Oh, no, you can't. No, you have to leave that.
Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. 2026. Oh, don't
tell me that. Oh, one year. You're 30 this year.
You're never supposed to say that. It's like
the number one rule. Old. Old and shameful. Why
are you looking at that? Looking like anything.
We've enjoyed our holidays, haven't we? Well,
yeah. Allegedly. Allegedly. We're back after
hiatus. Busy month. Lots of shit went on. So
we didn't step away. We just couldn't fucking
get round to doing the pod. So here we are. We're
back. It's the 3rd of February. January. We've
missed a month. First. Third. Fuck. We're here.
Either way. Help me. I can't really. Yeah. I
can't do much in this situation. Rusty. Yeah.
I mean, sorry. I know I just said this was fine,
but I did just fuck with it again. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, it's been pretty wild. I still am adamant
that it does not feel like... It didn't feel
like Christmas. It didn't feel like New Year.
It doesn't feel like we're in a new year now.
yeah yeah yeah it's kind of all melded into one
the theory where like it was all a simulation
that ended ended in 2020 yeah and that's why
nothing feels real anymore yeah but we've all
just got like a collective like traumas of what
was like it's so weird isn't it maybe it's because
the majority of the people that you interact
with are of the same age bracket so you all you've
all grown we've all grown up around the same
time doing the same So at some level, we probably
all think the same and experience the same shit.
No, but I have it with customers. Go on. I'll
just leave that there dead for a moment. Let's
just leave that just one more minute. Cool, right.
Yeah, with customers and stuff. Everyone feels
it. Of all generations, I've had it from everybody.
This just general, I don't know. of what the
fuck. Probably because it's just so fucking expensive
and draining. Yeah. It's just so much money.
Throw it into a gaming type. You see a lot of
the stuff where companies are speculating that
AAA games will end up being 100 quid a pop. Christ.
100 quid a pop. Could you imagine? That's depressing.
What are you supposed to do though? Yeah, but
then it's the same with like gig tickets and
stuff. You know, I remember an expensive gig
being like, oh, 35, 40. You know what I mean?
Like, shit, don't know if I can swing that. Like,
if it was a 35 or 40 quid ticket, you were at
Wembley, the O2, whatever. Now, you can't even
get into the back nosebleeds for that. It's mad.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, gaming, like when
you think... Is that what they call it, the nosebleeds?
You've never heard that saying? Is that because
they're so high? Yeah, from the altitude. That's
cool. We're sitting in the nosebleeds. Or the
gods. They call it the gods as well. Elbow to
elbow with Jesus. But yeah, just generally really
fucking depressing. Because I know, speaking
of Dreamlight Valley, for example, the latest
DLC... i so far haven't found i haven't seen
a problem with it but people were moaning saying
like no this should have been a mini dlc or this
you know it shouldn't have been the same price
as the other two but then really how do you they've
also introduced mounts which i feel like mechanically
is quite intensive um that that does kind of
warrant Do you know what I mean? It is quite
a big change to gameplay because it's applicable
outside of that DLC as well. What was the cloud
thing then that you could do? What cloud thing?
Where you would travel around on like a surfboard
thing. That's like a glider or a sprint. So is
that not a fucking mountain? No, that's your
sprint. That's what sprint looks like. Yeah.
And so originally there was no faster movement.
You just ran. Then they introduced it and basically
how it works is you've got like a bar. like a
stamina bar sort of yeah and then that bar is
full but then if you overfill that bar again
it becomes gold and that's what you use to sprint
whereas with the mount it doesn't use anything
it's just infinite you can just just keep going
around um i'm liking it i'm liking it so far
um and that's kind of like what we were saying
the other day about like stranger things and
like the That might make any sense if I don't
explain it. Stranger Things is over. I know.
It's over. But we were talking about Stranger
Things and how we watched it and then sort of
like quickly went on to socials and sort of to
see how everyone else was thinking. And whilst
that's like quite normal to do in this day and
age, at the same time, it's like, are you then
forming your own opinion or is it getting diluted
by what other people think? And I think that's
true, like with Dreamlight. I very easily could
have gone, oh, no, you know, apparently it's
shit. Like, I'm not going to bother because,
you know, these people don't like it. But then
actually what's happened there is, you know,
seven people over a week on Reddit have gone,
I didn't really like that. And I'm then basing
that when actually so far I'm quite enjoying
it. You kind of fall into that trap, don't you?
Especially in speaking, I think it does link
very closely with money and the way things are
lately because we're all so frightened of letting
go of that money. You're choosing to spend money
on something and it's not refundable, only in
limited circumstances. So you want to search
and review culture. But that's one of the worst
things as well for the entertainment industry.
Like with games, think of... Well, we've mentioned
it a million times, but it fits perfectly into
what we're talking about. Days Gone. Oh, man.
Reviewed terribly. when it first came out. It's
mad. But it's not a bad game. It's a brilliant
game. It's amazing. But you can guarantee that
the majority of people would have seen those.
We do it ourselves. Oh, you see fucking Hogwarts
Legacies come out. Apparently it's shit. I think
I'll give it a miss. Because there's a monetary
point to that. If the game was free... We pre
-ordered Hogwarts Legacies. Yeah, no, yeah. I'm
just using it as an example. Sorry, it's my literal
thinking. But you use that like if I'm talking
about if a game comes out and let's say Mark's
played Ghost of Yotai. He's got the platinum
for it. So if anyone's opinion is valid on whether
that game's good or not, it's probably going
to be Mark's because there's nothing more that
he can do in that game. So if he tells me that
Ghost of Yotai is a great game, I'm going to
believe him as a good source because we're close
mates. And chances are, I'm going to then play
it off the basis of him saying it's decent. If
he turned around to me and said, this is the
shittest thing I've ever played, stay away. Chances
are, because it's got a price tag of about 60
to 70 quid, I'm going to go, yeah, no, yeah,
I'll keep my money. True, but then I think that's
where you benefit from actually knowing the person
that you're asking because you know yourself
that you and Mark have very similar... uh like
interests so it's gonna if mark likes something
you're more likely to like something whereas
say like you and i we cross over for sure like
there's quite a lot that we do cross over but
we also do not cross over in other ways so it's
like pinch of salt isn't it like in the same
way that mark like he there's things that you
liked that mark doesn't and things like that
but you're able to sort of get that rough idea
and yeah you know you kind of go right well actually
yeah that's something that i can see myself playing
yeah yeah i think it's just weird yeah you're
you're um i don't think people realize how heavily
you are influenced by what others are saying
and like what we just said with forming your
own opinion i can't remember the last time i
actually had my own um my well i suppose outer
worlds 2 maybe a lot of people don't like it
I really like it I don't give a fuck what everyone
else has said because I've played it I've completed
it so I know for me it was a really good game
and I would recommend it to anyone that's interested
in that type of game like the fallouts and stuff
like that to give Outer Worlds 2 a crack but
a lot of people are like nah it's awful it's
soulless and yeah weird I suppose that's one
of the more recent times when i was about i was
gonna say i don't remember the last time i'd
had my own opinion that wasn't influenced by
other people but i suppose that is because i
was keep burping that was when that got announced
i was so dead set on getting that are you good
are you good It's that coffee. It's whatever
the fuck you put in this. What is that? Vanilla?
Caramel, I think. Salt caramel. Caramel poison.
Yeah. But it is odd. And I think we've kind of
lost that. I think everyone kind of has because
we are all so connected. Well, paleo. What I
was going to say was rage. And that's something
that I just, I can't remember how it even came
into my fucking possession. It was like, just
appeared one day. It was either from like a bundle
or whatever. It was just there and I played it.
I was off the back of, I think, maybe Skyrim
and I was looking for something else and it was
similar, like same people and whatever. And it's
something that I really enjoyed. Rinsed it with
absolutely no idea. of how it was originally
ever received or what people thought of it or
what thing like and and then when rage 2 came
out and it was like this is shit oh my god it's
absolute shit yeah and i didn't touch it because
i mean i was away from xbox at that time anyway
and like it wasn't it wasn't going to be something
that i would get yeah but there is a chance potentially
that i could really enjoy that game i think do
you know what i mean like you don't it's so weird
isn't it i think where we've I had a conversation
about it before, and I don't know if it was you
or if it was with Ash, where we spoke about demos
and how there's such almost a lack of demos now
for games, where you used to get the physical
disc, or you could download a demo off the store,
and even now on the PlayStation Store, the demo
section isn't there anymore. You have to physically
search the game and then search if it has a demo
to play it. Like with Star Wars Outlaws. Star
Wars Outlaws, the exact reason why Ash is, I
don't know if he's completed it or not yet, probably
hasn't, but it's why he started playing Star
Wars Outlaws and really enjoyed it because he
obviously had an opinion where he didn't like
the look of it, which was sort of shifted with
a lot of the people that how Star Wars Outlaws
was received. And then obviously I played the
demo of it, which gives you like two hours worth
of playtime. wasn't a massive fan but then said
to ash play the demo of it it's free what like
what you ain't gonna lose and then he really
liked it so then bought the game and now really
likes the game so it's like that all of those
opinions that you you read about in terms of
that specific game where everyone was ripping
it and ash was sort of with them on that and
then has come away from that and then played
it himself and gone actually I really like it.
So you think, how many games have we all, games,
movies, music, whatever, come across where multiple
people have gone, that's really bad. So you go,
all right, I'm going to follow the fucking herd
here and say that's really bad even though I
don't know. And then actually turns out you would
have really, really enjoyed it. There has to
be loads of games like that where Metro Exodus
is one where it's critically acclaimed. People
absolutely love it. I can't get on with it. I've
tried multiple times to play it. I cannot, whether
it's because I'm trying to play it in the wrong
setting, as in, like, my mindset isn't in the
mindset of being, like, a Russian fucking winter
-killing monsters. Yeah. Or if, for me, it just
isn't, it's just a game that doesn't click. Well,
yeah, and I mean, like, I think, as well, speaking
of Days Gone... Obviously, you'd played that,
you'd tried to play it. Multiple times. And it
was like... And then, boom, one particular time,
it just clicked. And then the next thing, you're
rinsing through it. Yeah. Rivals. I literally...
There's a show, which everyone... Oh, my God,
it's class. A show called Rivals, and it's David
Tennant, Aidan Turner. It's got names in it.
And me and mum tried to watch it, and I was just
like, no, this, no, not at all. And all it was
is kind of almost like the opposite effect. Was
I saw a... You know, someone had made a... What
the fuck are they... What are they called? Like
a... A reel? Yeah. A short? Yeah. I don't know.
I'm trying to think of... There's a name for
it. What was it? Yeah, like a clip of all the...
A montage. A montage. Thank you. A montage. Came
to my rescue. It's lovely, isn't it? Yeah, I
know. I made it. It's lovely. You're throwing
me off now. Where was I? You're so sour. I know.
Oh, the Grinch. Oh, shit. Sorry, this is really
boring to listen to. Fucking hell, Grinch drink
from McDonald's. Shit. Oh, no, I've put tropical
juice in that, though. Oh, Rhys. Made a montage
of rivals. Thank you. And I thought, oh, okay.
And you were asleep. We'd been watching something
else and you'd gone asleep. And I was like, oh,
fuck it, I'll put that on. And we were absolutely
hooked on it. You wake up 20 minutes in. You
were into it. Like, we watched the whole thing
and that's something, like, if you'd have asked
me... Why do I not remember it? Rivals? Are you
taking a piss? David Tennant and it's the...
Yeah. Amazing. Rupert and... That was really
good. Yeah. Really, really good. I really enjoyed
that. Yeah, we were hooked like motherfuckers.
But if you'd have shown me, like, oh, have you
seen that? And, like, shown me a clip, like a,
you know, a photo of it, I'd have gone, oh, I
tried to watch that, it was shit. like it's so
weird isn't it how something will catch you at
another time and all of a sudden it's just like
perfect vikings yeah that's another one i'll
get to the most pivotal pivotal point halfway
through it and then go yeah no i'm not watching
anymore and then it's like some of the best fucking
cinema ever after that's what you've done with
9 -1 -1 as well you've decided after something
similar has happened that you're not watching
it anymore. I have. And I've tried to get you
to watch it. I just can't. It's just getting
a bit silly. If you're in... I'm sorry. They're
in fucking space. They fixed the space. They're
out now, aren't they? Yes, they're out now, but
it was just getting a bit fucking... Everyone
take cover from the asteroids. Shut up. But there's
also a whole other... I cannot believe... For
context, everybody, we are... on the ninth season,
okay? Oh, no. We have watched, we have watched
eight, and it's one of those, like, American
Minds was like 20 episodes a season. Yeah. We
have watched eight seasons of this show, and
now I can't get this man And every episode's
like, what, 45? to watch it. Yeah. Are you joking?
Like, this is probably going to be the last season.
For fuck's sake. You know what I mean? We've
got to finish it. You've got to finish what we
started. Let's finish Revenge, and then we'll
finish 9 -1 -1. And we'll just do it like we
did where we put it on at dinner time. Okay,
we'll do that then. We'll finish it. Okay. Days
we've spent. I dread to think if you added it
up, it's probably like actual whole weeks of
our lives would be spent watching this and you
won't finish the ending. Well, let me do some
real rough math because Revenge is... Which again,
which is another one. I remember it being on
telly and I was like, nah. It was about 22 episodes
a season. Yeah. We're in the fourth season. Yeah.
So we've watched... We've watched about 110 episodes.
How did you get that from 22 times three? Oh,
sorry, I did four seasons. Sorry. Yeah, we've
done three and a half seasons so far. Yeah. Yeah,
so we've done about, yeah, probably 80 episodes.
Yeah. I know. Mad, isn't it? Yeah. And imagine
now. 80 hours we've watched. No, I'm not watching
it. You can watch it if you want, but I'm not
watching it. That's how it feels. Yeah, but this
has you hooked. Ladies and gentlemen, what me
and Steph are going through at the moment, and
it seems like that kind of perfect timing where
everyone has a New Year's resolution, blah, blah.
I promise you now, it's none of that bollocks.
But basically, me and Steph are trying to step
away from social media because it's just getting...
What? Nothing, I'm listening. Because it's just
getting too much. Especially from my point. Just
spending too many hours in the day staring at
my phone, looking at utter bollocks rather than
all the things that are around me. Including
all the books that I want to fucking read. Fallout
Shelter now. It's great. I love it. Gaming. There's
conversations with people. There's so many more
interactive things that I personally... and missing
out on because i'm just glued to my phone looking
at either a whole family get crushed by a fucking
truck or or a baby falling over and then there'll
be a fucking dog doing backflips and then there's
an ai video and then an ai video then an ai video
another one chimpanzee there's all sorts of shit
it's just it's just random attacks so we've both
stepped away from from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok,
all that bollocks. And it's trying to understand
that our brains just aren't used to not having
that constant stream of dopamine. And it's almost
like that's what was happening with 911. And
then it's just something switches in your brain
where you go, right, I'm not getting any more
dopamine now. I can't be bothered to put in the
extra hours. to get to the point where it's juicy.
Whereas I feel like with Revenge, it's just every
fucking episode. Every episode, there's just
something. There's some twist. There's some bollocks
where you go, oh my God. I think that's why we're
so... hooked on it it's ramped up hasn't it it's
ramped up because I think we know that it's at
the end of the day it's a show from I think it
began in 2011 ended in 2014 so you know there's
not going to be any more so we know that we're
getting to the end plus at points we're like
10 episodes away from the end man and then it's
done I know and like obviously because it's not
current we've not seen any spoilers literally
the only spoiler i see was about declan and even
then i didn't know fully and that was so long
ago now so long ago who's declan and um yeah
like it's it's it's nice like that and i know
that when this ends i feel like if we crack out
9 -1 -1 it's a good like we can then find something
else after because Stranger Things has ended
now not that we were watching that on the regular
anyway because we've been waiting three years
for it to fucking come out we've got Fallout
on a weekly basis yeah we've got options and
then I think Rivals is coming back as well so
I've got fucking on the edge of a burp now I
can feel it in me bones I think that must be
a sorry if you heard that must be a thing with
gaming as well where you want that that constant
dopamine this hit and i think that's what kind
of started started the conversation that we had
was you know we're like oh yeah we've got some
like so excited to have some time off and stuff
and then you had a you were sat there with your
book your wow book and i was sat there with paleo
and we were both just scrolling on our phones
and it was like a little minute of like what
the fuck are we doing yeah And then you go, oh,
have you played much? Oh, no, I've not had a
lot of time. Or like, oh, did you finish that
book? Oh, no, it's been six months and I haven't
finished this book. Oh, why is that? Or like
you would take your book to work and then you
wouldn't read it. Yeah, I just scrolled on my
phone. And I think ultimately it's because, like
you say, there is a more reliable amount of dopamine
waiting when you scroll. It's an addiction. Chances
are. Yeah, if you don't like a video, boom, it's
gone. It's an addiction. It would be like going
to someone who smokes and going, right, give
me those pack of cigarettes. Here's all the ingredients
to make a cigarette. Now make one and then you
can smoke it. I'm not going to do that. I might
do it a couple of times, but then I'm going to
go, this is bollocks. This ain't worth the aggro.
I'm going to find something else. I think that's
why a lot of people don't do roll -ups. They
just smoke tailor -made fags. Because it's just
easier or vaping. So it's being on your phone
involved with that. It makes it, I almost hate
talking about it because it makes you sound high
and mighty because you've only stopped doing
that for like a week. Not even that of not using
these apps. So to sit here and not lecture other
people on it, but to say like, oh, I've given
it up and I feel so great. It's like, well, you
haven't. I feel like anyone can stop doing something
for a week. Well, and say so like today, I haven't
really been on there. I did when I woke up and
then like on my phone and like just looking at
stuff. But today when we've had like stuff to
do, it's I think the real test is like you said,
when you go back to work or like, yeah, or like
I'm here and you're not here. So I think that's
where we struggle when either of us is home alone.
without the other and you just like scratch about
put the radio on get all lonely like it is then
there but we'll see we'll see how we go but no
it's a completely personal choice it's not like
a judgmental thing either because ultimately
i think everyone can can sort of like safely
acknowledge that they are built to keep you on
there because that's how it makes money and you
know you think like how in the last sort of let's
say probably five years now It used to be that
apps were different, but now they're all the
same. TikTok is the same as Instagram Reels and
YouTube Shorts and Facebook Reels. Much like
with any form of... Twitter's got Reels. PlayStation,
Xbox. They're all the same. Yeah. Same thing.
Because it's like, oh, they're doing really well.
What are they doing well on? Oh, videos that
auto -scroll and two times speed. Well, let's
do that then. Perfect. You know what I mean?
So I think everyone knows that that's kind of
like happening. But I think it's up to you when,
you know, if and when or whatever that you sort
of say, look, actually, I'm going to sort of
step this back a bit. Like for myself, it's more
that I've got a drawer full of craft things that
aren't finished, games that aren't finished that
I really, really want to play. Well, even Mark
was telling me when, because me and Mark have
been playing Ark Raiders quite a bit and having
fun with that. Jay, you're fucking useless, by
the way. I just want to get that out there. He
won't listen to this. He won't hear it. Chances
are Mark will tell him that I've said this, so
I hope he does hear it. Absolutely useless. I'm
not playing with him again. It's all right, Jay.
I've been in a trio with them two before as well.
It's rough. Just useless. Just not doing. Just
not being a team player. Mark, I'm dead, all
right? So it might be a bit... A bit wary for
me to have such a high opinion of how bad Jay
is because I was actually dead. Sounds like a
familiar story, doesn't it? But watching Mark
battle three people on his own and then scrolling
over to Jay, who's just standing there, not even
looking in the direction and going, well, where
is he? What? What do you mean? What do you mean?
We have Matt Mark. But me and Mark have been
playing Ark Raiders. And even Mark said, he was
like, one of my resolutions, he was like, is
to finish games. He was like, I've got all these
games. He was like, it's nothing crazy. He was
like, I'm just sick of playing a game, a story
-driven game, not an online game because they're
different, and not finishing it. Black Mith Wukong
still hasn't finished it. He really liked it,
but he hasn't finished it. Yeah. I'm fucking
terrible at it as well, the amount of games I've
got where I haven't finished it. The problem
that I have is it's such a dying like the beast.
I really liked it, but at the same time, I really
hated it. I think I was just burnt out and scared,
ultimately. There's a whole section of that game,
the night mode, that I didn't touch. And Mark
didn't touch it. Get away, really? Yeah, don't
get me wrong, the story doesn't take you there.
There would only be a couple of quests or bounties,
like side stuff that you miss, but the actual
game itself you don't have to play in the night
time. But it was so incredibly hard. Yeah. And
Mark didn't touch it either because he was like,
absolutely fuck that. So there's a whole side
of it that I just didn't experience. And then
that was, for me, kind of a slog to get through.
And I didn't think the ending was all too amazing.
And then to almost be forcing, because I was
telling myself, I was like, you have to finish
it. I was like, if you don't finish this, you're
not going to. So I was like, you have to force
yourself to finish it. And then your brain finds
other things to take you away from it because
it knows I've started playing WoW again and then
there's fucking all sorts of other stuff. And
it's like, no, I need to fuck off. I need to
finish it. And I did. And then... The disparity
of when I then played something out of Worlds
2 was the next game that I played after that.
And I was fucking glued to it. Glued to it. Every
area, I was doing every single mission. There
wasn't anything I left untouched. So I was like,
I was all in. I was absolutely loving it. I didn't
feel like I was towards the end of playing Dying
Light. I was sat there for maybe like the last...
10 hours of it sitting there thinking there's
other stuff that I'm missing out on I need to
get this done because there's other games that
I want to play whereas when I was playing Outer
Worlds the entire time that thought wasn't entering
my mind of there's other things I want to do
no this is exactly where I want to be so to have
that as a resolution of finish the games that
you buy before you go and buy another game because
I feel like it's part of the experience even
if it is shit I feel like it's still a good experience
to play a game that you didn't enjoy. Well, yeah,
especially because something drew you to it in
the first place. And when you think, like, if
you've got so far, let's say you're 70 % complete
and then you're really struggling, you think,
kind of like with 9 -1 -1, I agree with you,
it is quite hammy and it is getting a bit unbelievable,
but... Yeah, when you think of, when you're looking,
can you go and get your drink, bitch? Bit of
ASMR there. Oh, that's good. Crunchy little kumifis.
Look, I'll put it in the middle so you can reach
it. No, that's right, because I've got mine over
there. No, it's fine. When we're finished with
this episode, I'll go and get mine. Like, yeah,
you kind of just think, well, you've put so much
time into it that, yeah, just get it done and
then close that chapter. Because then I think...
As well, as much as, obviously, there's people
that would listen to this and be like, come on,
it's a game. But there is an element of, like,
I feel similar with Tomb Raider. So when the
first, like, obviously not the first one, but
you know what I mean, like the first of the revived
ones, finished it completely. Second one, did
it, finished it completely. Third one, so excited
for it. Got probably maybe 80 % of the way. And
I had gone... So in the previous games, I don't
know that I 100 %ed it. But in this last one,
I made sure I had got every relic from every
area, every monolith, every single thing you
could do in an area before moving on. Yeah, the
last time you were playing it, that's what you
were doing. I remember. And... You were like,
I can't leave this place because there was one
thing that you needed to get from it. Yeah, and...
But obviously it gets harder and harder. And
like now, the same thing would happen. So essentially,
I came to it having not played it for actual
years. And of course, you don't know what you're
doing. You don't know what the buttons are. You
don't know what all the little things you've
got do. So you're shit at it. And then it's really
hard. And then it's really boring. Not boring,
but you know what I mean? Like it's annoying.
It's not enjoyable, let's say. So yeah, going
back. Okay, let's try it again. But I'll have
to do that. now again yeah which is putting me
off but then you and actually like seeing that
they're gonna do obviously i know that i think
they sold it off but nevertheless there will
be another one what was it 27 yeah 27 yeah and
initially upon hearing it i was like better finish
uh what is it rise rise of the tomb raider yeah
um you know i better finish that no it's shadow
yeah it's shadow shadow that i haven't finished
um And it's stupid because I loved it. At no
point did I get bored. I was loving it. But all
it took was something that I meant, you know,
it might have been uni or whatever. I can't remember
what stopped me playing it. And before you know
it, it's been years again. I think we suffer
with the same thing. So like, funnily enough,
I was just texting Connor earlier saying, do
you fancy getting back into Enshrouded? Oh, perfect.
I said to him in the text, what did I say? Because
it sums up perfectly what you've just said. I
said, was thinking about jumping back on Enshrouded
if you fancy. Might start a new character. Because...
Just get rid of... Because I don't remember any
of it. And I do the same thing with WoW. I leveled
a shaman in Legion Remix. Absolutely love it.
I've got about three of the cunts, but I don't
remember how to play them. So I find it better
for my brain to start over again. That way it's
kind of new, but isn't new. Yeah. And exciting.
And the pressure of, there's nothing worse than
dropping into a game. Like when Shadow of the
Earth Tree come out. Yeah. Hadn't touched Elden
Ring for ages. I didn't have a fucking clue what
I was doing. And it was one of the worst things
to the point where me and Ash actually said,
we need to get some practice time in before.
the dlc drops because otherwise you're just not
gonna know i didn't i ended up just going into
shadow of the earth tree blind but picked it
up pretty quick um but even that was like fuck
i don't i don't know what i'm doing this is a
lot harder than what i remember um so yeah jumping
back into a game when you're already so far in
because then the the game's not designed for
you to get 70 of the way through and then Take
a break. It's designed for you to go from 0 %
to 100 % and that's it. So unless you're in the
first hour of a game where you're getting somewhat
of an intro, it's not designed to help you along.
It's designed for you to play the game. So trying
to jump back into that is so overwhelming, but
at the same time, it isn't. Because you think
realistically, it's going to take you, what,
half an hour to look through your inventory,
know what buttons are what, know what does what.
know where you are and then crack on yeah but
in your fucking head it makes far more sense
no let me let me wipe 20 hours worth of gameplay
and start again to save myself the half an hour
of having to learn it or the alternative that
being let me just think about it wish i was doing
it but not do it for the next three years and
then have this conversation again that's what
i seem to be i can't even remember if it was
in this house or my old house when i was when
i was replaying a bit I can't remember. I think
it might have been... It was the old house. It
wasn't this house. No, you haven't touched it
in this house. No, I think I have, because I
remember plugging the Xbox in, actually. Maybe.
But if it is, it was bloody ages ago. Certainly
not in the last six months. And it's mad. But
so many of us do that. Or, like, if you get something,
a game that you really wanted, get home, and
then you're like, I'll play that later. So why
are you edging yourself? That's something I liked
when we, and brief as it was, when we dabbled
back into ESO. And they have that whole quest
line. It's like called Welcome Back. Yeah, WoW's
now introduced that as well. Yeah, the concept
of, we know that you've been gone. Here's something
fun for you to get stuck into. It's something
that, you know, it's new and it's here and it's,
you know, you can get these bits. It didn't keep
us ultimately, but nevertheless, I still appreciated
it. Like it was cool. And I do, and like I have
a lot of love for ESO. I could, but I think what...
It's the only game I play on a computer. And
I think that kills it because also as well, I
think we've definitely got... I would have thought
we'd have figured it out by now, but since we've
lived here and it's the being, I don't want to
be sat upstairs while you're sat down here. Yeah.
It's weird, isn't it? Or like if I'm in the front
room and you're in here, it's weird. Yeah, I
was literally about to say, I was like, after
this is all done, you can sit and play Shadow
of the Tomb Raider. But then immediately I was
like... But I want to sit here and play WoW.
But I was like, I don't want to sit here while
you're over there. But at the same time, I can't
set this up. I'm sure we could jerry -rig something.
Really, we could. That's the whole purpose of
it. It's just we haven't got the means for it
at the moment. It's a very nice issue to have.
Like, oh, I don't want to... Yeah, I can see
why people get... joint desktops yeah which we
could and potentially it may even Leon's got
one with his missus lend to the pod like if I
were to if we were to have a desk down here or
something like that then you guys could sit at
it you know what I mean like it would it would
work but yeah we'll we'll have a think on on
that like when they have like a complete like
a his and her side of of an office and things
like that you could probably you could probably
You could probably clear a bit of room behind
me and then pull this forward and then have another
desk in between that bit and this bit. So then
you've got the gap where you can set up your
own things there. It just doesn't solve the issue
of consoles. No, not at all. Just need to be
a PC game, clearly. The other solution is to
just get some form of desk in there as well.
So you can just unplug and move. If I could unplug
this and then bring it around to Charlotte's
house and sit on the fucking kitchen counter
playing it, I can figure out something to fucking
move it over there. It's not a necessity. We'll
figure it out. After this, we'll figure something
out because I would like to do that. They did
not figure it out. Yeah. I've got so many things
on our to -do list now. When you said paleo earlier,
what were you saying, paleo? I was going to say...
What got you into playing Paleo off the back
of talking about people being influenced by reviews
and other people's thoughts and opinions? Because
I'd never really heard of Paleo before, but it
looks very similar to... It's got exactly the
same chemistry or genetic makeup of almost every
single survival, minus the survival aspect. It's
a building. It's MMO. mmo yeah but centered around
gathering crafting yeah yeah and there is that
there is a like a storyline of because you're
the only human humans have been gone for like
however many humans and magic has been outlawed
like humans haven't been outlawed but humans
humans are gone other than you and magic has
been outlawed by like the government um And I'm
just at the start of the story. I found a temple
and then... It only came out in 2024. Yeah. And
you're trying to find these batteries that power
these doors and their ruins and stuff. Fantasy
Life Sim Adventure. There you go. That was a
mouthful. That's what it's called. But truthfully,
I couldn't tell you. So I got it on Switch. It's
free. And played it on the Switch a bit, but
graphically on the Switch is absolutely abhorrent,
unfortunately. Which kind of made it feel a bit
shit. Because, I don't know, not shit, but just,
I don't know, didn't really grab me as much.
And then I don't know why I went back to it,
but I kind of did. Got a little bit more into
it. And then it was around the time that Dreamlight
became, in my opinion, unplayable on the Switch.
having been 99 % to reducing slowly, slowly,
slowly, all the way down to like 2%. It had,
but I found it playable. Yes, it was slower loading
times, graphically not brilliant, but then it
just got shocking. And it was as they were bringing
up the DLC that came out in November, I was like,
this is going to get so much worse. There's no
way. So, obviously, I got that on PlayStation.
And I think, yeah, I just had a little look and
I thought, oh, I wonder if. And so, to put that
onto the PlayStation, it was just like, oh, my
God. Remember when you first played, when we
got DreamHack Valley on the PlayStation and just
graphically the difference and how quick it was
and you were like, fuck. And then it allowed
you to carry everything over as well, which is
nice. Yeah, because that's the thing. I think
number one for me, the best thing was the smart
transfer out of the chests, or into the chests.
Because it didn't used to be that bad, but it
got so bad. I'm talking like, you press the button
and it moves like 15 seconds later. It was really,
really bad. Really bad. Which is now instant.
It's lovely. But, my thought train, what did
you say? My brain? The transition from Switch
to PlayStation. Graphically. It looked really
good. Played really well. Yeah, I know, but what
was I going to say? I can't remember. I said
about the Czech Republic. About playing Palia.
DLC came out for Dreamlight. Yeah, but ultimately,
yeah, and that's what... I'll remember what I
was going to say in a minute. But that's what
made me switch. And then I got so much more into
it because, yeah, everything is so much quicker
and just nice. Like, it's so... nice visually
yeah yeah oh that's what i was gonna say um i
knew it would come back so what you said there
about it switching over with dreamlight i was
so confused because everything it says it's like
oh no this is um like specific to console it
doesn't change over um but it has which is i
really don't understand um yeah i'll take it
i'll tell you i'm not complaining It's almost
like, you know, like when Amazon during COVID
and it was like, this is going to take three
days to get you, babe. Jokes. It's always like,
we'll be there tomorrow. I've got a very quick
review for Palia from someone that's played it
done 79 hours. I first played Palier back when
it first released before it was on Steam and
had an absolute blast with it. It's addictive,
it's fun and there's always something to do.
Sometimes I have to take it slow and focus on
one thing at a time else I'll get overwhelmed
with choice. Here I am back again two years later.
I started from scratch and the intro has been
streamlined so much better now. I think the only
thing the game really lacks for beginners is
there's not much of a tutorial around how to
set up your house, add rooms, etc. It kind of
just throws you in and lets you figure it all
out for yourself. Not that it's exactly complicated,
but still. It's a completely free game with absolutely
no incentive to spend money. There's no gacha,
no pay to win, nothing of the sort. You can purchase
additional outfits and pets with coin bundles.
These are by no means cheap, but there is plenty
of choice. And again, no pressure to buy them
whatsoever. It's currently my favourite game
to sit back on the couch and relax with on my
Steam Deck. Nice. It's got very positive reviews.
They very recently, like I'm in December, introduced,
they've called it a Lunar Path. The first one
is Path of the Kitsuni or something like that,
I think. And that did get some criticism. With
the whole... What was it called? Dark... It's
called something like dark... Dark something.
I feel like Ash would know the term. For what?
The pay thing. So basically the price of something.
So like the bundles of coins. It's like $1 ,700
or $3 ,200. But the price of the thing is $1
,900. So... if you bought 1700 it's not enough
so you then have to buy 3200 in order to get
something that's 19 or something like that um
they got a bit critical but there's a concept
and it's called dark something um where that
that concept basically um but again yeah that
person is right like it's still no um obligation
like in the same like fortnite you can you can
play fortnite for something that's completely
free yeah um The only difference being I don't
know that there's any way you could sort of like
earn the sort of paleo coins. I think it is purely
you have to buy them because obviously Fortnite
you can earn an element of V -Bucks. Dreamlight
you can earn Moonstones. So, and actually I like
never bothered when they brought in the Dream
Snaps, which is like a weekly contest where it's
either an outfit or like a area that it will
have a prompt and you... You design it, and then
you take a photo, upload it, and everyone votes
on it. And I never bothered. But actually, it's
a fucking cracking way to get Moonstones. Because
even if all you do is the tags that they're looking
for, you fulfill those tags, you'll get some.
Something, yeah. So that is actually way better.
What did we work out? You've got like 150 -something
quids worth of fucking Moonstones. Yeah. And
you haven't bought them. No. Or not all of them?
Some of them I've bought, yeah. But you got some
with the bundles. Within bundles, yeah. But yeah,
the majority of that. I can probably say that
safely there's at least 100 quids worth of rhinestones
there that you haven't bought. But that's where
Gameloft, I think, have looked after us because
obviously the entire concept of Dreamlight Valley
initially was going to become a free -to -play
game and you were buying the chance to be a guinea
pig, basically. It was sort of like part and
parcel of... like yeah you're going to help you
know you're going to get bugs but that's the
whole point basically um and what they did sort
of do around that time they would just go look
sorry guys here's whatever like they would give
quite a lot yeah um and bearing in mind that
everything that you can buy with moonstones is
something that is like aesthetic it's an outfit
it's a house style it's a outfit for a character
whatever it's a pet they're quite good at just
sort of going like oh like apologizing and making
things right i found quite impressive yeah yeah
it's being there was um the house style that
they advertised in the trailer um for wish blossom
which is the latest dlc when it got like delivered
it was different and like out really out of proportion
and yeah within days they'd like gone look well
sorry here's and like everyone who'd pre -ordered
it got to keep them both So even if it wasn't
quite right, you still had it, but you could
get the new one. It's always nice when there's
something, when the player feedback is acknowledged.
We had that with, on WoW, there's meta achievements
that you can get for every expansion. And they're
basically just really fucking hard achievements
to get that take you all over the expansion.
Very few people actually end up getting them.
You usually get a mount at the end of it or a
title or something. And it's just a long list
of all these obscure things that you have to
do. All these other achievements you have to
get. And then you'll get the meta achievement.
And there was one for Dragonflight. And the reward
for it was a mount. And it was basically a big
old dog. Looks like a Tibetan Mastiff almost.
Big fucking... dog thing um and in the in the
game when these aren't your mounts they're huge
so then when the gay when the meta achievement
come out and you could get the mount the mount
itself was huge it was like two three times the
size of a normal mount oh shit so you were still
a normal size person riding this fucking huge
dog thing and it looked sick um and everyone
loved it but then for some reason blizzard scaled
it down to the same size as every other mount
And everyone kicked off about it, even though
there's such a small portion of people that had
them out. Everyone kicked off because they were
like, why? Why have you done that? There's no
need to do that. And they reverted it because
everyone complained. So it's like, here's your
feedback. Listen. It's minute detail. We want
you to change it. Change it back. They go, okay,
let's fucking change it back. I don't know why
they changed it in the first place. maybe to
fit more aesthetically for them or fuck knows.
But it's just nice when Blizzard's probably not
a good company to use for that example of always
listening to player feedback. But it's just nice
when companies do listen to what their player
base is saying, especially if it's from a game
where they've had people pay to essentially be
a beta tester. And yeah, a lot of people were
quite... annoyed when they then doubled back
on that and they were like actually we're going
to leave it as a as a paid game um because there
was like there's always moonstones have always
been there and it was i remember god if you go
back in the pod episodes like you were waiting
for it to be like to become you're waiting for
that diablo immortal moment and you know where
yeah all of a sudden this game that you've really
been enjoying is now just going, pay me, come
on, cough up. And obviously that didn't happen.
And I do think that it is good. I do think it's
a good thing that they've taken it in that direction.
And the way that the bug reporting system is
quite cool. You just scan a QR code on the page
and... And it will even like list, the first
thing it lists is go, right, here's the ones
that we know about. So like when I was the slider
with the daytime thing and like since the new
update, you can't go backwards. And there they
were like, yep, sorry, we know. Here's how a
temporary way of getting around that. Nice. You
know what I mean? Like that's quite, that's quite
nice. They're not perfect. Like there are things
that have been ongoing that still haven't been
sort of looked at. I think you also get, you
get a lot of people as well with those types
of like Path of Exiles and other one. Star Citizen
there's so many games out there where they're
in early access but you have to pay to gain access
to the early access where people will play those
games and almost forget that they're early access
and then kick off about those games and go this
is shit because X Y and Z you go well you're
a tester so tell them you've kind of got a job
there you've kind of paid to sign yourself up
to to be a tester so yes complain but you need
to action your complaints if that's what the
current state of the game is in your if you've
got a problem you need to tell the developer
it's your job to tell those developers this is
what your problem is if you're just talking bollocks
then you're just talking bollocks but if you
have a genuine if you've come across something
genuinely wrong and it's pissing you off then
report it because that's what you're there for
it's an early access game but the result i think
of that can be people almost feel like they're
then owed something like when it then exited
early access it's like well what do i get yeah
you know like because there were initial bundles
with with the game you had the base game then
you had like one up where you got a start amount
of moonstones you got an outfit you got a pet
whatever but then there was this third one that
was probably maybe 60 or 70 quid. I can't remember.
It's a long time ago now. But the outfit in that
one has never come around again. And yeah, there's
people that really cling on to that, that we
should have been given that. But you're not really
owed anything, ultimately. What you usually see
is, here's a game, here's early access, 20 quid,
and you can have access to the entire game and
when it fully releases. be warned you're playing
an early access game up until that point and
then when the game fully releases oh the game's
45 quid but you've already paid a 20 so you you
have the game oh yeah so it's like that's that's
usually your reward for doing that is you've
had early access you've had access to a game
two years prior to its release but then when
it's fully released you don't pay anything else
it was going to be a free to play it was all
going to change there was there was things that
were in place that then didn't occur But I mean,
I'm of the mind of like, I don't really care.
But is it, do you still pay the same as what
you did beforehand? What do you mean? If I was
to go and buy a Dreamluck Valley now, would I
be paying the same as what you've paid? Potentially.
They do a hell of a lot of sales. Yeah, I think
you can pick it up. I don't even know what the,
because that's the killer. It doesn't show you
once you own it. I feel like I couldn't tell
you what it costs on. It'll be on Steam anyway,
won't it? Yeah, have a look. It's currently,
£23 on Steam, but usually it's £33 .50. Yeah,
so that's probably... It probably was about £20
what I paid. Hang on. Let me see if I can find
what I paid. One second. I don't know why the
PlayStation app does that. If you buy something
and then you can just never see what you paid
for it ever again. Oh, well, Thingy does it as
well. Nintendo. What did I buy? Oh, my God. I
bought 1 ,200 Moonstones one time. No way. I
don't remember doing that. You fickle, fickle
woman. Oh, slag. What did I buy here? Pay to
win. Gold edition. What did I get? Oh, no, I
didn't pay. I didn't pay for those Moonstones.
It was included on the Moonstones. Oh, right.
But that's how it worked out. I paid £40. But
that was for the gold edition, so I think that
was the second tier where you got stuff. Fair
enough. Although that doesn't look right because
that's saying February 24, which I played it
before that. August 2023. Disney Dreamlight Valley.
Well, we'll leave it. Yeah, that's why it's really,
really boring to listen to. We'll leave it and
we'll call it there. Oh, okay. Thanks for my
ramblings. I couldn't even summarise what we've
spoken about this episode. Jesus. The title for
this episode looks a bit weird because I don't
know what the fuck it's supposed to title is.
Everything. New Year. All right, Conrad. Everything.
Everything. That's a little revenge nugget there.
If anyone's a Conrad Grayson fan, let us know.
Thank you. Thanks. See you later, everyone. Ooroo.
Ooroo.