I have to wonder what they thought of the combat mechanics of Paper Mario, they didn't seem to mention it at all (unless I zoned out for a minute, which I admit is quite possible).
I recently bought a ROG Ally instead of a Steamdeck, which I got specifically because I have Game Pass and don’t own a PC, so it was much easier to run Xbox on the Ally than the Steamdeck. I won’t say it’s seamless and never has issues, but it’s pretty well integrated and plays without issue probably 90-95% of the time. Haven’t had the heat issue, but my Ally is fairly new, only about a month or two old. If they had an Xbox handheld, I’d have just gotten that, but now that I have an Ally, I don’t think I’d be interested unless it has significantly better battery life (I almost wrote gas mileage, too much multitasking), instant startup, and a better display.
Would y'all ever do a spoiler episode of animal well? With everyone being so cagey about it, I've missed getting some of the in depth discussion about the game because no one wants to say something they shouldn't. I'm now about 20 hours in and 44 eggs in wanting to hear about your post credits experience, what you thought about the unique mechanics, etc.
Russ went on the Triple Click podcast and I think they went pretty in depth there. I didn't listen precisely because they did that, but you could check that out!
I am one of those people who would be excited for a new Gears. There are so few games that Husband and I can sit on the couch and play together so we often look forward to new Gears titles. I lost interest in Halo when they dropped local co-op for Halo 5. And now that my kid is older it’s also been fun to go back and play early Halo and Gears with him. I’d love for a brand new shooter series to offer local co-op but until that happens I have to look forward to Gears releases.
Haven't had a chance to listen to the episode yet, but since it's not in the show notes, wanted to take a second to recommend Nine Sols, which I've not seen covered pretty much anywhere. It's a "Taopunk" metroidvania from RedCandleGames, the Taiwanese dev who made the horror games Detention and Devotion (and got into some hot water with the Chinese government over some "Xi Jinping is Winnie the Pooh" stuff hidden in Devotion). They crowdfunded a couple of years back and I've been looking forward to it since, it just launched this week (May 29), and so far it hasn't disappointed.
This is maybe overselling it a little bit, but the elevator pitch for Nine Sols is essentially "what if Hollow Knight took some of its inspiration from Sekiro instead of Dark Souls". Its combat is sharp, fast, and very focused on parrying, and it feels tight as hell. The art and animation are gorgeous, the sci-fantasy world design is really fun, the story is solid (so far), and the movement and exploration feel fluid and rewarding. Fair warning that it's pretty tough (and this is coming from someone with a lot of Sekiro and Hollow Knight under his belt) and can feel a bit punishing at first, but that's made it all the more satisfying for me so far. (I've played for around 6 hours, and I'm guessing the whole thing clocks in somewhere in the 15-20 hour region.)
I'm a Griffin-level Sekiro enjoyer and a near-Russ-level metroidvania enjoyer, and Nine Sols is scratching both itches at once. It feels like it's flying way under the radar right now, so wanted to signal boost it for everyone here!
Not exactly what you were talking about, but Folding Ideas has a couple of video essays about WoW that really go into the history and a lot of interesting philosophy of gaming
I just want a Death Stranding 2 trailer. Maybe not everybody is a fan of his games but he knows how to cut a trailer. I still go back and watch old Death Stranding and MGS trailers just for fun. I don't think anybody else really does it like him.
I'm a huge Dragon Age fan (dread worm is also acceptable, Griffin), and Chris really summed it up... EA and Bioware have continuously dumbed down the combat because they think THAT'S the problem, but oops turns out people do actually like complicated combat when it's done well. Oh no! Why would they listen to their target audience
Hey Besties! I’ve been a fan for years and have recently been catching up on the backlog before I started, but I haven’t seen anything anywhere about the Superhot series, a polygonal time manipulation action type game, and I would love to hear y’all’s thoughts and criticisms! Huge fan of the show, can’t stress enough how much you guys help inform what games I should check out or maybe pass on, thanks for your dedication! (Also bonus, Serial Cleaners on switch is a fantastic game, acting as a body disposal crew for professional hitmen, it’s a great time, check it out)
I picked up Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door based off the high praise it has and in spite of having bounced of the original when I tried playing it on Nintendo Switch Online. Really hoping to connect with it, but need to play more before I can really form an opinion.
This week’s video game related anime recommendation is Sword Art Online. I just finished the first season this week and I think it would appeal to some of the Besties audience. If anyone has played any of the SAO games I’d really appreciate some insight into whether they are any good or if I should just stick to the anime.
Hey gang, I have been waiting for Ghost of Tsushima to come out on PC for years now and with it finally being released on Steam, I am finally playing it for the first time. I was so curious what your initial thoughts were when this came out that I searched for your review on the game when it was released in 2020. I was shocked to hear how poorly it was received by everyone, it sounded similar to Cyberpunk’s initial release with bugs and many issues. Did anyone go back to play it in the state it’s at now? I am enjoying the gameplay and visuals immensely, I could only imagine just how rough of a state it was in before.
That’s surprising to hear! I thought it was well received and I loved it. To be fair, I didn’t play it myself, but I live with my brother and he played it while I watched, loving the story and the visuals and the combat. I’m actually trying to convince him to play it again, because I want to rewatch my show. 😁
Dang, I wish they had spent a bit more time discussing Paper Mario than they did this episode. Even for Besties, I felt like they were done with this game in 10 minutes and moved to the B side really fast.
I have been on the fence for this one considering its price tag and would have loved to hear more of their thoughts.
As someone who loves Paper Mario TTYD, not sure if I’d go for the $60 price tag 😬
It’s a fairly short game, on a vacation I sat down and beat it in one sitting. I don’t think the gameplay made that happen so much as the nostalgia of having not beaten it in over a decade.
I recommend trying out Bug Fables, which is much cheaper and owes its existence to TTYD.
Yes! Bug Fables is such a great 'grown-up' version of Paper Mario, in that it is mechanically similar but has more interesting mechanics and it can be actually challenging for more experienced players.
I was also debating getting TTYD but the bounced off the $60 tag. Maybe I'll redownload Bug Fables and replay.
Y'all ABSOLUTELY need to check out the show "The GOAT" on Amazon. It's a competition show hosted by Daniel Tosh that mashes up a bunch of ideas and "stars" from reality TV and it's probably the most entertaining reality show I've seen since New World. It's so funny, you don't really like ANYONE for too long, and Tosh really brings a needed air of cynicism to the whole ordeal. It's 6 episodes in to a 10 episode season right now, so it's the perfect time to binge and catch up!
I have to wonder what they thought of the combat mechanics of Paper Mario, they didn't seem to mention it at all (unless I zoned out for a minute, which I admit is quite possible).
I recently bought a ROG Ally instead of a Steamdeck, which I got specifically because I have Game Pass and don’t own a PC, so it was much easier to run Xbox on the Ally than the Steamdeck. I won’t say it’s seamless and never has issues, but it’s pretty well integrated and plays without issue probably 90-95% of the time. Haven’t had the heat issue, but my Ally is fairly new, only about a month or two old. If they had an Xbox handheld, I’d have just gotten that, but now that I have an Ally, I don’t think I’d be interested unless it has significantly better battery life (I almost wrote gas mileage, too much multitasking), instant startup, and a better display.
With my backlog in steam and the Xbox cloud gaming, I am set as far as a handheld.
Would y'all ever do a spoiler episode of animal well? With everyone being so cagey about it, I've missed getting some of the in depth discussion about the game because no one wants to say something they shouldn't. I'm now about 20 hours in and 44 eggs in wanting to hear about your post credits experience, what you thought about the unique mechanics, etc.
Russ went on the Triple Click podcast and I think they went pretty in depth there. I didn't listen precisely because they did that, but you could check that out!
Thanks! Checked it out and it's def more of what I wanted. They still stayed a little light but a good listen
I am one of those people who would be excited for a new Gears. There are so few games that Husband and I can sit on the couch and play together so we often look forward to new Gears titles. I lost interest in Halo when they dropped local co-op for Halo 5. And now that my kid is older it’s also been fun to go back and play early Halo and Gears with him. I’d love for a brand new shooter series to offer local co-op but until that happens I have to look forward to Gears releases.
Such a great point about the co-op!
Haven't had a chance to listen to the episode yet, but since it's not in the show notes, wanted to take a second to recommend Nine Sols, which I've not seen covered pretty much anywhere. It's a "Taopunk" metroidvania from RedCandleGames, the Taiwanese dev who made the horror games Detention and Devotion (and got into some hot water with the Chinese government over some "Xi Jinping is Winnie the Pooh" stuff hidden in Devotion). They crowdfunded a couple of years back and I've been looking forward to it since, it just launched this week (May 29), and so far it hasn't disappointed.
This is maybe overselling it a little bit, but the elevator pitch for Nine Sols is essentially "what if Hollow Knight took some of its inspiration from Sekiro instead of Dark Souls". Its combat is sharp, fast, and very focused on parrying, and it feels tight as hell. The art and animation are gorgeous, the sci-fantasy world design is really fun, the story is solid (so far), and the movement and exploration feel fluid and rewarding. Fair warning that it's pretty tough (and this is coming from someone with a lot of Sekiro and Hollow Knight under his belt) and can feel a bit punishing at first, but that's made it all the more satisfying for me so far. (I've played for around 6 hours, and I'm guessing the whole thing clocks in somewhere in the 15-20 hour region.)
I'm a Griffin-level Sekiro enjoyer and a near-Russ-level metroidvania enjoyer, and Nine Sols is scratching both itches at once. It feels like it's flying way under the radar right now, so wanted to signal boost it for everyone here!
Not exactly what you were talking about, but Folding Ideas has a couple of video essays about WoW that really go into the history and a lot of interesting philosophy of gaming
Why It's Rude to Suck at Warcraft
And
Warcraft Classic and What We Left Behind
I just want a Death Stranding 2 trailer. Maybe not everybody is a fan of his games but he knows how to cut a trailer. I still go back and watch old Death Stranding and MGS trailers just for fun. I don't think anybody else really does it like him.
I'm a huge Dragon Age fan (dread worm is also acceptable, Griffin), and Chris really summed it up... EA and Bioware have continuously dumbed down the combat because they think THAT'S the problem, but oops turns out people do actually like complicated combat when it's done well. Oh no! Why would they listen to their target audience
Hey Besties! I’ve been a fan for years and have recently been catching up on the backlog before I started, but I haven’t seen anything anywhere about the Superhot series, a polygonal time manipulation action type game, and I would love to hear y’all’s thoughts and criticisms! Huge fan of the show, can’t stress enough how much you guys help inform what games I should check out or maybe pass on, thanks for your dedication! (Also bonus, Serial Cleaners on switch is a fantastic game, acting as a body disposal crew for professional hitmen, it’s a great time, check it out)
I picked up Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door based off the high praise it has and in spite of having bounced of the original when I tried playing it on Nintendo Switch Online. Really hoping to connect with it, but need to play more before I can really form an opinion.
This week’s video game related anime recommendation is Sword Art Online. I just finished the first season this week and I think it would appeal to some of the Besties audience. If anyone has played any of the SAO games I’d really appreciate some insight into whether they are any good or if I should just stick to the anime.
Hey gang, I have been waiting for Ghost of Tsushima to come out on PC for years now and with it finally being released on Steam, I am finally playing it for the first time. I was so curious what your initial thoughts were when this came out that I searched for your review on the game when it was released in 2020. I was shocked to hear how poorly it was received by everyone, it sounded similar to Cyberpunk’s initial release with bugs and many issues. Did anyone go back to play it in the state it’s at now? I am enjoying the gameplay and visuals immensely, I could only imagine just how rough of a state it was in before.
That’s surprising to hear! I thought it was well received and I loved it. To be fair, I didn’t play it myself, but I live with my brother and he played it while I watched, loving the story and the visuals and the combat. I’m actually trying to convince him to play it again, because I want to rewatch my show. 😁
Also if you're ever looking for back up besties, I'd love to see you guys host pirate software. He has a really solid energy
Dang, I wish they had spent a bit more time discussing Paper Mario than they did this episode. Even for Besties, I felt like they were done with this game in 10 minutes and moved to the B side really fast.
I have been on the fence for this one considering its price tag and would have loved to hear more of their thoughts.
As someone who loves Paper Mario TTYD, not sure if I’d go for the $60 price tag 😬
It’s a fairly short game, on a vacation I sat down and beat it in one sitting. I don’t think the gameplay made that happen so much as the nostalgia of having not beaten it in over a decade.
I recommend trying out Bug Fables, which is much cheaper and owes its existence to TTYD.
Yes! Bug Fables is such a great 'grown-up' version of Paper Mario, in that it is mechanically similar but has more interesting mechanics and it can be actually challenging for more experienced players.
I was also debating getting TTYD but the bounced off the $60 tag. Maybe I'll redownload Bug Fables and replay.
Y'all ABSOLUTELY need to check out the show "The GOAT" on Amazon. It's a competition show hosted by Daniel Tosh that mashes up a bunch of ideas and "stars" from reality TV and it's probably the most entertaining reality show I've seen since New World. It's so funny, you don't really like ANYONE for too long, and Tosh really brings a needed air of cynicism to the whole ordeal. It's 6 episodes in to a 10 episode season right now, so it's the perfect time to binge and catch up!
Paging Justin and Griffin! Would love to see if we could get a besties fan raid group together for the final shape!