Elden Ring

Alex and Luke Talk Elden Ring.

In this episode, Alex and Luke finally tackle Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s 2022 open-world epic that took the gaming world by storm. Directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, with worldbuilding contributions from George R.R. Martin, Elden Ring expands the Soulsborne formula into a sprawling, unforgiving landscape—the Lands Between—where death is certain, but victory is oh so sweet. 

At the time of this recording, Elden Ring holds a Metacritic score of 96, solidifying its place as one of the highest-rated games of all time. According to HowLongToBeat, a standard playthrough takes around 60 hours (a complete and utter lie), while completionists can expect well over 134+ hours of brutal bosses, deep lore, and relentless challenge. 

Both Alex and Luke played on Xbox Series X, comparing notes on their builds, the moments that broke them, and the bosses that left them questioning their life choices. From first steps into Limgrave to taking down some of Elden Ring’s most infamous enemies, they share their highs, lows, and what makes this game such a landmark title. 

This episode is unofficially brought to you in part by Banging with the Bros. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Elden Ring
• 48:42 Unsanctioned Sponsor: Banging with the Bros.
• 52:56 Sidequestin'

Transcript

LFG Ep. 042: Elden Ring

00:00:00 Alex Stahlmann: Cording. All right. Say a little something in that microphone, bud.

00:00:07 luke: You are maidenless. Yeah,

00:00:10 Alex Stahlmann: Indeed, but I'm not.

00:00:12 luke: I

00:00:12 Alex Stahlmann: I'm

00:00:12 luke: know, right?

00:00:13 Alex Stahlmann: not.

00:00:13 luke: Is

00:00:13 Alex Stahlmann: I cracked this mazy here. A little

00:00:16 luke: it

00:00:17 Alex Stahlmann: ASMR.

00:00:17 luke: a fake PC?

00:00:20 Alex Stahlmann: Yes,

00:00:21 luke: All right, I figured.

00:00:22 Alex Stahlmann: it is

00:00:22 luke: What else?

00:00:23 Alex Stahlmann: busy without the alcohol content. It is,

00:00:25 luke: There

00:00:25 Alex Stahlmann: uh,

00:00:26 luke: we go. Hmm.

00:00:27 Alex Stahlmann: not gonna make my unsection sponsor because it's not my favorite brand of, of, uh, non-alcoholic brew, but it was available.

00:00:34 luke: Fair, fair.

00:00:36 Alex Stahlmann: It's

00:00:36 luke: Oh,

00:00:36 Alex Stahlmann: not terrible.

00:00:37 luke: no.

00:00:37 Alex Stahlmann: Athletic, um, they make Athletic Brewing Co., they make some decent ones. This particular IPA that they have, Run Wild, not my favorite, but you know, who am I to complain?

00:00:49 luke: Fair enough. Well, what's up, dude? You want to kick us off?

00:00:53 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, sure. Sure. Yo, what up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Low five Gaming. This is Alex, your host, and I am joined by the one, the only... Luketh Duketh.

00:01:09 luke: Lucas Duthick. Hello, foul, maidenless, tarnished. How are, how are all of you after our much anticipated controversial departure from the podcasting space? How are we doing?

00:01:20 Alex Stahlmann: Oh my gosh, indeed. I'm

00:01:22 luke: We

00:01:22 Alex Stahlmann: doing

00:01:22 luke: even, we

00:01:22 Alex Stahlmann: pretty well.

00:01:23 luke: even

00:01:23 Alex Stahlmann: I hope

00:01:24 luke: had

00:01:24 Alex Stahlmann: the people

00:01:24 luke: extra

00:01:24 Alex Stahlmann: are

00:01:24 luke: content

00:01:24 Alex Stahlmann: doing well.

00:01:25 luke: available and then we destroyed

00:01:26 Alex Stahlmann: Indeed.

00:01:27 luke: it just for scarcity sake, dude. We just wanted to be edgy. We like made that one, uh, Wu-Tang album that they made and sold to the one guy. Do you remember that?

00:01:37 Alex Stahlmann: I do remember

00:01:38 luke: We

00:01:38 Alex Stahlmann: that.

00:01:38 luke: basically

00:01:38 Alex Stahlmann: It actually

00:01:39 luke: did

00:01:39 Alex Stahlmann: got

00:01:39 luke: that.

00:01:39 Alex Stahlmann: leaked, dude. Did you know that?

00:01:41 luke: I think I heard, but I haven't heard the music, but I mean, it makes sense. You give somebody the thing that only they can listen to. They're probably going to leak it eventually, but

00:01:49 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:01:49 luke: Regardless, no one will leak our secret super awesome episode because we destroyed it.

00:01:54 Alex Stahlmann: I know. A

00:01:55 luke: It was too good, dude. It was too juicy.

00:01:57 Alex Stahlmann: couple

00:01:57 luke: So

00:01:58 Alex Stahlmann: years

00:01:58 luke: we destroyed

00:01:58 Alex Stahlmann: deep into the,

00:01:59 luke: it.

00:01:59 Alex Stahlmann: uh, podcasting sphere, you'd think we'd have these things figured out, but no, we recorded a dead air. We got sick. Things happen, man. Life.

00:02:07 luke: Alex got vicious diarrhea like

00:02:09 Alex Stahlmann: Dude,

00:02:09 luke: multiple

00:02:09 Alex Stahlmann: that happened too.

00:02:10 luke: times.

00:02:11 Alex Stahlmann: That's for, for real though, Noro. I mean, I don't know if that was involved with that recording, like, but I did have the Noro. I might have to cut a little bit of this off the intro.

00:02:22 luke: Nope. Cause it's the truest Elden Ring experience, dude. Cause no matter if you have norovirus, you cannot pause. You must

00:02:30 Alex Stahlmann: Oh,

00:02:30 luke: continue.

00:02:30 Alex Stahlmann: Lord, Lord.

00:02:32 luke: So we made it one minute into this pod before I bitched about being unable to pause. You're welcome.

00:02:38 Alex Stahlmann: Indeed. So

00:02:39 luke: Yes.

00:02:39 Alex Stahlmann: if you haven't picked it up by now, we are, we're talking Elden Ring in

00:02:43 luke: Yes.

00:02:43 Alex Stahlmann: the, in the year of our Lord 2025 Hmm.

00:02:47 luke: Cause we're edgy.

00:02:48 Alex Stahlmann: Three, three years late to the party. Roughly.

00:02:50 luke: At three years and not even talking about the DLC, which

00:02:53 Alex Stahlmann: Almost

00:02:53 luke: would be most

00:02:53 Alex Stahlmann: to the

00:02:53 luke: people's

00:02:53 Alex Stahlmann: date, dude.

00:02:54 luke: excuse.

00:02:54 Alex Stahlmann: I think this dropped, I think this dropped in February. Like,

00:02:56 luke: Yeah.

00:02:57 Alex Stahlmann: like almost to the date, three years.

00:02:58 luke: That's hilarious. And we just get into it.

00:03:02 Alex Stahlmann: Getting to it.

00:03:03 luke: Too

00:03:03 Alex Stahlmann: I'm still,

00:03:03 luke: many

00:03:04 Alex Stahlmann: I'm

00:03:04 luke: games.

00:03:04 Alex Stahlmann: still fighting

00:03:04 luke: Yeah.

00:03:04 Alex Stahlmann: through it, man, to be honest. Uh, but no, it's dope. Uh, Elden Ring. Is it dope? I don't know. We'll, we'll get there.

00:03:12 luke: Hmm.

00:03:13 Alex Stahlmann: Elden Ring, developed by FromSoftware. This is my first FromSoft experience.

00:03:18 luke: Same,

00:03:18 Alex Stahlmann: How about for you?

00:03:19 luke: same.

00:03:19 Alex Stahlmann: Right

00:03:20 luke: We

00:03:20 Alex Stahlmann: on.

00:03:20 luke: usually reference it a lot in pods because

00:03:23 Alex Stahlmann: Indeed.

00:03:23 luke: it's definitely part of the same, but we mostly mock and make fun of it. Uh, So this is us truly getting our capital G gamer creds with perhaps the most accessible game in the series, but

00:03:34 Alex Stahlmann: Right,

00:03:34 luke: you know.

00:03:35 Alex Stahlmann: that's what I'm gonna say. I'm tuned in enough. To know that this is, although this is a front software game, it is the most approachable is what folks will say of the, of all of their games. So, uh, even though I thought this was, uh, pretty difficult, dude. Apparently the other ones are, um, are worse. Yeah,

00:03:55 luke: Yeah, I mean, I haven't gotten to like the deepest depths of the late game stuff or the DLC, which I heard is bonkers, but

00:04:02 Alex Stahlmann: sure.

00:04:02 luke: um. I always remember this game being compared to Breath of the Wild and I just thought that was the most bonkers thing in the world because I hadn't played it and uh, mild

00:04:11 Alex Stahlmann: Hmm.

00:04:11 luke: spoiler, I get it now, we'll get into that later, but um, certainly not as like Uh, friendly of that game, but you get the hang of it and it is pick up a bull. It

00:04:21 Alex Stahlmann: Sure.

00:04:22 luke: is, it is approachable. Uh, and as

00:04:24 Alex Stahlmann: This

00:04:24 luke: much as there's

00:04:25 Alex Stahlmann: game?

00:04:25 luke: a learning curve, it is, it is cool. I liked it a lot.

00:04:28 Alex Stahlmann: Elden Ring?

00:04:29 luke: Mm hmm.

00:04:30 Alex Stahlmann: Pickuppable? Approachable?

00:04:32 luke: Mm-hmm.

00:04:32 Alex Stahlmann: Once you're twenty hours deep, maybe? Ha ha ha ha

00:04:35 luke: No.

00:04:35 Alex Stahlmann: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

00:04:36 luke: I'd

00:04:36 Alex Stahlmann: ha ha ha ha

00:04:36 luke: say, like,

00:04:37 Alex Stahlmann: ha

00:04:37 luke: I

00:04:37 Alex Stahlmann: ha ha ha

00:04:37 luke: have very

00:04:38 Alex Stahlmann: ha ha

00:04:38 luke: fond memories of the opening, like, struggle where there's that

00:04:42 Alex Stahlmann: ha ha

00:04:42 luke: first

00:04:42 Alex Stahlmann: ha ha ha ha ha

00:04:42 luke: encampment

00:04:42 Alex Stahlmann: ha ha ha ha ha

00:04:43 luke: and running up to that encampment and trying to figure it out. Like, I remember that stuttering phase very fondly.

00:04:48 Alex Stahlmann: Mm.

00:04:49 luke: Uh, and then from around that area, once I cleared the camp, I was pretty much up and running. Now, early shouts out. I've had some, uh, some wise guides, some sage experiences, uh, from some pretty funny sources. Do you want me to get into that now or should we do that later? Tight.

00:05:05 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, we can jump into it real shortly just to get the housekeeping out of the way. This did drop on PlayStation four five Xbox One, Series X and S, and Windows.

00:05:15 luke: Tight.

00:05:16 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm. So if you don't got one of those, you're not playing.

00:05:20 luke: Right. Um, no, so I, uh, a buddy of mine, Aaron, he, uh, Shared with me a sweet map and also was just kind of like helping me out with like some initial early game stuff because he was a good, good chunk ahead of me. Uh, so shouts out him is really dope to have him help me out. So that kind of helped me with a lot of like the early, early game, like stuttering, like, Hey, should I be sucking this bad answer? Yes. Try this. Me being like,

00:05:47 Alex Stahlmann: So.

00:05:47 luke: Oh, actually super dope, helpful. Ace, early reference,

00:05:52 Alex Stahlmann: Boing!

00:05:54 luke: he got it as a gift, so he picked it up around the same time, so it was actually really cool to talk through some of the stuff as we were parallel going through a lot of the same challenges. And then most hilarious, I got a little homie, one of my students who today actually told me that he's like put 500 hours total into this game.

00:06:10 Alex Stahlmann: Get out.

00:06:11 luke: It's buck wild, but if you think

00:06:12 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:06:12 luke: about

00:06:13 Alex Stahlmann: cool.

00:06:13 luke: it, you know, we always talk about like how much more we would have played of a game if that's the only game we

00:06:17 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:06:17 luke: had and we were kids and that's, so that's him, right? And like, it's like talking to a wiki page. I'll be like, yeah, I'm in this area and he'll like say the name.

00:06:26 Alex Stahlmann: Ha ha.

00:06:26 luke: Of like the bosses and he understands the dialogue going on which rant incoming later there. So I've basically

00:06:32 Alex Stahlmann: Interesting.

00:06:32 luke: had like Ace parallel playing, I've

00:06:36 Alex Stahlmann: Boy.

00:06:36 luke: had Aaron as a bit of a guide, and then I've had my little nerdy homie as another sage-like little guide for me, and he's done it all, so it's like...

00:06:44 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:06:44 luke: I

00:06:44 Alex Stahlmann: dope.

00:06:44 luke: actually have found the community of it really cool and then like my initial stumbles were eventually rewarded and I got super duper into it.

00:06:53 Alex Stahlmann: Nice. Yeah, I don't really have an Elden Ring Sherpa. You, a little bit.

00:06:58 luke: Yeah. A little bit. Yeah. I

00:07:00 Alex Stahlmann: Uh,

00:07:00 luke: helped

00:07:00 Alex Stahlmann: the

00:07:00 luke: you. I helped

00:07:00 Alex Stahlmann: internet

00:07:01 luke: you. We did some,

00:07:01 Alex Stahlmann: as

00:07:01 luke: we

00:07:01 Alex Stahlmann: a whole.

00:07:02 luke: said, we did some coop. We did some coop a little

00:07:04 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:07:04 luke: bit. It's been a long

00:07:04 Alex Stahlmann: no.

00:07:05 luke: time since

00:07:05 Alex Stahlmann: That

00:07:05 luke: we've cooped

00:07:05 Alex Stahlmann: was actually,

00:07:06 luke: though.

00:07:06 Alex Stahlmann: honestly, that was probably the turning point for me. Um, having you come in and help me through with a couple, a couple of little, little band of a little batty bosses and uh, that like that sparked that session, our first like co-op set, our first and last maybe.

00:07:19 luke: Correct.

00:07:21 Alex Stahlmann: Um, but

00:07:21 luke: As

00:07:21 Alex Stahlmann: that,

00:07:22 luke: you

00:07:22 Alex Stahlmann: that

00:07:22 luke: can tell

00:07:22 Alex Stahlmann: session,

00:07:22 luke: from this extremely late pod, our coordination skills are fantastic

00:07:26 Alex Stahlmann: oh,

00:07:26 luke: these

00:07:26 Alex Stahlmann: it's,

00:07:26 luke: days.

00:07:26 Alex Stahlmann: yeah, 2025 baby.

00:07:28 luke: Yeah, baby.

00:07:30 Alex Stahlmann: But no man that like that actually that didn't spark like that was my like that that's what turned I just wasn't sold on this game dude and then like when we connected and did that session like that's kind of what that's what made it click for me I was like alright cool like this is cool. Um, you know, I got bad, you know, you helped me get past a couple like pain point bosses that I was dealing with. Um, and yeah, it just like turned on the, it just, it flipped the switch where it's like, okay,

00:07:56 luke: We

00:07:56 Alex Stahlmann: where I was

00:07:56 luke: got

00:07:57 Alex Stahlmann: kind

00:07:57 luke: invaded

00:07:57 Alex Stahlmann: of like slugging

00:07:57 luke: by

00:07:57 Alex Stahlmann: through.

00:07:57 luke: some douche who wants to wreck noobs who are just trying to figure out a stupid fucking convoluted system.

00:08:03 Alex Stahlmann: That was so wild. That was so wild. I couldn't believe it. We thought it was a computer too. We're

00:08:07 luke: I

00:08:07 Alex Stahlmann: like, wait, what?

00:08:08 luke: know.

00:08:08 Alex Stahlmann: Okay.

00:08:08 luke: Or like, are you punished for sticking in here too long? And I believe only in bosses can you not be invaded. Otherwise, if you're doing that co-op shit, you're vulnerable to invasions, which is, it's some

00:08:18 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, we

00:08:19 luke: silly

00:08:19 Alex Stahlmann: were trying

00:08:19 luke: shit,

00:08:19 Alex Stahlmann: to, like,

00:08:19 luke: but

00:08:19 Alex Stahlmann: find

00:08:20 luke: whatever.

00:08:20 Alex Stahlmann: our grounding, like, just, like, before we went in to take off that boss

00:08:23 luke: Literally

00:08:24 Alex Stahlmann: and all of a sudden some dude just pops out of nowhere,

00:08:26 luke: throwing

00:08:26 Alex Stahlmann: like, just way oped,

00:08:27 luke: bombs,

00:08:27 Alex Stahlmann: throwing

00:08:27 luke: dude,

00:08:28 Alex Stahlmann: bombs

00:08:28 luke: throwing

00:08:28 Alex Stahlmann: and

00:08:28 luke: literal

00:08:28 Alex Stahlmann: shit.

00:08:29 luke: bombs at us that

00:08:30 Alex Stahlmann: I don't

00:08:30 luke: we

00:08:30 Alex Stahlmann: remember

00:08:30 luke: haven't.

00:08:30 Alex Stahlmann: who died first, me or you, but like, he definitely just like mopped the floor with

00:08:34 luke: Yeah,

00:08:34 Alex Stahlmann: us and I was like, what the fuck was that?

00:08:35 luke: we

00:08:35 Alex Stahlmann: Is it because we

00:08:36 luke: were

00:08:36 Alex Stahlmann: were sitting there for too long? The game just booed

00:08:37 luke: hopeless.

00:08:37 Alex Stahlmann: us? That's how it does it

00:08:38 luke: It

00:08:38 Alex Stahlmann: or?

00:08:39 luke: wasn't even like a thing that warned us it was coming and like classic this game, dude. Uh, I really admire that they just throw you into things and you figure things out, but it's also the stupidest shit in the world. Cause I'm like, You're like, was that supposed to happen? What's going

00:08:52 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:08:52 luke: on? What? Why? Uh, but yeah, quite a little rant there, but,

00:08:58 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:08:58 luke: um,

00:08:58 Alex Stahlmann: so the game itself, like I think a lot of folks listening are probably, they've either dabbled in this, they probably, I mean, it wasn't a bunch of game of the years. This game has been making its rounds, like it's got a little bit of new life because they just dropped like a, it's not even DLC, it's like a brand new game, Night Reign. It's

00:09:12 luke: Hmm,

00:09:13 Alex Stahlmann: like, uh,

00:09:13 luke: sure.

00:09:13 Alex Stahlmann: it's like an

00:09:14 luke: I

00:09:14 Alex Stahlmann: Elden Ring takes place in the Elden Ring like realm, but it's like a roguelike multiplayer or some shit. Um,

00:09:19 luke: recently heard it compared to Hades, like

00:09:21 Alex Stahlmann: interesting.

00:09:21 luke: a roguelike,

00:09:22 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:09:22 luke: like 3D Hades, and I was like, oh, that I wasn't interested,

00:09:24 Alex Stahlmann: cool.

00:09:25 luke: but now I kind of am.

00:09:26 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so that's there. I mean, they, I think earlier this year, no, not this year. So like late last year, I think they, they dropped or who knows time, but they dropped DLC.

00:09:36 luke: Yeah,

00:09:36 Alex Stahlmann: The people

00:09:37 luke: you're

00:09:37 Alex Stahlmann: love for

00:09:37 luke: correct.

00:09:37 Alex Stahlmann: it.

00:09:37 luke: Yeah. Shadow

00:09:39 Alex Stahlmann: So yeah, man, it's,

00:09:40 luke: of

00:09:40 Alex Stahlmann: uh,

00:09:40 luke: the

00:09:40 Alex Stahlmann: it's

00:09:40 luke: Erd

00:09:40 Alex Stahlmann: still, uh,

00:09:41 luke: Tree.

00:09:41 Alex Stahlmann: yeah, exactly. And that, that was like highly lauded as well. Like people are stoked on that shit.

00:09:46 luke: Well,

00:09:46 Alex Stahlmann: People,

00:09:46 luke: it

00:09:46 Alex Stahlmann: you

00:09:46 luke: was

00:09:46 Alex Stahlmann: know,

00:09:47 luke: so

00:09:47 Alex Stahlmann: this

00:09:47 luke: big.

00:09:47 Alex Stahlmann: one gave me

00:09:47 luke: It's

00:09:47 Alex Stahlmann: the awards.

00:09:48 luke: like too big to be its own new game, but it's, or it's too small to be its whole brand new game.

00:09:54 Alex Stahlmann: Right.

00:09:55 luke: But it's also, you know, it's DLC, but it's the chonkiest of DLC. It's like in this weird middle ground. Mm-hmm.

00:10:02 Alex Stahlmann: And I ask for forgiveness in advance, but Hideateka Miyazaki is the, the director of this game. Um, my Japanese, not great, bro,

00:10:13 luke: You know

00:10:13 Alex Stahlmann: but.

00:10:13 luke: what? They'll know who you're talking about.

00:10:16 Alex Stahlmann: Indeed. And then what's kind of cool, though, is the world buildings. They reached out to George R.R. Martin to work on the world building of this game, which I think is like a fun collab.

00:10:26 luke: I feel like they just got him to make silly names that start with G,

00:10:29 Alex Stahlmann: Could

00:10:30 luke: but

00:10:30 Alex Stahlmann: be.

00:10:30 luke: I could

00:10:31 Alex Stahlmann: Dog.

00:10:31 luke: be wrong.

00:10:32 Alex Stahlmann: Like, that dude needed to be pulled away from all of his projects.

00:10:35 luke: He

00:10:35 Alex Stahlmann: Ha,

00:10:35 luke: was so happy for a distraction. He's

00:10:38 Alex Stahlmann: ha.

00:10:38 luke: never finished in them books. Uh, it is a cool name to put on and it is like a good, I don't know at all. What's going on? I swear to God, if I ever beat this game, I'll spend some hours on YouTube learning all of it to appreciate it because I guess the people who are into it are so into it.

00:10:56 Alex Stahlmann: Oh,

00:10:57 luke: Uh,

00:10:57 Alex Stahlmann: you little homie you're just talking about 500 hours, bro.

00:10:59 luke: Mm-hmm. And I asked him, like, like, how much time have you spent on YouTube? And he said, like, not a bunch, but I don't believe him. I swear he's

00:11:07 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:11:08 luke: been reading a ton

00:11:08 Alex Stahlmann: you

00:11:08 luke: about

00:11:08 Alex Stahlmann: gotta

00:11:09 luke: it.

00:11:09 Alex Stahlmann: know.

00:11:09 luke: It's

00:11:09 Alex Stahlmann: I mean,

00:11:09 luke: dense.

00:11:09 Alex Stahlmann: he might

00:11:10 luke: Oh.

00:11:10 Alex Stahlmann: be digging through the wikis or something.

00:11:12 luke: It's gotta be because I have no idea what the fuck is going on, which

00:11:16 Alex Stahlmann: They

00:11:16 luke: is fine.

00:11:17 Alex Stahlmann: don't really, I

00:11:17 luke: I actually

00:11:18 Alex Stahlmann: mean,

00:11:18 luke: find it liberating.

00:11:18 Alex Stahlmann: yes and no. Yes and no. Like, there's things that I like about it, things that I don't. I think that was one thing that It took me longer to kind of latch on to it because I'm just going to juxtapose it to The Witcher three uh,

00:11:29 luke: Yeah.

00:11:29 Alex Stahlmann: The Witcher three uh, you know, very, like, I love The Witcher three and I think the story in that game is fucking dope. I love, you know, Geralt of Rivia. Uh, this is like very, you, you get to create your character. I think that is fun. You get to choose from a bunch of classes, like a whole bunch of classes. Um, curious who you went to with, with the.

00:11:52 luke: I'm a samurai.

00:11:53 Alex Stahlmann: Right. And I went with

00:11:54 luke: How

00:11:54 Alex Stahlmann: the warrior.

00:11:54 luke: do you not? How do you not, samurai? I'm shocked you walked past a samurai and you're like, no.

00:12:00 Alex Stahlmann: Well, the warrior's pretty dope. Like, I often will end up being, like, in a game like this, I'll choose, like, you know, I default to the, you know, what do you call it? The Well, the warrior, but I want to say beast. I'm

00:12:13 luke: Tank.

00:12:13 Alex Stahlmann: not, it's not,

00:12:14 luke: You're

00:12:14 Alex Stahlmann: not the beast,

00:12:14 luke: more

00:12:14 Alex Stahlmann: but

00:12:14 luke: of

00:12:14 Alex Stahlmann: like

00:12:14 luke: a tank

00:12:15 Alex Stahlmann: more of

00:12:15 luke: build.

00:12:15 Alex Stahlmann: tank characters.

00:12:15 luke: Yeah.

00:12:16 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, exactly. So it made sense to me. I think if I had to do it again, I would. Either do the samurai, maybe the vagabond. Um, I don't know if I would start with warrior. Like it just didn't, it didn't quite do it for me. Like even now I'm like, God, I wish that my dude looked different.

00:12:33 luke: Yeah, I'm, I mean, the samurai starting armor is cool. Um, I

00:12:37 Alex Stahlmann: It

00:12:38 luke: haven't

00:12:38 Alex Stahlmann: is. Okay,

00:12:38 luke: run into anything to replace the armor yet. Um, I

00:12:41 Alex Stahlmann: yeah, and

00:12:41 luke: know there's some stuff people suggest to do. So I kinda, you have a little bit more flexibility where you're probably running into some other, are you still with the same armor you started with?

00:12:50 Alex Stahlmann: No, I switched it up pretty early on. I've run into a couple of sets that are nice. This game is interesting. This is dense. So, like,

00:12:56 luke: Dude,

00:12:57 Alex Stahlmann: there

00:12:57 luke: so

00:12:57 Alex Stahlmann: is

00:12:57 luke: dense.

00:12:57 Alex Stahlmann: two different... Yeah,

00:12:59 luke: There's

00:12:59 Alex Stahlmann: so, like,

00:12:59 luke: so

00:12:59 Alex Stahlmann: there's...

00:12:59 luke: many systems I still have 0% grasp over and I'm like sixty to seventy hours deep.

00:13:04 Alex Stahlmann: Exactly. So, like, I

00:13:05 luke: Yeah.

00:13:05 Alex Stahlmann: mean, I have picked up armor that is, like, Good. Uh, and it is like elevated my character, but it's not like, you know, I can't remember what it's called right now, but there's like two sets of like, there's like two sat sets that every piece of like armor has. It's, uh, Has to do with, like, his durability. Not his durability, but, like, I don't know. Like, it has, like, basically, I

00:13:26 luke: Base

00:13:27 Alex Stahlmann: don't

00:13:27 luke: stats

00:13:27 Alex Stahlmann: know.

00:13:27 luke: and then scaling.

00:13:28 Alex Stahlmann: Exactly. Or

00:13:29 luke: Yeah.

00:13:29 Alex Stahlmann: so, I

00:13:29 luke: Mm-hmm.

00:13:29 Alex Stahlmann: don't know. See that there's like levels above levels that I'm just like, I don't know, man,

00:13:33 luke: Mm-hmm.

00:13:33 Alex Stahlmann: like which, which, so I haven't put it this way. I have not sold my original armor set because there's certain pieces of it that like are actually better. So

00:13:41 luke: Oh, sure.

00:13:41 Alex Stahlmann: I don't, I don't know.

00:13:43 luke: Yeah. We're in the weeds on that one. Uh, which speaks to the game, which is like at one hand, it's Unlike the Witcher where you feel like it's weird that you're in this cataclysmic like apocalypse, like this crazy apocalyptic event and yet you're just like fucking around playing Gwent. There's always that weird juxtaposition of that. What I love in this game is like, There's no text anywhere. There's no, like, missions. We'll get to that later. But, like, you're just kind of there. So, like, you're fucking around, poking around feels, like,

00:14:12 Alex Stahlmann: You

00:14:12 luke: pretty natural.

00:14:12 Alex Stahlmann: know.

00:14:13 luke: Like, And it is super comparable. That sensation of just like looking over on a map and like, I bet you there's some cool shit over there. It feels the only game that comes close to touching that and being better than that is like Breath of the Wild, the original one.

00:14:26 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, I was gonna say scrim, dude. Skyrim.

00:14:28 luke: Yeah.

00:14:28 Alex Stahlmann: Like, that's,

00:14:29 luke: Scrim,

00:14:29 Alex Stahlmann: that's probably

00:14:30 luke: I

00:14:30 Alex Stahlmann: a

00:14:30 luke: get

00:14:30 Alex Stahlmann: better.

00:14:30 luke: loaded down

00:14:31 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:14:31 luke: with loot and I'm like digging through barrels

00:14:33 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:14:34 luke: and

00:14:34 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:14:34 luke: dumb shit like that. So I would say that like, you know what

00:14:37 Alex Stahlmann: This

00:14:37 luke: the fuck

00:14:38 Alex Stahlmann: is,

00:14:38 luke: I mean

00:14:38 Alex Stahlmann: uh,

00:14:38 luke: though. You

00:14:39 Alex Stahlmann: oh,

00:14:39 luke: know what the

00:14:39 Alex Stahlmann: for

00:14:39 luke: fuck.

00:14:39 Alex Stahlmann: sure, dude.

00:14:40 luke: Yeah.

00:14:40 Alex Stahlmann: I was playing Starfield last night

00:14:41 luke: Yeah.

00:14:41 Alex Stahlmann: and

00:14:42 luke: And

00:14:42 Alex Stahlmann: I was

00:14:42 luke: you're like,

00:14:42 Alex Stahlmann: opening

00:14:42 luke: you're weighed

00:14:42 Alex Stahlmann: every

00:14:43 luke: down

00:14:43 Alex Stahlmann: goddamn

00:14:43 luke: by

00:14:43 Alex Stahlmann: locker.

00:14:43 luke: a wheel

00:14:43 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:14:44 luke: of cheese and you're like, well, I can't get rid of my block of cheese. Like, so I'd say this game like streamlines some of that adventure better. Uh, but yeah, I did feel like. I felt the joy of like when I first played some scrimmin' and I was like digging through a cave and like getting into shenanigans. It's 100% like that. It's 100% like Breath of the Wild. You're not as fluid in getting around. Like you are in breath of the wild, but the environments are just straight up gorgeous, dude. The art is so fucking cool. And like, it's got a really good video game map. It's like, oh. If you want me to nerd out on some good video game map, like it's not too informative, but you can definitely study it and be like, there's some cool shit over there. And then you go

00:15:21 Alex Stahlmann: I'm

00:15:21 luke: over there and like, oh, it's

00:15:24 Alex Stahlmann: so spoiled.

00:15:24 luke: tight,

00:15:24 Alex Stahlmann: Like,

00:15:24 luke: dude. It's

00:15:25 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:15:25 luke: tight.

00:15:25 Alex Stahlmann: feel like, I feel like modern day video game graphics has spoiled me. Like, I, I know this game is beautiful, but I think like after playing Red Dead Redemption two like, I don't know if there's a prettier game.

00:15:37 luke: No, but like, graphic fidelity is, I mean, Red Dead two is just fucking bonkers, but like, I mean like the art direction is fucking sick.

00:15:46 Alex Stahlmann: Okay.

00:15:47 luke: Like,

00:15:47 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:15:47 luke: Like,

00:15:48 Alex Stahlmann: and like, to

00:15:48 luke: the

00:15:48 Alex Stahlmann: be fair,

00:15:48 luke: enemy

00:15:48 Alex Stahlmann: I'm like, yeah.

00:15:49 luke: designs, the character designs,

00:15:50 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:15:50 luke: like, your environment that you're literally in is, it's pretty close to, like, perfect's the wrong thing, because this is more of a subjective deal, but, like. It's a pretty master class for, like, how the game vibes look and feel and, like,

00:16:03 Alex Stahlmann: Nah.

00:16:03 luke: the things you

00:16:03 Alex Stahlmann: A

00:16:03 luke: run into. Like, the environments are crazy cool.

00:16:07 Alex Stahlmann: little too dark for me.

00:16:09 luke: Where's the rainbows?

00:16:11 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, no. I mean, like, to be fair, like, you look off in the distance and there's some cool shit going on, the earth trees and all that shit. Like, yeah, I mean,

00:16:17 luke: Yeah.

00:16:17 Alex Stahlmann: it's dope, man. Like, I see what you're saying 100%. And I agree with you. I just don't know if it's my vibe.

00:16:22 luke: Dude,

00:16:22 Alex Stahlmann: Like,

00:16:22 luke: that giant

00:16:23 Alex Stahlmann: I still don't.

00:16:23 luke: fucking castle you're in right now, that first legacy

00:16:25 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:16:25 luke: dungeon, that thing's so sick. Like, I,

00:16:28 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:16:28 luke: oh, dude, that'll be a video game

00:16:31 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:16:31 luke: space that I'll take with me for a long time. Like, I think...

00:16:34 Alex Stahlmann: cool.

00:16:35 luke: Um, clearly I'm more pilled. I'm more, I'm like, I'm fully in. I, there's some nitpicking that I have with it, but like, if we're talking like things I like about it, like it's, I could go on and on, uh,

00:16:47 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, it's funny though, before we jumped on the mics like earlier today, I was thinking and I was like, cause I have come, I have warmed up to this game quite a bit.

00:16:54 luke: Yeah.

00:16:54 Alex Stahlmann: And I was like, I have to channel some of my fucking grumpy energy cause like, The majority of my playthrough, I was, like, not really feeling it. So I was, like, I gotta bring that back. I can't just come in. I can't just be glowing for Elden Ring because, like, this shit, like, pissed me off for, like, a good solid, like, 10-15 hours.

00:17:11 luke: Damn. Maybe it's just because of my Sherpas, but uh, now it does that classic video game thing where like, I remember the early struggles and like, it's charming. Now. And like, I've also like, I mean, it's so it's such a big part of the gaming zeitgeist where like people generally know about the game and they've heard a lot of tidbits and a lot of like, oh, this is how you should handle it. Like you should just run away. Like, the Tree Sentinel. I knew through various podcasts and media that he was there to wreck me and teach me to run away when I can't handle something and go fuck off. I

00:17:48 Alex Stahlmann: Which is

00:17:48 luke: still

00:17:48 Alex Stahlmann: a bit

00:17:49 luke: tried...

00:17:49 Alex Stahlmann: of a farm software trope, right?

00:17:50 luke: Yeah,

00:17:50 Alex Stahlmann: Like, that's kind

00:17:50 luke: I

00:17:51 Alex Stahlmann: of

00:17:51 luke: still

00:17:51 Alex Stahlmann: something they

00:17:51 luke: did

00:17:51 Alex Stahlmann: do.

00:17:51 luke: it. I still tried

00:17:52 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:17:52 luke: to like fuck him up and he still just absolutely murdered me. I saw a meme today that was like, Hey, where should we put this place? Like, we have our nice little starter area of the map. Which, which, like, place should we make that's, like, literally hell? Where should we locate it? Oh, right next to the starter place? Like, so you did that. Didn't you wander off heading east and then you, like, ran into, like, the That's basically hell. And you're like, you just got destroyed and you were like disheartened and confused.

00:18:19 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, that was, like, not too far before we had our little

00:18:23 luke: Yeah, I think

00:18:24 Alex Stahlmann: co-op

00:18:24 luke: the last,

00:18:25 Alex Stahlmann: session.

00:18:25 luke: the session you had before it. And there's even

00:18:27 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:18:27 luke: a treasure

00:18:27 Alex Stahlmann: totally.

00:18:28 luke: chest that, like, traps you, sends you over there in a cave so you can't even get out. You have to run out of the cave, get to, like, a safe spot for a second, and then... Fast travel back. So, like, the game's constantly trying to piss you off. But, like,

00:18:42 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, I think Dragon Bar or some shit like that or Khalid.

00:18:45 luke: word. It's

00:18:45 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:18:46 luke: Khalid,

00:18:46 Alex Stahlmann: don't know. Yeah,

00:18:46 luke: yeah.

00:18:47 Alex Stahlmann: Khalid.

00:18:47 luke: Khalid

00:18:48 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:18:48 luke: or

00:18:48 Alex Stahlmann: think I

00:18:48 luke: something.

00:18:48 Alex Stahlmann: went up into, I wanted to both DJ Khalid.

00:18:51 luke: Yeah, right.

00:18:53 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, I went, I went into both those there cause basically I did the, at that point I was like, you know what? I'm just not going to try and beat any of these bosses. I'm just going to explore. And like, that was fun. Like, cause you, I figured it's kind of similar to, um, To Breath of the Wild where you have your towers. So like, same thing. There's these, uh, there's these, I don't know what

00:19:09 luke: Map

00:19:09 Alex Stahlmann: they are kind

00:19:10 luke: fragment

00:19:10 Alex Stahlmann: of like pillars

00:19:10 luke: type

00:19:10 Alex Stahlmann: or whatever.

00:19:11 luke: shit,

00:19:11 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:19:11 luke: yeah.

00:19:11 Alex Stahlmann: So

00:19:12 luke: They're

00:19:12 Alex Stahlmann: you go

00:19:12 luke: usually

00:19:12 Alex Stahlmann: find those

00:19:12 luke: on

00:19:12 Alex Stahlmann: and

00:19:12 luke: a

00:19:13 Alex Stahlmann: you

00:19:13 luke: pillar,

00:19:13 Alex Stahlmann: can usually,

00:19:13 luke: yeah.

00:19:13 Alex Stahlmann: yeah, you can usually find it. Like there is, it is signaling to you where those are so you can go find them. And then now it's kind of this, Revealing parts of the map. I found myself over in DJ Khaled zone, dude. And I was like, this is not hype. This is, this

00:19:27 luke: No.

00:19:27 Alex Stahlmann: is very not DJ Khaled. This is like, this is like hell and everybody's really scary. And

00:19:31 luke: Yeah.

00:19:31 Alex Stahlmann: like, I'm getting my ass kicked.

00:19:32 luke: Well, it's like certain games you play, you just run over and you hack and you roll around and I definitely do that now, but like. You have to learn the patience and the cadence and how the enemies come at you. And I know that's like the dumb shit. The fucking sweats will yell at you on the internet, but it's true. Uh, also

00:19:49 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:19:50 luke: the

00:19:50 Alex Stahlmann: did

00:19:50 luke: game,

00:19:50 Alex Stahlmann: the, I did the classic, like, when does that, I Googled, when does other brain become fun? And

00:19:56 luke: Why

00:19:56 Alex Stahlmann: of course,

00:19:57 luke: am I not having a good time?

00:19:59 Alex Stahlmann: of course, I, of course, like there's a whole bunch of it's like, I am not the only person that has Googled this before. And I, I ended up on some Reddit thread and I was reading through it. And then there's, It was kind of fun to see because there's a couple folks that are like, look, I'm sorry that I'm going to say this, but it's just the way it is with this game. Like, you got to get good.

00:20:18 luke: Well, dude, I was

00:20:18 Alex Stahlmann: And

00:20:19 luke: talking

00:20:19 Alex Stahlmann: then it's

00:20:19 luke: to

00:20:19 Alex Stahlmann: fun.

00:20:19 luke: the

00:20:19 Alex Stahlmann: And that's what they say. Then it's fun. And it's like, I get it. Um,

00:20:23 luke: I was,

00:20:23 Alex Stahlmann: and

00:20:23 luke: I

00:20:23 Alex Stahlmann: that's,

00:20:23 luke: was

00:20:23 Alex Stahlmann: and

00:20:23 luke: talking

00:20:24 Alex Stahlmann: it's true.

00:20:24 luke: to the,

00:20:24 Alex Stahlmann: Like,

00:20:24 luke: I was talking to my little homie today about the last boss I faced. Then I one shot the boss and he goes, oh yeah, cool. No, that's, that's awesome. It's awesome to hear. And I was like, what's up? He goes, that boss took me three hours.

00:20:35 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, shit.

00:20:36 luke: And

00:20:36 Alex Stahlmann: Mm,

00:20:36 luke: I think he just got to that boss way earlier than I did. Cause I like

00:20:39 Alex Stahlmann: yeah.

00:20:40 luke: really, I like the, you know, I don't like the storyline stuff of the witcher. The side quests are sick, but I didn't really care about like the main mission. The best part of Breath of the Wild, people complain that it wasn't linear and didn't have a strong enough story. I just love to fuck off and explore things in games.

00:20:56 Alex Stahlmann: Mm.

00:20:56 luke: So, like, in this game, I get... Not over leveled, but I get pretty high leveled. So I'm usually not totally overwhelmed for a task. And that helps me have a lot more fun when I'm just wrecking enemies. Cause like. You can go back to an early area and some enemies will still catch you off guard and fuck you up. So you never feel like you're playing unfair, you know, but like when you feel really powerful, it pays off and feels really fucking cool.

00:21:22 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:21:23 luke: Also, I have

00:21:23 Alex Stahlmann: 100%. I mean,

00:21:24 luke: a

00:21:24 Alex Stahlmann: reaching

00:21:24 luke: sick

00:21:24 Alex Stahlmann: that

00:21:24 luke: samurai

00:21:24 Alex Stahlmann: point. Uh,

00:21:24 luke: sword and I'm a fucking G, dude. Getting bleed going, dude.

00:21:29 Alex Stahlmann: reaching that point is always great in these types of games. Um, I think what's interesting about this game and like, I had to assume that there are other games that are like this as well. Um, Is you have to be in that mindset like they are punishing games and it's, it's just a type, it's a type of gameplay that some people love. I'm a little lukewarm on it, but it's, I respect it, I guess. It's interesting because I am here for like a grueling Like, I will do that. But, but like, but

00:21:56 luke: This

00:21:56 Alex Stahlmann: for whatever

00:21:56 luke: is

00:21:56 Alex Stahlmann: reason,

00:21:56 luke: way less, way less frustrating for me than Celeste was. Celeste is a good ass game,

00:22:01 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:22:01 luke: but

00:22:02 Alex Stahlmann: so

00:22:02 luke: yeah.

00:22:02 Alex Stahlmann: like, Celeste's like my, or like, um, another good example around that would be like Prince of Persia or like, uh, Metroid or something, you know? Like,

00:22:10 luke: Yeah.

00:22:10 Alex Stahlmann: Some of those bosses were really tough like and I'm here for for running through the paces on one of those games and trying to learn how to beat those bosses and for whatever reason in the 3d like action. Realm that, that Elden Ring lives in. It's, I don't know. I'm just not sold. But at the same time, like Skyrim, like see this game, I see so many parallels to Skyrim and I was so much easier for me to like role play Skyrim, you know?

00:22:38 luke: Yeah, because there's things to roleplay. In this game, you're just this fucking thing running around fucking shit up. And like, we don't know yet what's going on. I haven't

00:22:48 Alex Stahlmann: Fair,

00:22:48 luke: read

00:22:48 Alex Stahlmann: yeah,

00:22:48 luke: the PhD

00:22:49 Alex Stahlmann: yeah.

00:22:49 luke: text 400 level

00:22:50 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:22:50 luke: class to understand what the Fuck George R. Martin and crew we're getting at. But like, you're just fucking around and finding out constantly. And one

00:23:00 Alex Stahlmann: So how

00:23:01 luke: thing.

00:23:01 Alex Stahlmann: far into the map are you? Like, the whole world map? Like, are you,

00:23:04 luke: Not

00:23:04 Alex Stahlmann: like, I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't

00:23:05 luke: very,

00:23:06 Alex Stahlmann: know.

00:23:06 luke: because I'm pretty careful about, like, not 100%ing things, because I'm not into that, but, like, the game is dense, the map is dense, so

00:23:16 Alex Stahlmann: Right.

00:23:16 luke: I probably have a third of it unlocked. Including the underground stuff. So like, which

00:23:20 Alex Stahlmann: Okay.

00:23:21 luke: is crazy. Cause I'm like sixty seventy hours in, but like, there's so much to go. I

00:23:25 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:23:26 luke: don't think

00:23:26 Alex Stahlmann: kind

00:23:26 luke: there's

00:23:26 Alex Stahlmann: of, I

00:23:26 luke: a

00:23:26 Alex Stahlmann: kind

00:23:26 luke: bigger

00:23:26 Alex Stahlmann: of ask.

00:23:27 luke: lie on how long to beat than this game.

00:23:29 Alex Stahlmann: What is so long to be safe?

00:23:31 luke: Oh, I haven't seen it, probably like forty to sixty hours. Let's get, let's get IT on that.

00:23:39 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, sixty hours is what they're saying.

00:23:41 luke: Yeah, that's out of control, dude. I've beat two legacy dungeons. Two legacy dungeons. Um, and for those of you uninitiated, legacy dungeons are like those old school linear dungeons within, uh, the kind of the more modern, uh, 3D, like, Zelda-like games, I guess. You know what I mean? So, like,

00:23:59 Alex Stahlmann: Yep.

00:24:00 luke: this is honestly more of a Zelda game than Breath of the Wild. Because those stupid

00:24:05 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:24:05 luke: fucking divine

00:24:06 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:24:06 luke: beasts that were, like, an okay temple, right? Like, The castle that you're on right now, that first one, I just think it's sick, dude. You have to be like, you just kind of keep exploring and picking away and doing all these different things and there's so many different types of enemies and different challenges and moments and weird platforming and like. sections that you got to get to and checkpoints and I just fucking love that. But then when that's overwhelming, I just go fuck off back. I'm saying fuck a lot on this pod. I guess I'm just so riled up about it. Uh, but then I just like, I go dick around. Like I got to a choke point in that castle and I could not get any further. I saw this big enemy and I was like, no, can't do this anymore. So then I didn't even notice that Island to the South where I helped you with that boss. Um, And

00:24:50 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:24:50 luke: I cleared that whole island and castle and stuff like a little mini deal. And then I went back and like, that was so gratifying. Sorry. What was that rant even about? Uh, just how much I love the legacy dungeons.

00:25:02 Alex Stahlmann: I suppose.

00:25:03 luke: Yeah. So yeah. I don't know, man.

00:25:06 Alex Stahlmann: Ah, no,

00:25:06 luke: Boss

00:25:06 Alex Stahlmann: you bring up...

00:25:07 luke: medals are fucking epic. They're way too hard sometimes, but you have those assists. Like, I felt dirty the first time I used the summoning.

00:25:15 Alex Stahlmann: I've never been able to use a summoning for like computer summoning. There's been a couple spots where it's been obvious to me how it works, but I was under the impression you could do that like easier.

00:25:25 luke: I think you can, yeah, I, I don't know because once again I'd have to spend twenty minutes on the internet figuring out how

00:25:31 Alex Stahlmann: Dude.

00:25:31 luke: the fuck to operate anything. Uh,

00:25:34 Alex Stahlmann: So here's the deal. Like, like, it sounds like I'm fucking like complaining about this. I am

00:25:39 luke: Nah,

00:25:39 Alex Stahlmann: to

00:25:39 luke: this

00:25:39 Alex Stahlmann: an extent.

00:25:39 luke: is Luke explains Elden Ring to a boomer. Continue.

00:25:42 Alex Stahlmann: Dude, I, like, I am complaining to an extent, but you brought up, like, so the whole, like, summoning thing that we went through to figure out how to make summoning work. Like, I had the instructions on the start menu or whatever. I had a YouTube thing playing. Like, I also had like a, like a wiki page open trying to figure out how to make it all work. It still wasn't super clear. And like, it's just frustrating. Like, and that's like, that's this, this game to a T is like, it is, Unclear and frustrating, but then when you get to work, it's fucking dope.

00:26:13 luke: Yeah, it, I've brought it up on this pod but it's like my favorite meme ever of like some nerdy sweat just being like Elder Ring is so good like you need a notebook to play like it doesn't hold your hand like you have to decipher the information yourself and then they're playing on a computer and they have two monitors with all this different text and things telling them how everything works and it's like

00:26:32 Alex Stahlmann: Right.

00:26:32 luke: it's frustrating. I would like a quest log um, or something like I love that I don't have this map littered with fucking icons and just clutter and I love that I can just derp around as I've mentioned a few times, but there's some times when someone's like, have you done this quest? And I'm like, the fuck do you mean? I didn't, I talked to the person, but you have to talk to them three times. And I'm like, that was convoluted and strange. For them to open up this quest line and then like was I playing at night and then the next day I forgot what I was up to and there's nothing to remind me of what I was on so like whenever I accomplish something I have to like Be so focused and like using an online guide. So that's kind of fucking silly.

00:27:14 Alex Stahlmann: That was funny. There's a, I, I have like mixed feelings about that too. Like, I think it's pretty cool, but like, I don't know. I think like, just be nice to the player, man. Like give them like, I don't need everything on my map, but a nice little like checklist would be all right.

00:27:29 luke: What's funny is this is the nicest to the player game they've made.

00:27:33 Alex Stahlmann: I know, right? For real. For real. I'm such a weirdo, too, though, because, like, I've, like, dabbled in Elden Ring now, and I'm not, like, I'm not a stan, but I think it's cool, but I'm, but I still want to go back and play Dark Souls. Like, that's,

00:27:48 luke: You're

00:27:48 Alex Stahlmann: that's

00:27:48 luke: so silly.

00:27:48 Alex Stahlmann: how I'm,

00:27:49 luke: This is

00:27:49 Alex Stahlmann: dude, that's what I'm saying. Like,

00:27:50 luke: like,

00:27:50 Alex Stahlmann: I'm such a weird

00:27:51 luke: I understand

00:27:51 Alex Stahlmann: person.

00:27:51 luke: my I want to because I'm pretty, pretty pilled on the experience. So, and I feel like I've learned some of the language, so to speak, that we've talked a lot about. The

00:27:59 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:28:00 luke: semiotic domain that you are, you know, involved with here and how you just learn the language of a game and you understand and you become fluid and, like, I respect that. I've totally gotten way better at that myself. So, like, I think that Dark Souls... Eventually, maybe if I get that itch and I'm

00:28:16 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, can you hear me now? You still in here?

LFG Ep. 042: Elden Ring (Part 2)

00:00:00 luke3: Oh, it's there.

00:00:02 Alex Stahlmann: Cool. Uh, yeah, that was whack. Doesn't make me feel too happy about Adobe podcast.

00:00:08 luke3: Right,

00:00:08 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:00:08 luke3: it just randomly crashed.

00:00:11 Alex Stahlmann: All of a sudden my screen was like, Error. Like it just blacked out, grayed out or whatever. And I was like, I'm having a problem. And I was like, this is not good. I don't like this.

00:00:21 luke3: No.

00:00:23 Alex Stahlmann: You remember what you ran on? You were like in the middle of something.

00:00:26 luke3: I know, um, but no.

00:00:30 Alex Stahlmann: That's all good.

00:00:31 luke3: So, I'll just pick up with something, a conversation that I constantly, like, something I don't think I've paid a ton of attention to, um. But I love in this game and I think this game does it better than any other game I have ever played ever. She

00:00:48 Alex Stahlmann: Sure.

00:00:48 luke3: says enemy design and diversity. I

00:00:51 Alex Stahlmann: Mm.

00:00:51 luke3: have never played a game where I've fought this many different enemy types this late into the game. Breath of the Wild is a comparison and That you'll hear me keep bringing up because of the adventuring, the exploration, but I got so tired of fighting the same five Zelda enemies, the bosses were pretty cool, but in this game

00:01:11 Alex Stahlmann: Okay.

00:01:11 luke3: you have super sick bosses, like that's a whole conversation of its own. Yeah. But the fact that, like, I go to a new area and I'm not just fighting the same skeletons, the same trolls, the same, like, Skyrim is an almost perfect game, one of my favorites ever, but like, you fight a lot of the same dudes and you're almost

00:01:28 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:01:28 luke3: tickled when you see something new. In this game, I get to a new area. I'm like, what the hell is this thing's deal? Is it even friendly? It's usually not. And then I have to figure out what in the fuck I need to do. What in the hell is even that? How do I handle it? You know?

00:01:43 Alex Stahlmann: Indeed. Now, I agree with that 100%. They're like, I mean, it's, I'm maybe not sold on the aesthetic, but at the same time, like, What they, I would, I agree with that a hundred percent, like fucking weird ass things and they're all over the place and

00:01:57 luke3: Have

00:01:57 Alex Stahlmann: doing

00:01:57 luke3: you gotten

00:01:58 Alex Stahlmann: weird stuff.

00:01:59 luke3: deep enough in the castle to see the big, like, spider evil crazy thing that's not

00:02:03 Alex Stahlmann: Hmm.

00:02:03 luke3: even just a boss, it's just this big crazy thing you gotta, well, I guess it's kind of a boss because it doesn't regenerate, but like, pfft.

00:02:11 Alex Stahlmann: I haven't seen this yet, but um,

00:02:12 luke3: I can't

00:02:12 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:02:13 luke3: wait

00:02:13 Alex Stahlmann: do.

00:02:13 luke3: because

00:02:13 Alex Stahlmann: That's what

00:02:13 luke3: I

00:02:13 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:02:13 luke3: saw

00:02:13 Alex Stahlmann: do love

00:02:14 luke3: that

00:02:14 Alex Stahlmann: about

00:02:14 luke3: and

00:02:14 Alex Stahlmann: this

00:02:14 luke3: I was like,

00:02:14 Alex Stahlmann: game though.

00:02:14 luke3: fuck, what am I supposed to do about this?

00:02:18 Alex Stahlmann: Dog, that's what's really cool about this game, though, is that, you know, even there's just regular baddies that you would are like super good examples. The spider you bring up is a good example. Really great example is like very early in the game after that, um, That, like, turning point for you or

00:02:34 luke3: The

00:02:34 Alex Stahlmann: the

00:02:35 luke3: encampment,

00:02:35 Alex Stahlmann: camp or whatever.

00:02:35 luke3: yeah.

00:02:36 Alex Stahlmann: When you go past, there's that big gate that, you know, and then you go in there and there's a troll on top of this bridge looking down at you and there's a bunch of archers or whatever. But it's this massive troll. It's the first troll that I think it's the first troll that you run into. Um, or unless you like, I don't know, took a different turn, but dude, it's like just imposing, staring down at you. I was like, Ooh, this is the little boss. And like, no, it's, it's just like baddie. It's just like a really big, crazy, cool place to like,

00:03:00 luke3: Yeah.

00:03:01 Alex Stahlmann: Environmental baddie.

00:03:02 luke3: I think I got him to drop like not on my head. I think some people have like run into that area and he literally lands on him and kills him. Uh, the first time I did it, I actually defeated him, but that's just because like, I got some weird thing where I was being a little sneaky penis and he dropped down but didn't immediately attack.

00:03:19 Alex Stahlmann: Interesting, yeah.

00:03:20 luke3: So I like attacked him and then I survived. I was able to draw the archers. I like got way more leveled and then came back and like could not do that area. I was like, how the hell did I get past this the first time?

00:03:30 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:03:31 luke3: So

00:03:31 Alex Stahlmann: a

00:03:31 luke3: yeah.

00:03:31 Alex Stahlmann: tough little spot. My,

00:03:32 luke3: Yeah.

00:03:32 Alex Stahlmann: the first time that, uh, like, I've been back there since and it's, it's still difficult, but it's manageable now.

00:03:38 luke3: I

00:03:38 Alex Stahlmann: Um,

00:03:38 luke3: mean, that's the

00:03:38 Alex Stahlmann: but.

00:03:38 luke3: nice thing about

00:03:39 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:03:39 luke3: talking to people is because people will just tell you to fuck off from that area and go find a cave somewhere else and like get way stronger. I

00:03:46 Alex Stahlmann: Dude,

00:03:46 luke3: feel like no one was telling you to fuck off and you kept running into the strongest of walls.

00:03:51 Alex Stahlmann: well, that's the thing, though, is I would just bounce off everything, though. Like, no matter which direction I ran in, I'd be like, that's too hard. That's too hard.

00:03:59 luke3: And then you got to market way early. I was like, how'd you even get up there? You're

00:04:02 Alex Stahlmann: Because

00:04:02 luke3: like, you can get

00:04:02 Alex Stahlmann: I just,

00:04:02 luke3: past, you're

00:04:03 Alex Stahlmann: yeah,

00:04:04 luke3: like, you

00:04:04 Alex Stahlmann: just

00:04:04 luke3: can

00:04:04 Alex Stahlmann: rode

00:04:04 luke3: get

00:04:04 Alex Stahlmann: my

00:04:04 luke3: past

00:04:04 Alex Stahlmann: horse.

00:04:04 luke3: enemies if you just run.

00:04:06 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, totally. Which is, you know, there's like a little bit of that's fun too, though. Like, it's like, it's just, it's silly, dude. It's a weird game. But it's like, you know, you really got to be in the mindset. I think that's just it. Like, you had to know that you're like, Like, get ready for some punishment. You have to be ready to, and like, it's the same thing with Metroid, dude. It's like when you're, like, uh, when you're fighting a boss, like, you just know it's gonna whoop your ass a bunch of times. And then you're going to learn and you're going to get it. And that's super rewarding. And that's, it's similar in this sense as well. Only

00:04:36 luke3: I would

00:04:36 Alex Stahlmann: you

00:04:36 luke3: compare

00:04:36 Alex Stahlmann: really

00:04:36 luke3: it.

00:04:36 Alex Stahlmann: do have to like level up.

00:04:38 luke3: Yeah, I'd compare it to Super Metroid in the sense where it has like that old school sensibility of like obscureness.

00:04:45 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:04:45 luke3: Where like, you're like, I was able to break, that was a glass tube that I was able to bomb and explode. You remember that point in Super Metroid?

00:04:51 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:04:52 luke3: And I was like playing it in the year of our Lord, maybe twenty-two twenty-three twenty-one And I was like, how the fuck was I supposed to know that that was a break of like, nothing had led me to believe that's how you do

00:05:03 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, sure.

00:05:03 luke3: it prior to that happening. And I wasn't talking to anybody about

00:05:07 Alex Stahlmann: Schoolyard.

00:05:07 luke3: it because it Yeah,

00:05:08 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:05:09 luke3: so like this game's kind of that way too. Like you jump on the internet and you're like, you need to use this emote.

00:05:15 Alex Stahlmann: Hmm.

00:05:16 luke3: And then the guy will jump down. The way you get it is after you've heard him the first time, you talk to the merchant and you bring up the howling at this place. And then he'll teach you the finger snap. And then you go back there and you snap your fingers. And I'm like, how the fuck does anybody know this ever?

00:05:31 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:05:32 luke3: And

00:05:32 Alex Stahlmann: but it's made,

00:05:33 luke3: if

00:05:33 Alex Stahlmann: but

00:05:33 luke3: you

00:05:33 Alex Stahlmann: it's

00:05:33 luke3: found

00:05:34 Alex Stahlmann: made,

00:05:34 luke3: that out organically,

00:05:34 Alex Stahlmann: it

00:05:35 luke3: it would feel sick, but I don't know how anyone

00:05:36 Alex Stahlmann: would.

00:05:36 luke3: could do that.

00:05:37 Alex Stahlmann: Well, that's what's the interesting thing about this game and to my understanding some of the other FromSoftware games is the, okay, so we talked about the co-op multiplayer we did where you were summoned into my game and you were able to help me out with stuff.

00:05:49 luke3: Yeah.

00:05:50 Alex Stahlmann: There's another like earlier layer to the multiplayer and the more like, I don't know, constant multiplayer that's always happening is if you're connected to the internet, you get left messages by folks and things like that, right? Um,

00:06:02 luke3: Yeah.

00:06:02 Alex Stahlmann: or if

00:06:03 luke3: This

00:06:03 Alex Stahlmann: you're not connected,

00:06:03 luke3: is the most

00:06:03 Alex Stahlmann: this is

00:06:04 luke3: expensive

00:06:04 Alex Stahlmann: like random stuff.

00:06:04 luke3: $20 game I've ever bought because I now feel the online is absolutely crucial to playing so I have to

00:06:11 Alex Stahlmann: Oh,

00:06:11 luke3: keep re-upping.

00:06:11 Alex Stahlmann: funny.

00:06:12 luke3: Yeah.

00:06:12 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:06:12 luke3: I

00:06:12 Alex Stahlmann: yeah, yeah. You got that gold pass.

00:06:14 luke3: know, the cheapy cheapy.

00:06:16 Alex Stahlmann: Well, if you had it on PC.

00:06:19 luke3: I know. Isn't that silly?

00:06:20 Alex Stahlmann: It

00:06:20 luke3: But continue.

00:06:21 Alex Stahlmann: is extremely silly. But so anyways, there's these like messages that get left behind and these like cool little like, uh, they're

00:06:27 luke3: Just,

00:06:27 Alex Stahlmann: almost like ghosts, you know?

00:06:28 luke3: just

00:06:28 Alex Stahlmann: Um,

00:06:29 luke3: dick jokes. There's lots

00:06:31 Alex Stahlmann: most

00:06:31 luke3: of,

00:06:32 Alex Stahlmann: of them are, most

00:06:32 luke3: lots

00:06:32 Alex Stahlmann: of them

00:06:33 luke3: of homoerotic

00:06:33 Alex Stahlmann: are sex jokes.

00:06:34 luke3: jokes. Yeah.

00:06:35 Alex Stahlmann: Oh my gosh. It's everything's about being done in the butt or like getting

00:06:37 luke3: Yeah,

00:06:37 Alex Stahlmann: some head. It's

00:06:38 luke3: finger,

00:06:38 Alex Stahlmann: like, wow.

00:06:39 luke3: finger butthole. Yeah, you have like this limited list of things to say and people have just figured out every perverted thing to say at every perverted moment and it's

00:06:47 Alex Stahlmann: Dude,

00:06:47 luke3: hilarious.

00:06:47 Alex Stahlmann: it was cloudy when you hit me up and you're like, I haven't quite figured out like all the lingo yet. I don't really know what they're getting at. I'm like, I remember you like texting me that and I'm reading it. I'm like, I'm pretty sure these are butt jokes.

00:06:57 luke3: Yeah,

00:06:57 Alex Stahlmann: Like, I don't know.

00:06:57 luke3: I love how I'm like, I'm out here being like, Al, you don't get it. You just gotta hang. You gotta figure out the language. You're like, Luke, it's dick jokes. They're just... The fingers doesn't mean anything other than tri-fingers just means like, you know, butt stuff. I was like, uh, oh, okay.

00:07:18 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, man. But it's, you know, like the, it's the internet. So you, of course, you're going to get that there, which, you know, no surprise. Uh, but that, that layer though, that like multiplayer aspect of it, I think that's really cool. Like, I think it's fun. It makes you feel like in a, in a world where we're all separated and we're playing games by ourselves. Like it's cool to like have that connection in a way.

00:07:37 luke3: It like strips you. It's funny because part of the reason the game's so cool is because it doesn't always feel video gamey because the UI is so stripped down and

00:07:46 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:07:46 luke3: the, you know, there's no quest log and all these things. But then it feels intensely video gaming because you see Other gamers like shadows essentially rolling around. And sometimes I think it's an enemy coming to sneak up on me. And it's just some other person doing something similar as me. Or sometimes you can see somebody platforming a section you're in. You're like, oh, That is doable. Or like they leave a little message like, I did it. And you're like, okay. And then sometimes someone jumps down to some space that you can stand on for a second, leaves a message, and then you jump down there and die. And you're like, you fucking butthole.

00:08:19 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah, for sure. Dude, I think, uh,

00:08:22 luke3: Praise

00:08:23 Alex Stahlmann: the

00:08:23 luke3: the message.

00:08:23 Alex Stahlmann: only, yeah, right, I can, I can forgive all of these games, like, what I'm saying are shortcomings or pain points or whatever, like, because I I do think it's cool and I think they add it. They like make it different. They make it a different experience. They make it really cool. The only thing I can't forgive is the fact you can't pause,

00:08:41 luke3: Oh

00:08:41 Alex Stahlmann: bro.

00:08:41 luke3: my god. Any defense, any defense of this as a gameplay mechanic, just I would stare at them and I would like to be like, I like to pee.

00:08:54 Alex Stahlmann: For

00:08:54 luke3: I like

00:08:54 Alex Stahlmann: sure, for

00:08:55 luke3: to

00:08:55 Alex Stahlmann: sure.

00:08:55 luke3: take the amount of times I'll be like taking a drink thinking I'm safe and then like something attacks me. I'm like, oh, okay. Or like, you know, my wife being a reasonable human being asking something to me or conversing with me. I'm like, I'm not fucking right now. Okay. Can't just see what's happening.

00:09:12 Alex Stahlmann: Good clouding. I had, uh, we won't go into the full story, like, but, like, my furnace went out, I mean, the coldest day of the year and, like, made some smoke smells, so we had to get the Like, fire department had come through and I was at the round this time just trying to play some Elden Ring. Firemen are coming through my house and the game's just fucking rocking and rolling. I'm like, this is ridiculous.

00:09:36 luke3: I was, uh, I would just like to pause. I mean, I get it where, like, you can't switch a weapon out in the middle of a fight. I'm

00:09:41 Alex Stahlmann: Hmm.

00:09:41 luke3: not arguing about that, but just, like, Quite simply, dog, sometimes I just want to, like, get up and do something or acknowledge the other humans in my existence and life or, like, rock a text or look up one of the many obscure things I have to look up for this stupid fucking game that doesn't tell me.

00:09:59 Alex Stahlmann: Ah, dude, you gotta live in the land between or whatever they call it.

00:10:02 luke3: Yeah. Foul tarnished. I get it. I get it. Um, you have any other grievances with the game or have you already emptied your clip old man?

00:10:11 Alex Stahlmann: Ah, there's a couple in the chamber, but no, I'm just playing. I pretty much, I think I've got them out there. Like, I, you know, I came with some, like, Gonna give this game some negative energy, but at the same time, like, uh, that's not actually where I'm at with this game. Like, I am enjoying this game. I think it's cool. I understand why I got all the Game of the Year awards. I understand why people love it. It's just for me, it's not a game that I want to plow through and I don't think that's like a good or a bad thing necessarily. Um, You know, I really enjoy not playing this game for like five days and then being like, I am in the mood to get

00:10:45 luke3: Yeah,

00:10:45 Alex Stahlmann: my ass kicked.

00:10:46 luke3: yeah.

00:10:46 Alex Stahlmann: And, and then I'll, and then I'll, you know, get in, get my ass kicked or maybe like, you know, not. And then I'm like, wow, that was great. And I, and so for me, dude, like. I'm totally happy to have this game just be a game that I will go and explore and like have some fun and push through and like who knows if I'll ever beat it but like I would just like to plug through it and I think that It's not a game and I think it's almost a knock or I look at it as almost a knock that it's that the story doesn't like catch me to at least not yet to like want to push through and finish. Um, Like, normally I would cast that as a knock, but like, it's almost a boon in some ways

00:11:25 luke3: I

00:11:25 Alex Stahlmann: because

00:11:25 luke3: find

00:11:25 Alex Stahlmann: it becomes,

00:11:25 luke3: it so liberating, dude. I

00:11:27 Alex Stahlmann: yeah.

00:11:27 luke3: find it

00:11:28 Alex Stahlmann: Sure.

00:11:28 luke3: so refreshing to just not be caught in some fucking cutscene or some stupid dialogue or like just plowing through text like I'm just I'm just derping, dude. I'm

00:11:38 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:11:38 luke3: just gripping and ripping it, brother. I'm

00:11:41 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:11:41 luke3: just exploring.

00:11:43 Alex Stahlmann: See, you've committed and that's, I think

00:11:45 luke3: Well,

00:11:45 Alex Stahlmann: like, whereas

00:11:45 luke3: what's...

00:11:45 Alex Stahlmann: I'm still like, I'm still not like, uh, I'm not a hundred percent there, but I'm like, I'm, I'm tasting it. I can, I

00:11:50 luke3: Yeah,

00:11:50 Alex Stahlmann: can feel

00:11:51 luke3: you

00:11:51 Alex Stahlmann: it. And

00:11:51 luke3: can

00:11:51 Alex Stahlmann: I'm

00:11:51 luke3: understand.

00:11:51 Alex Stahlmann: like,

00:11:52 luke3: You

00:11:52 Alex Stahlmann: yep.

00:11:53 luke3: understand the vibe. Uh, it's crazy and this isn't practical as thirty year old men. Uh, one of us soon to be forty Um, but, like, if you had a roommate that was playing it or, like, if we lived together back at mom and dad's, like, you would either be inspired to play it Or, like, love watching me play it. Or, like, you'd see me do something and be like, oh, shit, okay, that's what I need to do when I get to play next. Like, But we don't have that in our lives. And I've been able to kind of recapture that with some of the conversations I've had with some people. Whereas like for you, I feel like when we did the co-op that sparked it a little bit for you, but like, you know. There's like a big chunk that like you're just left to fill in the blank. And if you don't have any assistance on that and you have to completely do it from the internet, I can see where you're just like, I just want to vibe with my one hour of free time today. I don't want to fucking die. To

00:12:48 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:12:48 luke3: the same boss, uh, which I do die to the bosses

00:12:51 Alex Stahlmann: Over

00:12:51 luke3: a

00:12:51 Alex Stahlmann: and

00:12:51 luke3: lot

00:12:51 Alex Stahlmann: over and

00:12:52 luke3: and

00:12:52 Alex Stahlmann: over.

00:12:52 luke3: you

00:12:52 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:12:52 luke3: do learn their things. It's like a Metroid is the closest one, like Metroid where you learn to dance with the boss. It's like that. Um, but like, I find it intensely liberating that I just pick it up and I'm like, I'm gonna head over there and I'm gonna do some stuff over there and I'm gonna see if I can find anything cool.

00:13:10 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:13:10 luke3: I'm

00:13:11 Alex Stahlmann: no,

00:13:11 luke3: gonna

00:13:11 Alex Stahlmann: and there

00:13:11 luke3: find

00:13:11 Alex Stahlmann: usually

00:13:11 luke3: some new

00:13:12 Alex Stahlmann: is something

00:13:12 luke3: enemies

00:13:12 Alex Stahlmann: cool.

00:13:12 luke3: and I'm

00:13:13 Alex Stahlmann: There

00:13:13 luke3: gonna level

00:13:13 Alex Stahlmann: usually

00:13:13 luke3: up.

00:13:13 Alex Stahlmann: is.

00:13:14 luke3: I'm gonna see something cool. I'm gonna like laugh at how fucked something got like But I, I will like run into things and I'll just like die. And the way I die, I'll know that I have to be done playing. I'm

00:13:25 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:13:26 luke3: like, I'm

00:13:26 Alex Stahlmann: Dude.

00:13:27 luke3: like, that was pretty fucking stupid. And I'm like, yeah, you should probably just be done. And then I pick it up the next day and I'm way better. It's kind of silly.

00:13:35 Alex Stahlmann: That's, uh, that's like another, like at first it used to really bug me the, um, like the checkpoint type things, a little fire pits or whatever.

00:13:43 luke3: Mm-hmm.

00:13:43 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, how you

00:13:44 luke3: Mm-hmm.

00:13:44 Alex Stahlmann: get sent back to those or whatever statute, depending if you're closer to one of those, but then you have to go back and get your credits. It's like, you know, Shovel Knight and shit like does it as well. That's like a it's um, that's like the type of whereas like I really don't like them not being able to pause like I don't mind that mechanic like it's it's an interesting enough thing and like challenging enough for it's like Well, man, I just shouldn't have died in my sec when I was trying to go retrieve my credits, you know? Like, how are you going to die twice? You fucking,

00:14:12 luke3: My

00:14:12 Alex Stahlmann: yeah,

00:14:12 luke3: runes.

00:14:12 Alex Stahlmann: yeah.

00:14:13 luke3: Yeah, I actually lost a huge bag of runes lately. Uh, a particularly egregious thing where like, I just shouldn't have done what I did. And

00:14:21 Alex Stahlmann: Totally.

00:14:21 luke3: I was like,

00:14:22 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:14:22 luke3: Oh, like you,

00:14:23 Alex Stahlmann: what it

00:14:23 luke3: you

00:14:23 Alex Stahlmann: always is, though.

00:14:24 luke3: took

00:14:24 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:14:24 luke3: so much fall damage because you just were being impatient to get back to it and you're like, oh, that was, that was so much.

00:14:30 Alex Stahlmann: But that's, see, and that's, that's where it's like, I'm like, the, the pause button is unforgivable. But like this stuff, I'm like, you know what? That like does add an element to this game

00:14:39 luke3: It's

00:14:39 Alex Stahlmann: that I'm like, I'm

00:14:40 luke3: like

00:14:40 Alex Stahlmann: actually

00:14:40 luke3: a fun,

00:14:40 Alex Stahlmann: here for

00:14:40 luke3: yeah.

00:14:40 Alex Stahlmann: it, you know?

00:14:41 luke3: Yeah, I'm not mad about that. The leveling system is actually pretty fun and rewarding and like the replayability. Like, you, you might pick it up. We've talked about it off mic before. You're like, I might plow through it. I might get through like a different chunk of it someday. We'll see. Whereas like, my question is like, I definitely think I'll beat it or at least get very far to get most of the map, but it'd be cool if like I did a magic build someday, like.

00:15:09 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, sure. Mm-hmm.

00:15:11 luke3: The game is you can learn the language, but it's also like, it's like just because you can converse casually in Spanish doesn't mean you know Spanish. And then, like, there's Mexican Spanish and there's Spain Spanish. There's a difference. It's like, did you do a magic build? Oh, you did. I did this type of build. Did you do this? And there's, like, there's so much complexities that, like, I admire, I find it frustrating when like there's mechanics that I've just like, I know like crafting items and like using bombs and other consumables. I know I can do stuff like that, but I'm like, that's just too much for me right now. I'm just a simple man.

00:15:45 Alex Stahlmann: Sure.

00:15:45 luke3: Uh, but I also, like, respect and, like, find it intriguing that, like, if I really needed that itch that I could just keep going and going and going, um. And I'm tired of people on the internet when I'm looking up like different build things telling me to just have fun. No, I'm trying to get good. I

00:16:02 Alex Stahlmann: I'm

00:16:02 luke3: want to

00:16:02 Alex Stahlmann: trying

00:16:02 luke3: know what's effective,

00:16:03 Alex Stahlmann: to max

00:16:03 luke3: dude.

00:16:03 Alex Stahlmann: my player, dude.

00:16:04 luke3: I like I only have so many resources to put into my weapons like tell me if this weapon is worth it you fucking nerd I understand that I'm just having fun and this is how I'm having fun trying to optimize my build in a way that's fun

00:16:15 Alex Stahlmann: Ha,

00:16:15 luke3: for me.

00:16:16 Alex Stahlmann: ha,

00:16:16 luke3: I

00:16:16 Alex Stahlmann: ha.

00:16:16 luke3: want to use the cool weapon, okay? Tell me if it's worth leveling up to use the cool weapon.

00:16:24 Alex Stahlmann: Well, with that, dude, how many you died screens out of five are you going to give this game?

00:16:30 luke3: Dude, I want to go up to scale to ten so I know you

00:16:33 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-mm.

00:16:33 luke3: don't want that, but here's the reason why. I'll give you a 4.75 because I wanted to give the game a 9.5.

00:16:41 Alex Stahlmann: Right on.

00:16:42 luke3: And here's the deal. I've never played a game with cooler enemies. Uh, it rivals the best part of Breath of the Wild, which is Maybe my favorite game ever were of the exploration and the freedom and I love the pared down like quest stuff I love that you're just out there and then you're jamming. But I cannot give a game a ten out of a ten that I cannot pause. That is... I have to give it a point five and there's other small, small grievances. Like I wish there was something that did like a quest log. I wish there was. Something less obscure with figuring out how to do missions and not being online for it. So check back in to see if I ended up maybe someday after beating it or keep playing it. I'd put it in my top ten games because it's that good. To certainly be considered, but just the tiniest of little checks, check marks against it have made me hesitant to say how much I loved it. But as far as like, sometimes we say

00:17:47 Alex Stahlmann: You

00:17:47 luke3: like rate

00:17:47 Alex Stahlmann: know

00:17:47 luke3: the

00:17:47 Alex Stahlmann: it'll

00:17:47 luke3: game.

00:17:47 Alex Stahlmann: get five if you can pause it, dog.

00:17:51 luke3: Uh, sometimes we say, like, who would you recommend this game for?

00:17:53 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:17:53 luke3: That becomes more complicated because of the things, like, the accessibility, like, it has to be someone who, like, knows what the fuck they're getting into and, like, is, like, Not like a capital G toxic gamer, but just like I

00:18:08 Alex Stahlmann: Little bit

00:18:08 luke3: have

00:18:08 Alex Stahlmann: of

00:18:08 luke3: some,

00:18:08 Alex Stahlmann: a masochist. There

00:18:10 luke3: yeah, or even just like someone who knows what they're signing up for. It's like, you know, if someone's into Legos, you don't give them the most complex set possible if it's their first build. So this is like a more

00:18:19 Alex Stahlmann: you go.

00:18:20 luke3: intricate build.

00:18:21 Alex Stahlmann: You gotta be in the Elden Ring mindset,

00:18:23 luke3: It's

00:18:23 Alex Stahlmann: right? You gotta be

00:18:23 luke3: dense.

00:18:23 Alex Stahlmann: ready. You gotta know.

00:18:24 luke3: It's dense. If you gave somebody a book and you gave them war and peace, they're going to be like, hey, buddy, I was looking for a light read. Like, you really have to read the room on what someone's asking from you. So, sorry. Um, Uh, what do you rate the game? Like a two out of five fucking boomer dude. Hmm.

00:18:39 Alex Stahlmann: Nah, dog. I'm going to give it a four out of five. I respect this game. Like I was a little sour on it during the talk, but I kind of wanted to come with that energy to kind of juxtapose. I knew you were really like keen

00:18:50 luke3: We

00:18:50 Alex Stahlmann: on it.

00:18:50 luke3: just constantly

00:18:51 Alex Stahlmann: Um.

00:18:51 luke3: be a circle jerk for the game we've played. So I respect that.

00:18:55 Alex Stahlmann: And uh, and you know, like it did frustrate me like I don't think there's been a game that we've played for this podcast or a game that I've ever played that I've been like I don't know, so conflicted with like, I'm like, do I like this game? Do I not like this game? But I'm looking at like this The scenery or I'm exploring the map and I'm like getting my little like dopamine hits when I like, you know, like, but at the same time, like, I'm also like, fuck this. I'm, I'm going to play 2k. I can't right now. Uh, you know, it's

00:19:24 luke3: Yeah.

00:19:25 Alex Stahlmann: like. And it's, and it's, it's totally the mindset, dude. And like, so I'm going to get four out of five because it's not the perfect game for me. This isn't my game of the year. Um, I respect it. I can see why it is. I just don't think it's player friendly enough and I don't think it needs to be like, that's another thing, you know, like I don't think that all games necessarily have to respect the player, you know, it makes it, we need games like this. To, you know, to like push things forward,

00:19:51 luke3: It's

00:19:51 Alex Stahlmann: to like

00:19:52 luke3: like,

00:19:52 Alex Stahlmann: be able to have the variety out there.

00:19:53 luke3: it's like when a grunge or a metal band or like a punk band goes pop,

00:19:58 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:19:59 luke3: but they still have their roots of like being grimy and shit, you know? So like, it's not for everybody, but like, The music critics are about it and it pulled in a general audience, but they still have, they're still fucking grimy, dude.

00:20:12 Alex Stahlmann: Totally.

00:20:12 luke3: That's a weird cop I had to throw in, but hell

00:20:14 Alex Stahlmann: And

00:20:15 luke3: yeah.

00:20:15 Alex Stahlmann: it's, and it's interesting, dude, because, like, when you, you know, who would you recommend in this game to? Like, I gotta, if you're looking for, like, kind of like a Like a gritty, dark, open world experience. Like, just go get into it. Like, check it out. Um, I think it's definitely part of, like, People should, people should taste Elden Ring, especially like if you're, if you're from Soft Curious, like, like I have been, like, I think this is the, this is the sampling you want,

00:20:43 luke3: It's

00:20:43 Alex Stahlmann: you

00:20:43 luke3: the perfect

00:20:44 Alex Stahlmann: know?

00:20:44 luke3: entry

00:20:44 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:20:44 luke3: point into the, yeah, if you like this, then you should go back to their early garage band punk shit.

00:20:50 Alex Stahlmann: Indeed.

00:20:50 luke3: To continue my weird analogy,

00:20:52 Alex Stahlmann: Play some

00:20:52 luke3: yeah.

00:20:53 Alex Stahlmann: Sekiro. Play

00:20:54 luke3: Dude.

00:20:54 Alex Stahlmann: some Bloodborne. You know?

00:20:56 luke3: I hope you don't like pausing and I

00:20:59 Alex Stahlmann: Well,

00:20:59 luke3: hope you don't

00:20:59 Alex Stahlmann: that's

00:20:59 luke3: have

00:20:59 Alex Stahlmann: just

00:20:59 luke3: a wife

00:20:59 Alex Stahlmann: it.

00:21:00 luke3: and children because then you should definitely play this game, dude. Fucking,

00:21:03 Alex Stahlmann: I'm gonna,

00:21:03 luke3: if

00:21:03 Alex Stahlmann: like,

00:21:04 luke3: you're maidenless, dude, play this game, dude.

00:21:07 Alex Stahlmann: Maidenless. With that, let's take a little break. Come back with our unsanctioned sponsor.

00:21:12 luke3: Hell yeah. All right. I got this dude. You got one you're passionate about.

00:21:17 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, no, no. Sounds like

00:21:18 luke3: All

00:21:18 Alex Stahlmann: you can rock it. I'm happy with that.

00:21:20 luke3: right, man. Um, for our unspanction sponsor, unspanction sponsor, I do not recommend spanking unless that's what you're into. I'm not here to kink shame. We are not, we are not sponsored by spanking today. We are, Unofficially brought to you. By guys being dudes, dudes

00:21:38 Alex Stahlmann: Oh,

00:21:38 luke3: being

00:21:38 Alex Stahlmann: dude,

00:21:38 luke3: guys,

00:21:39 Alex Stahlmann: guys. Oh,

00:21:39 luke3: guys being

00:21:40 Alex Stahlmann: bro.

00:21:40 luke3: dudes, just a bunch of guys being dudes. And a sub sponsor of that is, so I, as Alex knows, I had, I had what we call men's retreat affectionately. We're just. Guys being dudes getting our B and B and do we do anything? No, we just hang out and it's dope. So I sent this delightful text to my wife. It was a little homemade meme template where I sent her what we were doing and I was like, she thinks you're out having, like, causing trouble, what you're actually doing. And it was a very nerdy picture of Settlers of Catan, which somehow my nerdy ass has never played up

00:22:11 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:22:11 luke3: until

00:22:12 Alex Stahlmann: a fun

00:22:12 luke3: 2006.

00:22:12 Alex Stahlmann: game, dude. It's like Age of Empires board game. Yeah,

00:22:14 luke3: I know. So like anytime I would tell people that I had never played it, they're like, how are you, the social studies teacher going to tell me that plays video games and shit all the

00:22:22 Alex Stahlmann: you

00:22:22 luke3: time?

00:22:22 Alex Stahlmann: love maps and shit too? Dang.

00:22:23 luke3: Hey, you're like all hard O for maps and things. Like, how have you not played? I'm like, I just haven't run into it. Well, I finally played. There's this wonderful card kind of board group game called Bang. Have you heard of Bang? I feel like you've done enough. Um.

00:22:35 Alex Stahlmann: Ha ha ha. Nah.

00:22:38 luke3: No. Maidenless

00:22:39 Alex Stahlmann: Ha

00:22:40 luke3: once

00:22:40 Alex Stahlmann: ha

00:22:40 luke3: again. But

00:22:41 Alex Stahlmann: ha.

00:22:41 luke3: uh, no. Bang is like this super cool card game. I encourage you or the listeners to look it up. It's like a fun group game where you kind of have a role. There's a sheriff. There's a renegade, there's multiple outlaws, and then there's a deputy. The deputy's job is to protect the sheriff. The sheriff's job is to kill all outlaws in the renegade. The renegade, highest degree of difficulty, needs to have all of the, uh, outlaws Needs to kill everybody, I guess, but you have to do it sequentially because if the sheriff loses, then the outlaws win. Uh, and you don't know everybody's role except for the sheriff. Um, so that's like a fun thing to do when you're hanging out with dudes. So just a bunch of guys being dudes. Playing board games, hanging out, eating too much, living it up, cold weather. It's pretty tight, dude. Guys being dudes. This is a guys being dudes podcast. We're usually a dad pod, but now we're a guys being dudes pod.

00:23:34 Alex Stahlmann: Unofficially brought to you in part by bros.

00:23:37 luke3: Just bro love is the only love, you know what I'm saying, dude?

00:23:41 Alex Stahlmann: I can dig it, man. That's cool. I get fed this ad all the time. I don't know what's in the ad. I get fed this article all the time that says that, uh, For men's, uh, for their mental health to like, to maintain solid mental health, the bros should be hanging out at least two times a week.

00:23:58 luke3: Whoa, they should not feed that to us, dude. They should feed that to others.

00:24:04 Alex Stahlmann: It looks like, how do I, how do I push this to my wife?

00:24:07 luke3: How do I forward this? Nah, dude, it was tight, dude, because I came home, I was happy to be home, and then it's just every once in a while to just You never know when your last sleepover with Du Bois is, your last hang with Du Bois is. You never know when your last one is, but we all have a last, your last LAN party. You didn't know it was going to be your last LAN party, Al. The

00:24:28 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:24:28 luke3: good times,

00:24:28 Alex Stahlmann: true.

00:24:29 luke3: good times, they're over. So just a bunch of guys getting together, being dudes. Al doesn't have much to contribute because he's jealous over there, dude. He's like, why don't I?

00:24:37 Alex Stahlmann: Where the fuck's my invite,

00:24:38 luke3: Where's

00:24:39 Alex Stahlmann: bro?

00:24:39 luke3: my invite to the cabin full of dudes, dude? What the fuck, dude?

00:24:43 Alex Stahlmann: No, I feel you. That's, that's cool. I am jealous of your, your recent bro spirits.

00:24:51 luke3: Farts and cheese, dude. Not

00:24:54 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:24:54 luke3: a vegetable

00:24:55 Alex Stahlmann: can dig it

00:24:55 luke3: in

00:24:55 Alex Stahlmann: though.

00:24:55 luke3: sight, dude. That's actually a problem, but for another day.

00:25:02 Alex Stahlmann: Bros. Banging,

00:25:04 luke3: Dude stuff.

00:25:05 Alex Stahlmann: what

00:25:05 luke3: Just

00:25:05 Alex Stahlmann: was it? Banging

00:25:06 luke3: dudes

00:25:06 Alex Stahlmann: bros.

00:25:07 luke3: playing bang, dude. What's weird about that?

00:25:09 Alex Stahlmann: This episode is brought to you by Luke Banging Bros.

00:25:13 luke3: Dude, Luke banging with bros, dude. It's different.

00:25:16 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, sorry, sorry. Banging, banging with

00:25:17 luke3: Yeah,

00:25:18 Alex Stahlmann: bros.

00:25:18 luke3: not

00:25:18 Alex Stahlmann: Banging

00:25:18 luke3: Luke

00:25:18 Alex Stahlmann: with

00:25:18 luke3: bang

00:25:18 Alex Stahlmann: bros.

00:25:19 luke3: bros, dude.

00:25:19 Alex Stahlmann: Banging

00:25:20 luke3: It's different.

00:25:20 Alex Stahlmann: with bros and beers. Beers, bros, banging.

00:25:22 luke3: More whiskey, but you get the point. Beer's

00:25:25 Alex Stahlmann: Right out.

00:25:26 luke3: too filling with all the cheese I was consuming.

00:25:30 Alex Stahlmann: Cool. You've been side-quested, dude?

00:25:33 luke3: Dude, you go first. I got a nerd rant. I've been pretty full of those today, so you

00:25:38 Alex Stahlmann: Hmm.

00:25:38 luke3: hit us first.

00:25:39 Alex Stahlmann: You know I've been side-quested.

00:25:41 luke3: Please

00:25:42 Alex Stahlmann: I've

00:25:42 luke3: tell me about

00:25:42 Alex Stahlmann: been side-quested

00:25:42 luke3: NBA,

00:25:43 Alex Stahlmann: hard.

00:25:43 luke3: which we have banned from the pot just like NCAA football.

00:25:47 Alex Stahlmann: I haven't, I haven't been playing much 2K. I mean, I

00:25:49 luke3: Nice.

00:25:49 Alex Stahlmann: got it in, like, I got in a couple, like, I had to play, uh, I had to, you know, see what Luka looked like on the Lakers.

00:25:55 luke3: Gross.

00:25:55 Alex Stahlmann: That was, you know,

00:25:56 luke3: Yeah.

00:25:56 Alex Stahlmann: yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's what it is.

00:26:00 luke3: Uh, the ringer is doing like an expansion week when it comes to NBA. So just thought piece articles on NBA expansion. And

00:26:08 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah. Should

00:26:09 luke3: it did

00:26:09 Alex Stahlmann: there

00:26:09 luke3: give

00:26:09 Alex Stahlmann: even

00:26:09 luke3: me

00:26:09 Alex Stahlmann: be

00:26:09 luke3: the,

00:26:10 Alex Stahlmann: one?

00:26:10 luke3: huh?

00:26:11 Alex Stahlmann: Should there even be one?

00:26:12 luke3: I would say so, yeah. Um, but I would love to pick up 2K simply for doing a franchise or dynasty or GM mode, whatever they call it now, and uh, doing an expansion team with an expansion draft, so. You might, you might see me on there one of these days for that deep, deep nerd deal. What

00:26:31 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:26:31 luke3: were you going

00:26:31 Alex Stahlmann: can

00:26:31 luke3: to say

00:26:32 Alex Stahlmann: dig

00:26:32 luke3: before

00:26:32 Alex Stahlmann: it.

00:26:32 luke3: I hit you with that?

00:26:34 Alex Stahlmann: Oh man, I have been, I'm about fifteen hours into Pokemon Emerald. So that's, that's a big, a big side quest for me.

00:26:42 luke3: Random.

00:26:42 Alex Stahlmann: That one's been a lot of fun.

00:26:43 luke3: Yeah.

00:26:44 Alex Stahlmann: A little bit, dude. Yeah, you know me. I love my handhelds.

00:26:46 luke3: Yeah.

00:26:46 Alex Stahlmann: I recently, uh,

00:26:47 luke3: Yeah. What China is that? Three,

00:26:50 Alex Stahlmann: Uh,

00:26:50 luke3: four.

00:26:50 Alex Stahlmann: that

00:26:50 luke3: Okay.

00:26:50 Alex Stahlmann: would be three-ish, I think. So it was Game Boy Advance.

00:26:53 luke3: Okay.

00:26:53 Alex Stahlmann: Um, I think it's third gen. So I recently

00:26:57 luke3: I wonder

00:26:57 Alex Stahlmann: picked

00:26:57 luke3: if I've

00:26:57 Alex Stahlmann: up

00:26:57 luke3: played it.

00:26:58 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, maybe, maybe, but I've, I picked up, uh, so it's, uh, you know, Pokemon like, um, oh man, I care. I think it's Ruby and I can't remember what the other color is, but those two came out. But it's not, so there's leaf green and like

00:27:15 luke3: Yeah.

00:27:15 Alex Stahlmann: red whatever. So, but

00:27:17 luke3: Fire

00:27:17 Alex Stahlmann: those

00:27:17 luke3: red.

00:27:17 Alex Stahlmann: are remakes. Yeah, FireRed. So those are remakes of the originals, right?

00:27:22 luke3: Yes.

00:27:22 Alex Stahlmann: But so that's like, kind of like Gen 2-ish. Uh, well, Gen two would be like, who cares, dude? We're not Pokemon podcast, but this... This, uh, this game's been fun, dude. It's been, it's been fun to like, cause it's like more polished than the ones that I really love, like red and blue, yellow and shit. Um, it's been fun to be in the, what is it, the Hanto region or whatever? I don't know. Um.

00:27:44 luke3: The hentai.

00:27:45 Alex Stahlmann: But it's, it's, it's cool, man. It's fun.

00:27:47 luke3: It's

00:27:47 Alex Stahlmann: It's like,

00:27:48 luke3: gonna

00:27:48 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:27:48 luke3: let

00:27:48 Alex Stahlmann: love

00:27:48 luke3: that

00:27:48 Alex Stahlmann: that.

00:27:48 luke3: slide, huh?

00:27:48 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, it's a, it's been cool to like, I watching, I mean, you bring up 2K, but I've been watching the NBA. I watched a little bit of my chagrin, the all-star weekend stuff. And

00:27:58 luke3: Gross,

00:27:58 Alex Stahlmann: yeah.

00:27:59 luke3: dude.

00:27:59 Alex Stahlmann: Dude, it was, I wouldn't watch again unless they change it back to some, yeah, we don't have to get into that, but like, don't love the format. But it's fun like to, you know, get a, get a, I've been watching, um, I started the other day that like, uh, the NBA, like not the NBA, but the, The USA Basketball Olympics thing on Netflix, like, watching that,

00:28:22 luke3: Hmm.

00:28:22 Alex Stahlmann: it's like a documentary

00:28:23 luke3: Okay.

00:28:23 Alex Stahlmann: produced by your boy Obama.

00:28:26 luke3: Sure.

00:28:26 Alex Stahlmann: Um,

00:28:26 luke3: Nazarene.

00:28:27 Alex Stahlmann: it's good,

00:28:28 luke3: Okay.

00:28:28 Alex Stahlmann: dude. I'm, yeah, there are about three episodes in on that one when I was playing Pokemon while I do that. I love, like, If, if, uh, Anna's got some trash TV rocking, like I might sit down on the couch next to her and play some Pokemon, like it's, it's great. It's great for like mindlessly grinding, pushing along, making it happen in the Pokemon world.

00:28:45 luke3: It's

00:28:45 Alex Stahlmann: And

00:28:45 luke3: like

00:28:46 Alex Stahlmann: that's,

00:28:46 luke3: a nostalgic

00:28:46 Alex Stahlmann: uh, that's primarily

00:28:46 luke3: grind,

00:28:47 Alex Stahlmann: a

00:28:47 luke3: too. It's like a grind

00:28:48 Alex Stahlmann: little

00:28:48 luke3: that you're

00:28:48 Alex Stahlmann: bit.

00:28:48 luke3: so built into your childhood

00:28:51 Alex Stahlmann: Totally.

00:28:51 luke3: that, like, it's so forgivable. Like, if you picked up one of those games now, you might have a rough time, but, like, just everything that comes

00:28:58 Alex Stahlmann: Well,

00:28:58 luke3: with it is so

00:28:58 Alex Stahlmann: maybe.

00:28:59 luke3: fluid. I mean... The random encounters and some of that nonsense like

00:29:03 Alex Stahlmann: See,

00:29:03 luke3: that might not be

00:29:04 Alex Stahlmann: but

00:29:04 luke3: for everybody

00:29:04 Alex Stahlmann: I think

00:29:04 luke3: but.

00:29:05 Alex Stahlmann: true, but I think because we I grew up on that and that's like my Pokemon experience, like for me, I think to your point, like it works.

00:29:11 luke3: Yeah,

00:29:11 Alex Stahlmann: Uh,

00:29:12 luke3: no, 100%.

00:29:12 Alex Stahlmann: but the reason I think the reason that I kind of dove into that is because I got myself a new handheld toy. I got the Amber Nick RG three, four X, X or some shit. I don't remember

00:29:22 luke3: Are

00:29:22 Alex Stahlmann: what the

00:29:23 luke3: your

00:29:23 Alex Stahlmann: model

00:29:23 luke3: other

00:29:23 Alex Stahlmann: is.

00:29:23 luke3: handheld toys jealous or is this like a polyamorous relationship with your various handhelds?

00:29:28 Alex Stahlmann: Dude, you wanna get in the weeds on it? Kyle Polly, cause I also got this Game Boy SP right here, right? The

00:29:34 luke3: Yeah.

00:29:34 Alex Stahlmann: clamshell? And

00:29:35 luke3: Got it.

00:29:36 Alex Stahlmann: uh, so I've got this game I've got the cart and then I'm able to make a ROM because I've got this, I've got this stuff to do that.

00:29:45 luke3: Sure.

00:29:46 Alex Stahlmann: And basically, so I duplicated the game and was able to use emulators on my computer. So I was able to rip the save file from the cart. Put it on my computer, get an emulator going up in a dual windows, dual emulators, and I was able to trade Pokemon back and forth. Like, I was able to create the trade system going.

00:30:07 luke3: Speaking of dense, he can't figure out how to scale with dexterity, but he's like, I got my double

00:30:11 Alex Stahlmann: Dog.

00:30:12 luke3: emulators up here. Lord

00:30:13 Alex Stahlmann: The only thing is like

00:30:14 luke3: have

00:30:14 Alex Stahlmann: I didn't like I didn't

00:30:15 luke3: mercy,

00:30:15 Alex Stahlmann: have the foresight

00:30:16 luke3: dude.

00:30:16 Alex Stahlmann: because like I didn't realize that you could get the other starters later in this game by breeding. I didn't understand that the breeding was

00:30:22 luke3: Um.

00:30:22 Alex Stahlmann: in the part of this game. Uh, so I spent probably a solid like two hours because it doesn't let you trade, uh, any of the starters like at the first like, uh, Poke Center or whatever. You have to actually get your first badge before trading actually becomes unlocked.

00:30:37 luke3: yeah.

00:30:37 Alex Stahlmann: So

00:30:37 luke3: yeah.

00:30:38 Alex Stahlmann: like, so I poured and like, dude, I picked up one of the games off of, uh, I picked up the game off eBay. So someone had a save file with somebody I was able to trade, which is nice that I'm mine. Uh, so I was able to get that starter. Um, and then on mine, I like, I grinded for like two hours to be able to get to the point where I could trade the other starters. So I got all three starters only to find out later on that I could have just bred them later, but who cares? It was about, it was about being able to like play at the tech, like, and then to move the save file back onto the Amber Nick dude. I was

00:31:09 luke3: Back

00:31:09 Alex Stahlmann: like, you know,

00:31:09 luke3: in

00:31:09 Alex Stahlmann: me,

00:31:10 luke3: the late

00:31:10 Alex Stahlmann: I was, I'm

00:31:10 luke3: 90s,

00:31:10 Alex Stahlmann: a tinker. Yeah.

00:31:11 luke3: I was Alex's farm system for this game. Continue.

00:31:17 Alex Stahlmann: But dude, so like, it's been fun. Like, it was fun to do that. It was fun to play with the tech, get all the handhelds kind of synced up with the computer, all the save files pushed around, get in with that stuff. And I've been playing Pokemon. And now that I've got those, you know, I probably won't do much more trading because what am I going to do? Like grind out thirty hours on

00:31:35 luke3: Yeah,

00:31:35 Alex Stahlmann: one so I

00:31:36 luke3: you

00:31:36 Alex Stahlmann: can

00:31:36 luke3: can

00:31:36 Alex Stahlmann: get

00:31:36 luke3: only

00:31:36 Alex Stahlmann: some other

00:31:36 luke3: have

00:31:36 Alex Stahlmann: guys.

00:31:36 luke3: so many sick Pokemon in your lineup and you got three coolest ones in the

00:31:40 Alex Stahlmann: Well,

00:31:40 luke3: game, more

00:31:40 Alex Stahlmann: that's

00:31:40 luke3: or

00:31:40 Alex Stahlmann: just

00:31:40 luke3: less,

00:31:41 Alex Stahlmann: it.

00:31:41 luke3: so,

00:31:41 Alex Stahlmann: Like, I'm

00:31:41 luke3: yeah.

00:31:41 Alex Stahlmann: also, I'm like, I'm not a completionist, but like, you gotta catch them all, right? So like, a part of me is like, wants to get all of them, but I'm like, nah, dude, like, you just gotta let go. Just push through to the end. You don't need to have them all. Like,

00:31:51 luke3: Funny how

00:31:51 Alex Stahlmann: it's gonna

00:31:51 luke3: little

00:31:51 Alex Stahlmann: be okay.

00:31:51 luke3: of a shit I gave as a kid, but as an adult, I'm like, I gotta catch this beetle. I don't have one yet, dude.

00:31:58 Alex Stahlmann: For sure. Uh, so that, that's a major side quest. Another major side quest. I got myself a PS three. Uh, and that's been a lot of fun, man. So I picked that up off on eBay. I don't know. The eBay kind of got me the last couple of months, I guess. Uh, but I've been thinking around with the PS3 and playing some like PS3 is like a cool system, man. It's a, I had one, uh, back, you know, around the 2008 ish, I guess. Um, Um, is when I got mine, then I sold it. And then I think maybe we went in on one when I came back from Spain or something. I'm not really sure.

00:32:28 luke3: Yeah.

00:32:29 Alex Stahlmann: But, um, So I've had one in my life, but I haven't it hasn't been like a mainstay. So that's like a big like gap in my gaming background. Like there's a lot of cool games that came out in that era. That I haven't played. So it's been cool to be able to dabble with some of those games and I've just kind of been tweaking this thing. Uh, and it's fun, dude. And like, you know me, I'm a sucker for, for hardware. The PS three has got a very interesting controller with the pressure sensitive buttons. Um,

00:32:54 luke3: Yeah.

00:32:55 Alex Stahlmann: Um,

00:32:55 luke3: Whoa.

00:32:55 Alex Stahlmann: and you know, so that's, uh, it's cool. Uh, those are some two, two major side quests for me. PS three. I'm going to do three major side quests

00:33:03 luke3: Whoa.

00:33:03 Alex Stahlmann: because PS one PlayStation dog.

00:33:05 luke3: Whoa.

00:33:05 Alex Stahlmann: I've been like, Dude, so I got the PlayStation Classic. I've been messing

00:33:09 luke3: I now

00:33:09 Alex Stahlmann: around

00:33:09 luke3: regret

00:33:09 Alex Stahlmann: with that.

00:33:10 luke3: clearing out for this, dude. I'm antsy to talk about my game. I'm

00:33:13 Alex Stahlmann: And

00:33:13 luke3: just playing it.

00:33:15 Alex Stahlmann: then I've also been setting up the emulators for PlayStation on, uh, on my PC. So I like got my classic going. That's really fun. But then on the PC, dude, like, dude, this is some stuff that, like, maybe doesn't, like, mean anything to you, but, like, the fact that I can upscale a PS1 game And get it to, like, look beautiful on my computer and play it. Like, it just gives it, like, and run it sixty frames per second. Get that thing looking nice. Like, dude, it's just so fun. It's so cool to, like...

00:33:43 luke3: Sounds like you enjoy maintaining your motorcycle.

00:33:46 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, yes, this is correct. Yeah. What?

00:33:51 luke3: That's hilarious. What's a PS1 game and a PS3 game that you've enjoyed playing since getting it booted

00:33:57 Alex Stahlmann: A

00:33:58 luke3: up?

00:33:58 Alex Stahlmann: little big planet is like one that I've been fun, been having fun with on PS3.

00:34:02 luke3: I played a little bit of that, but unfortunately I never beat it. Uh, I think I got it for free when PlayStation network was hacked and then it was down for like ever.

00:34:12 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, sure.

00:34:13 luke3: And I never beat it. And I kind of regret that. Sometimes in life, I didn't understand like what a game was. So I, yeah, I don't know how to describe that. That's a mission for a different day. So how about PS one?

00:34:25 Alex Stahlmann: Uh, PS1, I played about forty minutes of Final Fantasy seven which is a game I've never played,

00:34:31 luke3: Hmm.

00:34:31 Alex Stahlmann: and that's like, to taste

00:34:32 luke3: Yeah.

00:34:32 Alex Stahlmann: that one a little bit was fun, and it's like, I don't know, there's so many games, and it's like hard to be like, I want to go spend thirty hours to beat this game, but I kind of do.

00:34:39 luke3: Yeah.

00:34:39 Alex Stahlmann: And

00:34:39 luke3: Yeah.

00:34:40 Alex Stahlmann: like, I've

00:34:40 luke3: Yeah.

00:34:41 Alex Stahlmann: been tasting the RPG, like the old school RPGs, like Pokemon's like, Pokemon's like the gateway drug for me, dude. It's like,

00:34:47 luke3: That's

00:34:47 Alex Stahlmann: maybe

00:34:47 luke3: fair. And

00:34:48 Alex Stahlmann: you are ready to do some Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger's supposed to be pretty like, Pretty approachable, I guess. But like,

00:34:53 luke3: there's

00:34:53 Alex Stahlmann: maybe you

00:34:53 luke3: also

00:34:53 Alex Stahlmann: are ready

00:34:53 luke3: like

00:34:54 Alex Stahlmann: to do like

00:34:54 luke3: modern

00:34:54 Alex Stahlmann: Final Fantasy

00:34:54 luke3: accessibilities,

00:34:55 Alex Stahlmann: thirteen You

00:34:55 luke3: speeding them up

00:34:56 Alex Stahlmann: know?

00:34:56 luke3: and stuff. Yeah.

00:34:58 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:34:59 luke3: Um,

00:34:59 Alex Stahlmann: So...

00:34:59 luke3: well tight, love the gear talk, uh, jokes aside. PS3, um, I love the Assassin's Creed, but there's Other ways to play those now. I feel like uncharted the same. So is anything else caught your eye from my collection back in the day or no?

00:35:16 Alex Stahlmann: I mean, you do have all the ass creeds, which is dope. I mean, you just said it right there. The ass creeds of the Uncharted. I've been like, I've, I've played the ass creeds. So like, I don't have a, and I do have them on switch now and I have like a couple other ways to play them. So like, I'm probably won't dive back into those, especially cause I have, I played them on switch now. Uh, I haven't played any of the uncharted stuff. So like, I'm very intrigued to like jump into the uncharted, uh, Trying to think of what else you got in the,

00:35:43 luke3: Lord

00:35:43 Alex Stahlmann: uh,

00:35:43 luke3: of the Rings Conquest is one of my weirdest purchases, but that game is kind of fucking cool in hindsight.

00:35:50 Alex Stahlmann: Look, dude, there'll be a reach away.

00:35:54 luke3: I can't believe that Sean White snowboarding game, which I have

00:35:57 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:35:57 luke3: a weird memory

00:35:57 Alex Stahlmann: you

00:35:57 luke3: of.

00:35:57 Alex Stahlmann: don't

00:35:57 luke3: I can't

00:35:58 Alex Stahlmann: have

00:35:58 luke3: believe

00:35:58 Alex Stahlmann: it anymore.

00:35:58 luke3: that's

00:35:58 Alex Stahlmann: You

00:35:58 luke3: weird. I don't know where that could have gone. Uh, how about skate? Do I have the old skate games in there? Those

00:36:03 Alex Stahlmann: have

00:36:03 luke3: games are

00:36:04 Alex Stahlmann: Escape two

00:36:04 luke3: fucking, that's the best one.

00:36:05 Alex Stahlmann: Oh,

00:36:06 luke3: It's fucking

00:36:06 Alex Stahlmann: and

00:36:06 luke3: stupid.

00:36:06 Alex Stahlmann: you have Skate. Yep. So you have Skate and Skate two Um, so those ones are, you know, those are classics. Um, what else? The Batmans, you have a couple of the Batman, or no, you just have the one

00:36:18 luke3: Oh,

00:36:18 Alex Stahlmann: Batman

00:36:18 luke3: that's

00:36:18 Alex Stahlmann: game.

00:36:18 luke3: fucking lit. Yeah, that was a good one. Yeah,

00:36:20 Alex Stahlmann: So Arkham City is the one that you

00:36:22 luke3: that's

00:36:22 Alex Stahlmann: got in

00:36:22 luke3: like

00:36:22 Alex Stahlmann: there

00:36:22 luke3: the best

00:36:22 Alex Stahlmann: in this

00:36:22 luke3: one too.

00:36:23 Alex Stahlmann: lot.

00:36:23 luke3: Yeah.

00:36:25 Alex Stahlmann: Um, for me, for the, for these, what I'm, oh, you've got a Arkham Asylum as well.

00:36:30 luke3: You should play

00:36:30 Alex Stahlmann: Um,

00:36:30 luke3: Asylum.

00:36:32 Alex Stahlmann: So I have both of those games on the PC, but I probably play them on on the PS3 because why not? Um. Yes. So those are those are for me to see I'm I'm excited to check out the Uncharted because I've never really dabbled in that stuff. Um, and there's Call of Duty Black Ops and stuff like that that I'll play a little bit. I've never played the Killzone stuff.

00:36:53 luke3: Yeah,

00:36:53 Alex Stahlmann: You're telling me the Killzone was very much of its time.

00:36:55 luke3: it's supposed to be the Halo killer. Uh, you bought me Black Ops for Christmas.

00:37:01 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, that's

00:37:01 luke3: It's

00:37:01 Alex Stahlmann: from me?

00:37:03 luke3: kind of funny because neither one of us Uh, is a call of duty guy, but you had just moved back. You were living at home for a little bit. And it was one of those deals where you're like, dude, I got you black ops. Now let's play a bunch of black ops. This is for me too. But

00:37:17 Alex Stahlmann: Are

00:37:17 luke3: we

00:37:17 Alex Stahlmann: you

00:37:17 luke3: both,

00:37:17 Alex Stahlmann: sure? I don't, I don't

00:37:19 luke3: 100%.

00:37:19 Alex Stahlmann: remember that. That's clowning.

00:37:20 luke3: It had, it had one of the good original, not the original, but it might've been like the second attempt at zombies. It's a really good zombies.

00:37:27 Alex Stahlmann: I

00:37:27 luke3: Um,

00:37:27 Alex Stahlmann: do remember that now.

00:37:28 luke3: and uh, we would do the online and I just sucked balls at the online and you, you definitely did too. Uh, so we were never good.

00:37:35 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:37:35 luke3: We, but we, we hung out together. It was tight. Uh, well, that's cool. Good trip down memory lane there. Um, also, if you have physical media, hold on to it, guys. Um, So for me, my side quest, I'll keep mine shorter. Uh, we have to do another pod cause we're so backlogged. I'll save my larger, uh, big deal for the next one. So I'll go with a smaller one, which is that I've been playing around on the steamy D as always in my bed. Um, and I have recently given the, the rogue prince of Persia a decent few hours

00:38:09 Alex Stahlmann: Oh yeah,

00:38:09 luke3: and

00:38:09 Alex Stahlmann: nice.

00:38:09 luke3: it's cool. Um, I have, if you're a fan of the pod, you'll know that I have a nostalgic soft spot for Prince of Persia IP. Um, Yeah. And also you'll know that we're you especially, but I liked it too. Big dead cells fan. So basically

00:38:27 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:38:27 luke3: the people who made dead cells got the IP from Ubisoft. So if you don't like the Ubisoft stank, Please ignore that when it comes to these last two, this one and, um, uh, the print, what's the, what's the one that came out last January, February? Um.

00:38:45 Alex Stahlmann: Where's the pressure?

00:38:46 luke3: Yeah, what's that? The

00:38:48 Alex Stahlmann: Oh,

00:38:48 luke3: most recent

00:38:48 Alex Stahlmann: what

00:38:48 luke3: Prince

00:38:49 Alex Stahlmann: is that

00:38:49 luke3: Persia.

00:38:49 Alex Stahlmann: one?

00:38:49 luke3: We did a pod on it and everything. Um, blanking on the name, but that game was fucking cool too, and it didn't get enough glow because I think there's just Ubisoft stank on it. But that was a really good game. And this is a really cool, fun game.

00:39:00 Alex Stahlmann: The

00:39:00 luke3: Uh,

00:39:00 Alex Stahlmann: Lost Crown?

00:39:01 luke3: thank you. Um, but the Rogue Prince of Persia is cool. Um, cause it is a 2D, um. Roguelike platformer action combat, uh, very similar to dead cells, but a little bit more platformy focused. So you do like this wall run thing and then you combine wall running with some other stuff and, It's just cool. And I'm just getting into the, just getting into the beginning. I wouldn't say it's like super slick, like dead cells, but it is in early access. So give it some time. And I think it'll be a totally worthwhile game. Um, I wouldn't say for you to buy it just yet. Uh, look for a nice little sale or maybe that one release, but I like early access games a lot more than you and I kind of like Being a part of that little journey and I'd say it's the build currently especially is definitely fluid enough where you don't feel like you're playing some sort of unfinished jank. You know what

00:40:00 Alex Stahlmann: Right

00:40:00 luke3: I mean?

00:40:01 Alex Stahlmann: on. No, for sure.

00:40:02 luke3: So

00:40:02 Alex Stahlmann: Nice.

00:40:02 luke3: I think that's pretty gnar. And then, um, I've been reading a lot of graphic novels. That's been toy. I just finished Anthony de Bourdain's ghost book. Don't recommend that, but the art's cool.

00:40:14 Alex Stahlmann: Oh, really?

00:40:14 luke3: Yeah, got it from my public library.

00:40:17 Alex Stahlmann: Sir.

00:40:18 luke3: And I just finished Blankets, which is a graphic novel classic, but I don't feel like trauma dumping on anybody what that's about, but it's tight. Um, and I've been in the middle of east of west which I realize now that I'm balls deep into the ten part series that number nine is impossible to find. So I'll have to

00:40:38 Alex Stahlmann: Oh.

00:40:38 luke3: figure out how to handle that.

00:40:40 Alex Stahlmann: Mm-hmm.

00:40:40 luke3: So I know an eBay addict, so maybe he needs to look out for me. Um, but that's been really cool. And I really wish they would turn that IP into either a show. It was picked up at one point, but I think it's been canceled and they need to turn that IP into like a show or a game or something. Cause yeah. That would be tight. And I eagerly look forward to the last Ronin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Have we talked about that on this pod or we've been so out of commission that we haven't talked about that journey?

00:41:09 Alex Stahlmann: I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I loved The Last Ronin, dude, and got that for you for Christmas. I'm

00:41:15 luke3: I tore through

00:41:16 Alex Stahlmann: glad

00:41:16 luke3: that. That's

00:41:16 Alex Stahlmann: you read

00:41:16 luke3: the

00:41:17 Alex Stahlmann: it. Have

00:41:17 luke3: toy.

00:41:17 Alex Stahlmann: you read the second one yet?

00:41:18 luke3: No,

00:41:18 Alex Stahlmann: Or

00:41:18 luke3: I want to get

00:41:19 Alex Stahlmann: the prequel?

00:41:19 luke3: it from a little bookshop near your house. I just

00:41:21 Alex Stahlmann: Nice.

00:41:21 luke3: was overspent the last time we were there. So next time I go there, I'll go there knowing that I'll at least buy that book. So I'll have been mentally prepared to just continue to blow money. Locally,

00:41:32 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:41:33 luke3: of

00:41:33 Alex Stahlmann: dude.

00:41:33 luke3: course. But yeah,

00:41:34 Alex Stahlmann: That's

00:41:34 luke3: um,

00:41:34 Alex Stahlmann: a, that's

00:41:35 luke3: super

00:41:35 Alex Stahlmann: a super fun,

00:41:35 luke3: cool.

00:41:35 Alex Stahlmann: super fun book or whatever.

00:41:38 luke3: Yeah.

00:41:38 Alex Stahlmann: And the, I'm, I'm about halfway into the prequel, the prequel

00:41:42 luke3: Get

00:41:42 Alex Stahlmann: now. And

00:41:42 luke3: it from

00:41:42 Alex Stahlmann: that's

00:41:42 luke3: the library?

00:41:42 Alex Stahlmann: a lot of fun.

00:41:43 luke3: Or

00:41:44 Alex Stahlmann: Um,

00:41:46 luke3: did you

00:41:46 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah,

00:41:46 luke3: buy it?

00:41:47 Alex Stahlmann: yeah, yeah, digitally from the library, yes.

00:41:49 luke3: Yeah. So, um, I just can't wait to either see them turn that into a movie TV show. Fucking. I know there's a game coming out. Like I'm just very excited for that.

00:41:59 Alex Stahlmann: Dude, you brought up books, man. I gotta throw this book out there. Uh, let

00:42:03 luke3: No.

00:42:04 Alex Stahlmann: you, yeah, Doug, it's, it's called Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson.

00:42:09 luke3: Okay.

00:42:09 Alex Stahlmann: So if folks are hungry for a book that's like pretty, it's like a quick, like written so well, dude, like it's such a fun read, reads

00:42:15 luke3: Talking

00:42:16 Alex Stahlmann: pretty quickly.

00:42:16 luke3: fiction, nonfiction here.

00:42:18 Alex Stahlmann: So it's called nothing to see here by Kevin Wilson. And it's a book about this woman who ends up becoming a nanny for, uh, her, like an old friend of hers from college and, I'm not going to like give away too much of the story here, but these kids catch on fire. Like they like spontaneous, they like spontaneously combust. That's like a thing that this happens with these kids, but it doesn't hurt them or anything. Right. But that's just like a weird quirk about these kids. And it is just like the most wild, like ridiculous, like story about her. Like. I don't know, living with these kids and like, it's just like, it is so funny, dude. Like, it's just like, you just got to check it out. Like, it's a big recommend for me. Uh, it's like a comedy, a fiction comedy.

00:43:00 luke3: All right. Um, I do, it's easy for me to find nonfiction books and it's easy for me to find graphic novels, but I struggle with, uh, finding good fiction. So I wrote that down as you wrote or as you spoke. So

00:43:13 Alex Stahlmann: Nice,

00:43:13 luke3: that's cool.

00:43:14 Alex Stahlmann: yeah. Yeah, that was good. It kind of greased my gears to get me back into reading, like, actual book books again.

00:43:20 luke3: Yeah.

00:43:20 Alex Stahlmann: So I'd like... So I've been reading, I've been, that one I plugged through real fast. Uh, and then I've been kind of chugging through, um, some Kurt Vonnegut cause he's a favorite author of mine, but I haven't, uh, I mean, he's great. Like, don't get me wrong, but like I had like this, I had to like see to the finish. Uh, nothing to see here. Whereas

00:43:37 luke3: What are you, a

00:43:37 Alex Stahlmann: like

00:43:37 luke3: fucking

00:43:37 Alex Stahlmann: I'm, I'm

00:43:38 luke3: English

00:43:38 Alex Stahlmann: writing

00:43:38 luke3: major

00:43:38 Alex Stahlmann: player

00:43:38 luke3: at some,

00:43:39 Alex Stahlmann: piano.

00:43:39 luke3: dude? What

00:43:39 Alex Stahlmann: What's that?

00:43:40 luke3: are you, some sort of fucking English major, dude? What are

00:43:42 Alex Stahlmann: Yeah.

00:43:43 luke3: you...

00:43:45 Alex Stahlmann: Talk, uh, but like with player piano though, it's like, I'm enjoying it, but it's like, I'm not like, okay, so now I can't wait to like go to bed at night so I can fucking read, you know what I mean?

00:43:54 luke3: Yeah, I feel that.

00:43:56 Alex Stahlmann: Word. Go read a book, everybody.

00:43:59 luke3: Alex was an English major if you didn't pick up on that. I'm not a dick to English majors, just this one.

00:44:07 Alex Stahlmann: Indeed. Much love, everybody. Thanks for listening. Welcome back. We're glad to be back after the technical difficulties, the sicknesses, the schedule, bananas,

00:44:16 luke3: Just

00:44:16 Alex Stahlmann: whatever

00:44:16 luke3: everything

00:44:16 Alex Stahlmann: stuff.

00:44:16 luke3: you can think of, yeah.

00:44:18 Alex Stahlmann: But, uh, good to hang, dude. Fun to talk about this game. Fun to play this game. Uh,

00:44:23 luke3: Just

00:44:23 Alex Stahlmann: if

00:44:23 luke3: two guys

00:44:23 Alex Stahlmann: you want

00:44:23 luke3: being

00:44:23 Alex Stahlmann: to check

00:44:24 luke3: dudes,

00:44:24 Alex Stahlmann: out,

00:44:24 luke3: man.

00:44:24 Alex Stahlmann: if you want to check out some bros banging.

00:44:28 luke3: Well, check out the game Bang. I doubt it's like huge mainstream, so they could probably use some people who are into board games. If you like, if you got a game night, you know what Bang is, and if you don't, you should get it.

00:44:38 Alex Stahlmann: Bang, bang.

00:44:39 luke3: Bang,

00:44:39 Alex Stahlmann: Check

00:44:39 luke3: bang.

00:44:39 Alex Stahlmann: out low5gaming.com.

00:44:40 luke3: Peace,

00:44:41 Alex Stahlmann: Bang, bang.

00:44:41 luke3: peace.

00:44:41 Alex Stahlmann: Till next time, y'all. Peace.

00:44:45 luke3: Y'all healthy

00:44:45 Alex Stahlmann: That's gonna

00:44:45 luke3: over

00:44:46 Alex Stahlmann: be

00:44:46 luke3: there?

00:44:46 Alex Stahlmann: a long one.