No Credits Rolled Episode 6: Dragon’s Dogma 2

00;00;07;11 – 00;00;14;14
Sam
You.

00;00;14;16 – 00;00;33;27
Sam
Know. Predictable. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode six of No Credits rolled. My name is Sam Whalen, and today I’m going to be covering a smattering of news stories. My thoughts on Dragon’s Dogma two, and maybe a few bonus games. but before we get into that, I want to remind everyone to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

00;00;33;29 – 00;00;51;03
Sam
That includes Spotify, Apple, and now YouTube as well. You can look us up. No credits rolled wherever you get those services. also, if you’re on Deezer, I would like to keep plugging Deezer because I think it’s funny. but if you are, if all my DS heads out there, please leave a comment. Let me know if you’re listening on Deezer.

00;00;51;09 – 00;01;09;25
Sam
If you’re feeling generous. The show also has a Patreon you can just search. No credits rolled on there as well. Every little bit helps. This is a semi-independent operation, which I guess really doesn’t make any sense. If you think about the word semi-independent. And we’ve also got a call in line, and I want to hear from you calling in at (856) 209-0713.

00;01;10;01 – 00;01;36;12
Sam
That’s (856) 209-0713. And let me know what you’re playing and what I should be playing and what I should be talking about. All right, I think I got everything off the top. Let’s get into our first story. The headline reads 60% of play time in 2023 went to six year old or older games, new data shows. this comes from Kotaku, as well as a research firm called Newzoo.

00;01;36;15 – 00;01;59;27
Sam
the stories from Zach Zoe’s in Zwischen? I think that’s right. Zach, if you’re listening to this, I apologize if I mispronounced your name. but he says, quote, news, news data shows that just 66 titles accounted for 80% of all play time in 2023, and 60% of that play time was spent in games that are six years or older.

00;02;00;02 – 00;02;22;07
Sam
In fact, in 2023, five old games Fortnite, Roblox, League of Legends, Minecraft, and GTA five accounted for 27% of all play time in the year. That’s about a quarter for all you math heads out there. Of the 23% of play time spent in 2023 on new games, which are defined at new here as being defined as two years of younger.

00;02;22;10 – 00;02;44;09
Sam
More than half was spent in big annual sequels like the latest Madden or NBA game. And this last part is what really, made me want to talk about this on the show. Zach says, quote, only 8% of video game play time was spent on new non annual titles like Diablo four and Baldur’s Gate three. 8% on new games.

00;02;44;09 – 00;03;06;10
Sam
And again, for the purposes of this research. New is being classified as two years or younger, which isn’t even really new if you think about it, at least by my standards. But 8% of play time spent on these new games. So what do we do with that data? Right. What is that data make you think of? For me, it shows how difficult it is for new games to break out and remain relevant.

00;03;06;13 – 00;03;36;20
Sam
especially when you’re dealing with these juggernauts like our Fortnite or Roblox, League of Legends, Minecraft Gta5 all of these games, by the way, are ten plus years old. crazy to think about that. They’re all this dominant. I think this is a trend with, lots of different kinds of media today. You you see a lot in movies, this trend of sequels and remakes and vehicles that sort of dominate what people go and see in what people like to see, and in this case, what people like to play.

00;03;36;22 – 00;03;57;05
Sam
I think it’s there’s the familiarity of it. I think that’s the biggest thing. People are much more likely to dive into something that they already know, or something based off something they know, instead of just going headlong into a new property or a new experience that they might not be as familiar with. So how can new games compete when established titans like Fortnite take up so much of the player base?

00;03;57;07 – 00;04;12;24
Sam
it’s tough, right? I mean, I’m not a game developer, but I imagine it’s got to be extremely tough if you’re gunning, if you’re making a new game and you’re gunning for that 8%, of the player base, you know, that’s a very small margin of the player base. And there’s a lot of new games that come out every year.

00;04;12;24 – 00;04;35;17
Sam
And again, for this research, new is two years or younger. So we’re going back to 2022. Had to look at the calendar because I did not know the year. But you know that’s not that’s not that new. Going back two years and they’re still fighting over this 8% of the player base. Now there are some exceptions like the article cited like Baldur’s Gate three.

00;04;35;19 – 00;04;55;08
Sam
and what makes something like a Ballers get three break out and capture so many gamers, right. What makes it such a, presence in the public discussion that allows us to kind of defy this data and kind of have its own voice in its own moment in the gaming space, in my opinion. I think a lot of this comes down to what kind of gamer you are.

00;04;55;10 – 00;05;16;06
Sam
and I know it’s it’s kind of cringe to use the word gamer, but I’m gonna, I think a lot of people are very casual gamers, and I don’t mean that as an insult. I think a lot of people just, you know, they work their 9 to 5 and they come home and they hop on Fortnite or they hop on Warzone and, you know, get destroyed by a 13 year old, and then call it a day.

00;05;16;09 – 00;05;39;01
Sam
But, you know, those kids, two, they those 13 year olds, they might just only play Fortnite, right? They might only play Roblox. I might only play Warzone, and they don’t really branch out a whole lot. And I think for those kind of gamers, that’s why your Fortnite, your Roblox, your League Legends, your Minecraft or GTA fives remain so popular because there is that constant, there’s constant updates to these games.

00;05;39;04 – 00;06;03;06
Sam
There’s there’s constant, there’s a built in constant player base. As we can clearly see here. And for most of these excluding, you know, Minecraft in the GTA five, you can hop on, you can do a match and your time with the game can stop there. Now that’s not counting, you know, in Fortnite, and Roblox, there’s like games within games and in Minecraft as well.

00;06;03;06 – 00;06;18;25
Sam
We’re not counting that. I mean, like the the core of what the game is, League of Legends matches are a lot longer than that. But my point is, you can basically you can do whatever you do in your day to day life, hop into these games, get your fix of the game, and then kind of go back to your regular life.

00;06;18;27 – 00;06;37;14
Sam
And I think that there are a lot of casual gamers that that is what they’re doing. It’s not, you know, they’re not looking for the next groundbreaking single player RPG. And that’s okay. You know, that doesn’t have to appeal to everybody. But I think that the large amount of the player base for your Fortnite’s is this casual audience.

00;06;37;14 – 00;06;57;07
Sam
And it’s what these, these Titan games kind of rely on to keep the lights on. Now, this brings us back to a bonus gate three. And what makes a game like that appeal to a more casual gamer? I think a lot of it comes down to word of mouth, right? We’re seeing that with diverse two right now as well.

00;06;57;10 – 00;07;16;09
Sam
TikTok, Instagram, social media in general. You’re seeing these clips of these games and it’s you get the feeling of FOMO, right? The feeling of missing out. You say, oh, well, this looks like a ton of fun. Look at all these fun clips I’m seeing. I want to go play this game. I want to branch out and try something new that I might not, you know, that might not appeal to me.

00;07;16;12 – 00;07;37;23
Sam
Just on the the cover art alone or the, you know, the trailer for the game alone. If I’m a casual gamer and I’m seeing that this game is extremely popular, it might entice me to want to go over and give it a shot, and then maybe I’ll stick with it. If it’s a ballers gate and I get wrapped up in the story or the characters, or if it’s a diverse two, I get stuck in the gameplay and I that loop of doing missions and you know, I’m hooked.

00;07;37;23 – 00;07;55;06
Sam
And there’s your 8% that are playing new games. I think, accessibility also plays a big part in what allows new game to, to break out. How easy is the game to pick up? I know for me, I don’t PC game really ever. So games like Lethal Company that I’m seeing get that social media hype and get that online presence.

00;07;55;09 – 00;08;24;07
Sam
I’m not going to go play because one none of my friends are on PC and two I don’t really play on PC to begin with, so I think so when I’m saying accessibility, I guess I more so mean availability. How easy is the game to pick up and purchase? What’s the price point? Right. Because if you’re talking about a $70 game, someone that doesn’t really that might not play your single player epics, it might be a tough sell for them to to slap down 70 plus dollars on a game they might not even like.

00;08;24;09 – 00;08;52;03
Sam
It’s easier to get something that’s free to play, like a Fortnite or a Roblox or League. Minecraft’s always on sale. GTA five is on sale a lot, too, so the barrier to entry in terms of a price point for those very popular, old games, quote unquote old games is a lot lower based on that as well. You’re taking a lot more of a leap of faith with your $70 on a new game that you might not like, and a return policies nowadays are extremely fickle, so you might just be stuck with it.

00;08;52;06 – 00;09;15;12
Sam
This data also ties into a topic we covered, what, two episodes ago? I think, talking about live service games, you know, I mean, of these five old games that are 27% of play time, Fortnite, Roblox League, GTA five, those are all live service games. I don’t know if you count Minecraft as a live service game, because you can just do single player stuff and you don’t necessarily have to do online stuff.

00;09;15;12 – 00;09;59;03
Sam
But Fortnite, Roblox League, and GTA, those are all live service games that are ridiculously successful and ridiculously profitable. So I think that that speaks to from a, company standpoint, from a brand standpoint, the benefits of a live service game and what all these various companies want. When they make a live service game, they want it to become a household name that, you know, ten years down the line, people are still playing and still making up more than a quarter of gamers play time, unfortunately, that that, that diamond in the rough that a lot of companies are looking for is a lot harder nowadays to get to than it was back when Fortnite

00;09;59;03 – 00;10;22;06
Sam
came out. Back when league started, I didn’t even know when that was. I don’t play league, but probably a long time ago. It’s tough to make that breakout hit. I you know, one that comes to mind for me is Apex Legends. When that game came out, it had the backing of respawn. The folks that like myself that were Titanfall fans working some of those mechanics into a live service battle royale.

00;10;22;08 – 00;10;44;17
Sam
It’s kind of what made it have some staying power. But for every apex, there’s, you know, a Suicide Squad, kill the Justice League, or, what’s it on? A terrible example I was playing this game called hawked a Wqhd. that’s like, it’s like an extraction shooter where you’re you’re underground. The servers are still on, but it’s not really getting a lot of hype.

00;10;44;17 – 00;11;07;01
Sam
I mean, there’s for every apex, there’s a dozen other live service games that are going to fail. So it’s really it’s like the definition of feast or famine when it comes to these live service games. And I really think that the these five titans that we’re talking about here that are live service are very much the exception and not the rule.

00;11;07;04 – 00;11;41;18
Sam
But I think companies see dollar signs and they want to take their stab at it without really giving the proper, foundation the proper foundation for what these games, these live service games need to have a successful launch and to have the staying power to make people want to continue to play them. I think a lot of the time, you know, we companies just want that instant hit, that instant gratification and that instant profit, of course, but they don’t really think of it, particularly far ahead.

00;11;41;18 – 00;12;13;21
Sam
I mean, sure, you might get a content roadmap, right? I mean, you know, shout out Marvel’s Avengers. I reinstalled that the other day and play a little bit of it just because I love that game so much. But that game kind of content roadmap that ended up being a detriment to the game itself, because they had to keep moving deadlines and they had to keep, you know, reworking with the content map was and that’s a surefire way to kill your live service game, because if you set up this roadmap where there are dates to hit and you don’t hit those dates, people are going to fall off because there’s no new content and there’s no

00;12;13;21 – 00;12;34;21
Sam
reason to keep coming back to this game. We get into the discussion of crunch, right where it’s something like a fortnight, I don’t remember, I don’t have the details in front of me, but I remember there was a crunch story about that. And when you play Fortnite and they’re pumping out new content every two weeks, whether that be on vaulting items or putting new things in or changing up the gameplay, you know, it’s a juggernaut for epic.

00;12;34;21 – 00;12;54;26
Sam
So they can dedicate the resources in that time to that. But there is an element of crunch to that where you have to keep feeding the beast. So on one hand, you know, you’ve got the content roadmap that could, you know, be your death, your death knell if you don’t end up following it. But then you’ve also you don’t want to overwork your workers to the point that they’re crunching to keep up with the live service trend.

00;12;54;29 – 00;13;13;15
Sam
And that’s not even mentioning the development teams that work on these live service games that might get shut down within a month of their release, you know, rest in peace, knock out city. I’ve mentioned that before, but that was a great game, in my opinion. That had a lot of potential, that it did get constant updates, but I think the player base just fell off.

00;13;13;15 – 00;13;33;07
Sam
And for me personally, me and my friends, we stopped playing because people just got way better than us and we were just getting destroyed in every lobby. And I could do a whole show on MMR and how your skill based matchmaking and my thoughts on that, and maybe I will if I’m desperate for topics that, you know, that’s not really the live service games fault.

00;13;33;09 – 00;13;53;03
Sam
All live service games and all multiplayer games are going to have skill based matchmaking. But again, that’s another show. But I want to know, are you playing any of the games I mentioned today? Are you a Fortnite fan? Are you in the Roblox? I know my friends and I tried Roblox once. it was a lot and we couldn’t really figure it out.

00;13;53;05 – 00;14;11;10
Sam
But it does have an update, like every week on PS5, so I’m sure they’re adding new content. But yeah, let me know if you’re playing any of these games. are you in that 8% that’s branching out and playing new games, or are you more of the casual gamer that’s playing the same 2 or 3 multiplayer shooters and then hopping off for the day?

00;14;11;13 – 00;14;21;17
Sam
Let me know. we’re going to take a quick break. And when we come back for to get into some more of the news. You’re listening to. No credits rolled.

00;14;21;19 – 00;14;58;22
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00;15;22;18 – 00;15;44;01
Sam
All right. Now we’re back on no credits roll. We just got done talking about some data from Newzoo about what people are playing. But now in this next segment I decided to call the News Roundup. I was going to make a cool jingle, but I ran out of time. So just imagine like a cool old West cowboy song here.

00;15;44;03 – 00;15;52;25
Sam
for the news roundup, maybe some. I had some whip sound effects that I was pretty proud of. Some cracking, some horse galloping.

00;15;52;27 – 00;16;16;25
Sam
But that didn’t make, that didn’t make it to air. Maybe one day, though. Anyway, so our first story here comes from IGN Rebecca Valentine over at IGN. She’s a fantastic reporter, but it’s about the Katori Knights of the Old Republic. For all my Star Wars fans out there, I know this one probably makes you, cringe because we’ve been we’ve been teased with this coach for a remake for a long time now.

00;16;16;28 – 00;16;40;27
Sam
and I thought it was dead for sure. I thought we weren’t going to see any more of it, but alas, Rebecca Valentine over at IGN doing the Lord’s work, she actually interviewed, Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karcher. Quark KRC saber is the team that took over from aspire to do this, go to a remake.

00;16;41;00 – 00;17;01;22
Sam
if you remember again, for all my Star Wars fans out there, aspire recently handled the Battlefront collection, the one and two collection, which was a complete disaster. So maybe it’s a good thing they lost the project. but now saber is doing it. Which is cool, because Saber light saber. Was that on purpose? Maybe. Maybe not.

00;17;01;25 – 00;17;23;19
Sam
But anyway, Rebecca Valentine, talk to CEO Matthew Kaji. And he said this quote, it’s clear and it’s obvious that we’re working on this, this being the code for a remake. he said it’s been in the press numerous times. What I will say is that the game is alive and well, and we’re dedicated to making sure we exceed consumer expectations.

00;17;23;21 – 00;17;41;12
Sam
yeah, a little bit of corporate speak in there. But, you know, hey, that’s that’s something I guess, you know, as he’s saying, that just to keep investors in is he’s saying that just to keep the name of the game in the press. maybe, maybe a little bit all that. You know, the guy’s a CEO, so he’s.

00;17;41;14 – 00;18;04;06
Sam
I feel like he chooses his words very deliberately, especially in situations like this where he knows it’s going to get a headline. But ultimately, what does this really mean? Right? I don’t think it means a whole lot. embracer. Group which saber left? recently, the Embracer group held an earnings call after saber left to announce the leaving and Embracer group.

00;18;04;08 – 00;18;15;06
Sam
They implied on the earnings call that the game is still far away, perhaps in a galaxy far, far away.

00;18;15;09 – 00;18;36;04
Sam
But the, Like I said, the go to remake used to be under development with the spire. They lost the project because of a lack of progress, which is maybe telling given the, state of the Battlefront collection, which is essentially the same game ported with no changes, not even any performance improvements. It’s the same game that it was ten years ago.

00;18;36;06 – 00;19;01;14
Sam
I could do a whole nother episode on that as well, because I spoke about that Battlefront collection on the show and got very excited and was very let down by it. But anyway, saber now has the project. When are we going to see this game? I have no idea. I think he was just, you know, Rebecca Valentine probably just wanted to get the, the confirmation from him that the game was still out there just to kind of keep it in the public’s eye.

00;19;01;14 – 00;19;29;28
Sam
Geist I have no idea when we’re going to see this game. You know, I’m, I think wasn’t I believe there was a thing where they took down that trailer that showed Revan, like, remade, that they took it down, but it was because of a music licensing thing, I think. I don’t remember that freaked a lot of people out because they’re like, oh, if I taken the trailer down and we are going to ever see this game, you know, I feel like this is just especially with the success of Final Fantasy seven remake and rebirth.

00;19;30;00 – 00;19;56;11
Sam
I feel like the Cota remake, if you give that the same treatment, is going to make you like a bajillion dollars, right? Because people still rave about Cota one and two, sort of mostly one. I’ve tried playing them. I just can’t really game so old. It’s so old, so. And I know I probably hate me for saying that if you’re, like above the age of 30 and that was like your favorite Star Wars game ever.

00;19;56;13 – 00;20;22;28
Sam
But, you know, it’s old. It’s an old game. But again, it’s that Final Fantasy seven comparison where that game is also really old, but it’s beloved, and the remake of it like is incredible. It’s a new kind of game, and I think that that’s the exact same kind of treatment you got to give coach here. I think if you give the coach a remake, that budget and that especially that level of production, that that the Final Fantasy remakes have, I think it’s a shoo in.

00;20;23;05 – 00;20;45;12
Sam
You know, I think people are going to be looking for something a little bit more than just a graphical upgrade. I think people are going to want at least people my age are going to want a gameplay shakeup, because the gameplay of that original game, in my opinion, is pretty dated and it’s confusing. Like, that’s why I never got particularly far in it.

00;20;45;14 – 00;21;03;13
Sam
I think if you do something again, the Final Fantasy comparison, how they changed up and made that a little more active, a little bit more involved, I think it could, you know, have a lot more mass market appeal. And it’s Star Wars. So you’ve already got you’ve already got a huge audience built in there. So we’ll see where this goes.

00;21;03;16 – 00;21;20;26
Sam
Like I said, I doubt we’re going to hear anything about it anytime soon. If we do, I will be pleasantly surprised. And if we do, I hope it’s something with some meat on the bones. Anyway, this next story really isn’t news, but I put it in the show because I like divers and I want an excuse to talk about it.

00;21;20;28 – 00;21;52;18
Sam
we’ve got hell divers. Patch notes. Patch one I’m sorry. 01.000.200. for all of you keeping track at home, that’s it’s that number. Patch up it all added all kinds of new stuff. We got some new planetary hazards, blizzards and sandstorms. so far, my friends and I have only experienced the blizzards. they’re very cool. It helps complete the Star Wars fantasy because you feel like you’re on Hoth and the immersive ness of the blizzards.

00;21;52;18 – 00;22;13;19
Sam
Very cool. You can make snowballs and throw snowballs at people. That’s fun. they tweak some enemy spawn submission types, adjust to the mechanics of others. There’s like a civilian rescue mission. They’ve they’ve decrease the number of civilians you have to save. So I guess, morally speaking, our duty to those extra civilians we’re leaving behind is a little bit questionable.

00;22;13;22 – 00;22;31;11
Sam
But, hey, we don’t make the rules. some weapons got buff, like the anti mature Overwatch I think is cool. The breaker, incendiary and the Dominator have all been buffed. And the new heavy machine gun, which I’m a big fan of, it had its fire rate decrease, but who really noticed? Anyway, like I said, this isn’t news.

00;22;31;13 – 00;22;51;15
Sam
Not really. But I just wanted to include it because I like talking about this game. Yeah. If you want more of my thoughts on it, you can listen to last week’s episode where my pal Joe and I talked about it for about 30 minutes ish. the game continues to be a ton of fun. You know, my friends and I, it’s it’s in our rotation now of the games that we regularly play, we’ve got about 4 or 5 games we rotate around with and held.

00;22;51;15 – 00;23;10;26
Sam
I was definitely at the top. it’s still a ton of fun. And every patch, you know, it’s something to look forward to. And I haven’t really had that experience with the game in a while. I would say maybe back when we were deep in Fortnite and we were checking the patches, you know, every time they came out to see what new weapons were added.

00;23;10;28 – 00;23;36;04
Sam
we’re back there. You know, we’re back there with held IRAs two and everything they add and every change they make, and finding it out in real time is a lot of fun, you know, not necessarily reading the patch notes before you do a couple matches, but then discovering that, oh, there’s Blizzard’s now, or oh, this, there’s this new environment you can play in, and it creates a sense of discovery that I think a lot of games that we, at least my friends and I play are lacking.

00;23;36;06 – 00;23;58;16
Sam
You know, we play apex, we play siege. We know for the most part what we’re getting into. But hell divers has a, its own kind of its own brand of fun. I think that makes every mission continue to feel unique and the game overall to just be an absolute slam dunk. Oh, there have also been teases of, robot spaceships.

00;23;58;19 – 00;24;19;17
Sam
I think those might be in the game. I don’t know, but that look cool. I hope they let us fly spaceships. there’s also the very serious reclaiming of Malevolent Creek. There’s a whole backstory to that that I missed out on initially, but we’ve the collective, we have regained my level on creek and everybody got a cape for it.

00;24;19;19 – 00;24;40;17
Sam
And it’s things like that that really contribute to the community feeling of this game. You know, there was, everybody was wondering if there were any some kind of April Fool’s joke for all that I was to. But instead there was this big push to everyone, for all the troopers or all the players. Sorry, players, troopers, you know, who can really tell anymore to regain these couple of planets.

00;24;40;20 – 00;25;01;04
Sam
And I think the time was 24 hours to do it, but the player base did it in five, which is pretty cool. And then everybody got, commemorative, you know, a cosmetic cape to commemorate the event. I don’t know, I think stuff like that like that is cool. It brings me back to when I used to play Star Wars The Old Republic online, an MMO.

00;25;01;07 – 00;25;16;25
Sam
But it’s that sense, that sense of community, really. And I really don’t feel that in a whole lot of other games. So how’d I was to go check it out, if you haven’t already? All right, we’re going to take another break. And when we come back, we’re going to get into the review portion of the show where I am going to be talking about Dragon’s Dogma two.

00;25;16;26 – 00;25;19;17
Sam
We’ll be right back.

00;25;19;19 – 00;25;38;19
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00;26;27;09 – 00;26;49;25
Sam
Our number back on. No credits rolled. We just got done discussing the news for this week. And now we’re going to talk some reviews this week I’m talking about Dragon’s Dogma two. This review has been a long time coming. I have been obsessed with this game. I see that a lot. But when a game captures my imagination and really captures my time, I think it’s especially worth talking about on this show.

00;26;49;28 – 00;27;13;09
Sam
but Dragon’s Dogma two is a fantasy action RPG, coming from Capcom, developed and published by Capcom. It’s using the Ori engine, which kind of looks good sometimes. I’ll get more into that in a second. the game isn’t perfect. It’s captured my attention since it came out a couple weeks ago. whenever I’m not online with my friends, this is the game I’ve been going to.

00;27;13;10 – 00;27;37;24
Sam
Whenever I’m not in the multiplayer space, I’m booting up Dragon’s Dogma two, and I’m running around. I’m maybe doing a side quest or just existing in this world because it’s just so much fun. My top level thoughts on Dragon’s Dogma two the game is a lot of fun, but it’s not without its flaws. It’s not a game I can’t recommend everyone, but if you can power through the more obtuse aspects of it, the gameplay in the world is where Dragon’s Dogma two really shines.

00;27;37;27 – 00;28;06;10
Sam
Some positives I have here. overall, the there’s like two big positives that I want to highlight. The world is very immersive and feels very lived in and dynamic. I think that’s the best way to describe it. There’s a lot of dynamic moments that can happen throughout regular gameplay. for example, the fast travel in the game kind of works where you take these ox carts, these like these carriages that ride from city to city, and you can you have the option to ride in real time.

00;28;06;13 – 00;28;25;05
Sam
but I wouldn’t recommend that you can you can doze off, which is essentially skipping time, and your character will just wake up in the next whatever the destination is. But along the way, you can be attacked. You can be attacked by bandits or goblins or griffins or trolls or whatever, and you have to fight those things off.

00;28;25;05 – 00;28;45;09
Sam
So and these encounters are completely dynamic. They’re not staged like it’s I don’t know how they did it. Honestly, everything in the world has its own pattern of existing. And when these patterns overlap, you get these really cool dynamic moments. One example of that is the ox carts, where you you wake up and you suddenly have to fight an ogre.

00;28;45;09 – 00;29;04;23
Sam
You get back on the cart, go to your destination. But while you’re fighting an ogre, some goblins might show up or another group of heroes might show up that are. They’re all NPCs. It’s not a multiplayer game, but this other troupe of adventurers might show up and join in and help you fight. And then after the fact, you can hire some of those people to join your party.

00;29;04;25 – 00;29;26;12
Sam
they’re called pawns, which is a little dystopian, but they’re called pawns, and they can join your party as NPCs and help you out. There’s, you know, the different classes, which I’ll get to in a second, but it’s it’s moments like that that really stand out for me. for example, there was a I was fighting a gryphon like a big bird monster thing.

00;29;26;14 – 00;29;47;25
Sam
And then and then a troll showed up and I was like, well, this is going to be tough to fight both. Then they started fighting each other. So I just ran away and I was like, oh, well, that deals with itself. time passes in real time. So if you, you know, if you go to an inn and rest like five times in a row, all the food in your inventory will rot and you just can’t eat any of it.

00;29;47;27 – 00;30;11;13
Sam
different NPCs and cities will go about their daily lives, whether that be a merchant or if, you know, I’ve got a quest right now or I have to tell this, this beggar, this, like homeless guy, but he walks a specific route during the day before he posts up where he does his show. Like his little act, I guess, where you have to meet him.

00;30;11;16 – 00;30;26;12
Sam
So I’m, like, waiting all day for him to show up to the spot. And he. I’m still waiting. And, you know, as the time goes by and I’m just sitting on this bench waiting for this guy to show up because it’s it’s the pattern he does in his daily life. the combat is the other big stand out of the game.

00;30;26;15 – 00;30;47;27
Sam
I’m playing as warrior, which is an extra class you get in the game. I think the initial classes, they’re called vocations, but they’re basically classes. It’s like your typical affair, your thief class, your wizard class, your warrior class. And then you can unlock a handful more as you go, depending on if you find certain weapon types that allows you to unlock the other branches.

00;30;47;29 – 00;31;07;08
Sam
But the warrior has a big giant sword, and that was why I went for that vocation, because I think that’s cool. and I think anytime I can get a big giant sword, I’m going to get a big, giant sword. But one of the mechanics in the game for when you’re fighting these larger enemies, like trolls and ogres and things like that, there’s a stagger system.

00;31;07;08 – 00;31;30;03
Sam
Oh, there’s also minotaurs. Don’t forget about the minotaurs. There’s a stagger system and an a balance system, so you can knock enemies off balance and then push them over and then crawl on them and continue to do damage. But that, that, that balance and the way they fall is all dynamic. So if you push them off a like a bridge, they’ll just fall and that’s it.

00;31;30;03 – 00;31;47;18
Sam
That’s the end of their story. there’s a clip that, if I can remember, I’ll put it in for the video version of the show. But I was I was fighting this ogre or a cyclops, and I climbed up on its head. If you ever played shadow of the Colossus, it’s a lot like that, but on a smaller scale.

00;31;47;18 – 00;32;05;16
Sam
You know, you’re not fighting Colossi, but, you know, they’re like 50, 40ft tall. So I climb up on those ogres head, and I, with my big giant sword, I drive the sword in his head and like, if you hold down, y you do the heavy attack. But if you if you continue to hold it down, you do it even longer.

00;32;05;18 – 00;32;30;01
Sam
So I drive the sword on his head, and then I yank it out as he’s falling and it kills him. But it was like the most epic thing I’ve done in the game in a very long time. And it was all dynamics, like I had to climb up on the guy’s back. I had to get in the right position so that the heavy attack would trigger and I had to hold it and risk the extra time, you know, hanging on to this guy to do the maximum amount of damage and take him out.

00;32;30;04 – 00;32;50;22
Sam
And I’ve done that maneuver multiple times, because if you have a big giant sword, you’re going to use it and it never gets old. Like this game makes you feel so cool when you do your abilities and you and you figure things out and it’s really, really impressive. And it’s why I keep coming back to it that in the dynamic world, different pawns can do different things.

00;32;50;25 – 00;33;11;24
Sam
So if you’ve got, like, an archer in your class or in your party, rather, you know, he’ll start firing before you even get to the fight with your sword and he can take a couple guys out. If you’re a Lord of the rings fan, I highly recommend you play this game, because you can definitely convince yourself that it’s the Lord of the rings game with, you know, you’ve got your Legolas, he has your archer.

00;33;11;24 – 00;33;34;10
Sam
You can you can make your guy just look like Gandalf so you can have a Gandalf kind of wizard. You can have your Aragorn. It’s it’s enough of the fantasy of Lord of the rings for me that I can sell it. you can imbue your weapons with elemental abilities. So there was a moment, another little anecdote where I was climbing like this hill, and I was leading the party.

00;33;34;10 – 00;33;52;04
Sam
So some of my party members had fallen behind, and one of them got caught in, slime, like sentient slime, and they were being, like, devoured. So I turn around and I put my sword out, and my, you can give palm commands to, like, tell your pawns to attack or to heal you or to stay behind or whatever.

00;33;52;06 – 00;34;07;07
Sam
So I tell them to attack. And my mage in my party charges up my sword with lightning. And I run down this hill and I leap off the hill and I come down on the slime and hit it with the my electric sword. And it was like, it’s just. It was so cool. And in the moment came out of nowhere.

00;34;07;07 – 00;34;26;15
Sam
It wasn’t part of a main quest. It wasn’t script did. This moment was completely dynamic. And, you know, I felt like the coolest kid on planet Earth doing this cool jump. And I think that’s really what makes this game so special is that these these awesome moments, these epic moments that you want to clip and send all your friends, they can happen at any time.

00;34;26;17 – 00;34;49;07
Sam
And it’s really like it’s it’s really impressive and it’s something that I haven’t really experienced since I would compare it to a Baldur’s Gate, but obviously the Combat and Borders gate is a lot different. It’s not as in the moment, real time because it is turn based, but that sense of you do something and it works and you feel really cool and, you know, you pat yourself on the back for it definitely comes up a lot in this game.

00;34;49;09 – 00;35;04;29
Sam
I already mentioned the crawling on enemies. It’s awesome and I recommend if you do buy the game, you do it as often as you can because you can hit different weak points and you can knock weapons out of people’s hands, or you can do different attacks depending on where you are on the monster’s body. Really, really neat stuff.

00;35;04;29 – 00;35;31;12
Sam
Again, if you played shadow of the Colossus, it’s a little bit like that in terms of the feeling of climbing around. I think the soundtrack to the game is pretty good too. it’s nothing like crazy, right? It’s your standard fantasy epic music, but I think it really helps to punctuate those big moments, especially if they’re happening outside of a main quest and you just do something cool and the music is going way harder than it needs to just to, you know, really back up that moment.

00;35;31;12 – 00;35;49;05
Sam
I think it does a great job there. Now, I do have some negatives for the game. You know, no game is perfect. And I think this one, this game in particular I think has some issues that might immediately turn some people off, despite the fact that I’m raving about it. the performance of the game, the technical performance.

00;35;49;10 – 00;36;10;27
Sam
Not great. I’m playing on an Xbox Series X, so I’ve seen some folks on PC with, like, ridiculous rigs that are getting much more impressive performance. But if you’re a console gamer, you’re going to experience some chugging, frame rates to drop left and right, especially in large areas like a city or during, hectic moments of combat.

00;36;11;00 – 00;36;36;03
Sam
You’re going to be you’re very rarely going to be at a steady 60 FPS. There also aren’t a whole lot of visual settings in the game. On console side, you can’t turn off motion blur, you can’t adjust your. There really aren’t many things you can adjust. There’s no performance versus, resolution settings, which is always annoying for me because I’m a big stickler for frame rate.

00;36;36;05 – 00;36;57;21
Sam
I dunk on Pokemon a lot, Scarlet and Violet because of how terrible that game runs. But for me, like, this is, I could understand why people played so much Pokemon because despite the technical issues of this game, I’m still playing a ton of it, right? I’m able to look past the frame rate drops and the chugging that the game encounters just because I’m having so much fun.

00;36;57;21 – 00;37;23;29
Sam
So you know, for those Pokemon fans out there that I bashed your game, I do apologize. I see the I see the appeal now. It’s just for me. Frame rates such a big thing that I notice. So like immediately. but to this game’s credit, it’s so much fun that I’m able to look past it so, the in terms of story, the plot is really not present.

00;37;24;01 – 00;37;48;08
Sam
I mean, there is a story, but I am not really paying attention to it because it’s mostly delivered through large exposition dumps. so far that I can tell, you are the arisen. That’s like your character’s title. there’s a cool cutscene in the beginning of the game. This isn’t really a spoiler. It’s in, like, the first, like, hour, or you’re fighting this, like, giant dragon and the dragon, like, completely.

00;37;48;10 – 00;38;08;22
Sam
He he basically kills you. and then he rips your heart out and eats it. but that makes you the arisen. So that allows you to enter this, like, spirit realm and summon pawns. And that’s about as much of the story as I have grasp so far. Like I said, I’m not a big story guy. I have definitely missed a lot of things.

00;38;08;22 – 00;38;28;17
Sam
And that’s a complaint. That’s a that’s a me problem, for sure. I have a difficult time following the stories of most games because I don’t really pay attention. I’m mostly into for gameplay unless it’s something I deliberately lock in and pay attention to the story for and turn off other distractions. But for this game, I wasn’t really taking the story super seriously.

00;38;28;19 – 00;38;55;22
Sam
because I was having so much fun with the gameplay. But if you are someone that wants a narrative focused and narrative forward game, especially when it comes to these fantasy RPGs, I wouldn’t necessarily say that’s where this game shines. This game shines in your comment and and just existing in this world. another thing that I didn’t know going in is that everybody talks like they’re in a Shakespearean play.

00;38;55;24 – 00;39;19;18
Sam
I guess they were trying to go for like a period piece thing with the dialog. it’s really weird and off putting it first. especially if you’re not used to people talking that way because, you know, we’re in 2024 and, you know, I certainly don’t talk like I’m in Othello, but everyone in this game does, and it does take some getting used to, but once you get used to it, it’s not that bad.

00;39;19;20 – 00;39;46;11
Sam
I only have it down as a negative, because for me, it was so jarring at first that I had to do extra mental gymnastics to figure out what people were saying to me. but yeah, everybody kind of talks with that. Like, I don’t know if it’s Shakespeare in a medieval if you’ve ever gone to the Ren fair and like people do that fake English accent and they and they use like they say things like that, it’s like that, and it’s a little weird, but again, you get used to relatively quickly.

00;39;46;13 – 00;40;05;17
Sam
the safe system is not great. I don’t think anything will ever top Baldur’s Gate safe system. Or it’s like two buttons to quick save. And this one you can quick save, but it’s not super accurate. You know it’s not I quick save right before I do this fight. I go into the fight, I die, I get a party wipe, I can immediately reload to that point.

00;40;05;20 – 00;40;26;14
Sam
It’s a little bit looser with where that save point’s actually going to restore you. I’ve lost a lot of progress because I neglected to save regularly. And when you die, which, by the way, you can die, like, really easily. water. At least at this point in the game, if you fall in water like, you just instantly die.

00;40;26;14 – 00;40;45;25
Sam
The water is like evil. I don’t know if I missed something, but if you or your pawns go in the water, all these, like, tentacles come out and kill you. your pawns instantly die from that, you will take a hit of your health, but then get spawned back on shore. But if you’re if you fall in in that chunk of health they take kills you, then your your dead.

00;40;45;27 – 00;41;08;02
Sam
not really sure what the deal is with that. You do have a main pawn that you pick at the beginning of the game, and that pawn can always be revived at there’s like spirit stones. You can always revive that pawn so you’re not getting complete party wipes. But I have had it where I’m journeying from one city to the next on foot, and all my pawns fall off a cliff into the into the river and die.

00;41;08;04 – 00;41;26;25
Sam
And I, I’m alone until I get to town and can revive my other pawn. And that ties back in with the save system. Because when you die, you can either load your last save, or you can load your last in rest when you’re rested and in, and it doesn’t tell you the time on that. It doesn’t tell you how long it’s been since you’ve done either of those things.

00;41;26;27 – 00;41;54;22
Sam
So there was a moment in the beginning of the game where I hit the load, the last interest, because I was like, I don’t, I don’t know what when either was, when I saved or when I last rested. Yeah, I ended up losing like an hour and a half of gameplay. So my recommendation is if you’re playing, save often and note you don’t have to literally note it, but just kind of mentally note when you rest at these ends.

00;41;54;24 – 00;42;17;16
Sam
And it’s tough at first because the ends are expensive to rest. you get money pretty quickly, but in the beginning of the game, you’re not always able to reset. And because it’s like 2000 gold, which you don’t have that kind of money in the beginning of the game, I think it’d be a pretty easy fix if they just added times, like if they said this was the time you last saved, versus this was the time you last rested, and then it seems like a pretty easy fix.

00;42;17;16 – 00;42;41;25
Sam
But. And if you listen to other reviews about this game, there is a a PS3, an Xbox 360 ness about this game that is tough to describe. if you play the original Dragon’s Dogman, which I play a little bit of it, it this sequel, like ten years later, feels like it could have came out relatively recently after the first game.

00;42;41;28 – 00;43;01;17
Sam
Aspects of this game feel old, but like, I don’t know if it’s a bad thing. I don’t know if it’s a bad thing. Honestly. I think they they, they stuck to their guns on what they wanted to do. And, you know, I admire that. But there are some quality life things that you might expect from a modern RPG that are not necessarily in this game.

00;43;01;20 – 00;43;26;04
Sam
I mentioned the saves. what else? Oh, there’s only two races, that you can choose from to create your character. The character creator is very detailed in terms of sculpt and proportions and dimensions of your character, but the two races are human or cat person. So you got to be okay with one of those. I went with a cat person just because I thought he looked cool.

00;43;26;07 – 00;43;45;20
Sam
I made him like a lion man, but, like, it’s crazy to me that those are the two choices. It’s like, like, were there cat people on, like, not literally cat people on the development team, but people that just liked cats. And we’re like, we’re sticking to this. We’re putting cat people in this game. I don’t know, it’s very strange.

00;43;45;22 – 00;44;01;00
Sam
but those are your choices. And maybe there’s a reason I think people, like, discriminate against the cat people. I’ve noticed some dialog about that. Again, not really paying attention that that’s my fault. But if you’re if you want to play as like an elf, there are elves in the game. I’ve met some, but you can’t make your character one.

00;44;01;00 – 00;44;25;07
Sam
So I don’t know. That’s a little weird, and that’s one of those things that makes it feel a little bit dated. And then, yeah, the frame rate is also what makes it feel dated because, you know, 30 FPS is bringing me back to the 2012. But, if you’re a fantasy action fan and you’ve got a tolerance to learn the game’s mechanics, which they do take some getting used to, and it does take a little bit to find your flow in this game.

00;44;25;09 – 00;44;54;08
Sam
I think the payoff is very much worth it. it’s always nice to feel cool in a game, and you can feel cool in this game pretty regularly. the game can also make you feel like a moron. if you try to do something cool and, like, completely fall on your face. Like, there have been multiple times where I’ve tried to crawl on a, an orc or an ogre or something, crawl up on it, and I leap off and I try to do this big attack, and I completely whiff and just faceplant and, you know, take a chunk of my health off because I just hit the ground.

00;44;54;10 – 00;45;15;12
Sam
just yesterday when I was playing, you can knock large enemies across destroyed bridges and use them as a bridge to get across, which was very cool the first time I discovered that. So I knocked this ogre across the destroyed bridge and all my. I’m trying to get my party across so we can cross this river. And my pawns continue to attack the ogre.

00;45;15;12 – 00;45;32;12
Sam
So the ogre falls and everybody dies because we fell in the river. So kind of a cool moment for a second there. And then, you know, the the game’s not the game. Stop. Perfect. And there is a little bit of jank to it, which I discovered the hard way. but yeah, let me know if you’re playing Dragon’s Dogma two.

00;45;32;13 – 00;45;49;00
Sam
Does it appeal to you? If you have played it, let me know what you think. but those are my thoughts on the game. I, I hope I hope they were satisfactory. right. Really quickly. I wasn’t sure I was going to include this, but it’s something I’m having a lot of fun with. So we’re going to talk about Marvel snap again, everybody.

00;45;49;02 – 00;46;05;25
Sam
I’m desperately waiting for that sponsorship. I’m sure the check is in the mail. but it’s a new season. The Marvel snap dropped just a couple days ago. At the time of recording, the season actually snuck up on me. I didn’t know it was happening. Usually I check and see how much time is left in the current season, but this one kind of just came out of nowhere.

00;46;05;27 – 00;46;25;20
Sam
it’s Thunderbolts themed if you’re a marvel fan. I think that Thunderbolts movie’s coming out eventually. I don’t know, but the season pass card is Baron Zemo, who, if you watch the Winter soldier show Falcon Winter soldier, he’s in the. It’s like, not the same guy, but same name. I guess. you can also get Red Hawk now.

00;46;25;22 – 00;46;40;24
Sam
and I’m only mentioning this because Red Hawk was one of my favorite characters when I got in the comics that Greg Pack Incredible Hulk run got me in the comics. and and 13 year old Sam thought, right, Hulk was cool because he had a gun. I stand by that, by the way, I it was cool.

00;46;41;01 – 00;47;04;13
Sam
And he’s like, green hulk, but he’s red, so pretty neat. Anyway, the Red Hulk, he’s a counter for one of the more popular decks in the game, the high Evo Hulk deck. if you play Marvel snap, you know what I’m talking about. but it’s it’s refreshing to kind of get that I know. Second dinner when they talk about developing for this game and releasing new cards, they always talk about release valves, right?

00;47;04;13 – 00;47;20;13
Sam
If there’s a mechanic in the game that some players find frustrating or that’s becoming too dominant, they like to put a release valve in the game to kind of, offer a little bit of a counter for that, maybe that annoying mechanic. And that’s what Red hook is here. So I’m really looking forward to the season I’m back in.

00;47;20;13 – 00;47;34;19
Sam
I’ve been playing a lot more. I took a little bit of a break a couple seasons ago, but I’m definitely I’m playing at least once a day now. and I’m having a lot of fun. I think Zemo ability. He allows you to recruit deck, cards from the enemy deck so you can steal cards from them and play them.

00;47;34;26 – 00;47;56;05
Sam
I think it’s kind of a new archetype. That’s a lot of fun. and like I said, you know, again, the game is free. if you have any interest in Marvel or card games or anything, considering it’s a free mobile game, it is very lightly monetized. Now there is a shop with lots of egregious bundles you can buy, but you’re not getting a pop up ad, you’re not getting banner ads.

00;47;56;08 – 00;48;15;08
Sam
I think it’s very, tame when it comes to a mobile game, but it’s one of my favorite games, and I’m gonna keep bringing it up on the show. whenever I feel like it. but, yeah, let me know if you’re playing Marvel snap. If I’ve convinced any of you to come over and play the game.

00;48;15;11 – 00;48;35;13
Sam
it’s a ton of fun. And, you know, I think it’s got evermore potential that it continues to realize. But anyway, that’s going to wrap things up for episode six of no credits rolled. Thanks so much for watching. I always want to remind everyone you can email questions or comments to no credits. Roll at gmail.com. Com that’s no credits rolled at gmail.com.

00;48;35;16 – 00;48;57;12
Sam
Like I said at the top of the show, we’ve got a call on line. You can call in and leave us a voicemail at (856) 209-0713. That’s (856) 209-0713, and we just might play it on the air. Make sure to subscribe to Know Credits, roll it on Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcast. And if you’re feeling generous, make sure you check out the Patreon.

00;48;57;12 – 00;49;03;06
Sam
Every little bit helps. That’s going to wrap it up for episode six today. I’ll see you next time on Know Credits. Roll.