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Intro
0:00:12 Definateley No Trademark Banter
Trademark Banter
0:01:21 Fashion Talk
0:03:40 Tom's Got a Switch, and a Roland
First Impressions - Phil
0:11:10 Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Nintendo Switch
0:17:00 Paper Mario The Origami King - Nintendo Switch
Final Impressions - Tom
0:28:45 The Good Life from SWERY65 - PC, Xbox, PS4, Switch
Console First Impressions - Tom
0:49:17 Nintendo Switch
Outro
1:11:45 Tease for Gran Turismo 7
Transcript:
WEBVTT
Phil: Hello, and welcome to Episode of The Game Under Podcast.
Phil: I am your host, Phil Fogg, and I'm joined by our co-host, founder and executive creative director today, Mr.
Phil: Tom Towers.
Phil: Tom, welcome back.
Tom: Thank you.
Tom: It's, I think, a disappointing co-host for me this time, but it's desperate times in the podcast world, so I'll have to take what I can get.
Phil: Yes, I do want to thank Red for co-hosting the last two episodes of the non-canon version of The Game Under Podcast.
Phil: It was the slime cast, for those who missed it.
Tom: I think some of the best work we've done at Game Under.
Phil: I think that the co-host was exceptional, but as usual, you were dragging down the team.
Phil: But hey, you know, let's go for another shows and see how we go.
Phil: This is going to be a tight, fast-paced show.
Phil: We have not got time for trademark banner or anything even closely resembling it, because we just need to get this show done in a hurry to move on to other things, but, you know, gaming related, of course.
Phil: But I was wondering, fashion-wise, are there things that you wear that are a staple, like, that you've worn for over a decade?
Phil: And I'm not talking about a particular, like a jumper or a T-shirt that you have that's over a decade old.
Phil: I'm talking about a stylish affectation that you have.
Phil: And I'll give you time to think about that, because I've got a few.
Phil: I wear Ocasio digital watches that are from the s.
Phil: And I wear Chuck Taylor Converse high tops.
Phil: I wear a Gray Nichols cricket hat.
Phil: And Ray-Ban Wayfarers.
Phil: I don't wear them all at the same time.
Phil: But sometimes I do catch myself wearing them all.
Phil: But they're all things that...
Tom: I think you should wear them all at once.
Phil: Well, I do often.
Phil: And I chuckle when I find myself wearing them.
Phil: But the point is, I wear those things because I know that when they wear out, I can always get them.
Phil: Like a Gray Nichols white cricket hat, they make billions of them.
Phil: They've made them the same forever.
Phil: They're going to keep making them the same.
Phil: So I know that when that one runs out, I can go and get an exactly identical one.
Phil: And same thing for the Chuck Taylors and the Wayfarers and the Casio watches.
Tom: I would say there isn't really, I think, particular things that I would necessarily wear.
Tom: There are specific clothing items though that I have worn for many decades.
Phil: Like that white hood I've told you you have to get rid of.
Tom: Well, I only wear that on special occasions.
Tom: So I think it's alright to have a certain sort of formal dress that you only get out on special occasions.
Tom: Surely that's acceptable?
Phil: Yeah, that would be acceptable.
Phil: I think, so there's nothing, there's no go-to fashion item that you're like, I've got to have that, like a little hoodie, right?
Phil: Like a hoodie would be required, right?
Tom: I don't think it would be required, no.
Tom: No?
Phil: What is your opinion on non-zip-upperable hoodies?
Tom: I prefer them to the zip-upperable ones.
Phil: With the pockets on the front?
Tom: With pockets on the front, yes.
Phil: Yeah, I've got a skeevy like surfer dude, one of those that I got from an op shop that is like a ridiculously expensive fashion brand.
Phil: And I quite like it.
Phil: Alright, well, I know that we had no time to spare.
Phil: Did you want to talk about anything that's happened in your life recently?
Tom: Well, I did get a Nintendo Switch between now and the previous show, I believe.
Phil: Excellent.
Tom: As well as a digital piano.
Phil: That's right.
Phil: Okay, so another Korg, or what did you get?
Tom: Another Kord?
Phil: Korg.
Tom: Korg, no, it was in fact a Road, not a Korg.
Phil: Wow, okay.
Tom: No, no, no, not a Road.
Tom: That's a different Japanese manufacturer of audio-related items, a Roland, sorry.
Phil: Oh, a Roland, okay.
Phil: Well, that's still, you know, that's still professional grade.
Tom: I think it wouldn't be classed as professional grade.
Tom: It would probably be a mid-tier one.
Phil: You've been, I know that you were learning, you know, or playing stuff piano-wise sort of thing.
Tom: Well, I think about a decade ago or so, which is recounted on the VJ Press blogs, I started to learn piano on our acoustic piano, which requires repairs, hence the digital piano.
Tom: And that essentially meant I did not have at any point ever play games, because the enjoyment and satisfaction and use of the brain is very similar in playing piano to playing games.
Phil: So can you just sit down at a piano and start playing?
Tom: Yes.
Phil: And be good?
Tom: Well, whether I'm good or not is a matter of opinion.
Phil: See, I think that's fantastic.
Phil: I mean, that is so great because there's pianos everywhere, you know, so like you can just, if a party's boring or this, that or a gathering's boring, you can just, you know, kind of get up to the, go tickle the ivory, so to speak, and, you know, a crowd would form around you.
Phil: I think that's fantastic.
Tom: And the good thing is, whether I'm good or not, if I'm good, a crowd will form.
Tom: If I'm bad, a crowd is equally likely to form.
Phil: Or disperse.
Phil: Which is win-win.
Tom: Form and then disperse.
Phil: Win-win.
Phil: So, but now with the piano versus games thing, is it because, you know, your hands get so sore from doing the piano that you can't do the games?
Phil: Or is it just because it, is it all absorbing?
Tom: It eats up any time one would spend on playing games, essentially.
Phil: Yes.
Tom: And it is exactly the same sort of things going on in your brain compared to many other instruments.
Tom: And it is an interesting challenge with a very clear and defined improvement as you're going along with a depth to it that is in a very small selection of games that exist.
Phil: What you've said there though, it is interesting because you've got the dexterity, right?
Phil: You've got to be using your fingers.
Phil: You're responding to stimulus, how the stuff sounds.
Phil: You're using your creativity.
Phil: You're constantly looking at where am I going to go next?
Phil: I mean, it sounds exactly like video gaming, but why is it different or more so on the piano than say another instrument?
Phil: Because you said with a piano, it's more like gaming than with another instrument.
Tom: Due to the interface.
Tom: So because it is a keyboard, there's obviously a direct relationship to how games work, given that most games are based on just pressing buttons.
Phil: So you're a keyboard and mouse kind of guy.
Tom: Well, even if you're using a controller, it's more similar than say if you're playing guitar.
Tom: I suppose you could say there's a similarity in moving an analog stick to strumming on a guitar.
Tom: And obviously the fretboard is pressing keys and that is very translatable from piano to guitar and vice versa.
Phil: Yeah, I believe they made a few video games about that back in the night.
Tom: I think they did.
Tom: Guitar...
Phil: Guitar Man and Rock Hero.
Phil: This is why people tune into The Game Under Podcast because we have a perspective.
Phil: An extensive knowledge of game history.
Tom: But so the difference is, the difference is, the way an analog stick works on a controller is essentially just the translation from arrow keys on a keyboard or a digital input just with a little bit more movement in it.
Tom: When you're strumming on a guitar, obviously that's where all of your expressiveness comes and also the fretboard.
Tom: But in piano, the expressiveness comes from more so than in a guitar because guitar is in a percussive instrument.
Tom: There is obviously a huge amount of expression in the sound you produce, but so much of the expression comes from your timing and rhythm and all of that sort of thing more so than on a guitar or non-percussive instrument.
Tom: So, games are essentially, even if you are playing on a controller where your analog stick is controlling only a small quantity of reactions, very much similar to a percussive instrument.
Tom: And any games that have depth to them, like for example, beat'em ups or fighting games, they're all obviously entirely about timing and rhythm and that sort of thing.
Phil: Have you been, so why did you get the Roland?
Phil: Because your old piano was crapping out?
Tom: Well, the old piano needs extensive repairs done on it.
Tom: And the other advantage of a digital piano is, which is probably the main reason I got it, is it is nowhere near as loud as even a small acoustic piano.
Tom: Even if you turn it up all the way, it may be technically as loud, but the amount of vibration it produces is not at all comparable, which is obviously a disadvantage if the goal is performance.
Tom: But for practicing and playing regularly, when you suffer from sensory overload is a huge advantage.
Tom: So playing on an acoustic piano, I would be limited to minutes before it starts affecting me, then maybe an hour until it really begins to be a problem.
Tom: Whereas I can play a digital piano for several hours at a time without that being an issue.
Phil: That is awesome.
Phil: I wish I could play the piano.
Phil: If I was going to pick up anything, it would definitely be the piano because my extremely large hands.
Phil: I've heard that that's a benefit on the piano.
Tom: It is.
Tom: You need to be able to reach at least an octave.
Tom: And the further you can reach, the better.
Tom: I do not have large hands, but I have extremely flexible hands.
Phil: Very good.
Phil: So, yeah, thanks to Redco Hosting.
Phil: I'm glad we've gotten right into the game.
Phil: So you did buy a Switch, so I'm very interested in your impressions of it.
Phil: We can probably get into that later.
Phil: Speaking of the Switch, I've been playing some Switch games predominantly lately.
Phil: I just finished up the demo of Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Phil: Have you had a chance to check this out?
Tom: No, I have been told to though.
Tom: I watched some of the IGN gameplay trailer and the narration was so horrifically distracting, I remember nothing about the game itself.
Phil: My first exposure to Kirby was on the original Game Boy.
Phil: I think it's Kirby's, I forget what it's called, but in any case, it has an incredible soundtrack.
Phil: And it was a fun game and basically, if you've never played a Kirby game, it's a Nintendo game, obviously, and it basically involves you walking around like a big pink cloud.
Phil: You can float by holding your breath and fly short distances.
Tom: I think that you're playing as a big pink cloud.
Phil: That's it, that's you, yep.
Tom: And I think by the size of clouds it would be an extremely small cloud, would it not?
Phil: Yeah, it would be very small, like the size of a bean bag, I would say.
Phil: Kirby, I always thought that Kirby was named after the famous US vacuum cleaner manufacturer because one of the things that Kirby does is he vacuums in things and then he takes on their characteristics, just like when you eat the heart of another man, you take on his characteristics and skills.
Phil: So he will suck in something and then he will have that characteristic.
Phil: If he sucks in something that's not living, he just spits it back out at you like a projectile.
Phil: And I always thought Kirby was named after the vacuum cleaner manufacturer.
Phil: He was actually named after...
Tom: Did he also eat people's hearts?
Phil: Well, I've only played the first three levels, so...
Tom: I mean the vacuum cleaner manufacturer.
Phil: I don't know, I don't know.
Phil: I would believe that that Dyson dude eats people's hearts, he's pretty creepy.
Phil: So with Kirby...
Phil: But actually he was named after a Nintendo employee in America, so there you go.
Tom: Are there any Nintendo characters who were not named after employees?
Phil: Well, you've got Doug Bowser.
Phil: He's the current Nintendo of America chief, so you've got that.
Tom: Who do you think Pikachu is named after?
Phil: I have no idea.
Phil: And you know what?
Phil: Reggie Philz and me, he never actually had a character named after him, did he?
Tom: I don't think so.
Phil: Hey, but back to Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Phil: The thing is, this game is brilliant.
Phil: I went out and bought it immediately after I got through it.
Phil: It is basically...
Phil: They've taken the Mario Odyssey shtick.
Phil: So with Mario, he'd throw his cap on something and then he'd take on the characteristics of that thing.
Phil: Well, with Kirby, basically, it's the exact same thing.
Phil: So he can suck up a car using an ability called Mouthful.
Phil: He can suck up vending machines.
Phil: And then basically, like you suck up a car, then you can drive around like a car.
Phil: So, yeah, it's just really, really fun.
Phil: The ability to platform by either walking or floating, the ability to have really a good toolset in terms of how you defend yourself and get through a level or solve puzzles.
Phil: It just is really well done.
Phil: And it's got the same polish as Mario Odyssey.
Phil: I'd be really interested if Kirby and the Forgotten Land was conceived prior to Mario Odyssey, because obviously Kirby, you know, doing something, interacting with something and then taking on its abilities is like, I've been a part of the series since the s.
Phil: So I don't know if they came up with that idea first and then adopted that to Mario Odyssey.
Phil: But yeah, it's got the same fantastic polish and gameplay feel and looks great as well.
Phil: So I'm very excited about that one.
Tom: Are you enjoying it more or as much as Mario Odyssey?
Phil: Probably more, I'd say, because it just feels right, whereas the gimmick, I don't mean that, I should say the device of Mario Odyssey with the hat was always something that was kind of weird.
Phil: Well, not weird, but it's kind of feigned because his hat has never been a part of his shtick before.
Phil: And it was executed perfectly.
Phil: I absolutely loved Odyssey from start to finish.
Phil: Did you have a chance to play Odyssey now that you've gotten the Switch?
Tom: No, I did not.
Tom: The one thing I would add is I would also say it is coming from someone who remembers nothing from the trailer, that I suspect Kirby also probably has a lot more charm to it because Mario Odyssey, as far as Mario aesthetics go, has to be one of the least engaging and most forgettable.
Phil: In what way?
Tom: Well, from what I remember the trailers was there was a big focus on a very bland and lifeless looking New York City.
Phil: Yeah, that's just one level though.
Phil: I mean, they have desert levels and jungle levels and all sorts of other stuff as well.
Phil: Look, I'd really encourage you to play Mario Odyssey.
Phil: I would because it is good, it is important.
Phil: I don't know.
Phil: While you were talking, I was thinking, you know, actually I'm full of shit because in the original D Marios, he has the tanuki suit, he has the boot, you know, so like he can change his clothing to take on other characteristics.
Phil: So there you go.
Phil: But yeah, so thumbs up for that one.
Phil: I can't wait to get the physical copy.
Phil: Another game, well the game I've actually been playing the most is the Paper Mario Origami King.
Phil: Not Origami Killer.
Tom: That doesn't sound like a Mario title.
Phil: No, no.
Phil: And so Paper Mario is obviously the great-grandson of Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo, which is one of our friends' best games of all time, favorite games of all time, and a game that I've gone through about two and a half times in the past.
Phil: It was a game by Square using Nintendo Assets, and it was basically a JRPG, but one of the things that was innovative, at least to the American audience or the Western audience, was that it had timed battle controls.
Phil: So it wasn't just turn-based, but there was also a time button pressing, a timing element to it as well.
Phil: I wouldn't imagine you've had an opportunity to play Super Mario RPG?
Tom: Not the original, no.
Tom: I have played the Thousand Year Door, but I think that's the only one.
Phil: Is Thousand Year Door the GameCube one?
Tom: Yes.
Phil: Yep.
Phil: So, Super Mario RPG is absolutely brilliant, definitely in my top games of all time.
Phil: There was never a sequel made by Square, and then on the Nthey came up with Paper Mario, which kind of got diluted into the Mario and Luigi type Game Boy series, but not really.
Phil: It never really replaced it.
Phil: The NPaper Mario was absolutely exceptional, and I wasn't expecting it to be.
Phil: Thousand Year Door, what was your impressions of it?
Tom: After an extremely slow and uninteresting start, it ended up becoming one of my favorite GameCube games.
Phil: Yeah, and I totally got into it.
Phil: I mean, I remember basically binging it and getting through it in a very short period of time, but I didn't like it to the level of the Super Mario RPG or the Ngame.
Phil: The Ngame is outstanding, and I hope they've reissued it.
Phil: They may have reissued it.
Phil: I don't think they have, but it'd be good if they did.
Phil: So this one, and then if they did one for the Wii or the Wii U, then I didn't know about it, or I basically went, eh, kind of had my fill of that sort of thing.
Tom: I think they did.
Phil: Well, they had a sticker one for the DS that I wasn't interested in.
Phil: So I just basically got into this one because I'd heard enough good things about it.
Phil: And, you know, like one of the things, like Thousand Year Door is, and about this series, is that it is immensely charming and well localized.
Phil: And visually, obviously, they're playing with a D sticker-looking Mario that has all the characteristics of a sticker and paper.
Phil: And it's very, you know, it's very visually appealing.
Phil: Or easy on the eyes.
Phil: Because it's highly stylized.
Phil: My first impressions of Origami King was that it was polished within an inch of its life and probably beyond it.
Phil: Because it's just so slick and boring.
Phil: But it does have a good battle system.
Phil: It has basically, you go into, if you can imagine, a bullseye.
Phil: And as Mario, you can move your enemies around concentrically.
Phil: So if you imagine a bullseye with your enemy on each alternating stripe, or multiple enemies on each alternating stripe, you have a limited amount of time to slide them all around to line them up so that you can have a more effective attack.
Phil: There's another vacuum-type effort.
Tom: Is that to hit multiple ones of them at once?
Phil: Yes, yes.
Phil: Or you line them up so you can bounce off the first to the second, to the third, to the fourth.
Phil: Yeah.
Phil: And so it's fairly simple, but like all good puzzles, it can get really hard to master the more they ramp it up.
Phil: And it does have a particularly slow start because you start at the, you know, it's a hub-based game basically.
Phil: So you start out with the hub and the first level.
Phil: So you have to kind of learn the hub and the first level at the same time as well as trying to put together a lot of complicated game elements.
Phil: And they keep trickling this information out to you.
Phil: And I'd say that that's probably the biggest downfall of the game is there's too much detail because there's no instruction manuals.
Phil: They are having to tutorialize you for the first hours at least.
Phil: And I'm well into plus hours now and I'm still learning new stuff.
Phil: It does have a Metroid type element to it in that, you know, you'll go into an area and there's things you can't access until you unlock abilities or equipment later on.
Phil: And so yeah, overall I'm enjoying it.
Phil: The boss battles are fantastic.
Phil: So basically there's five different levels you have to beat and at the end of...
Phil: And what's the gameplay?
Phil: You're basically walking around, attacking small guys who can come up and attack you in a traditional JRP fashion.
Phil: And then you're going through dungeons and temples and solving puzzles and doing all this and that sort of thing.
Phil: You're having to do resource management in terms of your health items and equipment.
Phil: And then at the very end, there are very distinct boss battles that are quite complex and by no means simple.
Phil: Like you...
Phil: JRPGs, traditionally, you've got the grind and then you get to a boss, and you can kind of figure it out within a few tries.
Phil: With this one, it's the same sort of battle, but a lot more complex.
Phil: So in that way, a lot more satisfying, but yeah, you've got to definitely set aside time for those boss battles.
Tom: Do they come out with creative ways of using the concentric circle system?
Phil: Yeah, they do, because they're introducing new minor enemies all the time that have different abilities.
Phil: So for example, you might be using your boots to stomp on the top of enemies, but then you'll get an enemy that has spikes on their top, so you can't jump on top of them unless you're using an upgraded steel boot or something like that.
Phil: So yeah, they're constantly changing your minor grind battles.
Phil: And the environments also change.
Phil: So like I said, there's about five or six different levels that have different environments and different challenges, and they all have a dungeon in the middle of them in typical JRPG style that you have to try and figure out and get through.
Phil: So yeah.
Phil: So overall, I would say it's been a good game.
Phil: It's been enjoyable and challenging.
Tom: It sounds a bit more creative than The Thousand New Door and what are you hearing about the sticker one?
Phil: Yeah, definitely.
Phil: I mean, they've really done a good job.
Phil: That's kind of been the story with the Switch is this there's been no shortage of good games for it.
Phil: And speaking of good games, you turned me on to the fact that itch.io had another sale of the century for some reason that we probably won't get into.
Tom: I think it was something to do with the Oscars.
Phil: I think so, you're right.
Phil: Which has been a popular, I was outraged that the most popular topic on the VG press, which is our community site, you can post stories about games and all the rest of it, and someone posted a thread yesterday about Team Rock or Team Jiggy, and it's been the most active thread on the site.
Tom: What kind of a loser would post a thread like that?
Phil: I don't know.
Phil: It's just basically clickbait.
Phil: The guy's probably trolling.
Phil: He really has no interest in it whatsoever.
Phil: He's probably just cutting and pasting something off Twitter just to see what people will read.
Phil: But anyway, what were you saying about the VG Press?
Phil: Oh, a sale.
Phil: That's right, a sale.
Tom: The HIO Oscar sale.
Phil: Yeah, Oscar sale.
Phil: Right, so you turned me on to this, and it was like bucks for only games?
Tom: I think over
Phil: Over games, I know.
Phil: As opposed to that one they did a couple of years ago.
Phil: But yeah, I managed to pick up some games on it.
Phil: I've kind of scrolled through to like the fourth page of the sale, and I'm not seeing too much more there.
Phil: But they had Steamworld Dig
Phil: Oh, Superhot.
Phil: I mean, if you don't have Superhot, that's worth it right there.
Phil: And Inglot, I picked up that.
Phil: I mean, it was a really good set.
Tom: So only worth it for that alone as well.
Phil: Yeah, I mean, it's fantastic.
Phil: I mean, there's quite a few games on there that I didn't have.
Tom: I haven't played it yet, but I'm very, very curious about a game on there called, if I can find it, Thirsty Sword Lesbians.
Phil: Thirsty?
Tom: Thirsty Sword Lesbians.
Phil: Oh, that's just got to be a kind of Super Giana Sisters or the Great Giana Sisters.
Phil: Thirsty Sword Lesbians?
Tom: Correct.
Phil: Sorry.
Phil: I just had to get that right because I want to write it down.
Phil: Ostensibly, the plot would be that they're thirsty for a sword and that they're lesbians.
Phil: But you can't judge a book by its cover.
Phil: Just because the game is called Thirsty Sword Lesbians doesn't mean it's about lesbians who are thirsty for swords.
Tom: I just found the publicity page for it on the developer Evil Hat's website.
Tom: It is described as Love, Swords and Adventure.
Tom: Thirsty sword lesbians battle the Lady of Change when her enforcers march down from the frosty north.
Tom: They rocket through the stars to safeguard diplomats ending a generations old conflict.
Tom: Even when swords are crossed, they seek peace with their opponents and sometimes connect more deeply than anyone expects.
Tom: A sword duel can end in kissing.
Phil: Well, that's something I think everyone can relate to.
Tom: I think it's very topical.
Tom: I think it's very topical.
Phil: Well, it's amazing that they're able to give...
Tom: World leaders could learn a little from thirsty sword lesbians, I believe.
Phil: Well, certainly they could learn from that, just as they could learn from Pussy Riot.
Phil: So yeah, that was a good sale.
Phil: So now you've been playing another game as well, I think, that you wanted to talk about.
Tom: I've been playing several games, actually.
Tom: But one of the most interesting is The Good Life by the developer of Deadly Premonition.
Tom: SWERY, I think he's known as.
Phil: Yeah, SWERY.
Phil: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Phil: Well, remember I played the Switch Deadly Premonition game that came out last year and could not recommend it.
Tom: I think you sort of did recommend it, actually, but were disappointed as well.
Phil: Yeah, it had a lot of disappointments to it.
Phil: So The Good Life, is it based off that British sitcom from the s?
Tom: It's clearly referencing the British sitcom from the s, as it is set in a small English country town.
Phil: Oh, okay.
Phil: Well, that's interesting because obviously Deadly Premonition took a lot of hints from the TV series, you know, the one with the lake and the woods.
Tom: Twin Peaks.
Phil: That's it, yeah, Twin Peaks.
Phil: So it's based off of a British city?
Tom: It's a English country town.
Tom: And you're playing as an American journalist from New York who has accrued a massive debt.
Tom: I don't recall if it goes into much detail on what her debt is actually for, but she has been sent to a backwards English country town to somehow earn enough money in this town to pay back her debt.
Tom: And the gameplay is a kind of a cross between Animal Crossing, an action adventure game and a photography game.
Tom: And there are similarities to Deadly Premonition in the sense that you are in a supposedly living town with characters going about their day-to-day lives, but unlike in Deadly Premonition, you don't really get that sense.
Tom: And if you follow characters around, you're not really going to learn anything about what is going on in the narrative, unlike in Deadly Premonition.
Tom: And it's also pretty clear that it is not entirely finished because there is one main very small town area, then there's areas of the countryside with other small towns in them.
Tom: And the main area has named characters that go about their daily lives and shops that are open during the day and closed during the night and all of that sort of thing.
Tom: The surrounding areas consist of nameless placeholder characters who just stand around no matter what is happening.
Phil: So, in Deadly Premonition, of course, a lot of the charm of that game was that you could go to the town and people would be going through their daily activities and you could spy on them and take photos and there were some purient benefits to that.
Phil: Is that a similar type thing?
Tom: Not really.
Tom: As I said, that's what they're going for, but the only thing that that really affects is that to begin and end quests or do certain activities in quests, you have to do it when the character is available.
Tom: If you do follow characters around, as I said, you don't really learn anything about what's going on and they don't really do anything interesting either for the most part.
Tom: They will just, for example, walk from home to the shop they work out.
Tom: Then at the shop they work out, they'll remain there all day long.
Tom: The only exception to that is when they need to go and eat something, they'll go to the single pub and eat something there.
Tom: Or on the Sunday, they will go to church.
Tom: And that's basically the extent of the characters' activities in the world.
Tom: So it's not really comparable to Deadly Premonition at all.
Phil: Well, that sounds more exciting than what I do every week.
Phil: At least these people go to two places.
Phil: So what's the moment by moment gameplay?
Phil: You're walking around, I would have to assume, in a third person action type game.
Tom: That's right.
Tom: And there is a twist.
Tom: As you go along in the story, you will gain the ability to transform into a cat or dog.
Tom: So the advantage of that is they can jump much higher than the main character in human form.
Tom: The dog can mark its territory and smell things.
Phil: Well, humans can do that too, honestly.
Tom: Yes, they can.
Tom: But the cat can also climb things.
Tom: And this has not really made use of much, in terms of gameplay, other than just arbitrarily having to switch into these forms to achieve certain objectives in a mission.
Tom: So that's another thing that is, disappointingly, not really developed in a particularly interesting way.
Tom: I think, weirdly, the most enjoyable and interesting aspect of the game I found was the photography mechanic and how that relates to making money.
Phil: Are you on, I'm sorry to interrupt, are you on some sort of email list where they tell you every time a game has a photography element?
Tom: No, I'm not.
Phil: How did you find this?
Tom: Well, it's made by SWERY.
Tom: SWERY.
Tom: So it was on my radar.
Phil: And what platform did you play it on?
Phil: PC?
Tom: I played it on PC.
Tom: I believe it's also on Switch and possibly other consoles.
Phil: Okay, no worries.
Phil: I was just saying because you're quite good at finding every single game that has a photography element in it.
Phil: Because you talk about it like, oh yeah, you know, a Fatal Frame and whatever.
Tom: I've never played Fatal Frame.
Phil: Okay, you know, it's hard to get over here, I think.
Phil: Okay, I just had to know.
Phil: So there is a photography element to it.
Tom: Yep.
Tom: And it is linked to the character's Instagram account equivalent in the game world.
Tom: And each day or couple of days, there are five hot words, as they're called, which will, if you photograph this and then upload it, you will make a reasonable amount of money from accruing followers and getting likes and that sort of thing.
Tom: So looking for photo objectives and uploading them, I found to be easily the most enjoyable part of the game and the missions that use photography are usually quite enjoyable as well.
Tom: The main campaign gameplay consists mostly of things like fetch quests or going between characters and talking to them.
Tom: So it isn't particularly interesting, the main quest in terms of gameplay.
Tom: And the story and characters certainly do not live up to Deadly Premonition at all.
Tom: But it does nevertheless have a certain charm to it, partially because of the very bizarre combination of gameplay elements.
Tom: As I said, there are Animal Crossing elements of the gameplay where you're able to upgrade the house you live in, you can manage a garden you have, you grow plants that you use to make food, and there's also a survival mechanic where you have to keep your character fed, you have to keep her sleeping a reasonable amount, and you can't stay out in the rain without catching a cold, and if she does get sick, then you have to go to the vet and get treated, and various things like that.
Tom: So it's a very strange mix of gameplay mechanics.
Tom: Which make it not necessarily enjoyable, but a very interesting experience.
Tom: And there is another mechanic in the game, which is the way you travel quickly, which is, I think, a good indication of the good elements of the game's sense of humour where it works quite nicely.
Tom: Instead of riding a horse or anything like that, you can tame sheep and then ride sheep around.
Tom: And the way you tame sheep is, of course, by transforming into a dog and then barking at the sheep.
Tom: And then, once you have barked at them enough and cowed them under your wheel, you can then ride them and use them essentially as your steed, which allows you to travel quickly throughout the area.
Tom: The one other interesting thing, the one other more enjoyable mechanic was the way meals affect your stats.
Tom: So, certain meals will give you more stamina, which allows you to run further distances, both when you're riding sheep or just running around.
Tom: And some will make you much stronger in fights.
Tom: There's also an extremely awkward combat mechanic, which is used, I think, on one occasion in the main story, and should basically just be avoided, generally speaking.
Tom: And there are very rare occasions where there are enemies that will attack you, such as badgers, but generally the best strategy is to just call up your sheep, hop on it and run away.
Tom: So, the way food affects your stats is interesting.
Tom: And from a collecting perspective, it was somewhat enjoyable to be going through restaurants' menus.
Tom: And there are mini games or side quests that take advantage of some of the more amusing characters in the game as well, such as an alcoholic vicar who you have drinking contests with, and also one of the best photographic missions features him as well, where you have to take a photo of him urinating in public after he's been out drinking.
Tom: And that's amusing, but is also a good indication of how the gameplay does not work like an emergent world, I think was the marketing term, used at the time of Deadly Premonition.
Tom: If you were doing a mission like that in Deadly Premonition, you would be following that character around, waiting for a logical occasion that they would be doing that.
Tom: In this, you start the quest and select it from the menu, and they will teleport to where they are urinating.
Tom: If you then go to another quest, they'll teleport back to where they were.
Tom: It's very much not a dynamic world.
Phil: That makes complete sense.
Phil: In terms of what you're describing, besides the urination portals, have you ever played any of the Harvest Moon games?
Phil: Harvest Moon starts with you basically being someone who's come from the city, and you're broke and you need to build something up, and you meet a new community.
Phil: It sounds very Harvest Moon.
Tom: Harvest Moon would definitely be a better comparison than Animal Crossing, definitely.
Phil: Yeah, okay.
Phil: Well, we're talking about SWERYHidetaki Sehiro, and this game, The Good Life, is available on PlayStation Xbox One, Windows and Switch.
Phil: I found it interesting, and he's currently working on a game called Hotel Bartholonna for Switch and mobile, with no less than Sudaof No More Heroes fame, but even more importantly, Kichiro Toyama, which isn't a name that we've talked about much here on this podcast, but he's the guy behind Gravity Rush and Siren and Silent Hill and Snatcher.
Phil: You know, I mean, so these guys are working on something together called Hotel Bartholonna, which I think that's very interesting.
Phil: I think it's probably going to be a must buy just to see the car crash that SWERYSudaand Toyama could put together.
Phil: One of the things that are disappointing looking at SWERY's gameography is that the last game he was a designer on, he did Deadly Premonition in Lord of Arcana for the PSP, then Lord of Apocalypse.
Phil: And that was the last game that he was actually a designer on, and since then it's all been writer, co-writer, director.
Phil: And I think there is something that is lost when a game designer basically elevates themselves up out of the design system and becomes a writer-director.
Phil: And I think that's a part of aging and basically you can't do everything yourself and technology changes, you don't keep up with technology and all the rest of it.
Phil: But do you disagree with me that that's an important point?
Phil: You know, like getting your hands dirty.
Tom: I think it would depend entirely on who we're talking about.
Phil: So like Will Wright, the creator of SimCity, you know, like he created the original SimCity by himself exclusively, % just him.
Phil: And he had everything in his control.
Phil: And then obviously as he built and developed SimCity through its different genres, and then went on to do The Sims, you know, at a certain point, he obviously the scope of those games got out of his direct control to the point where he just went on to do nothing because he was no longer able to produce a game just by himself.
Phil: And if you look at itch.io, that is to me, like where gaming is right now.
Phil: Like itch.io to me is where the passion and the interest is as a gamer who grew up playing Commodore games that were made by a single developer or two developers or three developers.
Phil: In terms of this...
Tom: What about someone like Nagoshi though?
Phil: Oh, well, you see, that's the master of both worlds.
Phil: You know, someone who's able to, you know, basically adopt new technologies and be alive with new technologies as they're evolving.
Phil: And I think, like what I'm saying is, like Nagoshi, he just didn't...
Phil: Yeah, he's not doing all the blood work himself, but he's conversant with it, I believe, because he's been able to...
Tom: I'm pretty sure he began in design in various capacities, didn't he?
Phil: Yes, that's right.
Tom: So there will be an example of someone who did successfully make the transition.
Phil: Make the transition.
Phil: Yeah, exactly.
Phil: And Miyamoto, I would put in that same category to a degree, well, certainly, because even though he was, quote, just an artist, he wasn't a coder, he obviously gave Nintendo something that they didn't have.
Phil: And you need that artistic touch, you know.
Phil: And of course he's brilliant.
Phil: So is there anything else you'd like to say about The Good Life?
Tom: Probably not.
Tom: Just again, it is...
Tom: If you go into it expecting something on the level of Deadly Premonition, either in terms of the narrative and atmosphere or the gameplay, and there were many positive aspects and incredibly high quality aspects to the gameplay of the original Deadly Premonition, contrary to popular belief, I would say, it's a very disappointing experience.
Tom: But as a very unique and bizarre melding of different total elements in the narrative and elements in the gameplay, it's a very unique and I think ultimately worthwhile experience.
Tom: And like Harvest Moon, which I haven't played, but games that have a management sort of aspect to it, there are elements of that in it that end up just through basic positive reinforcement becoming engaging and rewarding.
Tom: They just take a little bit of while for that effect to build up.
Phil: Yeah, like if you look at a game like Stardew Valley, that's a game that was again made by one person and was incredibly deep and is incredibly deep and complex.
Phil: And I think probably from what you're describing with The Good Life is that it's got some elements of those things but probably not as much time put into the development to really push it over the edge to be something.
Tom: And there's certainly your depth to anything in it.
Tom: The one thing I would add which is I think really takes away from it because one thing it has going for it I would say is the lack of depth to it because it's a very low investment way to experience a management game of that sort of ilk.
Tom: One thing that gets away in the way of that is the crafting system because the crafting system you need to do for various side quests and the side quests are enjoyable because a lot of them have amusing stories that accompany them.
Tom: And that's where a lot of the characters shine.
Tom: But a lot of them are a total dead end because the crafting system requires some pretty absurd grinding to be able to get some very basic things you need to craft a single item to complete a quest.
Tom: So that is something that just gets in the way of the general direction that the rest of the game was going in and is any quest that I can recall that featured crafting, other than the one that started some of the crafting systems being available, I did not finish because it would have required some degree of just totally uninteresting grinding to be able to do it.
Phil: Yeah, it will sound fatuous, but I believe that if crafting isn't a game, it should start...
Phil: When they're doing those stupid tutorials, they have to walk you through at the start of the game.
Phil: It says, hey, in this game, you can do crafting or not.
Phil: Do you want us to do it for you?
Phil: Because sometimes it can be more work than it's worth and certainly not enjoyable.
Phil: I think if you look at a game like Tomb Raider and its sequels, that's an example of, to me, crafting done best.
Phil: But in so many games, you get to that crafting element and it's just a complete time sink and something that doesn't have much reward.
Tom: I think if the crafting system is interesting, that can work.
Phil: And intuitive.
Tom: Even if it is a time sink.
Phil: Yeah, and intuitive.
Phil: Oh, I put this together, I put that together, it's going to be a fire bomb, you know.
Phil: Thank you for your review of The Good Life, available on pretty much everything.
Tom: I think we have to give it a score, don't we?
Phil: We do.
Phil: Do you have the die of destiny?
Tom: I have to get the die of destiny.
Phil: Well, you don't have to because I have a sound effect that does the die of destiny.
Tom: Well, I now have the die of destiny.
Phil: Ah, excellent.
Tom: And we're about to roll it.
Phil: There we go.
Phil: That's how we roll.
Tom: A out of
Phil: Well, GameSpot gave it a out of so do you think your is about right on the Tom Towers scale?
Tom: I think it's probably fair, all in all.
Phil: Very good.
Phil: So The Good Life is just one of the games that are available on the Switch, and as you said, since the last time we talked, that you have picked up a Nintendo Switch.
Phil: Did you get a mini or one with detachable joypads?
Tom: I got a standard Nintendo Switch.
Phil: Okay, so it's got the old screen, not the upgraded screen.
Tom: Correct, but I think it's the second generation of the original, so it has the better battery in it.
Phil: Oh, good, good, good.
Phil: And does it have, what color are your joypads?
Tom: Uh, blue and red.
Phil: Ah, just like me.
Phil: So they're kind of a neon, fluoro kind of red and blue, right?
Phil: Like a turquoise and sherbet kind of theme.
Tom: I think that's the most common color.
Phil: Yeah, well, you've got the black ones, which, no.
Phil: And then you've got the orange and purple ones, which I quite like as well.
Tom: I think the OLED one has white ones, which I think works quite well.
Phil: This is probably going to take us out for the rest of the show, but do you play it mostly docked or undocked?
Tom: Well, when I have been playing it, as I said, the vast majority of gaming time has been taken up by piano.
Tom: So I've actually been playing it in a combination of both docked using the Joy-Cons separately.
Tom: I do have a pro controller, but not using the pro controller or handheld because the majority of use that I was giving it was actually while I was doing my daily exercises.
Tom: So the advantage of being able to have a controller where you can separate the two sides of it means that can be done with a variety of different positions.
Tom: In which one when one is doing squats or crunches or whatever else.
Tom: And if you're lying down or standing up doing squats as well, you can also hold it depending on what you're doing exactly.
Tom: So that is actually how I have been using it mostly.
Tom: And that is one of the many great advantages of a system that is both a handheld and a non-handheld and has a genius, although it was there on the Wii, except they were attached by a lead, the genius idea of splitting a controller in half.
Phil: Yeah, I think with the Switch, they've finally pulled all the great elements of the Wii and the Wii U together and perfected them.
Phil: There's a lot of concepts there that they've re-tread.
Phil: And I've quite forgotten that when I first got my Switch, I did what you did.
Phil: I'd dock it and I'd have the controllers willy-nilly, one in my left hand and right hand.
Phil: I might have my left arm hung up over the back of the couch while I'm playing sort of thing.
Phil: And if you can get used to it, it's actually like a really comfortable way to play because you're not angled over with your shoulders.
Phil: And you can just sort of be kind of loose with it.
Phil: And yeah.
Tom: That's how my sister has been playing.
Tom: And she also, she has very poor joints in her hands and in general.
Tom: But...
Phil: Well, if she has very poor joints in her hands, I've got a better dealer that I could probably hook you up with.
Phil: So what is her favorite game, incidentally?
Tom: Yeah, I will.
Tom: But the other great advantage of them, if you have poor joints, for example, is how light they are.
Tom: There isn't really another control that is at all as light, not even close to as light as the Joy-Cons are.
Phil: I find in the handheld mode the Joy-Cons are poor because I'm basically twisting it all the time.
Tom: You mean if you've got the stream between them?
Phil: Yeah, exactly.
Phil: But I like the little holder thing they give to you.
Phil: And for smaller hands, that's also much better than having to hold the whole system, I've noticed.
Phil: But when I'm playing it docked, I uniformly have been using the Master Controller, which has, as I said when I was giving my first impressions of it, I don't know what is powering it, but it seems to never need a charge.
Phil: But you haven't been using the Master Controller.
Tom: Is that the Pro Controller?
Phil: Yeah, sorry.
Tom: Yes, if I am not playing while doing exercises and I am not playing in handheld mode, then I do use the Pro Controller.
Phil: So, you know, you are saying when I am not exercising and all the rest of it, it sounds to me like this hasn't revolutionized your life, like it hasn't become a part of your weekly gaming...
Tom: Well, it was, other than my gaming during breakfast, while I was using it doing exercises, my exercise routine has now changed, so it is no longer that practical to use them.
Tom: But when I was, that was the only gaming I was doing other than while I was eating breakfast.
Tom: So it did revolutionize my life in the sense that I was actually playing games again that were more complicated than something you could do while eating breakfast.
Tom: So I got through, for example, I think, two pretty reasonably length games.
Tom: I still need to kill the final boss in Metroid Dread and I completed the original Secret of Manor.
Tom: I think it's called Final Fantasy Adventure, I think.
Phil: Those are the only games you've played, aren't they?
Tom: No, those are the only ones I've completed.
Tom: I've played a lot of multiplayer games.
Phil: Like You Know.
Tom: Not You Know.
Phil: You Know is brilliant on this system.
Phil: You can read my review at gameunder.net.
Tom: I believe you also updated our archive with a Serious Sam and Xenoclash review.
Phil: Yes, I did.
Phil: You can go to gameunder.net, read Tom's review of Serious Sam.
Phil: What I'm basically doing is I'm going back through your gaming history and updating your reviews that you did for other sites because you've had a long career of writing video game reviews, but unfortunately, you've outlived a lot of the outlets.
Phil: As an archivist, I've been digging through your old stuff and putting it back up.
Phil: Right now, we've got your reviews of Serious Sam Xenoclash and Hard Reset.
Phil: These have been saved from the Internet Archive and reposted at gameunder.net.
Phil: And good reads each and all of them, I'm sure.
Tom: That's why they have survived and I'm still here, unlike numerous outlets.
Phil: Well, yes, and that because I pay Squarespace to keep our website up as opposed to your former hosts.
Phil: But we should probably come up with some sort of contingency plan in case I die.
Phil: So we'll work on that.
Phil: So back to the Switch.
Phil: You say you exercise while you're using it.
Phil: Have you tried Ring Fit Adventure?
Tom: No, I haven't.
Phil: I love that game.
Phil: And so you said you've tried other games, but you've only beaten two.
Phil: So what are the games that you've played?
Phil: What are the hardware impressions do you have?
Tom: Well, I played a lot of games.
Tom: Mario Kart which is surprisingly good, even after already playing Mario Kart
Tom: Ultimate Chicken Horse, Ibn Ob, Fatum Batula, which is one of the games in this itch.io bundle.
Tom: Shakedown Hawaii.
Phil: Oh, I love that game.
Tom: Yep.
Phil: As you know.
Tom: We were doing impressions on that at some point.
Tom: And probably a lot of others that I have failed to recall off the top of my head right now.
Tom: I played, I think, seconds or so of the Rabbids game.
Tom: There's another one.
Tom: So I have played a lot.
Tom: Those are just the two that I invested the most time into and beat so far.
Phil: I just picked up a copy of The Outer Worlds for the Switch, which I won't get to for decades.
Phil: But Journey to Another Planet, I picked that up as well based on your recommendation for the Switch.
Phil: I basically got a new strategy where I secretly put things into my Amazon shopping cart so that when my significant other goes to buy something that the family needs, I accidentally end up with a video game.
Phil: Which I should probably put that behind a paywall of some kind.
Phil: That's a hot tip and trick.
Phil: I've got to tell you, the Nintendo Switch favorite console of all time for me has been the SNES, the Super Nintendo for a very long period of time just because of the depth of its library and the brilliance of its colors.
Phil: Then it was the Dreamcast.
Phil: Then it was probably one of the PlayStation since that's the system for which I have the most games.
Phil: I'm going to say probably my favorite out of those is the PlayStation
Phil: But right now the Nintendo Switch to me is my favorite console ever because it fits the needs of my life which is sometimes I can play on screen, sometimes I can't.
Phil: It's got a tremendous library of independent games and Nintendo first party games.
Phil: I'm just really enjoying it.
Phil: If they just do nothing more than a Nintendo Switch for the next years, just upgrading the screens and making it lighter, improving the battery time, I'd be completely happy with it.
Tom: Which is probably what they're going to do.
Phil: I hope so.
Phil: I hope it's their next DS, you know, that becomes their DS, that becomes whatever is capable of after that.
Phil: And the other crazy thing is it's all back to where it started with a cartridge.
Phil: Like, yeah, obviously you download a lot of games and I've downloaded a lot of games.
Phil: But when I want to own a game and I want to have it as a part of my library, like Kirby, yeah, I could have downloaded it.
Phil: But no, I want the cartridge, I want that piece of plastic that I chunk in the way it all started with the original Nintendo.
Phil: And to it not be a disk-based system, which these days, you know, a disk-based system is ridiculous because it's basically just a license key that you put into a system and it downloads the game.
Phil: You know, and you know how much I hate that.
Phil: So I really like the fact that, you know, years from now, I'll be able to grab one of these, make sure my switch is offline, throw it in and be able to play it, I think is tremendous.
Tom: One criticism of the cartridge system I would make, which I think is a common criticism, is the boxes for the cartridges is absurd.
Tom: And I think they surely could have come up with a more aesthetically pleasing way and practical way of packaging these tiny cartridges.
Tom: Because the dimensions of what they came up with are this weird thing between the satisfying smallness of a PSbox and a standard DVD case, but thin.
Tom: And when you open it, games don't have manuals anymore.
Tom: So you've just got this giant blank space of plastic with a tiny cartridge inside it.
Tom: And it just looks totally absurd.
Phil: Would you have been appeased if they'd gone with a square?
Tom: I think that would have at least made it more interesting.
Phil: I think shelf space considerations are also an aspect because I've been working in product design.
Phil: And like the more shelf space you can take up, the easier it is for you to get the attention of someone who's walking by a shelf.
Phil: And there's also the shoplifting element as well.
Phil: Though obviously they put sensors in it and all the rest of it.
Phil: And whoever buys a game physically in a shop these days anyway.
Phil: But I hear what you're saying.
Phil: It has to be big enough that you can hold it in your hand.
Phil: And it's actually quite small in my hand.
Phil: But I do think, and I've become more sensitive to this sort of thing, like how sustainable is it?
Phil: At the same time, these games are not going to get recycled.
Phil: People who are buying physical games are not like buying the game, putting the cartridge into a folder and then throwing the case into the bin.
Phil: You know, like this is something that's going to live on a shelf or be recycled by handing it down or that sort of thing.
Phil: So, look, hey, am I crazy with my view of the Switch being the best console of all time?
Phil: Where are you with it?
Tom: Well, before I get to that, I have one other major criticism of it that is obviously much more important than the dimensions of the cases.
Tom: And that is on the Joy-Cons.
Tom: There's two issues.
Tom: One is the Bluetooth sensor is on the level of like a $Bluetooth mouse.
Tom: Where, if you do not have the Switch in front of the television, things like your leg can block the Bluetooth signal.
Tom: It's horrendously bad.
Tom: And two, this is possibly the worst D-pad on, certainly on a first-party controller I have ever come across.
Tom: It is just complete and utter shit.
Tom: It's awkward if you're doing anything diagonally.
Tom: The button presses don't feel satisfying and responsive, and it just feels completely crap to use.
Tom: That is all completely solved with the Pro Controller, again, demonstrating how awful the Bluetooth sensors are in it, which maybe that is one of the reasons they're so light, perhaps, but the Bluetooth on it is horrendous and the D-pads are even worse.
Tom: So those are two things I think that they really, really missed the ball on to a huge degree.
Phil: I absolutely agree.
Phil: The D-pad is horrendous.
Phil: Though for some reason when I'm playing it with the Joy-Cons, I don't notice.
Phil: But yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
Phil: It is the worst D-pad of all time.
Tom: But as a console in general and as something that is fun and interesting to interact with, there's a reason I only have a switch of the consoles this generation other than the fact that you can't actually buy the other two.
Tom: And that is consoles to me have become progressively less and less interesting as they have become basically cheap gaming PCs on which you can only play games.
Tom: And that's essentially how they're presenting themselves, if not as PCs, as PC related products where they have general design cues from things like modems and routers and things like that.
Tom: The Switch is very much an interesting product in and of itself that isn't just like a low profile PC or modem or router.
Tom: The way you interact with it is brilliant, where if you're playing it on television, you stick it in this satisfying slot.
Tom: And if you want to play with multiple people, you can give each person a single Joy-Con is genius as well, depending on the game.
Tom: That you can arrange how you want to use the Joy-Cons in different ways is brilliant as well.
Tom: And that it's also perfectly usable as a handheld is genius and just makes it an extremely enjoyable way to play games that is not an inferior way of PC gaming, essentially, which is what consoles have basically become at this point.
Phil: I completely agree.
Phil: There's nothing sexy about consoles.
Phil: There's nothing exciting about consoles.
Phil: Like when a console used to launch, I'd be running to a shop to get one.
Phil: And now it's kind of like, yeah, I get it.
Phil: They're both basically replaceable, you know.
Phil: And Microsoft, which like if I was going to get a system right now, trust me, I'd get the Microsoft one.
Phil: But like they've kind of downplayed it themselves by saying, hey, you know, you played on PC, played on Xbox, we don't really care, just subscribe to our service.
Phil: And then with the PlayStation, you know, they've got this really ugly, you know, design, like design with no compelling exclusives and they're all tipping their toes into the water because the component shortage.
Phil: So they're releasing Gran Turismo on the Gran Turismo, on the PlayStation and PlayStation
Phil: So, okay, well, you would have done that anyway.
Phil: Yeah, but you've taken away the proposition.
Phil: You've taken away.
Phil: It used to be you can only play this on our new console and that's given you a reason to go out and buy it.
Phil: Like there's no reason to go out and buy these consoles.
Phil: And like I was a Wii family.
Phil: Like I had a Wii and a and that pretty much covered me until the PlayStation came along.
Phil: And then a PC Wii, you know, like a PC Wii family, you know, that's fine.
Phil: And right now it's like between PC and Switch, I'm pretty much covered.
Phil: I can play all the games I want to play.
Phil: And then they keep bastardizing their new systems by releasing games like Horizon on the old hardware.
Phil: But I don't want to play it on the old hardware because I know it's going to be a compromised, you know, or it's going to be a compromise.
Phil: So, yeah, I agree.
Phil: And the other thing is, like, with the cartridge on the Switch, you know that you're going to get most of the game and the updates are going to be small.
Phil: With the consoles, you know, you really are, as I said before, just buying a disc with a license key.
Phil: And if I'm going to do that, then I may as well just download it on my PC, which I know the custodians, be it Microsoft or Linux, will let me carry it on and on and on for the next years.
Phil: You know, if I buy Serious Sam today for PC or for Linux, I'm pretty confident that it's going to be a way for me to play that years from now.
Phil: If I buy Horizon on the PlayStation I'm pretty confident I'm going to be not able to play that years from now.
Tom: I think that's probably due to Nintendo's strategy rather than the cartridge, because in the Wii U and Wii, they weren't really moving in that direction either.
Tom: So I think that's probably a strategy of having, if you buy the game, you can actually play it without too many issues, would probably still be the case.
Tom: I will add though, Nintendo is certainly guilty of these online problems, because setting up this Switch on Christmas Day to be able to play anything was naturally impossible, because to get updates and that sort of thing required you to connect to a server that was totally incapable of dealing with the quantity of people trying to connect to it all at once.
Tom: So even with the Switch, that is still there, just to a massively lesser degree.
Tom: But the one other feature I would add, which is good, and I think perhaps the PSand Xbox, whatever the fuck it's called, may do this as well that is very useful, which you've mentioned as well, is the fact that if you put the console to sleep, when you go back to it, you can continue from exactly where you were in any game.
Phil: Yeah, yeah, which is fantastic.
Phil: And I've also enjoyed it for its travel capacity.
Phil: Like I do most of my gaming when I'm traveling.
Phil: If not every night, I try to game every single day.
Phil: But I cannot overstate how friendly it is to someone who's got a busy lifestyle because while the family is watching TV, I can be watching TV with them, be present, but still be playing my game.
Phil: The one downside to it is insensitive game designers who don't understand font sizes that don't translate to the handheld.
Phil: So I popped in The Outer Worlds and updated it.
Phil: I popped in Journey to Another World and started playing it.
Phil: And on a handheld, it's like, I can't even read this.
Phil: And it's not just because I'm old.
Phil: I have glasses and contact lenses and things like that.
Phil: But if you're going to be doing text only subtitles, you need to be able to read them on a handheld screen.
Tom: I'm yet to encounter that problem.
Tom: So maybe it is in fact your eyes and decrepit age.
Phil: Well, that's ageism, man.
Phil: Okay, so any final thoughts before we close off this podcast on the Switch?
Tom: I think that's pretty much on the Switch.
Tom: The one thing I would say, you mentioned Gran Turismo which reminds me, I have actually started that.
Phil: Well, can we tease that?
Phil: Can we say that?
Tom: I will just say one thing on it.
Tom: That is simultaneously a completely revolutionary racing game and a complete and utter shit show of the highest order at exactly the same time.
Phil: That's what I've heard.
Tom: So look forward to impressions of it.
Phil: In episode of The Game Under Podcast, thank you for joining us for episode
Phil: I've been your host, Mr.
Phil: Phil Fogg.
Tom: I've been the superior host, Sir Tom Towers.
Phil: So your pronouns are Sir and...
Tom: Sir and Your Majesty.
Phil: Right on, man.
Phil: Man.