51: The Geekenders: Game Awards HOT TAKES with BreeBunn

Yeah, yeah, you know what time it is.

It's time for the geek in this podcast.

Mega Rand, Jesse, and Dodger.

What up?

Let's go.

Yo, it's the weekend.

Yeah, it's time to geek out.

Let it begin.

Go on, stream and shout.

It's Jesse and Dodger.

So give them a follow and see what the geekiners are all about.

Yo, it's the weekend.

Yeah, it's time to geek out.

Let it begin.

Go on, stream and shout.

It's Jesse and Dodger.

So give them a follow.

Number one geek podcast, without a doubt.

Yo, another end of another long week.

Got a job and a kid, I know that you all beat.

So take a second, grab a drink, and vibe.

While we catch you up in just a matter of time on gaming, comics, whatever you're doing.

If you're nerdy like us, then you know you should tune in.

Thank you for sharing our world with us.

Now follow, subscribe, and turn to some.

Yo, it's the weekend.

Yeah, it's time to geek out.

Let it begin.

Go on, scream and shout.

It's Jesse and Dodger.

So give them a follow, number one, deep podcast.

Without a a doubt.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Geekenders.

We've got the Dooker, we've got the Jessup, and we have...

I was trying to think of something clever to say about the fact that everyone's writing articles about you being a character creator miser.

Yes, my claim to fame.

We have lovely Brie Bun.

It was just an absolute delight.

I'm so glad we finally get you on the show.

I know, same.

Long time coming.

So I'm happy to be here.

Thank you for having me on.

Yeah, of course.

Would you like to pitch to everybody who you are?

Sure.

Hello, the people of the internet.

My name is Bri

or Bree Bun.

I'm a variety streamer.

I do a lot of narrative-based games.

I cry a lot.

I'm a crybaby.

I also draw.

I play in a D and D game with Dodger every Sunday.

It's very amazing.

It's called Sunforged.

And yeah, that's basically me.

I'm,

that was,

well, this is how I got here.

That's, yeah.

I mean,

whenever somebody asks me what I do, that's basically all.

So it's just like, well, I do this and this and I

play games and stuff.

And that's all she wrote.

Yeah.

And we have matching clothing.

Any of you who hit the audio only, I need you to know that I'm wearing the most obnoxiously blue-colored hat ever.

And then Bree said, I have a sweater that's that color.

And now we're matching.

And if that's not friendship, I don't know what it is.

And Jesse is just not wearing this hint of blue.

I know.

No blue to be found.

No blue to be blue.

This was sprung on me.

And honestly, I'm kind of upset.

But more than upset, I'm excited for the opportunities to blue screen Dodger's head, chat.

Here's what we're going to do.

I want photos, videos, whatever you got.

Oh, my God.

If at any point in time, Dodger makes like a wacky goof or does like a silly voice, blue screen that head.

Give us something awesome.

What's going on up there?

Is it plants?

Is it a cheetah?

Is it the entire B movie?

Whatever is going on up on that head, let me know.

I see.

You want it to be like what's happening in the brain inside internally.

Yeah, yeah.

That's that's clear.

I said you could make it look like a monster is eating part of my head.

Oh, that's good too.

But I feel like yours is more of like a tattoo.

Take a Shrek head there and it like same effect.

Could.

Yeah.

What could Bree's sweatshirt be?

Um, a sweatshirt.

Like a lovely, awesome sweatshirt.

Like a very good one.

I'm not going to be like, hey, chat, blue screen the guest.

Just like get in there.

Like it's a full shirt.

So who knows what you can do with that?

Like,

what's, you know, go crazy.

Torment reserved for Dodger.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just for Dodger.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So whatever you want to stick up there,

go nuts.

Go for it, chat.

I give my consent.

Feel free to do weird shit with my brother.

You can talk about a Christmas tree or a...

Cute.

Yeah, like a minion head.

Whatever.

Whatever matters you have.

I love that.

Yeah.

Did I already talk about this?

I found out that a person I used to go to school with has like multiple minions tattoos.

And I was like, how does that even start?

What a choice to make.

No, she was really excited about the first one and then she just kept getting more.

And it feels like every time.

Because I very rarely go on Facebook.

I was going to delete it.

And then I decided to keep it because it's basically the only way to keep in touch with some members of my family.

And also get updates of minion tattoos.

And also

get to find out whether or not this person is a new minion tattoo.

And the answer is usually yes.

But

it's a really cursed section, I guess.

Yeah.

I have so many questions.

So are these questions?

I don't know if I can answer you.

I went to elementary school with this girl.

No, no, no, it's not.

Here's the thing.

It has nothing to do with that person as a person and only tattoo-based questions.

First question.

Yes.

Are they minions in the design of the minions from the movies?

Or are they like cool tattoo-stylized minions?

Like the Calvin peeing on stuff sort of thing, except it's a minion.

I was thinking more like

it was evil.

Or like a ripped minion.

Yeah, like a pin-up girl minion or

like a cool devil chick minion, right?

It's like a devil chick, but then just has the one eye and like a goofy smile.

No, it's I feel like what you're asking is, is it in line with who they are in the movies or is it like more irreverent?

Yes, none of them.

Canon

canon minion activities exactly.

Does Bob tattooed on the flesh have the same impact as Bob in the minion movies?

I don't think he could.

I don't think that's possible.

How do you capture that?

Truly, an aura there.

Have you guys ever watched the videos of people doing the voice acting for the minions?

No.

Hilarious.

A papagena, I believe, is the phrase that pays.

It's amazing.

Banana.

Yeah.

Banana.

Yes.

Yeah.

Some pub Pisco is is one of my faves from the new one.

Of course, of course.

It's like the new Simlish.

It is.

It really is.

I get into these modes where I can't stop quoting minion phrases.

It's really great.

It's fantastic, actually.

Abelle.

Yeah.

All of the great.

Hello.

Yeah.

All right.

You still answer the question, Dukes.

I still need to know.

Yeah,

you tried to divert, but I need to know what these titles are.

No, no, no.

None of them are irreverent.

They're all just minions being minions.

Okay.

None of them feel like they could also double as a bumper sticker.

Follow-up question.

Are they separate on the body or

is it some sort of elaborate, like one sleeve?

I wish it was a sleeve.

All the minions, like, come together into one yellow.

They're in different spots on the body.

Oh, I wish so badly they were a sleeve.

That would almost be better, I think.

Right?

Like a a whole

thousand minions.

That'd be amazing.

Actual commitment to loving minions would be the sleeve, I think.

Yeah.

I agree.

So where do you think different minions end up on the body?

Like, why?

I was just going to ask, like, which care on the body are we talking when you say different places.

Yeah.

The first one was the ankle.

And

I don't really remember where the rest of them were, but the first one was like

a minion on a skateboard on her ankle,

which is like pretty tight.

That is sick in a lot of ways.

So, yeah.

I have a hypothetical question for both of you.

Yeah.

You're single, you're going on a date.

Yeah.

You get home.

Things are heating up.

Your partner of this date strips down.

They turn around.

They have Bob tramp stamps

with a thumbs up two thumbs up

what is your reaction

honestly

I can say my reaction

sorry should I keep this SFW

my reaction came to me very quickly and I was like can't say that

honestly too dirty

I feel like the appreciation of a good goof is attractive to me.

Right.

So, like, I would have questions.

I would have questions.

I'd want to know, like, under what circumstances did we get this tattoo?

True.

And I don't know if the story was funny enough.

Because the answer, in that situation, the answer can't just be, I just like minions.

I refuse.

That's not the answer.

I just really like minions.

I just really like minions, and I needed to put them above my ass crack.

That's not what happened, right?

Like, there's more to the story.

Yeah, there's a story.

How willing are you to tell me the truth?

Yeah, is that like a first date?

I'll tell you about my minion tramp stamp.

Or is that like a, oh, we're like official now.

Now I have to tell you about my minion tramp stamp.

Wait, that would be so much worse, I think, if you saw it and they were like, I'll tell you

later.

Like, there are

people who are.

That's like those memes that are like, stop for me.

And you're like touching the middle tattoo off their butt.

Don't get another one, please.

Please.

Oh, God.

Oh, my goodness.

Jesse's brilliant on something this entire time.

I can't.

Look, look, I'm just going to say what I was going to say.

Please.

In this scenario, when you said

she strips down, has the tattoo.

Yeah.

The first thing that came to my head head was, Bob about to get a banana.

That's what popped into my head immediately.

That's real quick of you.

You want to be so funny?

That's actually the perfect response, I think.

And then you two are both soulmates forever.

Yeah, I was going to say, if, yeah, in that situation, if that's immediately what you said, again, I feel like that tattoo is only achieved under a goof.

So why not goof, right?

Exactly.

And also, it's like a test.

If you had that tattoo, you could very quickly weed out like who is cool like in your book

In your hypothetical minion book, right?

I don't like this version of cool where it's like you know who's cool

from minions tramp stamp if they don't trash they're for the street.

Yeah, there's something really messed up about that.

You know what else?

Is that we were just talking about the scenario in which Jesse's mom is listening to this podcast.

Oh,

yep.

So I'm going to need her to also respond.

How would you react?

Please don't.

Mom, I don't need this text message that's like, someone's watching today.

And Dodger wanted my opinion on minion tramp stamps?

I do.

Tramp stamp.

Yeah.

I'm going to have to be like, oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

My mom's like, oh, I know a few people with tramp stamps.

And trust me, it's all all butterflies and sparkles.

I don't know what's going on.

She's going to have a whole sassy take.

Love that.

Like, you can't even look at it.

It's on your butt.

You couldn't even see it.

Why get the tattoo?

Honestly, that's so fair.

I have so most of the tattooage that I have on my body, I can't even see very easily.

Like, what the fuck was I thinking?

Everything I've planned since then.

They're all pretty, but everything I've planned since then has been like arms.

Like, want to be able to see it.

Yeah.

yeah

yeah i i yeah i still don't have a tattoo but if

we start hitting consecutive back-to-back 200 000 viewer uh vods

i'm about to get a dodger tattoo on my body it's like

the offer's still on the table chat you just need to make it happen and i will have a dodger tattoo jesse is so

positive that that will never ever happen that i said this out loud multiple times back to back i don't think it's gonna happen i don't think i don't think they have it in oh my god come on you guys know what to do viewers

let's get those numbers up guys it could be it could be the little mushroom but wearing a minion outfit oh

could be oh my gosh i'd have to explain that to people for the rest of my life you would be like what is that

you would be the person with the minion tattoo yeah you become the hypothetical we were talking you are the hypothetical

Nice, nice.

I like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It'll give us something to talk about.

As I awkwardly stripped out and tried to cover my minion tattoo.

Like, what is that?

Stop.

It's nothing.

Don't worry about it.

That's a day five discussion.

We're not there.

I'm on this podcast.

Well, I obviously wanted Brie on the podcast anyway, but one of the reasons that I reached out to you this week is because I think you just finished Vailgard.

I did.

Yes, I did.

And Brie is like a huge lorehound, just like Jesse is.

And I felt bad the last couple of weeks.

Jesse's been talking about Dragon Age, and it's been a lot of me going,

nod, nod, nod.

That sounds very neat.

Jesse, I have something to show you.

I didn't know you were a big lorehound, so this is exciting.

This is my Dragon Age Origins DA2 and

Inquisition notebook, and this is my DA TV Vaillegard notebook of lore notes as I went through and very crafted.

Yeah, hold on.

What do you mean?

What are your notes of?

What are you talking about?

Well, especially in working my way from Origins to Inquisition, all through it, you know, in Dragon Age, it's so much unreliable narration of history.

I was trying to keep track of all the information because there was a lot of like oxymoronical statements and things that went against each other.

And I was like, is this just this, but a different interpretation?

I felt like I was like historically deep diving.

It was very cool.

So I was just keeping track of information and like writing down things that I was like, that doesn't add up.

I think it's going to come up later.

Very fun.

I must stress to you, the teacher part of me is like so proud.

There's like a thing happening where I'm just like,

This is, you really did it.

You studied and everything.

I did.

I did.

I took it a little bit too seriously.

Like, there were moments where I was like, I am getting so much joy out of this that, like, am I, is there something wrong with my brain?

Like, why am I spending like hours taking notes and writing theories about a video game?

But it's satisfying.

Yeah.

What would you say?

So having played through them all, but not in a

recent timeframe.

Like when I got COVID a few years back, I played through all of Mass Effect again.

And I was like, oh yeah, I I forgot that was a thing.

And like, oh, that, right?

And I went back through and I had a hell of a time.

It was great.

So when it comes to Dragon Age, my playing is like when the games come out is when I played them.

And I have like, all right, I remember this is a thing.

And remember, this is a thing.

And it's like, oh, yeah, I know Dorian was definitely trying to bang me the entire time.

Like that kind of stuff.

But then I'll forget little story tidbits about like, oh yeah, the dwarves don't dream.

Why is that?

And so they, I'm glad that this game gives you enough like extra background information that you're like, oh, all right, I'm back in.

I remember what this plot point was.

I'm very thankful for that, that they're doing with

Vailguard.

For sure.

Yeah, I think they had to come at it from an angle of knowing that a lot of people probably hadn't played the last game in 10 years and then also didn't expect them to have played it recently either.

So I feel like some people's interpretation of that who have played those games recently were like, oh, there's too much exposition drops in Vailgard.

But I think it's necessary for people who are like diehard fans or are just new to the series probably and are like, what is going on?

I don't understand or I don't remember, you know.

So I think it's like a necessary thing for them to have added.

Yeah, I'm, I'm,

I'm not done with the game yet.

I think I'm in

maybe act three.

I don't, every time I think I'm close to the end, it's like, oh no, you just failed again.

Actually, you have to do a whole other thing.

And I'm like,

okay, I will.

But everything I've played so far has been a real treat.

I'm having a great time.

The biggest problem is that, unfortunately for me, I have a thing in video games where if there's like an array of characters that definitely want to bone down, I will always pick the one that's like,

I do love you, but if I kiss you, you'll die.

Like, that's every time.

Yeah.

Every time.

Oh, I just.

Wait.

Okay.

Dodra, have you played Dragon Age?

None of them.

No, no, no.

I played Inquisition, but I don't remember anything about it.

That's the only Dragon Age game I've played.

You should totally go through all of them.

I feel like you would love, especially the romance aspect is like super fun.

Jesse, I was going to ask you, who did you romance in each game?

And who are you like anticipating you're going to romance in Vailgard or have already started a romance with?

So in the first dragon age,

I want to say, no matter what, the entire time, it was either between

Morgan or

Liliana.

Yes, yes.

It was always like, do I pick like the dark-haired woman or the redhead every time?

It was a back and forth battle.

Do I want to destroy reality and bring some sort of dragon creature into the world?

Absolutely.

Yes.

Fleming, let's go.

I'm a freak.

Yeah, always the entire time.

Yeah.

But then in Inquisition, I was like,

you know what?

I'm going to, what's this Cassandra been here?

Cassandra, she's great.

I was like, what is this?

And unfortunately for me, Inquisition just consistently was like, actually, there's more open world and get lost in the Hinterlands again.

I'm like, how dare you?

I just want to romance this woman who likes erotica.

Why can't, you know, how dare?

Like, that was a whole thing.

And, but even that was just a trial.

Like, every character in in that game was just like, you want to go back and bang?

And I'm like, sorry.

My girlfriend Cassandra is going through something right now.

So I've got to go deal with this.

And now the same thing's happening again where I'm like, I made a little round, perfectly round meatball dwarf.

He, I only use him to roll, roll on the chests and

to jump kick enemies off cliffs.

He's perfect.

Amazing.

In every way.

And I was like, I got to get with Harding.

Two little, perfect little, like, short dwarf people.

And

yeah, no,

she's a mess.

She's got a lot going on.

She's got a lot going on.

And I'm like,

all I wanted was to get some dwarf on dwarf action.

And no.

Every other character in this game is like,

oh, hello, Rook.

Do you want to smooch later?

And you're like, yeah, but I can't.

Because I went in on Harding and the game literally was like, are you sure you want to do this?

Are you sure you want to smooch Harding?

And I was like, yes.

And then it was like, okay, you're probably gonna die though it was like i don't care

i want them sweet sweet dwarf lips and it was like exactly well that was an amazing dear lukanus impression by the way spot on that was great thank you thank you that's fantastic yeah to me he's just i just wanted to be like

that's all i want

that's all i want from him 100 he's great yeah

I'm enjoying it.

I think the reason I'm enjoying it lately is that it's not,

it feels, and this is such a weird thing to say.

And it's probably a thing that people didn't like about it, but it feels confined to the point where I was like halfway through the game and I was like, I think I've cleared everything.

Like, I think, I think I'm so happy that I've done this.

Yeah.

And it's, and I'm like

objectively getting stuff done.

And my ADD, like, oh, I'm doing this.

I'm solving this.

And I'm not wandering in the wilderness and getting lost in an open world where I'm just like, why did did I spend three hours doing nothing?

Right.

Yes.

It feels like objectives are being accomplished.

And I'm like, okay, my brain, this ticks, this ticks things pretty well.

So for sure.

It's a lot more insular.

It reminds me a lot of Dragon Age 2, which I know a lot of people skipped and I can understand why.

But it feels a lot more self-contained and streamlined in that way.

And I'm appreciative of that as well, because I have ADHD and I could spend 10 hours in the hinterlands easily.

Like, and then I'm like, oh my God, what, what do I have to show for this?

You know, like, what have I done?

But yeah, Donjon, what were you going to ask a second ago?

I can't remember what I was going to ask, but

either last week or the week before, we actually were talking about like games that offer you so much to do and whether or not it feels

after you've done all of this side stuff, if it feels like it contributed to the final goals of the game or

like how much care and attention was put into all of the extra shit that they gave you to do.

And I do remember in the short time that I played Inquisition, I do remember being like, I'm going to do everything in this area and being like, oh my God.

It doesn't, like, none of it is.

I want to go home, Griff.

I'm tired.

Yeah.

Well, Jay.

Yeah.

I feel like it's like Quest Blue, where it can make it feel like you feel so detached from the urgency of the main plot at that point where you're like, I have a cognitive dissonance going on here.

You know, I have to suspend disbelief that I can spend 12 hours in the hinterlands and be like, but the world is going to end.

You know, like there's this balance that's really hard to strike, I think.

Yes.

This like, and one day something's going to happen, but would you like to do these quests over here?

Yeah.

I would.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's always funny when games do that because you're right.

It does kind of take you out of the moment.

Games that I love do that frequently.

Like, I'm a big sucker for

the Horizon games.

It's a redhead thing.

A big sucker for those.

But it's literally like, the world is ending.

The robots will destroy the world.

Do you want to play the racing game?

Yeah.

You're like,

why would I do this?

Or even if it's

like cyberpunk.

I love cyberpunk, but the plot of that is literally like, there's a chip in your head and you're going to die.

Also, do you want to do a bunch of open world stuff and run around?

Like,

sure, but am I not dying?

For my brain to not come up.

Is that still a thing?

Man, it happens all the time in games, and it's always funny to me.

It's like the world will end.

But you can go to the Coliseum and do fighting matches for like four days if you want.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've brought up Banishers quite a few times.

I think because that game really surprised me with how much I fell in love with it, considering that it is a game where it's like, here's the overarching plot, but there's also lots of stuff to do in the world.

And that game felt so much like everything that you were doing, it made sense that you were doing it.

Like they establish the characters that you're playing as as being like.

like our creed, right?

We have sworn to help people with these specific sort of problems.

and so even though we have our own thing going on and we're trying to get stronger to deal with that thing we also feel duty bound to help the people on the way right and so everything that you're doing it feels like it it is in service to who the characters are

and i just wound up doing literally everything because i was like i just Love the world.

I love the characters.

And the side quests are created with so much care, you know?

And yeah, I think my issue is a lot of the times I get bogged down by quest bloat, like you were saying.

Absolutely.

I haven't played Banishers,

but based on what you just said, I know.

Now I really want to check it out.

It's so good.

It's such a sign of like good and well-rounded game design when you can make it feel like

fulfilling in that way, doing all the side quests and feel like it's actually like, doing something rather than just I'm completionist and I feel like I need to do this.

I don't really care about this side quest, but I just want to get it done.

Yes.

Yeah.

I wound up being really invested and like, oh, there's a quest at that person's house.

Wasn't that character this person?

Why do we need to go talk to them?

Right.

Like, it was cool.

It was really like, I felt really fueled.

I felt a lot of urgency to like see what was going on with everyone, you know.

Yeah.

That's a really good feeling.

I will say, if you do wind up playing it, if possible, try not to look up anything about it.

Okay, I won't.

I'll go in completely.

Try to just go and find because

I went in without knowing at all what was going to happen, and I was like, wait a minute,

wait a minute.

Okay, it was awesome.

This is really exciting.

Sounds very nice, speed.

So,

cool.

What is that face?

Yes, this is a face that wants to talk something very specific.

Okay, okay.

So, I want to get gut reactions.

Now that I've talked,

so

this week we got our official announcements for the

awards season.

Yes.

And so we have our game awards nominees.

And I would love to get some hot takes on

game award nominees.

Because I feel like if you're going to do a show like this, we might as well.

Game award nominee discuss

for maximum click baitness.

Yes.

Yeah.

Sounds good.

Sounds Sounds good.

Let's do it.

So I figure we'll start from the bottom and work our way to the top.

I know this first category is one that we all care a great deal about.

The nominees for best esports game.

Yep.

Wow!

We have, first off, Counter-Strike 2 by Valve.

Okay.

Dota 2

by Valve.

League of Legends, Riot Games, and then Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

I've never Googled it.

Have you ever heard of Mobile Legends Bang Bang?

I've never heard of Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Everyone's heard of Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Are we all sure?

You're caring so fast if you don't know what Mobile Legends Bang Bang is.

Everyone at the table knows what Mobile Legends Bang Bang is, and you're just not welcome.

Mobile Legends.

It has a 4.1.

It's big in the Philippines, apparently.

Okay.

That's what people in chat are saying.

5v5 action gameplay.

Oh, it's sounds.

It's a MOBA.

Not my speed.

It's a mobile

MOBA.

There you go.

Okay.

So

MOBA.

I'm going to say, for the record, just on a Jesse Cox vibe, I want Counter-Strike 2 to win because Counter-Strike just feels like it...

I want to see Counter-Strike win frequently and often.

I love that.

Counter-Strike's been in my life for 20 years.

It's not that I play it, but there was a Jesse that did.

And that Jesse was camped on dust, waiting for your ass to come up under that walkway.

And I'd pop you with my sniper rifle, and my friend would watch my back.

So no one could take us out.

And we were just trolling maps.

I want that.

I want to have that.

But I think, yes,

I think League will win because there's like a league hype happening.

Sure.

Yeah.

A league renaissance because of Arcane.

Because of Arcane.

It's very like, we're so back.

Yeah.

I am glad that there's something on there that I hadn't heard of.

Just because I feel like it's one of those categories where you're like, yeah, it's going to be the same shit it was last year.

Right.

Yeah.

There's like a series of games that have a monopoly on that genre, I feel like.

So it's nice to see something new.

Yeah, it's interesting that it's best esport game.

And

yet, still three of the things that are on there are games that have been around for years and years and years.

And

yeah, I wonder if that could have been a more creative category.

There has to be other esports games that have come out.

I don't know if they're extremely popular, but there has to be other ones that you could be like, this was the best one of the new ones that came out so that it could like blow up a little bit.

I don't know.

I was going to say that I'm surprised there isn't like a battle royale game of any kind, but I guess they don't, those aren't really like, they'ren't really esport, like,

what's the word that I'm looking for?

Like, there aren't like events around

that, not in the same way with like

the same way.

Yeah, yeah, no, there's like one-offs, right?

Of like

things, but

yeah, it's competitive, but not like

1v1 team-based, yeah.

Next novelist, yeah, next content creator of the year.

Okay.

Oh, no.

I always feel so bad.

I always feel so bad when I see these because sometimes I don't know who anyone is.

And I'm like, oh, same.

No, same.

I don't know how to pronounce half of these, but I'm going to attempt.

Number one on our list is Case O.

Then we have Elio Juan,

techno gamers with a Z, typical gamer, no Z.

And Usada Pecora,

who I don't, I don't know.

The only person on this list I know

maybe

I think

the only person on this list that I know for sure I know as a person is queso because us fat boys got to stick together.

So I'm going to give that little goober some sweet, sweet love.

But other than that, I have no idea who anyone is.

Yeah.

I think Pecora is the bunny VTuber.

I don't know if I said that name right.

Pecora's from Hololive?

Oh, well, as an official new Hololive stand,

I switched my boat.

I switched my boat.

You have to keep the Hololive fam happy, dude.

You got to see it.

I got to keep them happy.

I don't want them coming for me.

I've played Holo Cure.

Those fans are crazy.

They're like bats.

Most of the Hololive fans are like bats and little cat creatures from Car Captain Sakura and like dudes that go

when they try to attack you.

So like, I don't want to mess with them.

You don't need them.

No,

I only know Keso because of Dress to Impress and his Dress to Impress streams.

Incredible.

Yeah.

No, I just, I always feel so like there was definitely a time, right, when I, if there lists like these came out, I was like, yeah, of course, I know all of those people.

And I just don't, I'm just like so outside of like popular content creators now.

I feel like I just, I, I'm not aware I should be.

I'm the same.

I can't keep up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm, I'm, uh, I watch the uh, what's that on Reddit?

You Twitch Fails or whatever that is.

First off, it's not fails.

I don't know what's going on with that on Reddit.

It's like, here's my favorite stream.

It's not anymore.

Yeah, it used to be.

Now it's just people showing off their favorite streamer doing stuff.

So I keep seeing like, oh, I don't know who this person is, but okay.

Or I'll get caught up in some Twitch stream drama that I don't have context at all for or know who anyone involved is, but I'm like, yo,

this is crazy.

Like, yo, why are they doing this?

Wow, that's so weird.

I can't believe people streamed that.

I don't know what I just watched.

I'm like, oh,

interesting.

The kids are doing things.

That's how I feel these days.

I'm like,

can't keep up with it.

Yeah, yeah.

I didn't realize how prevalent like drama farming is now.

Like even more though, even more to the degree of like people like

just

throwing away any sense of decency, making themselves look awful intentionally because it gets clips.

Yes.

And like, but like to a degree, they're like doing it in a collab now too.

So you'll see like a guy say something really gross to a girl and it's like they're clip farming and they're both in on it, but it feels so weird.

And like, I'm just, I'm like, I'm too old for this.

I don't know what that is.

That stuff is so bonkers to me me because I'm like, surely no one would do that.

Right?

Yeah.

That doesn't make any sense.

Why would you do that?

But yeah.

It makes me feel old.

Understand.

Oh, I understand.

Most anticipated game.

Ooh.

Death Stranding 2.

Okay.

Ghost of Yute.

Grand Theft Auto 6.

Metroid Prime 4, beyond, and Monster Hunter Wilds.

Monster Hunter.

I feel like recency bias.

Yeah, I feel like Recency Bias is going to be Monster Hunter Wild because

these are all voted on by panelists, correct?

Like, there's some that are voted on by the community, but I think there's like a panel of people who vote, right?

I think it's something.

I'm actually not sure how that works.

There's like the site where you can nominate, and then I'll.

Right, but then there's like a bunch of journalists or something that vote for it.

Do they choose based on the things voted?

Like, is there like an allotted like group that gets voted by the people and then the panelists maybe choose, okay, these are our nominees?

I guess it's 10% viewer votes, 90% panelists is what chat is saying.

Okay.

What?

Oh, that's just so weird.

That's really interesting.

I guess that's how most awards show probably work, right?

Like, um

i mean i think no matter what recent like

i would say in a perfect world probably grand theft auto six would be the one everyone was excited for the most but because monster hunter wild is like around the corner and it's looks hype as hell people are probably gonna vote for that but i would imagine it's either that a grand theft auto those seem like the two easiest ones right I think so too.

For sure.

Me personally,

I want Silk Song on there, but I know.

Me too.

Oh, my God.

A lot of people at this point are like, I don't think that game is real.

Which breaks my heart.

It breaks my pain.

It's fine.

I actually, you know, it's messed up.

I forgot about Silk Song until you said that.

Like, it's lived in the recesses of my mind so deeply because I've like given up hoping for it.

I know.

It's become like that old like Half-Life 2 meme.

Where it's like, if you say it, it gets to like it.

It's become, that's the new Half-Life 2.

It's so sad.

Half-Life 2.

That's so sad.

It is.

Oh,

God.

Yeah.

Next category.

Yes.

Best adaptation, I assume, of a game for TV or film.

Oh, okay.

The first is Arcane.

Next is Fallout.

Then Knuckles, which I believe was the Paramount Plus show.

Didn't watch it, but I guess it's the Sonic spin-off.

Yes.

Like a Dragon Yakuza from Amazon, and then Tomb Raider: the legend of Lara Croft

on Netflix.

I think Arcane or France.

I mean, I feel like

Arcane or Fallout's going to win, but I feel like Arcane because it's like happening now.

But it's going to be Arcane or Fallout.

Like

Ella Purnell about to just take home an award.

I feel like that's happening.

Yeah.

I also, I think, like, they're on season two,

and it's like clearly been been like an extremely successful show, right?

Fallout was fantastic, but Arcane, I think, has built up, has had more time to build up more of a fan base than the Fallout show, you know?

Yeah,

yeah, plus, it like is gorgeous to watch.

This season

has been

watched it yet.

I haven't watched it yet either.

So I won't spoil like the plot.

I'm just saying, like, visual art styles.

If you liked how in the first season, every once in a while they throw in something like, oh, that's different.

It happens frequently in season two and it's really cool.

You're like, oh,

yeah, big fan of that.

Hell yeah.

All right.

Best.

Interesting.

This is different, but best multiplayer game.

This is not for the esports.

This is just multiplayer.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

Helldivers 2.

Super Mario Party Jamboree, Tekken 8, and Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2.

I have not played any of those games, but I feel like Helldivers 2 deserves it based on the vicarious hype I heard in my friends' circles about it, right?

It was fun.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It depends on, because it was definitely one of those situations, I think Jesse, you'd probably agree, where like everybody was playing it and then nobody was playing it.

Yeah.

Which is unfortunate.

So whether or not that will affect sort of like public perception or the perception of the forum or whatever.

I mean, it captured the hearts and minds of many people in a way that none of these other games did.

Yeah.

Like Warhammer has a built-in fan base of Warhammer.

I don't know that it's specifically Space Marine 2, but Helldivers made fans and like of people that had nothing to do with the Helldivers universe.

And then they started making the most ridiculous videos and memes and all sorts of stuff.

I feel like it should be that, but we'll see.

I don't know.

I hear the new Mario Party is really fun.

I haven't played it yet, though.

I've

always funny.

Playing with like up to 20 people or something.

Yeah, it's like,

yeah.

Who should play it, guys?

I know.

Let's go.

Let's play it.

It's going to be like, I hate you, Dodger.

I hate you.

And Toad, for some reason.

Yeah.

The next category is an important one.

Best sports slash racing game.

One I'm sure all three of us know a lot about.

Yes.

F124,

EA Sports FC25, NBA 2K25, Top Spin 2K25, and WWE 2K24.

Nice.

Right over my head.

Very cool.

I'm going to say

like, same.

I'm going to say Top Spin 2K25 because I could not tell you what the game Top Spin was about.

Can we guess?

I don't know what sport that is.

Yeah, let's guess.

Top Spin.

It's

a

Frisbee.

Frisbee?

Ultimate Frisbee game.

Great.

Top Spin is making me think like tennis.

Because I mean, I think a volleyball because you put Top Spin when you like serve or spike.

But then I'm like, there's not really any volleyball volleyball games that are popular, so maybe like tennis.

But well, now I want it even more because I'd love the idea of a tennis game winning the best sports game of the year.

People would be so mad, they'd be furious.

100%.

So,

yeah, it could be golf.

I like frisbee, though, too.

Imagine I want it to be frisbee.

I was like, what's a sport where things spin?

And that's where I

frisbee.

I mean, yeah, my brain first went there, to be fair, so I get it.

Next category, best sim/slash strategy game.

Okay, age mythology retold,

Frostpunk 2,

Kinitsugami, Path of the Goddess, Manor Lords, or Unicorn Overlord.

It was tasking.

That's like a wild category because those are vastly different games.

I've not played a single one of those games.

I'm so sorry.

Can you rapid-fire those again for me?

I was looking up what Topspin was.

Topspin is tennis.

It is tennis, guys.

One more time.

One more time.

One more time.

Age Mythology Retold.

Yep.

Frostpunk 2.

Yep.

Konitsugami, Path of the Goddess, Manor Lords, or Unicorn Overlord.

I didn't play any of those.

I think that's the one.

Not that the strategy was cool.

Yeah, I'm not either.

It's very cool.

Yeah.

I've played all of these.

I just think the category is so strange.

Like Frostpunk 2 and Unicorn Overlord couldn't be more different styles of game.

Right.

It's like a weird, it's a weird vibe that they're all together.

I have no idea who would win this or why.

If you were going to split, because it's simulations, simulators and strategy games, do you think that should be split into simulators in its own and strategy in its own?

I don't know.

I mean, if it was simulators on its own, then you could include things like Farm Sim or flight city, yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, sim city or the sim, like that's a whole thing.

And strategy, there's plenty of different strategy games.

I mean,

I don't know, like, I genuinely have no clue what should win this because they're all kind of great in their own ways,

but they're so different.

I like, I don't, I have no

best family game:

Princess Peach Showtime.

Super Mario Party Jamboree.

The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom.

The Plucky Squire.

And the official winner, and I don't care what anyone says, my boy, Astrobot.

Astrobot wins.

There's no, I don't even give a damn.

All those other games are great, but Astrobot is the winner.

I do.

I love Astrobot.

I still have not played Astrobot, but I haven't either.

I think out of all of those, it has wound up being the most beloved for sure.

It's so good.

I love Astrobot.

It is, again, no right to be good.

It is a shameless promotional tool, and it is

one of the most enjoyable things I played all year.

I love that game.

I'll tell you what that was.

Very good.

The demo for the Princess Peach game, my kid has played that demo like 18 times.

Ooh, really?

So there you go.

Could give Astrobot a run for its money.

Yeah, yeah.

Then our next category, best fighting game:

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero.

Grand Blue Fantasy vs.

Rising.

Marvel vs.

Capcom Fighting Collection Arcade Classics.

Multiversus and Tekken 8.

On a personal level, I kind of want to see Marvel vs.

Capcom Fighting Collection win, but I feel like Tekken 8 would be the winner.

Probably.

Yeah.

If I was going to base it on how much of each of those games I saw my husband playing, it would be Dragon Ball Sparking Zero.

Okay, sure.

So

Sam is in chat saying Tekken won't win.

Damn, damn.

What if Multiversus wins?

The crazy, most unexpected.

It's sweet.

That, yeah, the devs of that and Top Spin are going to have a hell of a party later.

Dude, you're going to be like, hell yeah.

Can't believe we did it, guys.

That's crazy.

We did it.

The next category is a pretty good one, especially for us.

Best RPG.

Okay.

Dragon's Dogma 2.

Elden Ring, Shadow of the Earth Tree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth, or Metaphor Refantalzio.

Ooh, I think Metaphor will win.

I love Metaphor.

I think it should win, but I definitely feel like the tide is on the Final Fantasy 7 train do you think so so

yeah i mean they racked up a lot of awards at the joysticks the golden joysticks last night yeah yeah

so i don't know maybe maybe it's because we have like a talk show about that where we talk about games a lot but like i feel like most of

what people have done is say yeah it's a good game but

this one was not as good as as the first remake game, right?

I think it's subjective, right?

Because for me, the reason I didn't like it wasn't because of the story.

It's because I just don't like 85 mini-games.

Minigames.

There's a lot of minigames.

To the point where recently the devs were like, the third game will have less minigames.

Like, okay, all right.

Well, good to know.

But

that's like a personal thing.

People that enjoyed that, I think, are totally in on Rebirth.

Personally, I think Metaphor is like just a next level game.

It's very cool in all sorts of different ways.

But if I was a betting man, I would say Final Fantasy VII.

I have something controversial to say.

Go.

It was inevitable we were going to go here.

Oh.

An expansion.

I listen.

Shadow of the Earth Tree is one of my favorite games of all time.

Elden Ring is one of my favorite games of all time.

How do we feel about a DLC expansion being eligible for these categories when Dragon Age the Veilgard didn't get nominated for anything outside of accessibility?

It wasn't eligible to be nominated for any of these categories.

It did the expansion, the Elden Ring one.

It's big.

It's pretty big.

And like, I listen, again, like, I think that would be my personal choice for almost every category it's in.

However, do I think that's necessarily fair as it is an expansion?

I don't know.

Don't know.

If it was a standalone, I feel like it would be a different story entirely.

But it is interesting.

Although

I want to say I don't think DLC should be included, but I feel like they have been in the past.

They have.

Winter

3 DLC was included for Game of the Year, and I think one at some point.

Yeah, so I mean, like, they've done it before, so I don't think it's anything new, but it could be the reason why this year people are like,

is because Elden Ring's DLC was so good that people are afraid it will just win and the new games will be

crushed under the carpet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it's so good and it might seem unfair.

It seems like that's the reason why people are upset, but I don't know.

I think part of the thing, too, with Shadow of the Earth Tree is it requires you to have played

several hours of Elden Ring before you can even access it.

And so people are saying you can't just load it up like a normal expansion.

You have to have played and invested and beat a hard boss in Elder Ring before you can even get to it.

I saw that being one of the arguments online about

how

it's like a DLC that, even on top of that, has like several contingencies before you can even get to it.

So, it being nominated feels like a little bit funny, people are saying.

But right, I honestly don't know how I super feel about it.

Yeah, there should be some sort of, if they can do a sim strategy category, they can easily do a best DLC expansion.

Yes, you know, that's kind of what I was thinking about.

I agree.

I personally as well, like

this might be controversial to say, if I worked at Fromsoft, I would feel a little bit embarrassed, like just a little bit, that like my game got put in all these categories, even though Elden Ring swept already.

I would be like, um, I want to give other people a chance who came out with their own individual IPs, right?

Rather than our DLC sweeping everything again if it ends up happening.

Yeah.

I mean, I also feel like

Jeff's a businessman.

I don't think he,

you know,

I don't think it's like a big, like, wow, they really screwed up or whatever.

I think it's like

they know a lot of people care about Elden Ring, and so putting it in big categories is going to get eyes on it, which, you know,

it sucks that that's pretty much probably what the case is.

But

yeah,

I definitely feel like it should, if your game already is just taking awards from a previous year, surely you can, you know, all right, we'll take our best DLC category and go home.

Like, we don't need to win all the awards again.

Yeah.

And just to clarify, too, I don't think like Fromsoft is to blame at all or anything like that.

It's just kind of, they've been thrust into this weird position.

That's what I heard.

I heard you say Fromsoft sucks.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I hate, I hate Fromsoft.

Can't stand them

because they put on some of my favorite games of all time.

Elden Ring included.

Again, next category, best action adventure game.

Astrobot, Prince of Persia, Lost Crown, Silent Hill 2, Star Wars Outlaws, and Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom.

Again, we're kind of all over the place.

Is Silent Hill 2 an action adventure?

I guess action.

I don't know if I would call it an adventure game.

So much adventure.

Psychological adventure.

Adventure trauma.

Yeah, bro.

So much traumatic adventure.

If the Lost Crown wins stuff after they've shut that whole thing down, I'm going to be so upset.

I loved that game.

I loved that game so much.

I enjoyed the DLC.

And I kept thinking to myself, man, I really hope that they keep adding to this.

It's a shame that Astrobot's going to win, though, because

if the Astrobot sweep is coming,

you don't even know

it,

and then weirdly enough, immediately above that is best action game, not best action adventure, just best action game.

Okay,

and this is Black Myth Wukong, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, and Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2.

Wukong was fun, but it won't.

Yeah.

It won't.

It wasn't popular enough, I don't think, to win.

I don't think so.

Do you think?

I mean, I feel like, again, if we go by the logic of Helldivers 2 earlier, Helldivers 2 would win here.

But I feel like this could also be the category, like throw Stellar Blade a Bone, the category.

Sure.

Where they're like, we didn't nominate it for anything else.

So, like, we'll give it this award.

Maybe so.

Maybe.

We'll see.

All right.

Best VR AR game.

Arizona Sunshine Remake.

Asgard's Wrath 2.

Batman.

Arkham Shadow.

Metal Hell Singer VR.

Or Metro Awakening.

How much VR do the two of you play?

I get most than any of that.

I'm not so bad.

So if you had to guess, what would win?

Batman.

I would say Batman 2.

I feel like that has

a little bit of hype around it.

Yeah, I heard the most about Batman out of everything on that list.

I don't know if that means anything.

It was that first one.

Arizona Ice T.

Sunshine remake.

Arizona Ice T.

I want the Arizona Iced T game to win.

Yeah.

It was 99 cents.

That's a good deal.

It was a 99 cent game for VR.

That's crazy.

Can't beat it.

They'll never change that price.

Damn it.

The CEO said.

Here's a category I know nothing about, so I'm relying on you two.

Mostly you, Dodger, or Sam if Sam's still in chat.

Best mobile game.

Oh, okay.

AFK Journey, Bellatro,

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, Wuthering Waves, Zenless Zone Zero.

Oh, my God.

I guess it depends on if you're a gotcha person or not.

I know that people have been enjoying the Pokemon TCG game.

I'm not a big Pokemon person, so I haven't really topped into that.

Zenless Zone Zero, a lot of people love, so that

could do it.

But people are also still obsessed with Bellatro.

Mm-hmm.

Sam says Bellatro, and I'm inclined to believe that mobile game master over anyone else on planet Earth.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bellatro got it.

The Bellatro Astrobot Sweep?

Is it happening?

Oh my god.

Damn.

Damn.

Best indie debut.

Animal Well,

Bellatro, Manor Lords, Pacific Drive, Plucky Squire.

I'll be honest, I think it's either between Animal Well or Bellatro, but I feel like Bellatro sweep.

Oh, God.

I really don't want Bellatro to win this category, but

I feel like Animal Well, Animal Well,

interesting.

Animal Well is one of those games that just keeps on giving.

Like you beat it, and then it's like, did you, though?

And I love that shit so much.

But it's hard to give Balacho a bunch of awards, but not give it best indie date.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Like, it would be like when they do those Oscar things and it's, we want best movie, best actor, best director, but not, you know, best picture of the year.

That kind of thing.

Like, best script, best, but you don't win the big one.

It's weird.

It's a weird vibe.

And like, I think there have been two different categories that Plucky Squire's been up for.

Plucky Squire was very cute as well, but I don't, I just don't think

cute, wholesome games don't win typically you know they were like games for change you know like they don't yes yeah it has to be it has to be cute wholesome game that has like stellar mechanics in order to even really I think be at the forefront of anybody's mind so I like that it's there but I it in a lineup I never think oh Plucky Squire could win this you know actually hold on I want to I want to correct the the record I think Animal Well could win best debut indie title because there is a category called best independent game and that again has Animal Well, Bellatro, Lorelei, Laser Eyes, Neva, and UFO 50.

Oh my god.

That's a tougher category.

If Lorelei won a thing, I would love that so much.

That game is fucking crazy.

Like having, having played Neva and having played UFO 50, both those games are incredible.

And I think from an artistic standpoint, and like, like, I could see Yofo50 winning.

I could see Bellatra winning.

I could see Anima.

Like,

that's actually a category that I'm like, damn, any of those could kind of win.

Yeah.

Honestly, the issue with Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is that you are, the game itself is just running into puzzle walls constantly.

Like, you have to really.

be into doing puzzles to make any progress in that game at all.

So it's like, this game is beautiful.

What a a cool art style.

What a cool concept.

But I think not enough people will have pushed through

to like get to the big, like important moments of that game, you know, for it to have a lot of backing, I guess is what I'm saying.

That makes sense.

It's super interesting that they have best debut game.

I assume best debut means the first

game of development.

Yeah.

If that's the case, man, Belacho could still win that.

Like, that was, that's huge.

Like, Like, Animal Ball is amazing.

Like, that is a very, but I don't know if it's the same, like, Zeitgeist as Bellatro.

Yeah.

But I don't know.

Next category, best community support.

Baldur's Gate 3, Final Fantasy 14, Fortnite, Helldivers 2,

and No Man's Sky.

I don't think Helldivers 2 is going to win that.

No.

Baldur's Gate 3 is my vote, personally.

All I know about this category is that there's a huge thread on social media by the Cult of the Lamb.

By the Cult of the Lamb?

Yeah.

I've sad.

It's really sad we didn't get nominated, but here's all the cool stuff we did for our community this year.

And I was like, oh, guys.

That made me so sad.

I was like, dang, they really deserve to be acknowledged.

Yeah, put them in there, dude.

Yeah, come on.

Yeah.

I will say the winner, to me, at least seems like it should be Baldur's Gate 3 because of the big drop of like, hey,

we add your weird crap to our game.

Enjoy.

Like, that's huge.

Thanks for making mods.

They're official now.

You can just do them in the game.

You don't have to download weird shit.

Those mods are amazing, by the way.

They're really good.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I feel like that's the easy winner, but we will see.

Best ongoing game:

Destiny 2, Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 14, Fortnite, or Helldivers.

I feel like Fortnite is probably going to win, but

I'm surprised Destiny 2 is going to win anything.

Does Helldivers not win?

I mean, I don't know.

It's a weird vibe because it is a game that was huge, but then

Sony was like, let's ruin this for everyone.

And then no one played it anymore.

Like, it dropped off hard.

I hold.

Yeah, unfortunate.

Yeah.

I mean,

I don't think.

Sorry.

I was just going to say, if it has, if part of this category has to do with our people continuing to play it, right?

Like it's, it's called the best ongoing game, right?

So, are people consistently coming back to keep on playing it?

Fortnite, absolutely.

They are like the kings of FOMO.

Just like, there's a new, there's a new hot cat man skin.

Where are you, dude?

Get in here.

Dance.

Let's go.

New dance, buddy.

Don't you want to know the new dance before you go to school tomorrow?

Shit.

You're right.

It really is the king of FOMO.

That's such a good way to put it.

Yeah.

Next, games for impact.

Closer the distance.

Indica.

Neva.

Life is strange.

Double exposure.

It's the newest saga, Hellblade 2, and Tales of Kenzera Zao.

Or Zao.

Honestly, on a personal preference, even though I love Neva and I think it should win because it's beautiful.

Part of me really want, like, I don't know if you played Indica.

That game is wild.

Bro,

I wanted to play that game so bad, but it does look crazy.

Like this game, I want to play this.

It is one of the craziest, like, it is a solid look at religion in a way that is wild.

One of the, like, in art style, imagine a game that is, they're trying to do photorealistic stuff, but at the same time, also pixelated things.

And the music is like dissonant in a way that it doesn't fit the scenes at all.

Like, it is clearly designed to get you feeling uncomfortable the entire time.

And I love it.

It is what a wild game.

I kind of want them to get recognition just because it's so off the wall

that I like, you know, I want more, not just beautiful art, not just like fun.

I want people to take chances.

Yeah.

So that's, I'm here for that.

How long is that game, Indica?

Three hours, maybe.

Oh, that's not bad at all.

Like, very playable in the evening.

There's definitely some parts where

you may

not live and have to redo.

But it's also, there's like some dramatic stuff in that game.

There's some like messed up things that happen.

So definitely like,

you know, put some advisories in front of stream if that's your vibe.

Right.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Next.

Innovation and accessibility.

Call of Duty, Black Ops 6, Diablo 4, Dragon Age, Vailguard, Prince of Persia, Lost Crown, Star Wars, Outlaws.

I don't particularly know.

I have no idea what the accessibility of Black Ops 6 would be.

I have no idea what those options were.

Yeah, I feel like

it just kind of requires us knowing what the innovation was in accessibility that's in the game for sure.

I mean, I'm curious what the like the Star Wars Outlaws, if anything, them announcing today or yesterday that they're removing the four stealthing bits,

I feel listened to, and honestly, I might that might be you might get the win on that one because I feel like you listen to me.

The force stealth sucked, and I'm glad they're removing it.

So that's, I mean, like, that's kind of good.

I don't know.

I have no clue.

I liked everything that Dragon Age did when it came to options.

There's so many, but I do have my problems with those options.

I've said before on stream numerous times that when you go to create your character, they tell you you can make your character anything you want.

And they have all these options.

But like, when it came to dick size, it didn't go far enough.

And like, I don't know how I can relate to that.

Right.

It was, it was too small.

It was just too small.

And I couldn't get into the character.

Okay.

It was just a problem that I had.

I wanted a foot slider.

Come on.

For the freaks out there come on yeah there wasn't enough freak you know what not enough freak options i'm gonna say velgard you didn't have enough freak options damn you weren't freaky enough

character creation could have been 23 hours dude i know yeah so yeah 21 hours i should have said that when i introduced myself my claim to fame is i spent 21 hours in vailgarde's character creator and had some articles written about me because i'm insane Yeah, yeah.

So, but I famously said, would a depressed person do this?

Yeah.

This is my favorite quote.

Exactly.

And you may ask, how did you do that, Brie?

Well, you have to, in Vailguard, if you know, you have an option to remake one of your characters from a previous game.

And I spent all the time trying to get that character right.

I would make that character as my main character so I could see it load into the first cutscene.

I'd be like, nope, restart.

I did that.

maybe 50 times.

What's so funny about this is I'm exactly with you because in Inquisition I made my character Nick Mage and I made a guy look like Nick made like Nick Cage

so trying to recreate him in Vailguard my main character I was like yep I'm gonna flip that option and that option yep he's a little fat perfectly round dwarf yep okay like 10 minutes tops

creating my inquisition

it might have been like an hour and a half I was like it's just not right it just doesn't look right I can't he doesn't look like Nick Cage at all what's going on

I was like I don't even have the right hair options for Nick Cage.

It's like, they don't want any balding men in this.

Oh, I was like,

so I had to make him look like he was from Conair.

But even then, it doesn't look quite right.

You know, it's like.

Hand it over to me.

I'll put it in 20 hours.

I'll get you Nick May.

This is your new job, Brie.

I feel like I've mastered the character creator now.

Same thing with

when I was playing Dragon's Dogma, I was like, how do I make

my character look?

And I just sit there and spend so much time.

Eventually, now I've just given up.

When it comes to most character creation, I'm like, I don't even care.

Whatever.

Like, yeah, okay.

Sure.

He has green skin now.

Whatever.

It's fine.

We were talking about how in like Baldur's Gate 3, where you have like the option to make your character, but then...

After you've finally been like, all right, it's good.

I like it.

It'll be like, I now make another person.

Yep.

And I was saying literally every single time I've made a character in that game when it's been like, and now make the second per I just randomize it and move on because I'm like, No,

I can't do it, and not again.

How many hours on this?

Again,

yeah,

next on our list, best performance: uh, Brianna White for Final Fantasy VII, Hannah Tell

for Life is Strange, Humberly Gonzalez for Star Wars Outlaws,

Luke Roberts for Silent Hill 2, and Melina Juergens for,

I hope that's how you say her last name, Sinua Saga Hellblade 2.

I mean, I'm just saying, based off, coming off of

Golden Joysticks, I think this is Brianna's year.

The whole Aerith vibe coming in strong.

Good for her.

Absolutely.

I am surprised, I will say, as a Dragon Age fan, that Gareth David Lloyd did not even get nominated for his work as Solace in Dragon Age Age Vailguard.

But

what can you do?

I mean, Dragon Age kind of got like, nah, we're not going to.

I know.

No one played it.

But yeah, it's weird.

I wonder if it comes in.

I think it's because it came out in time.

Sometimes I wonder if it's not.

So it came out in time.

It came out in time.

It was eligible.

I've talked to people internally.

It came out in time.

Honestly, I think it's just.

I think it's one of those things that I wonder if because there was so much like

drama online, they were like, nah.

I honestly, my own personal appearance or appearance opinion is that, yeah, I think that has a lot to do with it, which is so unfortunate.

But I talked about this last week, I think, but I will say it again.

One of the crazy things about all the online drama about the game, especially like all the woke stuff that people are talking about, having played the game now, All the scenes that people were posting online about like, look what they're doing in this game are like 50 hours in and do not really matter.

I was like, oh, so people just parry, like, parry cherry-picked

stuff.

But they were like, I don't like this, and yeah, oh, yeah, I was like, oh, they played 50 hours this game, and then we're like, it's trash, yeah,

it's kind of crazy.

The dedication to disparaging is like wild.

Yeah, it was an interesting vibe to be like, oh,

y'all just like

you grifting over here.

Like, okay,

yeah, it was weird.

It's really like 0.01% of the game were the things that people are.

Yeah.

Ain't that always the way?

Oh, ain't that just the way?

But you would think, based on what was being talked about, that it was like, this is the whole game.

Yeah.

I was like,

no, it's like a very character-specific story arc.

And it's like a thing that you deal with the entire, like, y'all are freaking out.

Like, grow up.

Anyway,

this is my

little sassy take.

Best audio design.

Astrobot.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Is anyway with Saga?

Hellblade 2 or Silent Hill 2?

Honestly, I think Hellblade 2 has like

just, it can't not.

It has such good sound design.

I mean, the first Hellblade game was, oh, amazing sound design, right?

I wonder if Silent Hill 2 would win.

But Hellblade 2 is like designed specifically to have really great sound design.

Yeah, for sure.

I don't know, but I feel like that's what it has to be.

Best score in music, Astrobot, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor, Refantasio, Soundhill 2, Stellar Blade.

Here's what I'll say.

I love all the music in all of those games.

I think all of them are very, very good.

However,

that chanting man and metaphor, every time you go into a battle is the coolest damn thing that ever existed.

And I love that man.

And if they don't win for that song alone, I'll be so upset.

It's super cool.

It is so good.

It is really cool.

And immediately you're like, I need to grab a sword and do something.

Yes.

Very good.

Cool shit.

Even the song where you're like, I'm in the library.

Suddenly it's like the most epic, over-the-top song that plays.

You're just like, How are they not?

They gotta win.

They gotta win.

Yeah,

they're great.

Best Art Direction: Astrobot, Black Myth Wukong, Elder Ring, Shadow of of the Earth Tree, Metaphor, Refantasio, or Neva?

That's a tough one.

I think

you could win.

Best

art direction.

Oh.

I'm going to say Shadow of the Earth Tree since it's there.

Yeah.

I mean,

they all have different reasons they could win.

Black Myth Wukong is a beautiful game.

It is designed very well.

Astrobot, again.

Somehow managed to create a genuinely amazing game visually.

Obviously, Erdtree is a toward a force of art.

Metaphor literally steals from artwork in the real world and puts it in game.

Like, that's awesome art direction.

And Neva is a beautiful, like, watercolor painting.

They all could win as far as I'm concerned.

They're all very, very good.

Art direction.

Beautifully done.

Yeah.

I remember when playing Neva, yeah, like in comparison, you could say that Neva doesn't have like as complex of art, but what they do with it is so effective.

Yeah.

It's incredibly well done.

Three categories left.

Three very important categories.

Best narrative.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth, Metaphor, Refontazio, Senua Sacrifice, Saga, Hellblade 2, and Silent Hill 2.

I feel like 7's winning this.

Like I just, no matter what I think of anything else, even though I love metaphor, I feel like 7's probably gonna going to walk away with this one.

It feels like a seven kind of year.

But I am team metaphor.

I haven't played enough.

Teas.

Yeah,

same.

I'm basing my

opinion on vicarious people around me's opinions of things.

Because I haven't played Seven yet.

I claimed the first part of it that came out, but I haven't played.

Yes.

I didn't.

But I could see it winning based on the general response to it for

yeah it's um

all i will since you haven't played i'll say about final fantasy 7 rebirth is that for me it is currently it operates in the same space as if i flash back to my youth and seeing matrix 2 and i remember when the second matrix movie ended and i was

So excited because I was like, oh my God, it could go anywhere.

This could be anything.

This is amazing.

Like, what did that mean?

And what did that mean?

And what's that about?

And then the third movie came out and I was like, this is trash.

And that's how I feel about this.

The next game could be the greatest game that ever was or ruin the entire experience for me.

Right.

Sure.

Oh, man.

And I am

so worried because I have seen that happen in trilogies constantly where it's like, we actually don't know how to end this at all.

We've set up so many stakes and so many things.

This could be terrible.

And so I'm like,

I hope they, I hope they nail this.

And so part of me is like, I want to give them the award, but also part of me is like, you haven't earned this yet.

You haven't earned the award yet.

The full picture yet.

The full picture yet.

So yeah, I get that.

It's funny.

Sam and I were just talking about that, that sort of scenario and how often it happens because he's been re-watching the Lord of the Rings movies.

And we were like, how bonkers is it that all three of these were really good?

Like,

the whole series is great.

Like, good job, you know, because it would be so easy for the third one to just like not, and you could say, like, well, those books have been around forever.

But like, you know, adapting anything into a movie is difficult or any other like, you know, adjacent piece of media.

So there are not a ton of trilogies that are like well done the whole way through.

It's like that picture of the horse.

where it's like the drawing where it's like he starts off really good, you get a little juicy in the middle, and then it's just like terrible at the end.

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah.

It's uh, I mean, it is the reason why when

the uh return of the king came out, it won all the awards.

Like, that Oscars was hilarious because no one else was winning, and it was all them, but it's also because they weren't giving them awards for the first two movies, they were like, stick the landing, and then we'll give you all the damn awards.

And that's kind of how I feel about Final Fantasy VII.

Like, fine, it's great, I'm enjoying it, but I don't want to be disappointed.

Like,

i guess i i guess you got me once again

you you you got me trilogies like i really want it to be uh perfect so we'll see

um hopefully it's best landing best game direction

astrobot balatro black myth wukong elden ring shadow of the earth tree final fantasy 7 rebirth metaphor refantasio

this is this is a tough one I mean, I feel like,

if anything,

this probably could go to Elden Ring.

Yeah.

It's hard because I'm.

Yeah, I'm struggling with that because Elden Ring is operating on the laurels.

Shadow of the Archery is operating on the laurels of Elden Ring, whereas something like Metaphor, Balacha, or all the other ones on there are kind of like their own unique, insular, self-contained thing.

So it almost feels a little bit unfair

to give it to Shadow of the Archery as amazing as it was.

That's my only

caveat, I guess.

Yeah, there's like a cynic in me that's trying to figure out either, is it going to be game of the year or best game direction that they're just going to give it to Elden Ring?

They're going to give one of those to like part of me feels like the reason why they're there is because they're going to give one to Elden Ring.

It's like, we acknowledge you're very good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you had to explain to somebody like what it means to say game had good game direction, what would you say?

That's hard.

Yeah.

You would imagine that I'm trying to think of the answer for me.

And it's difficult.

Well, you would imagine that game direction is referring not only to the vision of the director who is in charge of the game, but also

the

delivering on that vision.

and making sure that whatever it is that the director is sort of like, here's, we talked about this before, Duke's.

It's like when this is a weird thing to say when talking about best game direction, but we were talking about adult games.

Right.

And how sometimes adult games forget they're literally just glorified porn and try to like throw other things in.

And you're like, the reason why someone bought your game, dude, is because they want to see the boobies.

Now you're making them do like a first person shooter.

Like, what the hell are you doing?

What is this?

And I think that's game direction is saying, this is what our game is.

And we're going to deliver on the vision of what it is in a fun, creative way that sort of encapsulates, you know, like that, that vibe.

Right.

Yeah.

I think

they executed what they set out to do properly.

It's like, how cohesive is the final product in every single facet of direction?

Environmental design, art design, story, character design.

How does it all come together?

UI, like the whole overarching all of it.

Does it fit together like puzzle pieces or is it disjointed?

Right.

Yeah.

Like someone had to say, this is, okay, this is the gameplay for this bit or this is how the fights work.

And then do all the fights, are they awesome that way?

Like a great example is the differences here.

It's like Bellatro is a lot of mechanical direction.

It isn't like a lot of crazy artwork went into it.

It's fun to play, but it's not like beautiful sweeping meadows and shit, right?

And then you have games like Elden Ring that is very clearly, this is what we're attempting to do.

This is the design from everything from the cinematics that we're going to use to the boss fights and all the different like, you know things like if you kill yourself enough times in this one area it'll unlock the whole last scene like that kind of stuff it's also part of it so yeah i don't i don't know honestly i feel like if this is a final fantasy seven year it'll win but i also feel like again i love metaphor and i feel like it should get some rewards I think metaphor is very cohesive.

Yeah,

especially because all of the parts of it are like a bit skewed.

They're all like skewed in the right way, you know, where it comes together to form like a really great entire picture.

Is it just the loudest alarm going off right outside the window anyway?

Oh, lovely.

Game of the year.

Game of the year.

Astrobot.

Bellatro.

I should have just stopped.

Game of the year, Astrobot.

Astrobot.

Good night, everybody.

Bellatro, Black Myth Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Earth Tree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor Re Fantasio.

It won't be Wukong.

Yeah, I'm actually surprised Wukong is on this list.

And that's not to disparage Wukong, but like I am surprised it's on there, genuinely.

There are a lot of games that I feel like could have been on Game of the Year that definitely got snubbed.

Yeah.

For sure.

It's a weird, it's a, you know,

it's a weird vibe to stick Elden Ring on there.

But, again, they've done in the past, so I can't be like, it's wrong, guys.

I don't like it.

Yeah, yeah.

It's happened before, so it's a trend, whatever.

The

anarchist in me who wants to see the internet burn really wants Galatro to win game of the year.

Because, my God,

the discourse would be,

oh, I'd eat it up.

Dudes would come out the woodwork with some like truly the meanest takes that ever were.

I've always seen the reverse.

Oh my god.

I read this one guy's like massive, massive rant about like a card game for game of the year.

I was like, oh, he'd be so mad if this, if it won.

Like, I really wanted to win just to like, oh, that would be lovely.

It would be good.

Awards season is more than just the awards, gang.

It really is.

It's also the fallout.

It is.

My favorite has been people being like, a card game.

And then like an hour later, they're like, okay, Bellatra is good.

I played it.

It's like, dang it they were right

yeah

um i uh i don't know what do you think dukes

oh my goodness i don't know because i don't like bellatro

so i'm you know it's fun to say bellatro sweep but i don't like that game very much

i didn't

like you asked me i didn't I didn't play Astrobot.

I still haven't played Final Fantasy.

I did play Wukong, which I know is big in China, but I don't have faith that it would do very well with whatever panel has put together for this.

I think Metaphor is great, but I don't know.

I would be really surprised if like a 100-hour RPG won game of the year for sure.

I realized something just now that I think is the problem that I had last year and every year.

When it comes to the game awards, there's always two

of the award

nominees that I love but realize one is a love of pure Jesse like that's a me game and one is a love of like that's the most popular thing so it's definitely yes and last time I so wanted Alan Wake 2 to win but I knew Baldur's Gate 3 was gonna win I was like you can't beat Baldur's Gate 3 it's just that good but I really think that Alan Wake 2 is like a perfect package and and it's like but it's like right up my alley this is the same thing I really want metaphor to win because it's a Jesse game and I want want that weirdness to win.

But the realist in me is like, Final Fantasy VII about to win this.

Like, I feel like it's about to happen.

Which is.

I'm actually so surprised.

It feels like that game came out longer than a year ago.

I don't know why.

It doesn't.

I agree.

I think it doesn't help that it's part one, part two.

Like, for me, it's like this game has been coming out every year.

It's like a gradient of release instead of just like actual sections.

Yeah.

I could see Shadow of the Archery winning this, like, genuinely, yeah.

And I think people will be upset.

And

what are you going to do?

Like,

the discourse will be entertaining if it does.

I think Metaphor deserves it, personally.

It's, I can't say enough good things about Metaphor.

It is a genuinely phenomenal game.

The fact that some of the voice acting isn't nominated is kind of like...

Yeah.

How dare you?

Yeah.

But it's...

it's yeah,

I wish

I've heard more people call Metaphor their game of the year than any anything else on that list, genuinely.

Like, yeah, but it's one of those things where I think you had to have played it, you know what I mean?

Yeah, like if you haven't played it or touched it, you have no context for like why it's so great.

It just is another

Atlas.

Huge RPG.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

For sure.

So, yeah.

I would be delighted if Metaphor won.

But

I mean, it's like, again, it's persona minus school, which is the perfect form of persona.

I'm so happy.

Yeah.

So happy to exist.

All right.

But that is, that's that's our categories.

That's everything that was nominated.

And we'll all find out on

whatever day it is that that happens.

December 12th or 11th or something?

9th?

I don't know.

December 11th.

Yes.

6 p.m.

I was going to say we started looking.

Hey, yeah.

Fantastic.

Hold on.

December 13th is when it happens.

No, December 12th is when it actually happens.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Or December 13th, 1230 a.m.

GMT.

I see.

There you go.

There it is.

It'll be December 13th for me when I'm asleep.

Yes, when you stay up all night to watch.

Yes, yes, of course, which I will.

I will do that.

I'm always delighted to wake up the day after like a huge conference or event or award show or something.

And I always wind up just getting the full wave of like reactions all at once.

It's great.

It's like Christmas morning.

Yeah, it's great.

Like you can just take it in at your leisure.

What are people jazzed about?

What are they mad about?

I get it all at once.

The Belatro Fallout would be

so good.

Just

everything I've ever done.

If only just for the discourse, I would love just to see the sound slip.

This is the chaos goblin up here talking now.

Exactly.

Same like the Bellatro sweep would be delicious.

It would be.

Indeed.

Yeah.

That's it, I think, right?

I don't know.

You're the boss.

We did the dang thing.

Bree, thank you so much for being on our show.

Of course.

Thank you for having me.

I love yapping about games.

Yeah.

So we haven't had a guest in a while, but typically when we have a guest, we have them assign homework to chat.

Ooh,

this can be a game, a movie, a comic, a book, something that you think more people should play or experience or whatever.

Oh my gosh.

Well, I'm just the thing, Doctor, you're going to hate me for this because you've tried this game and you did not personally mesh with it.

But I think everyone should play Outer Wilds.

I think it's my favorite game of all time.

I will say the controls are frustrating.

It doesn't click with everyone.

And it is definitely scary.

If you have anything like thalassophobia adjacent with space, it has its own name.

I'm forgetting right now.

But if you have fear of space, it is a hard game to play.

However, that game changed my life.

It literally made me come to terms with death and dying and my place in the universe.

And I think it's an amazing game that will always deserve more love.

So check it out.

Yeah, I mean, I know so many people that can't say enough good things about that game.

It's phenomenal.

Yes.

But it did scare me.

It stressed me out.

Sarian, it's the stress.

It's stressed man.

It's a lot.

And in fact, actually, if you find yourself unable to play it, watch a playthrough.

You know, just go for it just so you can experience it.

That, and also, mouthwashing is really good.

That just came out as well.

Indie games is really good.

But Outer Wilds is definitely, that's my plug.

Fantastic.

Yeah.

Thank you so much, Brie.

Can you tell everybody who you are, where they can find you, what you're up to this week?

Yeah.

Again, I'm Brie Bun, Variety Streamer.

Narrative games are my jam.

I'm going to be doing Mass Effect all the way through for the first time ever.

Oh, my goodness.

I know.

That'll be my next thing to hold me over until Monster Hunter Wild comes out.

So that should be starting shortly on my channel.

I'm going to lure deep dive into that as well.

And yeah, just twitch.tv slash Brie Bun.

Yay!

Bree and I are also, as she said earlier, we're on a DD show together called Sunforged.

So if you ever want to watch that, that's on Sundays on Joe Fudge's channel.

It's a good time.

Yeah.

Jesse, do you have anything going on?

What's going on with you?

Do I?

Oh, my goodness.

Hey, everybody.

If you didn't see it already, we posted a ludicrously long scary game squad of Amanda the Adventure 2.

Enjoy.

Love that game.

How long is ludicrously long?

Almost five hours.

Nice.

I've determined.

Video essay girlies are going to love that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've determined I do know.

I don't care about uploading multiple episodes of things on the main channel now.

I'm like, you want this?

You're going to wait till it's completely done.

Then I'm going to edit it all into one video, and then we're going to

deal with that.

The algorithm hates it anyway.

The algorithm wants videos to be done.

And then probably later this week, I'm going to check out all sorts of things.

I I got all sorts of things to look at.

I got

No Stone Unturned, which I think just did their Kickstarter.

And I think they just passed Kickstarter.

ICBM Escalation, because I feel like I want to nuke the world.

And

also, I'll probably check out Mirthwood,

which seems like that's going to be super fun.

So we'll check those out.

And we'll.

I also downloaded, because of Dodger, the case of the golden idol.

So I have that on my desktop.

Ooh, I've heard fantastic things about that.

I just finished the sequel, Rise of the Golden Idol, and it was also great.

Yeah.

Please tell me if you stream it.

Oh, yes.

I really want to

watch.

Come watch.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

So excited.

Also, for any of you guys who have been like, Life is Strange, raw, rot, raw, raw, raw.

That went up on Jesse's clip channel.

Jesse and I playing the new Life is Strange game, at least the first part.

Yep.

So if you are interested in watching that, we do plan on playing more of that.

So

keep your eyeballs peeled.

What else?

There's a new mug in the Dodger Coffee store.

Oh,

no.

It's the Crendor sloth.

Crendor.

Yeah.

Thank you.

So if you didn't know, we have a roast with Crendor called the Midnight Sloth.

It's a dark French roast.

It's delicious.

And we came out with a little mug to go with it.

So if you want to check out the store, it's dodgercoffeeco.com.

Um, but for me, uh, stream-wise, it's just same old, it's just same old, just playing weird games, having a weird time.

So, come hang out twitch.tv/slash dex bonus.

Put your blue screen dex bonus heads, blue screen my discord dex bonus,

minions do something.

We are turning this into minions,

big old cramp stable mugs.

That's how we started this,

yeah.

What a good time, what a good time.

What a blessed podcast.

Thank you so much, everybody.

Have a fantastic day

and week.

And we'll see you next Friday.

So long, everybody.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Yeah, yeah, you know what time it is.

It's time for the geek in this podcast.

Mega Rand, Jesse and Dodger.

What up?

Let's go.

Yo, it's the weekend.

Yeah, it's time to geek out.

Let it begin.

Go on, stream and shout.

It's Jesse and Dodger.

So give them a follow and see what the geekiners are all about.

Yo, it's the weekend.

Yeah, it's time to geek out.

Let it begin.

Go on, scream and shout.

It's Jesse and Dodger.

So give them a follow.

Number one geek podcast without a doubt.

Yo, another end of another long week.

Got a job and a kid, I know that you all beat.

So take a second, grab a drink, and vibe.

While we catch you up in just a matter of time on gaming, comics, whatever you're doing.

If you're nerdy like dust, then you know you should tune in.

Thank you for sharing our world with us.

Now, follow, subscribe, and turn to some.

Yo, it's the weekend.

Yeah, it's time to geek out.

Let it be kid.

Go on, scream and shout.

It's Jesse and Dodger, so give them a follow.

Number one, geek podcast without a doubt.

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