The Best JRPGs So far of 2023 Ft. Alex from Backlog Battle

what's up and welcome to the Single Player Experience Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Sebastian Malden, and in this episode we're going to be talking about the best J RPGs and RPGs so far of 2023. And I get it. I get where you're probably saying, you're probably saying, man, pump the brakes. We just got started with a year, but this isn't a normal video game year because this year has been absolutely stacked when it comes to game release. So all that said, for a topic of this magnitude, I knew I had to bring in the big gun, so to speak. So my guest today is none other than Alex from the YouTube channel backlog. Backlog. Battle is a channel all about reviewing RPGs and J RPGs, and Alex does it like nobody else in the gaming industry. So in this episode, Alex and I are gonna be talking about the best games so far that were released in 2023. We're also gonna be talking about his favorite games of all time period, and Alex is going to be taking on the pro nerd trivia challenge. We got all this and more coming right at you right after the intro. DJ start the intro. Mine. Hey everyone. Like I said in the intro, we have a very special guest joining us today. He is one of the best video game reviewers on YouTube. He is a master of the J RPGs and RPGs, and he's currently the man watching one piece. The one, in my opinion, one of the best anim enemies of all time. I'm sure he agrees this, this, this laid into the game. I think he's like, what, 400, 500 episodes in now?

Is that right, Alex? That is, that is correct. But what you didn't know is I've actually already watched all 1000 episodes. Oh, and this is the rewatch

This is the rewatch. I like that. I like that. So you probably already guessed it. This man is absolutely amazing. This is Alex from Backlog Battle. Alex,

how you. I'm pretty good. So I'm just so happy to like realize that you're also big one th fan because you know, like my wife and I have been such huge fans and we watched through the entirety of, of a whole series in one year and we're kind of trying to do it all over again this year for some reason because we're like, Hey, we caught up to episode 1,100 something. Let's go back and do it all over again. But truly excited to be here. It's a real honor to be on this show and talking about games with you and apparently one piece. Yeah, for sure, for

sure. Before we migrate to games, I wanna ask you a one piece question, like who's your favorite villain of the show so

far? Oh dear. Um, that's rough. Um, cuz there's so many good villains, so many in the show. So many I think right now. I'm kind of leaning towards, um, do Flamingo because just the stuff that he did kind of ripples across several story arcs as well. Like, you know, the, the, the Smile factory arc and stuff. Like, that's, that's one thing that I remember. And of course, the, the things that he did in Dress Rosa are just so vile and so like crazy. In fact, like when I was playing through One Piece Odyssey, which of course came out this year, like I love that whole section of being able to relive that latter part of dress Rosa when things started escalating. And it really showed how powerful of a villain he is. In fact, like right now in Marine Ford and stuff like, you know, I'm at the part where. Pretty much, uh, for, I'm not gonna mention it because it's kind of gross, but like basically took down ours. Yeah. You know, in Marine Ford and I was just like, oh my gosh, I completely forgot that he did that. And you know, and everybody else is just kind of underestimating him and you know, he's just kind of like that guy that's in the background waiting for an opportunity to strike. And at the meantime he's taking advantage of all these kind of loopholes in the government. And you know, I find that really fascinating. And that's not to say that the emperors aren't as interesting, but I think like from the warlord's perspective, you know, given that he is practically the strongest warlord out of, and I don't count Blackbeard cuz he just keeps moving along. Yeah, for sure. Like, it was, it was such an interesting arc for Louie to kind of experience and go. Yeah, I, I agree with

you there. Like he feels like he's on the same level as a war lord in many ways, especially like strategically. And the fact that you, like you said, he is this master manipulator, so to speak, and like, he might not be as strong as a lot of the emperors, but in a way like his, the sinister like plots that he has is just, it's on par with everything they do as.

and, and if you watch one piece all the way from the beginning, you realize that he has, he has like hooks in everything like Bellamy at Jia it, he literally like showed up there to say like, Hey, you know, you're not one of my people anymore, or whatever he did there. And that's like, You know, only merely a few hundred episodes if that, like, into the series. Like he's already showing up there and he keeps on positing this like new era of pirates that of course is gonna happen once Marine Ford is done. I'm just like, that dude is, is just insane. And even though he is in IMP down right now, I'm thinking to myself, he's not really an Ipel down right now. He's got his hooks on everything. He's, he has a plan to get out somehow. Oh

yeah, for sure. For sure. And it's, it's crazy to me like how well ODA is as a writer and how like, well he, he like plans everything out because like, like you said, that was a couple hundred episodes in and I'm like, he has so much like of a mastermind plan. I'm talking about ODA that is throughout the whole entire series to where like everything feels like it matters. Yeah. Everything, no matter how small of a detail it feels like at the moment, it's like it always comes back into the later like arcs or

later play. Mm-hmm. And, and, and that's why I kind of decided this time around to kind of chronicle my rewatching on Twitter, so that that way like, you know, people kind of also can see my journey through it and, and almost kind of think like, you know, if he's able to go through like 400, 500 episodes in a span of like, I don't know, like three months, maybe watching all 1000 episodes of one piece isn't so bad, right?

Yeah. Yeah. You make it seem not quite as daunting as, as a lot of people think it

gets you know, And that's, and I feel like that kind of translates too, a lot of the stuff that I do on YouTube is that, you know, a lot of people take a look at J RPGs and stuff and see like, oh, it's anime games. Oh, it's anime games. But I'm like, but there's also an a level of depth to it that you really can't find elsewhere or. Maybe more appropriately. The depth is, is kind of found in the different parts of each these games. And I know that as a Western society we always value like the real realism and a voice acting. But then, you know, you go to these Japanese games and I'm of course including Nintendo with this as well. They have this kind of very balanced way of making games within their budget, but also making it, making it look and feel good as well. So I think that's also one of the reasons why I, you know, I just decided, hey, I'll just keep making J R P G videos cuz I love the genre, you know?

Yeah, for sure. For sure. I feel like we can talk about anime like all day at this point. But yeah. you know, like, let's segue into the video game sphere for the people who may not know you, Alex, and can you introduce yourself to

the audience? So I have been on YouTube for almost six years now. By Thema. I'll be on YouTube for about six years and. My journey through YouTube is kind of weird because I actually started all the way back in 2009. Um, I ran a very kind of experimental channel called Games in Me, and people can still search for this by the way. And I was like, you know, so overweight, outta shape at the time, so I don't look like that anymore. Um, caveat. Um, and the idea behind that channel was to kind. You know, be this communal way of enjoying games together. And it was, or during that time that I also kind of experimented with live streaming and I had a whole bunch of friends playing games with me. We tried live streaming the Justin TV at the time, but it didn't work. So we kind of started focusing on YouTube and for one reason or another, that whole idea kind of fell apart because you know of various reasons. Um, and then I went into the podcasting space and I did that with my, you know, my partner at the time for man, like 10 years, for about a decade. Cuz I told myself, look, I love making things right. And I think doing this for 10 years is gonna be really awesome. Just to kind of see how far we can take this show. Right. Right around, towards the end of its run, I kind of wanted to do a lot more than just what I was doing, and so I decided to go on Twitch. I tried my hand at that and I was fairly successful. I actually had like a hundred concurrent, uh, viewers at the time that I left, and then I left cause cuz then I started dating my wife who was, you know, my then girlfriend, now my wife. And one of the things that we both kind of talked about is that if we're gonna have a healthy relationship, just judging from a lot of our Twitch partner friends, cuz she al she also used to be a streamer. Um, there's no healthy way to manage a healthy lifestyle that allows you to step away from streaming, but still also find success on the platform without making it a hundred percent full-time. Yeah. Around 2017, you know, I kind of started experimenting with YouTube again. I opened up the backlog battle YouTube channel, which honestly like I'd made, you know, many years prior. And then I started just uploading, uh, clips of my podcast, right? And then I started, you know, experimenting with all sorts of types of things, and I kind of wound up doing reviews. Like at the time I didn't really want to make reviews, but then, you know, when I started doing them, like, it kind of made me feel good. Like, it was like, Hey, you know, this actually might be my shtick, you know, like reviewing games. And, you know, long story short, here we are, six years later, I'm still reviewing games. Um, I have contacts for like a whole bunch of people in the industry now, and people reaching out to me like Square Inex saying like, Hey, do you wanna review Ocpa Traveler too? And I'm like, well, do I, I was gonna play it anyway, but you know, now that you mention it, Um, and it's just been a total blast ever since. It's been such a crazy, wild journey through social media. And I just, I just love it. So

let me ask you a question. Like, you've been in this, in this industry for a while now. What is like your fondest game review?

My fondest game review? Ooh. Um, that's the thing, like every review that I make is pretty special in my opinion, cuz I'm always the kind of person to try something new. So let me give you an example. Mm-hmm. So very recently I reviewed a game in the Natuna series, you know, it was like their action game and whatnot. Sisters versus sisters and I, and of course there's a whole bunch of games that were out. So I, as with many games, I gave it my fair shot. Never played a Neptuna game before and he is just, just sat down and kind of like, you know, tried to play it and understand why people like that sort of game. But this was one of those games that I really couldn't wrap my head around because there was a, I think there was a quality issue with it that I feel, you know, hardcore fans are. Or quick to forgive that for me. Not because I'm used to like high polished games, not at all. But there's just something slightly off about it. And so instead of like forcing myself to be miserable and playing through the entire game, I thought of like a creative way to express my own displeasure without making fans feel bad about, you know, my critiques of the game. Like, you know, basically I wanted both fans and non-fans alike to kind of laugh along with me and share this experience of playing through the game, at least the first few hours of the game in a way that is also enjoyable. And so I was thinking to myself, how can I do that? How could I exactly do that? And then there was an idea that popped into my head that a conversation that I had from a friend of mine a long time ago who said, man, you know, finding games to play is like dating. And I'm like, oh. What did she say? You know, like mm-hmm. it kind of popped into my head. And so the idea behind that video, that review, which has a question mark at the end, is, what if I was dating sisters versus sisters and it was a first date? And because we're just not compatible, there are things, they're little quirks that kind of are making me push myself away from it. Why don't we depict it that. And so that's exactly what happened. It was literally a four to five minute video of me, you know, on camera green screen. We were, we were in Paris, and, uh, yeah, like I just kind of let her off the hook, I guess.

I feel you. That's really cool. It's almost like, uh, it's almost like playing a mini game in a video game, so to speak, or like a dating sim you basically reviewing

this

game like that. Yeah, I had that idea originally, but that was too much work, so I kind of figured like, let's just, you know, set the tone, set the appropriate tone and, and roll with it, and people loved it. I was like, really sur surprised. But that kind of outlines the approach that I have with all my reviews is that not one review is gonna be like formulaic and the same as the other. There's certain things that need to be different in each, which is why I make these reviews, not just for people who are interested in it, but also people who might not just be interested in it, just, but just likes entertaining content.

Oh, that's a good perspective of looking at things too. And I'm like, you always seem to have a nature of keeping things fresh. Do you ever feel like there's a, a challenging aspect of, like, I have to kind of like think of a review from a, a different angle when you're coming at like different reviews throughout the year.

if it's not, uh, from a different angle, it's a different style of doing things. Like my trails, uh, to Azure Review that I just came out with was done completely with just barely any sort of script whatsoever. It was all outlined. So normally like I would write a full script and then kind of refine it and then, you know, like compose the video. But in this case, I thought to myself, well, I don't wanna rehash what I said in Trails from Zero because it's practically almost the same game with a few new features. It's just a continuation of that story. So let's try to make this a little lighter for the people who, let's face it, if you're not gonna watch a review, unless you are 100% sure you want to continue your story from zero and, and I think where a lot of this comes from is this kind of desire to make just really good and entertaining videos that you know, you don't normally see in the J R P G space. Cuz like, I think my approach is that. I wanna have fun making the video as much as I had fun, like playing the games. And I want to impart that enjoyment of playing video games into any of the videos that I make. Um, one video that I made recently was on the J R P G debacle, like the term and stuff being, uh, uh, you know, some sort of, you know, pejorative, you know, from, taken from the Japanese developer's perspective. And I'm really proud of that as an example because I actually managed to toe the line between. Critical discourse. Mm-hmm. and just, you know, the uplifting nature of the channel, which, you know, I think not a lot of people can do something like that deliberately in their work. Like, unless, you know, they have this really weird, fine-tuned idea of what, how everybody fe, you know, everybody in their community feels after watching it. And in this case, so many people in that comment thread, thank me for the way that I talked about it, the empathy that was demonstrated. And I think that's where it really comes from, is this kind of, you know, feeling that I wanna make people laugh and smile at the end of the day. And if it's because of my videos, then that's good enough for me. That's great,

man. Um, have you always been an entertainer?

No. No. Man. It seems

like it comes so natural to you, man.

And, and that's, and and I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Like, no, I, you know, the funny thing is like, I used to be a really big shut in, um Oh wow. Back, yeah, back in around 2010, like when I was doing games in me. Like I was still kind of awkward back then too. Like anybody who watches my videos back then will see like, oh yeah, you're totally awkward and. You know, it might sound like I'm putting on a front or anything like that, but this is just literally how I am. Like, this is how I am with my wife, my friends, you know, we have like some really kind of rousing discussions and stuff and, and maybe part of that is like the podcast voice, because I did it for like 10 years or something. But for the most part, like I, like right now, I have no script. We're just talking and yeah, for sure. This is just how I am. I've never really seen myself as an entertainer, but it's great that you think so

No, I mean, it's because of the, the nature of your videos and the way, the way you and I are talking, it feels so natural and I'm like, you can always, I, like, I've interviewed a lot of people now and I can always tell when someone has that it factor whenever it comes to, like, they're, they're just naturals at this and it feels like that with you. Like, it feels like maybe it's the, the 10 years of podcasting or maybe you got on the mic one day and you were just like killing it just from day one. But it feels that, yeah, I have that natural feeling talking to you, you know.

Yeah, you're not gonna be able to force me to do karaoke in front of people, let's put it that way.

what would, what would be your karaoke song though?

Oh my gosh. The Jus Song for Persona Four. I don't know. I like that. I

like that. Uh, hot Take though. I mean, I think Persona five has a better soundtrack than Persona four.

Ooh. You know, they're two different soundtracks though. Mm-hmm. like, I love the Jazz of Persona five. I mean, they're, you know, immediately, as soon as you mentioned Persona four, like I just, the per the, the song that plays when you're in the pyramid mm-hmm. it's just start playing in my head like that baseline. Ooh. Like, it's iconic. It's really, it's really good. But then when you go and think, when I go and think about like Priscilla four for example, it's a lot of very much like, hey, we're in the countryside, kind of, you know, vibe, rural vibe that has a tinge of pop and you know, and that kind of, I feel, you know, shows more about. You know, Shoji, Nero's talent as a composer, because really like that dude is talented. Like, I wonder like what he listens to and whatever. Like to be able to get these really kind of solid tracks that are just become timeless. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Cuz

I'm like, um, earlier this year I was replaying through, um, persona three and then, like, I had never played Persona four before. Like, I, I kind of missed out on that one. So I was playing it for the first time. And, you know, I, that was one of the things that really stuck out to me about those games is like the music in there, it gives it a life, it gives it an ambiance, it gives it kind of that mm-hmm. That soulful flavor. And then, you know, like it is a completely different genre than Persona Five. Like, like you mentioned, it feels like a completely different world than that game. But yet they all still feel really good though. Mm-hmm. like, they're really easy to listen to. Yeah.

You know, it's, it's crazy because there are people that I hear sometimes that say like, oh, when I'm grinding J R P Gs, I turn off the music and I'm like, what are you doing, man, whatcha are you doing? And I, I get that sentiment cuz sometimes some people do listen to podcasts like yours, like, while they're grinding. And I think that's a really good thing to do. But at the same time, you know, like if you wanna immerse yourself into the world, you also kind of wanna hear these songs and stuff. Like immerse yourself in like the, the dialogue. And I think what's really cool too is. You know, while it's very late, there's a lot of Japanese developers, they're realizing that they could, um, lessen the amount of UI clutter that's happening by kind of offloading a lot of that information using audio. So like, there's certain characters that'll be like, Hey, you know, like, how about me? And then you switch to them and you kind of do the tack from them. And you know, that way there's no like, weird, busy, you know, UI that happens where it's like just things flashing in your face and you don't know what to do because it's trying to tell you too much. Yeah. Um, yeah, that's totally, that's good point. I, I didn't, I

never thought about that, but that is a very good point. Like it. I, you know, like I was going to, you know, segue into what I thought was be the topic of the show, and that would be like the, the best games you've played so far this year. But I'm wanna ask you a question before we get to that. Sure. I'm, because like, you made me think here, the evolution of J RPGs and RPGs have become like, I feel like they're subtle, like evolutions that people don't quite pick up on. Uh, but like, they're there. Like, you see like the, the way like personas, persona five in general streamlined the way combat works. You looked at mm-hmm. the way like, um, a game, a indie game, I played the late last year Jack Move where like mm-hmm. they kind of like, you can adjust the, the levels of like the grinding meter, so to speak, to where like, enemies might frequently pop up or like not show up at all depending on like, the way you walk and such like that, like mm-hmm. how do you feel about the evolution of J RPGs and

RPGs? It's been an interesting thing to watch over the past few years because I feel like, obviously there are multiple genres of RPGs, right? Like there's the Western style and then there's the Japanese style and they're kind of, you know, expanding into very different directions. Um, I wanna focus more on the J R P G side cuz obviously, like I'm more familiar with that as after this time. I think like, what's very interesting about J R P G is, is that they're kind of doubling down right now on what made this style of game and play popular to begin with. Um, af right after, uh, persona five, uh, Kasu Hashi know, of course, you know, famously decided. I guess technically like Leave Atlas, but all he did was make another development studio called Project Zero with the intention of making a super Nintendo r p g inspired game that still has the modern conveniences of something like Persona. And this was called Project Re Fantasy. And, and again, you know, like one of the things that they started posting just to kind of hype themselves up so to speak, is, you know, our kind of pieces of artwork that kind of allow them to put their heads in that frame of mind of creating those games. So as an example, they made a fake cover, uh, you know, for a Genesis game that was titled Project Re Fantasy with that artwork, you know, um, and going over to the Scenix side, you know, when bravely default came out, you know, um ha um, team Asano. Is basically like now responsible for kind of creating HD two D style games and of course bravely default to kind of honor that style of gameplay and try to improve upon that and create modern conveniences that make these games a bit more approachable. Right? Like triangle strategy is obviously one of 'em. They remade Liva Live last year. They wanna remake, uh, dragon Quest three, you know, and so on and so forth. And I think what, um, you know, what this really means is that the Japanese are kind of learning that they could still keep moving forward by still kind of taking a lot of the lessons that they learn from the past. And I think there's a value to that because. The West keeps spending more and more money on more expensive, uh, development projects. Like there's gotta be like a good balance to make sure that not only can people still make games and games that they love, but also do it in a responsible way. Right. Nintendo's been doing this for years. There's no reason why other companies can't learn to do the same Dan thing, even though, um, you know, like they make more cartoony style games. You know, when you look at something like Metro Prime remastered Yeah. It's not really cartoony game, so they're doing something there. Right. And I think that Japan has, you know, a pretty good idea of what to do right now that I feel like the West could learn a lot. Oh, that's,

that's good man. I love the elaborate, like, elaborate explanation there, man. You, like, I can tell you've been doing this for 10 years cuz you're absolutely killing it.

Thank you. So it's it, and, and to keep in mind, like, I don't normally voice a lot of these opinions on the channel because again, it's, you know, it's, it's all about happiness and kind of joy and bringing the joy of games back to people. So it's rare for me to be able to express these sorts of opinions on any platform. So I'm really happy to be able to share a lot of this knowledge with you guys.

I'm glad I got that secret juice Now out of

you

So, uh, I gotta ask you, I wanted to, I wanna ask you, like, you've been playing so many, uh, J RPGs and you've been playing so many games this year. What are I wanna start by? What are your top five games of all?

Top five games of all time is pretty tough, but Persona four, golden is probably the top one. Mm-hmm. because, uh, when, when the original came out in 2008, um, I was actually not a J R P G fan. Like I Wow. I've been playing J R P G fans at the time. Yeah. Right. Can you believe it? Yeah, for sure. Like I was playing like Call of Duty at the time. Think about that

that shocks me. Like that shocks me based on everything I know about your channel and like our conversation's just now, I can almost imagine you as a baby with a controller, your hand playing something like Over tactics says something,

you know, right? Yeah, it, it, it's weird because, you know, it was during that time that um, I didn't have a lot of time for long RPGs, although I dabbled every single year and I was more of a final Fantasy fan, but I rarely dabbled beyond Final Fantasy. Right? And I think what really pushed me to experiment was more of a displeasure on the direction of where Square Ins was taking some of their titles. Granted, they're not all bad, of course, like looking back, but at the time I just wanted something new and then Persona four came around and I was just like, what? They have like an art book with it? What? They have a soundtrack with it. And so, you know, I just kind of fell in love and keep in mind that at the time, You know, I did play through Persona one and still had my PS one copy of Persona two, innocent Sin, um, no Eternal Punishment, sorry, at the time. So, you know, to me seeing Persona four, comparing both of those generations of personas, it's like night and day It's like these could, these two could not be any more different. Um, let's see, let's do this top five really quick so that, that way we don't get stuck here cuz I could get, get us stuck here for a while. Um, no, it's all good. I think, ooh, number two, let me think. You know, you're first

thing, you're actually gonna like number them in everything. You're not just gonna list out five games, you're gonna

go in order. I, yeah, I mean we started with a top one, which is persona four. Okay. Um, and I'm just kind of doing this off the cuff. Um, number two would probably be mass effect two, which again, would be surprising. Right. It's a J R P G channel, but I've always believed that BioWare is like a Western r PPG company that knows exactly what the Japanese is doing Right. In terms of character development. So it's not a surprise to me that, you know, mass effect two, which is probably like one of the highlights of the series is pretty much like up there when it comes to RPGs. Um, let's see, number three maybe. No, for sure. 13 sentinels room. So we're back to RPGs. Mm-hmm. So I don't typically like tactical RPGs and a lot of my fans know this, but it's only the past few years that have really kind of gone into it and really got my hands dirty on the genre. But this one which came out around 2020, is just absolutely brilliant because it does something that no other game does, which is to separate the story from the gameplay. And, and again, like, so what's, what makes that unique is that you're not just doing like story, story, story and then battle. You literally can do as much battles as you want or as much story as you want, or a mix of both. You know, there are places where it'll lock you out and force you to do either story or battles, but for the most part you dictate how you're, how you go through the game. And I thought that was just brilliant. And on top of that, the Bonker story that they're telling, which is just up there in terms of confusion and just amazing reveals, is just unforgettable. Literally one of those games where you wished that you couldn't you, that you could just replay through all over again and wipe your brain of everything. Um, number four I think for me would be, and, and I'm just gonna say this, the top five is not in any order, even though I'm numbering them it's just for me to remember how many have said, um, Ja causes are like a dragon. Yes. Yes. Love that game. And I think what's really cool about it is that, and this may be a minor spoiler, but it's the reason why Yakuza is no longer called Yakuza. It's called like a dragon Now. This is the game that tells you exactly why. And the fact that they were able to, um, incorporate that into the storytelling itself and almost make that pretty smooth transition from Yakka to like a dragon using this game is just brilliant, but also really cool. Ichiban, is there great protagonist. And the, that story, that development of like where he came from, what kind of person he is, and the fact that he is like a Dragon Quests fan is just. Absolutely phenomenal. Like that game is something that, you know, we almost played through on the PS five, when that came out as well. I, I can't wait for it, the sequel, I'm right there with you. So, yeah. And then number five I think is easy for me it's like final Fantasy 14. I've been a final Fantasy 14 fan since 2014 when it came out on ps4. And, you know, my wife and I play it regularly. Um, it's the perfect casual M m O that, you know, I've had friends like try out and. You know, responsibly play, not like any other m m o where they're like, oh, I have to log in every week. It's become like a very cool social thing for me and my friends, and it's got a great story and gameplay to boots. So, you know, I, I hesitate to bring up the final Fantasy 14 meme, which has the free trial all the way up to level 60 and, you know, including the award-winning Heavens word, but you've all heard it. Mm-hmm.

So would you say that's your chill and relaxed game? The game you just unwind to the game you just relaxed to when you're not basically reviewing 10,000 games at one time?

Yeah. It's, you know, it, it, it's like an afternoon where you can kind of turn off your critical brain, just do raids and, you know, dungeons with your friends, do the weeklys and just, you know, catch up on the week. It's like, Yeah. It's like, if you can imagine me like having a coffee, a cup of coffee, while we're doing like raids, I'm a healer in the game, so, you know, I don't have to be doing DPS a lot. Mm-hmm. and yeah, it's, it's pretty much that. It's exactly that. It's a very chill game and it's, it's just great playing with friends. I

gotcha. I gotcha. So, you know, I wanna segue to 20, 23 games. Mm-hmm. Cause like you, you've been playing a lot this year, but before we get to like your, your favorite games of this year, I want to ask you, was the games remaining left in 2023? What's in your most anticipated

list easily? The first thing that comes into my head is Final Fantasy 16, because of course, no. Who's the producer and director of Final Fantasy 14. That's what he's producing. Na has a very interesting perspective on video games in that he's the kind of guy that is also truly a gamer. It's, it's not like, you know, the whole, you know, walk and a walk talking to talk kind of thing. He, he literally played MMOs before he joined the, the Final Fantasy 14 crew. And even before that, he helped design Dragon Quest 10, which is also an M M O. So this guy loves video games and a story. In fact, there have been many photos of him at BlizzCon, you know? Mm-hmm. Checking out the competition. But really he's just, you know, a fan of Blizzard games too. So, you know, and seeing him talk about Final Fantasy 16, him and his crew, like, really made me super excited about it because this is a guy who knew that Final Fantasy should be dragged into the action game genre. Because over the past few years, we've kind of had this, these half steps towards action. You know, starting with like, you know, in a way, final Fantasy 12, final Fantasy 13, and then of course Final Fantasy 15 with, you know, nous into boys. Mm-hmm. you know, and, and that particular game was a, a weird half step because yeah, it's an action game, but you had to babysit all your other party members too. And then, you know, final Fantasy seven remake where they had like the quote unquote standby mode, which is another half step in action. And it didn't really like make people happy cuz by compromising the action, you've literally compromised it for everybody else, you know? Yeah, that's true. And so, so when Nochi Ishida basically said, you know what, let's just full on make an action game. Let's hire the combat designer for Del Make Cry five. Let's in Get Inspired by Theise, you know, story Alliance from Final Fantasy, 12 tactics and you know, Vagrant story and this is gonna be 16. And once he said that, I was like, cool. I'm, I'm down I know you're exactly what you're doing. Yeah. So

I gotta ask then if, like, if just chaos happens in the gaming industry and they announce like, like a Dragon Two is coming out this fall, like Final Fantasy is coming out this year, and Persona six was announced for this year. Would that still be the number one anticipated game on your list? Ooh, that's tough. I gotta hit you with

some tough questions. That's the thing. The thing is though, like I've known too much about the industry that I know of her possibility. I know for a fact that we're not getting a persona six this year. No, for sure not. And, and of course, like a dragon too is not slated. Th this year it's for next year. Mm-hmm. but. I still would say I would probably be more excited about 16 because I do have a lot of faith in what they're trying to do. And I stand by what I said when, you know, I critiqued the fact that the half steps towards action is what really held back the final Fantasy series over the past few years. You know, there's a reason why nobody does something like that, like these half steps because you are compromising the game design. So, like when, uh, Yosh Gata, who's the producer of Final Fancy seven remake, said, oh, we're gonna add like a turn-based mode in final Fancy seven remake. Like My Doubt meter started ringing. I was like, there's no way. There's no way this is gonna be like the original Final Fantasy seven. And sure enough, it didn't and it just frustrated people cuz there is a prevailing thought that final fantasy should be turn-based. But I think this is coming from the notion that. Square Enix doesn't know how to make an action game. Yeah. And I think Final Fantasy 16 is a great statement piece to say, actually we hired to right people for this. This is a real final fantasy action game, and this is our vision of what that looks like. Noncompromised, by any, you know, by anything. And I, I do really think that 16 is gonna turn a lot of heads,

man. I'm excited for it. Like do you, do you already go into that hat knowing what your play style

is gonna. Yeah. I mean, I imagine, I'm just gonna play it like double May cry five or something. you know, like doing combos and everything. Mm-hmm. I mean, this guy who is doing the combat design, he single-handedly made some of the most exciting combat decisions for Double May Cry. Five. Like, one of the things I love about that game is that, you know, like other players can quote, unquote play alongside you, like, you know, as you're doing your combos. And I thought that was a bonkers idea, but, you know, he was able to execute it pretty well. So, you know, who knows what that means for 16 or if it even materializes in some form in that game, you know?

That's interesting. So I got a segue, uh, into a, the weirdest question you probably ever got asked, but okay. If Kirby absorbed you, what kind of powers would Kirby get?

Oh man, I think, Hmm. I actually thought for some reason, like, you know, what would he spit out? Like when you gave me that question mm-hmm. like, and I'm like, Hmm. Um, I think the, the thing, the power that he's probably gonna get is the ability to create things. So maybe like, you know, being able to paint things or sculpt things or something, because I, I grew up with a family that loves, you know, indulging themselves in the arts. And I always, and whenever I tell the story, it's, it's kind of funny because I kind of saw my aunts and uncles, like, there are like a group of, you know, super centi characters, you know, like you know, my uncle was, is really good at, you know, kind of gardening and kind of the more car carpentry type tasks, like the handyman type of tasks. My, um, one of my aunts is really good at, you know, um, Fashion design. My other aunt is good with music. My mom is really good at interior design and my grandma is really good at floral design. So that's five people right there whose lives like really inspired me to pursue the creation of things. And I think at my my age, which a lot of people think I'm younger, I'm 43 years old. Um, a lot of I need to look on your face. Yeah. Cause I was

just like, I thought you were younger too as well. I'm like, you sound so youthful.

Thank you. It's a lot of water. Um. Uh, the, you know, just kind of taking a lot of those inspirations from my, my five relatives and stuff. Um, even my dad, my dad is like a big, you know, kind of technology nut. Like he actually owns his own business and stuff. Like, just the confluence of those things really affected me and how I perceived art and growing up. And, and of course naturally, I, I want to take the time to also thank my fourth grade teacher who, you know, also kind of opened my mind on what art could really be apart from just, you know, the typical painting, drawing, and, uh, sculpting kind of thing. Um, I still remember, um, there was like a, a drawing by Picasso made, done by, done for Stravinsky. He was drawing Stravinsky. And my fourth grade teach art teacher basically said, okay, turn that upside down. Try to draw the image upside down, like fix it. And I was like, Wait, what? And just doing that like very simple exercise kind of, you know, allowed me to unshackle myself from like, the traditional definitions of art. And I was able to see things already very differently at a very young age. Um, even then, like I was like, I, I, you know, I remember during that time too, I actually taught myself to do programming cuz at the time I wanted to do, you know, to make like video games. And I was like, you know, I was, it was crazy cuz I was like in fourth grade, you know, teaching myself programming But uh, yeah, all, all that stuff happened. It's, it's been kind of a crazy ride, as you can tell

it really has been. So like you've been creating for a very long time at this point, like from fourth grade all the way to now. Like, do you feel like, and like what was the biggest things you've learned along this journey?

Let's see. Um, I think, I think one of the things that I learned is that copying others. is only part of how you understand things and make your own work. And the reason why I say that is because I typically give away a lot of my ideas for free. But the secret to that is that I'm the only one that understands why and that's actually key to growth because if you are just copying people, it o there's, it's only a matter of time until the copying catches up with you and then all of a sudden it's old and stale now, you know? Um, but by understanding why people make the decisions they make you actually get a different sense of appreciation for the work and also, Putting your own stamp onto what you're quote unquote copying that in a way, you're turning it, you're turning it into your own work. Now, I'm not in the habit of copying other people's work, but I think another way to describe that is to watch and kind of learn and really question what and why people make certain decisions when they're making certain things. Whether it's a TV show, a movie, um, you know, even reality shows for that matter. Like I'm a huge RuPaul Drag race fan, and, and, and I, uh, you know, I always question some of the production decisions and editing that they do. Like, you know, one of the things my wife and I talk about is like, oh, the e the way that they're editing this person means like, this person's gonna get ejected from the show. And sure enough, you know, they get ejected from the show. Um, and, and those sorts of things, and. Not a lot of people approach the media to consume in that way. Like a lot of us just kind of consume, consume, consume. But I just think about like how much richer our lives would be if you added just a question or two of what you're watching. It doesn't have to be like something, you know, world changing or anything. It's just, you know, something for your own education and you'd realize that there's so much wonder and just so many things to learn from the world that, you know, you just can't learn by yourself. And you have, you kind of have to take that and, and try to ask yourself like, well, what does that mean to me? What does that say about myself asking these sorts of questions and why am I answering them that way? Oh,

wow. So you're always constantly evolving and constantly learning Basical.

Yeah. I mean, that's why I said like every review is different whether people notice it or not. You know, to me, like I see what's different, but you know, every time, like somebody says, oh, this is a great video. This is the best you've ever made, I think to myself, well, thank you. You didn't actually know like what went into that. But the fact that my subconsciously my audience can, can enjoy it, I think that's what brings joy to me too, and that's really what counts. Okay. Uh, that makes

sense. That makes sense. You, you know, like the way you talk and the way you like, um, talk about like your evolution and the way you think and everything. It sounds, you almost strike me as a pro athlete in the way that they're always having to study film and the way they're always evolving and such like that. It's a, it's very Kobe Bryant esque and I, I really admire that.

Thank you. Thank you. I wouldn't compare myself to Kobe Bryant, but I, I, I have heard of interesting, uh, things about, you know, Steph Curry mm-hmm. And how he kind of approaches things too. Um, you know, there's a book that I was reading recently that kind of talked about Steph Curry and how, you know, like Steph Curry doesn't all have good days, and what does he do during those off days that make him still feel, you know, like integral to the team especially, it's helpful now given that I'm trying to build a team of my own. So it's like, it's, you know, these kinds of conversations about, you know, group things like basketball or as silly as it is a RuPaul musical, like on the show or something. These are all kind of informing me of, you know, ideas of what I might want to try out, you know, creation wise. You know,

this, this just strikes me, and it's like a further illustration that people are layered, like like, yeah, I, I could ex, I completely expected you to be a one piece fan. I, the RuPaul thing throws me completely for a loop, and I love it. Like, I absolutely love it. It's just pe there, like there's more to people than what you see on YouTube or what you hear in a podcast, so to speak. And I absolutely love that.

I wish I could talk more RuPaul in one piece. You know, unfortunately, that's outside of the boundaries of J RPGs. Yeah. Like, I've tried my best to try to insert that somewhere, but people are like, man, RuPaul, I don't like that show. Or, you know, or one piece, I don't watch anime. I'm like, oh my goodness. How, how do I make sense of all this? How do you

have the time? Man, I, that, that's how, that's why I'm wondering at this point, it's like you re review so many games and you have videos coming out constantly. How do you have the time to watch RuPaul and

um, one piece. See, that's kind of the interesting thing is that, you know, a long time ago I encountered, um, you know, and talked to a whole bunch of people who aren't necessarily even influencers or content creators. They're just, you know, business people. And I think one lesson that they imparted on me is that if you incorporate the, you know, the way that you see your creativity, uh, with into everything that you do, there's always gonna be creativity. So even watching TV for example, there's a level of creativity there that you can't do elsewhere, right? Like watching a TV show doesn't have to just be watching a TV show. It's also like opening discussions, talking about the stories, how they framed it and, and all these sorts of things. Um, and. You know, while it seems like I don't have time for a lot of this stuff, like I actually do have just a normal time that everybody else has. Um, when I pursued, you know, YouTube, I, you know, I told my wife, I was like, I'm gonna do this full-time. I know that's risky because we're not making a lot of money yet, but, you know, I just wanna, you know, make this my, you know, 40 hour week job. And I stuck to that for the past six years. I told myself, It's a 40 hour week job. The job is actually making the videos, not playing the games. And I think setting that boundary actually made it a lot more fun. You know, like knowing that okay, your nine to five is like either making videos or doing a lot of the admin slash accounting work to make the business, you know, stay afloat and separating that from the actual work. You know, the rather separating the work stuff from the actual fun stuff, which is playing games, I found is like really the most important part. You know, like I'm still, you know, going to work much like everybody else's, except sometimes I can actually say, well I have a block within this, you know, eight hour day so I can play more games. So I'll do that for one day and, and so on and so forth. And I guess this is all to say that it's a management, it's a time management question, but also realizing that there's 24 hours in a day. and you, what you choose to do in those 24 hours is up to you. But you know to say that, oh, you're locked in because of commute and my job and whatever you need to do is kind of ignoring a lot of the other hours that you can spend actually pursuing your passion. And in fact, like I see so many YouTubers and Twitch streamers doing exactly that. It's like so many people still have their 40 hour week jobs, and yet they're managed to be Twitch partners in the span of a month or two and really thriving, even despite the hardships and having fun to begin with. And I think that's also the other piece too, is that if you don't love it, then you know then why you're doing it. Right. You know? And to me, you know, having that experience back into games and me days, you know, being, you know, Like trying to do a YouTube channel really kind of informed me of like what it could be to make this like a full-time, you know, source of income. And admittedly, we're not quite there, but like there's no day where I'm not working hard to achieve that goal. And I'm just thankful for my wife and you know, her belief in me that I can accomplish something great here. Man, that's magical.

Like I love that. I absolutely love that. I love the passion that you display in, in pursuing all this. And like, it shows like your, your work, you always seem to, to be loving like a game and what you're doing and telling us about the game. So like thank you for that by the way.

Yeah, I, I, that's, that's all I want. I want people to rediscover their love for games cuz really we. So many bad news about games, whether it's companies or shady stuff they're doing. There has to be a counterbalance for that. We need more of that counterbalance in, in, you know, games, news and everything. And I, I feel like I'm, you know, I'm, I don't know, rallying, like the rest of the community and stuff to do something similar. So,

yeah, it's always fun to have that positive spin on things because, uh, like, you're right, it, it is a industry that's, uh, oftentimes surrounded by negativity and mm-hmm. you know, it's not like some of it's intentional, but most of it isn't. It's just like, uh, happenstance of like, sad natures of what happens in this industry. But it is one of those things to where like, uh, we, we often, like, we often kind of like hide the goodness in the, in the darkness of all that kind of like news and everything like that. Mm-hmm. So it's nice to have that

positive outlook. Yeah. It's, it's exactly, it's, you know, I don't wanna throw anybody under the bus, cuz that's not just not what I am, but like one channel that I really truly loved. You know, you, we kind of started around the same time and then I kind of noticed that they started changing, right? They started covering a lot more negative stuff as opposed to like more uplifting stuff. And it was my personal choice to stick with the more positive stuff. But because they shifted towards covering more controversial stuff, like his channel grew like big time, like huge, um, in the span of just a few years and stuff. And you know, obviously he's known at a community and stuff and I still love his work on occasion. But it's like, it's really to me that the reaction of the community to that is a great example. That we really, truly need a counterbalance to all this negativity, right? Like, you know, a lot. A lot of people who even try to be positive online can't avoid being negative sometimes, like on Twitter, like, you know, I love the kind of funny people, but sometimes they can be prone to a lot of negativity as well. And I'm just like, no peop that's a trap. People, it's a honeypot. You know, you don't really wanna do that. And you know, I think it, it requires a lot of thought to really think about like what to put out there and to choose what, you know, what you want to say out there. Like for me, like, you know, to be quite honest, like I was a little uncomfortable even talking about like that one person and stuff just now. But I think you know, the best thing. um, you know, the industry in general are actually the good parts, and unfortunately, like you, as you said, it's being overshadowed by a lot of the negativity. Like, you know, the game awards last year, like, I, I wanted to revel in the excitement of talking about what won Game of the year and stuff like that, like Eldon Ring and all that. But then a lot of it admired by like, oh, you know, how did they vote this stuff? I, you know, like, these people don't know like what they're voting for. And I'm like, come on, this is supposed to be a celebration and you're already poo-pooing the celebration. You know, like, get for

it. For sure. For sure. Yeah. I, yeah, there is like, uh, there's a balance between being passionate and then, and that led that passion, um, overshadow into a negativity and I think a lot of people quite haven't figured out that balance

to be. And, and I think it's an ongoing process. Mm-hmm. you know, it, I'm, I'm not just speaking for myself, but I think together as an industry, you know, especially with the term doom scrolling, being a part of people's vernaculars these days, it's kind of like, well, that's a pretty good indication that we need to change something for the positive. Yeah, for sure. For

sure. And you can be critical about things without being overly negative. I think, you know, a lot of people lean toward and almost embrace the dark side, so to speak, versus, you know, being, just being critical about something. But, you know, I, I, I admire what you do because like, you know, we do need that, that light night, like the light night, so to speak. I was about to say like the dark night, but we already have, we, we basically already have too much darkness. So you're almost like the, the Light Knight of the games.

Oh, thank you. I, I think one of my inspirations actually, um, comes from Rat Tui of all things because have you watched that movie? Oh yeah. I love it. Love it. So you remembered a sweet, the, the speech that Anton Ego says at the end after tasting the rat Tui. Mm-hmm. So that pretty much, I feel encapsulates a lot of my feelings towards, um, criticism. You know, like how, you know, we should champion the new just as much as we're, you know, we're critiquing things and I think, you know, just finding that right balance is really the most challenging thing. Cuz I almost see like video creation and scripting my reviews kind of. A weighing scale of sorts, right? Like, I have to obviously make sure that all the criticisms are on the table, but I also have to balance and make sure that, um, a lot of the positive stuff, the, the truly positive stuff is also brought to light. Because let's face it, a lot of criticism these days are mostly negative. Anybody can nitpick anything. But the most difficult part about, you know, doing game reviews is to find the best parts of games. Like it's, it truly is, you know, and I think it's a very underrated scale to be able to genuinely say like, oh, this game actually has this really good, even though this part isn't working quite well. So that's my personal take on it. That makes complete

sense. I'll, I admire that. Um, well, so like, speaking of reviews and everything like that, what, what's been your favorite games of 2023 so

far? Oh, geez. Well, I have to mention one piece Odyssey, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, the fact that it is so true to the One piece legacy and the storytelling and even though it's like a side story, right? Like these kind of dream scenarios really sparked the imagination. Like, you know, we're talking about Marine Ford, right? Mm-hmm. And that game allowed me to relive Marine Ford in a very different way because you know, for any one piece fans, you know, who are in the know Luie didn't have his crew at that time. No, not at all. Yeah. But in one piece, Odyssey, he gets to go back to Marine Ford with practically his entire crew to see if there was even a way, if he could even stand a chance to, you know, well, I'm not gonna spoil it. You'll just have to watch everybody. It's only 500 episodes, man. Um, no big, you're just 500. No biggie. Um, and yeah, like, I, I think that's, you know, I think that's probably like one of my favorite games of the year, just because it's, it's one piece. It's great. Um, man, I'm trying to figure out the order here because I wanna build up to something Um, let's see. You know, I, I also reviewed Wolong Fallen Dynasty. That is actually a really cool game. It's obviously a bit kind of buggy on the pc, but I like it because it's kind of like a cross between Neo and sei and, but not as hard as either game. It's actually easier. So from a souls like perspective, it's a great kind of introduction to the genre, even though it's still kind of punishingly hard for some people. Oh yeah.

That first Boss really gives it to you though, too. Oh yeah. Really gives it to you. But, um, after that I feel like it, it scales kind of downwards in a way to where dramatically feels more accessible than any other souls born game I played recently.

Yeah. The, the one boss. is it? Mm-hmm. and then everything else is Smooth Sailing Yeah, for sure. Just that one. Really. Just that one. Um, let's see. I also love Fire Ble Gage. Now I know there's some people who say like, ah, this story is whack and whatever. But I think it's also missing, you know, like what it was also trying to do, which is there's no sensible way to make a serious storyline with, you know, getting a whole bunch of, you know, characters from Fyre Emblem history, using them as rings and incorporating them into this adventure. There's no plausible way to do that, that I know of. I'm not a writer for a game, I wouldn't know, but as a, as somebody who has experienced a lot of stories, it would look like a fricking carnival if they even tried to make it serious. So I think the approach of that is like, well, why not make it a, a carnival? Like, wait, let's make it silly. Why not? You know? Um, and, and I loved it for it and the kind of. Thing that I really love about it ultimately is the gameplay, because the gameplay certainly didn't suffer from the change in thematics. A lot of people actually loved the level design of that game. And of course, like all the changes that they made with the battle system, they brought back the, you know, the triangle, you know, kind of, um, system for the weaknesses and strengths, which is great. And, you know, it's, it's just awesome. Like, I love that game. Like I had so much fun playing that game. That's great. Um, I almost

wish, like, I think my perfect fire BLE game now is like, engages, gameplay with like three houses, like narrative and world building. I love, like, I love three houses because of like the, the way we got to interact with the, the characters, the lore, the, the world that was built there. I think that like the integrating both those aspects to me would be my perfect fire.

Yeah. Yeah. And, and you know, like they kind of tried that obviously. Mm-hmm. and engaged by having like specific fights for specific, you know, classic fire emblem characters. But, you know, something more expansive I think would be interesting, like you said. Hmm. I think I want, for my next one, I think I'll say the rhythm, final bar line, and, Ooh, this is a game that I know a lot of my fans really in a way. on because it's a rhythm game. I still don't agree with that sentiment. I think there's something really unique to playing a game of another genre that has some of those r p g elements that is also just as interesting. Right. Um, but I get it. There's, there's some sentiments in my community where it's like, oh, I played a rhythm game and, and I dropped it. Which, you know, I totally get, um, I don't know how much of them actually played a theor rhythm game in the past, but to me, like Theor Rhythm Final Bar Line is not only a celebration of 35 years of Final Fantasy, but it's also an R B G two. You know, there's levels, there's different abilities you can equip. You can't just, you know, steamroll a song just because you know, or you're really good at like rhythm games. You need to. Consider party composition. There's so many things to consider, you know, just playing through that game that elevates it just from being like a, I don't know, like hu Miko clone or, uh, you know, a guitar hero or rock band clone or something like that. Um, let's see, how many did I say? That's like three? I think that's three right there. Okay. Hmm. But

you were building up, I, I like the, the

ramp up, so to speak. Yeah. So, so, okay, so three. Recap. Recap. I had, right? Four. I think one piece is four. Mm-hmm. one piece. Odys. Yeah. Cuz I, one piece Odyssey Fire emblem. Mm-hmm. and then, Hmm. Wang Theor, rhythm and Wang. Okay. That's all it's for. Mm-hmm. Okay. That is four, man. Okay. So I think there's a lot of really good games, so I'll tell you it's a stacked year. Yeah. The fifth one is, is pretty easy for me. That's ocpa traveler too. Like, ah. it improved so much from Ocpa Traveler one that it made a lot of the complaints from that game just seem trivial by comparison. Like there's still things that they didn't do, like incorporating the party into somebody else's story, but I think what they did was they honed in on the quality of the storytelling on a per character basis. Making the other party members be involved in that story wouldn't make a lot of sense because of the higher stakes nature of each of the stories. But it also had a variety of different flavors. So like Tainos, Andrick, it's really Timinos. Butrick is like, his assistant is more like a, you know, a Sherlock Holmes and Watson kind of story, for example. And then you have Casie who is your resident amnesia slash you know, nurse who, once you go through her story, it becomes less about her amnesia and more about like, who the hell, you know, like, What the hell happened to the world surrounding her? Um, and Ener Bario, who is my favorite character in the series, who, you know, even though he's a merchant, he wants to practically take down capitalism, you know, you know, for the better good of the many. So, and, and it's just very kind of wholesome nature. Um, you know, storytelling mixed with a whole bunch of different flavors, dark otherwise that, you know, it's almost like eight different J RPGs rolled into one, but of course they're, they're the same party. So, um, I truly, I really, truly enjoyed it. And it's, you know, on my channel, like I have, um, a banner that I always update every time, like, you know, a, I feel like a good game is deserving of it. Octa Bat Traveler two pretty much sits in the middle, which is actually the best spot for any game to be in on that rank because you either fall on the left or the right side, but to be in the middle, those are only reserved for like the very special games.

Man, that's cool. You should have like, uh, almost like a Banner legacy kind of thing. Almost like you remember the Mortal Combat towers, so to speak. Yeah. To where you can like almost, it's almost like paying homage to where, how far you come, like on the website you should just do that, you know, like, okay, goodness, that'd be pretty cool. Um,

that, yeah, that would be pretty cool, like to kind of look back a year ago and be like, this is what this looked like a year ago, you know? Yeah. It would be crazy. Um, yeah, like for the longest time, 13 Nels was actually in the middle and then it ki kind of get kept getting pushed back by like Eldon Ring and then Xeno Blade and who knows what else is gonna take over that middle spot. It's kind of crazy. Yeah, for

sure, for sure. I got one final question before we move on to the final topic of the show. Sure. The final statement, so to speak. I want to know like if you have, what is the game or the, the games that you would give to just anybody where you would like, you need to check out this J R P G E, even if you're not a Fano J RPGs.

Hmm. That's a very good question. Um, I don't wanna make it a cop out and be like, well, who am I giving it to? But, um, I think for me, the most immediate thing that comes up, excuse me. For some reason I'm like hitting puberty or something. Um, I think tales of Arise. Okay. Because like, that's an interesting game to me because I think that bridges the gap between action players and turn-based players in very unexpected ways. Now, a lot of tales, fans will probably disagree with me on this, but the fact that. The Tails series has wanted to have like a massive hit for a long time, and they finally have it with a rise. Kind of shows that the industry and defense are pretty much ready for an amalgamation of sorts, like blending some of the ideologies behind turn-based combat with something more action-based. And I think that, you know, out of all of them, you know, tales of Rise did that quite well. Um, there's still obviously like a lot of, um, growing pains and, and a lot. That sort of thing, which is why like I made a guide for the Game for combat. But for the most part, like that success, that Game Success really showed people that, you know, like there's a hunger for this sort of game play, mixing real time and term based in, in meaningful ways. And, and the way that I described it back in the day was, it was almost like I was playing a more manageable version of Ultimate Marvel versus Capcom three, because all you're doing in that is just like, all right, tagging out, tagging out, tagging out, and just, you know, it becomes that sort of gameplay like that you'd see in that game. And, you know, and it's just so satisfying to take out waves and waves of enemies with so many cool powers. It's, it's really, really cool. And I do think that that is certainly one of those games that'll, you know, make people, you know, turn around and be like, you know, maybe there's something to the genre that, you know, I haven't really. taken a look at closely. Maybe, maybe, you know, this is the time to do so. I like the

recommendation. You played this on pc, I'm assuming

I actually played it on PS five, but I do have the PC version. I've played through much of the PC version as well. And so, you know, that's just how big of a fan of I am. I am of this series at this point that I, I loved it so much and I played it twice. In fact, um, when, uh, somebody gifted me a steam deck, I literally installed on my steam deck and started, started a brand new progression on it just because, you know, just for shits and giggles.

That's really cool. That's really cool. Is, uh, so now that you have the steam deck, is that your, one of your preferred consoles

right now? Um, yes and no. There are games that I just can't play that are even brand new on there. Mm-hmm. not because, you know, steam doesn't recommend it, but they literally crash Oh, no. On there. Yeah. Uh, there's this game called Redemption Rapers that, um, I wanted to review and I, I thought to myself, Ooh, this is gonna be great on the steam deck. And literally when the, when the opening movie plays, I can't do anything. So, you know, I've had to try to find time to, you know, sit down in front of my computer to play it, but I'm just like, oh, I really just want to play it in my steam deck, This shouldn't be that difficult, you know, man,

and I, I feel you on that one. I feel you. Maybe, you know, this feels like gin wines of the Steam deck, so maybe as, you know, maybe as like future iterations come out, we'll, we'll fully integrate, like everything, like everything will be playable in that device.

Yeah, I mean right now, like even though it complains that I don't have enough ram, I'm actually able to play for spoken even for a tiny bit on there. Mm-hmm. So the fact that like this one game, right, redemption Reapers doesn't wanna run is just baffling to me. It's

crazy. It's the one stubborn one basically at this point,

huh? Yeah. I mean I was able to run the re evil four remake demo. Why can't this other game play it crying It not loud.

That is baffling. That is baffling. So Alex, you got time from one last segment. Yeah, for sure. All right, so this one is probably the hardest segment of the show, and you, you've been incredible so far. But, uh, but, and I really hate to do this to you, but I'm gonna have to hit you with the hardest segment known to man. It is our pro nerd trivia challenge. This Alex, is where I'm gonna ask you five different questions from five different topics of nerdy categories. If you get all five correct, and then you earn the title of Pro Nerd, the record stands right now of just one person getting in this prestigious moniker, but I feel like you're gonna join them in the pro nerd hall of fame. Man. Are, are you up to

the challenge?

Let's do it, man. All right. So this is almost who, who wants to be a millionaire? Like, but without the, the lifelines, so to speak. So I have right here on my screen, right here to the right, the Wheel of Destiny. It'll spin, uh, randomly and land on, you know, different topics and we'll, that's where we're getting our topics from. So let's let it rip. Your first topic is in the realm of Pokemon. All right. So, alright. On gen one, there is a Pokemon by the name of Seal. Seal evolves into witch Pokemon. Is it steel?

Is that your final answer? Yeah.

unfortunately that is incorrect. Seal evolves into the Pokemon Dugong.

Oh, okay. I should have known this. Dugong is a thing in fricking one piece. Yeah.

Yeah.

really

it. Really? Yeah. I forgot about do log. What happened? One piece. That's That's so funny. I know. That is so funny. All right, so you're, let's spin the wheel right now. All right. So the wheel has officially landed on Disney. Hmm. So I like that. Uh, I think you're, you're prepared, but you hit us with a Disney reference earlier with Rat and Tui, so I feel like you, you at least know your stuff on Disney. Mm-hmm. All right. So in a goofy movie, what was the name of Goofy Sun Max? You

got it correct? Yeah, We just watched that like last year, so

remember. Oh my goodness. I love, it's so fresh. I love it. One of my favorite Disney movies, to be honest.

Yeah, it's classic.

It is so good. It's so good. The Power Line soundtrack. Ah, so good

It is, it's great. Oh, man. Like I, I'm, I'm a big Disney fan, so if it lands there, again, I'd, I'd be set and be like, woo. Yeah. Great

to me. I like that. I like that. So, all right, next up we have Star Wars. Okay. All right. So, all right. What is the name of the Who of the Wookiees Home world? What is the name of the Wooki

Home World? Oh man. Oh, I can't, ah, it's almost at the tip of my dog. Ah, are you excited for JTA from Motor, by the way? The ES South That's just my answer. I freaking forgot. Um, but yeah, I'm totally excited for it. Um, I talked about the, uh, you know, Jedi fall in order as a, you know, as a great soul slate to start with, and that, that actually started a hold other debate.

I, I'm looking forward to that game. Um, I feel like this is almost like the year for license games for some reason. Like it's just, yeah, it seems like we've gotten quite a few of them. Um mm-hmm. but the answer is

Kashk. That was literally like, well, I was gonna say, why didn't I say it? Oh my God. Go What? Your gut. I know I should have just gone one my gut. Okay, go with your gut. I'll do it. I'll do it

next time. All right, so you missed two, you got one, but you're doing pretty well so far. Yeah. All right. Okay, so the next category is in the realm of the M C U, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Okay. All right.

So, all right. What in the movie Ironman, or in the Ironman franchise? That is, what is Pepper Potts allergic to?

Hmm? What is she allergic to? My goodness. I was gonna say garlic. Let's go in garlic. I don't really remember All right, so she

says, and, and I quote there is, there is only, did you know there's only one thing on Earth that I'm allergic to? Strawberries. Mm. Allergic to strawberries.

What movie was that from?

That is from the movie, iron Man Two, I believe. That is about like, damnit, about 42 minutes in. I want to say

it's the one movie that I, that I haven't rewatched more than once. Oh, really? To

be You only watched that that one one time?

Yeah. At the movie theater. And for, I don't know, like, I think like, I like one and three a lot and for some reason, like for part two and stuff, I'm like, yeah, it's cool that, you know, there's like a whip villain and stuff. Whiplash, Yeah, whiplash. And I'm just kind of like, all right. You know, I can move on to the next one. It

is the most forgettable one. Uh, I'll give you that It is, let's be honest, this is the most forgettable other three. It's,

it's, it's tough to even remember a single thing about it, including the name of the villain, I guess. Mm-hmm. Like if you even asked that question, I probably wouldn't have remembered

I understand. I understand. I, you know, the MCU has that, like that sequel problem where the second one is probably the most forgettable if they have a trilogy. But except for Captain America, cuz I think that's probably one of my favorite MCU U movies. The one is so good. That was

a Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That was great. So good. So good? Yeah. Really good. All right,

so really, yeah. So the wheel on the final spin of the wheel, you have a topic between, you have a choice between topic A or topic B. Like it'll, as soon as you choose A or B, it'll let me know which one's A and which one's B, which one you gonna choose. Let's do

B.

Alright. All right. So, um, I hope you're familiar with the realm of Harry Potter

Okay. Let's try it.

All right. All right. So, all right. What type of animal did Professor Mag, uh, McGonal transform into? What was her monga?

I'm just gonna guess and say lizard, that was very close, but it was a cat that was not close. That was not close at all. I

feel like it was within the realm of something that, uh, uh, a witch would have as a pet, or a wizard would have as a pet, a lizard. I feel like that's in the realm of it, at least.

Yeah. I mean, you know, it has four legs. Why not? Right? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, once vicinity, what's an amphibian? But you know, Yeah,

I know. Yeah. Man, I really suck at this. That's why, that's probably why, like, I don't like new trivia, but if I did say cache, that would've been two points. Dang it. But I did it. So go

with your it's gut. Go with your gut. Yeah. But do you, would you like to take the, see what the road not taking would've been if you would chose a? Sure. All right. So if you would've chose a, it would've been in, uh, the genre. I think you probably know pretty well. It would've been in Nintendo. Okay. Yeah. So in Nintendo, what was the highest selling switch game of all time or what is currently the highest selling switch game of all Timem?

Hmm. I wanna say Myra carte ate the luxe. That is correct.

that is absolutely correct. It's not

even close. It's not even close. Yeah, it's, it's insane how much that game sold. It's really crazy.

Yeah. It's almost to the point to where I'm like, if you have a switch, you probably have Mario Carter eight Deluxe at this point. More than likely. More than likely. More than likely, for sure. Yeah. Alex, you know, it's really been really fun having you on the show. Before you go though, I, I wanna say thank you cuz this is, it's been an honor talking to you. It's been an honor having you on the show and I absolutely loved having.

Yeah, absolutely. Like I really had a lot of fun. I'm glad we got to talk about a variety of different topics and really like, my hope is that for people listening and stuff, if you've ever been wanting to like try out streaming even just for a hobby or even like making YouTube videos or heck tos or something like that, like, and you wanna try to do it, you know, on a regular, like, I hope you know my journey has inspired you in some way because I do think that the more we create in this world, the better you know we're gonna have it. Because I think there's so much destruction that's happening right now that we need more builders than there are destroyers. So I hope you can be a part of the creators of the world.

Man, you're absolutely killing this. Y you're, you're absolutely killing this. Like I legitimately, I was gonna ask you before you go, do you have any words of inspiration to the, to the listeners and like, you already took care of that, so, okay. Alex, you know, you, you've, you've wrapped everything up so smoothly. I, instead of that, I'm gonna ask you, Alex, what is the food you're gonna be snacking on?

Mm. I've actually avoided snacks. So maybe like just animal crackers or something. Yeah. Again, a wholesome snack or something. Okay. I mean, what's

the, what's, what's dinner looking like today? What, what's on the menu there?

Ooh, I, it's a whole bunch of different things. It might be burgers, it might be, um, I, I have like a recipe for Mexican pizza knockoff from like Taco Bell. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's, you know, sky's the limit, right? Yeah. That

sounds really good. Alex, thank you so much for being a guest on the show, and I'd love to have you back anytime. In the meanwhile though, thank you. And I would k we would catch you at youtube.com/uh, you know, um, do I blanked? Oh my gosh, I blanked. I was doing so well. I thought I, I was, I was counting my chickens before they hatch because like, I was just giving myself my flowers in my head. I was just like, Sebastian, you killed this episode, but youtube.com/backlog battle. Is there anywhere else you'd like to shout out? You know, the plug spot

is all yours. Um, I think pretty much like you'll find me on youtube.com/backlog battle. And you know, if you post a comment and stuff, there's a high likelihood that I'll respond. I'm just really in the trenches when it comes to my community because, you know, like I want to keep this place as positive and very kind of, you know, for the love of games as possible. So if you placed a comment there, I'm pretty sure I'll say hi and even respond to what you're saying. So hopefully I see you there.

Man, I was doing so well. I was I was like, I was counting my chickens before the hatch. I was like, Sebastian, you did the damn thing today. And I was just like, dang. Yeah. Tripped up at the end. But regardless, thank you so much for being on the show. Until next time, we will catch you later. Bye Alex. Bye. All right. so that's a wrap for today's episode. I wanna give a special shout out and thank you to Alex from Backlog Battle for being on the show today. I also wanna let you know about the single player experience Discord server. It's the perfect place for single player gamers to talk about the good single player games they've been playing lately, and to get video game recommendations. Think of it kind of like a book club for single player gamers. The link to join will be in the description. Once you're in, feel free to share your video game backlog list. Talk about the good games you've been playing, or give your feedback on the show if you have a game that you think should be recommended or that you think I should talk about. Let me know in the single Player Experience Discord server. I'll see you there. Before we go, I just want to thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Stay safe, stay gamming, and I hope to catch you in the next one. Peace.