The X Button Podcast: Early Impressions of Hogwarts Legacy ft. Sebastion Mauldin

what's up, and welcome to the Single Player Experience. As always, I'm your host, Sebastian Malden, and as you probably saw in the description, this episode is going to be a bit different than the norm. So recently I was the guest on the X Button Podcast, a wonderful podcast hosted by Paul and Alejandro, where they talk about the gaming news that you need to know about, and they do deep dive gamer reviews. So in that episode, we did a deep dive early impressions review of Hogwarts legacy. This was a really good episode and I wanted to bring this episode to my audience here on the Single Player Experience Podcast. Especially if you're thinking about getting Hogwarts legacy. I'm wondering if it's worth the hype. So without further ado, let's start the show. Dj, start the intro. My.

Welcome, ladies, gentleman, to a new episode of the X Button, season three, episode six. If I'm not mistaken, I am one of your host, Alejandro, with me as the is my co-host.

Oh, hey everybody. How's it going? I don't have a special title today.

Yeah, I, I couldn't think of one today and our very, very special guest,

Hey, it's me, Sebastian from the Single Player Experience Podcast. How are you doing today? How are you? How are you guys doing

all right? We're doing pretty good. All things considered, considering there's many hectic stuff in our lives. Red Paul Amen. Yeah. So Sebastian, we had already tease that you were gonna be visiting us for this week's episode, and then you visit us earlier, even in last week's episode. Thanks to the Nintendo Reg, you're becoming more of a regular, which I'm very. Very happy about. I love having you

in I love your Oh, thank you. Always glad to be here. You know, like, I'm sort of like a vampire into the night. You invite me in and now I'm just, I'm able to come in at will now. You know? That's how the rules work. Eating our

pantry out, just like, it's, it's, it's a nightmare. You

just like, yeah, for sure. Feed on the couch and everything. Just wants to chill. Yeah. Oh, exactly. I got a question for you, Paul, before we begin. Yeah. It's all, you picked up some soda. What are you drinking? What's, what's the bubbly?

This is going to be, uh, Zevia Cola flavor. cola flavor. Essentially it's, it's zero calorie soda. That's like way better for you. But if you weren't, like, if you closed your eyes, this would taste like coke and there's like different flavors all over the place. Um, there's one that's root beer flavored. We're out of that, but I swear it tastes just like root beer and it does much better for my stomach. So she makes me happy.

will that be, will that be available for your moving

Paul? Yes, actually, that's where we found out about it. But then we found out our local grocery store also sells it. So we were like, win, win, let's go.

Nice. You know, Zeva, if any, any of you reps are listening, this is the perfect podcast to, to endorse right here. You know, like we, we've, we've already tested the products, we know it's great and everything like that. Let's, let's talk business now. Yeah.

People always say that they're too prideful to sell out. I am. I won't do just about whatever you want.

Yeah. We sell out everything. Including Del Sim. Remember Yeah. And I was sick. I had my, I I had my serve Ready remember? I remember it well. Yeah. We can wrap everything because we believe in everything here that we champion because this is the expert on podcast, our gaming podcast that posts every Thursdays from 2:00 PM onwards, God willing, available in the YouTube channel, escape gaming. As well as most audio services around the world. Apple Podcast, Spotify, and the like. You can find links and the RSS feed at anchor fam slash escape dash gaming. If you're enjoy show, give us a like as subscribe and you can leave a comment if you're annoyed by the chainsawing happening in my background. So, Sebastian, now you're gonna be in a full episode because we usually get you in at a special episode or halfway through a recording like we did last week with Paul h We started recording, then we did a reaction for the Nintendo Direct. You joined us halfway through that direct and we're like, Hey, do you wanna finish our recording with us? And we got you in. So our, uh, Nintendo direct reaction is Live now on YouTube, where you can see me freak out. Paul got amazing screen caps that did I could forever use over. I was very proud of those. Yeah, that was not me playing a bit. I was legit that excited about the things that they were mentioning, including, uh, a game that I recently reviewed. Metric Primary Master, when we're going into Wal. Games that we've been playing. I literally was like, started playing that. I told Paul, Paul, this is really amazing. I'm kind of shocked by this. And then over at Season Gaming we're like, anyone buy this? And I was like, I did wanna review it. I was like, sure, I'll review it. I had committed to play another big game that we paid for the little lock edition that we're gonna talk about here in this. But sure enough, I'll, I'll review that one. It took me three days and I beat Metro Primary Master. And I tell you, that's probably my fa uh, it's probably the best thing I played this year right now, but I don't want to say it's the best game of the year because it's an old game. But God, Metro Primary Master was like, what was Nintendo smoking back in 2002? Or did they have like a time travel machine to have like a game that holds so brilliantly? Well, 20 years later, like I send you guys screenshots, like in to our, to our chat. It's like, it's insane how it looks. We're like in the era, the Switch where we have games that barely run like, I mean, Pokemon. Even biota three last year was having like trouble, like maintaining like good framework, like, like re decent resolution. You look at the screenshots of Metro Primary Master and I'm like, where was, how, how did Nintendo this time was like they actually put effort, like me and Paul, like we went ranted like in immensely about how poor the quality of Skyward sorting Master was. Like how cheap, like if like they did the minimal bio, like the minimal viable product there where it was like a simple remaster that still looked pretty old and really floaty. They, um, yes they gave us like traditional controls there, but they didn't go far, like too far to be able to like customize them and give you like a camera that actually worked that it was like, no, hold the LB button and then use the right stick to be able to move the, to be able to move the camera up and we we're choking Paul

I wasn't choking. I was like, spilled part of the, the drink on the side of my face. And I was just like, oh gosh, dang.

Yeah. Good, good, good thing you're wearing a black shirt.

Get that out today. Uh, yeah.

But yeah, reps, the, the soda's so good that it makes him drool. Yes.

all the drilling. He drooling listening to me. Gosh, So, but yeah, remember in that I was like, it felt like it was such low effort and it was 60 bucks. We always know that Nintendo, when it comes, comes to Remasters. It was like, they always like overprice and they do the minimum, uh, job possible, like Super Mario 3D alsos the collection that's already dead. So this the work that they put in. And at 40 bucks, even though yes, it's not the entire trilogy, you could buy the entire trilogy back in the day on. We at a limited edition for 60 bucks. It goes for like 300 bucks in the aftermarket right now for some reason. Uh, that, um, when you look at that, it's like, it's, I'm actually impressed the Metro Primary Master exists like it is. It's like, I can't recommend it hide enough. It's, uh, to me, I'll say it again. Nintendo hasn't made a game this groundbreaking since. Let me ask

you something like, do you feel like it is closer to being a remastered or do you feel like this is closer to being a remake with some of the new,

new, it's an initial remake, I would say. Okay. This is like in the vein of the shadow, the Colossus, uh, remake we got in 2018, which is the exact same game as it was back in 2005, but with the quality of life of like better controls and the visuals are completely redone, but they keep the spirit of the original. Okay. That, that was my question. Yeah. Because that's the thing is like we are in this weird period of the definition of what a remastering remake is, is like so modeled. Mm-hmm. that damnit mm-hmm. and, uh, Perfect timing. So like for example, we got Final Fantasy seven remake, which was a completely visual remake. And on top of that, that entire game got remade that it wasn't completely at all how it used to be back in the PS one with all the added and all that. Then we obviously got the rest in evil two and three remakes that are also completely redone in visuals and they're not the exact same games as they were back in PS one. Then we get something like that space, which they have tweaked and added a few things, but 90% of that game is still true to the original, but the graphics are completely redone. So is like, and this one, I put it more in the shadow of the colos realm of all, all visuals redone. Especially I was watching the Digital Foundry video where they, I do the back and back and I'm like, it's insane how bad the Gamekeeper version looks like in my mind because when I started playing playing the remaster, I was like, this looks like how I remembered it, looking just now in HD this time. I was like, no. They actually went above and beyond like textures, completely redone lining, completely redone frame rate, stuck at 60 frames, which was not a problem back in game here. That game was like that smooth back then, which was revolutionary back in 2002, and they managed to keep that while reworking the visuals. And on top of that, Being able to play a game with like an honest to goodness FPSs controls. That was a game that you couldn't play at FPSs, like how you were no FPSs controls to be back in 2002. It was like all in one stick to turn around to be able to like stray. You had to be holding the lock on button and relying a lot on locking on. And the shooting was like in the front phase button. So it was like it worked for what that game was trying to do. But if you were to have played like a shooter, let's say Halo before it or any other, like a medal of honor and go to that, it would be a nightmare because then you have to like return your mind this time around. Yes, those, that all control scheme is there if you want to be a traditional list, but you can play with double sticks and it works phenomenally as a first person shooter. And if you are always wondering how did this control when it had a we version, you can also play it like that, like with the two, uh, joycons. And, and you

said that works really well, doesn't it? Yes. And

that it immediately was like, yeah, this basically tells me the metric prime three, whenever data decide to release at the. They can release this as is with that control scheme because it worked perfectly, I would say even more precise than it did with the we, because obviously you don't have to calibrate your we and the having a stupid bar in the top of your, the tv, there's easy recalibration. It's like, I am just shocked. I'm, I just actually shocked because I expect the words from Nintendo when it comes to like re-releasing their games and they went far above and beyond with this. Like, I hope you guys play it like, especially how cheap it is compared to other stuff in Nintendo, especially now that we're gonna be delving into the $70 range as they we saw with, uh, with the tears of the kingdom. Like this is a must buy. Like if it comes physically, I think this week they're selling it early because they said that it was gonna be available on the 22. So if you want to go the physical route, it should be there. I tell you, this is the best game on the switch. Even if it's 20 years old, it doesn't look like that. This like craps a lot on that library.

Thank you everybody for coming in for Alejandro's. Ted talk about Metro Prime, remat. Yes. Yeah, for sure.

I'm feeling like, and you can read and you can read my review [email protected]. Like spoilers, I gave it a 9.5. I wanted to give it a 10, but they're prickly about when we give tens over there. This would've been a 10 out of 10, like if I was reviewing it by myself, but under their rubric, this is a very sensational like release, so, uh, that's great. Yeah. So, Sebastian, tell me about arcane.

Arcane Vale. Have you a, like,

here's a journal. Why? Said I I've not heard about arcane Veil.

So no one has. No one has. And like this game flew underneath the radar. It was released late last year. This game is like a game that sort of combines like, um, sky, uh, like Sky Room. Um, it combines Sky Room with a little bit of a, um, bit of like dark souls kind of vibe to where like un demonn souls kind of vibe to where it combines those. But it has a 2D atmosphere to where, like to sound 2D here, right? Kind of, yeah. Um. Yeah. One of the general things about this game, like giving you the general pitch is like, you are not like, just like a blue, you're not like the prophecy one. You're not out there to try to save the world. You're just simply a random person trying to just do simple quest and become like whatever you want to be. If you want to be a strong warrior, you can do that. It has a story valley element to where you can create your own house, start a farm. You can do all that. But like, what really drew me to this game is like the game mechanics of like in Sky Room, you level up different mechanics. So, so by constant you, by constantly using them. Yeah, by constantly using them. It's the same system here. It's just, so if I wanna be a better storage man, I, I just play with my sword if I want. I didn't mean that by that way, but like, if I wanted to if I wanted to be like an axman, if I wanna do magic, I level that up by constantly using those. But I think one of the coolest things about this game is like, it is such a grounded experience. It's almost like everything in this world at first can kill you very easily, including like the rats and, and everything like that, where it says like Sky room, you, you start off, you know, you, you're underpowered, but you're still kind of overpowered versus a lot of the, the small rats and crabs and everything like that here. Like you are the absolute bottom of the barrel and you kind of have to claw your way up. And the, the game has realistic quest. Um, that makes sense. That feel like there it was, the games were ridden. I like. I like the fact that as you like level up your different stats and different things like that, like people actually start to know your name and based on like the quest and that you do in this area, the world kind of evolves as you kind of progress. It's not like, Hey, like I did a quest. So that one person who I did the quest for knows me. It's like, Hey, you did a quest. You become so well-known. Hey, can I be like, a guy will come up to you. Can I be your apprentice? Like, Hey, can I go on your journey with you? Just because like, um, you did a quest that I dreamed of doing, you know, like that I, that accomplishment that I dreamed of doing. So I'm like, there's so many little nuances. And the reason why I say this, souls like esque as well as like when you die and you will die, this game will kick your teeth down, down your throat. But like when you

die, do you lose? Do you lose like your currency? Weapons? Sort of like something like that. You lose

all your gear. You have to, and to get your gear back, you have to go back to the exact spot where you died at. Kinda like a rogue, like almost. Yeah, very much so. You lose all your, um, all your gear, but like you still get to keep your co currency and you still get to keep your, like all the, the spells and all the different things you've learned. You just gotta go back and retrieve that gear. So I'm like, if you had a legendary sword, you gotta go back and get that legendary sword. And if maybe you could pick up a different sword along the way to, to like, Uh, until you can get to that spot. But like the, another thing that Sky Room esque about this game is it's a huge open world, like mm-hmm. It's not just, uh, a rogue, like, to where you're playing in a small, um, maybe like four or five different areas. Oh, instead of missions, something like that. Yeah. Or biomes or anything like that. And it's not like that this game is like, there's a complete desert part that's just as big as Pokemon violin in Scarlet. There's, um, complete like towns and cities and everything like that, and there's, there's civilization. So I'm like, it, it reminds me so much of like an open world sky room mixed with dark souls mixing with like that Zelda kind of gameplay, like retro two D style Zelda gameplay. And I

saw this game came out like mid-December last year to Steam. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if they're planning on doing like a console release, because that sounds cool. It it, I,

I'm gonna be honest, I've never played anything quite like it, especially in the 2D space. What were you saying, Paul?

Oh, I wasn't actually about, well, I was about to say something. I didn't say anything yet. Um, did you ever play a game called Kingdom Come Deliverance Sebastian? Yeah. Yeah. And that's what makes me think as far as the moment to moment in the grounded nature of it, where it's like you upgrade by doing the things, but you stuck. Like you were just a peasant dude that could get wrecked by anything. But then all of a sudden you kind of blink after 10 hours and you're like, wait, I'm kind of competent now. Hang on a second. Um, but then similarly, it's like really grounded aspect of things. And, uh, I, I went through, what was it like two years ago, I think Alejandro, that we, uh, I went back and replayed it on console.

Yeah. It was last year because it was like six bucks last year. Yeah. It was six bucks. Okay, cool. In one of these summer.

Because that would've actually gone up to my, like, honorable mention, cuz I don't think the console version was out at launch.

If I'm not, it was PC and console was up, but this was 2018. That was like, yeah,

that was, that was a while ago. But yeah. Um, cuz I, I enjoyed the heck out of that. So this is like not as much my aesthetic. but I, I love the concept of how wide and expansive it is and how it just lets you kind of do your thing. And so that's really cool that, um, there are gems like that still in this day and age of people obsessed with AAA games that you can like really find something that people put some real effort into.

Oh yeah, for sure. And it's like, you know, like everything kind of makes sense if you, like, if you chop wood with an ax, so to speak mm-hmm. you not only get to like build, build like your wood chopping skills because that is a skill on itself. You also build your skills with an ax. So if you like, have axes that you want to use and battle, like that translates over if you like. If you build up your skills with a sword and then you decide, I want to use, like, I want to use like daggers, or I want to use this sword for like skinning fish, that that skill translates over to your. Mundane task as well. So I'm like, everything kind of makes sense. And like, don't get me wrong, the game doesn't have like a main story that's gonna hook you. So if you're a person who like needs a strong narrative, this game ain't gonna be for you. But if you want a game that is very much centric on you, like starting off, starting off small, working your way up and living like your best life according to the way you wanna live it, this is a really good game in that regard. Fun enough

for Paul that works because he gets a he especially on where he is in his life and because he's always next to his wife, like with headphones and putting them out and all that conversation, he can't really get into like many story games. Like I'm thankful he was able to get into out of a Ragnar, gave him all the gameplay, the gameplay heavy games and that's gonna sell him so

a lot more. So yeah, this game is like the perfect esteem deck game. Like I haven't played a game that defined the steam deck quite like this right now

that you mentioned. I was like, god damn, like. I wish that this could at least come to switch because it seems like something I could run down.

Oh yeah. So, uh, yeah, I think this is on Switch now. Is it? I think this is on Switch now. Like I've been playing it on PC and Steam Deck, but I think this is now on Switch or, or is coming to switch very short

for Switch? Oh, no, no, no. It's Arch Vale, the one that's on search. Yeah. Because mm-hmm. Is it similar? Because this one's arcane Vale. That this, that one is Arch Vale. Make

sure you spell it. Listen in a specific way

that it's Arcane Vale. Yeah. Arcane veil. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's

not part, not not white. Yeah. Not quite. I'll, I'll look it up. But this seems like these are the kinds of games you want to hand along just to be here. Put it there. It's a, yeah, that does some, that doesn't, you sort of put this in my radar. I hope. I'm hoping for the next like indie showcases to eventually feature this, because this just came out. It's kind of like one, uh, the favorite game from our friend Zack Paul Morri was like a PC game and that eventually made it to Xbox. So,

Yeah, I think if people start playing this game, this game's gonna be huge. Like, it, it has that potential.

So, so now Paul, before we talk about like the, your games

just Yeah. Y'all can jump

back into yours, Yeah, just, uh, quick, quick mentioned that for some reason I was like in a nostalgia kick and went back to the original infamous and infamous too. I beat the, the original infamous in like two days because I just know how to quickly play that game. The visuals of that game are rough to go back to, but my God, I miss that. I miss that era where before now we got the glad of superhero games that we can, and now that we can know that people are gonna take the licenses and giving them the lifetime and care that they deserve. Like we, I was Spider-Man, infamous was like, we have no superhero games. We're gonna do one original one ourselves with like a character that's basically static shock. And that, that, that game story still hits like these, it is like, it's very dark and. A nice inversion of like a very classic flash, reverse flash story of like a villain trying to make a hero, uh, suffer enough tragedy to become better, to face what's coming ahead. And, and I remember the twist, uh, experiencing that back in 2009. I'm like, ah, man, I wish this could be remastered. Like it could be like painted modernly so people could experience it again. Right now, like I will say this, like it's on PS plus premium. That's where I played it. Like all through streaming. It looks a little grimy on the stream, but it played really well. So if you can, if you have a really good internet connection and you've never experienced that and at least a little curious and you could put yourself in the mindset that, yeah, this looks kind of old, I think it's worth playing. And, uh, I started playing the second game just to kind of like keep it flowing. But I don't think I'm gonna continue right now because it's kind of what I told you Paul was like, that game requires you to do a little bit more side stuff to unlock the cool stuff. Compared to the first one, I'm like, I need to play another game right now. And, uh, but before we talk about that one, uh, I told you like, even though I may have unsold you a little bit, Paul, on Hi Farage, based on where I was. Yeah. I did beat it. And then I told you I think Sebastian was right, because even if Sebastian mentioned that that was like the best game of 2023 so far, and then when I beat it I was like, yeah, I think that is, and that also I convinced you right?

I, I didn't. I'm trying to remember cuz I knew I was gonna go back to it cuz I played it for like a little bit. I really liked it. We kind of chatted a little bit about

it, I think. Yeah. You specifically mentioned, I think it wasn't even in the show saying that you felt you had played everything it had. Oh yeah, that's right. So you didn't think like you had that, that motivation thing. It's funny cuz I

said that and then immediately started doing more unique things in like the next mission. It was. I was at the end of like one of the, um, one of the security missions cuz it felt like the pacing for me slowed down a little bit right before you got Corsica as like a party member. Um, cuz it felt like there were like one chapter that just not as much happened as everything else in the whole rest of the game. And I was just like, oh, okay, it's kind of running outta steam for me. I'm gonna go play for spoken for a second. And then I just dropped the heck off of that game. um, played a little bit more Hogwarts legacy and then I was just like, I think I knew I was going to go back to it eventually. And then you mentioned how you were like, oh no, this is actually really good. Mm-hmm. And I went, ah, right, fine. I'll go back and see what's going on. And of course like the next chapter was just like, really cool everything up until the end. Um, but we, that game man's

real strong. Like it does like it real, like especially because. When I stopped playing, uh, when we started recording last week, was that fight with the singing, with the singing robot that you start with dress as the, as the shark from like that Katy Perry Super Bowl. I didn't

realize it was so blatant with her. It's like, left shark. Where's left shark? I was like, oh my gosh.

Yeah. And I feel like that that boss was a little too frustrating with she wasn't getting too many hits and then her shield would pop up and then like, she would start like jumping and all the lasers and I would start getting desperate and not trying to hit like with rhythm. So that was, that's why I was getting frustrated then. But every chapter from that moment on was like so epic. Like that moment where like, like to me, the moment that I was like, Ooh, I'm really loving this was when everyone came together to fight that big robot. Oh yeah. At the big, that you control the little robot a little bit as you're

trying to get, obviously for anybody spoilers for high-fi Russia's story, but you're, you're really there for the experience. Trust me.

And then when you're, then, then what happens when you're like trapped? Let's just put it that way. And the, and the swelling of, of that moment like can be mixing all the music together and the hype and the vibe, the what was mentioned, the positive vibe that this game like suits like at every moment. Yeah. That then

unapologetically positive. Yeah.

And then the amazing Final Boss fight with that, with that, uh, Virgil looking dude from DM C because like the full arm, I was like, this seems like Virgil from the moment Cry And, and then I didn't, noticing that there's even more to that game afterwards. That you can like double back to do like all

the challenges. I'm like, go through like subplot that says, all right, go back through and you can go unlock new things over the story. Because now things are active here and I, I almost wish that they had given you the customization options before you finish the game. Because so many people I feel are fear are not going to like, engage as much with that mm-hmm. But if they'd

found, I feel, I feel this is the Super Mario Odyssey problem. Yeah. Basically the, a whole game unlocks after you beat Odyssey, but it's like after you beat it mm-hmm. So it's like you have to like Alize yourselves. Like no, there's more to do after you basically quote unquote roll credits. And there was a lot to do in Mario Odyssey, uh, like more than probably in the main game, I'd say. No, it is all the creativity that was put, like in the, in the, in basically the end game. So, but other than that, I was like, hi, far Ros. I'd see it now. When you were saying at Sebastian that it was like the best game like so far that played this year and it still feels that, obviously I mentioned like with the caveat that I really love playing Metric Prime, but that's like, that's a remaster from an old game. Like if we're talking about 2023 release sis, high Five Rush right now is like up there. Even though this game that we're gonna talk about, like when the little that I played could be a contender,

So here's what I'll say is like I am, I don't think High Five Rush is gonna be the game of the year, obviously, but I do think if there is an award for like most bang for your buck, it's probably gonna be this game at the end of the year. Because this is a $30 game and this is a $30 game. It's on Game Pass as well. But like the fact that it has so many pop culture references, the fact that like the music is good, the fact that like this game was shadow dropped all the elements of this game. Like this game's got references to Vice Citi. If you look for 'em, they, it's got references to. Yeah. To like anime, to Kanye West, to Katy Perry. It's got Scott Pilgrim's, um, like shoes in the game. Yeah. The Scott

coloring thing. Like, I, I can immediately, because I love Scott Pilgrim so much.

Yes. It's got the evil within mirror in this game. It's also got Twin Peaks, like the way they snap and everything like that. Mm-hmm. like there's you, I've not seen so much love put into a game of this like magnitude to where like they stuff so much into like a smaller package and try to make the most out of that. Mm-hmm. and then it combines so many elements from games that we are, we're familiar with, like Kingdom Hearts, like Devil may cry, like Guitar Hero. It combines so many elements of like games that we've played over the last 15 years, And it feels like a love letter to like that generation of gamers. So I'm like, I don't necessarily think this is gonna be game of the year, but I can't think of a game that's even coming out that's going to be, uh, on this level as far as like bang for your buck though. Yeah. I'm

gonna try like so hard this year to always try to remember this game that it deserves as props. Especially like, uh, when we did, uh, top 10 most anticipated games, uh, earlier this year, we were talking about like, uh, the importance of Starfield for like Xbox, for example. Mm-hmm. because we had been waiting for Xbox to like deliver something worthwhile out of nowhere. We got something worthwhile out of them, completely out of left field from them that it's the shot in the arm they needed as something of being like, yeah, we are known as our meat and potato shooter console and we, we reused that ad nauseum. But look, the potential of all the acquisitions we've done, what we can get just that's just here and also in PC and, and I feel for experts, like in case Starfield like fails. Let's hope it doesn't, I hope it hits. I feel like they already got like a big, a big case for what they can give to the market with high-Fi.

I think, um, to further that point, like, I think if Starfield fails or whether it succeeds, uh, regardless, I think like at the end of the day, if Xbox is smart about this, a high-fi rush and with Chai and, and the gang here, like they, like Chai is going to resonate with so many, many more people. Like, because he is actually a face. Whereas in Starfield it's a Croat own character, a venture like it's hard to market those kind of games and hard to market that as being the face of like a franchise,

so to speak. Yeah. This feels like the start for like the ne the next generation phases of Xbox that they've needed. Oh yeah. Since, like, since the Marcus Phoenix and Master Chief Day, it's.

And I'm gonna be honest, this got potential to out like supersede both of those as being the new face of Xbox as far as IP goes, as far as recognition goes. Because like the, he has like, chai has a likable like, um, likable, um, aesthetic and like it's, if they market this correct, like correctly, this could be the next franchise to where people will say like, oh, that is s that's the Xbox mascot. Now, you know, like, master Chief like doesn't have a personality. Let's be real about it. He has like, they've tried No, they totally tried. And even in Infinite they like, they tried to humanize him, but like it's hard to relate to someone when they have a helmet on and we constantly can't get that one-on-one connection here. Chai can be their crash. Banda coup, he can be their, um, Mario, so to speak. Like there's so many good things that they can get out of this. So, you know, I, kudos to Xbox. Kudos to the Tango game works because like if Xbox places a cars is right, this is the beginning of something special.

You know, piggybacking off of what you were saying for sure, because the time moves ever forward and the world still spins and as we see it, um, all the kids nowadays aren't going to resonate with the things that we all resonated with when we were younger. Like as much as we want that to be the case, people will know of it, but their connection won't be the same way, especially if the games stop being made. All they'll be able to do is the only kids that will play it are the ones that love that enough to go back and find it. Rather than it just, hey, a new one shows up. Like you have your Pokemon. It had such onboarding points throughout several year gaps that several generations could find their own favorite, their own first. Um, and that's what the Great Series do. Every few years they have a new onboarding point. You don't have to go back to the original stuff. Something like your halos and maybe. Ears of War has really tried to find that with like King five got a war. Exactly. I don't think Halo

did a good job at it though, to be honest. No, that's what I mean, uh, is they

didn't, um, because everything that you really want to do is if somebody plays a new version, you're like, no, no, no, don't go play that. Go play the original. And everyone's like, I don't want to go play that. Like, and we shouldn't expect people to step that far back. Just the way, you don't have to force people to watch certain classic movies or classic books or whatever because there's a certain amount of time and you just can't resonate the same way you could with that

kind of like, uh, what Disney wanted to do with Force Awakens with like a new beginning

or less or something like that. Um, and like it's gonna try to resonate with a lot of people, but the reality is that it's just not going to hit the same way. And as to your point, Alejandro, with the Star Wars thing, kids. Still like the sequels more than the prequels. If you ask many of the young ones, because they don't have any benchmark for what that was. They don't really care. They like these characters that they watched first when they were kids. Same point, kind of coming full circle with this chai in the gang. Um, if they play their cards right, just like you said a Sebastian, this is that marketing opportunity where everyone's talking about it, it's bright, it's colorful, it's kid friendly. It's a devil may cry that a kid can play. It's amazing. It's, it's exactly what you looking for.

Completely different from what we usually do. That's like, that's what they need to push with XO being like, you have like boxed us sand, pun intended into being like the shooter box. Look what we can do. I think that's what, that's, that should be like the big push they have to do with high-fi rush. And so, so glad for that game. But, uh, enough of that because Sebastian, we brought you in because uh, Howard's legacy is finally upon us and it's definitely taken the world by storm. 1.2 million views over in twi. It's like it has sold 80% more than Eldon ring over in the UK already. Like at lunch. It's like everything, when I look at my friend list, it's all everyone's playing and it's all like a lot of, we see online, it's like a lot of people are using it to grandstand to those that are playing it and calling them names, ignoring all the garbage that's like surrounding this. In short, what do you think of Howard's legacy? Just start,

I think this is, this is just another example of li when you do a license game, well, like, there's nothing like it in the world. There's nothing like that recognition when there's nothing like the fan base that will show up if you do a license game really well. So I, I think this game is good. I don't think this game is great. I don't think it's perfect. I think this is a very good license game though.

Uh, Paul,

I think, um, just like you said with the license side of it all, it's um, When you break it down on its merits alone without the connection to the ip, I don't think it holds up. Um, that's, I want to get that off to start in its own little box that we clarify that side of it. Uh, if you're really into Harry Potter, I think it was, um, Jason Schreyer that said it today, Alejandro, if you saw that post, it's like, this thing is an antisemitic, it's just dull. Yeah. Um, and that was like a really great, uh, through point, but then he kind of expanded from there. It's like if you are connected to Harry Potter and that's like your thing and you've been waiting for that kind of a game, it's gonna resonate with you a lot because of that fact. But on its own, it's bloated, it's convoluted, and it's just kind of basic on a story sense. Um, and then kind of feels like I'm giving it a disservice in some ways because at the same time, I'm one of those kids that does frankly enjoy the heck out of finally getting to live through this world that was created. And I live through as a kid. I am loving the way the spells are worked. I love flying around on a broomstick. It just feels great. Um, but I also have to not just look at it from a nostalgic, uh, that just like, Hey, look, this is a working Harry Potter game. Woohoo. Um, and look at it as well. It, it's, if you really see it the way it is, it's just kind of,

okay. So how many hours have you put into it? 17 now. Okay. I'm, I'm about there too. I'm, I think I'm hit the 20 hour mark.

Alejandra's at four. And I, um, I do want to like say that I'm giving it such a disservice in some ways where like, if you like what you're seeing, you're probably going to enjoy it throughout that whole time. And I would still say it's, it's like it's still beating for spoken for me, um, by a good margin, frankly. I hate to say that. Not at all. Pull on. That's

a fact. It is a better game.

I, I say

it's not hard to do

Um, it's, yeah. I, I love the, the voice acting performances are like really good across the board, honestly. So I could just kind of sit there and listen to them talking like in British speak for me and I'm like, it's fine, whatever. Um, to me,

how I say, even though I play way less than you guys because I was stuck in other stuff, um, just like on that initial impression, like if you are a Harry Potter like fan, like a big fan. Yeah. I feel this game is what I wanted Jedi fall in order to be at launch. because let's not forget Paul. We absolutely love j I fall in order. Yeah. Obviously it came at after a time that we had such a massive drought of even having like a good Star Wars game that a game that was objectively fine became great because of how well they used the license. And I feel like Howard's legacy has that kind of vibe that by itself it's fine, it's a good game, but the way, but on top of like how well it like portrays it license and like the amount of polish that I've not, even though like heading into it, I had heard that there were like technical issues and all of that from what I played, this game feels pretty polished so far. I don't know. I haven't fallen from the world. I haven't seen like a animation yank and all that. I feel like this is a, the kind of the, the kind of like time, love, and care. Do you always want just your license product to. and, and it is a, and to me that's tough because to me, Harry Potter from like, if we have to like rank all the like, nerdy stuff that's out there, star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Marvel, DC Game of Thrones, even throwing it out there, to me, Harry Potter is at the bottom. Like, Ooh, yeah, like Harry Potter. Because I, I, I hate having been born at a Christian House where I had a preacher as a father during the time, during the hysteria time of like engaging with that stuff is Satanic and blah, blah blah. Which is so funny looking back because then we've seen all the movies since then. I realized it's not that bad after I was an adult. So I didn't grow up at the right time. Like when I know that a lot of people grew up with this, for them, for this to become like their favorite thing. So I'm looking at this just like Whenev, I, I'm removing myself from like being like a super fan and say that what they've done is like if I was a fan, like I know many are like, that, have such fans that then like when the author said a few things that may or may not have been like, Worth like the ire of many. You can, uh, reasonable minds can differ. You can go read with the things that she said and all that is like, they feel fired because their passion towards this world and this ip, if I was, that this would be the dream game. It's like, this is the kind of like lava and care I want from like license games that the only, the only ones that I can say is comparable is Spider-Man. And with that one you can cheat a little bit because Spider-Man had the exclusive like focus of like a first party resources. This was a multi-platform game that can stand toe to toe with the, with the love, with the love and care that they put into this. They've been working on this game from what I've read, for like almost seven, eight years. I think you can see it on the screen, uh, exploring hog words, like just the tiny details like that. Uh, I was, I saw it in the TikTok that I sent you Paul, but, and I, I, I went to it myself, just getting by the nights. The nice armor that they want. Just like kick Oh yeah. Kicks the crap out of it. It was like such amazing tiny detail. Like, uh, I've been seeing Vato because I, I picked Hufflepuff because of my decision. So you're Hufflepuff too, right? Sebastian?

Oh, yeah. Always down with the Hufflepuff.

Yeah. So I'm kind of glad because I heard that the Hufflepuff has an amazing ask of them. Quest that's exclusive to them.

Awesome. It's, it's decent. It's, it's overblown, but it is

very decent. Yeah. Compared to like what other everyones could have. So I was like, okay, that's good that I picked that so I don't have to like mm-hmm. replay the game. It's like, from what I remember when I finally watched all those movies, like for the first time back in like 2016 in the lit in the lead up to Fantastic Beast and where to find them, uh, I was like, man, it's like if only all the licensed games like could feel like this. Like, because obviously we got something like shadow of Mortar. That's a Lord of the Rings games, but it's not at all in the spirit of the Lord of the Rings. It's like this weird. Alternate fantasy of what it actually is. And even in tone and vibe, even though it's still a pretty good game by itself. Um, I'm hoping Jedi survivor, like from what I've seen, if you're looking at the IGN first that they're doing like they're doing a previous Jedi survivor that it feels like yes, Kyle still runs like he has to stick up the butt or something like that. He wants, he definitely wants to go to the bathroom. I don't know if you've seen the running animation. He does like Hunchback. Mm-hmm. the Survive of Survivor. But everything else that I'm seeing over that game, like oh, they're finally ea gave responded. The time and money. They allowed them to delay the game slightly so they can get like a real polished product. So it's not like J Fallen order that had a lot of good things. And then you get TPOs animals popping all the F Reg Jenka. We are looking wooki that look like what, what you say you look like Paul. Remember we're talking about the Wooki. Oh shoot.

Um, I don't even

remember. Yeah, I don't remember. You said something that was real funny about like, those Wooki

Oh, man. Like I, I remember it and I, I could not tell you what it was, but I can see the image and I remember we were talking about it and it was just, they looked terrible, frankly.

Yeah. They, they, they look like a mopping floor, like something you would mop the floor with because there, there was a lot of that game that clearly felt cheap in a way that when I look at Howards legacy, it doesn't feel cheap. And I feel that really elevate the package. If you are a real big Harry Potter fan, which I wish I was, I wish I could go back to, to a time where I actually watch these movies as they came out. I only saw BL of Fire when I launched. And then, uh, definitely Hallow Spark one and two. I never like everything in between. I knew things but never watching them. So Aston did, you grew up with Harry Potter, right?

Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. Not only did I grow up, I mean, I could probably get a a hundred like hundred question quiz right now and probably at least get 99 of those I'm like, I'm a pretty massive Harry Potter fan. Like I even read fan fiction every once in a while. Like I re I reread the books

every year. Yeah, exactly. So this is for exactly for you and I in a way, in a way it is, yeah. In

a, in a way it is. I, I will say, I, I, you, you were talking about Jedi, um, you know, like in, in the sense of the way that game plays and the sequel is probably gonna play like, I still think that's a better license franchise than this game and mm-hmm. I am, I'm gonna be honest here like this, even though they, they did a lot of things right, it almost feels like this game is still, like, while it's extremely polished, it feels half baked, if that makes sense. Because like even for, oh yeah. I mean like, um, like you're four hours in mm-hmm. And you are also like, not the Huges Harry Potter fan, but like, if you look at the list of spells as you play the game, like as you get like deep into it, it's not like, it's not like you're getting a wealth of spells here. As a matter of fact, like a lot of key spells that were like introduced into the world, like into Harry Potter's world are missing, you know, like mm-hmm. A lot of those are missing. Like a lot of the, the AC you mentioned Ask Aban, but a lot of, like, the enemies that you associate with Harry Potter are

missing I and all that. They're not here in.

I mean, you know, like, I don't wanna, it's centor, but there's centor. But you don't fight them. No, you don't. Oh no, you don't fight the centor. Like there are bandits and like, it's almost like you remember how like Fable had, uh, like one of the criticisms of Fable was like, uh, especially early on was like, it feels like there was very few enemy.

This game, I've heard about this one, that this game doesn't have. It also has the God of war 2018 problem with the enemy. The enemy variety. That, yeah, that game. That's,

that's a good example. Honestly, because, um, it does spread them out a little bit after a while. But then there is a certain point, especially once you've reached, being allowed to just traverse the open world, that you've pretty much seen every variation of any enemy that you're going to see. And usually they're just going to send you like two or three of all of them at you and every encounter. Mm-hmm. And for the most part that's like, well now you're just going to get slightly more efficient with your own combat. But like, not to segue into that, but my goodness, is it frustrating, especially once you have all your cool spells that you can't use hardly any of them, uh, unless you just switch between them on the fly in a ferry. I don't know. Convoluted, way, frustrating. Yeah. Um, and it's just, I, it's all, it's clumsy, that's the word. Uh, because I can never like, Get my muscle memory right, because you're always iterating on like, maybe if I put this one over here and then my purple spells over here, maybe that'll make it easier to synergize. In reality, it's just you're going through and just flinging everything at every enemy, and it just kind of feels, uh, a little messy.

Yeah. And, and, and that's kind of what I mean by half baked is because like the spell usage is like, eh, it, it's like when you start off early on in the game, like it's really good because you'll have so few spells to actually work with. But once you start getting, they're

feeling, I have, I have felt real good to

you. They, uh, yeah, they, it starts off feeling great. And then as you get more and more of them, there's slight variations on what they're supposed to do. Like, for instance, the difference between expel, armas and confo kind of feel like the same spell after a while. Um, very much so, because like, yeah, expelling arm is, is the idea that you can disarm somebody and then there's an ability you can like grab what they dropped and throw it out and that was really cool. I like that. Um, but they're both like just simple attack, spell animations. Um, and then there's just kind of the idea that. Uh, it just, it's something that feels like it should be better than it really is. Like, imagine if you will, um, I know I'm gonna, I feel like I'm gonna be a broken record on this. You institute the styles of devil may cry on the D button and that switches the types of spells you do. So all you have to do is just up, down, left. Right. And then you're just

going down pressing there too, because in R two you do just everything.

Right. Um, so it's either you almost need to consolidate more or give a more efficient way of switching between so many spells. Um, and even I know somebody says like, oh, look at the comparison between the spells of Hogwarts legacy and Eldon ring for like 28, 26 spells versus like 140. But Elden ring, you kind of only work with five at a time at the max. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And you just steal more, have to, and you have to spec them. You wanna use that or you have to like, like, Build up arcane and all of those stuff. No,

but I mean five is still more than you're able to use in Hogwarts legacy at one given time.

You know, that's, that's a good point. But, um, it's faster to switch between the four to another four to another four. Mm-hmm. But then I think that's the problem that gets me is it's fine when it's that radial menu, but when you have to switch further beyond that and you're not entirely sure where each one might be, can kind of get a little convoluted on where that works. Plus adding the utility spells that also need to be added to hot keys. It feels like, you know, when you play an M M O Uhhuh and you have to like switch to between four to six different radial menus for all your skills. I remember that from this universe online It's skip way too much after a while. I think that's the problem that hits me because that just doesn't feel good after a while and it hurts because in the moments and moment, I find that, I find I enjoy myself more when I work with just those four spells and don't even try to use more than that. Like I pick one at a time and then I just kind of work with that. Um, and then use basic spells and dodges in between rather than try to switch

between all. And then if you eventually get a bar cada, you're basically like destroy everything

in the game. No, I mean, but it, you know, like, not to spoil anything, but like, it gets worse because like, the spells that you're getting are almost, they're first year spells, second year spells. I'm like, you, like in Harry Potter, in the books and in the movies. Like you've seen like how they actually advance into magic. Like, um, this game gives you the illusion that you're a fifth year, but like, you spend the whole time learning first, second, and maybe third year spells, maybe. Yeah.

That's a, that's such a strange decision that they start you as a fifth year student. Right.

Yeah. And, and I mean that, that's really strange,

strange. Um, because they probably wanted to age up your main character for the really messed up crap that goes down in the series. Mm-hmm. excuse me, where they can kind of get away with a little bit of it. But it's like if you have a 10 year old that's like basing off in constant duals against, uh, dark arts magicians and you're like, or wizards and witches, and you're like, I don't know if I believe this 10 year old is doing all

this. Yeah, it makes sense. Especially like if you look at it from like the Harry Potter perspective, from books slash movies that things got real and got of fire and ordered Phoenix. Oh

yeah. Yeah. And they ramp up. I mean, look at, and you mentioned Order of the Phoenix. Look at what Dumbledore and Vold Demont were able to do to each other. Yeah. And year five. Yeah. And stuff. They were doing some wicked stuff, but even like, I mean, imagine they're like kings on the chess board, so to speak, right? Like they're actually like the baddest of bad. But like when you look at everyone else that was in like, the order of the Phoenix battle, like Sirius Black Bellatrix LA strains, like, um, Lucius Malfoy. I'm like, they were throwing heavy hitter spells at, at like other people. And like here, the, here we, we only know like the basic spells from the first first through three third years. And then they're missing some key spells that like are shown off in the Harry Potter Lord, like the bat bogey hicks, like that's a Guinea Wesley spell. Where like it creates those bats. Um, bat boogers off of the side of the head. That would've been a cool game. Like one to introduce, um, herm, like uses Avis, which is like where she summons birds and like they attack people. That is a spell made for a video game. Yeah. Like, uh, uh, and not of the game. No, no,

not at all mean. Uh, something rido is used against you and you're not able to use it against anybody else at all, which that was like the dis disintegration spell that Jenny used and ordered the Phoenix. Yep. And it was pretty constant. One used after that

too. Oh, yeah. Um, Agua Mente, I mean like the way, like just the fact that you could summon water. I'm like, think about the cool, like combos you could have used at with like Amente and different things like that. Um, like, uh, here's another one that I think would've really been cool, like the whole Art of Transfiguration. They only introduce transfiguration so that you can like make and kind of like make and kind of, um, rearrange different things in your, in one area. And that's like the room of requirements. Outside of that, you, you not use transfiguration despite like,

uh, there's a combat spell, isn't it? There's a transfiguration spell. You can transform people into items. That's it.

That, that's it. Yeah. There's

one spell, uh, that's the same

yellow types. Mm-hmm. that was the one from that video that I showed you. Right. Followed of someone using a different magic that transformed someone like a, a big spider. Remember that one? That's,

oh no. That one was, uh, that's your ancient magic. That's gonna be just something completely different. So the lightning, uh, the thing where you shrink the spider and step on it, all that, it's the same spell actually on a rotator of what happens whenever it goes. That's like your ultra move with the R one L one. So it has an option of either doing the lightning, doing the thing. If you're fighting spider specifically, um, you can pick somebody up and slam against the ground or it's like a default. Like, I shoot this and then they just freaking explode. Yeah.

Um, but yeah. But that's an ultimate move. Rotator. Yeah. Yeah.

It's an ultimate move. Actually. Do the cool things like calling lightning. Mm-hmm. whenever you want. It's just like, hit the button, is it gonna be the cool thing or is it gonna be something else? Um, so that's kind of a shame is in. Videos. I was like, oh shoot, I can't wait to learn that spell. That looks really awesome. Mm-hmm. And it's like, that's, you're not gonna do that. Um, so, so my

way couldn't is I wish saw in videos. That's the thing.

Don't Oh, that's what I mean. Like, you can do it. It's just, it's it's ultimate move. It's an ultimate move that's on a random rotator of what happens when you use it. So

you're not in control of like, when you're actually able to mute mo like use those kind of spells. And I think that's like, uh, Paul i's point is like the, the way this game feels lacking is a sense that like, sure you have one transfiguration spell, but like the rest of them you, you only can use. And basically changing a statics and then like, um, that's like a complete art to where like moody, um, Madi Moody in the movies and the game transformed Draco mouthful into a ferret. Like, right. No. I'm like, yeah, I'm like you. And like, you know, McGonal. She like, she is a master at doing those kind of things and so is Dumbledore. Cuz he was a, he was a teacher of transfiguration. I'm like,

imagine if you could transform yourself into like an animal

and fire. Yeah, no, I, I, I kind of get where the criticism goes because it's like, it's like, uh, when you're playing like something like Marvels Avengers and you have like your alt moves that were in the L water or one all that, it feels like a lot of those magics are now like in, in a sim in similar kind of like cool downs instead of something that's constantly

used. You, I mean you just mentioned it Paul, but like, you can't even transform into animus in this game. I'm like, that is like one of the things that like Sirius Black and, um, all the marauders learned while they were still in school and I'm like, while they were still in school and I get it. That's, that's sort of a rare thing. But if this is a R PPG and it's a video game, at least let us, uh, like at least let you level up to try to like

become a, it's even like spells that let you do it and that's why like McGonagal could do it is mm-hmm. there is like magic can do literally anything almost, but. That's, I think to make it full circle is that's the point of it being so half baked where it's like, yeah, it looks like you can do a lot. The reality of it is you're just kind of like, you can move people forward or backward. You can stop them, you can then just hit them with various colors until the battle's over and you can make it as cool as you want. Similarly to most hacken slash games, and I'm gonna definitely say like it's still pretty fun to sit there and do that a few times, like over and over again. Especially like the, um, the fighting arenas, like those are super fun where you just get surrounded by enemies and you're just freaking dueling, throwing things around. Deflecting things,

deflecting. Or like if it's like Batman, watch Bad Mark and games almost

No Batman Aham does it better

though. You know, like, oh yeah, obviously. But it's kinda like that idea of the press strangle. At a specific moment for to, to get the kind of counter, you know, in a way. Uh, yeah. And

in some areas, especially when you have augments to your spells through the talents window, accuse me, oh my gosh, that coat came back with a vengeance. Um, yeah, especially whenever you unlock, uh, the different talents, it gives you a lot of variety and how your spells are augmented and it changes how things work. You get passive like firewalls around you. You get, uh, extra gathering power to pull multiple em enemies to you. You get more things that shoot off from an enemy. You hit into other enemies and that's kind of fun. And at the same time, it's. It's just kind of a pain in the butt. And then if we wanted to separate out from combat into quality of life in general, you have the way that you level up in challenges being things you have to actively go into and accept to get the rewards for them. Terrible as so many people getting so frustrated because they don't clearly explain that concept to you except maybe once and say, yeah, make sure you go check the, the challenges tab and you can go do, uh, X, Y, and Z after you find this item or whatever. And so many people forget that is even like an option. I almost forgot it was an option for the longest time. Um, the way you get, um, the, the fricking loot pool, it's a looter shooter concept with the green, blue, purple, orange. Ooh, I love that. It's, I know. And. It's so frustrating because they give you an entire upgrade concept and like ability in the room requirement to upgrade your stuff, and then you're just going to get something better the second you go out and find a chest and it's like, what's the point of all this? Like upgrading and do this, do that. You have to sell things. You only have 20 inventory slots that you have to deal with. And that part doesn't even really bother me all that much except the fact that if you try to open a chest with full inventory, it deletes the item you opened. It doesn't Oh yeah, for sure. Really.

Yes. Yeah,

sometimes I've been able to like, oh, shoot that. Like I had full inventory, let me delete something and open it back up. And that happened once that I was allowed to open the chest a second time. But every other time you just can't open your chest

anymore. I restarted checkpoints, j just because like, I, you know, like I had my filled up inventory slot, and then I go into my, like

items and that would dry me up a wall because I, I love like always looting a lot.

So, yeah. And I see which ones, like, which gear is like the lowest value gear and I just destroy it on the spot. And then, then I'll go pick up, uh, a couple items if I now, because now I know like how many items I have, like that's in that chest available that I can pick up. But like, it is terrible. It deletes it on the spot. Um, no quiddage in this game, by the way, but you're able to go on the quiddage field and do trials.

I'm like, yeah, I, I saw videos of everyone going through like, I don't know which one of the early ones was that they go, go through like the obstacle course in the movies. Like you can actually go through that in the

game. It's, uh, it's all right. Honestly, sometimes it's really frustrating because you have to control your verticality with the right stick and your horizontal side with the left. And so it just kind of leads you kind of going in these weird, like, it's great in general, but when you're trying to fine tune it to get exactly where you need to go, it, it kind of gets frustrating after a minute. Um,

80 Formatic radi people I, I'm a,

and you know what? The

court. Disrespecting the heck out of it for some nitpicks. But reality is, is I feel like I need to be harsher on it for those reasons, because so many people are championing it, um, to be like, all right guys, how much of this is nostalgia and how much is it not really well put together in some

ways. Um, I mean, let's be honest here. If this was like in just a, a generic game, didn't have, uh, any ties to Harry Potter, this would be a four to five out of 10. Basically it'd be a four or five outta 10. And like, it would've been blown by, I'm like, it would've been given, like the game did, um, wanted, just came out like one and it, yeah, one it did. Sorry. I don't know why it ha why I reversed it, but like, yeah, that it absolutely got drug out into the street and beaten, absolutely beaten and hog and Hoggers legacy would've gotten that same treatment if it didn't have the Howard's IP on it. But like, I like this game. I like it. I don't think it's perfect. And I also feel like. I feel like this game's half baked, like, I feel like this, this game feels like, um, basically like the, the start of like the start of what this game could have been. Like, what this series could be like if they announced like a, a sequel to this game or announced another

game, I can't imagine they would, considering how much it's selling.

Oh, it's going to, yeah. I mean it's going to, they should do nothing else in the future, but Harry Potter in the, at this point comparing like based on sales, but like, it, this should be a stepping stone into what we consider like the AUM asylums of Harry Potter. Like this feels like it's just like the, the gateway in, into what we actually really want at a Harry Potter game. This doesn't feel like it's the one though. Yeah.

It's so funny cuz always I play way less than you guys have, you have a, guys having luck way more, I feel a little bit more impressed by this game than that, that you guys see and I wonder if that's because I'm not a big Harry Potter fan. I just, and I see it from the, these are the guys that used to make Disney, Infiniti. and the cars games and a bunch of other stuff before this. And

don't knock that cars game on PS two though. That was, that was fun. Yeah.

the, the same people. Yeah. So, so, and that's the thing, like, and those games were good for what they were because in, in that, in that license, like lower tier stuff, and then seeing them push above their weight with this one,

I, I'm, you know, I'm an indie guy, so I'm always a champion of like, I love to see, um, someone punch above their weight, you know, that. But like, I, I feel like, um, this has, you know, the open world kind of games where like the game starts off extremely linear. It's a very tight experience. And then when it opens up, it kind of like loses itself as it gets like open, more open. Mm-hmm. this is that pri example. This is that. Awesome. Yeah. Like where you're starting off, I think the game is magnificent. Like the way you, um, start off all the way into Yeah. I haven't even gotten

out of Hogwarts, just to give an idea. That's right. I haven't even, I haven't explored the world, haven't gotten to lay a different areas. Wild Wordss itself just feels magical. The little details you see inside of that, of that Castle Hogwarts itself Oh

yeah. Is easily the best part of the entire game.

Oh yeah, yeah. I make that, that part that lead up to where like, you are in the force and then you are like, and the, and Professor Fig is like, oh my goodness, I can't believe we're here. And then you start to hear the music, just that, that mo music and then it starts to pan out and it shows

that you're at, and me not being, and me not being the huge hugest fan, but knowing the movies and seeing that, I was like, oh, they nailed it. It's like they nailed it. How I like people like respecting, like source material to be nailed in a game. And that's been, that's been more of my impressions Instead of, uh, all the com that I'm hearing that, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna hear now and feel it now going, going into it. And just having the reference that what you have early on is like, Ooh, I like how it feels in the, in the trigger. I feel it's like snappy, especially because for spoken could be a little janky. Mm-hmm. in, in, in the way that you, you moved that different magic, especially coming from that to this, like, I, I feel the, I, I feel the premiumness of this game more than I did for spoken in a way, so, oh, I understand

that. Yeah. That first three to four hours is probably the best three to four hours that I've felt in any video game. This, this year. Like it feels really good. It's tight. That story has intrigued, there's mystery there as far as like that first three to five hours when it opens up and you sort of like, you lose a little bit of that luster in the main story as well, like that main kind of story. And, and it's because that main story ne as like the more you learn about it, the less strong it becomes. Like it doesn't, whereas high-fi rush, you feel like the game starts off at a break. Next pace. It's like, and it keeps it with a few dips. Yeah, with a few dips here and it has like a, you know what that story is and they like commit to actually telling it here. They like, the story doesn't quite match all the world around it. It's almost that sky room effect to where like, Hey, you're the chosen one, but let me go off and do like 50 different things that don't really matter to like the being the chosen one. And then you come back and you come back at your

own picture. And that, and that's always a big problem with open Worlds is like, it's always, it's hard to maintain like, uh, narrative momentum when you're given all these different options to do different stuff that don't really matter to the main stuff unless it's like intentionally made to matter. Kind of like why I like the being able to do side quests then God of war and god of war, ragner, everything feels like everything fits together well. Like thematically and story wise. Yeah. If you, if you're able to do that, even if you ignore them, if you ignored them, you're missing a big partner.

Um, for that kind of example is many of the side quests are just an intro to a collect athon. Oh yeah, it is. And it's like, hey, these are, they're fetch quest little thing. Yeah. It's, but then it's like, hey, keep an eye out for 50 more of these. And then it's like, ah, it's, yeah.

This, and this had like a thousand collective holes from

promoter, from what I heard. I'm sure it's a lot. Yeah. Because I, there's the, the keys, there's the, the demi guyses, um mm-hmm. There's the, um, the pages that you have to collect. There's, and the fact that progression is tied to like, do X of this item, and then you're like, oh, you've leveled up now. Or, oh, you've gotten your inventory, you've gotten your ancient. Cool down faster, whatever it is. But it's like you have to do so many of those even down to the Merlin trials once you go out to just, I guess, cuz that's not in Hogwarts, Alejandro, um, there's like these circular rock formations you have to throw in, uh, consumable item onto it. And then you have to do one of like two or three different things to complete the trial. And then if you do a certain amount of those, that's how you boost your inventory. But it's not like every time you get an inventory slot, like doing the correct seeds for a breath of the wild, for instance, but it's like you have to get 5, 6, 10 of them and then you get that set of slots available to you immediately. It's not like you have to really put in effort and then you get all of that at once after a certain amount of time doing it. So you just have to spend like 20, 30 minutes going from one Merlin trial to the next if that's what you want to do to actually get a benefit, uh, out of it. So it's, um, Oh man. I feel like we woke up and we chose violent Sebastian for this No, it's funny because like I'm enjoying the heck out of it and I want to go back and play it later on today. Um, but then it's like, it almost has to be said out of that as a disclaimer of like, all right, listen it accurately, like without the Harry Potter side of it, this would suck. But being that we both love it so much, we're just selling out super hard because this is exactly what we've been looking for for several decades. Yeah.

Um, but now I think you put into perspective the perspective of the, of Travis North up there. Review over at ign. He was very critical in a lot of that text and he still loved the game. Yeah. Derek can be that noise. You can tear something up, but you can still love something. you can even know the things. Eight can be better. So

still don't, don't think I would've given it a nine

out 10, but no, no. This is the most seven out 10 game, uh, like you could possibly play

that. I remember we said that first for spoken too, and there's like, maybe

now, now for spoken further.

Yeah, for me, first spoken was a seven. This is, this is definitely an eight for me just so far, but with, I

think at this point I would bump for spoken down to like a five, and this would be a

six. I'm, I can, I can completely get on board on that because like I, I do feel like it does a lot of things better than for spoken in, in the dialogue, the nuance. Um, like it, it fits the world better versus like fors world way more alive. They'll tell you that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But like, what I do think like they both kind of like fault on is like the way their open world kind of works in, in like the systems that they use. I don't feel like neither one of those are as fleshed out as like you would want the, a fantasy open world game to be like, I I would still pick like dragon age inquisition right now as being a bitter fantasy game that both of these ips and I dunno if I would go with that one. I love Dragon Age though, but I'm a huge dragon age guy. But I,

um, give you perspective my favorite dragon age is too still and now that's the one that a lot of people really crap on. I know, I know. Um, part of that is because I didn't go back to Origins until way later. Or still hold. It's not gonna work that way. I really liked Inquisition at first, and then it just, same thing where like there was so much to do and so many places to go that I just adding that to like the combat that was like an MMO to it. Mm-hmm. just like, I think I lost steam on it. Characters were great. I'll give it that. Um, story was really interesting. Now, anyway, to, we're not talking about Dragon age today. No. but yeah. I, I see what you mean. Where it's like that is like a real fantasy world. Mm-hmm. that's like a lot more seamless despite the fact that it has distinct boundaries on the areas you go to. It's like, that's like a solid zone to find things in. You explore you adventure, you have fun with it. And this is like, I don't know. It just doesn't really feel the same way in some ways. Uh, after a while, it's like that meal that you eat at a buffet and you're like, this is delicious. Then you get four more plates of it and you're like,

I think I'm good now. Yeah. You know what I describe this as is like fast food versus eating at a steakhouse. Like this feels like fast food to where like, if you get it, it'll fill you up. You're happy to eat it. It's like, but the more you eat it, the lesser it seems. And like, it also feels like it is just a comfort meal to where like, I'm a, I, like me and my wife, we go to like the same fast food place probably on a weekly basis. Yeah. And like we know what we like, we, it feels good to eat. It's like quick. And it gets me to, it gets that feeling out, so to speak. It's like, but going and en enjoying something like a God wear ragner rock feels like eating in that a nice steakhouse. Yeah. But like, But one criticism I think we haven't even broached is like, this game feels like it was made to have a morality system that it just does

not have. And then they eliminated it. Yeah. That they got that. That's a whole

different, it feels like games are just moving away from moralities. It's so funny because infamous was all about the, it was binary, but it had a morality system. You're good and evil. And now it feels like we barely get any games that I feel

give that I feel like I could play the devil's advocate if needed on the, the concept because by when you have like a binary, for instance mm-hmm. uh, good and evil, whatever, like fable style almost, you miss out on those ideas where like mass effect, here's a good example. You would say probably mass effects, morality system's pretty good overall, you'd say. But in math

three, anda

Yeah. No, no, no. We're not gonna talk about Andromeda. That doesn't exist from my mind. Um, so anyway, uh, think of like mass effect two. For instance, if you don't have like a 100% Paragon rating, you risk losing NPCs at the end of the mission. Mm-hmm. why is you doing good things tied to the survivability of your people? It's like you, it's a good concept in theory, but if you don't want to just always answer the good, like response to things if you want to, it makes it arbitrary. Stop. Yeah. But because like sometimes you feel like you want to have some gray area in there and feel like that's a true, genuine storyline, but when you are forced to do the good option to get a valid ending, that's going to be the one that's cannon. Then it almost like, It makes everything cheaper. Like you don't wanna be the renegade anymore because you want to be able to use these NPCs in the next game, but you have to compromise your interesting story that you wanna make yourself. Maybe you wanna punch that one really mean dude at the Citadel in the face. Yeah. Maybe you want to shoot the other guy in the knee that one time, but you're not feeling like you're allowed to really go that route because you're sure.

I I feel the why we're not no longer see morality systems that can like completely change areas of a game is because like developers, like soccer punch and even BioWare have mentioned that they put so much effort into the evil side and they only see like a very tiny percentage of people ever doing it. And you see massive amount of people choosing the good side because inherently humans are gonna be good. Like our, our, our nature will take us the good side. So that's why many people don't wanna bother with doing a moral morale system because then it, it requires you to. do another side that has to be as fully featured as another side, and then your risk knowing that you're gonna have a lot of gamers that are just not gonna engage in that other side. So, and now that game development has become way harder and takes longer. They have to like make those hard cuts. It just

takes more resources and which

sucks because I miss having like that variety, at least if there's something like playing infamous told me, it was like, man, it was cool knowing that there was another kind of side of the game that I knew was there that that had like a reason to play it again.

And I just, So let me, let me, um, uh, push back just a wee bit on the, this game, having the morality system. It's because like the IP itself has a morality system. I'm like, you can't, like, you can read the books, you can watch the movies, and if you use any of the unforgivable po like courses, it's a one-way trip to ask Aban. Like there's no gray for word. Yeah, that's what they say. They, it's a one-way trip to ask Aban. There is no gray area there, but I'm like, you can, I, I agree with you, Paul. Like you can have, and you know, like you can have nuanced, um, nuanced missions and nuanced systems to where like, there are, there should be like a gray option. There should be like a middle of the road there to where like, because we are humans, we do act differently depending on how, like the situation changes us. But like this game, so to speak, like everything about it, like Hogwarts itself is a morality system. They have a, they have a honor code system that deals with house points. You do something bad, you get house points, you do something good, those house points get taken away. By the way,

like is, is it true that our 95 Merlin trials.

Yeah, it's a lot. It's like the most common thing to do out there that you find and they're like immediately shown on the map and everything. It's, it's like you just know where to go find

them. Yeah. Cuz I just saw Paul Tasi from for street. I will say, I don't think you need 95 anything in your open world map, and people to responded Merlin trials. Yeah.

Yeah. And, and you know, like, I, I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer on like the whole morality system. It's just like the Hogwarts itself. You don't name a game, Hogwarts legacy and like you have to like and don't adhere to the rules of Hogwarts. And the crazy thing is like they have missions to where like they stay in those missions a like. You did something bad, you lose house points. But if you go look at your house like glass, the it stays the same at all. It's unaffected at all. Like it's wasted dialogue. It's wasted like nuance. You added lore there, but you didn't adhere to the rules of that lure. So I'm

like, I might be mistaken, but didn't like the order of Phoenix or Half-Blood prints actually have a House Point system that you could like. Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, I believe so. I think I remember that, like depending on how you answered things or did things that could like help you win the house cup at the end of the year. But yeah. Um, yeah, it's like, to your point with that, um, there was something I was gonna say along those lines. Yeah. Um, you could have Moody for instance. Mm-hmm. that's a good example of like a gray wizard, even though in Golet fire it was, you know, body snatching, whatever. But that was like the morality of Moody, even before all that happened, um, he was allowed to use certain curses in the right context. So like, I feel like if they added that extra level of like, all right, listen, we're really in some dire straits, like you might need to use that really bad curse. Like, you know, I don't know what's the deal? And then like after, at the end, Uh, uh, definitely Hallows, they mentioned that they were forced to use the Cru curse on each other. Mm-hmm. um, to like learn how to defend against the dark arts. And so like, there's clearly gray area allowed in the world that you could like push for that almost. Oh yeah. And like figure out some areas that just, they decided to not do it at all. Um, even like, I'm glad they didn't do a simple, okay, you're good or you're evil because the dark art spells are kind of dope, honestly. Why not? They're like for gameplay wise, but then at the same time, it's like if they had done that, I would've liked that they really like introduce a new concept of like, well, maybe you just need to do what needs to be done. And honestly, maybe a vodka dove is like a little more humane than the weird ancient magic curse that just rips people in half and stuff. Oh yeah. It's like you do some really messed up stuff. NPCs in this game, in the combat. And like, why is that worse? You maybe like clarify why a vodka cadaver's still worse or don't give me that as like a Oh it is so evil. Like, okay buddy, calm down.

Uh, I'm gonna be real with you. I'm like, you could have solved all this if you had better writing in your game. Like if they said like, Hey, like you're a, like, hey, we, um, we're giving you a auras license where you have license to use, you have license to use any curse you have as long as, because you're like the chosen one, quote unquote. And we need you to get to the bottom of this mystery. And also your life is in danger. Hey, we're giving you this license. You use any spell at your disposal. Like you can,

you need to defend yourself cuz you got some really messed up people coming after you, like you're a child, but you're also going to die if we don't allow you the authority to do this thing. Almost. It's like, That would be really cool. You have a fricking ORs license for a 15 year old going around solving mysteries and like getting to the bottom. All this, the fact that the, what's the name of the dude that picks you up? It starts with a P. Um, Uh, we, we said it earlier, the dude, the professor. Fig. Yeah. Yeah, fig. That's what I'm Uhhuh. Why did I say P Anyway, like he does nothing the whole time. He just kind of comes to you with problems and you're just like, but what about this? I could solve this problem myself. And then you just go off and do the thing yourself. And Fig is just left behind half the time, useless. It's like

absolutely useless.

He gets you into this and like, you theoretically have no idea what magic was before your 15th birthday when you get this owl, and yet you know more about this whole world than this professor. It's like clearly, like if you just reframe the whole story, like maybe you're a Prodigy student this whole time, you get a couple of spells to start off and then they just ramp it up from there. Like, it explains the whole idea of like, you don't have to make this whole new thing of, it's a new fifth year student coming, and you just Mm mm. It's a whole different setup. They've just a little bit more focus on that writing side of it, um, instead of what they ended up doing. But yeah. Aandra, you got

something? Yeah, just hearing everything about that I, I'm like, Am I at an advantage for not really caring about Harry Potter to be able to like really enjoy this because Oh, for sure.

Yeah, for sure. You are absolutely in a better

position. Yeah, because I'm like, God, I mean

the cr the crazy thing about it is it's like, sorry, I'll, I'll let you go in a second, Paul. But like the crazy thing about it is it's like you have an or on your staff, like a former or like Professor Sharp is like your potions professor. He is a licensed or I'm like, you could have had him be the professor fig of all this to where like he is the one who guides you and like he is the one who's teaching you advanced defend your spells. Like, right, why? I'm like, the game feels like it's poorly ridden in the sense that we're. It felt like someone who's not a Harry Potter fan wrote a lot of this game to where like they didn't think about like some of the complexities of how the world works versus like, this game feels like it was written and like, we need to get to point A to point B cuz this is the story we want to tell. Versus like, Hey, does that story fit into the lore? Like God, war, ragner, rock, like every side story, every story fit into the lore that is like that Norse mythology, that version of Norse mythology. At least this game feels like a game that has Harry Potter aesthetics. Like all, a lot of like Harry Potter, like l um, lore into it. But like the lore, like the rules that were set in place in this world are like loosely adhered

to. Yeah. And especially introducing something like ancient magic, which doesn't exist in the world or the lore at all. Just kind of like, yeah, you can do this special thing. Have fun. Um, and it's just, it doesn't really all make all that much sense in the end. And it's, it's really that situation where a lot of people, like for the Star Wars days where you're like, you can't make this media thing that doesn't adhere with this lower detail. And the problem is that Star Wars cuz kind of really well made, so you can kind of just do stuff like that. But Harry Potter is just. By such thin threads with its world mm-hmm. that if you add like any sort of critiquing lens on it, you can't really come up with a justifiable reason for stuff. Uh, that's the same way you can for like Star Wars. Um, and I think that's just where it comes down to it. It's just not a well enough built thing. And my last statement on it is where my Percy Jackson game at y'all,

man, that would be dope.

That's all I'm saying. Um, because that world is way better made, uh, than Harry Potter. You heard it here First Ladies.

Oh man, Harry Pottery. Oh, the Harry Potter. And we're

gonna reive that. I mean, if we're getting a Percy Jackson TV show, this is now the time to rebring up that fight. I used to be on the opposite side of that Harry Potter all day. And now I'm like, I've been reading through those Percy Jackson books. That's, that's a pretty solid w simple meal well made compared to all that we got with. Harry Potter and, uh,

I, I wanna, you know, like before we go, um, and cuz I know we have other news stories, but like, I wanna say that, you know, I've come across extremely negative, but I've really enjoyed this game. Like, I love, I love playing in this world. I like, I like a lot of elements into it. I feel like it's half baked and I want more because like the bar, like if I hear a game's a nine outta 10, I'm like, I want, I expect it to be like a nine outta 10 ass video game. Like I expect it to be. Like, and, and here's

the thing, like J order was that also. Yeah, I can, I can even also try to level some of the same complaints because that game was also very half baked. I just loved it a lot because I loved Star

Wars. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, I think, um, like revisiting it after patches, I think it's like an eight, but for fallen order that is, um, but then at the same time, it had a lot more that vibed than something like this where like you didn't have to deal with any of the gear, any of the fluff. And even the, the open world was a meticulously crafted metro vania. Yeah.

This is an open world that definitely is very witch, has very witchery aspirations based on like some of the s literally the way the dialogue.

And wish none of it matters either. That's another thing. And

then I think, um, I think there's also like gonna be like the first game bump of we haven't had a Harry Potter game since what the horrible deathly hollows games in like almost decade. So everything will seem like initially more impressive when you can, when you consider everything that came before.

And we never had a game that was above like a seven, outta 10 in the Harry Potter universe.

I'm like, it's, it's another case of like starving for stuff. Sebastian. Mm-hmm. were you gonna say something

else? The only, the only thing, and I, and I don't wanna be rude when I say this is like, go for it. I don't want anyone to, to, to

salandro here. He has been so rude for, uh, just about

everything. Yeah. But I don't wanna be rude to like, developers shout out to like Avalanche Studios for like, making this, this game is like, uh, this game is very impressive. It is just like, I almost asked myself, I'm like, this is impressive for their first game. You know, we were, we talked about that at length. I'm like, for their first real major game to where it's not just like a throwaway license game that is associated with the movies. Like, this is very impressive. I almost feel like though, like I would, I would've loved to see what like a grand project from Insomniac could look like with, if they were given this lore because the way they did Spider-Man, like there is no loose threads. There is like, yeah. And I think

to me, that's what makes. This game more impressive in a way that, you know, they didn't have first party like focus on budget. Mm-hmm. this was a multi-platform game. Yeah. So the fact that this has that like, I want the, the, the love and care that you can see in this game. Maybe not like you can criticize like in the minutia and all that, but when you see this, this is what you want your license games to look like. Like yeah. This is exactly what you want them to Presentation wise. The presentation wise

on Max, it's immaculate. Yeah,

it's good. It is really good. I, I love the, I love like how many different options they gave you with performance modes, with um, like performance modes with like the visual modes. Like it's great. Like I, I can't customization options

as well. Oh, for sure. Phenomenal atmosphere, especially delving through some of the dungeons and crypts and things. So it's like, I know we, we spoke so much about the things that frustrated us because of how much it's been talked about, I think, um, in some of those aspects. But I think, um, the, the thing

is that it's like, it feels like an honest conversation about this game cannot be had like right now, uh, because, uh, Uh, like the controversy surrounding it, you're gonna have people pushing back against that controversy. So it may seem like they're over pre, it may seem like they're over pring to kind of combat the fact that many people already wanted this to fail, uh, in lieu of like all the controversies around the IP in a way. So, and the truth can be somewhere in the middle. I'm be

honest here, I played like 20 hours of that in this game and haven't thought about that woman once. Like, I, I'm gonna be real, like, I haven't thought about that woman once I,

you know, that, that, that says a lot that there is like, it's a, it sounds like a, a very flawed experience from like, when you're like very knee deep into the Harry Potter world, like how things could be better knowing, like how that world works. But then when you like step, step outside and see what they've done, it's like, as a first game, it's like, yeah man, shout out, shout, shout, shout out to Avalanche. So, and obviously imagine those things that you, they Cade in a sequel now that they know that this game is a hit. Because they were in w b games. You know, w b games is the most unstable developed, like goodness developers ever. Like just with their recent output alone, like all the things that have been like taken forever to make like Gotham Knight being a complete disappointment, like suicide squad seeming like it's gonna be one now that we know that it had live service paintings and all, and all of that's a, now they know that they had a game that has been, for the most part, very well received by many. Like it has a very high like user score, rare rarity here, like a 9.1 user score. We know that those can be real thick. One can be like troll easily by bad faith arguments. Like I can just imagine what the sequel will be like. I always time the big proponent of like, take the great foundation to start and then get a better sequel. Because you already got a, a nice base.

Yeah. And I, I think one of the, the glowing recommendations that each of us will probably give is like, we've all played a varying amount of time with this game, and all of us are excited to finish it. Yeah, I think so. I'm like, I, I, you know, I am, I can't say anything more than like, shout outs to them for, for doing this. This is, uh, this is a really good game. It's not a great game by any means of the imagination. It has a lot of flaws, but it's, it is what we play video games for, to have fun and it's a fun experience.

Yeah. So we had like a few stories. I just want to cut a cut just to one, because this one, because we kind of mentioned this game already in this conversation, so no need to do the press X for some news. Paul, like I wanna read you this. Um, all right, real quick. So this is a story by Chris calling by bgc, uh, from bg. Cratos was originally going to have a different faith in God, war, Ragner rock. Uh, speaking to MinMax, you know them, uh, Sebastian's. Ben. Ben, uh, what was his last name? I forgot. Ben Hansen. Hansen, yeah. Mm-hmm. So, so he had Matt sofas the writer for God, for, for Ragner Rock and someone else that also contributed to writing. So Matt Sofas was asked about the end of the 2018 God of War title in which creator sees a mural that shows his. Suggesting a prophecy that could happen in the next game. Although the mural is shown again early in rag rock, cratos ultimately doesn't die. And sofas was asked if there ever, if, if there ever were plans to actually kill him off. There was the earliest, earliest draft of the outline that we had come up with that we took to director Eric Williams. Sofas replied revealing that in this draft, cratos died in the Thor fight. At the beginning of the game, he continued and so he was gonna die, and then it wasn't a permanent death. What was gonna happen? What was gonna happen, and I don't care, we can tell this because it doesn't happen anymore. And this is all fan fiction at this point. he would get pulled out of hell essentially by Aus. But it's now been like 20 years have passed. It was gonna be a big time jump type type of thing, so that was a version of it. Ultimately, sofas explained. Williams wasn't keen on going down that direction. The decision sofa says was the right one. Eric was like, I don't wanna do that. Cra us has died and come back from it too many times and he'll feel a little bit too, oh, you said he was gonna die and oh, you just kill him. But he came right back. He recalled the hook. The emotion wasn't really gonna be there, and he was absolutely right and so that's why it didn't last very long. Sofas also added that the game's current ending in which creators is still very much alive by the end, helped create a message to players that their fur, that their Fs are sealed. As we were developing the story, we knew we wanted it to be about letting go and changing. He explained, knowing that Norse mythology is all about f and prophecy and everything, and we wanted to say, that's bs. You know, uh, nothing is written that can't be unwritten. As soon as you're willing to make changes in your life within, you're not bound to f. And so when we landed on that, when we know, uh, that was the story I wanted to tell. We knew that Cratos couldn't die because then it would be like, well, Aria's gonna say that Cratos couldn't change and that would suck. So

I'm very glad that they made that change, for sure. Mm-hmm. um, I know we're going to make similarities to a certain other big budget. Sony game. But yeah, that has a tease before we go into that route. Um, just to, I, it made me realize, because I knew that they were teeing that up so much in 2018, that like credos would die and the next game potentially, because we saw the prophecy for it. Um, what a good kind of switching things up on people instead of a, oh yeah, this is totally what we set up was gonna happen and it happened. All right. Congratulations. What, how are you going to make that interesting? You know? Um, so it's almost. And somehow tying it to a really positive message in the spite of all that, where it's like, yeah, you know what, like you can make changes in your life, and as long as you're able to do that, nothing has control over what happens to you. And I really like that concept where you're really, like, that was Credos whole thing. Fighting fate. Fighting. Mm-hmm. gods and all that, but then also still being a slave to them at the end of the series. Mm-hmm. um, in a, in a certain way. I, I really like changing that up for sure. Um, what are y'all's

thoughts on all that? Yeah. You have Sebastian.

I want to hear it. I, you know, like I am, I would've been fine both ways as far as like, as long as I trust them to tell an interesting story. And you know, like if there's one studio I trust, uh, to give us like a wowing story, it is that studio. So I'm like, they could have made both ways. Interesting. I'm glad. I'm perfectly happy with the way God Ofor ended. I'm like, Ragner Rock made me cry. I'm like, I love, I love the narrative in that game. Yeah. And I, you know, and they left a lot of room to do other things in the future for not just credos, but other characters in that lore. So I'm like, I'm fine with the way it ended. I'm like, I would've, you know, if they had like a alternate ending to where it really wasn't the real ending and they showed us that, I would've been perfectly fine with that too. It was like, hey, like, hey, we're just gonna put out the cut scenes from this alternate ending and let you see how that would've paid off. I would've been, I'd watch it, but, you know, like kudos to them for, you know, being open enough to, to say this in the interview because like most people keep that stuff like very tight to the

chest. Yeah. And we know that that's just not gonna happen now because you basically said spill it out. Mm-hmm. uh, I have been very vocal of how much I love the last of us part two. I adore that game. I adored the story of that game. I adore how that game made me miserable in a good way because it was like, it was like a such an impactful story. This coming a little too soon from that, like another, like killing the main protagonist that first, even though in this case, uh, he would've come back in a way, I think would've like, started the story kind of like around a similar kind of tale. And this just feels like the much better, much more fulfilling and much more cathartic story they ended up telling was they subverted. This was, it was kind of like in a world that hates the subversion of expectations, I feel God over Ragner was the right way to subvert because it's subverted in a way that, into something that Paul absolutely loves. Like he loves when everything can, because Paul is like, There's a reason why, uh, Paul's favorite superhero is Superman, because, uh, be because Paul hates like the cynicism of the world. He likes positive bias being thrown, and I'm someone that, to me, like depending on how you do positivity, that can sometimes feel either too corny or something that says, oh yeah, sure. Positive. Yeah. It's something that it's easy to forget, uh, in my mind. And I feel like Ragner is one of those rare ones that they put that positive spin while also delivering such great message that impact you and can leave you crying. Like, I was also one that, that game had me in tears many times throughout that story. It's like Jo Catharsis of Cathars and Trails. I defined that fate and I'm just glad that they were able and I be you. They, they pivoted from this way before they saw the reaction to the Las US part two because they started working this game in like 2018. Part two came out in 2020. So I bet when they, when they saw that that SpongeBob means you send me Paul.

Just the, the sigh of like, Ooh, I really dodged a bullet on that one. Um, I, I definitely think so. Overall, I just, like you said, Sebastian, I think you are right. Like this is the group that could make that very powerful no matter what they had chosen. Um, I understand their reasonings why they didn't even mm-hmm. unrelated from the other game mm-hmm. um, that it's like, yeah, no, that would've kind of like gone along with the thing that we're not trying to sell for our last big, like, message for this game series. Um, and I think I like it as well because it adds for a lot more of a globe trotting adventure style thing, where instead it's like, okay, your objective is once again set up from the very beginning and that is your goal for the whole game. Anything else is just distracting you from that. Get credos back from the afterlife kind of a thing. Um, which that was a big, uh, problem people had with 2018, which is obviously up to interpretation for a lot of people. Mm-hmm. But the idea of, all right, go to the mountain and then constant problems trying to get to that mountain versus all of that. And then getting to that and saying, no, that wasn't the mountain, it was this mountain, this mountain.

And, and it's like weird. They're in the mountain and then we're gonna like, have like a discussion. Here comes the dragon and we're going down to, down to this

thing. So, Kind of being fresh in people's minds. I'm sure they were also like, well, that's kind of the same basic structure. Let's go something different. And I'm very glad that they kind of went in such a different direction. Also, just I wasn't expecting the whole coming of age idea of atreus and like the idea of watching your son grow up and realizing you have to change the nature of your fatherhood to that son. It's like mm-hmm. I'm not a father. So I didn't really understand how that felt. And now I feel like I experienced it by watching that happen.

And, uh, because we know what, like, like becoming a age of a tri is, uh, adolescence. It's like as people were formerly, uh, youngsters, we're, uh, adults like near our thirties. It's uh, well you're in your thirties, Paul. I'm getting becoming 30 this year and I don't know how old you are, Sebastian. I'm 31. There you go. So I'm the last one. I'm the last random here before I hit 30 this year. So, Yeah. And, and, and to me it's like, I'm just glad that, to me, like the story that the last of us part two told, it's like, I think it's more special because I know it's the only game that's gonna attempt to tell that, that kind of story. Having another game that to try to capture those same beats would have like diluted because be like, okay, now we see people copying that. So I'm glad that these two games like exist in my mind and complete polar opposites in a way that works. And I'm also happy, like I wanna go back to Ragner Rock, but I'm kind of like New Game Plus is coming soon. New Game Plus is coming soon. Just hold on. Just hold on. Just hold off. Just hold off. There's other games. That's why I'm on all four. Yeah. There's like other games that are playing. I had to play Hogwarts. I have, uh, a certain game that comes out next week. We're gonna read about that. I have to be review. I'm have two back Toback reviews comings up. Paul, tell us about the game releases for the week of February 19 to February 25th, 2023.

I gotta get myself prepared for this one cuz if y'all, anybody listening doesn't realize it's, uh, it's a long, yeah, it's

You might need to take a, a swig of bubbly

there. Aig. Yeah, I'm I I finished off my bubbly. I gotta drink some water whenever I'm getting tired on this one. All right, so game releases for February 19th through 25th of 2023, aka ark. Uh, AKA r. There we go for PlayStation five, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation four, Xbox One, switch and pc. I'm glad I'm not the one Getting construction near my house on February 21st. Atomic Heart on PlayStation five, Xbox series X and S, PlayStation four, Xbox One PC on February 21st. Also on game pass, I know that much like a Dragon uh, PlayStation five, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation four, Xbox One, and PC on February 21st. Digon World Next order on Switch and PC on February 22nd. And all of these afterwards un, except for certain point I'll tell you are for the recently released PlayStation VR two on February 22nd. And those are after the fall. I'll say Year Breaker City's VR enhanced edition Cussons High DEO Drums Rock dys Kronos Alternate Phanta Vision Firewall Ultra Grand Tomo seven Horizon called the Mountain. Job scene, Neil. Later. The 2050 Archives, Jurassic World Aftermath Collection, kayak, VR Mirage, Kauna, AI touched the beat. Moss and Moss. Book two bundle. Oh, Moss and Moss. Book two bundle. There we go. N F L Pro Extra Pavlo vr, pistol Whip, PlayStation VR Two and uh oh wait, no, that's the actual thing. Puzzling places. Resin Evil Village Res Infinite Song in the Smoke. Star Wars Tales of the Galaxy's Edge. Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, excuse me. Synth Riders Tentacular Tetris Effect Connected. The last Clock winder. The Last Brigade, the Tale of On Agoro Thum. Townsman VR Vacation Simulator. What the Bat Zenith. The last City and Zombieland Headshot, fever Reloaded, and the last ones not included in that VR two list. Were Blood Bowl three for PlayStation five. Xbox Series X and S. PlayStation four. Xbox One Switch and PC on February 20. Company of Heroes. Three on PCs from February 23rd and, oh wait, we've got a few more Sons of the Forest on PC for February 23rd. Clive and Wrench on PlayStation five, PlayStation four, switch and PC on February 24th. Kirby's returned to Elite Dreamland, deluxe on Switch for February 24th. And lastly, osteopath, traveler, PlayStation five, PlayStation four, switch and PC on February 24th. I don't think

we're ever gonna see a list this massive in a long time. imagine having to review like, because obviously, uh, they sent PlayStation VR two s to some influencers and the media, they're gonna be posting the reviews soon. Imagine having to cover all those games. Oh my

goodness.

Action. I bet they're not. I'm like, I bet they're only gonna play Horizon. Call it the mountain and call it a day. And maybe. At that point, maybe I'm trying to look at the list and see any other game that I think like major big outlets are gonna

play. Yeah. So they have the advantage that they have a bunch of re re-releases here that they can just like, yeah, play it briefly and be like, it's the same game. It's just better here. Unless this has like completely different, uh, uh, new content. Uh, my thing with this is that I didn't buy PlayStation VR one. Uh, I did try it at the university, got a little bit of a headache. Uh, VR is just not for me. It's like, it's same. I want it to be because it's like, the idea is so cool. I remember playing VR like arcade machines that, those like me games that you will like put the B and then like be turning around. It's like there's something really cool about that. It's just that, especially right now, the Psbr two is $549 and there, there's the bundle with Horizon that's like 600. So it's like that's too much money like that, that's a right now too much money. And I don't know if like, what if this doesn't sell? Then what's, where do the world, the support go? Especially cuz they're overpricing. This compared to the first psvr. So to me, with this list Atomic Heart, I'm reviewing Atomic Heart. Like they're, uh, they, I'm, I might get a code for Atomic Heart because I, uh, season gaming is like, uh, it's contacted PR for that one, but I'm still gonna review it even if I don't get that. So that's it for me. For this list. What's like interesting for you that's not vr uh, Paul,

um, like you said, uh, atomic Art is definitely the one that I'm going to for sure play out of this. Mm-hmm. but I know of, um, I know a lot of people, like we said before we started recording, really champion the Digon World Series. Mm-hmm. Um, I know there was a couple of these, like the, I mean yeah, grand Tori seven seems built perfectly for that resume. And

that's, and and that's the thing, like if you own Grand Tori seven, that's a free update. That's actually really cool that some of these games that are here, they have like free updates if you're already on them to be able to play that.

Sons of the forest. That's the forest too. Um, I think. Okay. Yeah, I know some friends that are gonna be really into that one. So the big day for Survival Buddies, uh, obviously Kirby's returned to Dreamland coming out. Octa Path Traveler too. Those are like the main ones, uh, that I think a lot of people are gonna be hyped up for. Uh, beyond that. Sebastian, is there anything, uh, talking to you out of that list?

Um, of course what the bat, like what the bat really speaks to me on a very personal Nah, nah, I'm playing with you. Um, yeah, I, I'm

playing. I just love that there's a game

called Watch. You had me for like two seconds. I was like, yeah. Dang. Is that like a hit or something? Oh shoot.

Nah man. It

doesn't look Indy like, but it's Psbr R too.

Yeah, I'm gonna be real with you. I'm not a PSV R kind of person. I'm not VR person in general. And then like, I'm looking at a lot of these games, like I haven't, I haven't played Octa Path one and I'd feel almost compelled to play the first one before I played that one. Mm-hmm. And, but that's the only game that's kind of interests me out of like all these, I think, um, Atomic, um, heart kind of like, seems interesting, but you know, like that one,

the advantage is that it's gonna be on Game Pass. So

it is gonna be on, it is gonna be on game Pass. And I think one of the things that I like about it, um, on a personal level is like the story behind it. You know, like the, the fact that it all, this had to do with like the, you can Ukraine war and all that kind of stuff, like this studio had to do with that. And then like you add to the fact that like, um, the composer is donating like his fee to like the. The Ukraine? Um, Ukraine, actually, can you hear me?

Oh yeah, I can hear you. Uh, Aandra had to mute himself because of the

construction noises. Nah, it's all cool. They're, they're donating, um, their feed to the Ukraine crisis, and so I'm like, I, I think there's so many, so much cool, like, heartfelt stories around this game. So I wanted to succeed on a per personal like basis. And you know, like I, I want single player games that are similar to Doom and Wolfenstein to succeed because I want more games like that, so, absolutely. I'm gonna check it out. So I want more

shooters that are not live services. This is

one. Yeah, I want more campaigns. Yeah. I want, uh, I want more first, uh, first person, um, shooter campaign. So I'm like, I like that genre. I think that genre is one that I hope doesn't go away, but it kind of feels like it's starting to. But like one of my favorite games of last year was Protius. And Protius is like a indie game that is very much like a cross between like doom and, uh, doom and like, um, kind of like halo a little bit. And it is one, it was one of my favorite experiences in the first person shooter genre of last year. And the fact that like, so many people made really cool, like Ima maps in that ki in that game. Yeah. That was with

like the pixel art Yeah. Kind of shooter, right? Yeah,

I remember. Yeah. It looks like Retro Doom and like the fact that people made like a Waffle House map and, and people were playing in that, oh, that was this game. Okay. Yeah. Proteus. And it's, so, I, I like first person shooter campaigns and I, I want to see more of those. So I, I want Atomic card to see it's 20 bucks on psn. It is. It's a really good game. It is a really good pass. It's a really, do y'all, either y'all have like Xbox Game Pass,

is it on Game

Pass? Is it on Game Pass? Yeah, that's, well, that's like, I think it's still on Game Pass to this day,

so like why do I know that? I'm definitely gonna go download it then.

Yeah. Well, yeah, that, that is easy. Uh, I will definitely check that out if it's on game Pass. Um, yeah, I, I think to y'all's point for sure, I think one of my favorite ways to experience narrative games is a first person shooter somehow. Um, because like I Bioshock really first person perspective. Yeah, that's what I meant. Sorry. Um, because it's really intimate. I, despite its issues, I really love metro. Um, and like the deep like detail you can have whenever your face is right there, you get like a lack of jank almost when you do that. Um, and I had like a renaissance of that when I played through tight fall too. Just like watching how easy you can make animations and hands so expressive that you can really tell an interesting story. Far there is and

metric prime. Another example of how immersive it is, because you can also see Sam is like something's going through a person where you're going to morph ball and then you see like the camera go back into her visor. Like, because you're seeing everything through her eyes. And then just feel so compelled and there's something you don't stop playing because everything feels so immersive. Yeah. It's, uh, it's,

I think that's, that's a really good example of that. Yeah. I, um, yeah, I just, um, I think that's pretty much it on my, my thoughts for all of that stuff. Just,

uh, yeah, for such a long list. It's such a long list for a little of interest for us, but I can't wait to see like, the reviews for PS b r I think they came out, they're, they're coming out today, uh, like the actual machine, they were gonna review it and all that. So

I do want to like give like the benefit of the doubt in some ways, because I do know, um, several friends that do it very regularly, it is actually like very positively affect their health. Mm-hmm. And, uh, one thing that I've learned is no matter how bad you are disposed to it at first for your brain, your brain does just get used to it surprisingly fast. And then it just doesn't affect you anymore, no matter what really affects you. It's just a. Play for like 10 minutes every day kind of thing. And all of a sudden you're going to be like, not even feeling it anymore, apparently. Mm-hmm. But, um, yeah, it's one of those things I wish that I had the time and the space for, because I,

the space is, the space is a big one right now where I'm at, where I usually play my games. I don't have the space for that. So, but we'll, we'll see. Like I hope the Sony commits to this VR because they did commit to p vr one more than I was expecting, but the price never got quite right for me. So that just kind of passed me. Uh, like I wish I had played Astro Ball Rescue Mission, especially how much I love Astro Astro's Playroom and Rescue Mission was basically that. Yeah. So, and I've heard many great things of that, so, but we'll definitely see. And with that, that concludes this week's episode of the Xbo Sebastian. Where can people find.

Ooh, ladies and gentlemen, everyone, everywhere. You can find the Prince of Podcasts at the Single Player Experience Podcast, where we talk about dope, single player games that you should be playing. We also have interviews with devs. We also talk about some really cool concepts in games. And, you know, recently we've talked to, um, industry leaders. Um, I had, um, a really cool guest on my show where he is the world renowned expert in all things Tarzan. We talked about like Tarzan as a video game and

Wait, wait, the PS one game, the one that was like

a side scroller. Uh, well, like he was a consultant on that project, but like, um, but like we talk about like, um, he's been, um, a part of like a lot of different, um, tours and films recently. Uhhuh, like he did the last one with Samuel Jackson. Mm-hmm. he was a consultant on that project. Mm-hmm. And so he and I were talking about what Tarzan would look like as a modern day video game in like, in an open world, world concept. Do you remember

Taron Untamed? Yeah, I do.

And Game Cube, is that the one that the entirety of it was just a button masher because one of those games for PS two did irreparable damage to my hands.

Trying to, yeah, there was, there was some like measures where you had to like be tapping the button and then do like a combination of things. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

Yeah, I hate that gate because of that reason. I just sit there doing this for hours. Oh man. Maybe that's why I have these issues with my. Yeah, but shake their hand except, you know,

You got the hook hand now, I got the, I got the hook there. Um, yeah, so, yeah. Um, yeah, we had, um, people like, uh, Matt Hatchett who's the author of How to Create, um, how to Make a Video Game by Yourself. Um, that's awesome. We had him on the show, um, and we've had different devs that will just do deep dives on their indie games on the show recently. So, you know, like show's growing. I love, um, everything that, everything it's becoming, and I want to thank y'all for being a part of it. And you know, I hope to have, uh, hope to have y'all in the episodes really soon. Yeah. So thank y'all for having me on the show

today. Yeah. Always let us know when and we can try to make it work. Paul, where can people

find you? As always, y'all can find me at Dork of Art on Twitter and also Dork of Art on YouTube because it sounds like any video of me breaking a video, game's gonna have to go there after that whole update thing goes live. Yeah. Would they, that hasn't already. But yeah. Um, that's where you can find me usually. Yeah. But if not, you can find me here. Yeah. Where're gonna, they find you Alejandro

a underscore d sego on Twitter, A sego on Hive, Alejandro Sego 93 on Instagram. And my written content, both the critical corner.com whenever I write there, and my recent reviews [email protected]. So always a pleasure getting to have you all here. Like, uh, Sebastian will have a one-on-one episode pretty soon when Paul starts moving, like in a couple weeks, so,

oh yeah. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I am looking forward to it. Oh yeah. But thank y'all again for having me on.

Yeah, always a pleasure having you on and to, for you coming through Sebastian's. So, and you pull through because I, you were able to see more about Hots because I couldn't so he was gonna be so you and Paul got to like, carry that for me. I feel like a little weight lifted.

I want to hear your thoughts as you play more, because I'm very interested if like your lack of knowledge about that helps you experience it in a positive way, or if you end up souring at some point. Yeah, but I hope it, it doesn't sour it because we talked about it in such a negative

light. I have, I have this thing that symptoms where people are very negative about a A thing. I tend to go the opposite way. So I notice for smokey. Yeah, exactly. So but not just for sp. That's just how I feel sometimes because it's like you put it yourself, it's like, is it that bad? And then you played, it's like, no, this is not that bad. That's how I was with got nights. It took me like after two months away from my heard fishing, that can be being like, you know, This shit kind of ugly So

I, I was about to say, I'm like, I, I, I'm a huge Batman fan as well as somebody should be bribed on Chargers for Go Knights. Yeah. I'm like, somebody should be, somebody did me a disservice of that way.

Now a friend Ack, uh, you don't know it because he, he, uh, he did the art for our show and, um, he, we have him in our chat with me and Paul have like, he felt like personally like affronted by Gotham Knight. No, I can even say why. Oh yeah. It's just like, especially because he's a big, um, like the Bat Family in particular, night Wing in particular is like his favorite, absolute favorite hero. And unfortunately Night Wing has been done dirty in many ways. And Paul knows one specific way that I have retired by this point. But it involves garden. It involves garden shears. All I, all I'll say. So So, yeah. Yeah. Very enough of that. So thank you everyone for listening to, for, to, for listening to this episode. Hopefully that. Deconstruction sounds are not too annoying that I was able to try to mute myself for. And, uh, we'll see you all next week and stay healthy. Stay safe. Have a great rest of February. We're recording on the 15th. We're already halfway through the month. Can you believe that? And nope,

rest x two play. Yeah. Goodnight

everybody. Estella baby.

He's out. so that's it for today's episode. I wanna give a special shout out to Alejandro and Paul for having me on the X Button Podcast and for letting me cross promote and publish this episode on the Single Player Experience Podcast. 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.