The Gaming Persona

Why A Steam Machine Could Change Console Gaming At Home

• Daniel Kaufmann Ph.D. | Dr. Gameology • Season 5 • Episode 35

Share episode

Send us a text

A burst of real life kicks things off—four straight nights of hockey, a surprise “you look incredible,” and the comfort of breakfast-for-dinner—before we veer straight into the question that fuels every gamer’s week: what should we play next, and why does it matter so much? We follow the breadcrumbs from YouTube Premium’s background audio to the way game soundtracks shape focus at work and wonder at home, then zoom in on the moment music turns pixels into memory: live orchestras for Final Fantasy VII and Star Wars, on-screen story beats lining up perfectly with strings and brass, goosebumps and all.

From there, we break down why Claire Obscure Expedition 33 has us hooked: a brilliant turn-based combat loop, clever picto builds that double turns, and a soundtrack worth sitting still for. That sparks a friendly ambush—one host buys the game for a friend so he finally plays it—which sets up our ongoing debate: FFVII Remake and Rebirth’s kinetic, character-driven ride vs the classic charm of 2D JRPGs like Octopath Traveler II. We talk dynamic difficulty, party chemistry that actually matters, and how a trailer reaction once turned into a YouTube Partner milestone and a deeper love for the worlds we revisit.

Then the living room future takes the stage. A Steam Machine that treats your library like a console, with family sharing and controller freedom, might be the bridge we’ve wanted—especially with RAM prices spiking, AI workloads squeezing components, and the pain of a lost-in-shipping GPU still fresh. Pair a Steam Deck with a TV-bound box and you get a Switch-like life without sacrificing the games you actually want to play. Along the way we argue about Kingdom Hearts 3’s Disney pivot, celebrate FFVII’s staying power, and admit something simple: sometimes solo nights beat the pressure to stream, and a gifted game is the nudge a friend needs.

If that mix of life, music, and smart gaming talk is your vibe, hit play, share this with a friend who needs a new favorite, and drop us your pick: FFVII first, or keep it turn-based? Subscribe and leave a review to help more gamers find the show.

Support the show

If you would like to support the show and help us unlock additional possibilities for future episodes and projects, this can now be done through Patreon!

You can watch us play games LIVE and join our communities to get more connection from every episode:

Subscribe on YouTube for more content on the Psychology of Gaming or Follow on Twitch to catch the Live Streams!

For more info, check out DrGameology.com!

More Links Here!

Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!

SPEAKER_01:

One. Oh, here we go. We're here. We're live. Wait, what are you doing? Are you copyright striking our podcast? Yes, he is. That is the worst song in the whole soundtrack. Why would you do that?

SPEAKER_00:

Because that's the point. And it was only it was less than seven seconds, so they can't copyright us. That's what she said.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Your eyes are so far in the back of your head, we are gonna call you the Undertaker.

SPEAKER_00:

Rest and peace. All right, so real talk. I'm pretty tired. So I've played hockey four nights in a row. My body is completely shot. But on the flip side, I met my daughter's best friend on our gymnastics team. We met her family and their two kids, and my two kids and my wife. And we went met for pizza at my buddy's pizza shop. And right next door is a brewery, so we had beers, and it felt really good when I went into my buddy's pizza shop. I haven't been there in a couple months, and one of his guys that work for him that like makes the subs, he goes, Holy shit, what happened to you? And I was like, What do you mean? He goes, Dude, you look incredible. Where'd all your weight go? And that made me feel good. Should we work? I legit played hockey four nights in a row. My legs feel like they're jello. Remember the old commercials, J E L L O, and it's just watch it, wiggle, see it, jiggle. Exactly, Doritos. That's how I feel right now. How does it revolve it?

SPEAKER_02:

You definitely don't look like it.

SPEAKER_01:

You just look more tired than anything. You look like you're in a colder climate than me. Dude, it is so.

SPEAKER_00:

You know what the temperature is right now at my house? Hold on. 17 degrees. We're gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you right now. It's 26, but it feels 20.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I was more pessimistic than reality. Go figure.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it's be the the time of my life was the day that Doc decided to fly into Hartford, Connecticut, so he could ride with me, Nick, in October. In October, to Comic-Con and to go to the Star Wars Cantina. And Doc showed up in a t-shirt, and it happened to be like 30 degrees, and he gets in the car, and Kogas is with us, and he goes, and Doc goes, Can we stop at the store? I have to buy a jacket. Nice. And we went to Tarjay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that was fun. I still have that jacket, actually.

SPEAKER_00:

And he's worn it four times, but now it's seven six. No, it's my jacket.

SPEAKER_01:

That's so nice.

SPEAKER_00:

You think that I did the weight loss journey too? You have. Look at your face. Like I can see your cheek muscles.

SPEAKER_01:

I was just doing my walk before this. I did 75 minutes to get my steps in. And so it's dark with street lamps. And I was so I'm seeing myself every three seconds or so, the shadow of myself on the sidewalk. Like, oh my gosh, like I have some shoulder muscles that the shadow picks up now. Hey, um yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_00:

You call them lamps, aren't they?

SPEAKER_01:

They're whatever. Late post.

SPEAKER_00:

I have to ask I have to ask a question. Do you cook supper or do you cook dinner?

SPEAKER_01:

Dinner. I've never said the word supper.

SPEAKER_00:

It's always supper to me. Doritos? I know. Yeah, but what's your go-to? Probably dinner. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Third breakfast.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

In my house, breakfast for dinner is the best meal of the week. I would like that. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02:

Is that a standard weekly meal for your family?

SPEAKER_00:

For sure. Bacon, eggs, sausage. Nice. French toast or wa or Belgian waffles.

SPEAKER_01:

Some of those I eat the Morningstar version where it's all vegetable-based.

SPEAKER_00:

That just sounds terrible.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what I eat. Like you were just talking about my cheek muscles, and this is how you do it, Marcus.

SPEAKER_00:

So you either do it with Morningstar or play hockey. Got it.

SPEAKER_01:

I also go to the gym. Do you pump it up? It's not the same as what you get out of a hockey game, though.

SPEAKER_00:

I bet it's more. You think so? Yeah, yeah. You know what's crazy when I like so I'll wear my like watch and I'll set it to like an indoor bike cycle, whatever, just to get the workout because I do the Peloton. And I'll look at my heart rate when I get off for my shift, and it'll say my heart is racing at 182, and I'm like, I guess I was pushing a little too hard. But then it calms right down.

SPEAKER_01:

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stranger. Yeah. Truth.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so back to reality.

SPEAKER_01:

No, back to reality.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you so at work? Do you guys pay for YouTube premium? No. No. What do you guys pay for music? Apple music? Fail. I did Spotify. Okay, fail too. So do you guys watch YouTube? Never heard of it. Okay. Do you watch it a lot?

SPEAKER_01:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Dorita? I have YouTube partner. I haven't made a video since June. No, do you watch?

SPEAKER_00:

Do you go to YouTube and watch videos?

SPEAKER_02:

No, I don't. If I'm looking for a particular thing and it's on YouTube, yes, I will. Otherwise I'll but not necessarily go there to watch shows and stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so so I pay for YouTube Premium, which is I pay$22 a month because it's a family plan. You get four four emails essentially that's associated with it and it's commercial free. But something that comes with it is YouTube Music, and YouTube Music has more music on it than Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, whatever. The nicest part of YouTube Premium is that you can watch YouTube videos and shut the screen off on your phone. So you're just listening to the audio. Correct. Yes. But like you want, like I'll be listening to a mail build video, and I just listen to it. I don't need to watch it, and I'm listening to it at work. But anyway, premium's great for that. I used to subscribe to Apple Music, and then I got my wife to cancel hers, and now we all just share YouTube music, and it's awesome. That's why I asked if you watch YouTube videos, then it's worth it. If you don't watch YouTube videos, then the$10 a month for Apple Music is worth it because it's less. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I was listening to one of the wrestling podcasts today, and it made me think of both of you because the guy goes, Do you ever chat with your two friends and they just don't agree with you? And they give you the smile like they're agreeing with you deep down, they're lying to you through your their face. And I said, and I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, Yeah, every week on Thursday nights. And the guy goes, That's how I feel when people tell me they're excited that Brock Lesnar came back. Oh my gosh, so true. Yes, and I and it made me think of you too.

SPEAKER_02:

Gee, yeah, thanks. That's the best backhanded, underhanded compliment anybody could ever give us.

SPEAKER_00:

I thought it was hilarious that your friends are smiling at you and they're acting like they listen are listening and agree with you, but they actually aren't, and they're telling you that you're you're an idiot inside their head without saying it. I'm like, man, that's every week.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't even just know, I'll tell you straight to your face you are, and you know that. Actually, if I remember five minutes ago correctly, I don't have to call you an idiot because if I'm patient enough, you'll call yourself an idiot, and then I just have to agree with you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, perfect. Pretty much the other video I was listening to today, it sounds so weird saying that. Is I listened to the game awards and Claire Obscure Expedition 33. If there's 13 categories, they're nominated for 10 of them.

SPEAKER_01:

They are nominated for the most categories of any game ever at the Game Awards history. Wow. It's Return of the King, but for video games.

SPEAKER_00:

Is do you guys are the awards? I don't know. I'm gonna tell you. We should do a watch show. That would be pretty awesome, honestly. Hang out in Discord.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, just a community night. I'm not streaming that. I tried to stream it one year and it was a technology disaster. Hey Doritos, you know what's on sale right now? Oh, I know what's on sale right now because I've been waiting for that sound for weeks.

SPEAKER_00:

It says it's on sale, but next week it'll be on a bigger sale. Claire Obscure Expedition 33. What's the deluxe edition?

unknown:

Fancy.

SPEAKER_01:

It just gives me an extra outfit and like probably access to the soundtrack.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, okay. Either way, it's on sale. Doritos incoming. Oh yeah. Oh, you're gonna give me some chips, sweet. Oh no, we're uh I've decided that I'm soon like I'm gonna wait for the autumn sale because if it goes on sale more, that's fine. But I'm buying you this game because I feel if I buy you this game, you're gonna be obligated to put it at the top of your list. I thought they already had the autumn at Thanksgiving. Okay, or maybe I don't know what sale it is then. You're right.

SPEAKER_02:

Holiday.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, holiday sale comes because their Steam's holiday sale is usually like December 20th through like January 4th. It's two and a half weeks. Because remember last year, Doritos, you spent like 50 bucks and you got 70 games. Yep. By smart, yeah. Oh, golden no, it's not the golden joystick awards.

SPEAKER_01:

But anyway, Claire Obscure Expedition 33 did win Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards this week.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, excellent. Yeah, uh, but like I feel like the TV show like Game Awards is the one. Yeah, it's the most televised.

SPEAKER_01:

You also get the debut trailers for new games and lots of surprises, and you get the orchestras playing the biggest songs of the year, and that's a big moment.

SPEAKER_02:

I listen to a lot of practice because you don't have to know all have a lot of sheet music given all the different options that could win.

SPEAKER_01:

Doritos, I have seen this happen in person. The people in those orchestras do not need to practice because they're that freaking good. You just give them the sheet music, and it is perfect. Like they probably do practice like one take for each song, but they're good. So I mean, that's like London Symphony Orchestra kind of stuff, but like professional orchestra musicians are amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

That's true. So I've seen the Empire Strikes Back symphony, I've seen Final Fantasy VII remake symphony, and they say that they're making the Claire Obscure and they're doing the Elden Ring one, and I'm gonna make sure I go to that. One the Elden Ring one is in Tokyo, it's going to Orlando and it's going to Los Angeles. So you can go to Orlando and if they're not gonna announce Boston or anywhere close to me here, I would fly to Orlando just to go to the Elden Ring one. Oh, that'd be fun. Because that is that was a cool experience because on the big screens they have all the moments of the game or the movie, and in like the Darth Vader section, I'm using the Dunto that they like show that clip where they actually play it, and you're like, Oh my god, this is so cool. But then all the action sequences, they just like kind of put it together and they like seamlessly put it together and match it to the music, it's unreal. Like the Claire one. Like the Final Fantasy VII remake one I went to. Now I didn't even play it, but I remember the original game, and that was one of the coolest experiences I've ever been to, and more so because the people in the crowd cheering for the different characters' moments, it just made me like I got like the goosebumps, like the rock gets the goosebumps when he comes out and he gets announced.

SPEAKER_01:

Final Fantasy VII's music is half of the reason why it's amazing. Actually, a lot of fictional properties become timeless because of the music.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you know what my favorite part of Claire Obscure is? The music? Yes, but why?

SPEAKER_01:

The graphics, because you're a graphical whole thing. Yes, but other than that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but other beyond that. So in-game, what's my L's hairstyle? Oh, I do like doing that. Ciel is my like I'm gonna tell you right now, C L, if she live like if I was single and she was single, we'd be ready to mingle.

SPEAKER_01:

Lune would be the actual verso is Marcus.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but like Ciel, like Lune is like the female version of Doc. She's way too smart for me. That's true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But Lune's my favorite, but Mael is obviously the main character of the story, but Lune is the best.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, really truly. My favorite part is when you go back to camp and you get the new like records and you play the new songs. Like, I'll literally sit in the camp and not talk to anybody, and I'll just listen to the music for five minutes because it's so good. And when I'm at work and I need to concentrate, I just put on that soundtrack. And now I've gotten to the point where I have two points to start. I'll either start it at the beginning or I'll scroll through the songs and start at Monoco Station because there's like another two hours of music there after Minoco Station. It's so good. This is why, Doritos, as soon as the autumn sale or the Thanksgiving sale comes, I'm you're getting this game. And it Doc and I are gonna peer pressure you into it because the interaction that Doc and I had this week, maybe it was yesterday or the day before, he was playing the game.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I was like yesterday.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and he was talking about a build, and I was like, dude, did you beat the guy in the water? And he's no, and I was like, dude, you gotta go beat the guy in the water because it gives you a picto that is called cheater, and it allows your characters to go twice in a row every time. So instead of three actions, you get six per round. It's amazing. And he's no, I haven't done that. And I fought him, and it literally took me probably like 10 minutes to beat him because my characters clearly aren't doing as much damage. Doc goes, Oh, I found him. Oh, he's dead. And I was like, Wait, are ready? And he's yeah, I hit him three times and he's dead. I was like, Are you kidding me right now? And he goes, No, that was easy, and I was like, Man, I died once fighting that guy.

SPEAKER_01:

I at the time I was in the level 80s, Marcus. Oh, I also have Lune set up to be a human bomb.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you want that, huh?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I'm really torn and I want your advice. And I know I've talked a lot tonight. Kind of haven't stopped.

SPEAKER_01:

You're the personality hire, Marcus. You have to know.

SPEAKER_00:

What should I play next? Final Fantasy VII remake or Octopath Traveler II.

SPEAKER_01:

What do you think, Doritos?

SPEAKER_00:

So Octopath Traveler 2 is your traditional JRPG 2D.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like the original Final Fantasy when it came out, Ultima, and all of when that genre got started. Can you say that word again? What genre? No.

SPEAKER_00:

Final Fantasy what? The original one? Ultima.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00:

Like the goosebumps just hearing that to me. Attack. You guys remember that, right?

SPEAKER_02:

My vote personally, with the way things are, go with uh Final Fantasy.

SPEAKER_01:

Do I would as well, and it's a selfish reason, because I would love to have all the conversations with you about my favorite game. And also, it makes me feel bad that I haven't played Mass Effect. We have to end this saga.

SPEAKER_00:

Wait. So what you're saying is once you play Mass Effect, the podcast is over. I didn't say that. Well, that's the saga.

SPEAKER_01:

I meant the saga of me letting you down as a friend.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that's just the next chapter.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly. The end of the saga is the end of the podcast or the end of our friendship.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I meant if you're playing my favorite game and I sit here and be like, no, I am not playing Mass Effects.

SPEAKER_03:

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_00:

Final Fantasy VII is your favorite game of all time. Absolutely. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

I've never heard of that before. Huh.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. If you so wait, does it involve the hero's journey and it inspired you to write The Gamer's Journey, which is a book you wrote and you've won an award?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. But also the reason that my YouTube channel has partner status is because of the trailer reaction that I did with Gene after the game awards when they debuted the rebirth trailer. And that episode went live. It's the small period of time where I was doing a video version of the podcast, and thousands of people watched the whole thing. And just one morning I woke up and I had the email that said, You you're in welcome to the YouTube Partner program. And the last time I had checked, I was at only 1,100 hours for the year. So I got the rest of it just because of that trailer and me and Gene talking about it for an hour and a half. I feel like I owe a lot to my enthusiasm for content creation to Final Fantasy VII.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, it's on sale.

SPEAKER_01:

There you go.

SPEAKER_00:

Is it inter Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade?

SPEAKER_01:

That's the uh with the DLC and everything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's on sale for 20 bucks, or I can get the remake and rebirth twin pack for 50 bucks.

SPEAKER_01:

You should do that because that's two full-size games.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't want to spend$50. It's just$25 a game. I know.

SPEAKER_01:

And those are both amazing games. Plus, rebirth is padded with so many games and extra side quests that you can play a hundred plus hours just to beat the game once. Ooh, side quest. We talked about that last week and I edited it last night. So it's like fresh how enthusiastic we are for games that are padded with extra content that's a distraction from the story. We called it when games do not respect our time. But you know what? The story of remake and rebirth are amazing, and I cannot wait for four years to pass so that we can play part three and have the end of that story.

SPEAKER_00:

When does that come out?

SPEAKER_01:

2029, Marcus.

SPEAKER_03:

What?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Also, I saw a hilarious video from random content creator on Instagram the today where they were talking about how the joke is if Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 comes out before Kingdom Hearts IV, then that means Kingdom Hearts 3 came out, Final Fantasy VII Remake came out after, and then its entire three game saga will get completed by Square Enix before they finally get Kingdom Hearts 4 out.

SPEAKER_00:

Interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Well, does Kingdom Hearts have any have have IP issues with the House of Mouse?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know if it has issues. Kingdom Hearts 3 was definitely a weird production. If I had to analyze the difference between that game and all the other Kingdom Hearts games, because all the other Kingdom Hearts games had Final Fantasy characters in them. And Kingdom Hearts 3 really was an interactive music video of all the big child-appealing Disney franchises. So you literally watch all of Tangled, all of Frozen, but with Sora Donald and Goofy in the action sequences. And you do fight the bosses, but when you get to the cutscene part, you watch all of Let It Go and you watch all of the big set pieces in these movies, especially if the Disney movie that they're featuring is under 15 years old. Then they get these huge cutscenes, so you're just watching. Right. And that paired with zero Final Fantasy characters in the entire story makes it honestly in the bottom half of my favorite Kingdom Hearts. I I wanted to say it's my least favorite, but that's not true. I there's just things that I love about Kingdom Hearts that are missing in Kingdom Hearts 3. So I think honestly, my favorite is Kingdom Hearts 2.

SPEAKER_00:

I still think that Kingdom Hearts is mid.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no. Marcus, Sora is one of the best video game heroes of all time. Mid. The power of friendship. What's wrong with you? You will be the one to open the door. Eh. You must have hated my book, Marcus. I didn't think he did. Eh. Marcus, I'm very disappointed in you right now.

SPEAKER_00:

Hey, you know why I loved your book? Because everything I read it and listened to it, like in your voice. So, like, when the narrator read it and it wasn't in your tone, I told them to shut the F up. You're not saying it right. And it made my day because, like, I whenever your next book deal comes and it's not with the same publisher, and you get to read your own book, right? And you get to read your own book as the narrator, that's when it'll be like, okay, this is the doc I know because you'll be able to emphasize the way you do, and it'll be you're in control, and that's what I look forward to. Because when the journey strikes back, it's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh man, is that gonna be a book that's focused on 200 games where the bad guys should have won? Yes. A fun concept.

SPEAKER_00:

Like I Renoir. Listen, yeah. Oh, fuck him. I've decided I'm gonna beat Claire. This weekend I'm beating it because I'm flying around doing all this extra content, and I just can't. Like, I see the try the red triangle, and I'm like, I just gotta beat this game. And I hope it doesn't mess up like the progression for me to do all the endgame stuff. If it does, then I'll just do the it doesn't.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm doing exactly that. I've defeated the final boss, Marcus, and I'm running around cleaning up the map. Okay. And having a blast map. I really am. I'm on floor or fight 34. No, there's only 33. I'm on fight 31 of 33 of the endless tower right now.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, you're almost done.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Yep. It's 11 stages with three fights in each one, and I started stage 11 at the end of my stream today. It's really fun. And it is it's challenging me to line up my Pictos and Luminas in a much smarter way so that I can overcome the biggest challenges. And I my first playthrough, I I didn't do any of that, so it's really making my brain feel superior. Right. It's it's really cool to solve each fight, and then you know you're gonna win if you just get the next sequence of 11 parries correct.

SPEAKER_00:

Hey, so it's complete sidebar here. So we're creating a new hockey team for a new league. Can you guys see that? The Waddlers or baby ducks. Back to Final Fantasy. Do you feel as if I'm gonna enjoy that as much as I am Claire?

SPEAKER_01:

Hmm. It is not turn-based.

SPEAKER_00:

I know that. But right now, what I'm loving about Claire is that it's I was I talking to you, Doc, about this, about my change in gaming.

SPEAKER_01:

You were, but I think that belongs in the show, so let's pretend I've never heard it.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So we're gonna go back in the way back time machine to when was Julia born? She's almost 10. So let's call it 10 years ago. Ten years ago, I found Final Star Wars of the Old Republic again. I tried it when it came out, and I was too much of a Call of Duty guy, and I was like, this game is boring. Like I'm exploring this world, but I didn't realize that in MMOs you're not finding random items. You have to just go quest do the fetch quest and level up. So I got rid of it. And I went back to Call of Duty. When Carrie was pregnant for Julia, I was home a lot, she was sick a lot, and I started playing, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna play Star Wars of the Old Republic again. And that's about the time it was before Knights of the Old Republic. Not Knights of the Fallen Empire. I'm sorry. Knights of the Fallen Empire was coming out. That Knights of the Fallen Empire came out in August, I think, or October. I can't remember. Latter part of the year. Latter part of the summer, summer, early fall, it came out. I remember it. And I started playing it again, and then I found all these podcasts, and I really got into it. And I played it for a long time, and I started being social in the MMO space, met AIE, blah, blah, blah. Then over time, I started raiding, met Doritos, Doc, all that. And all of my gaming started to be social. Then as COVID was hitting, I started to stream video games, thought it was the world's the cat's ass. And then I started my prison sentence, and I was locked in. Right. And then everything I gamed had to do with streaming. Would it be good for streaming? Would my our viewers love it? All that stuff. And now, fast forward to today, on Saturday night, I think it was Saturday night this week. I sat in my office light on, just like it is now. I had a beer, and I played Claire for four hours. Three or four hours. I was all by myself. I wasn't in chat. And I do hang out with Doritos or Doc, or I might hang out in the Discord. But I'm playing solo games where it's very different now. And I find that I'm enjoying myself just as much to doing that. And how like before, when I was in my prison sentence streaming, I would never have played a game like that alone. And now I'm enjoying myself more without streaming, just being by myself. And as an evolution comes, I find myself enjoying those nights, and these games are captivating me. And that's what I want now in gaming. And that's why I'm asking what the next game should be. Because I have Final Fantasy VII remake on my PlayStation, but that means I have to sit on my couch and play it. And I'm not a couch gamer. No matter how hard I try, the only games I play on the couch are WWE 2K24 when my son's whooping me because he knows all the moves and he hits triangle at the right time to reverse them. All the moves.

SPEAKER_01:

I think the cast of characters in your party in Final Fantasy VII is some of the best interaction in video games. I love all of them for different reasons.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I started to play Final Fantasy 16. But the But I was in the middle of Elden Ring. And I couldn't stop playing that. Yeah. They're very different games though. And but they aren't really, because you're still it's all action combat. You have to dodge, you have to parry. Maybe not parry, but a lot of dodging, and it's a lot, it's a lot like an Elden Ring style of game.

SPEAKER_01:

Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth plays a lot more like Elden Ring. Final Fantasy 16 plays like Devil May Cry.

SPEAKER_00:

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. There's yes, you are swinging and you are dodging or jumping or rolling. But the style, like when I played Rebirth on dynamic difficulty, there were people in the chat, some streams, that were commenting they didn't know this difficulty existed, and they didn't know Final Fantasy VII could be like Elden Ring. I I don't think Final Fantasy 16 can be like Elden Ring. It's so fast.

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It's a combo focused kind of hack and slash. Interesting. The story's great. The story is amazing. Hero's journey in Final Fantasy with a Game of Thrones aesthetic. It's an amazing mixture of things I love. But Final Fantasy VII is all over my room. It's three of my disc plates. I have a Tifa banner over there. It's two of my statues behind me. It's everywhere. Oh. And my little amiibo friends on my desk. Ooh, amiibos. Because they're cool enough to be in Super Smash Brothers. That's the mark of mastery. Is your franchise in Super Smash Brothers? Marcus is deep in Google thought.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I'm thinking about what you're saying. I'm really thinking about it because I've been thinking about what's next. Ever since I got tricked, when did we when were you with me?

SPEAKER_01:

It was like two or three weeks ago when you got tricked.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I thought the game was over, everybody. I legit thought it was over. And then I got duped. And I was literally while I was hanging out with Tac, I'm like, all right, what am I gonna play next? It's all I could keep saying, and that's the prison sentence in me. Like I'm talking to my chat, and I was just hanging out with my friend.

SPEAKER_02:

So if you don't want a prison sentence, why do you continue to ask what you play next? As if playing video games is a prison sentence.

SPEAKER_01:

I have the true answer, Mass Effect Andromeda. Go. That's just completionist.

SPEAKER_02:

That's because I want to complete the franchise, which I did, so now I can go off and do other things and play other franchises.

SPEAKER_01:

I know what you should do. You should play the remake of Elder Scrolls. No. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I've never been an Elder Scrolls fan. I haven't Dorito. Yeah, I've never been a big Elder Scrolls fan. I did it, Doc.

SPEAKER_01:

I did it. What? What did you do? I couldn't handle it. What did you do? Did you spend money? Yeah. To Doritos. Oh, you bought it for Doritos. We all now own Claire Obscura. Expedition 33.

SPEAKER_00:

So the fast, if you guys listened to probably 15 or 20 episodes ago, I was talking about it. I was like, oh, Claire Obscures on the Xbox Game Pass, and Doc bought it for me. And if you guys have ever gone to like Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, McDonald's, anything, and the person in front of you pays it forward. So I just paid it forward to Doritos from Doc. So it's like a three-way effect.

SPEAKER_01:

So now Doritos is cursed to have to buy the game for somebody that didn't ask for it.

SPEAKER_00:

No, he's just he's cursed with having to play it. And it's gonna go cursed anyway. It's gonna go from his way back log to the front of the log.

SPEAKER_02:

It's log. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I can't wait now. But in two weeks, he's gonna be like, Yeah, I finished the game. It was great. Too short.

SPEAKER_01:

That's very true. Also, he's seen this story twice because of me.

SPEAKER_02:

I know the story is.

SPEAKER_01:

I just get down now.

SPEAKER_02:

I actually get to experience it my way.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Because like you're you what was your key party?

SPEAKER_02:

Now, yes. It's like I know the story, I'm gonna do everything else.

SPEAKER_01:

My dumb playthrough, my party was Verso C L Lune, and then my awesome playthrough, it's Mael Lune Monoco.

SPEAKER_00:

Alright, mine's Lune, Mael, and C L.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm only one foot away from Monoco having every move in the game. I'm so proud of that.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm proud of you. So that's the other thing is if I beat Claire or wait, once I beat Claire, is like on expert.

SPEAKER_01:

We need to do a disclaimer. Marcus does not have a child named Claire. He is referring to the video game Claire Obscure Expedition 33. We do not condone beating children on the Gaming Persona podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

We should find out if any of them would come on the show.

SPEAKER_01:

We should. That would be so fun.

SPEAKER_00:

I'd like to talk to the person who was the music producer. Once they win Game of the Year, we'll never get them because they'll be like superstars.

SPEAKER_01:

The person who did the composition is already has already won awards for the game, and he's already a superstar.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, but even more a super duperstore? Hey Joritos, you downloading Claire Obscure right now? No. I tried.

SPEAKER_01:

You gotta plan out your hard drive space. That's not something that any of us can just impulsively.

SPEAKER_00:

Sounds like a Dr. Game Hology program. I have 10 terabytes. I am never worried about storage space ever.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't believe it. You knew what you wanted when you built your computer.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I bought a computer that I didn't realize once I install Windows 11, I'm gonna lose all of my main hard drive.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the next computer you buy, you're gonna spend five grand on, and it's gonna be exactly what you want.

SPEAKER_01:

It's gonna be slightly less powerful than a PS5.

SPEAKER_02:

Look at the smoke coming out of his ears. Oh man, it's broken.

SPEAKER_01:

I just broke him so bad. This is the reason that console gamers and PC gamers do not see eye to eye. I think the console game is about to change forever. Oh, we do need to talk about the Steam Machine. Yeah, that's really important, and it should have been the topic of the episode. You're welcome, everyone. You hang out with us 42 minutes, you get to the topic. Steam machine. What do we think? Go.

SPEAKER_00:

I would imagine that the console is gonna probably base price is gonna be like a thousand eleven hundred bucks. Top end will probably be like thirteen, fourteen hundred bucks. That's maybe fifteen hundred. What I like about it is my son Rhino will be able to use the Steam controller or an Xbox controller or a PlayStation controller for all the weirdos out there, and they'll be you'll be able to indoctrinate your children into using a Steam machine as their console, but they'll be able to share your library of games so you won't have to double buy games, which I like, because I've been listening to a lot of things, and the way I understand it is you'll be able to have multiple accounts on your main account, so you'll be allowed to have two or three accounts within your account. So if Rhino wants to play Fortnite, he can be playing Fortnite via Steam while or Epic, whatever, but while I'm playing Claire, that's the way we'll be able to play games simultaneously on the two systems, which is my PC, his Steam Machine. And I like the fact that I'm gonna be able to plug it right into my TV and it's just gonna work, and it's gonna work because if you go to Steam and click big picture mode, it's basically like a console, like an Xbox Live or a PlayStation, whatever PlayStation calls their hub, home.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Originally, when I bought my Steam Deck, had a whole long period of time where Steam was my main way of playing games, and I very rarely did PlayStation. Yeah, there you go. And I still love my Steam Deck, and it's what I prefer to travel with because the games are actually on the system, and so I can play them as opposed to the PlayStation portal or as opposed to trying to use Game Pass on my laptop. There's just all kinds of issues when you're traveling and you're relying on the internet, and so for that reason, I love my Steam Deck, but some of the games that I really would like to play do not run very well on it because it's a tiny little PC with limitations due to its hardware. And so the Steam machine is designed to be that console that takes your Steam library and puts it on your big living room TV. And that's really exciting for me because during that period of time I did things like make sure I own every Final Fantasy game on Steam, or have the entire Tomb Raider trilogy, or buy God of War on here in case I ever want to play God of War not on a PS5. And I honestly would prefer to just have the system where I have a handheld and I have the TV like a Switch system, right? Like you can play on the TV, and if Steam can do that, Steam has the games I want to play. Nintendo sometimes does, but usually doesn't. And so the Steam machine paired with having a Steam Deck could give me the gaming life that I actually would prefer. Because the PlayStation almost has it, but the PlayStation Portal is not a Steam Deck. Because you have to rely on the internet to be able to see the game on your screen.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

What do you think, Doritos?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. I haven't actually looked at the specs of the machine itself yet.

SPEAKER_01:

It should be able to run Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p or something.

SPEAKER_00:

Doritos is basically what they said it's gonna be the middle tier of a PC of today. You buying a mid-tier.

SPEAKER_01:

It's more powerful than my current PC. Well, that's my PC is from 2019.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Time for an upgrade. I know, but money's a thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, it is. Well, yeah, but you have enhanced the length of your computer by streaming to a graphic capture card. Capture card with your PlayStation. You've if you were relying on your PC only, you would have bought a PC a year ago.

SPEAKER_01:

That's true. As far as doing my work stuff, I still am able to do all the responsible adult stuff very fast, very easily.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

It just is it's down to like for the content creation side, I have to cut corners and be clever.

SPEAKER_00:

But Doritos, would you buy your children a Steam machine and have it linked up to your living room? I'm using your living room TV as if that's where they game.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, no, I got you. I don't know because they all have their own PCs. My daughter's got a laptop, my son's got a small gaming rig that does good for what he does right now. So it wouldn't do much anything. Everybody already has the device they enjoy playing on for them right now. I can I'll have to look at it and consider it because just given the way the computer component parts are going right now, it might be better to buy a nugget a console just from a cost perspective. Sure. Because I was talking about this with some guys last night where RAM costs are well through the roof, it feels like, for anything you want to get. Especially if it's new stuff. You're talking five hundred dollars for what the 32 gigs of RAM. It's like that's what quadruple the cost it was not that long ago.

SPEAKER_00:

What's funny you say that, and it's a hard balance for what I'm about to say because I'm not trying to go that route, but the company I'm working for out of Boston, Sinky Socks Hockey, they are down to their last 50 sticks. They produce their own brand of hockey stick. And we're trying to do like a demo day where you can come to the rink, try the stick, and if you like the stick, you get it at the discount. But in order to order them, they need to order 100 sticks. I want to offer my team, my kids' team, the sticks and have everybody using the same stick and almost like team sponsored by brand Mando Hockey Sticks. So we have to order 100 sticks, but the concern right now is the way imports are being charged right now. They're fluctuating so much that the company is afraid to order them because let's say if you order them right now and they're$30 each, by the time they make them and ship them two weeks later, they could be$80 each. And they don't hold the price, right? Just because of the way things are being charged to the importation into our country. And it's a real thing. So I and I'm guessing that's the same thing with RAM right now. Certain things are being charged differently, and the that which is driving the prices to go up on them, those said items.

SPEAKER_02:

That and plus not only for the graphics card, but a lot of the AI stuff's chewing up some a lot of the RAM market too. Because they need to do the AI. So between folks building, generating AI stuff and the tariff situations, depending on where we're getting where you're getting your hardware from, that's really can impact what it is you want to build.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. That's a good point. Did I tell you guys what happened on my video card? It's probably three weeks ago now.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh started making some really strange high-pitched whining sounds.

SPEAKER_00:

Nope. So you guys were. Yeah. Sure, yeah. I ordered it. And I order everything from New Egg when it comes to computer parts. Even if I pay a few dollars more, it's just Newegg has always been great to me. I trust them. Like I feel weird buying a graphics card from like an Amazon. I don't know why. It's the same card, it's just one of those things. So I buy from New Egg. And it was UPS. And it got delayed one day, and it said, Oh, coming in tomorrow. Okay. Sorry for the delay. It was on the plane in Louisville. I don't know. Yeah, but whatever it was. So three days later it said they canceled my order because they can't find my package. Oh. Which means somebody stole the thing. It said trombone. And I was refunded. Granted, my credit card was refunded and all that stuff. But yeah, still. So I haven't reordered another one because I'm like, I don't want the next one. I was so excited. I don't want it to get stolen again. But it's starting to bother me because I'm playing Claire Obscure Expedition 33 on medium settings. Oh no. Not medium settings. Dude, it's awful. I feel like I'm potato.

SPEAKER_01:

You'll be happy to know that I'm playing it on high quality settings on my PS5.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but that's still a low setting on a PC.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. You're so competitive. I don't even know how we're friends, Marcus. I know why we're you're always dissing my controller for no reason. Like it's completely unprovoked.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it is provoked. The PlayStation controller sucks. The thumbsticks are in the wrong place. Maybe your hands thumbs are in the wrong place. No, it's because it's wrong. The Xbox controller is correct. It's the right controller.

SPEAKER_01:

I think that you just played way too much Call of Duty on your Xbox in the 20 aughts.

SPEAKER_00:

Continue the journey.

Head Shot

Daniel Kaufmann

Host
Head Shot

Doritos

Co-host
Head Shot

MarcusB814

Co-host