Yes, Metaphor: ReFantazio Really is Fantasy Persona

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Besties – Episode: "Yes, Metaphor: ReFantazio Really is Fantasy Persona"

Release Date: October 11, 2024
Hosts: Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Russ Frushtick
Podcast Description: It's Game of the Year meets King of the Hill as four of Earth's best friends – Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Chris Plante, and Russ Frushtick – rank and review their favorite video games. Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?

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1. Introduction to "Metaphor: ReFantazio Really is Fantasy Persona"

The episode kicks off with Justin McIlroy introducing the concept behind the game "Metaphor: ReFantazio," drawing early comparisons to the well-known Persona series. However, the hosts quickly identify the unique elements that set "ReFantazio" apart, particularly its deep fantasy influences and nuanced gameplay mechanics.

• Justin McIlroy [00:10]: "Is it too early to just say the metaphor was inside you the whole time. Is it too early? Am I jumping the gun?"

• Chris Plant [00:13]: "I mean, you're definitely jumping the gun. I don't think anybody ever talk. What the fuck?"

2. Game Naming Debate

A significant portion of the discussion centers around the challenges of naming the game. The hosts engage in a lively debate, suggesting various titles and evaluating their memorability and appeal.

• Russ Freshtick [00:44]: "I was just trying to think about better names for the video game."

• Griffin McElroy [00:55]: "Let me try Fantasy Sword. You could do Magic Quest."

• Griffin McElroy [01:15]: "My position is that you could call the game Ham Bones Slam Jam and it would be probably a stronger, more memorable title."

• Justin McIlroy [01:28]: "I think Metaphor on its own is not bad."

3. Deep Dive into "Metaphor: ReFantazio" Gameplay and Mechanics

The hosts delve into the core mechanics of "ReFantazio," highlighting its similarities to Persona games while emphasizing its distinct fantasy setting influenced by artists like Salvador Dalí and Hieronymus Bosch.

• Chris Plant [02:59]: "Metaphor refantazio is kind of like Persona because it's made by the people who made the Persona games. But this time, say goodbye to that wonderful Japan high school experience."

• Griffin McElroy [07:44]: "It's very similar. It takes place in a calendar that passes. You have to manage your time and your activities. There are social links that inform the core dungeon crawling gameplay."

Key Features Discussed:

• Class System: Unlike Persona's demon fusion, "ReFantazio" employs a traditional class system where each character is customizable, allowing for diverse skill combinations.

  • Griffin McElroy [08:58]: "It's just like a class system like you would see in Final Fantasy V or whatever."

• Followers vs. Social Links: Social relationships are termed 'followers,' and leveling them directly enhances class abilities, offering more tangible benefits compared to Persona's social links.

  • Griffin McElroy [10:15]: "Social links, they're called followers in this game. When you level those up, it directly empowers those different classes."

• Travelogue Structure: The game's setting is dynamic, spanning multiple cities with unique side quests and mini-dungeons, enhancing replayability and variety.

  • Griffin McElroy [13:02]: "It always kind of feels, I do think the dungeon stuff, like you do kind of have to be into that, like grindy."

4. Hosts' Personal Experiences and Opinions

The hosts share their individual experiences with "ReFantazio," offering a range of perspectives on its initial engagement and long-term appeal.

• Russ Freshtick [06:25]: "I don't know, man. This story is doing a lot. It's doing like political intrigue and it's a revenge story. It's an underdog story."

• Griffin McElroy [20:08]: "I just love this. I love this series. I love this developer. I love this game. Honestly, I'm fucking crazy about this game."

• Justin McIlroy [21:07]: "I was immediately kind of drawn to the setting of both Persona 4 and Persona 5."

5. Comparisons to Other Games

The discussion broadens as the hosts compare "ReFantazio" to other contemporary and classic titles, assessing where it stands in the broader gaming landscape.

• Kill Night:

  • Justin McIlroy [32:17]: "Kill Night is basically blending the gameplay of a Hades with the gameplay of like a Doom 2016."

• Yars Rising:

  • Russ Freshtick [35:35]: "Yars Rising is a search action game where you are a young hacker working for a company that finds out the company is up to some nefarious stuff."

• Halls of Torment:

  • Justin McIlroy [42:11]: "Halls of Torment is the best vampire survivors, like ever made."

6. Broader Gaming and Media Discussions

Beyond "ReFantazio," the hosts touch upon various topics including anime adaptations, specific shows like "Uzumaki," and recommendations for other games and anime.

• Anime Recommendations:

  • Griffin McElroy [45:21]: "The Toonami adaptation of Uzumaki Junji Ito is incredibly impressive."

• Library and Halloween:

  • Christopher Plant [50:25]: "Great time to go to the public library for Halloween."

7. Final Thoughts and Upcoming Episodes

Wrapping up the episode, the hosts reflect on the enduring appeal of certain genres and hint at future content, including discussions on "Silent Hill 2" remake and Halloween-themed recommendations.

• Russ Freshtick [56:15]: "We're headed back into the staticy world of Silent Hill 2."

• Griffin McElroy [56:19]: "We'll see if it’s too scary for me."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Justin McIlroy [00:10]: "Is it too early to just say the metaphor was inside you the whole time."

• Griffin McElroy [07:44]: "It's very similar. It takes place in a calendar that passes. You have to manage your time and your activities."

• Griffin McElroy [20:08]: "Honestly, I'm fucking crazy about this game."

• Justin McIlroy [32:17]: "Kill Night is basically blending the gameplay of a Hades with the gameplay of like a Doom 2016."

• Griffin McElroy [27:00]: "This is probably gonna be my goatee with a bullet. I'm obsessed with it."

Conclusion

In this episode, "The Besties" provide a comprehensive and passionate exploration of "Metaphor: ReFantazio Really is Fantasy Persona," positioning it as a standout title in the JRPG genre by blending traditional elements with innovative systems and rich storytelling. The hosts' diverse perspectives offer listeners a multifaceted understanding of the game's strengths and areas of contention, making it a valuable listen for both fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Justin McIlroy]

See, is it too early to just say it was the metaphor was inside you the whole time. Is it too early? Am I jumping the gun?

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I mean, you're definitely jumping the gun. I don't think anybody ever talk. What the fuck?

[Griffin McElroy]

We never do talk about the game in the introduction.

[Justin McIlroy]

But in this case, I'm not talking about the game. I'm talking about the very end of the game when you learn that the metaphor was inside you the whole time.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh, you're worried about spoiling that truth again.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes, that's true. Teddy from Persona 4 comes out at the end of this one and he's like, the metaphor was you and love and be cool to each other. Those are the three metaphors of metaphor. Refantasio. Did you have something else you wanted to talk about, Justin?

[Russ Freshtick]

No, I was just trying to think about better names for the video game. Cause they couldn't come up with any, so I was trying to come up with one.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, sure. Let me try Fantasy Sword. You could do Magic Quest.

[Justin McIlroy]

Okay. No, no, no, Wait, hold on.

[Russ Freshtick]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Sorry, I need to stop for one second.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure. Sure.

[Russ Freshtick]

Is the name that you wanted to pitch because I think it's strong.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Russ Freshtick]

You can do Magic Hyphen Quest, exclamation point. You can do Magic Quest, exclamation point.

[Griffin McElroy]

My position is that you could call the game Ham Bones Slam Jam and it would be probably a stronger, more memorable title. I adore this game. In two years I'm gonna be like, what was that fucking game called again?

[Justin McIlroy]

I think Metaphor on its own is not bad. And then you have some like random ass Italian shit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Re. Fantasio sounds like this game has sent me an email and it wants to draw my attention to Fantasio.

[Justin McIlroy]

It sounds like I should be playing Maracas while playing this game.

[Russ Freshtick]

I think a little bit if you had, maybe they could choose between Metaphor and Fantasio because they are both kick ass names for video games.

[Griffin McElroy]

Slip a re in there to bind them together.

[Russ Freshtick]

The binding reaction. My name is Justin McIlroy. I know the best games of the week.

[Griffin McElroy]

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

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My name is Christopher Thomas Plant. And I think I know where the name of this game comes from. And it would be a script on this episode because I don't think anybody else has figured it out yet.

[Russ Freshtick]

This week we're talking about Metaphor.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think it'd be cool to get Russ on this one.

[Russ Freshtick]

Let's get Russ. Open this One. Get your flavor on here. Sorry. Plant threw it off by talking after his name and I felt like the show had started.

[Justin McIlroy]

No, I get it. I get it.

[Russ Freshtick]

Certain. Anyway, welcome to Besties, where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It is a video game club and just by listening, you are a member. We're talking about metaphor refantazio. Chris Plant, what's that?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Metaphor refantazio is kind of like Persona because it's made by the people who made the Persona games. But this time, say goodbye to that wonderful Japan high school experience. Say hello to fantasy heavily, heavily influenced by the works of Salvador Dali. And we're going to talk about it more after I throw you.

[Russ Freshtick]

And then after that, the fun boys are back in town. Russ Freshtick and I are bringing back games. We're going to have. We're going to get this episode.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let's go to the break so we can establish the structure.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

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[Griffin McElroy]

We here at Besties Incorporated take our human resources incredibly seriously.

[Justin McIlroy]

And when you say human, you mean horrible monsters.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean horrible mutant monsters. We take our human resources very seriously. To get all four of us embedded elbow deep in a 90 hour long JRPG is simply not the best use of everyone's time. And so some people weren't so psyched about playing a 90 hour JRPG. They checked out other shit. That's fine.

[Justin McIlroy]

And for what it's worth, some people did try to check out a 90 hour RPG.

[Russ Freshtick]

I'd say a lot of people on this show tried.

[Justin McIlroy]

I'd say the majority is the call.

[Griffin McElroy]

I will say I got my road dog over there. Chris Plant over there.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I am sorry to talk with people who actually tried and not people who are gonna tell me they tried.

[Russ Freshtick]

Justin, can I say very quickly, just to set the parameters.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure.

[Russ Freshtick]

I come not to crucify metaphor, refantazio. It is 100% a case of like, not your shit. Yeah, knew it wouldn't be my flavor going in.

[Griffin McElroy]

You've played Persona games, right? And you know that you haven't, like, really loved a Persona game?

[Russ Freshtick]

I have really loved several Persona games. I've played 80 hours of a couple different Persona games.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, fuck, man. You should play this game. It's good as shit.

[Russ Freshtick]

This is not a Persona game.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, no, no. This is.

[Russ Freshtick]

Listen, I don't. I just said that. I just said that.

[Griffin McElroy]

No aggro. No aggro here.

[Russ Freshtick]

I stepped away. I could tell you why it didn't work for me, but I don't. Who gives a shit? Like, if you're gonna like it, you're gonna like it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let's circle back to that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Let's circle back to that. I also want to call my shot now that in sometime in the next six months, I don't know when Justin's going to come and tell us that he's actually started playing this and that he loves this game and it's gonna.

[Russ Freshtick]

No, it's not gonna guarantee you.

[Griffin McElroy]

He's got his reasons and I'm curious to hear them. But before we do that, we should talk about that.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah. And I wanna say Justin and I, like, we. I'm gonna just hang back for a while while you guys fucking drool over.

[Russ Freshtick]

I know it seems like Russ and I have been talking for two minutes about how we're not gonna talk, but just to set it up, Rust and I are really gonna try to sit back a little bit, let you guys do it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think this game Does a lot of stuff different from Persona. So I would like. I would say if you have like.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Can you give us summary? Can you give us about that? Griffin, do you want to start with like, what's the summary of the game?

[Griffin McElroy]

So if genuinely it is not reductive to call this fantasy Persona and you would know like 85% of what you need to know about the game. Structurally, it's very similar. It takes place in a calendar that passes. You have to manage your time and your activities. There are social links that inform the core dungeon crawling gameplay. All of that stuff is here. And what is different is the genre. It is profoundly different than this slick, urban kind of fantasy story that they have told in all the Persona games. The Shin Megami Tensei games are. I don't know. I don't know how to classify them as a genre, but this is straight up fantasy. And it is like really, really, I would say traditional, extremely dark kind of fantasy. A lot of really fucked up stuff happens in this game, which I think they can.

[Russ Freshtick]

To color it a bit like you keep. It's not high fantasy. I would.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, no, no.

[Russ Freshtick]

More just like militaristic fantasy.

[Justin McIlroy]

Like that's kind of Game of Thrones Y kind of.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, not Game of Thrones. I would say military. Like Attack on Titan is the vibe that it was kind of Final Fantasy.

[Russ Freshtick]

Games too, I think of hands.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, sure.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I would say Game of Thrones season one.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Before there is some castle interest.

[Russ Freshtick]

But this is much more modern. Like the aesthetics are not.

[Griffin McElroy]

They speak in modern sort of ways. They got bricks for the most part. And they look cool. Right. They still look like fucking cool people. Because like, it is a P Studio game and that's their jam. I think this game sets itself apart in what it does differently than Persona and what it has honestly fixed about some of the stuff in Persona. Yeah, I think it is way easier to understand. They have done away with a lot of cruft from the Persona format. For example, gone is the, like, you have to go out and collect these different demons and then fuse them. And if your social link is strong enough here, you can make a stronger version of this. That's all gone now. It's just like a class system like you would see in Final Fantasy V or whatever. Imagine any game where you could. All the Dragon Quest games where you can pick different classes for each character. Each character is totally customizable. It's not like Persona games where you just really can control your main guy and then who. Whoever you hang with does their own thing. And you can blend these different classes, right? You can have a fighter with skills from the Healer Tree and so on and so forth. And so your social links, they're called followers in this game. When you level those up, it directly empowers those different classes, which I find a way more juicy and delicious carrot than like in Persona 5. It's like you talk to this guy and you spend half the day with him, and then it's like on Sundays you get 50% off at the smoothie stand. It's like, who fucking cares in this one? I feel like by simplifying that system, they have made it way more appealing to, I don't know, do anything. I found myself never without, like something I wanted to do, something I wanted to chase. I think that improves the pacing of the game a lot, which is maybe its biggest accomplishment. In every Persona game, even the ones I love, it's like there will be times where it's like, Well, I got 15 days to kill. I guess I'll go to eat fucking beef with Chie. Over and over and over and over again. Chris, what was your take?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Well, for people who have not played a Persona game, because I'm sure that there's going to be some of those listening. The calendar thing that Griffin talked about is the key to the game. And I think is probably why Hoops and Fresh maybe bounced off. Because here's a problem with the game. For most average people, the calendar stuff doesn't really start until the 10 hour mark and doesn't really get going until the 20 hour mark. And that is a totally reasonable reason to bounce off this. Yes, that is a huge ask of players. But when you get to it, Holy moly, does it sing. And the way it works is that you. Let's say that there's a big dungeon that you need to go solve the mystery for, right? You need to go beat the big boss in the. In the scary dungeon. And they will say you have two weeks to do that. And there's a countdown clock every day when you wake up and you have a thing that you can do in the afternoon or in the evening and you could go right to the dungeon and start blasting through it, but the enemies will be really tough. So what's probably better spent is chatting with your friends and unlocking these new powers or going and doing side quests. Because I think that's the other thing that this game does really well. It gives you a ton of side things to do rather than just going to a endless generative dungeon. And playing it over and over again.

[Griffin McElroy]

And they tried to do this with Persona 5, right? Persona 5 had the lab labyrinth. I forget what it was called. But like if you were, if you didn't, you know, need to progress in the main dungeon, there was like this other dungeon you could go and level up in. This game is, I mean, another sort of big genre difference is it's a travelogue. It doesn't take place in one, it doesn't take place in Tokyo. And that's it. You move through these different cities. And every time you get to a new city, it's like there's new side quests, new mini dungeons to explore, new, you know, social links to form new. So it always kind of feels, I do think the dungeon stuff, like you do kind of have to be into that, like grindy.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

If you don't like turn based dungeon combat, this game is not for you. And something clicked in my head with Infinite wealth that got me into this stuff. And thank the heavens because I used to like despise this chunk of Persona games and now I'm really, really into it. But yeah, I think the other thing that that fixes, you mentioned the travelogue of it all. By making this a road trip video game effectively, it is allowed to do so much more with those side dungeons creatively. So another example of that is each time you go into a town, they have a series of like, oh, these people are terrorizing our town. We want you to go and fulfill this bounty, which is like not so different than any other bounty questing and rpg. But you will hear about those bounties from other random characters in the town. You will like actually get a sense.

[Griffin McElroy]

My son got eaten by the wind.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Like these things sort of barking that up. Yeah, yeah, it's very. Just clever. And I found that like once I got into it, once I got to that point, it was really hard to stop playing because it would be like, okay, Well I have 10 days free and I have this afternoon and this afternoon, oh, I can finally talk to my, one of my best colleagues who is gonna, I know, unlock all these powers and I wanna know more about their story. And then I do that and then I, oh, damn. I really wanted to go fulfill that one tiny dungeon. And suddenly I lost another hour doing that. And time just completely gets away from you because there's always another relatively short thing to do with a genuinely pleasurable story beat and reward.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't think it's a crunch though, in the way that some Persona games, it feels like oh, no, I don't have enough time to get everything. I have felt like I.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Way more generous time.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. One other thing that is sort of.

[Russ Freshtick]

Real generous with your time, too. It's generous with time.

[Griffin McElroy]

One other thing that I think is really kind of interesting about the game is sort of the subject matter that it dabbles in. The main kind of, like, premise of the game is, what if this world that was basically like a sort of theocratic monarchy, with all of these systemic problems with racism and classism and deep, deep entrenchment of power that sort of facilitates the racism and the classism. What if overnight it became a democracy because of magic? And then seeing people in this world like, no one knows how to fucking deal with this, right? Even the people who are supposedly empowered to choose their next king are like, wait, but how does it work? How do we do it? And you meet a ton of characters that sort of represent these different sort of virtues that a ruler might have. And it's like a great cast of characters, too. It beats you over the head with this stuff. When you start playing, it shows you, like, there's these nine tribes and there's lesser tribes, and people are really racist against them, and it feels like they are setting up this story that is just like, all of this bad stuff is bad, when really it's more of a story of, like, how do you fix the bad stuff? And that is sort of what the. That was the metaphor all along. The main character has this book that is like a book that is sort of about this utopia that kind of reflects the real world, our world. And that's so fucking interesting. Like, it is really fascinating to hear all of these different takes, and it's not all, like, idealistic. Like, there's a really great moment where you talk to this one character, and he reads the book, and he's like, I don't know. He's like, it's great to just say, like, everyone should be equal, but how do you. Like, does that mean we ignore what separates us and makes us different? And the culture and all of the stuff that kind of, like, makes you. Makes you unique? It really kind of, like, I don't know, it asks sort of thoughtful questions about this core conceit in a way that really surprised me, because I don't think any Persona game has done that well in the past. In Persona 5, it's like, the world sucks. Fuck grownups. That's about as far as you get. In Persona 5, it is funny.

[Justin McIlroy]

It's funny to me in this because they lay it on so thick early on. And again, I did not get deep into this, but they lay it on so thick where they're like, just a reminder. I know you're gonna think you're playing a fantasy game, but actually connect it to what you got going on in real life and you'll see some similarities.

[Russ Freshtick]

It's interesting, huh?

[Griffin McElroy]

Isn't that interesting?

[Russ Freshtick]

We're doing some interesting things over here.

[Griffin McElroy]

They do. But I think that that hook does like a really.

[Justin McIlroy]

I know.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's just whenever you meet a new.

[Justin McIlroy]

Character, it's a thick brush for sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

But whenever you meet it, it is a lens through which you learn about, like, the characters who join your party, because you always have a scene with them where it's like, check this book out. And they're like, oh, interesting shit. Cool. Okay.

[Russ Freshtick]

How do you. How do you. Okay, I want to hear about your issues.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I want to hear.

[Russ Freshtick]

It doesn't matter. I'm much more interested in you guys.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay?

[Russ Freshtick]

How do you justify for yourselves? And I'm not. I don't mean this in, like, an antagonistic way. I'm saying, like, what you're talking about. A lot of this sounds, like, interesting, right? I know that I, like, full stop, was not enjoying myself while I was playing this game. Well, the combat is a lot thinner then for the, I don't know, five or six hours that I got through. A lot thinner than what was going on in Yakuza. It's very. It's very much like rock beat scissors.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McIlroy]

Strong against weak. I mean, I know what.

[Russ Freshtick]

I'm only speaking my experience. I'm not interested in trading, so.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

[Russ Freshtick]

So. So that was kind of boring to me. There are so many games, movies, books, whatever, that I could experience the totality of before this got good. So how do you, as people with limited time, say, well, I can justify that initial buildup or ramp up because the rest of it is so enjoyable. I can't justify, at this point in my life, I can't justify spending any time where I'm, like, not enjoying it. This isn't good, but it'll get good later.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, I mean, I have a few answers to that. For me, I love this genre. I love this developer and this style so much that I don't think that the game takes 10 to 20 hours to get good. You basically unlock the class system or whatever after an hour. And the stuff leading up to that is just world building. And I am willing to stick through a part of the game that I find a little bit dull because I trust that this developer has some really good shit coming down the line. And that's. And the reason I feel okay about spending as much time with this game as I do, for one, it's been my fucking bike, buddy. And so, like, oh, shit, I've been rocking like an hour on my bike and I don't have a ton of other, like, game time unless I stay up late at night, which I have done quite a few times for this game.

[Russ Freshtick]

This is not about amount of time either. I have disgusting amounts of time on.

[Griffin McElroy]

Mini games, but you could spend that doing any in the 90 hours it would take to beat this game. You could do so much shit. Right? Yeah. I just love this. I love this series. I love this developer. I love this game. Honestly, I'm fucking crazy about this game. And so I don't know. This is how I like to play games. I don't mind getting stuck into a game because I honestly prefer that. That kind of stuff excites me a lot.

[Justin McIlroy]

Can I ask on the narrative side, and this specifically relates to time, when did you feel. I'll take a step back. I was immediately kind of drawn to the setting of both Persona 4 and Persona 5. Just like, off the jump, a lot of it is like, oh, it's a real world setting, but not one that I know super well. But at least there's a grounded nature.

[Russ Freshtick]

And I think the writing recreated parts.

[Justin McIlroy]

Of Japan kind of drew me in. So when. How far into this game were you? Like, oh, I like this character, or, oh, I'm into this story. How long did that take? Not so much.

[Griffin McElroy]

The gameplay I do miss. I will say the thing missing for me is I do love the virtual tourism shit of Persona 4 and 5. And I do think this setting is interesting. All of the kind of world building that they do around it is interesting, but I don't think it necessarily is as vibrant or has that kind of external familiarity as Persona 4 and 5 had. As far as when the game gets hooked me, there is a moment sort of right before you get into the first major dungeon where the plot of the game is established, and that's this sort of like, uh, oh, it's a democracy now. Deal with it is like, so the way that comes about is so fucking wild. And then I sort of realized the more I played, like, I didn't know what was gonna happen next in the way that, like, Persona. You can't say that about. In Persona, I always know what's gonna happen next. A month is going to pass. I'm gonna find some weird kid, I'm gonna go into his heart and fix him or whatever, and he's gonna become my new party member in this one. It's like, I don't know, man. This story is doing a lot. It's doing like political intrigue and it's a revenge story. It's an underdog story.

[Russ Freshtick]

It might have just been. I think there's a moment of reassurance for me in a game when I reach what I think is the end of the loop that this game is built of. Like, it's built of these loops. And like with action games, those are very short loops, right. I think the original idea of these was. Was in context of Halo, right?

[Justin McIlroy]

30 seconds, basically 30 second loops.

[Russ Freshtick]

But I think with this, like, you want to see the structure of like where this. And for me, I didn't see that sort of like where I felt like this is the game. Like I'm in the game now. And I feel like that made it hard for me to feel like I was really. It's sort of like if the first episode of a podcast is really long and you don't finish it, it's like, well, I must hate this podcast.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, sure.

[Russ Freshtick]

It's like, you know, I felt like.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah, I just want to go back to the original question of like the 90 hours because I think there's two separate interesting things there. First, why the game works. I don't think it is a traditional loop video game and I don't think, like, that's the market that they are in. And I think that's why it took five Persona games for them to like, really find success with that series because you have to like, teach people what the game is. And now we all take it for granted. Like, we know the Persona system, we know it's going to pay off for us. But like, I think it same thing with Monster Hunter, right? Like, you kind of have to try these games over and over again before you, like, learn to trust that, like it's going to be worth it. And I think that is a part of it here. In terms of like that intro, I agree with Griffin. Like, I thought after the first hour I was like very much into the game, but the gameplay does take longer to get going. But before then, I think the story is interesting. I think the music is fantastic.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fucking wild soundtrack on this track.

[Justin McIlroy]

I thought presentationally and the music, it looks bad. I thought the presentation.

[Russ Freshtick]

Just the look of it. Just the look of it. It's so busy that it gave me a headache. I think it looks bad to look at. Just like the amount of it on there. I found kind of grating.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I would say I adore it. Like, I think it actually looks like art. And I think it's inspirations. I think it's wild to play a game where the inspirations are so clearly like Hieronymus Bosch or Salvador Dali or Francis Bacon.

[Griffin McElroy]

The bosses are so fucked up and scary.

[Russ Freshtick]

I didn't realize that is. That's on me because I didn't get the Hieronymus Bosh of it all. And now that you're saying that that's unlocked sort of an enjoyment on my end.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, now, you know, now you got the Bosch in there.

[Russ Freshtick]

You know, I actually, now that you've said Bosh and Dolly, I'm like, view.

[Griffin McElroy]

It through a lyric.

[Justin McIlroy]

This is detected Bosh we're talking about, right?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

We are not talking about. Yes, that's 100%.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I mean, but the other thing about the 90 hours, I just want to. I just want to talk to that really quick. I think that is the forever problem of our enterprise, of us doing this show, of people liking video games in general. You could always be doing something better with your time. If you were playing this and you're like, man, during this time, I could have read like, Moby Dick four times over. And then when reading Moby Dick, you could be like, man, doing this. I could have, like, opened it up.

[Griffin McElroy]

I could have been playing metaphor refantasia.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Yeah. Like, I mean, there's always a better use of your time. Time is inherently wasted. And as long as it is bringing you pleasure, I think it matters. I think it's like. I guess what I'm saying is it's a good question, but I think kind of an ineffective one because it inherently brings your dislike of a thing. I'm not saying it's just about you hoops with this game. I'm saying I've done this for other games, too. I know I say this often about MMOs, but other people are getting something out of it that I just personally cannot unlock. So for me, it is a bad use of.

[Russ Freshtick]

But I'm saying that. I am saying that there's an artificiality in what we're talking about because that you only think it's worth the time in retrospect.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

No, I know.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't think that's fair. Not at all.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I was into it right away.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah.

[Justin McIlroy]

Chris Plant, earlier, you did say, like, you don't think the game necessarily is like, hits its point of mo until like, 10 or 20 hours, like you said.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think it becomes a like 10 out of 10 game at 20 hours. And I'm also talking about the point where I guess I'm talking to, like, y'all, who want the gameplay loop, who want, like, that. That the thing that you're going to find pleasurable, that's going to take a while to get to. For me, I was enjoying the story. I was enjoying the art. There are other things that I, like, was enjoying in the game that I.

[Justin McIlroy]

Will say we kind of skipped over it. The music. I fucking. I was like, so into that fat.

[Griffin McElroy]

The first time you get into a fight and you hear that, there's, like, crazy, like, operatic shrieking happening throughout the whole series.

[Justin McIlroy]

So fucking cool. I thought that was great.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is probably gonna be my goatee with a bullet. I'm obsessed with it and I wanna spend every sort of. Like, I've put almost 30 hours into it, and I'm rounding sort of like the third major dungeon. And I just think it's great. I think the writing's great. I think the characters are great. Have you met Heisme yet, Chris?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, definitely, dude.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's like, my favorite character in a game this side of, like, Chrono Trigger.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I feel like there's a screenshot that I will put in the newsletter in a few weeks after the game has been out for a little while. But it, to me, is real. How did we get to this point in the world of video games that this screenshot both exists and makes sense and is affecting?

[Griffin McElroy]

I think this is a pretty easy one. If you like the Persona games. This is a fucking incredible one. It. It. I want to finish it first, but I don't think a Persona game has, like, grabbed me and made me want to keep playing as much as this. This game does.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Same. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

And if that is not your. I mean, JRPGs are. I think that's a pretty codified genre, like fighting games or racing games. Like, you know whether or not that's going to be your shit. And it is extremely ajrpg and a more traditional one.

[Justin McIlroy]

Like, I doesn't feel like Infinite wealth is a traditional jrpg, even though people.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I mean, it's doing a completely different thing. Right.

[Justin McIlroy]

I think there are different approaches to that genre, is what I'm saying.

[Griffin McElroy]

And that fucking rules, man. Like, it rules that there's two, like, amazing JRPGs doing completely different things this year. But, yeah, I adore it. What's that? Oh, Jesus.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Is that Is that the party boys at the door?

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh shit.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh shit. Are the party boys at the door? Are they gonna bust down the door?

[Russ Freshtick]

Let's take a break and then we will come back and talk about what else is going on.

[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 rocket money.combesties that's rocket money.combesties one last time. Rocket money.combesties.

[Russ Freshtick]

We are officially there. We're there in the gift giving season. 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 Oraframes.com and get $45 off Aura's bestselling carver Matte Frames by using promo code Besties at checkout. That's 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. So some people. Some people like their games a little longer. Some people like their games a little shorter and with more stuff that's fun earlier. Is that fair so far? Is that a fair thing? So far it's to be fair.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I think they like it to be.

[Russ Freshtick]

Fun at the beginning as well as the middle and end.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

It's interesting.

[Russ Freshtick]

That's different. Russ, can you tell me, do you have any games in mind like that? I don't want to put you on the spot, but just as an example for the discussion we're having.

[Justin McIlroy]

Sure. I played a game called Kill Night.

[Russ Freshtick]

Now Russ, already aces, brother.

[Griffin McElroy]

Better title than metaphor.

[Russ Freshtick]

Better title. Not even close.

[Justin McIlroy]

It's one of the best titles of video games I've heard in recent years. It is spectacular. Kill Knight is basically blending the gameplay of a Hades with the gameplay of like a Doom 2016. It's like a very quick murder, a bunch of people in an isometric perspective. In this case you're murdering, I guess, demon type things. And it uses this very interesting combo system where you're using your sword to charge up your heavy shotgun attack, which then charges up a super power beam. And you're trying to kind of like combo one into the next into the next. It is much more of a score chasey game than it is like a narrative driven. There's like very little narrative, but it's a more no kidding.

[Russ Freshtick]

In Kill Night.

[Justin McIlroy]

In Kill Night, very, very little. And there, there's some meta stuff to it where you're unlocking like perks and new weapons and things like that. But most, for the most part, it's like a score chase game and you're either gonna like that immediately or you're not. And it very much shows its hand in the first, you know, 10 seconds. I will say it is like incredibly detailed and in depth. Like the mechanics that are going on such that the tutorial which they recommend you play at the beginning, takes about 10 minutes. It has about 15 steps to it of like this, then this, then this. There's just like a lot of layers.

[Griffin McElroy]

Russ, are you sure you didn't play metaphor refundastic?

[Russ Freshtick]

Russ, I don't want to kick you out of the fun party boys, but Russ, it's really. I'm hearing a lot. 10 minutes for kill Night, though, and then you're killing.

[Justin McIlroy]

You're killing all sorts of folks as Kill Night you are. Kill Night you're not.

[Russ Freshtick]

I like that. Don't get me wrong, I like that.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, I liked it.

[Russ Freshtick]

15 steps.

[Justin McIlroy]

If you're a. If you're a fan of like again, Hades or Doom, that sort of speedy action stuff, this very much checks that.

[Russ Freshtick]

I will say something that's interesting. I've seen a few Hades alikes assume that you are on board for a end game HADES level of complexity because you liked Hades. So you're ready for like 20 or 30 different mechanics at the very beginning. Hades took a very long time to ramp up.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah, this to me felt like that is the case where they're kind of throwing you all the tools right at the beginning. I would recommend, if you're just starting out, change the difficulty to whatever the easiest setting is. They gave it some ridiculous name, but that to me let me get my feet wet a little more effectively. So I strongly recommend that. But it's like 12 bucks on steam and is also the sort of game that you're going to know very quickly if you're into it. So if it doesn't click with you in the first 20 minutes, how long return it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like this.

[Russ Freshtick]

That's the party boy motto, baby. If it doesn't click with you in 20 minutes, return it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Justin only plays games that you get on Instagram filters. Just like fucking park the car or get the tile out of the box. The one where you sing and you try to get to pitch your voice to make the ball go through the gates. That's the only game.

[Russ Freshtick]

That's the only platform I buy book games on.

[Justin McIlroy]

Vine length games, please, Justin, you played something else.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yeah.

[Justin McIlroy]

And this is going to get started in quicker than 20 minutes is what you're saying.

[Russ Freshtick]

No, if possible. No. Yars Rising sounded like something I wouldn't be that interested in because I, you know, usually like retro stuff or retro remakes don't really do it for me. So I wanted to. If you're like me, I wanted to mention that Yars Rising is not really that. It is a Search action game.

[Justin McIlroy]

Do people even know what it's like a sequel to?

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh, yeah. It's a really good point, actually. So Yars Revenge is a very old arcade game that has different, like, sort of interesting mechanics that make it sort of a little bit unusual. It's not a straight up and down, like, just shoot all the bad guys, like in, you know, like a Centipede or whatever. Yars Rising is a search action game where you are a young hacker that is working for a company that finds out that the company is up to some nefarious stuff, and you start trying to bring this company down from the inside. You are inside the corporation. You have friends that are like in your earpiece trying to talk you through your mission. But what's cool, the hacking is you play Yars Revenge. So when you go to hack a game, there is a like, sort of mini section of like a Yars Revenge level or a type of mode. They're not all like, really Yars Revenge, but, like, to give an example of a pretty basic one, your ship is going up against a, like, the bad guy spaceship. And it's encased in this, like, coating. And you have to fly over there and eat through the coding with your spaceship. And then once you've eaten through it enough, you have to eat the boss a little bit. And that charges up your energy that you fire a cannon from the other side of the screen. And then you have to get out of the way of the shot that you just fired from the other side of the screen to hit the main guy. That's just Yars Revenge. It's a crazy game, but you are playing like every minigame is different. It's like 5 seconds or 10 seconds of yars Revenge that you're playing through. And you actually, like, as you're playing, you get these upgrades that let you, like, increase the speed of your ship or, like you eat through things faster, your blasters charge up faster, which makes the quote, unquote hacking easier. But the wild thing about Yar's Rising is so in Yar's Revenge, there is a background story to Yar's Revenge, and it's about these. This race called the Yar that are up against their, like the nemesis, the Cotile. And the Yars get these powers that they use to defend their world against the Kotile. And that's what the plot of the fuck, like the Atari game Yars Revenge is, right? Yars Rising is in our world. And it assumes that this young character met one of the Yars in childhood. And this Yar gave her the ability to use their powers on Earth. So in addition to running around this facility and distributing hacker, you also have the same abilities that the Yar have. So you have, like, you can gain the ability to run on water and to shoot blasters from your hands and to do, like, you know, bigger jumps and fly up and that kind of thing. It's really. All the little, like, minigames are really fun. It's actually really well written. Like, very early on, there's a bit where it's in a 2D perspective and your character's crawling through this, like, little tunnel after going through this terrible, like, laser section of the game where you're dodging laser beams and stuff. And as she's crawling through the tunnel, she says, well, thank God we're past the laser part of this. And then beneath her, because it's in 2D, you can see the area you're about to go into is, like, all laser traps. And she's commenting about that, like, as you're passing it, which you're able to see. It's really cute. It's really funny. The plot is actually, like, pretty sharply done. It's compact. It's not like a huge, sprawling thing. But I thought all the. And it also lets you turn off the. For the little hacking challenges, you can make them, like, unfailable if you want. You can also make it so that if you fail one five times, it turns on a prompt. That lets you make it unfailable for that specific challenge. There's also, as you play through those hacking minigames start to bring in other Atari retro stuff. So you start and you start running into bosses and enemies that, like, are inspired by Atari games. There's a boss named Missile Commander that you have to fight.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, that's crazy. It's such a good idea.

[Russ Freshtick]

And it's by way forward is the developer. Atari is actually publishing it. So there's like, a lot of, like, Atari, whatever version of Atari.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I wonder who owns Atari right now.

[Russ Freshtick]

Atari's done some interesting stuff lately with, like, the reissuing things and doing a lot of weird merchants, whatever.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

That's a hotel that they were going.

[Russ Freshtick]

To build that I think was closed in disgrace.

[Justin McIlroy]

They have a Bubsy collection coming out.

[Russ Freshtick]

Yars Rising is an interesting video game that I. More than interesting. I think it's fun to play. And I think.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is that on Steam Deck? What are you playing it on?

[Russ Freshtick]

I'm playing it on. It's great. On steam deck is $30, by the way. It is great on Steam Deck. I'm playing on Steam Deck and it has been great. I don't even think I put it on the other consoles because it feels so good as a Steam Deck game. That came out September 10th and not a bunch of people are playing it. It's only got 58 reviews. It's a really good game. You should go try it.

[Justin McIlroy]

Really tough time for games like that.

[Russ Freshtick]

It is, it is.

[Griffin McElroy]

I wanted to mention you saying that, reminding me I did manage to get Metaphor working on Steam Deck. You do have to tweak some stuff, which does make it easier to get to get through those 90 hours.

[Justin McIlroy]

I didn't have to tweak very much at all actually.

[Russ Freshtick]

Maybe, yeah, I played it on Steam Deck.

[Justin McIlroy]

Maybe I started it later than you did and they patched it, but it worked fine for me.

[Griffin McElroy]

I did get a pat and update, so maybe. I don't know. I had to turn down some of the graphical stuff, but otherwise works pretty well.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Honorable mentions. Let's do it fresh. You have an honorable mention that you want to tell us about?

[Russ Freshtick]

Hell yeah. Thank you, Russ.

[Justin McIlroy]

I forget if I talked about. I know for sure that I've talked about Halls of Torment on this podcast before. It is the best vampire survivors, like ever made. I do not doubt that one bit. It is fucking spectacular. It's also $5. Stop whatever you're doing and fucking download this game. The 1.0 update released sometime in September and I only recently got around to going back and playing it. But it added all the things that have made this game so sticky in the past. It basically lets you store items that you collect in runs and then you can set up different builds for like the eight or nine different classes that are playable. And now you can store like uncommon and rare items that like, further let you min max your things. They're always giving you like a little carrot to like pull you ahead.

[Russ Freshtick]

Did you?

[Justin McIlroy]

With quests and things like that. It's just. What's up, Juice?

[Russ Freshtick]

Did you try Children of Morta?

[Justin McIlroy]

I didn't. No. I haven't played.

[Russ Freshtick]

You would really like it. You would really like. It's along similar lines. Like if you like Halls of Torment, I think you'd really like Children of Morna. Give it a shot. Halls of Torment is the best. Like if you haven't played that one, it's really exceptional.

[Justin McIlroy]

It really triggers the, like my passion for Diablo 2 era graphics. Like that time of graphics.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've tried it a few times. It's never really grabbed me. Have they added in this 1.0 stuff, like, I don't know more. I found the runs to be a bit interminable. Like, I was not really enjoying the sort of core loop and I wasn't finding the upgrades to be especially cool because it's like 3% attack boost or whatever.

[Justin McIlroy]

I think the thing. And again, I don't know how deep you got into it. The thing that hooked me was once I unlocked the ability to rescue armor and items and make builds for the different characters, which I think I forget.

[Russ Freshtick]

That's the thing. A gimmick where you have. If you get a really good piece of gear, you don't automatically unlock it. You have to bring it back to the starting point and basically put it in a bucket.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Freshtick]

Haul it up top for you, and then it unlocks it.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah. You can use that for any other.

[Russ Freshtick]

Quest, but you're giving it up for that run.

[Justin McIlroy]

Right.

[Russ Freshtick]

So, like, if you get something really good, you have to make a decision right there. Like, I'm gonna send this back.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have a really hard time when I'm playing a game for the first, like, hour, and I'm not, like, really enjoying it. It sort of makes me. I will give it another shot. I. I do think it is.

[Russ Freshtick]

Do you feel good about that?

[Griffin McElroy]

I do feel good. I thought it was a good. I thought it was a great bit. A great callback.

[Justin McIlroy]

It killed so many flights for me. I think I have 50 hours logged in that game. It's crazy. Whenever I have, like, just a little bit of time somewhere, I just s a run and it's. It's fantastic. I love that game.

[Russ Freshtick]

Do you find that that's one you can step away from for a while and return to?

[Justin McIlroy]

Oh, 100%. I hadn't played in like a year when 1.0 came out, and I jumped back into it and it was like, almost immediate.

[Russ Freshtick]

Since I beat Children of Mortar, I think.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's spooky season and. Have I got a fucking recommendation for you. The Toonami adaptation. Anime adaptation of Uzumaki Junji Ito.

[Russ Freshtick]

No way. Watch the trailer. Absolutely not ever.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, it is. If you're not familia with Junji Ito or Uzumaki, it is sort of his, I would say, probably magnum opus. I've read a lot of his stuff, and he has a lot of really great stuff. But Uzumaki is like one of his longest series, and it is about a town that is afflicted by this spiral curse that makes spirals start appearing everywhere and people get obsessed with Spirals and people sort of start to mutate because of these spirals. It is a literal, just non stop barrage of some of the most fucked up, scariest body horror shit ever. Right? The book was like that. The book was that. And so there have been, I think, a couple adaptations of this in the past that haven't really stuck the way that they bring the art of Uzumaki and Junji Ito's like, style to life and make it move and breathe. And it's incredible, it's amazing. And I think it's. Honestly, if you've never read Junji Ito, it's probably a pretty good starting point because it's extremely watchable and they keep shit coming at you pretty fast and fast.

[Russ Freshtick]

Watchable. Watch the trailer. I watched the trailer. I was like, absolutely. I felt like I was losing my mind for 90 seconds.

[Griffin McElroy]

What was it?

[Russ Freshtick]

Is it just.

[Griffin McElroy]

Just because of how scary the man.

[Russ Freshtick]

Just the vibe they establish in the trailer.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's impressive.

[Russ Freshtick]

You feel unhinged from reality. I watched it 60 seconds. It doesn't even have colors.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, you don't have colors. That's a very good point, Justin.

[Russ Freshtick]

It's not even in English, man. It's still scary.

[Griffin McElroy]

There is an English voice track.

[Justin McIlroy]

I also.

[Russ Freshtick]

I would never.

[Justin McIlroy]

I also have a huge critique.

[Russ Freshtick]

Swine.

[Justin McIlroy]

I have a huge critique with Uzumaki as well because it is on Mac. And very recently Max decided that the show World of Calm, which my son adores and has whales swimming in the ocean and shit, does not belong on the kids only version of Max. You have to go to the adults version of Max. So when he requests World of Calm, I have to very quickly scrub past the fucking Uzumaki trailer, which always pops up and it is really, really bad. So fuck this show and fuck you, Griffin Papa.

[Griffin McElroy]

Why is that man all twisted up in a bucket? Oh, that's a different show. Also, real quick, Travis has been trying to get us to watch Delicious in Dungeon for a long time. Him and his wife Teresa tour through it. I never really gave it a chance. Rachel was out of town on a trip this past weekend. I was like, yeah, I finished Drew's Imakula. Let me see what the fuck's up with this. It's so good. Oh my God, it's good. I'm loving this show. The tone is so light hearted and positive. The anime, it's studio trigger. So the animation is like fucking crazy. And it's just like a show about a party going through a dungeon and they cook things every episode. Basically it. And they handle it like close ups of gorgeously animated food with a level of like.

[Justin McIlroy]

It's like monster parts.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's like monster parts. Right? But the show gets into like, here's the ecology of this dungeon. This monster eats this monster. They eat these plants. So we can actually use this to. It gets into a lot of like, fantasy stuff, but it's so thoughtfully done. And the tone of the show is just. It's really, really great. I've been. It is a hugely enjoyable experience. Just tearing through the show.

[Russ Freshtick]

I wish they would make some shows that are like that, but for things that I don't know how to do. Don't you wish there was a show like that that was about how a car works?

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, it was so great.

[Russ Freshtick]

I'm not shitting you guys. What if you watch a cartoon and you know how a car works?

[Justin McIlroy]

Plant definitely knows an anime that has that.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

This is like half of it.

[Russ Freshtick]

You know what I mean?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

And manga. I am so ready to help you out. There are so many manga and anime that are.

[Griffin McElroy]

Goofs aside, I learned everything that I know about ice skating and how it is scored from Yuri on Ice. I feel like this is genuinely a huge topic, a huge focus for.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

There was one this season about bartending and I learned so much about making the perfect pour of a good cocktail.

[Justin McIlroy]

Anime rules.

[Griffin McElroy]

Man, anime is really good.

[Russ Freshtick]

Anime does well. That's the new title of our show, Anime Rules.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

My quick thing is just, hey, it's Halloween time. Great time to go to the public library. So much good stuff. It is a great trick during Halloween because, you know, you could go out and buy a whole bunch of cool new books or movies and stuff, but it's going to cost you money. Or you can go to the library and get it for free and it's like the old stuff. So when you get like a, you know, one of those like scary children's books from the 70s or the 80s, right? And like they don't even make them like this anymore. This is the real freaky stuff. Yeah, it's good.

[Justin McIlroy]

I like that you described it as a trick because the treat is not going to the library.

[Griffin McElroy]

What a bold position to take on the book.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

I like anti libraries.

[Russ Freshtick]

You read the wrong. Exactly.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Wow. How about you? You got anything?

[Russ Freshtick]

God played a lot of yars played that other thing from continues to delight. But I don't want to talk about from No, I feel like I did watch something, but it's gone out of my head.

[Justin McIlroy]

Let me ask you a question about from okay, now that you've watched a number of these shows, the loss of the world, the whatever where people are stuck in a weird place, or have you reached the point where you know for sure that the end is not going to be satisfying and you just like you're cool with it?

[Russ Freshtick]

What I like about FROM is that it is so blatantly obvious that it will not be delivering any satisfying answers. It regularly picks up plot lines and then discards them like so much refuse. Yeah, there was a very long. There was a long storyline about the lead character having Parkinson's that the show has not returned to for a season and a half. Just didn't.

[Justin McIlroy]

Just doesn't mention maybe from cured his Parkinson's.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did the from magic curious Parkinson's at this point.

[Russ Freshtick]

Last night, guys, last night I saw the sheriff walk through a tree and end up in dungeon where old man with worms in his skin was in the dungeon and he rubbed his old bloody hand on the sheriff to give him his skin worms. And then it turned out that the skin worms were a weapon against the evil in from.

[Griffin McElroy]

So the skin worms cleared up the Parkinson's.

[Russ Freshtick]

The most things happen on FROM of any show. It's got the Emmys to prove it. Number one, most stuff happening in a series, an ongoing series, comedy or drama from it's won it for seven years straight with only two seasons completed. So much stuff.

[Justin McIlroy]

Is it basically Hot Topic, Twin Peaks. Is that a good summary?

[Russ Freshtick]

I am not convinced anyone on the show is a paid actor. I am not cons. I am not convinced. Last night they introduced the idea that maybe some people are quote, in on it and nobody really knows what that means, but they're very excited about the possibility of people being in on it and nobody knows what it means. I mean, I don't know what that means, but I'm so excited about people turning on each other inside from last night. I do want to mention a great Emmy winning scene in from the old lady in Colony House, which is the house was talking to a boy, the little boy whose mom dug up the basement trying to find out how the lights worked and made her house collapse. And the boy, the little boy said, I'm worried more houses are going to collapse. And then the old lady that runs Colony House said, well, as long as your parents don't dig up any more basements, I think we're going to be okay. From clowns on from from like three episodes ago. FROM gets so cocksure about how like, remember how we used to be kind of crazy? Anyway, the skin Worms are a weapon.

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess it's the wages of making up all the shit. As you kind of go along. It sounds like that is from's Holsties.

[Russ Freshtick]

The first season of from is on Amazon Prime. To get the second season, you have to get MGM plus Grody. If you want to keep up with the third season live. I hope you like fucking Tulsa King or whatever, because you're going to get MGM Plus Maybe.

[Justin McIlroy]

That is so From.

[Russ Freshtick]

It's extremely from, man. It's weird that people haven't watched the first season of From. It's unwatchable.

[Justin McIlroy]

Okay, what are we talking about today?

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

So much.

[Russ Freshtick]

Oh, my recommendation is you gotta go get your flu shot.

[Justin McIlroy]

Oh, yeah.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Oh, good.

[Russ Freshtick]

October. Go get your flu shot. And if you're. While you're in there, there's a new Covid. Get that new Coven.

[Justin McIlroy]

Yeah.

[Russ Freshtick]

Shot. Not the new coveted variant. Yeah, the shot. And it just. It takes five minutes. Just go do it. Because it's never going to seem like a good time. Just go do it.

[Christopher Thomas Plant]

Stuff we talked about this week. We talked about metaphor. Refantazio, Yars rising, kill night plus halls of torment 1.0 Uzumaki delicious in dungeon. From going to the library on Halloween or for Halloween. And most importantly, getting updated vaccines for flu and COVID 19. Protecting yourself and protecting those that you love and the people you don't love because you're a member of society.

[Justin McIlroy]

I want to thank the following patrons at our Patreon, which is [e-mail] TheBesties we have Richard, we have DJ. We have a lot of jays coming at you. Jerry J. Jorts and Jar Jar R. Martin. Thank you for being Jar Jar R. Martin.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's really good.

[Russ Freshtick]

That's really good.

[Justin McIlroy]

Thank you for being patrons of the Besties. Thank you to everyone else for being patrons of the Besties. We have a new episode of the Rusties Out. We also have this month's bracket episode of the Best Launch Games ever. We greatly appreciate all of you and you're making it all happen. Juice. What are we doing next week?

[Russ Freshtick]

Don't even get me started because Silent Hill is back again for the second time. That's right, Silent Hill 2 remake. The radio is buzzing and I don't remember anything else but the flashlights are flashing. We're headed back into the staticy world of Silent Hill 2.

[Justin McIlroy]

This might be too scary for me. We're gonna see. But it might be too scary for me.

[Russ Freshtick]

We'll see. We'll see. If it is, I'll just tell you about it. Tell me. I'll give you a reader's title.

[Justin McIlroy]

Hug me.

[Russ Freshtick]

That's gonna do it for us this week on the Besties. Be sure to join us again next time for the Besties because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best game?