Are We The Heroes Or The Villains When Games Become Our Path?

A world where most people log in to feel alive doesn’t sound so distant anymore, and we start by asking what happens when VR stops being a novelty and becomes the neighborhood. Ready Player One gives us a map of desire and danger: ads funding escape, avatars replacing identity, and corporations writing the rules of our second lives. We connect that to gear you can buy right now—haptic vests, VR headsets—and the unsettling ease with which pixels begin to stand in for presence.

From there, we dig into the NPC idea from both sides. In MMOs, looking like an NPC is a brilliant hide‑and‑seek trick. Offline, calling someone an NPC turns a human into background art. We talk about language that flattens people, why real leadership sometimes makes you the “villain,” and how to hold a line without losing your compass. That flows into the craft of turning gameplay into learning: Overwatch kill-cams that finally explain odds, a Baldur’s Gate nat‑20 that still “fails” illustrating near‑miss psychology, and why a tight edit can teach risk better than a whitepaper. If you care about game design, mental health, or how streaming can be pedagogy, this stretch is for you.

We also make space for play. Final Fantasy VII Remake’s new assist toggles—max HP, max MP, max damage—let anyone tear through hard mode without blocking trophies. It’s accessible and also a little blasphemous, raising a rich design question: when does help become hollow? We argue for “cozy hard,” the sweet spot where bosses bruise, not break. And because no show is complete without party planning, we chart a Baldur’s Gate 3 run: barbarian thunder, sorcerer control, multiclass mischief, and a fragile pact to avoid side quests that will definitely be broken. Along the way we trade Star Wars lore takes, celebrate small wins, and remember why games are our modern myths—places to test courage, kindness, and consequence with a safety net.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who games (or counsels gamers), and leave a quick review to help more curious players find us.

Transcript

Ready Player One And A VR Future

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Have you guys ever s w read the book Ready Player One? I've not read the book, but the movie was very fun.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

So I've audio booked the first book and the second book, and it was really good. And I really enjoyed it because it's like what c I can see happening in the future. Yeah. Possibly. Like I'm when and when I say the future, I mean like our kids. Oh, you don't mean like that. I don't think we're that I don't think we're that far away. What I'm saying is an entire society hooked up to a virtual I think that's our kids' kids. You think it's that far away? Yeah. I'm saying where most of the world is tapped in. I think yeah. So if we're talking my kids' kids, we're talking it within the next 50 years. Okay. You know what I mean? I'm not like Okay. You've got to think 20 to 40 to 50 years, because you figure my kids are 10 and 7. So by the time they have kids, hopefully they're 20 years from now, and then when their kids are 20, that's when I would think it would happen. I would say in the next 50 years.

Haptics, Horror, And The NPC Insult

SPEAKER_02 1:25

I just want to say so that it's in the flow of the podcast, that the premise for Ready Player One is that the resources of the world are so scarce that people have this virtual environment that is basically paid for by corporations putting ads inside your headset, and people are choosing to play this game inside this headset, level up their character that is actually the person they are in this virtual world, and it's an alternative life that they're living where your stuff is actually your stuff in the virtual world. So it's like Second Life, which is a video game that has been around for a long time, but with VR headsets and with games and quests and loot and treasures and rewards and very rare items, and all the people, like in the Matrix, there's the real world that sucks, and then there's the virtual world where you actually have hope to live life on your own terms the way you want to live it. And then there's this whole quest that gets created that triggers the first book, and all the main characters are trying to solve a massive series of puzzles to get the ultimate treasure in that virtual world, while there's corporate takeover and espionage going in the real world. It's there's two different storylines going on, but the central focus of where all the cool stuff happens is there's a video game that you live your life in.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

There you have it.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

It's basically a real life MMO. Yeah. And you actually have suits that you can buy if you're wealthy enough where you feel the things that are happening to you when you're wearing the headset.

unknown 3:24

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

You can do that now. Haptic suits.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

You can? Yeah. They have haptic suits now.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yeah, they so they have haptic vests for car racing games and first-person shooters to wear. If you get shot, you actually feel it.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Can I get one of those when I'm playing Resident Evil? Can I get one where you feel bite marks on your shoulders?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

I don't know how far that goes, but would like then you don't you turn into if you feel the bite marks on your neck, don't you turn into a zombie or a vampire or something?

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Funny you should ask that because I was streaming Resident Evil 4 last week, and I was thinking about this. All the damage you take, why isn't Leon a zombie instantly the moment you take any damage? And actually the answer is he doesn't get bit by things, he gets squeezed and strangled and tossed around and restrained. But the damage he takes, sometimes he gets stabbed by things, but none of the damage he takes would be able to transmit saliva or blood or things like that inside his body. I think that's so clever when you think about it.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

But yet the NPCs will get bitten just like that, though. What's so special about Leon?

SPEAKER_02 4:43

He's not an NPC. True. Has anyone ever accused you of being an NPC? Yes. Yeah. What was the situation, Doritos?

MMO Stories: Hiding As An NPC

SPEAKER_00 4:57

New Outriders, one of the guilds in Sotor is actually a multi-gaming guild. They've got a group that does Locho Lord of the Rings online, and they would do a hide and seek. Actually, go seek and go hide. Hide and seek is everybody go everybody goes to hide, and one person seeks. In the whole seek and go hide, it's also a card sardines. That one person hides, and as people find that one person, they hide with them. So the branch leader for Lotro would pick a location in Middle Earth, and we would go and we roll to see who got the got to go first to hide. So my character is such a low level, I don't have any of the fancy armors. I have just a second round of starter armor. You got your base starter armor, and then you defeat some things, you get the next level armor up. So I look like an NPC, so I literally just went and sat around a campfire. You turn nameplates off, and I just went and sat around the campfire, and everybody I watched for 15 minutes, watch the entire watch five of the people trying to run around the map trying to find me. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

And I thought you were just for context. For context, you do start out with really raggedy outfits at the beginning of those MMO games. You don't look like a hero for quite a while.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Right. So I looked like uh just a uh MPC adventurer just sitting right. I just sat at the campfire sitting in whatever the stock sitting pose is for the game. And yeah, I had three people talking about it. I want to tell us NPC.

Villains, Boundaries, And Tough Calls

SPEAKER_02 6:39

That's not quite the insult that I was aiming for when I asked my question, but we'll maybe get to that later in the episode. I want to tell a story about OG co-host for the show, Jenny. That when we were co-workers and we had first met, I asked her if she wanted to play Star Wars The Old Republic with me, told her what my research was going to be. She thought that was super cool, and that's how our friendship started. She played the old republic with me on the Imperial side until we got to Narsha Da. And then the next best gear item she got was like this robotic neck brace that went up to the side of your cheeks, and then it like it was like a special baby helmet because it also goes above your head. It's Robocop's head when he's not wearing his helmet. And she freaked out when her character started, she was playing free-to-play, and she freaked out when her character started looking like this, and it was affecting how proud she was of her character. And I called her RoboHobo, and the moment I said that, she logged out and subscribed to the game so that she could hide the head slot and go back to looking like the character that she designed. You're welcome, Bioware slash eventually broadsword. I got you one subscriber by griefing them with a clever insult. But actually, when you call someone in real life an NPC, that is also a pretty nasty insult. You're saying that they're a person that has no goal or drive in life, and you're just a background character in everybody else's story, and you're not going to amount to doing any quests yourself. It's a really bad diss if you break it down and think about what you're calling a person. And it's high level, so a lot of people won't even understand what you just said about them because they don't know what an NPC really is in the first place. So I just taught gamers around the world how to be nasty human beings. Way to go. It's not as fast time. Oh, when's the last time I taught people to be terrible, Marcus?

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Oh, you're a secret villain. You're a property. Let me rephrase. Let me say this again. You're a proper villain. The dark side flows through you. There's nothing positive. There's positivity in the dark side, but like it's you're still a villain. You're a proper villain.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

We get stuff done on the dark side, Marcus.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

This actually came up at dinner last night. I was out with my wife and a couple of her work friends, and we were eating. We were brought up. Oh, we were just we had lobster rolls at the theme park. They're doing like event with the booths, and you get little appetizer-sized things and tiny little drinks.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Is it a lobster roll or is it a lobster roll?

SPEAKER_02 9:40

It sucked, so we're gonna say it's ER because it does not deserve the AH.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

You can't eat lobster in fucking Florida.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

It was England. It was 32 degrees outside, if that makes any difference.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Still comes from the same place, brother.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Oh my gosh. So, anyway, someone brought up the idea of being the villain in someone else's story, and I totally said, like, I am the villain in a lot of people's story. The villain in my story. Oh, come on, Marcus. Compare, no, everyone that's listening, that is BS. I am BFFs with Marcus, and he is just trying to get under my skin because it makes the episode better. But best villain friends. So I do as a professor, when work that's turned in is subpar, have to issue failing grades on assignments that are abysmal. And as the boss of a treatment program, if I have an employee that becomes ethical unprofessional and just unreceptive to feedback, sometimes I have to let them go. And if you're super mature and those things happen, you just move on and you don't have resentment because you take accountability for your own actions. But if you don't have that, and believe me, I've talked to my fair share of people that do not have that, I know they're going through a period of time in their life where I did something terrible to them and I'm the villain of the story. And I used to really struggle with that, honestly, because I wanted to be a Jedi. I wanted that Jedi code, I wanted harmony, serenity, knowledge. Life, light. But you gotta do what's right sometimes. And in the immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, I will do what I must. You're still a villain. You underestimate my power.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

You just proved my point right there. It's okay. You're a proper villain. It's okay.

Streaming As Work: Clips That Teach

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Did you know I wrote a chapter in the psychology of villains, Marcus? No, but I do now. But did you have you ever written a whole book? I did. I wrote an entire book. It's called The Gamer's Journey, and it's about video games being the modern mythology and how we apply lessons from games, characters, and their stories to our lives to level up.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

But there's one more important question that has to do with that book. Doritos, do you know what that question is? Oh, what's that question, Marcus? Have you ever won an award for that book?

SPEAKER_02 12:32

I did win an award for the book last year. You know what? I got an Instagram post on my feed. It keeps popping up. It's nominations for the 2026 author of the year. And I'm like, man, I wish I could get somebody to put me up for that. But then I looked at when the book needed to be published, and the gamers' journey would have been for last year, not this year. I missed my chance.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

You know what's really funny is because if you won that would you couldn't win. I'm sorry you can't win that because if you do, the hazing that will come from Doritos and I every episode of the podcast, it will be top-level content.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

I I know it is starting inside me to become motivation to write the sequel, and then next time I'll be much more organized about Journey Strikes Back. That's what you want it to be. Yeah. It should be the gamers expedition 33 clear absurd.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

There's only you and then the final but the trilogy of it is return of the journey. Return to the journey.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Like that's also an ROTJ. That's so sacrilegious.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Just saying. And then we can wait 16 years. Okay, hear me out. And we can do the Phantom Journey. Attack of the Journey. If you want to revenge of the Journey. And then we wait 11 years and we do the Journey Awakens. And then we stop writing because nothing else is worth it after that. No, it's fine. I'll be like 75.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

It's fine. Then you do the last journey. And then it's Rise of the Journey.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Rise of the Journey.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

You guys ever have so I had a pretty wild day today. Not gonna go into too much detail.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

You guys know about it, but you talked to some NPCs today. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

He totally talked to some NPCs today. Yeah, I completely told my boss he's a fucking idiot, but it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

We're moving hey, if we're gonna earn our rating today, that was a good moment.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Yeah, he is an idiot. Anyway, so I came home and my son was on the ice because we have a rink in our backyard because it's an it's like negative 18. Yeah, cold. So anyway, so he was skating, so I went out on the ice with him skating, and then my daughter came out and she was skating, and we were playing, and then before I came outside, I just I said to my wife, I said, What are we having for dinner? She looked at me like the like like it almost was like the shock. I don't know what we're having for dinner. I was like, I'm telling you what we're having for dinner. She goes, Oh, do tell. And I was like, When we're done skating and it's dark out, we're gonna go out to dinner. I want to go to this restaurant. I don't want to cook a thing, and I want to eat, and then I want to have a cappuccino, and I'm gonna come home and podcast. She goes, Oh, you just made my night easy. So we go, and my daughter, she thought she she was pretty sneaky, but she gave it away because she couldn't let it go. But anyway, so she got up out of the table and just walked away. And I'm like, Well, she going. Little does she know, she had told the entire restaurant that it's my birthday this Saturday, but we're out tonight. And she got the entire restaurant to sing me happy birthday. And bring me cheesecake. But it was easy, but it was one of those things where you don't realize how much you need to just get out and have an easy night until you actually need it. You know what I mean? That was my night tonight. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Well, we thought you had a good evening.

Max Damage: Breaking FFVII Remake

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Oh, it was great. In video game news. I got video game news. I got an awesome email from the developer marketing person from that game that I've been playing, Phil and a fantasy, just following up. And like, I'm absolutely in love with this game. Can't stop playing it. I think I'm like 10 or 12 hours in now, maybe 14. Like, I've been playing it a lot, like on my Steam Deck, even though it's unsupported, it still plays great. And it was funny, she asked what I was doing about it, and I told her I was like, I'm playing through it, but in the next two weeks, I'm gonna make a review. And I did something I've never done. I've started taking notes about the game, and I've started trying to get like a basic script because like I'm not a script guy, I'm more of an off the cuff, but like I have the bullet points that I'm gonna hit and try to re-like, I'll send it to Chat GPT or Grok and say, organize this, right, for me. And so anyway, so I started writing the review for it. I don't know how I don't know how long the game is, I don't know how far I am in it. I don't know. I would imagine the game's at least 30 hours. There's not many story games now that are less than 30 hours long. That's true. That's an RPG, right? So I don't know actually how far I am, but I'm slowly working on my review for the game, and I'm having a lot of fun because it's like I care a little bit about the story. I don't really care, but it's just it's really like an easy, it's like a cozy game. It's it has its challenges. Like the bosses are tough in some of the fights. You have to be strategic on which enemy you have to kill first, but it's not like Elden Ring Hard or Claire Obscure hard, it's just a different kind of like cozy hard. Cozy hard.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

So it's hard mode light.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

I go to a boss and I die once or twice, but I end up beating the boss. It's just it's like the old it's like a link to the past. Remember all the bosses in Link to the Past? They were hard, but they weren't that hard. You know what I mean? Like you learn they're like six movesets, and then that was it.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

Yeah, that's the thing about almost any Zelda game is once you know what you need to do to win, the games are all easy. But that being said, figuring it out without a guide is sometimes brutal.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

And and there is no guide for this game. I've looked up stuff in the game and Google doesn't even know what Filna Fantasy is.

Star Wars Takes And Trilogy Choices

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Because it's a typo of Final Fantasy, it's probably impossible for you to even find that information on the internet because of the spelling of the game. I want to share a really big deal thing that happened earlier tonight. People who follow me through my streaming already know that I have been working really hard on the counseling training for gambling certification at Kinebridge. And they also know that Kinebridge has been very supportive and encouraging for me to continue streaming as part of my job because they just believe this whole time that's good for them. And I believe it, but sometimes I'm not convinced, honestly. Because sometimes I look at the amount of time I'm planning to do my prison sentence, as you say, Marcus, and I'm gonna show up on Twitch and that's how I'm gonna start my day. But I know I have things I need to do for them. I know I have papers I need to grade, and I know I'm gonna be working until after midnight. But I still keep doing Twitch. Well, I've missed a lot of Twitch streams in the last two weeks because we're at crunch time on this training. It's supposed to go live February 1st. In fact, by the time people hear this episode, the training will be available. And I have recorded and edited thank you. I have recorded and edited 20 additional short videos that are all more than five minutes long. Some of them are 11 or 12, and they all have B-roll, they all have music tracks, and some of them have clips from my Twitch streaming that relate directly to the games I'm talking about. And when I was doing the 16th video, I mentioned Overwatch, and I realized, oh my gosh, I streamed Overwatch for about three weeks several years ago, like when it first switched to Overwatch 2 instead of Overwatch base one. And I had a few clips because there were some matches I did surprisingly well, and one match I got player of the game, and so you see the highlights of me taking everyone on the opposing team out, and then you see my name on the screen, and you see me in the webcam box, just happiest person ever. And so I decided to put that in at the point where I mentioned Overwatch, and this is a gambling training. And I showed my CEO the video today, and she was blown away and just was like, That really made me who doesn't even know what that game is, at least understand what it is people are doing, and I see your enthusiasm for it, and I want to know more about that game. So then Showed her the 15th video, the one right before that. I had a clip from Baldur's Gate where I was talking about odds and coin flips and dice rolls. And I had a clip in Baldur's Gate where I had to roll a 99 on the final boss, which is impossible. It's actually a story moment where you're forced to fail. And I said to the chat, the only way to win this role is probably to get a nat 20. And I rolled and I got the nat 20 and I exploded in happiness. But then the game still said failure, which is actually perfect because the topic of the video was even when you think you're winning, because you're continuing to play, you're failing. And I put that in because I was literally talking about rolling a D20 and comparing that to rolling a six-sided die, and comparing that to flipping a coin. And I showed that, they're like, How do you get these pieces of footage that so perfectly match what you're talking about? And my answer was I stream everything I think is cool, and it's actually a little lucky, but I just remember these moments because they mean a lot to me. And you know, we've been doing Twitch, we've been talking about mental health topics for about five years now on purpose. Eight years, if you go back to the SWOTOR days when I was Dr. Swotor and I was a lot less organized about it. But now we're getting to the point where products with scale are gonna have those moments, and it's gonna be a part of improving curiosity about what gaming is with a positive message for people that aren't gamers but will be working with gamers. I'm so excited! Like, we're at a cool moment, and there's so much support for me just being goofy enough to be like I think I did something in a Resident Evil stream that will fit over this talking head lecture video, and my job is yeah, keep doing that, it makes it awesome. So, what you're saying through all of this is you're getting good. I wouldn't go that far. I think actually, if you think about it, one clip where I did exceptional, another clip where I failed. I think it I'm mid at best. Oh, that's awesome.

Baldur’s Gate 3 vs. The Backlog

SPEAKER_01 24:36

That's awesome. I think about it, and you're still in your prison sentence, but you're getting paid to do it, right? So it makes you're in like you're in like a work release program right now. Oh my gosh, we're just continuing that. And Doritos just gets the game as much as he wants whenever he wants, and he just lives that gamer's dream. And and I get paid to play hockey, so it's great.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Yeah, we're in a cool spot, all three of us. I want to talk about an update to one of my favorite games of all time, Final Fantasy VII Remake, which is actually on the chart for paid games on the Xbox list, because Xbox just got it. Switch 2 just got it.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

I heard about it.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

So it's being treated. I think the fact that you can play Final Fantasy VII Remake on a Nintendo system is a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Well, it is a big deal, but I heard that the frame rate drops and like it needs an update.

Builds, Multiclassing, And Party Plans

SPEAKER_02 25:43

That's it. It's it's okay, yeah. But I just want to say that because of those two new consoles getting it, they added a streamline menu in the option settings, and it does not block you from getting your trophies. And some of the options in this menu are maximum health always, maximum MP always, maximum damage always. Now, I was doing a hard mode run the last time I played was two years and two days ago, and I just overrode that save file. Yeah, yeah. I played rebirth last year, but not remake. Okay, and so I went and I just went into that menu and toggled some things on and did one side quest with some of those things on. Barrett has a submachine gun arm. Okay, so he shoots 20 bullets every three seconds at people, and then he like takes a moment to reload 20 more bullets every three seconds. When you turn on max damage for every hit, that is 9,999 damage times 20 every three seconds. It breaks the game. He is a death machine, and it does not block trophy acquisition, which means you can play all the chapters that he's in on hard difficulty, turn the option on, and just mow through everything. Which it ruins the challenge. I did the side quest with that. I tested out I'm on a chapter where you get to play as Cloud Tifa and Barrett, and I was like, I don't like this one because I like when enemies hit me for my health bar to feel it. Believe it or not, I love being OP, but I don't want to play a game with God mode, knowing that people can't touch me. I want to be touched, everybody. And I want to touch you. Yeah, that's what it's all about. Having unit's all about touching, having unlimited money is cool. Having unlimited ability meter, if that's like the thing that's holding you back in a mission, you can just turn that on and keep moving forward. I think it's the opposite of getting good. Like you turn those on if you don't care how good you are at the game. But be is that so that they can appeal to the Nintendo audience? Maybe, but Xbox got it and PlayStation got it in their most recent patches.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

Right. They're not going to give it to Nintendo without giving it to everybody because somebody will complain.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Yeah, I think if you're on PlayStation, you have access to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. And the way I would look at it is they're done gatekeeping the trophies for remake, and what they want is for you to complete remake and get excited about rebirth.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

It's because rebirth didn't sell as well.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Yeah, but it's still an amazing game, and it upgrades all the systems from remake in a big way. And there's stories starting to hit the internet about they're sticking with Unreal Engine 4 for the part three, which is the end of the story. Instead of moving to Unreal 5 and having to remake stuff from the ground up, they're just sticking with what they know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

If they make it an Unreal 5, they can't put it on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

There we go. I think when you're making a trilogy, the suckiest thing that can happen is you deny access to the people who played the beginning of the trilogy by jumping into a new generation.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yeah, I agree. Because it's kind of like redoing doing a trilogy and then having your main Jedi that everybody wants to see hold a lightsaber, throw it off a cliff. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Oh my god. Can we stick with that franchise? I agree with you. That felt like an SNL skit more than it felt like a real Star Wars. If you just change his facial expression and change the way he throws the lightsaber, I'm actually fine with it. It just felt you remember when they would do spoofs of popular movies at the MTV movie awards?

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

It felt like one of those. And in fact, I remember as a college student, they did riff on Revenge of the Sith at the MTV movie awards, and the caliber of that riffing was very similar to The Last Jedi. Anyway, I want to just say that the trilogy being broken across formats happened to me with the prequel trilogy because I had the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones on VHS, and I don't think Revenge of the Sith ever came out on VHS. So you can't display the VHSs of that trilogy because only the first two exist.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Oh, see, I thought you were going somewhere else. I thought you were gonna say we get finally got rid of Kathleen Kell Kennedy and hello Dave Falone.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

I'm I'm not negative about Kathleen Kennedy. I think that what we're seeing is just the realities of what happens when you give creative properties to corporations. I don't think Kathleen Kennedy is specifically bad compared to other people that run corporations. So I'm saying they're all bad. No matter who it was, they were gonna screw up the first 13 years of Star Wars. Even if it was Dave Filone. I think the red tape, like I think he would have resigned in 18 months. Maybe I th I think we needed the suck so that we would be willing to give it over to someone who has the lore in mind and also the ability to communicate to everyone involved.

Co‑op Logistics And The “No Side Quests” Rule

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Communicate. Okay, I really this is if there's an important question that I have to ask right now, it's right now, because it's really bothering me that it's taken 33 minutes and 58 seconds for me to ask this question. Doritos, please tell me where you are in Expedition 33. I haven't played any more the last time we talked. All right, continue the journey. That's what happens when you give me disappointing answers. Yes, how could you do that? I'm sorry, everybody, that there was eight seconds of complete silence between this episode, but Doc brought us back. I'm so brokenhearted with what Doritos just said. He basically told me to bless my heart, okay? I'll tell you that anyway. I know.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

We were putting a lot of shade on episode eight, but I would just like to say, Marcus, it's really important for you to take to heart that the way we change the world is not by destroying what we hate, it's by saving what we love.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

I and I think we save the world by I'm gonna quote one of my favorite wrestlers, Seth Rollins music, his entrance music, and it goes burn it down. That's how you save the world.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

That's a very Sephiroth perspective to have. His whole thing was Sephiroth is the one-winged angel, and he is an amiibo on my desk, and he is the villain of Final Fantasy VII.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

What's Final Fantasy VII?

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Final Fantasy VII is possibly the greatest video game of all time. What try again? Listen, it has movies, it has countless spin-off games, two characters in Super Smash Bros. when it's not even a Nintendo property.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

It was a game, it was the best game of a generation, but honestly, the greatest game ever made. Pong.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Tetris? Nope. Ocarina of Time. Nope. Expedition 33. Yes. Voltero. You don't think it's oh man.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Elden Ring? You don't think Elden Ring? If Elden Ring's story was more accessible, I would say yes. Elden Ring is definitely top 10 games of all time, but if you really think about it, what is the one game that changed the world?

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Claire Obscure Expedition 33 last year did at the Game Awards something that reminded me a lot of Return of the King at the Oscars.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

It didn't go undefeated in every category that it was nominated, but it swept the major categories and wasn't really an argument from anybody.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Return of the King, it doesn't matter how many times I watch it, even if it's the bullshit TNT TV version with the commercials, I still cry two to three times in that movie because it just hits. Now that you've broken my heart by not playing Claire, what are your what are you into that's keeping you from playing Expedition 33? Baldur's Gate 3. Wow, you like it that much?

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Yeah, I do. That does not surprise me. He likes CTRPGs, Marcus.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Yeah. I get no, I get that, but do you now that you've played it and Doc's play it, do you think I'll really enjoy the combat? Do you think you can see me getting into that game? You know me pretty well.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Yeah, I know. And I'm actually pondering the answer. Probably because you don't have to do the side quests. And you don't have to parry. You don't have to parry. Now you are beholden to the luck of the dice.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

That is a low blow.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

Come on. I think it's good.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Is panic rolling included?

SPEAKER_02 36:53

No, you just take the hit. You just stand there, smile, and take the hit. Sorry, Doritos. Oh, you're fine.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

It's just not wrong. I would like to see you play it just to get your take on it, because I could see you really enjoying it because it's a fun story. And you would be fur much further along with the story than I am because the squirrel went running by and down the hole, and I followed the squirrel, and then it led to the cave that unlocked this thing, and then there's like a side mission to save the whatever and do the thing, and that's just the way the game goes. But that's how plus, so keep in mind.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

But that's how I played Elden Ring.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

What? Follow the bunnies? Yes. Just not all of the bunnies. You didn't follow as many bunnies. You didn't follow enough bunnies. You didn't do the dragons until the end. You did not kill the dragons until you were almost done with a gang.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

I think I've only kicked the dragons. I hate dragons. The dragons are stupid. Yeah, they are stupid. I killed one of the dragons because he was dead and he gave me 50,000 runes. And then I killed two other ones because I felt awesome because I had the moon veil katana. But other than that, I didn't kill any of them. What's that other one in the game? Plusidicax or whatever his name is. I didn't kill that guy.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Plusuda sax.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Yeah, Plusuda Sacks, the guy in the crumbing pharma's Razula that you're walking on like the angled walkway and one that drops. Did you kill Plusuda Sacks?

SPEAKER_03 38:30

No.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Yeah. Oh. Oh, Doritos did. Yeah. Doritos 100% of that shit. He went to the school of the trophy, didn't he? He went to the school of sweet Johnny Cage. Did you know I wrote a chapter in the psychology of Elgin Ray? You did? Never heard of that. I just want to say this to our listeners that don't know, Doc. I promise you guys he's not a narcissist, but this is what we've done to him for the last year. And this is where he has gotten to because we've made his book such a meme, which you guys should really go buy it because it is really good.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

He's an award-winning author, so it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Yeah, that's true. He was going for author of the year, but we didn't allow, we blocked him on that one. We made it delay. We didn't let him see that page.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

Yeah. That's all true.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

But back to Baldur's Gate. I so I'm playing this film a game, and the thing about Baldur's Gate is it's like Uber Steam Deck verified, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Yeah. I believe it is. No, it is. Like I said, I'm enjoying it because, like I said, Monday nights, I actually have a DD group, and then I'm also doing a Tuesday night group with my own family. We're still playing through the starter campaign that we got the kids two Christmas or yeah, two Christmases ago. So it's just it's keeping me engaged in that, and I'm learning more about the rules, how to be some of the different nuances within the game, so that's why I'm really having more fun with it than other games. Right.

unknown 40:18

Oh fuel.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

Yeah, it is. Oh, it's really far down now. I I want to play it, but I just so happened to get I bought it during the Steam sale. Yep. As did I. Right. And I wanted to play it, and then I got this copy of Filna Fantasy, and I didn't realize I would like it this much. That's a good thing to experience, though. Baldur's Gate 3 is the number three rated game, most played game on the Steam Deck. Which means it must play incredible on the Steam Deck.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

That's not true. I had a terrible time running it on the Steam Deck. But it's been a long time since then, and maybe they've improved it dramatically.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

I see. I look at a game that says it's Steam Deck verified, it's gotta be good. They're not gonna make you play a game that's bullshit and they're verifying the game. We'll see.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

You gotta play it, Marcus. I look forward to hearing what you're doing. Actually, if you like it, we could do a group campaign. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

Yeah, so after I beat Philna Fantasy, I'll play it. That's my next game.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

Like I'm done with this, well, I'll start I'll start a new character with you anyway.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

You know what also too I should do is one of these nights after after the podcast, I should just create a character and go through that with you guys. Make my character because I guess there's 999 options to do that.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

If you don't play on the lowest difficulty, you also have the ability after a certain number of levels to multi-class, and that creates so much opportunity to make a character that completely matches all the best ideas that you're gonna have playing the game.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

I play the game on normal.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

Yeah. So if you play on normal, then you can multi-class. Right? It's just easy that you can't. Is a multi-class like a multi-pass? No, that's not the same thing at all, Marcus. I think that we should talk about what class does Marcus need to play in order to utilize his thinking and make the game fun for him. There's only one class. You're a barbarian.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

We don't have that. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

You're a barbarian.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

I will be a sorcerer for us.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Would you say I or a fighter? That the that one also fits your style.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

But here's the thing. I always start out as the class with a sword and a shield. No, no shield. Like a sword or dual wielding, but I always end up with magic. Somehow, somehow, I always end up being able to cast magic. It's the weirdest thing. Barbarians cannot cast magic. They're like brains or works. Look at Elden Ring. Like, I started out with a sword, and then I got the moon veil katana and realized that I can shoot magic out of my sword, and I had a little bit of an advantage because the bosses didn't need to be on top of me. And then I watched like Sweet Johnny Cage fight these bosses with a sh sword and a shield, and I'm like, what an idiot. You could just use the moonvale. Veil and he could annihilate everything.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:06

But see, my point for now my first playthrough for Baldur's Gate is a I'm and I think we talked about this a couple episodes ago, that I'm going with not my typical build. I'm a sorcerer. I'm I'm not range spell based by nature. I'm a rogue or ranger or a fighter.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Yeah, but you're but in Swotor, you're a sniper.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

Yeah. And that's ranged. Yep. But ranged, it's not magic class. What's your character's name in Baldur's Gate? Tav. That's the default name, right? It was one of the random. I just clicked random a few times till I found one that I liked, and he's a dragon source.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

Lookup, guides and stuff. Like that's what people use for the default name when they're talking about the game. Why?

SPEAKER_01 45:03

You just blew my mind. Why aren't you like spicy chili or something like that? Potato chip. Yeah, or potato chip.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

Like you could have been ruffles or uts. I'm going out of character for this one.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

Maybe in our campaign, you can be jalapeno spice.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

I don't think that's a flavor.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

I can come up with something. I can come up with something. Don't you worry.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Now I'm thinking I need to be a different class when we do this campaign.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

We're going to.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

Right, but if he's a sorcerer, then I can be something else.

SPEAKER_00 45:43

Oh no, for our campaign, I'm probably going to be a rogue. All right.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

So oh, there we go. I'll be a I'll be a sorcerer. Who's the NPC that's coming with us? We just bring Shadow Heart, Lyselle. Like it really depends what Marcus is, whether we need Lizelle. Well, can I ask this question real quick?

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Can you guys can I create a campaign, right? And then you guys jump in with me for whatever time we're together, and then I just keep going on my quest.

SPEAKER_02 46:10

I don't know. Can you?

unknown 46:11

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Needs me.

unknown 46:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Or does it have to be a group? Can we co-op for one session, or does it have to be the entire session? See, now I want to play this game because I don't want to see.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

We can't even play the game as the podcast. It would take three years. It would take quite some a bit of time. Well, no, you just don't do any side quests.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

You'll be under-leveled when you get to act three. That's fine. All right. You told Doc and I not to do side quests, not to drag you on side quests.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Yeah, but we don't have to do side quests, and I don't need to worry about being underleveled because we're playing with an award-winning author. For real this time, continue the journey.