The Gaming Persona

Skins, Swords, and Buyer’s Remorse (But Mostly Skins)

• Daniel Kaufmann Ph.D. | Dr. Gameology • Season 5 • Episode 30

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Confession time: we’ve all chased hype, only to crash into a loading screen of regret. Today we swap signed wrestling stories and Fortnite megazords for something more honest—how games light us up, let us down, and teach us to choose better. From the thrill of new skins and first Victory Royales to the slow leak of “just $20 more,” we unpack the real psychology behind cosmetics, identity, and why a locker screen can be the difference between logging in and logging off.

We dive into Mass Effect Andromeda’s uncanny gaps—sound clipping, stiff faces, empty ambiences—and the larger cycle of publisher pressure, unfinished launches, and broken expectations. Then the takes get spicier: Breath of the Wild’s durability fatigue, Silent Hill F’s repair-item anxiety, Destiny 2: Lightfall’s collector’s-edition heartbreak, and why some beloved franchises just don’t click. Not because we don’t appreciate ambition, but because friction needs purpose and time is the rarest resource we have.

There’s joy here, too. Expedition 33 surprises us with curiosity loops and the quiet pleasure of hunting down lost explorers. We trace the hero’s journey through Elden Ring, Persona 3, and more to show why certain arcs feel inevitable and still miraculous. We also get practical about streaming: juggling too many great games, choosing what fits a chat’s rhythm, and letting a session be complete even if the game isn’t. And yes, we go full nerd on PC upgrades—GPUs, CPUs, storage, and the simple builds that keep 4K dreams from stuttering.

If you crave a smart, playful tour through hype and heartbreak—with real talk about respect-for-time design, mindful streaming, and the tech that keeps it all running—hit play and hang out with us. Then tell us your most overhyped flop or the one game that still respects your time. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a gaming reset, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

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Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Gaming Persona Podcast. This is the show that explores who we become when we play games. Whether you're saving kingdoms, leading epic raids, or just vibing in cozy indie worlds, join me, Dr. Gameology, and my good friend Marcus as we search for all the ways gaming and personal growth collide. Grab your controllers and let's continue the journey now.

SPEAKER_01:

Alright, so since the last time I was here, I have some things. I have show and tell to start the show.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh right. Just like in elementary school. Awesome. People on podcast and totally see it. It looks awesome. That is Seth Freaking Rollins with a flamethrower.

SPEAKER_01:

Signed by him.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow. So did you actually walk up to him and ask him to sign it?

SPEAKER_01:

No.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh. Yeah, he's a heel right now, so he wouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_01:

But the real one.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh wow. John Cena sign that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. So uh Monday, September 5th, we went to Monday Night Raw in my hometown. Monday, so in my hometown, I'm in a small, small city west of Boston. And the last time WWE had a live event, like a televised event, was 2005. But okay. But John Cena, John Cena went to Springfield College, where I'm from. And uh he picked all the locations that he wanted to go to, so he made sure he went to Springfield because he played football. Nice. And that's where I got my John Cena hat and the John Cena signed poster cardboard cutout.

SPEAKER_02:

So you're our John Cena mascot for the gaming persona now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, sure. But then again, you could be too because you were playing as Peacemaker on Fortnite.

SPEAKER_02:

I was. I actually played as shirtless John Cena during a match today as well. For the first time ever, Marcus and Doritos. I was the first person to die in a Fortnite match. It was so amazing. Like I just couldn't find a gun and someone found me and I ran around. It was it was a valiant effort, but I I I swear like two days ago I commented on stream or something like I've never gotten last place in a fortnight match, so I jinxed myself, and so now I have.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it it happens, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It does.

SPEAKER_01:

And then the next time you could play you play, you may get Victory Royale.

SPEAKER_02:

I have gotten my first three Victory Royales since the last episode. I played duo with some people in my Discord on several several different occasions. And DTamps, who is the one of the people in my channel, former student of mine too, protege, but very good at Fortnite, grouped up with me and totally carried me to three wins out of four matches. Like we were dominant.

SPEAKER_01:

Then you he must have been you must have been in your lobbies. Because I guarantee if he's good and he was in his lobbies, you guys wouldn't have won.

SPEAKER_02:

I did decent when I was with him, though.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he carried the load.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I just shoot people. That's the whole point.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And I've also added a bunch of characters to my locker because I did buy the crew pass, because I really want the Green Ranger and the White Ranger. But I also added other packs of characters just so that I can switch it up every couple matches. And I added Black Widow, Siri, and Jennifer from The Witcher. And I added.

SPEAKER_01:

Jeez, how many did you spend on skins?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know, probably like twenty dollars on three different days or something.

SPEAKER_01:

Damn.

SPEAKER_02:

I just want to enjoy the game, and being these rando no-name people with cargo shorts is not the same as being John Cena with amazing jorts.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I get it. I get it.

SPEAKER_02:

I my yeah, so I have John Cena and Peacemaker. I bought Sabrina Carpenter's espresso emote, so I can do that now when I do something victorious. Oh my gosh, everybody! I got to pilot the megazord this morning.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, my son just piloted that thing. I walked in, I was like, dude, you're the megazword.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I killed the bug. I got like 20 kills of the tiny little people, and it was the coolest thing. Like, eight-year-old me was so alive this morning. Go go Power Ranger. The music plays, Zordon is there, Rita's yelling, make my monster grow. It's so good. Like, this game has awoken a joy in me that I don't think I felt in like 20 years.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. But I did, I didn't miss Fortnite together.

SPEAKER_02:

We do need to play Fortnite together, but I did miss my chance to buy the Power Rangers. So if I if I finish the season pass, I'll have the Green Ranger and I'll have the White Ranger, but I won't have the five basic ones.

SPEAKER_01:

It's alright. They'll come back.

SPEAKER_02:

They will. Okay. Yeah. That makes me feel better.

SPEAKER_01:

Like every two to three months they pop back in. Like this is the big launch of them. You know what I mean? And then they'll cycle. Like I didn't. So there was Cody Rhodes and The Undertaker, Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch, and I waited. I was like, I'm waiting for Cena. And then Cena came back. But he was only there for two days, and I bought him, and then he was gone again.

SPEAKER_02:

So you could see him. Yeah. Yeah. I I also bought Ninja Batman and Ninja Harley Quinn.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, Doritos. Doc spent like$180 on skins in Fortnite.

SPEAKER_02:

I did not. I swear it's like$20 at a time, three different days.

unknown:

Woo.

SPEAKER_00:

Of course it is.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's how it starts.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, I know, I don't know if we've ever talked about mobile games. Doritos, you play a mobile game, right? I play a few couple, yeah. So I started playing a mobile game. So I was watching wrestling at home, and it told me I could play this game on my phone, and it's a card game, and I can get AJ Lee for free if I download it using this thing, this QR code. So I downloaded it, and it has been a fun time sink. Like when you have like five minutes, you do it, and you're just matching cards to go against people. So like the money in the bank, it's like a five-level match, and you go up in tiers, and you have to pick the right card to go against the people, and then you win money in the bank, you gain XP. It's a it's a stupid card game, but it's a lot of fun. But they're like, Oh, buy this pack, you can get a super rare super card and pay five bucks. And I'm like, I'm not buying anything, like I don't need to, I'll just earn it. You know what I mean? Yeah, but they're like, Oh, get our battle pass, it's only$30. I'm like, right? Never but you know I totally would get the battle pass. But somebody does, right?

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm thinking to myself, that's what and they keep doing that, they keep doing it, they keep getting it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. The moral of my story is I have found like I never really played a mobile game because I tried and it never got me. But this has actually been something fun to where I log in for five minutes, do something fun, and shut it off. You know what I'm saying? And at the same time, between that and the Steam Deck, I have been making time for video games. You know what I mean? Well, that's yeah. Like I'm going to bed at 11 o'clock at night, I turn on the Steam Deck to play Claire, and I pass out while I'm playing it. Like I'll wake up and it's on my lap, and I'm like, oh, I'm in the middle of the world. Hmm. All right, how did I get here? Yeah, how did I get here? But I'm alive. You know, and it's been really good for me. Making yeah, I don't want to say making time, but like making time and finding time to play a video game that doesn't involve my computer itself. Because my time is super limited right now. That's really great. How's Andromeda? It's okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I've never played it. For a game that uh came out in what, 17?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, 2017.

SPEAKER_00:

It misses some of the the quality aspects. The the sound they've got sound clipping, uh visual clipping, some of the mo cap animations should be better, but they're not, so it's it's not bad. It's just I can definitely see where it it um got some less than stellar reviews for for for some of those smaller things, a lot of it's it's more quality of life things than it is anything else.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the when it came out, I remember playing it when it first came out, pre-ordered, bought the collector's edition. Like I was in, it was Mass Effect, greatest series ever in gaming, right? It was just there. And then I it was like, remember the old Japanese Godzilla movies for the English dub where oh my god, it's Godzilla, it's a Taken Tokyo, and they're speaking in Japanese, but they're English dubbing it, and it was just ridiculous. That's what Andromeda was when it first released. Yeah, still not much better. Oh shit. I thought they fixed it.

SPEAKER_02:

They attempted. Wait, why would it be so bad when it's common for voice-acted lines to be matched with moving mouths? Like, in fact, Persona 3 Reload is an anime style game, a remake of a PS2 game, and they even took the time to sync the voice lines with the little mouths and the cartoon mouths on the side of the screen. Do you want me to give you the one-word answer?

SPEAKER_01:

EA Bioware.

SPEAKER_02:

Bioware. Oh man. Yeah. Cool.

SPEAKER_00:

I think for you know, if for for being in 2017, you don't expect that. For being 2000? 2008? You know, like when did uh Mass Effect 1 come out? When did uh three 2007 or 8, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. So I mean it's when was Mass Effect 3?

SPEAKER_02:

But 2013. Um 13 or 14, maybe.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, either way, I agree with you, Doritos.

SPEAKER_00:

It shouldn't be that, you know what I mean? Yeah, so I'm having to put that aside, and and there's some several instances where you know you're walking through a city and you're getting cantina sounds and conversations, and you look around, there's not a not not even an NPC within 30 meters of you. So you're like, what it's come on, guys, really? We we can we can do a little bit better than that.

SPEAKER_02:

Interesting. Also, I'm thinking about the timeline of video games. It seems like Andromeda came out around the same time as God of War, like the the first one in the Norse series, so that's like comparing quality, right? You would think Andromeda was meant to be a triple A experience, right? It was meant to be, yeah. It well fell short. I wonder that I mean it sounds like it's not just short, like it it they didn't even bring the chains out on the field to see if it's a first down because it's very clearly not a first down.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, no, they're they're they're short by like you know three, four yards.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh okay.

SPEAKER_00:

So again, it's it's more I think that's the one they they really tried to push the multiplayer aspect of it more than Mass Effect 3. So there's several missions in there where you can do via multiplayer to you know get resources and and and credits. So I think that was their big thing because they really wanted to push uh the multiplayer aspect of it. Being where it is now, it's uh okay. Again, I'm playing through it because uh I want to finish the series because that's the whole there's that whole completionist side of it of I want to finish the series and get ready for Mass Effect 4 whenever it comes out.

SPEAKER_01:

So God of War for the PlayStation 4 the first time, like the new one, came out April of 2018. Mass Effect Andromeda was March 2017.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so that's a year and a moment.

SPEAKER_01:

It's still right there. It's still right there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the the it should still be comparable.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the graphics itself in Andromeda look good.

SPEAKER_00:

Mass Effect they look as good as they did Mass Effect 3. Well, I think it was the same engine. Oh, yeah, it's the same engine. So so again, it's you're you're it's you're you're getting that, but there's also a lot more clipping between textures, between textures and and other stuff. There there's just seems to be a little bit more clipping than there should be.

SPEAKER_01:

This is that age-old question of is it the developer's fault or is it the publisher's fault? And I say that because I remember when the game was coming out, Bioware said it's not ready, and EA said ship it. Because that's a common thing. Right. Who knows how many times it was delayed in development?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, did they they did the same thing with Anthem? It wasn't ready, but they could push it out because it had to go out.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I play so maybe I'm a moron when it comes to like gaming. But when I when I played Anthem, it felt like you were in a dead universe. But the game itself played fine. I didn't I didn't hate Anthem, I think it was boring, but the gameplay itself was generic, but it was fun enough. Okay. You know, where I never played it, so right. Well, Andromeda, when I played it, I I like graphics, I like the way games look, and when you're playing a game and you're the the lips are moving, but like it's like seven seconds behind, that I that's not playable to me.

SPEAKER_00:

That's not seven seconds now. That that part has been resolved, but it's still there is some visual visual audio desync. Sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Does that take away from the story for you?

SPEAKER_00:

No, not from a story, but if I'm if I'm listening, if I'm trying to watch a conversation to see, you know, is a character is an NPC or or even one of the companion characters, are they doing some sort of reaction to what you're saying? And they made everybody so plain and so vanilla that there is virtually no reactions and it so you can literally close your eyes and and listen to the conversation and get everything you want out of it.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I agree. Do you remember Aria from Mass the original Mass Effect series? The Purple Lady? Yeah. When you were in the bar in Mass Effect 2, Omega? Omega, the music is going, and she's like bobbing her head, listening to the music, and she's talking to you, and then you give her an answer she doesn't like, and like she does the sharp, like almost like Ben Stiller, like the magnum pose. What did you just say? Kind of a look, and you're like, whoa, and you felt that. So, what you're saying is you don't get that in Andromeda? Nope. Oh.

SPEAKER_02:

Like I said, well, that seems bad.

SPEAKER_00:

That that that element's missing, so I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna push through the game so I can say, yep, check the mark, check the box. I'm I'm I've completed this in the life cycle of of Mass Effect, but it was it's disappointing. And I can see I can see why a lot of people have said, you know, it's been disappointing because it's not the quality you expected out of Bioware when they came out when they already had Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 out there.

SPEAKER_01:

It brings up a good question. What's the most disappointing game you've ever played? That you were wait, let me rephrase the question, sorry. What's the most hyped game you were? Wait, what is the most excited you were for a game that disappointed you the most?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my gosh. I have an answer to that question, and it might make some people really upset. Okay. The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild.

SPEAKER_01:

I can understand that.

SPEAKER_02:

I wanted to play that game so much, and it's so much harder than Elden Ring, and I can't stand it. Like, for no reason. Like, I don't get the the fuzzy, happy dopamine feelings from Breath of the Wild that I do from Elden Ring.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you know why? It's because the fucking sword breaks.

SPEAKER_02:

That's right. Oh my gosh. I was playing Silent Hill F this morning because that game just came out, and within two pathways of picking up the pipe for the first time, you pick up an item that is to repair your melee weapon, and I was just like, oh no, this game is all about broken melee weapons, I can't handle this. So, for like just for argument's sake, Silent Hill 2, you play as James Sunderland, he's a grown man, he swings that pipe into so many dead, creepy things' faces, and the pipe survives the entire game. And you're telling me this high school girl picks up a pipe and breaks it? What? What? Like, is she way stronger than James, or is it something about technique? Like, there's a way to swing a pipe into something's face that will make it less likely to break.

SPEAKER_01:

Can I give you the logical reason?

SPEAKER_02:

Please, because I've been trying to figure this out all day and I can't.

SPEAKER_01:

It's just like Breath of the Wild, it's an artificial difficulty that they do to extend the length of the game. To add another layer of complexity that is not needed. Like I understand the Breath of the Wild, even though I don't agree with it. I understand it because you're you have you go out in the world and you're all alone and you have nothing. And you know what I mean? In real life, you hit uh what are they called? Hobgoblins? No, hobo, hobo goblins. I don't know what they're called. Something like that, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Hobobo goblins.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, whatever. And you hit it with a sword a hundred times, that sword's bound to break on one of them's head. You know what I mean? So I sure understand it. But in Silent Hill, it's just to create an artificial difficulty and artificial scare tactic because you're fighting something that's attacking in your pipe breaks, and you're like, ah yeah. I don't play games that have that problem.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I forced myself to finish Breath of the Wild because I really wanted that experience to be a part of my book, and I did that, and Tears of the Kingdom created similar feelings for me, is I really sat down. I put more than 10 hours into it, and then I just stopped because there's things about it I didn't like. Oh my gosh, Elden Ring Night Rain is the answer to this question. Hands down, Elden Ring Night Rain is absolutely the answer to this question. I wanted to love that game so much, but now that I love Fortnite, maybe I would love Night Rain more because I think the reason I didn't like it is because it was it felt like it was trying to be Fortnite in an Elden Ring world, but maybe now I'd be like, this is awesome. I don't know. Someone else answered this question. I've just given two answers. Yeah, you can go so for me, it was Genshin Impact.

SPEAKER_00:

Interesting. What's wrong with Genshin Impact, Doritos? It didn't hook me. It just it's not the kind of game that I enjoyed. I played it a little bit, played with my kids a little bit. They they enjoyed it for a little while, but it again it was just a game that my family didn't sink their teeth into. It's like, okay, it's nice, it looks good, but it's not it's not the kind of things that we've enjoyed. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I have three. The first, I was looking forward to this game for so long. I didn't pre-order anything, but like I really wanted to play it. It was my it was Hello Kitty online, and I wanted to play it so bad, and then it never came out.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that's a whole other thing, because then I can say my answer is the remake of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think that's everybody's, but the real games that I really I would say my number one most disappointing game I ever played was Destiny 2's Lightfall expansion. I was at the height of my excitement for that game. I bought the collector's edition. The collector's edition is still in a box, like I've never even opened it. And I was so excited to log in, play it day one. I think I played it for 17 hours straight to beat the campaign on day one for it to fall flat on its face, and I was just like, and after that first night, I really didn't want to play it. I was just like, but the other one I would say is now I'm gonna preference that I've never really played the Assassin's Creed games, but I always I'm Greek, I'm Greek and French Canadian, Greek mythology. Like I get so excited to hear about that mythology. I love that world of like Zeus and Hades and Athena and Medusa turning you to stone. Like, I love that shit. And Assassin's Creed was coming out with I forget what it was called. I think it was Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Odyssey. Yep, they did it the year before through in Egypt, and I played it at PAX East, and I was like, wow, this is pretty cool. Uh, whatever, I'm not really into Egypt, but then they announced it for the Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and they were going to Athens essentially. I bought the strategy guide, I bought the collector's edition, I sat down to play it. I played it for three hours. I was like, yeah, never turned it on again. Because it just didn't hook me. I it just it just I don't know if it was the quest system. I don't know if was that your first Assassin's Creed game in the franchise?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I never played any of them because I wasn't like the original games, correct me if I'm wrong, like one, two, and three, you were that like assassin, and it was all about sneaking, right? To get kills and stuff, like it wasn't right. That's not my style of game. I can use a shooting, like a first-person shooter as an example. Some people are snipers that just hide in the back and shoot, some people are the assault rifle guy that like tactically move. I'm the guy with a submachine that gun that's running straight ahead, praying and spraying everything. So Assassin's Creed wasn't my style. Just like this is gonna be an insult to a lot of people. I didn't like Metal Gear Solid either. Like way back, you know what I mean? Because like I'm not a tactical guy. I don't want yeah, no, I don't want to be creep, shh, be very quiet. There's wabbits out there. Yeah, exactly. But that's not my style of gaming.

SPEAKER_02:

When I got my PS4, the first day I bought it. I bought two games at Best Buy. I bought three controllers, well, two extra controllers. I bought Rayman Legends, I think Legends, that was very fun, but I also bought Assassin's Creed Black Flag. That was my first ever Assassin's Creed game, and I did not come to enjoy it. I never finished it. I probably booted it up three times to try to figure it out, and I just don't think it was a good first entry to Assassin's Creed for somebody.

SPEAKER_01:

Scarlet in in my Discord, that's his favorite game, I'm pretty sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Had they played Assassin's Creed 1, 2, and 3 before you played them all. Yeah, so that's all I'm saying is I think if I had the experience of the previous games and then I played Black Flag, I think it would have been fine. And earlier this year, I had exactly that same thing happen with Monster Hunter. I played the new one, it was my very first one. I gave it about three streams on Twitch, plus some time on my couch in my living room to try to find a way for me to love it because there were people that were encouraging me to start getting my thoughts organized around it. Maybe we can do some work with it. I can't. It's just not fun to me. And I can grow and I can change and I can figure things out, but there is a point where a game just isn't for a person. And for me, Black Flag and Monster Hunter both hit that kind of unfortunate conclusion.

SPEAKER_03:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure. Yeah, it I think about the disappointing games, right? I think about disappointing games, but then I think about all the the games that are that make us so happy when you turn them on. You know what I mean? And it's so it's like that weird contrast. It's because you're I'm so excited for said game, but now I'm disappointed. But then a game, ah, are you gonna get it? Eh I'm gonna try it. And then you're like, Wow, where did this come from?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

You know You know, I think that we need to interject A little bit of Star Wars Episode 8, The Last Jedi, into this conversation. Because it really made me think, I know, I know. So I'm gonna be honest, I forgot the name of the character. I'm trying to look it up. I'm trying to talk Rose, right? Rose Tico says when she saves Finn's life that it's not about destroying what we hate, it's about saving what we love. So I feel like we're about to talk about games that actually gave us those feelings and gave us our joy for gaming, so that we're not just talking about Mass Effect Andromeda the entire episode.

SPEAKER_01:

But why not? It just shows that you know games you look forward to. It's I was looking so forward to that game, and now Doritos is playing it, and I've always wondered, did it get fixed? And the answer is no. So I would rather leave my Mass Effect journey at Mass Effect 3 on a high note than play Andromeda and just get mad. But I have found a new love in video games. I am completely and utterly hooked on finding the dead expedition people.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh-huh. Isn't that fun?

SPEAKER_01:

I find them, and then you listen to their rant, and you're like, alright, so this guy's mad because of these white these white enemies, and they're terrible because they dodge every attack, no matter what I throw at them. And they but you hit them once and they're dead, but you gotta hit them. And these guys clearly got killed by them, and it's amazing. I I like search the whole map for these things.

SPEAKER_02:

My journey through Expedition 33 is currently at picking up any collectibles that I missed during my playthrough. And I found an obstacle course very close to the beginning of the game. The beach where you have yeah, the beach. I didn't do that because I was just following a guide to make sure I find everything, and they didn't feel like getting the swimsuits for my characters was important, which I think it would have been so important. So I yeah, it is costumes or like what make video games worth playing.

SPEAKER_01:

Ooh, let me ask you a quick sidebar on this. Okay, do you feel as if your first playthrough you shouldn't change costumes?

SPEAKER_02:

No, you should change costumes immediately. Okay, so you like to look at the characters the way the devs defaulted them.

SPEAKER_01:

Not me. I'm asking your opinion on that because I forget who told me. I was talking to somebody and they said your first play. Oh, my friend James. My friend James says you should not change, you should play it the way that the care the devs intended it to be, so you can get the full experience of what they're wearing. And I disagreed. I was like, no way, dude. Wanna a melee look melee looks like she's like a French artist to me, and I think it's awesome. And I have um who's the the the one that uses the dark moon in the sun? CL. Yeah, she's in like the gestural clown costume in Expedition 33.

SPEAKER_02:

There is an option to where you can have them wear their default costumes in the cutscenes, no matter what they're wearing in the party. I like the goofiness. Yeah, no, I think it's really cool how you can customize characters and bring out a different personality vibe in them. Did you so did you do the obstacle course? I found the first one and I got it done. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I haven't done it yet. So I've gone to the beach because I was just finding land. Yeah, it's right there on the left. Yeah. Yeah. So for me, I went in and I was like, okay, there's I tried to run across the first log and I fell in the water like seven times. Like, okay, I'm not in the mindset for this yet.

SPEAKER_02:

It took me about 30 minutes to figure it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. But I will say again that that game is shocking to me on how familiar it is, but yet it's so different. But I feel like something big is about to happen for me because I'm about to get SK his like water wheels, like his he's gonna get his outboard motor, and I'll be able to traverse on water. And uh I feel like something big is gonna happen when that happens.

SPEAKER_02:

When he said that, Doritos, I just felt like Aerith's theme from Final Fantasy VII was like blowing out of my heart. Yeah, but Marcus, the reason that you feel like the game is so familiar is because it is using a little concept called the hero's journey.

SPEAKER_01:

What's that?

SPEAKER_02:

It's I don't know, it's a book somewhere.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, oh my god. There is a book. Oh, what was the name of that book again? The gamer's journey. That's it, Doritos. Thank you for reminding me. I totally forgot who wrote that book.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. I I think it was uh some guy by the name of Daniel Kaufman or something, or Dr. Daniel Kaufman.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, he did that. But anyway, Expedition 33 follows it amazingly. It even has a three-act structure to the story, which really hits it on the nose what they're doing with with the stages of the story. So I didn't know that. Oh, I'm sorry, Marcus. There's actually four. So now I don't really care. There's actually five. Hey, hey, acts there's 17 stages.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, I it could there could be five, there could be three. It doesn't matter to me because that doesn't spoil anything. Uh, you if you play a game, Elden Ring, I'm gonna use Elden Ring, you know, when you get to crumbling farm, farm, farm, Missoula. When you get there, you know you're in a lot of shit and it's about to go down.

SPEAKER_02:

Like that's Elden Ring follows a three-act structure as well, by the way. It does, yeah, it does. Yeah, so once you get up onto the Altus Plateau, that's the beginning of act two, and then once you get into crumbling Faramusoula, and then you get returned to the Fallen Capital, that's act three.

SPEAKER_01:

Interesting. Yeah, I didn't ever look at it like that. I just knew that when I hit the crumbling and I looked, and the whole sky is spinning, and I'm like, it got real. Yeah, I'm about to die a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

So there's a chapter in the psychology of Elden Ring that talks about how Elden Ring follows the structure of the hero's journey.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you brought who wrote that one, you?

SPEAKER_02:

Dr. Daniel Kaufman did.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you know though? Fun fact about that book, every single chapter explains to you what Elden Ring is.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we didn't talk to each other. I'm not the editor for that. I just wrote my chapter in a vacuum. No, the vacuum was called crumbling Faramazoula. So does it make like a Dyson or something?

SPEAKER_00:

Because it's got the big vortex in the middle.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. That is such a good game. I want to go back into Elden Ring. I miss it.

SPEAKER_01:

So what I'm gonna say in my next words, I enjoyed Elden Ring. The the DLC, it's too much. And it's so compacted, and there's so much to it that like you like it used to be you travel. I'm gonna use Limgrave. You go north to south, you're still in Limgrave for a long time. You're going into these little pockets because the game is it's like they packed so much into little spaces instead of giving you like five zones, you have 400 zones, but they're the size of you know, smaller than the weeping peninsula. And for me, it's I kind of lost interest in it because they're packing so much in it and they turn the dial to a hundred on it or two hundred because if the first game gets to level 100, this game is definitely pushing it to level 200. And what I mean by that is it's it's extra for extra purposes. And I understand for the Elden Ring professionals, the it was hard for them, and that's what they they catered to, and I get that. But I kind of the Shadow of the Ur Tree, I lost. I'll give an example. I lost interest. I did this dungeon, and there were these pots that you would ride down. I spent 45 minutes in this dungeon. Now, granted, for a Elden Ring Pro, it'd probably be 25, but my time is limited, and I spent 45 minutes to get down to the bottom. I wasn't even near the boss's room, and I died, and there's no save point at the bottom. That game did not respect my time. And for me, I just was like, you know what? I'm not playing. Like, I'm not gonna do this dungeon, even though there's something in there that I should get, because I don't have 45 minutes. I might only have 45 minutes to play a video game for the day. And when I die and I don't achieve anything, which is fine, but the next time I play, if I only have 10 minutes, I'm not playing Elden Ring because I don't have enough time to do that dungeon.

SPEAKER_02:

You are completely allowed to feel that way, and I have felt that way during games before as well. To play Devil's Advocate for a second, what if you just missed a sight of Grace off in a little tiny room off the main path?

SPEAKER_01:

I looked at a catacomb.

SPEAKER_02:

Not actually 45 minutes, it's actually like 20.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. I looked online. I after I died, I was like, where's a Grace? And there is none.

SPEAKER_02:

Is that area even critical to getting to the end of the DLC?

SPEAKER_01:

But I like to explore, right? I love to explore it. I find a place and I want to go in and do it because I I am not a Doritos 100%er. And and I'm using Doritos because Doritos and I have said this a thousand times on the show. We played Elden Ring almost at the same time. But I enjoyed, I like I enjoy finding what I find. I I don't need to cover every nook and cranny and get every item. That's not me. I like, oh, I stumble into this. Okay, I'll do this. But what I'm saying is in the base game, it respected your time a lot more than the DLC. And what I mean by that is front, it's not the difficulty. I don't mind it being hard because I'm gonna die anyways. Like fighting the god skin duo was the most unfair fight ever. Like that's the dumbest fight ever. That was the devs going ha ha ha ha. Or I didn't get to do it, or going into a dungeon and your boss fight is two crucible nights. Who does that to somebody? I didn't do that from software, exactly, but that is the entire Shadow of the Earth Tree DLC.

SPEAKER_02:

I think one of the things that I don't understand about the DLC because I haven't finished it yet, is I completed the base game because I wanted to be Elden Lord and I wanted to see the different endings. I don't actually have knowledge about why I want to beat the DLC. And I think that is why I have not beaten the DLC.

SPEAKER_01:

The way they drop the story content isn't like like there is you're finding your whole goal is to find what's her name, America? His his name, America, whatever. You know what I mean? That's the whole point, and you're following that path to whatever it is, but you get the story as you play it. Where Elden Ring's base game was you're tarnished, you're gonna be Elden Lord, you're gonna be the Emperor.

SPEAKER_02:

That promise was something I needed to fulfill. I don't know what I'm trying to fulfill in the DLC. Not that so I guess I enjoy I don't have the same exact feeling you have towards the DLC, Marcus, and that's fine. I I do also have a similarity in that I just trailed off on playing it because I got to a point where I had some successes on that stream. I took down some bosses, I got into some new areas, and then I just never made time to play it again because I was playing other games. And actually, I'm at a weird part kind of segue into how Twitch is going for me. I have so many games that I'm juggling when I go live now. I have Persona 3 reload, I now have Silent Hill F. I could go to Sky Children of the Light if I want to be cozy and relaxed, can always go to Final Fantasy XIV because I haven't even finished this the main story content or the current boss series on story difficulty. And and then what I have other games too. Yeah, I started Silksong. That's not my type of game, though, and I can tell you right now, I probably will not play it again. I wanted to try it. I got some people who have come to some of my streams before that were very excited to be see me covering it, and very encouraging to me, even though I was dying a lot and not really getting it. But I don't know, like I just have a lot of different directions I can go now, and sometimes I wake up in the morning and I have no idea what direction I'm gonna go with my stream.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's hard, man. And that's how I that's why I'm not playing multiplayer games right now, except Fortnite. Because I don't have the time to invest in you know a game. And for me, as a creator, you're like the new hotness comes out, and you want to capitalize on it because everybody's talking about it, so you jump in Silent Hill F, and I say you play it until you're sick of it, and then you just play the next game. You don't need to beat a game on stream for it to be a successful stream video, whatever it may be. You know, and for me, like if there's a game that you love, I'll say Claire, Claire, Claire, you love. You wanted to play it beginning to end on stream, Final Fantasy, rebirth, and remake and all that, play that on stream, great. But these other games, I'm gonna call them the fly by night games, the Silent Hill Elf F. If you play that two or four game hours on stream, that's good. Move on. You got your money's worth out of the game and play it when you're not streaming.

SPEAKER_02:

That's not true. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep going with Silent Hill F though, because I have go ahead. I have love for Silent Hill.

SPEAKER_01:

For me, I was just using Silent Hill as a placeholder, right? I don't mean actually that. I'll use Mass Effect. Play Mass Effect for three hours or Elden Ring for three hours and feel good. Okay, that's what I played today, but don't feel obligated to come back. Do you agree to that, Doritos?

SPEAKER_00:

Right. I mean, it in in you know, watching Doc have the fun on streams of oh, I want to play this today, see how it goes, and you can see that you enjoy certain aspects of all the games, but it doesn't necessarily bring a lot of the mindfulness abilities because you are very like to very much interact with with the stream and the the JRPGs, things that have strategic moments too, where you can analyze what's going on and then have conversations, you know, and then if you're even in the middle of a fight, somebody throws a geek therapy card redeem or a D20 topic in the middle of a fight. It's nothing to just go ahead and oh, let's go ahead and knock this out real quick, unless you really feel in the flow and it's like, hold on, let's finish this fight first, then we'll then we'll do that.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I owe my community a D20 topic because they I don't remember who redeemed it, but it was redeemed like at a point in the stream where I knew there's not a spot for me to do this. So we'll we'll hit that on Sunday. It's fine. It's all good here. How are you doing? Who is this?

SPEAKER_00:

What's your operating number?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I guess so. For me, I guess we're saying the same thing. But I can't emphasize enough for you, Doc, that just play, don't feel obligated to play something and beat it. It took me a while to get that across my head. If you feel like playing Shadow of the Earth Tree, play it. And say, you know, I don't know when the next time I'm gonna play this game is, but it was a fun stream. Peace. You know what I mean? But when you get your next big story game, that's the one you're gonna sink your teeth into, and the community is gonna watch you play the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I am also playing Baldur's Gate 3 off stream. I'm in act three, and I feel like some of the decisions I'm getting faced with are really important. Like I chose not to allow myself to take the extra superpowered tentacle thing because I don't want I don't want to risk turning into an Elithid, and then like deal with the devil kind of situation came up, and I was like, no, I'm not doing that for you, you crazy. So I'm trying to be vague enough, but I'm still playing with the expanded party mode, so all my people are running around with me, and that makes the fights a lot they're just fun, because I'm not gonna lose, because I have like eight people in my party when I'm only supposed to have four. But I'm having so much fun with it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So like seven games I'm juggling right now in my very limited time to play. Hold on. So what are you gonna do? Well, I'm going to get to level a hundred in Fortnite, I'm going to finish Baldur's Gate 3, I'm going to keep pushing through Persona 3 reload, and I'm gonna collect everything in Expedition 33. And oh my gosh, we have not even talked about some of the cool things that I'm doing at Kinebridge, but we're just gonna have to let that trail off because basically we're turning therapy into a video game, and I cannot believe how cool the things I'm doing right now are.

SPEAKER_01:

Interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, like one of the trainings I'm building is seriously going to be the coolest training experience of any counseling thing I've ever even heard of.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So I'll have to talk about that more maybe in a month or two.

SPEAKER_00:

Ooh, a holiday episode.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, it'll be around December when this is ready for people to buy it.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I want you guys to know I'm ordering a new video card tonight.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It's time. My computer, I play at 4K, I've talked about it a thousand times. I have a hundred and twenty hertz monitor for in 4K, and Claire destroys my video card. And it's time for an upgrade. So I'm gonna sell my 3090 and buying. I don't think I'm gonna buy the 5090 because it's too grand, and I don't think that's responsible for the amount I'm playing video games, so I think I'm gonna buy a 5080.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. You know, which is only what, 1200?

SPEAKER_01:

It's so it depends. I believe it or not, I really I can't get the founders edition. If I could, I would buy the founders, whatever it is. But I really want a Zotec. Zotac video card. I when at Pax East, I talked to them a long time ago and I asked them what the difference was. And I really fell in love with the company, so I think I'm gonna buy a Zotac. I can get an ASIS too, but yeah, it's time for an upgrade. Okay. But if anybody listening wants a 3090, hit me up.

SPEAKER_02:

I also need to start thinking very seriously about either getting a new computer or learning how to build one. Because my CPU is always maxing, and today I had a situation where like two people followed me at the same approximate time on my stream, and everything I'm looking at on my three monitors starts to crawl.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, so Doc, your computer is old. You've it's time for an upgrade. I remember when you bought that computer. Yeah, it was probably 2019. Yeah, it's time for a new computer. Like it just start out fresh, do it, and then once you do that, then you can start upgrading parts as you need it. Because it's actually easy to change parts. The CPU and the motherboard's not easy, but yeah. Your computer's old, so buying parts for your computer I don't think is worth it at this point.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you're very much right.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, you know, we could talk about that off stream. You know, you give me a budget, we'll find you a computer. I wish you lived closer, I'd build it for you.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that's so nice. Well, I'll just start wandering around the wilderness looking for computer parts, hoping they don't break when I swing them at enemies in Breath of the Wild.

SPEAKER_01:

Doritos.

SPEAKER_00:

He got PC part picker. Picker.com. Absolutely. It's a great place to virtually build your machine.

SPEAKER_01:

It tells you what's compatible or not. Back when I started building a computer, and Dorito probably built 10 computers before me, maybe 20. But we had to like make sure the shit worked. There was nothing to say, oh, this motherboard's not gonna work with this.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. But it is time for a new computer, Doc.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I would sell you my video card, but that's not your problem.

SPEAKER_02:

Nope. My problem is just the main hard drive doesn't have enough space for the amount of stuff Windows is packing into it now.

SPEAKER_01:

Wait, if it's a hard drive issue, I can walk you through adding a hard drive to your computer via Discord on your phone. It's easy. Like when I tell you how easy it is to add a hard drive, that's easy. But it sounds to me like your CPU is like overloaded.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, CPU's overloaded.

SPEAKER_01:

You're gonna spend some money because you're buying an I9 because of what you do.

SPEAKER_02:

That's true.

SPEAKER_01:

What's App Face for Dreads?

SPEAKER_00:

Do not tell him to buy an AMD at all. I'm saying do the homework. Don't necessarily listen to Marcus.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm not gonna buy an AMD. I had a computer once with an AMD, and it made me so sad the entire time I had it.

SPEAKER_01:

Believe it or not, the new MD AMDs are pretty dope. The thread rippers are sick. I just can't do it.

SPEAKER_02:

For everyone listening, I would just like you to know that we have entered a territory where I don't even know what we're talking about anymore. So it's okay. We're here for you to talk about psychology of games, and sometimes we have to build our system and use websites and realize how hard it was for the old people to put their computers together, but we're all playing video games, we're all remembering to continue the journey.

Head Shot

Daniel Kaufmann

Host
Head Shot

Doritos

Co-host
Head Shot

MarcusB814

Co-host