cody writes, it reminded me of this quote from Antoine de Saint. Oh my God, I'm not going to pronounce that. Antoine de Saint is how I'm gonna. Cool. Does anyone speak French?

[Griffin McElroy]

Nah, man.

[Justin McElroy]

Lots of people do, dude.

[Russ Rushick]

Okay, someone. I'm gonna say it phonetically and Then someone can figure it out. Ex U. Perry who wrote.

[Justin McElroy]

I bet at least they know him in real life. Then they probably recognize it from what you're saying.

[Russ Rushick]

Why did I start doing the accent? Perfection is achieved.

[Griffin McElroy]

Give it three more tries. Give it three or four more tries. Spaghetti.

[Russ Rushick]

This is the quote. Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, we love that.

[Russ Rushick]

I like that.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, isn't that nice?

[Russ Rushick]

Back to Cody. I work as a backend engineer at Gearbox, building and maintaining the Shift platform. We see a lot of that principle in a lot of code. Clean, elegant solutions that are always better than overly complex ones. For Justin, you see this principle in Jigs. For example, a crosscut sled doesn't really need a bottom to do its job. Well, I assume that's a woodworking thing. Every unnecessary addition just gets in the way. So here's a challenge question. What is your favorite game that excels in doing less? Something that embraces simplicity in design mechanics and preserve presentation.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, gosh, I don't think that. Are we talking about removing all the presentational aspects or like winnowing the gameplay down to. Because I would argue that's two different things. Right. You can have a very minimalistic presentation with a.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

More of the second, I think is what we're talking about.

[Russ Rushick]

I kind of interpreted it as both.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Really. Okay.

[Russ Rushick]

I think. I think I'll give you an example. When I was reading this, the game that jumped into my head was N or N plus, the 2D ninja platforming game that has actually a surprising amount of depth to it. But like the present presentationally, like, it's all like vector art. Like, it's very, very simple, very minimalist, very focused on just presenting this very clean platforming game, which I think services the amount of depth to it because there is a lot of like physics depth to like moving around that world and it allows you to just focus on that. So I don't know if that helps you guys think.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, I think the incremental genre is pretty incredible at this. Kind of by definition, like you can't have too much cruft there.

[Russ Rushick]

Remind me of an example of that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Universal paperclips, cookie clicker, like all of those things.

[Justin McElroy]

Dark Room is an example of this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I mean, Dark Room is not a UI for that Dark Room. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Insign, which is the one that comes after Dark Room. One of those adds like a whole second exploration side of things, but, like incremental Games in general are just a simple UI for the most part and numbers that go up and mathematical kind of algorithms and that's just about it. And they are so sticky for me.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, to focus this a little bit, I would like to know your guys favorite elemental video game where the mechanics are so threadbare that it starts to almost feel like a classic. Like chess, because you have one mechanic and it worked. The one that for me was like for a long time it was like iOS was the best for this because like absolutely. Flappy bird and not flappy bird. Tiny wings and tilt to live. There was a lot of like really focused small cannibal. Cannibal cannibals. A clap, man. You can still give someone a controller. Give your kids cannonball. It hits. It still hits. And that's just that one thing. It's great. Sagon Super Hexagon is a great example. Was there an era of these? Does it feel like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, sure, fucking. Well, it sounds like it. I mean it sounds like when we were making. When companies were making. And by companies I usually mean like two or three people at a time were making iOS games. You couldn't make. You couldn't get too complex because they weren't especially powerful in the early days. And also like people weren't quite sure how to make big stuff on them yet.

[Justin McElroy]

A lot of people were also like willfully trying to jam more controls into games than a touchscreen can really like support.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I feel like it was around like Infinity Blade came out and Apple pushed so hard like, look what this fucking phone can do, guys, you're gonna shit your pants. Where then it all of a sudden like, I don't know, I feel like the tone shifted a little bit and now it was more about recreating AAA experiences as much as you could.

[Russ Rushick]

I mean, I still think there's like a pretty large contingent absolutely. Card games and like more traditional like board game style games on there. But you're right, there's also the like we're just going to do Resident Evil 4, you know, on a phone.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think Portal is a good example of this in terms of having a idea and extrapolating that as far as you can and cutting anything else. Like there's a bad version of Portal where suddenly you have guns and you're just running around shooting stuff.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right, sure.

[Russ Rushick]

It's also a good. That's a good example of both because it starts from a very minimalist visual standpoint and then they start like creeping in with like more interesting environments and things like that so you kind of see the range of it. But the gameplay never gets technically more complex than the first portal. It's really just the same idea.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. I also think Return of the Obra Dinn. I think there are a few games where it takes an idea and sticks purely to that idea as a one bit art form.

[Griffin McElroy]

You don't get much more minimalist. If you are more minimalist than that, there would be nothing.

[Russ Rushick]

There would be no bits.

[Justin McElroy]

No bits left.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's true. Griffin, did you ever get into the four kilobyte scene? Do you know about this?

[Griffin McElroy]

Is that like Game Boy palette sort of shit?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, it's the like European demo scene where these artists would use just 4 kilobytes of information and create these like 3D hallucinatory visuals. They'd have big parties for them kind.

[Griffin McElroy]

Of night in the culture. I mean I don't know what part of that you think sounds like my. It sounds cool, but I don't know how to find those functions.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Something about that tinkering. But yeah, I'm super interested in people who do those sorts of things where you have as little information as possible and try to accomplish something.

[Griffin McElroy]

Justin's more of the tinkerer these days.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yes, that's true.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm more of the tailor I think.

[Justin McElroy]

And Russ is the spy. Listen, Speaking of tinkering, SteamOS is actually out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did any of you guys fuck with it? Did you guys? I'm so scared to fuck with Bazzite because I just got it to work. I knew this was going to happen, that I was going to spend a day putting Bazzite on my Rog Ally.

[Justin McElroy]

And dual booting contextualized for people that aren't monitoring the space very closely. For devices like the Rog Ally Ally X et cetera that are default Windows handhelds, there's been a way to dual boot those into other operating systems. Most notably Bazzite which creates a Steam like experience, Steam Deck like experience on the Rog Ally X. But now Steam Valve has released Steam OS that is natively you can install it on the Rog Ally. The Legion go other handhelds like that. Which is really interesting one because there's a lot of frustrating things about using Windows for your device, not the least of which like if you don't want to mess with Microsoft, I completely understand that. And there's a lot of. Most notably the Linux kernel will let you suspend your system like mid game which is not. Doesn't sound massive until you start. Don't have it because you got really Used to it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

A lot of other portable places but like the, the, the. So that is very cool. I have not done it because I have Bazite running and I don't want to mess with it and I do not know the use case for installing SteamOS on a device that already has another OS dual booting into it. Like I don't. No one's going to be there to help me. I'm going to be way too down the well. Way too down the well.

[Russ Rushick]

You'd wipe all that Bazzite?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. I'll go back to the start. We'd start fresh.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah. I don't know. I don't have a rog ally so I wasn't really motivated to do it. But it does seem like if you were to get one today, rather than getting Bazite, you would just do the traditional Steam weapon, I think. Very exciting.

[Justin McElroy]

The more notable thing is this space. For this space to work, it has to be designed for and designed towards and it's a much more noble, I think, useful thing of working towards than like VR for example, which was sort of like the, the, the push and I think the push for the next few years rather than a graphical push, like the graphical arms race that has defined so much of gaming for so many years. I think it's going to be more about this, like how small can you make? How small can you make it run? And I think a wider distribution of a universal operating system I think is a great way to get more of a standard there because it really hasn't been one.

[Russ Rushick]

The Steam OS and having a Steam deck has Linux told me more than no other thing. This has been the turning point where Linux was scary before and because there's all these new people using it and making it palpable, I can go into Steam desktop mode and feel comfortable like messing around in there and you don't have all the fucking cruft that that's floating around with. Like you should upgrade to 365. Like there's, there's all sorts of upsides to it. So I'm like incredibly jazzed to the prospects and I have a lot, I.

[Griffin McElroy]

Have a lot of people I knew in college I need to apologize to.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

For silently and sometimes verbally judging.

[Russ Rushick]

Yeah, you push them down. You did all sorts of stuff.

[Justin McElroy]

I would also highly recommend if you're thinking about doing anything like this at all, if you get one of these devices, get yourself a mini keyboard. Rii RE or rii. I don't know if you pronounce I guess you. Yeah, I know, right? Rii, they make a lot of mini keyboards that have like the dongle stored inside the keyboard. There you go, Griffin. And like, if you're gonna be doing anything that requires you getting into the desktop, they're. You can get them for 25 bucks on Amazon. 22 bucks. They're really well worth it. I keep one in my backpack now in case I need to get in there and mess around.

[Griffin McElroy]

I made Platinum 3 in my Dota League using this bad boy. I don't know if that's a thing. I don't know.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Sounded right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sounded good to me. Are we doing honorable mentions?

[Russ Rushick]

I thought we already started. It kind of sounded like cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

It felt like we had organically kind of just merged into it.

[Russ Rushick]

I finished this season of the rehearsal. I'd strongly recommend once again, everyone watch it. I can't tell you anything about it. You shouldn't read anything about it. But that last episode was quite unexpected. It goes.

[Justin McElroy]

I watched one episode and I'm gonna give it the Justin McElroy thumbs down. Did not enjoy. Would not recommend.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, we warned you about the first 15 minutes of the first episode.

[Justin McElroy]

I skipped to the second episode where the singing competition is still a big no. Thanks.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that's tough one for J man. I get that.

[Justin McElroy]

No, it's not for me. It's not from a watch. It's from like a holistic like existence perspective. But yeah, got it. And everybody should make their art.

[Russ Rushick]

That's right.

[Griffin McElroy]

I finished Expedition 33.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. How was that?

[Griffin McElroy]

Extremely good. I clocked in around 42 hours. I did quite a bit of the side content. It's pretty breezy, I think by JRPG standards. I know that's a long time to play a game, but um, I think that it's an ending of a video game that people are going to be talking about for. For a while. I think they make some pretty bold fucking choices that I was really genuinely, I don't know, stuck with me in a way that I was.

[Justin McElroy]

To what extent is it setting this up for like a. Because like everything about the. The. The structure feels like setting it up for like a big franchise universe type deal. Does it seem like that?

[Griffin McElroy]

It is definitely self contained, but I could see there being more stuff to come out of it. But there is. I mean, the ending is an ending. The ending is quite. I don't know, it completes the arc of the thing and it does so in a way that the game definitely earns throughout its time. There is a the three act sort of structure of the game is as such that like when you start the third act you could go right and finish it. You can go right and finish it, but it's got that sort of like, you know, do you want to go out and really explore, you know, more shit and fill out more of the empty spaces in the story and the characters and et cetera, et cetera. And I really encourage you to do so. I don't know, I don't want to spoil it obviously, but the ending is. It's fucking wild that they ended it the way that they ended it. And it's very, very cool to see a game come out and just like. I don't know man, just beat ass in so many different ways and leave you with like a really thought provoking ending. It's like, I don't know, it's the whole package.

[Russ Rushick]

There are parts of me that think that maybe I need to not go to sleep at 10:30 at night anymore and just stay.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's my secret.

[Russ Rushick]

I just do not know how to make the math work otherwise to like finish that.

[Griffin McElroy]

I had a. I've been staying up late a lot lately, mostly working on projects and shit. But yeah, I'll crash a few hours of Expo 33 in there where I can. You got to put in the effort. You got to put in the labor to be a real gamer sometimes.

[Justin McElroy]

You're not going to catch Griffin standing in line.

[Griffin McElroy]

No fucking way, man.

[Justin McElroy]

No way. Unless he's got a Steam deck in his hand.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I don't fuck with Steam decks. I need the rog ally because I need the fast load time so I can get in as much gaming as I possibly can. The most dense pixels as possible.

[Justin McElroy]

Can I tell you guys what I have got.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Been messing around with this week? Yeah, it's called Survival Kids. You play Survival Kids? It's on Game Boy Color. It's also known as Stranded Kids. It's a really interesting. It's fascinating man. If you go back and play this little guy, you're a little kid and you watch up on a beach and you have nothing and you have no information. And for a game from this era that feels so strange. But you're literally like walking around a deserted island finding like sticks and rocks to start like little fires. You're finding shells to dig meat out of to try to stay alive. You need fresh water, you need shelter. You're like trying to set up a whole like living situation. I missed this completely. But I did play later. This was continued as Lost in Blue on the Nintendo ds. I don't know. Right. So this, this is where the series started. They were called Survival Kids. Whatever, whatever in Japan. But here they were just lost in blue because the Survival Kids name didn't really have the.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Did you see that? Survival Kids comes out next week.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. It's crazy timing. Like, it's wild.

[Russ Rushick]

They're doing a swimming Nintendo. Is that what you're talking about?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes. An official, official re release on the Nintendo Classics Service.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's great.

[Justin McElroy]

So you'll be able to play that now.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can go play it.

[Russ Rushick]

No, but there's also a sequel.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There's a new, a reboot of it coming out. 3D version of Survival Kids Switch 2's launch.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, fantastic.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fuck yeah, man.

[Justin McElroy]

Fantastic.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Now's the time.

[Justin McElroy]

Listen, this was even more timely than I knew. But go check out Survival Kids. You can play the re release now. Like you can go play the re release of it.

[Russ Rushick]

It looks like the Link's awakening engine. That's what it looks.

[Justin McElroy]

It's really interesting. Like the things that they're doing. It's. It's weird. It's like. It definitely feels a little bit like proof of concept because it's the first one in a very long running series. But there are ideas that I didn't know were in the ether at this point. Like in terms of like what a survival game looks like. So from that historical perspective, it's, it's, it's cool.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

The Game Boy color box art is also just real good.

[Griffin McElroy]

It can't beat it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Real, real good. My thing. Jaws. Saw Jaws the other night. Pretty good.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh yeah. With the shark.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's summertime, baby. That means you've got to watch Jaws. You got to watch the sandlot. You got to watch Dirty Dancing.

[Justin McElroy]

Did you ever see that play? I'll tell you guys about that play.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, about the making of Jaws?

[Justin McElroy]

About the making of Jaws.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. Did you like it?

[Justin McElroy]

It's great. It was fascinating. I don't know if it would work as well if the guy who played Quinn's son is not playing his role. That was the context in which I saw it, so that was ideal. Yeah, definitely. He is so good at playing Robert Shaw. It's crazy, guys. You would imagine that he's like so much like him.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's Wild Doll's eyes. Cool. That's all I've got. Anything else?

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, I've also been watching Devil's Plan, but I think you guys, I don't think the world's short. Ready to hear more discussion?

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, I found the stupidest reality show that's called Gotta Get Out. Do you know what that shows about? There's a room, a house full of people. Half are celebrities, half are not. All the doors are locked. There is a gate. There is a million dollars on offer and a money clock that is ticking up. A dollar a minute or whatever. A dollar every few seconds it's ticking up. And if you escape the house, then you get to take all the money that's currently accrued in the pot. But people are watching everyone else to try to escape. There are buttons to like crash the gates, to close the gates throughout the house. There's a watchtower where people are watching. But you can get escape attempts randomly. You can collect escape attempts. Like, there's going to be a recycling truck coming through if you hide in this recycling bin at 3pm there's an exfiltration strategy. Or like we've hidden keys to a Maserati out front if you can find it. Or you'll get people working as a team. Like, one lady found a hidden Santa costume and she could use the Santa costume. And if they have a partner, they could decide to go back and split the money with their partner or not. And that's. The whole show is called Gotta Get Out. That's great, dude. It's one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. Spencer from the Hills is on it and he exclusively wears Heidi Montag T shirts. And I do think that that is very good. I do have to give him credit for that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Are they still different ones too?

[Justin McElroy]

The guy's like a dozen.

[Russ Rushick]

Are they together still?

[Justin McElroy]

Yes, yes, they are.

[Russ Rushick]

They made it.

[Justin McElroy]

Very much in love.

[Russ Rushick]

I love that. That's great.

[Justin McElroy]

They have several kids.

[Russ Rushick]

Good for them.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm one of them. My dad and mom.

[Russ Rushick]

I want.

[Griffin McElroy]

I want my mom and dad too, I guess. I love you, mom and dad. Who's this fucking old guy we play Dungeons and Dragons with? He's not Spencer.

[Justin McElroy]

He took us from our real parents.

[Griffin McElroy]

Spencer.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, dude. Like a thief of the night. What are we doing next week?

[Griffin McElroy]

Good question.

[Russ Rushick]

Next week we are doing two games. Due to some travel concerns, we want to make sure that portable games are an option. But we're doing Elden Ring Night Rain and Monster Train 2. So we'll be covering both of those games and I'm very excited for them because they're both pretty major. I guess sequel ish is for big games.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is that what we're calling Elden Ring Night Rain.

[Justin McElroy]

Is that what we're calling it?

[Russ Rushick]

Oh, that's why I added the ish. There's a sequel ish. I also want to thank our patrons [e-mail] thebesties we have Kieran, we have Ariana, we have Camille, and we have Sawyer. Thank you for being patrons. Thank you for everyone else for being so supportive and being patrons of the best Resties. We're doing our best. We hope. We hope you appreciate us in the way that we greatly, greatly appreciate you. We have a new episode of the resties that it's up and in your feed, and we're gonna have a new bracket coming at you real soon. So keep an eye out for that next week. I think that's it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Cool.

[Justin McElroy]

Great. It's gonna do it for us this week on the besties. Be sure to join us again next week for the besties, because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games? Besties.