Bards and Barrels
Are you new to Dungeons and Dragons and TTRPGs? Then you are in the right place! Bards and Barrels is the perfect introduction to the world of DnD and TTRPGs. With engaging discussions, helpful tips, and plenty of laughs along the way. Join us as we explore the game and share our experiences as players and Dungeon Masters.
Bards and Barrels
S4 Ep. 3: The Opening Crack: Unicorn Fight Club
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
On this Opening Crack the guys dip back into Millstream Brewing and give a sour a try with Unicorn Fight Club. And stick around because after the crack the guys scrape the bottom of the barrel with a new segment!
That was good. That's a big old crack.
SPEAKER_03It's a double use and crack to start the season. Remember to have the last second to switch to the right hand. I almost missed it.
SPEAKER_05That was a close one. It was. It's time for the opening crack, the sideshow to the DD show we normally do where we taste and rank some beer. Well, we started off the year, the opening crack year with uh a dual crack here that was solid. Like, what more could we ask for, guys? A million dollars. Anybody? Bueller. A full cup.
SPEAKER_01Working on it. Phil needs more. Phil needs more. There's not much in there.
SPEAKER_03That's okay.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, David. A big check. So uh let's let's or sandwich factory.
SPEAKER_05Ooh. Wait, what?
SPEAKER_01You know, what else could we ask for? A big check. Or a sandwich. My own personal sandwich factory.
SPEAKER_06That's fair.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that'd be great.
SPEAKER_06I can't argue. Or hot dog sandwiches.
SPEAKER_05Sure, why not?
SPEAKER_03Or tacos.
SPEAKER_04Okay, let's save that.
SPEAKER_05Let's save that for later. Uh tonight we're jumping into uh a beer. I mean, I wish we were jumping into a beer, but but we're gonna we're going back to a brewery. Does not sound pleasant. Jumping into some beer? No. Why? It sounds sticky and gross. Yeah, you'd be already. When you get out. When you get out, it's fine. This one might be a little sticky. Uh, we're headed back to a brewery that we visited before uh from Amana, Iowa, uh, millstream brewery. Tonight we are tasting Unicorn Fight Club, a raspberry sour. Man, these two are off the rails already. Yep.
SPEAKER_04It's your fault.
SPEAKER_05It's all them. It's not you. It's my fault.
SPEAKER_04What did I say?
SPEAKER_02You can go listen to it later. We're drinking unicorn fight club tonight from Millstream.
SPEAKER_06What did I say?
SPEAKER_02It's fine. Don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_06You can go back a few episodes in this episode.
SPEAKER_02Anywho. This unicorn looks like it got punched in the eye.
SPEAKER_05It does. Hey, while you're there, let's talk about the can, Phil. What's the can look like?
SPEAKER_03Uh well, if you've ever seen the uh cylindrical cover for Fight Club, the movie, uh, it kind of looks like that. It's like maybe they didn't, they borrowed. They borrowed uh certain aspects. Uh there's a fist punching towards the front uh with a pink painted thumbnail. Uh pow, like comic book uh outline around the fight club part. And then at the top is this glorious unicorn with a rainbow-colored mane that literally looks like they got socked in the eye. They have a black eye. I guess because fight club, why not?
SPEAKER_05It happens. Uh, you guys go ahead and take a taste. Uh, I'll read the description for this beer uh from Millstream that says this soft pink sour ale, greety with a whimsical fruity aroma. Upon the first sip, a creamy body and majestic raspberry note make this seem completely mythical. A crisp crisp, dark finish that will make you go back another round. My nose say a crip. Not crisp, a crip. Who typed that?
unknownOh man.
SPEAKER_05Uh this beer comes in at a 5% on the ABV scale and 16 on the IBUs. What are you guys' thoughts on this one?
SPEAKER_03I can taste the raspberry.
SPEAKER_06It's definitely a sour. I don't get the the creaminess that they mentioned, but I would agree with that.
SPEAKER_01It's much more mild in terms of its sourness than I was expecting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I expected the raspberry like to be a lot more tart, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty that's pretty tolerable as far as sours go.
SPEAKER_06And that is a glowing review from Damon.
SPEAKER_01I have a question though. Wouldn't unicorns fight with their horns? One would think.
SPEAKER_03Versus versus their fists? Yeah. They must have not been fighting another unicorn.
SPEAKER_01Do you think these are centaur unicorns? Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_03What what would you call a centaur unicorn? Is it a centaur? Is it a unitar? A unitary unitar.
SPEAKER_06I like unitary fan artists.
SPEAKER_02And go. We're just giving Matt like inspiration for his next one shot. So like we gotta be careful what we do here.
SPEAKER_05Uh it's English, you know, Jesus. Wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_01I do know Jesus.
SPEAKER_05I mean, I hope we all do. Um no no discernible malt hop yeast flavor in this, which is pretty standard among typical sours. Sours, yeah. Um it does have a nice pink color. I will say they nailed that pretty well, because you know, some some tart, not some tarts, some sours uh that have fruit in them, like don't they stay like the standard yellowish color in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_03Maybe that's a question for you, Damon. Is that like does that really come from the fruit, or by the time that you have done the brewing, do you have to introduce something late in the game to get color?
SPEAKER_01Uh it would kind of depend on what they're using to get the fruit flavor. Um like raspberry extract is like that's a you know dark purple flavor or color, and some of that would come through. Um you'd get some of that color if you used a puree also from it.
SPEAKER_05But uh I I don't mind it. I I agree that the creaminess is missing. I feel like when I take a taste, like it wants to be there, but it never really comes through. Like the sour kicks through way harder.
SPEAKER_06I would say it's got the full mouth feel that maybe they interpret as creaminess, but I think it's just like full mouth there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see where you're going with that. Yeah, I think that makes sense. But it's definitely a warm weather beer, though. Oh yeah. Yes. The hotter the better. This would be good on a 95 degree day, like sitting outside after you mow, maybe would be a good would be a good beer or something like that.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, I go for that. Um raspberry lemonade. Mix it with some lemonade.
SPEAKER_05Ooh, like a shandy. Oh, this would make a would it be two tart as a shandy, though?
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_05No, you think it'd be fine? There's enough sugar in lemonade, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_05All right. I I think that I think that's a lovely idea.
SPEAKER_01What kind of lemonade are you making?
unknownI don't know.
SPEAKER_05Mike's doesn't count. Crystal light. Mike's and Mike's doesn't count. I mean, if we're going in, let's go, let's go, baby. Let's go. Why not?
SPEAKER_03Uh Mike's hard unicorn fight.
SPEAKER_05Mike's unicorn fight. Mike's never Mike's. Yep, like I'll just let it go. Let it go. Uh let's let's let's take a little dive into the DD. We'll come back for our uh alignment and our our challenge rating scale here in a little bit and our yes and nays. But uh let's talk a little bit about pub names and uh beer names for this bad boy. And for the first opening crack of the year, Brett, why don't you kick us off?
SPEAKER_06All right. Well, I'm gonna go kind of an easy route for this one. I mean, it's the Unicorn Fight Club on a pink can.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Which is kind of like a pony. Okay. Yeah. So we are going to the Pink Pony Club for the Roan Raspberry. Oh, nice. Well played.
SPEAKER_05Well played. Well done. I'll be tagging Pink Pony Club on this episode now.
SPEAKER_06And you're welcome for getting that stuck in your head.
SPEAKER_01Saying that earlier today. It's fine.
SPEAKER_05Alright, Damon, what you got?
SPEAKER_01Here's what I got. You ready for this?
SPEAKER_05Let's hear it. Man, he wrote it down.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, you know. Uh the name of this beer is The Old Wound. And you can find it. Okay. Not not really at a pub, uh, but at the following location. Frannies Funky Farm for Former Fizwick fighters. And as we all know, the Fizwick fighters were part of the local Fizwick rebellion.
SPEAKER_06Ah wow, we all know this.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. But they were trampled and put down pretty mercilessly. But the locals love them. You know, because they were fighting on their behalf. Uh and so but now they're all they're all wounded and not really any good anymore. So they all live together in this sort of commune. Okay. Right? Okay. And producing this ale is one of the ways that they support themselves. So there you go. The old wound.
SPEAKER_05I'd like that he had like lore behind his story.
SPEAKER_01Franny's funky farm.
SPEAKER_03Shadowing to his rating, maybe in there too.
SPEAKER_05Maybe. What was the pub's name again? The old wound? No, that's the name of the thing. That's the name of the beer. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Franny's. It's like six F's seven.
SPEAKER_01Franny's funky farm for former Fizwick fighters.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. For short. Yes. Yeah. This is a marketing band campaign on that size. How many F's? Seven. Seven F's. All right, Phil, what you confirm.
SPEAKER_03I decided that we could pick this uh pleasant little drink up at oh I can't read that far. Oh, Jessamine's juice joint. And this is the raspberry rain.
SPEAKER_04I like that.
SPEAKER_03That's nice. Tell me more about Jessamine. Jessamine is a she a redhead. I feel like she has to be. That seems like a Jessamine kind of thing, doesn't it? I was thinking more because the raspberries, but sure. Uh one-eyed humid.
SPEAKER_06Oh well.
SPEAKER_03Left or right. She. Which one she lost or which one she has?
SPEAKER_06You tell me.
SPEAKER_03Depends on the day. Depends if she's trying to get it. Oh wow.
SPEAKER_06What? She's a switch. She's actually a head.
SPEAKER_05She's a switchballer. Eyeballs. Get your head out of the gutter.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. How about you, Ross? For the second time tonight, Brett is crying. I just want to know this.
SPEAKER_05You can find this beer at the the Prickled Pixie. Prickled. Not pickled. Prickled. The Prickled Pixie. I don't care what you do with your Pixies.
SPEAKER_04It's like their logo. Their logo is like a cactus with the little like something sitting on top. And this is the raspberry ramp. We'll drop something.
SPEAKER_06Is the Pixie like impaled on the cactus here?
SPEAKER_04She is now.
SPEAKER_06Oh no Pixie.
SPEAKER_04Oh my god.
SPEAKER_05Okay. All right. Let's uh let's talk uh see uh challenge rating here. Goodness gracious.
SPEAKER_02This is a great is this like the blood of the pixie here or what? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Sure, why not? It's like skewered pixie. Sure, yeah. I like that.
SPEAKER_05It's it's called the Raspberry Ram. I think you missed the name of the beard. I don't I don't care about that. I'm sucking the pixie thing.
SPEAKER_04Okay, that's fair.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, they distill beers from the blood of the pixies. That seems a little bit more.
SPEAKER_04The pixie on the glass. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, sure. I'm down. I just think it's like she was like on the flower or something, not impaled, but we went to the impaling.
SPEAKER_06Pixie blood mixes with the cactus juice.
SPEAKER_03Sure. And you get this like weird ass tequila that they make from it. Sure. Okay. And there's a little pixie dust in there, so if you drink it, you can fly for a little bit.
SPEAKER_05Oh. You just levitate off the ground. Why not?
SPEAKER_03It's gotta be illegal.
SPEAKER_05Well, I'm sure it is.
SPEAKER_06I don't know. Unless you're in the Fay Wild. You gain a flight of five meters per second. Lasting six advantage.
SPEAKER_05Why you fly so slower than you can walk?
SPEAKER_06Way slower. You go just like, yeah. You can hover. It's pretty cool though.
SPEAKER_04Guys, look at me.
SPEAKER_01Come on.
SPEAKER_05Okay, let's talk challenge rating before I die over here. Uh, on a scale of one to twenty, uh, challenge rating one being like creme males, domestics, um, challenge rating 20, uh being like Imperial Stouts, things very heavy, heavy, very hoppy, very strong beers at the end.
SPEAKER_01I thought one just meant easy to drink, and 20 meant hard to drink.
SPEAKER_05I don't know if we ever like really sussed that out.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. Well, that's what I think. That's fine.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay. You interpret it however you'd like, David. That's usually how it ends up coming out. Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_05All right, Phil, on a scale of one to twenty, what would you give this beer?
SPEAKER_03Uh, personally, I would probably put this beer around like maybe a three or four. It's pretty easy to drink. But if you are kind of not a big craft beer drinker, um, it might be around like the 11, 12 mark. It's still not that difficult to drink. It just is tart if you're not used to it and doesn't taste like beer if you're just kind of a traditional beer drinker.
SPEAKER_05I get that.
SPEAKER_03Damon?
SPEAKER_01I mean, I give it a seven. Okay. Sure. Mm-hmm. Uh because I it there is that tartness to it, the sourness to it, but it's um but it is really subdued. Um, it's pretty subtle. So yeah, and I think that the the raspberry sort of uh would carry through and carry that over. So yeah, I say seven.
SPEAKER_06Okay, right. I'm gonna go a little higher. I'm gonna go 14.
SPEAKER_01Wow. I almost said I knew I should have said 15.
SPEAKER_06Just because it's like I would not recommend this to somebody who just started to drink beer. Sure. Because you're gonna get the tartness and you're gonna like pucker your face and be like, oh no, I don't like beer. Which kind of defeats the whole purpose. Sure.
SPEAKER_05Uh I was thinking a seven as well. Um I I I like sour, so I tend that tends to skew my opinion a little bit. When it comes to giving this to somebody though, I was at a brewery once where they they took uh some Kool-Aid in a like a squirt bottle and they would squirt a little bit of the Kool-Aid in the bottom of the glass and then pour sour over the top, so it like cut through that sweetness a little bit. I feel like if you did it with this, it would it would be extremely approachable, and that would bring that down to me. But not that's not something every brewery does, but but I think that that could help it in terms of like introducing it to somebody, but just in terms of like this beer straight off the tap. Uh I I I lean toward a seven just because uh sours can be hard to approach sometimes.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um but at the same time though, like if you were with somebody who loved like sour candy. Oh yeah, you know, and sour flavors, like this would be super easy for them to drink.
SPEAKER_05I I agree. I feel like this kind of beer would be more approachable to somebody who's dabbling in craft beer than like say uh street stout or an IPA or something like that. I mean, I mean Oh yeah, no, for sure. I've been I've been seeing a lot of uh reels and stuff lately where like they're making fun of people that drink IPAs and they're like walking up and like licking a tree or something like a pine tree. I'm like, oh that's a little excessive. Like if you have a good IPA, it's not that bad. But I mean I get what you're saying. We've tasted some of those. We have. Uh, but I do think like for for your average beer drinker, like this this is probably more approachable than name it IPA. I think so. To be honest.
SPEAKER_06So all right, yeah, zernay. Oh, Brent, did you just I disagree? I think the sours in general, just rant here for a minute. I think sours in general don't pair well with beer flavor. I like sours and I like those. I just don't it's a weird combination.
SPEAKER_03Sure. Unlike in this one, it doesn't taste like beer. No, but there's a beer twinge to it.
SPEAKER_06Sure. Yeah. Which it comes it that's through all sours.
SPEAKER_01When you say beer flavor, what are you what are you thinking though?
SPEAKER_06Probably the hops.
SPEAKER_03I feel like you're thinking hops.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, sure. And it's like it's not a bad thing. I think it's just like if you're thinking, if you're introducing this to somebody and they're like thinking like a tart lemonade or like a warhead like that, it's gonna be just like funky enough that they're gonna be like, oh no. But if they're thinking beer, they're gonna drink this and be like, whoa, that's that's not really beer. That's not beer. So it's a weird in-between everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that sours as a whole, but yeah. And I feel as though everybody has a different platonic ideal of what beer flavor is. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Um, yeah. Like a like a dark lager could be a person's sort of like favorite style of beer. And that like when someone says beer, that could be what they think of. True, right? Sure. Yeah. Uh and somebody else's favorite style of beer could be, you know, like an American pilsner. Sure. And when somebody says beer, that's what they think of. And this is totally different than both of those. That's fair. But it's closer to one than to the other.
unknownTrue.
SPEAKER_03And I was trying to look too, I don't see anywhere that it shows what kind of hops they used to make this, but I'm assuming you would just use a different style of hops in the sour than you would in something like an IPA or something heavier. So they're just gonna carry a different flavor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because they're not looking to get as much of that bitterness through it. That makes sense though.
SPEAKER_05Also, because it's sour, you don't want bitter. True. That's not what you're doing. Oh man, can you imagine? Bitter and sour beer. Oh my god, your tongue would explode.
SPEAKER_03We should see if we can find Epic makes a sour IPA.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_03And we should see if we can find it.
SPEAKER_05That would be an experiment, but not today. So, yeah, yeah or nay. Dana looks so excited about it. This is pick on you. Sounds good, but why uh ruin a beer all the time? Yeah, yeah. Yay or nay on this beer. And this is if somebody would put it in front of you, not whether you would have it again. Like if somebody set this beer in front of you and like, here, yay or nay, would you drink this beer? Damon.
SPEAKER_01A pint, a full pint?
SPEAKER_04It can be whatever you want.
SPEAKER_01Well, but uh no, because it'll make a difference. Because if they put four ounces in front of me, sure. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_05I I would say yes, probably a pint.
SPEAKER_03Okay, set this can down in front of you and said, I love this beer. You should have this.
SPEAKER_06Ooh, yeah, okay, I love that. Thank you. He's gonna say yes to any.
SPEAKER_01And they're just gonna sit there and watch me. No, they walk away. Okay, they walk away. Okay, okay, okay. Okay. Uh yeah, I could, yeah, I'd have a whole one of these.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Brett, absolutely. I love this one. Phil? I would definitely drink this.
SPEAKER_05Ooh, this one's gonna get a quick a clean a clean sweep because I also say yes. Uh one slight caveat. I do think it needs to be a hot day. Like you, you gotta be, it's gotta be toasty out to have this one.
SPEAKER_03It's a little weird in the winter.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Even near the end, too. This one's starting to just start to warm a little bit. I also want a really cold. Yeah. Yes, yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_05100%.
SPEAKER_06You know, that's this is one of the first beers that we've had do that. A lot of the beers that we've been sampling have gotten better as they warm.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Indeed. True. Okay, now normally this is where we would uh say a little thing at the end and we get out of here and say, see you next time. But uh this season, we're going to do uh a new segment to this show. Um, and it's probably gonna be let's say a good probably 20 minutes to a half hour of just general discussion here on a topic. Uh, and what we're what we've done is we've actually gotten a barrel. I'll have to take a picture of this and like post it somewhere. Yeah, we've got it here. Yeah, we've gotten desperate. We've put in topics, we've put in we've topics. Oh, you're good in this week. We have keep going. Z topics in. I have Vladimir Putin right here. Never mind, not going there. No, uh, we have put topics in this barrel, it's a little barrel, and uh, I'm gonna draw a topic out, and that's gonna be our topic of discussion. We're calling this the bottom of the barrel, literally scraping the bottom of this barrel trying to find a topic. And tonight's topic is favorite video games. And we don't have to stick to anything. The whole point of this is we talk a little bit about things that we like because generally things that we like show up in our games, or things that inspire us, they're things that come through in our at our tables. Uh, case in point, recently, uh Brett and Phil and I each, well not each, as a as a team, we wrote a one-shot for a local brewery here in town. And one of the things we did while we were writing writing this was we wrote where all the inspirations came from while we were writing this. And Brett, do you happen to have that list somewhere? He's looking it up. But but I want to share this because it it it's it it's the case in point for what we're doing here is like so many we pulled from so many inspirations for this like nautical. One shot that we did. And I think he's just about got it.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so it was nautical. So that obviously narrows down the reference pool. But we went through everything from Princess Bride to obviously Pirates of the Caribbean, Moana, Atlantis, Percy Jackson, Game of Thrones, Lord of Ring, Lord of the Rings, Little Mermaid, Doctor Strange, Holes, and Harry Potter. Demon's face on holes. I go, what? I don't remember why.
SPEAKER_05I don't remember why either. Yeah. But but the point being is like the things that we we enjoy show up at our tables and in the games we play. So I thought it would be fun to have a segment as part of this episode, mostly because I really didn't know where else to put it where we could just talk about.
SPEAKER_06I'm tired, grandpa. What was that?
SPEAKER_05That's right. Uh so we're gonna talk about favorite video games and who wants to kick us off. Uh, there's no limits here. So whatever you want. Well, you made it plural.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, because there's there's no favorite video game. That's false. It's Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, and no other game can stand next to it.
SPEAKER_04However, oh what a bunch of bullcrap.
SPEAKER_03There are others.
SPEAKER_05Phil just puts his foot down and then drops the mic.
SPEAKER_03I don't think I've played Ocarina of Time. Oh man, on 64.
SPEAKER_01Oh I can let you borrow it. I played one that had some sort of magic whistle in it.
SPEAKER_03Oh, Zelda game?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh Wind Waker, maybe? Maybe. Did you sail a lot?
SPEAKER_01Uh, maybe.
SPEAKER_03On the GameCube? I don't know. GameCube. Wow. Was on 64?
SPEAKER_00Mm-mm.
SPEAKER_05I don't know. Before we dive into video games, I think I think this is a pertinent question here. And and what what is your favorite console that you played on? That is not a question at all. So I think that's fair to talk about this a little bit, but but I'll I'll even kick this one off. Like I am very nostalgic for N64 games, and I love going back and playing Mario Party and Goldeneye and games like that. But honest to God, like the the the console I have the most games for is the PlayStation 2. Yeah. Like there are so many good games that came out. And not not just like, you know, like uh Call of Duty Black Ops, like the original Black Ops that had like the Vietnam storyline in it was fantastic. Um that the original console for Star Wars Battlefront, too. Yes, it was. Metal of Honor.
SPEAKER_06All those were new ideas.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yes, that that's the thing. And they've just been replicated over and over again. You're right. But like even Damon and I had this conversation not that long ago about like sports video games, is they've gotten to the point where they're they're simulators and they've lost the fun aspect. It's like you go back to like the Tiger Woods on the PS2 or the Madden or the college football on the PS2, and it was just fun. Like you were just there to be in their shoes for a day. It wasn't because I wanted to throw the perfect fade pass on a corner route and put the little touch finesse touch on.
SPEAKER_01No, like I do, but I want it to be easy.
SPEAKER_05Right. Yes. Oh my god, yes.
SPEAKER_01Like I can't do it in real life. Yeah. Agreed. So I just want to press a button and have it happen and then feel good about myself. That's right.
SPEAKER_05And now you have to be an expert gamer to do that. Yeah. Unless you put it in arcade, which in its own right is a little wonky. So so I say PS2. What do you guys think? My favorite? Favorite console, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um I don't know. Were you guys all in the Nintendo ecosystem?
SPEAKER_05No, that was all PlayStation.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05After N64. Oh, I did have a GameCube, I guess. And I had a Game Boy.
SPEAKER_03I have a NES, SNES 64, GameCube, Switch, Wii U. I don't think I have an original Wii. I still own all the rest of it. We have a Wii.
SPEAKER_01Oh shoot, I guess we do have a lot. The one that comes to my mind is called the Sega Nomad. Ooh. Um and it was essentially just a handheld Sega Genesis. Sure. Uh and it it played regular Sega Genesis cartridges. It was like a switch.
SPEAKER_05It wasn't it like black? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_01It was essentially like a switch. Um it it destroyed batteries. I'm sure it did. It ran on like at least eight double-A batteries.
SPEAKER_05Um and no option to plug it in.
SPEAKER_01No. Yeah. Uh well, it might have actually.
SPEAKER_05Really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you might have been able to. Okay. Um, I never did.
SPEAKER_05What was it called? I want to look it up now.
SPEAKER_01Uh this uh Sega nomad.
unknownNomad. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um and it was like it was great. Um because you know, I already had the Sega Genesis cartridges.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And so then I could just it just made them all portable.
SPEAKER_05Wow. Um I mean, I mean it does look kind of like a switch. It's funny just because the screen is like the size of a Game Boy. It switched on you. It did a thing. Oh, dude.
SPEAKER_01But um, but yeah, that's essentially what it was. Uh it had yeah, it had a little teeny tiny screen on it. I played the heck out of comics zone.
SPEAKER_05Comic zone, what's it?
SPEAKER_01On that thing. Uh it was a little side-scrolling beat-em-up sort of a thing. Okay. But you were a character who got sucked into the graphic novel that he was creating. Interesting. Uh C-O-M-I-X zone. Comics zone. Okay.
SPEAKER_05Okay. That was great.
SPEAKER_06Nice. Brett, what are you feeling over there? So I've been bouncing back and forth between all these different types of games, and I've can't narrow it down. So I went to the old AI to ask, what are some different video game categories that we can focus on? Because I'm like, what about this one? What about about this one? What about this one? So let's just focus in on action games first. So your sub-genres are shooters, platformers, so like jumping between platforms, fighting games, beat 'em up, and battle royale.
SPEAKER_05Oh boy. I I still think the the best first-person shooter that I I ever played was Call of Duty Black Ops. The World War II game was good as a fake game, and we played it, we played the hell out of that game, but like the storyline, playing online, black the first Black Ops was probably one of the funnest games I played. Regardless of console at this point. Now, Battle Royale, I mean, we we play Fortnite on the regular, and Fortnite I used to hate, but it now has a s I have a soft spot for that game now for whatever reason.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's interesting that there can be such a big difference between a game that you played the most or game that you played a lot and favorite game.
SPEAKER_00Sure.
SPEAKER_01Because I've by far put the most hours into Fortnite. Sure. I put a stupid number of hours into Fortnite. Um but I would not describe it as my favorite game. Sure. I I a hundred percent agree. Or one of my favorite games.
SPEAKER_05Side note, at the end of this year, we you probably won't have one, but we should do our PlayStation year and reviews and post the our top games at the end of the year. That would be two games same. Oh, ironically, it's the games we play together. Go figure.
SPEAKER_06Phil, I think you and I are probably gonna have the same one, if I would guess. Same action game.
SPEAKER_03I feel like super pressure if I should know the fucking answer to this.
SPEAKER_06Uh super smash bros. Well, I didn't know if they counted, but that's what I was like. It's kind of a shooter, it's kind of a platformer game, fighting. Yeah, I would say fighting game.
SPEAKER_03Because like I can count on well, less than one hand the number of times I've played Fortnite. Sure. Because you don't play with us. Probably also true. But you should start playing with us, but like I never owned a Call of Duty game. I always only ever played Brett's in college. Yep. So and I sucked at it.
SPEAKER_02Like, I'm not good at first version shooter games. It's just not it's not my style. I'm not good at it. And but if you're putting fighting games in there too, I now I I'm hard to beat in Super Smash Bros.
SPEAKER_03Like, really hard to beat, but and I'm really not good at it. I'm teaching my children, they just started like in the last two weeks learning. So nice.
SPEAKER_05Okay, where in does c does uh sorry, does Grand Theft Auto fall into one of these categories then? It's gotta be a racing. No, that's an RPG. Okay, because it's like there's lots of shooters and action. Let's jump to let's just get yep, we're going straight there.
SPEAKER_06Uh role-playing game games. So there's different action RPGs, uh, there's MMO RPGs, there's roguelike games, there's tactical RPGs.
SPEAKER_05Okay, if this if this is where Grand Theft Auto falls, I have played every Grand Theft Auto from the 3D versions, not the 2D top-down versions. I played one of those, it wasn't my thing, but PlayStation 2, Grand Theft Auto 3 on, I have played every single one of those games. They they also have a soft spot somewhere that I absolutely love those games, and I'm very excited about GTA 6 coming out next year.
SPEAKER_06Um that that comment right there is evergreen. It can always be used because Grandpa GTA 6 is always coming out next year.
SPEAKER_05That's true. It's coming eventually, it's fine. Okay, but here's my one caveat to that. And it's in this caveat because Rockstar made this, but probably the most beautiful game I have ever played is Red Dead Redemption 2. It sucked because you had to drive a horse, you had to ride a horse across this massive map, and it would take forever. But the game itself was absolutely gorgeous. Yeah, like there was a lot of detail in there that like there were several times where I'm like, damn, like they put a lot of good work into this. And the storyline was pretty good too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Uh okay, so the the games that just sort of come into my mind is like these are my favorite games of all time, right? Uh The Witcher 3. Oh, yeah. Solid choice. Like Open World, um, action RPG. I didn't know anything about like the Witcher IP or the Witcher universe before I picked it up and started playing it. Um, and it was great. Uh what was oh no, there were more that I had. Uh Spider-Man by uh I think Activision.
SPEAKER_03In the first one of those on the PS2 too. Or was it? I played it on PS1. I say there was one on the PS1, I think.
SPEAKER_01Spider-Man 2. That I just remember really loving. Um there was shoot. I had another one. Somebody come back to me. Arkham Asylum. Do you remember? Yes, that's the one that I was thinking of. Yes. And I preferred Arkham Asylum to Arkham City. Yes. Actually, I liked the more linear focused nature of it.
SPEAKER_05Did you hear that they're coming out with a Batman like Dark Knight Lego trilogy? And it's like the fighting style is based off the Arkham games, so it's like they're they're putting some stuff in this game.
SPEAKER_03I love all the Lego games.
SPEAKER_05Oh, they are all fantastic. Totally, yes.
SPEAKER_03Uh, for me, it's all of the Legend of Zelda games. Sure. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom obviously are like the most beautiful of the two, just because they have the newer graphics. And then um Oh, I had another one too, and I lost it. Uh oh, Hogwarts Legacy.
SPEAKER_05Oh, okay. Okay, I forgot about that one. That was a fun game, too. And I think it was more fun for me because it's like, you know, as a reader of the books, fan of the movies, it's like you finally got to be in that world as a game, which which changes the dynamic a little bit because it's just it's another level to where you're at. And it's the thing you've always loved, and here you are playing in that world. It just added a whole layer that was interesting.
SPEAKER_03P.S. Do had a game too uh Prince of Persia, Sands of Time.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah. I don't know if you ever played that one. That was actually pretty good RPG too. Yeah. We haven't talked about Assassin's Creed yet. Those were good games too. We played so many games. We're old, we played a lot of games.
SPEAKER_06Well, I'm gonna totally do a 180 game. Oh, snap. Okay. So I'm going to the MMORPG world. We're gonna go to Runescape.
SPEAKER_03I'm going to RuneScape.
SPEAKER_06All right, all right. Runescape 2 or whatever it was called. Yes. Yes. Uh, probably just because I spent a lot of hours in there growing up. Uh it is probably a lot of nostalgia. All right, next category, adventure, which probably could be a good idea.
SPEAKER_01The Zelda games, I would say, are kind of adventure.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so we might be able to repurpose some of those as well. But so subgenres are the point and click, so using like pointing and clicking objects and solving puzzles, visual novel, survival horror, and I would also include puzzle games in this kind of worry. Can we go back for a second?
SPEAKER_01Because um another memory tripped in my brain. Did you guys ever play um X-Men? Oh, shoot. I just had it in my in my mind. X-Men Legends, I think it was called. I don't think so. Um it was uh it was it was like an action RPG um with the X-Men characters, and you could like swap out, you could like control four, you controlled the whole party, and they were four, and you could sort of swap out which character you were controlling at a given time. And then they made like a follow-up to it that was um Marvel United, I think it was called. Um those were great fun.
SPEAKER_03I love those games. I didn't play either.
SPEAKER_04What was this category again?
SPEAKER_06Puzzle games, puzzle games, adventure games adventure games. I'm gonna go a little bit different on this one as well. I'm going Shadow of the Colossus, which is like climbing up this giant creature, and you had to figure out the puzzle of climbing it.
SPEAKER_03Would Little Big Planet fall in this category?
SPEAKER_01I think a platformer.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it probably is a platformer, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Shadow of the Colossus. Uh, I tried to play that once and it made me sad, so I stopped playing it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, uh, I think adventure games. Wow. Uh this would also fall under the RPG, but Baldur's Gate 3 was was good fun, and there was plenty of puzzle solving in that game. I have not even completed that game, full disclosure.
SPEAKER_03The Super Mario Platformer is that I'd say platformer. I've kind of glass glossed over that. I've played a lot of Super Mario games. We just own a lot of Nintendo stuff.
SPEAKER_01No, but like Super Mario, um I think Galaxy was the one of the Mario games that I probably enjoyed the most. Um and Galaxy 2 as well. But um I think Super Mario Galaxy is probably one of the first games that I went through and made sure that I 100% everything.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_01And you don't even get a trophy for it.
SPEAKER_06Oh boo.
SPEAKER_01On this on the wing.
SPEAKER_06Uh, you know, jumping back to RPGs, one that we did not touch on, but we should uh give an honorable mention to is Baldur's Gate 3. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Just did we mention Baldur's Gate? I just oh yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah. So uh next up, simulation. So live simulation, vehicle simulation, or construction and management simulation. Ooh, bro.
SPEAKER_05Farm simulator, hands down. Farm simulator is a great game.
SPEAKER_03Roller coaster tycoon? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Farm simulator. It is such a good game. Age of Empires.
SPEAKER_06The old one was boring. The newer ones are much better.
SPEAKER_01I think it's just the idea of just like simulators in general, just don't really appeal to me.
SPEAKER_03Sims or Age of Empires? Do all my NASCAR games fall in this category? No, those are coming. Okay.
SPEAKER_01And Damon's. I think it depends. Like if you're like managing the finances of the team and trying, you know.
SPEAKER_02Usually not that. Oh, that's the part of the that's the part of the games I don't want. Yeah, like I just want to drive the car. I just want to push people off the road who drive my car.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. So Damon Scratch in that category. Uh strategy. So real-time strategy, turn-based, or 4X, which is a grand strategy game where players explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate, or tower defense. I would go balloon tower defense on Java. That was a great game. It was a great game. Oh, great. I'm gonna leave this and come back in the morning. But we could play it in class.
SPEAKER_01There was a an infinite runner that I used to play all the time too. It was like Cannibalt or something. Temple Runner.
SPEAKER_05Temple Runner. Yes. That's a good game. Ross and Okay, RTS. I played a game on GameCube that you remember the Army Men games, like the Army Men toy games? There was an Army Man RTS game that was fantastic because you had to like set up a base and you had to like you had to like send guys out to like mine the plastic to build the soldiers so you could go like defeat the enemies. It's probably sitting next door here in a box somewhere.
SPEAKER_03There was a game on the Game Boy Advance, maybe where you had to like build a little like fleet of either army men or tanks, and then you had to like send them out strategically on the map to fight the other side. No idea. Something wars, mechanic wars, or something. I don't know. That one sticks out like from car rides, right? As a kid, we played that a lot.
SPEAKER_06And finally, an other category. So this is where you get the sports and racing games, the party games, and any sort of sandbox games. Ooh. Ooh, the sandbox. Minecraft comes in there. I love Minecraft. Oh, all the sports and all the Grand Prix mode, the Dirty Daytona, Need for Speed. Dirty Daytona.
SPEAKER_05The NCAA football. You really enjoyed those NASCAR games, didn't you? You know, I think the only NASCAR game I owned was on GameCube. And the funnest thing I could do in that was like pick Daytona, and then like some at some point, like three laps in, I'd get bored and I'd start driving backwards to see how big a wrecks I could cause.
SPEAKER_03See, you had to get you gotta get like dirt to Daytona, because then you start out in this like tiny little car on these little dirt tracks, it's only like three laps, and then you like work your way up. So you don't have to race like 150 lap races.
SPEAKER_05But that's the part that like that doesn't like to be a good thing.
SPEAKER_03You get to pick out like cool sponsor pain on the side of your car.
SPEAKER_05I'm more than welcome to let you have it. I'm more than happy to let you have it.
SPEAKER_06I grew up with NASCAR. You know, one category we didn't mention there, the party games, all the jackbox games. Yeah, those are good. I don't know that they stand up to the other ones, but fibbage.
SPEAKER_03It's like the real action. Oh, yeah. We had like great game.
SPEAKER_01The um different topic. Two sports games that I wish would come back or someone would just remake. NBA Street. Oh, yeah, that was that was NBA Street Volume volume one and volume two. Yep. They were both just fantastic. Um, and we've talked about this before, but Tiger Woods PGA tour, I think 2004.
SPEAKER_03Like the original is was my favorite year. Definitely thought you were gonna say like backyard football or backyard baseball.
SPEAKER_01I never played any of those games.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, NFL Street was fun.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, those were fun. I don't know if it's in this category now, just think it popped in my head. Tony Hawk Pro Skater. That those were fun too.
SPEAKER_01They just came out with uh like a remastered or something. Yes. Right.
SPEAKER_05We did um uh what was it? Cool I played a lot of Cool Borders 3 Cool Borders and NFL Blitz. Because that was the game where you could tackle and beat down the guys after after the ball after the ball's day.
SPEAKER_03They have like an NBA showdown, I think, on the 64-2 that have like tons of cheat codes. You could be the mascots, yep.
SPEAKER_05I have that game too. That's a great one. And then we need to we need to like live play some of these one of these days. Snowboard kids do.
SPEAKER_01Got that one, don't you worry. That sounds great. I'd play that right now. That's pretty good, actually.
SPEAKER_05I I feel like we need to do 18 holes on Tiger Woods Golf.
SPEAKER_01Is it snowboard kids? I guess we gotta go. Is it snowboard?
SPEAKER_05Snowboard kids or is it snowboard kids?
SPEAKER_03Snowboard kids do. That's like a command. That's what we had.
SPEAKER_05I played uh I'd play a game with uh my brother a lot that was uh called Splashdown. It was like jet ski racing. Uh that was a good game.
SPEAKER_06Okay. What is the most random cheat code like or like unlock special unlock thing that you can still remember?
SPEAKER_01Oh uh like how to do it, yeah, or just having done it.
SPEAKER_05Yep. R1, R2, L1, R2, left down, right up, left down, right up. It was one of the weapons categories for GTA in Vice City.
SPEAKER_06Phil, do you remember any?
SPEAKER_03I'm trying to no. Not that I was just off the top.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I remember up, up, down, down, left, right.
SPEAKER_03Is it left right, left, right, A B, A B. Select Start. I was that's what I think it is. That's like the signature. That's what I was trying to remember.
SPEAKER_01That's just the Konami code. Yeah. And a lot of games use that same thing. Yeah, a lot of Konami games.
SPEAKER_05Konami's the one that made uh NFL Blitz, and I think they made Showtime too.
SPEAKER_03And I think they made the original Super Mario Kart. They made tons of games.
SPEAKER_01Did you guys play the Metal Gear games?
SPEAKER_05I did not. Snake, uh Solid Snake.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I I played, I think, the first one. I didn't play them very much. I loved the first Metal Gear Metal Gear Solid.
SPEAKER_06I think my favorite cheat code I can still remember, Age of Empires 2. You type in how do you turn this thing on, and we pop in like this blue and white Corvette with like machine guns on it.
SPEAKER_03I feel like POW was a cheat code in that game, too, but I don't remember when. That did I want to say you was that were one at one point you could get like the baby with the machine gun. It might have been that.
SPEAKER_06Oh, that might have been it. Oh.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I remember beer cheek codes. I remember being Bill Clinton in NBA Jam. I don't remember the code that you put into it. Oh, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_06You did not type that one in enough.
SPEAKER_01It was like it was either Arkansas or Razorback. It was like it was one of those share. Um but yeah. You could be Bill Clinton. I think he had I think you could be Al Gore as well. Sign of the Times right there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Alright, what else you got for video games? Any other games that stick out in your mind as influential to you at all? Guitar hero. Sure. Yeah. I don't know where would that fall in those categories? Just other? Probably just other. Rock band. Oh, rock band.
SPEAKER_03Does it count as playing a video game if you don't face the screen when you play? Yes, but college.
SPEAKER_05You had to memori when you memorized it.
SPEAKER_03Justin and I had to do that a couple times because we Oh yeah. It was the only way for someone to lose. Through the fire guitar here. Yeah, through the fire and flames.
SPEAKER_05That's that's the song that plays when I win a game in Fortnite for amazing. Is it through the fire and flames, yes. I can't do it anymore.
SPEAKER_06One that you don't have to one person doesn't look at the screen. Keep talking and nobody explodes. Oh my god. Okay, that that is bomb diffusal game. One of you, it's one of well, we were playing it in VR. I think you can play it.
SPEAKER_05I think you can't play it, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Uh one person sees the screen and one person only has a paper binder with instructions on it, and they can't see you each what each other is. Yeah, that's they have to communicate back and forth. Oh, it's so frustrating.
SPEAKER_05Or if you want to make it even harder, you have five people half drunk telling you what to do. Been there. Very successful. I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01Successful blowing up the party. Oh, yeah, several times. Yes. Um, speaking of like of guitar hero, that was one of the times I think like one of the first times that I realized like there's a whole nother level of people playing video games. Oh, yeah. Um because like I had it and we and I we played it a lot. And one of my college roommates, his brother, Ryan, was like two years younger than us. And it was like one New Year's Eve, and we were out at a bar and Ryan was there, and one of the songs that was in Guitar Hero like came on through the sound system, and he just like started like saying all of the gods. Yeah, blue, red, green, like and at first I was like, I didn't know what the hell he was doing. And and then I finally realized what oh like he has he has literally memorized all of these all the button prompts to all of these songs. That's crazy to the extent that like sweet child life didn't need the screen, didn't need any of that, and could just tell you, like, yeah, orange, red, green, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_05And I was oh, there's a whole nother level of people in there. I feel like I have that moment anytime you jumped into any kind of ranked match. It doesn't matter what game, like you think you're decent and you just hop into a ranked match and you realize how not great you actually are. This was like tumbled pretty quick. This was before all that stuff. Oh, yeah, totally. I'm I'm just gonna be able to do that. So this was like 2004, you know.
SPEAKER_06Do you think if Guitar Hero came out now, would they make esports out of Guitar Hero? Oh, yes, 100%.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Absolutely. That would be sell out tours and stuff too. Oh, yeah. Of course, people would show up and watch that. Yeah, they would they'll show up to watch everything else. I mean, that's 100% accurate. It's like the breakdancing at the Olympics.
SPEAKER_06So bad.
SPEAKER_05So bad. When did you guys get your first consoles? Like, what was your first console and when, like, about when did you get it? Like a like I'm talking like just a grade. Like, you know, you don't have to remember a specific age. Like my first one, I got an N64. I was probably second or third grade when I got mine. I remember it came from Nebraska Furniture Mart. I don't know why I remember that, but I do remember that. I remember my older brother throwing a hissy fit because it took him years to get an Atari. And I got an N64. Nebraska Furniture Mart. That's where yeah, that's where my N64 came from. They have everything, don't you know?
SPEAKER_01PlayStation 2, I got for PlayStation. I mean we used to sell all that stuff, you know, like at Kmart and stuff. Yep. Sure. It's a different time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Uh I I remember where most of mine came from. Like uh the N64, we got there. It was not like a holiday. Hey, the dungeon. Uh the my PlayStation 2 I got for Christmas. PlayStation 3 was the first console like I bought with my own money. Uh PlayStation 4 came from Sam's Club on a Black Friday sale. Nice. And then my PS5 I ordered during COVID and somehow got in in the first batch. Oh, yes. Ooh, nice. I was so there's a video of me that I'm pretty sure my wife has the night because I have like three screens open to try to get it. Did you and I get one at the same time? I think so. It was pretty cool. Nate got one first, and I think you and I got it, and then we guys were helping Damon get it.
SPEAKER_01Banging on to me about it for like a year and a half.
SPEAKER_06And it paid off true.
SPEAKER_01You have one now, don't you?
SPEAKER_05Just in time for the PlayStation 6.
SPEAKER_01Uh see, my first console was a Nintendo Entertainment System. Uh we must have gotten it in uh let's see 1986. Sure. 1987, something like that.
SPEAKER_03Um the first one we ever owned was a Nintendo 64, and we probably got it when I was nine, ten, I want to say, maybe. First one I ever remember playing. Either would have been the Nintendo Entertainment System or the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, because my grandparents had them. So we went to their house, sure. We would play. The cousins would play. Nice. Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo. Still one of my favorite games.
SPEAKER_05I guess I should say I also had a Game Boy, Game Boy Advance. We won the GameCube that I have. It was like a random drawing at the Russ's video game center. Yeah, Russ's used to the city. Yeah, see, like it was just a different you could check out videos and video games there. They had like a drawing for a GameCube, and somehow we won it. And I remember that because I came home and my mom was like, Hey, would you ever buy a GameCube? And I'm pretty sure I was like, no, why would everybody anybody ever buy a GameCube? And she's like, Well, crap, you won one. I was like, Oh, I guess we'll find a way to play it. Only games I ever really owned on GameCube, NASCAR and the Harry Potter games. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Harry Potter games on the GameCube?
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah. That's where I bought most of them.
SPEAKER_03Like our little have to be expensive now. Super Mario Kart Double Dash was a great game on the GameCube.
SPEAKER_05Sitting on a treasure trove, like a dragon. Okay, Brett, your turn.
SPEAKER_06Uh I would say either the Atari, which was my grandparents, Game Boy Original, or PlayStation 1, which was probably 2000. Sure.
SPEAKER_05You had a PS1. Nice.
SPEAKER_06It was the mi it was the like the the revamped one. It wasn't the boxing one, it was the one.
SPEAKER_05Gotcha.
SPEAKER_06Nice. So not right away. Gotcha.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Anything else we want to throw in about video games? I mean, I feel like we've all played flip tonight games. That's a lot that we've covered. We've covered a lot of a lot of ground.
SPEAKER_01I think I think how about like a hidden gem?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. Yeah, what do you got for that?
SPEAKER_01Vector Man.
SPEAKER_05Vector Man. What's that?
SPEAKER_01Well, Comic Zone, but I already talked about Comic Zone. Vector Man was like a it was on Genesis, it was on Sega Genesis. Um, so probably you guys never played it. Um but you were like this little you're a kind of a robot. You could shoot things out of your hands, and it was sometimes side scrolling, um, but sometimes it was top-down, and also sometimes like you transformed into a train, and sometimes you transformed into like a little rocket. Uh and I could never really understood what was happening. Uh I was really bad at it. Uh, but it but it was great. Sure. And also Earthworm Gym. Did you guys ever play Earthworm Gym? Yep. I loved Earthworm Gym. Also Tough as Nails. I don't think I ever beat it. Some of those, some of those OG games were really hard, really hard.
SPEAKER_06Not exactly balanced.
SPEAKER_05No, but they weren't really concerned about that at the time, you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, because like a lot of them were still sort of going off of the like arcade design methodology. Where it's like we you want it to be as hard as possible because you needed them to just keep dumping quarters into the machine. Sure. Yeah. And that design aesthetic came over to the home consoles. Right. Um it was really frustrating.
SPEAKER_06Uh I'm going with arcades as or mention you mentioned arcades. I'm going uh Space Invaders. Ooh, classic. Sure. Yep.
SPEAKER_03I think my hidden gem is Donkey Kong 64. Okay. Because you got to, it was a ton of exploration. You gotta play as like five different Kongs that you had to unlock like in succession. So it was a challenging game. I never finished it to 100%. But it's still a game that like I enjoy going back to play. Sure.
SPEAKER_05Gosh, I don't even know what to pick. Uh first thing that comes to mind would be Goldeneye, James Bond Goldeneye for N64. I mean, that that's the epitome of how first-person shooters became first-person shooters. I mean, that was such a good game. Um, but but like more recent Hidden Gym, and it's not really a Hidden Gym, but it was like one of the first games that came out on PS5. But the the newer Spider-Man games, they were I really enjoyed those games. Like open world, like slinging around New York. Like, I could spend hours just slinging around the city because that was such a a unique, unique thing mechanic that you got out of that game that nothing else can really do that. Like it's Spider-Man's thing, right? So it's like that was that was such a fantastic thing that I really enjoyed with that. So I don't think that's hidden, Jim, because I think that was definitely a top-selling game that came out, but it was it was such a good game.
SPEAKER_03Totally unrelated to Spider-Man. But did you guys ever play Harvest Moon on any system? I feel like I did that. It's like I feel like it's what all of the like farming games and maps and things on your phone are designed after now, but it's like a cozy style game where you raised crops and you met people in the town and you tried to like form relationships and you got a fishing pole and did some fishing, and it was just I feel like that was one of those games that you could sink a lot of time into and never really accomplished anything, but you felt good playing it. Right. It just it was one of those games that okay.
SPEAKER_05I I have one because you made me think of app games, and I had never I in my brain I didn't wasn't really those. There is a game that that I bought. Um, I have it on my iPad, but I think you can buy it pretty much anywhere. It's called Rains, and basically how's the reigns spelled? R-E-I-G-N as like like you're a king that reigns. But that but that's literally what it is. So basically, you are a king and it puts up these two cards and you just swipe and you're making decisions as a king. Like the oh sure. There's a famine, so what do you do? Or you know, there's somebody that invaded the northern part of your kingdom. What do you do? And then like they throw in, like, you know, the the priest comes to you with this solution. Do you take it, yes or no? And then basically you're just creating this line of kings, seeing how far you can get with one king, right? Uh that is such a funny. I've spent so many hours playing that game, just sitting there doing it. But there's like it gets deep sometimes, like like the like the devil shows up at one point. Like, if you you answer a question incorrectly for like the Pope person, yeah, and then you're considered evil, and then the devil shows up to make a deal with you, and then like you depending on how you answer these things, it changes like the whole dynamic of the game. It's actually a ton of fun. I really do enjoy it. Uh, but app games, that made me think of that. That was uh now I'm thinking of like other app games. Um there's a couple tower defense games I've played before, but nothing nothing like that one. There is one called uh Papers Please. If you ever want to try something, have you ever heard of this game? I've heard of it, yeah. So it's basically like Soviet Union, you're a uh guard at a gate into the country, and then do it.
SPEAKER_03Late game crack.
SPEAKER_05Bonus crack. Uh you're you're like at a at a you're a border guard, and then the game gets harder because the country basically institutes new rules, so you have to watch for more things on a passport. Like they have to have like they can only come in on certain days and only from certain countries, and like you, as the game progresses, like you have more and more things you have to keep track of. And then um, there's like a book that has all this in it, so like none of it's hidden from you. You don't have to remember it, but you have to meet a quota for the day in order to get paid to feed your family, and so it's like you're basically the goal of the game is to keep your family alive doing your job. So you try, and if you miss one, you get penalized. So that takes away from your money and your quota from the day. So it's it's it's a crazy game.
SPEAKER_06You have to look at it. I'm assuming it was not much of a hit in Russia.
SPEAKER_05I'm guessing not, probably not. Uh I I may have to run and grab that so you guys can see it. But it but it is it is a fantastic, fantastic game. So, any anything else before we get out of here, guys?
SPEAKER_06No, we have scraped the bottom of the barrel.
SPEAKER_05I think we did it. Indeed. Pretty sure it's dry. I love that. We're coming up with tag lines for this. Uh, but that's gonna do it for this episode. Stay tuned for more beer reviews in the future. You can check out our regular show, Bards and Barrels Anywhere podcasts can be found. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, at Bards and Barrels. Until next time, may your dice be hot and your beer be cold.
unknownTriple critical.
