My Algorithm Can Handle This Journey

A “dead” MMO that keeps growing, a cozy barista sim that makes conversation feel like gameplay, and a reminder that controller menus can be the real final boss. We kick things off with Coffee Talk and why low-stress, story-first games hit so hard when you want something light but still meaningful, then spiral into the kind of nerdy joy that only long-running communities understand.

From there we dig into Star Wars: The Old Republic and the claim that its survival came from leaning into a massive single-player story experience. We talk voice acting versus text-heavy storytelling, what makes SWTOR easy to learn compared to more complex MMOs, and why recent technical investments like 64-bit support and DirectX 12 work signal commitment. If you’ve ever searched “is SWTOR worth playing” or wondered what keeps an MMO alive after the hype, you’ll hear a grounded take that respects both data and nostalgia.

We also compare modern gaming friction points across Black Desert Online, Crimson Desert, Final Fantasy XIV, and Baldur’s Gate 3, especially when you’re on controller and someone else is on PC with a totally different UI. That leads into muscle memory battles like Resident Evil 4 Remake changing how sprint works, plus a side trip into horror games and how fear often comes from stress, scarcity, and uncertainty more than jump scares. We wrap with what we’re playing, why Metaphor ReFantazio feels so good on Steam Deck, and our 2026 gaming goals, including streaming consistency and making time for play without turning it into homework.

If you liked the mix of game design, MMO history, and honest player psychology, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What game has stayed with you for years, and why?

Transcript

Marcus Banter And Milestones

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Marcus is like so totally awesome.

SPEAKER_03 0:02

He gets the things really fast. No, I'm an idiot. There's no question of that.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

But the more episodes you come on, Marcus, the less your idiot gene is going to take over in your behavior.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

It takes over every episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

No, but I heard from people on the street that you're slowly getting smarter by talking to me so often.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

I've been talking to you for like 10 years.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Yeah, but not like this. You've actually done 50 episodes with me now, Marcus. Did you know that?

Coffee Talk Demo And Press Copy

SPEAKER_03 0:36

Feels like just yesterday. Well, I got a really interesting email. So do you guys remember a while ago there's this game called Coffee Talk? And no. Well, anyway, so there's this game called Coffee Talk. Basically, you're a barista and you have to chat with the people at the counter. You basically make their coffee. If you do it right, they drink it, they enjoy it, and you have these conversations with them. So, anyway, so this I got an email from the developers of said Coffee Talk game. And they were like, hey, we're releasing a demo, we're looking for people to review, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I reached out and said, Hey, I'd definitely be interested. So I played the demo for a little while. It was fun, but the person, I don't remember the person, the dev's name, reached out and said, Hey, we'd love you to be a part of the press package to coverage to the game. The game comes out in May. Are you still interested? Yes, I am. We're gonna give you a free copy. We'll give you a copy to give away. We'll give you all the press stuff you need if you'd like us to come on the show, blah, blah, blah, blah, the whole thing. So I am re-invigorated about the game. Great.

unknown 1:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

I love that. So, how similar is the conversation style to a game like Date Everything? Do you remember that game?

SPEAKER_03 1:58

I never played that game.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Well, yeah, but you walk around the house and you date everything in your house, and it's like conversations, you answer things some ways, you build relationship with that object, answer another way, and they don't really like you.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

There was really no conversation like trees. It basically just happens naturally. It's like scripted almost. But it's it's definitely a change of pace. You know what I mean? It's one of those games that I just could like you know, when you don't want to grind, you just feel like playing something that's lighthearted. That's what this is. And it was actually kind of fun making coffees in like lemon citrus teas. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Cheers. I agree. It's always fun making coffee, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:45

But these are like real coffees, not turn on your machine and let it drip coffee into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

How dare you, Marcus?

SPEAKER_03 2:54

I make they were like asking for like a double mocha latte. You're not drinking a double mocha latte right now, you're drinking a brewed pot of coffee.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, I am, but I also stirred in the creamer and I added a butterbeer froth to the top of it. Oh, butterbeer. Yeah, like from Harry Potter. It's actually in the Harry Potter bottle. Got from Walmart.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Ooh, Wally World.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah. Anyway, so that was exciting. I do not just drink normal coffee, Marcus. How dare you!

SPEAKER_03 3:28

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

If there were any games we played together, I would duel you to the death.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

You know what I did see is armored MMA fighting. These guys have swords and they're wearing full armor and they're the octagon and they can punch and kick and they beat the crap out of each other with real weapons, and they're wearing like medieval armor. I just saw that together.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Is this game, or is this some weird thing?

SPEAKER_03 3:52

Go on YouTube right now and type in armored MMA.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

I don't want my algorithm to start giving me anything with MMA, Marcus.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

It's one time. It's not gonna, you're gonna go, you're Googling, go to Google and the algorithm is gonna think I'm thirsty. The algorithm knows the algorithm knows, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

It's fun to watch stuff that like yeah, it's too late because you it's not on your algorithm.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

It's listening to me. Everybody. Anyway, I can't handle this in my journey. Well, the let me tell you, this journey is it this is the my journey is the biggest journey of the weekend. I'm missing my playoff hockey game on Sunday night because of this weekend. It is the biggest weekend of the year, and that is WrestleMania weekend.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeet. Wow. Speaking of yeet, did you read that Jay Uso was on a podcast today and beat the crap out of the podcaster?

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Yeah, but it was it's all work. It's because he's inviting yeah, he like when he punched him, he like completely didn't punch him, and he's basically gonna be on WrestleMania tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Oh, okay. I'm so glad to read that because Jey Uso is the kind of person who's had some stuff in the past outside of the ring stuff. I was really worried about him.

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Yeah, so that, but I something's been on my mind, and this is a hundred percent in Dorito Dorito realm. Ooh, that's I watched a video about Swotor, and it was actually fascinating, and it was I forget what it was called. I have it bookmarked because I'm gonna send it to you after I talk to you about it. And it was the MMO that changed it all. How 15 years later the game is still growing, even though it's been dead for 14 years, and basically it talked about how it started, how it launched, and it was going to be like all the forums were RIP Warcraft. Then it came out, and all like the hardcore MMO players loved it until they got to the end game because they were beating Eternity Vault in like five minutes, and that all the large-scale group content, the hero engine couldn't handle it, and in the first year it had to go free to play, and it went through all of these years. And actually, this is where somebody who's played since beta still to current the video said that the expansion that saved Swotor was not an MMO expansion, it was Knights of the Fallen Empire saved Swotor. Because it gave people a single-player hundred-hour story or whatever that was to play, and it brought more people into the game or back to the game, and basically brought its upward trajectory. What do you think about that statement?

SPEAKER_00 7:13

That's somebody's opinion. Okay, good. Show me the data to prove it. I mean, I've not stopped playing the game. I mean, I've been here since beta, so it doesn't really matter. Again, it it it's content when when Cotet and Cotfi came out, they also had some other things that were changing the release schedule on new content. Yeah, we were it was probably a slight content and drought leading into it. So when those two large segments of story came out, they were not voice acted. Because I know a lot of people absolutely hate those those two expansions because they were not voice acted completely. Because going up through the vanilla system, the vanilla storyline, everything was voice acted up to that point by all by your character, NPCs, everything. Now you get into this and it harken back to Bioware's conversation conversation trees versus actually and a lot of text reading for for how everything was going to go versus just having it all voice acted. So, you know, did did Coffee and Cotet save the game? That's a matter for perspective and opinion.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I think since Cotefi is the expansion that was the newest content when I was doing my dissertation research, that's when I started being a content creator in the SWOTOR space. So I have a lot of nostalgia and warm fuzzy feelings about CoTfi and Cotet. And I saw a YouTube video yesterday. I didn't watch it, just the thumbnail really caught my eye. It was the seven levels of Sith, and the thumbnail showed the seven levels like across each head, each head took up the same amount of space. So like number three was Darth Vader, number one was like Darth Maul, number six was Darth Nihilus from Knights of the Old Republic 2. But number seven, the you know, five was Emperor Palpatine. Number seven, the most lethal level of Sith Lord was Valkorian. No, interesting. It was Valkorian, and when I saw that when I saw that, I was like, that's why Swotor matters, and that's why that little bit of Star Wars outside of Disney is, in my opinion, the peak of Star Wars because the force is the strongest in the old republic. Every type of class has a story, and you know, Marcus, I was on Working Class Nerds years ago, and I talked about the Mandalorian when season one was brand new, and how the Star Wars movies are the Jedi Knight story, and the reason the Mandalorian is so cool is because we're seeing the Bounty Hunter class story on screen for the first time ever, and I stand by that, but I think Swotor, even though I have not found very much time to play it in 2026, I think it's amazing still, its stories for each class are the peak version of that type of character in Star Wars, all eight of them, and that is part two of this video, and it talks about the game that just won't die because they showed like the Smootor Titanic, because you know it's a sinking ship, but they're like because when it was sold or given to Broadsword, even though they have a small dev team, this video is incredible because it talked about how it took the video of like you know, of the decline.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

And then once Broadsword got it, they did the 64 client, they're doing a whole new overhaul of everything, and that is not a that's dying, they're investing into it for years to come.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

I just want to also call out that recent weeks I've started playing Black Desert online, and I'm brand new to it, that's an over 10-year-old MMO now at this point. Okay, and it is so hard to understand. So, you know, looking at if you're a person who wants a massive open world with lore, with characters, with group content, and you're interested in Star Wars just in general, the Old Republic is a fantastic video game. It is one of the best Star Wars video games there is to play. And you know, some MMOs are very complex. And Swordur does not feel confusingly complex, it it has a good feel to how it puts you into the action, how fast you learn your moves, and how you walk around those intro areas and learn how to exist in the galaxy far, far away.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

Yeah. So I linked it to you and I want you guys to watch it because I thought it was very well done. And I'll watch it later. Yeah, probably tomorrow. Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Yeah, and I have so many papers to grade. I can definitely click on that one. I have no problem adding it to my algorithm.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Yeah, I think it's great. But so that's my mind.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

And I also on the desert concept, I bought Crimson Desert this morning.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Oh, yeah, I did. Yeah, I was hoping I get my work stuff organized enough to do a stream this morning. That did not happen. But I am very hopeful for Sunday, and that would be the game I play because I really I watched the trailer and I saw that it's the same company as Black Desert Online. I didn't realize that, just thought that those the desert being in the title was a weird naming coincidence. But when I saw that, I was like, oh, okay, I'm interested in this now. So hopefully Sunday morning works out just fine, and we'll get a little return to streaming. And I'm excited. It looks like a fun solo gaming activity. It you know, the graphics look great. Riding the dragon and shooting things with fire is something I'm looking forward to so much.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

A friend of mine that I play hockey with, he is a big single-player RPG type player, like Elder Ring, Dark Souls, you know, all the first person like Red Dead Redemption games like that. And he said that his friends in his circle said the game is really hard to enjoy for the first eight hours because there's so many different systems that you're learning. But he said he just crossed that eight-hour mark and he said it's actually incredible. He goes, It's hard to not enjoy it if you love games that are beautiful. He goes, because you're gonna stop at points and look around like, oh wow, like this is incredible. But I asked him, have you guys played the game where wins meet or something? It's a free-to-play game. I do know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Yeah, I did one stream of it.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

It and I asked if it was like that, and he said, pretty much, it's that same style of game. Okay, but it's incredi like Doc, you're not a graphics guy. That game is beautiful. Crimson Desert. But so isn't Black Desert Online. Black Desert is beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Yeah, it's a good looking game. There's a lot of systems in there too. I think the fact that I'm playing it on controller is causing some obstacles for me, but I'll figure it out. I like the character I built. I'm playing as a sorceress to the surprise of no one. Yeah, I'm enjoying it. I'm level 18 right now. I had a boss fight, like the second encounter that I would call a boss fight. And I beat the boss because up until you're level 20, you can just instant res in any battle. And so the boss actually killed me two or three times because I couldn't figure out dodge roll or how to get out of the big red circle before they like body slam dived on me repeatedly. So I gotta figure out my buttons. I'm looking at it right now. Yeah, I think I even do yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

No, the Crimson Desert controls on a PlayStation controller, it's pretty wild.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Well, it's I don't know how similar the control scheme, if this was a word flub or if the controls are similar, but I'm talking about Black Desert Online. Oh, yeah, I'm sure I'm sure Crimson Desert's gonna be fine because that's a solo game. I think sometimes MMO games just pack so much stuff into them that playing on a controller is wonky. Are you playing it on your computer? No, yes, five. My computer can't handle a video game right now, Marcus.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

Oh wow. They say it's very difficult reading.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

It is very difficult.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

I feel so much complex combo heavy controller layout. Relying heavy on holding L1, L2, R1, R2.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah, those are the key attack buttons, but there's also square and circle functionality as combat moves too. And it's like L1 and Square is a different move. L2 and square is a different move. That's what they're saying. Yeah. Reading the couple of different things. But I mean, I play Final Fantasy XIV on a controller and it has the crossbar, and for some reason that gives you access to 48 moves at once, and I have no problem figuring that out. So I'll figure it out. I like playing Black Mage in Final Fantasy. You know, if Black Desert Online does not work out, my emergency escape plan is just go back to Final Fantasy 14.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Well, you could always catch up on all the story in Final Fantasy XIV.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Yeah, I have several expansions after the end of Dawn Trail that I haven't done, at least four new bosses that I've never done. And there's also Swotor, I was talking with Doritos yesterday about what group content is there since last time I played. So there is one operation and at least a handful of flashpoints, and that is very appealing to me too. Because called on Doctorious has not been logged into in about three years now. That's my main character's name.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Well, you should. I mean, I went with Doritos and Intisar and some of the others, and we we did a bunch of stuff one night, and it was a lot of fun. I mean, we didn't clear whatever the new raid was, R4, or the second to newest raid, I'm not sure. But it's it was still a lot of fun to see how far the game has come. And as they work on this new I don't know, are they redoing the engine on the game?

SPEAKER_00 19:20

No, they're trying to get it direct x12 compatible. Yeah, that's what it is. So they're not redoing the engine, they're trying to make the current engine DirectX12 compatible. So it's taking a little bit more time than anticipated. Okay, good. They're taking their time with it. Right. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

That's great. So needless to say, I saw some screenshots of what the game's gonna look like, old versus new, and it's gonna be incredible once they do it. Basically, they say they've re basically rebuilt the engine without rebuilding the engine.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

They've been needing to for quite some time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

It's only what, a 20-year-old engine?

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Yeah. I still think it's the granted, it's probably the one most near and dear to me, but it's still the best MMO to me.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Because I tried WoW, but it did not grab me twice in two very different years of my life. I'm trying BDO right now, and it's fun, it looks cool, but it's not hitting me the way Swotor did. Final Fantasy XIV I think is great. I think for me it's like A and B. It doesn't matter which one is A and which one's B. Like they have very similar structures in terms of finding your quests, you know, the icons above the NPCs, how your inventory functions, how you place your abilities on the bar. Like little things like that make you feel comfortable in a game. And when you learn how to do things in one game and it works exactly the same in another, that helps players adjust and enjoy what they're playing. And when you play a game that is the same genre, but everything's dramatically different, and there's a learning curve to how do I use my inventory? How do I equip items? That's complicated. And maybe I'm just getting old and my brain is not as flexible. I have less neuroplasticity than I did in 2011. But I it's it's hard, and I I miss the comfort of just looking at a game and just in inherently knowing how to do stuff.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

For that fact, I have two campaigns of Baldur's Gate going right now. I have one with the three of Us and I have one with just me and Doritos. As much as I enjoy Baldur's Gate, sometimes there's things in the menus where I'm trying to figure out how to do it. Yeah. And it's a complex game. I'm playing on controller, so that's part of it. And there was something very simple that we were trying to figure out. And Doritos just had it on his screen. He was just saying. Oh, right. The the yeah. I don't remember what it was. It was a bar for something.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

It was a party view, you know, being able to pull up the entire party's inventory and tree, skill tree, and all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Yes. So Doritos playing on PC can look at all four people in the party, see what's in their inventory, swap things around, see their abilities selected, and all this stuff. Very comprehensive. And I'm playing on console. That screen does not even exist on console.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

Oh, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah, so we actually spent about five or ten minutes googling how do I access party view? Because I was just trying to swap stuff back and forth quickly between my character and Shadow Heart, because I'm controlling Shadow Heart. Doritos is controlling Asterian. And I I can't do it the same way that Doritos does because of the difference in a in system. Right.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Yeah, it is always interesting when you are playing on a console or a PC and the different UI systems and how everything works.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Yeah, for sure. It's not gameplay, but it is such a key point in how we connect with the game and how our decisions flow.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

It definitely does interrupt the flow if you're trying to because Baldur's Gates crossplay. Like I said, we have different interactions, so it's like, oh, well, you just pull it up in this menu. For me, it's flow, it's just okay, click, click, click, scan, move things around.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Part of that 10 minutes was us just not realizing Doritos, that's not on my screen. I was still looking at it because the idea of I just am not looking hard enough made more sense to me than we have different windows available to us.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

It's kind of funny. I have a hard time. My biggest thing always is when something isn't intuitive, right? Like when you go into a menu and you're like trying to find a setting and it's not intuitive, that's when it's tough.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Like what? I mean, what what setting have you found that's not been intuitive to find?

SPEAKER_03 24:58

Like, I guess it wouldn't be a setting, it would be a controller button, right? It like okay, so you're talking like the controls mapping. Yes, control mapping, and then you go there and it's not intuitive on how to change it. It's so frustrating to me.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Nope, that can definitely be frustrating.

Muscle Memory And Control Mapping

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yes, yeah, a lot of games do presets, and then sometimes what I want to do is swap a L3 button to like a face button. I don't like pushing my control sticks in. And so many games these days have decided that's how you sprint. And one of the games that this is super frustrating to me is Resident Evil 4 Remake. Because, of course, there's Resident Evil 4 from the GameCube and the Wii and the PS3 and PS2. I've played this game on all those systems, and all those older systems you hold down X to run. And so my memory of You're trading muscle memory. Right. My muscle memory from 20 years ago is you hold down X to run, and you use the shoulder buttons to aim and fire. That's still normal, that's the same. But now in RE4 remake for PS5, you push in L3, the control stick, to sprint. And the first 10 minutes of me playing that game every single time, I don't do it. And I get hit, I get hit because I'm trying to hold down X to run. It's like 20-year-old me just takes control of my brain, and it takes a chainsaw to the chest for me to sober up and realize that's not the 2026 controls. That's funny. What me? Chainsaw through the chest is funny to you. It is very funny to me. You die.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

The question is do you scream like Marcus and try to panic roll?

SPEAKER_03 27:12

Well, that's a g okay, that is a very different conversation. I don't handle that stress well.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

I okay, so in scary games, when you're playing on a difficulty where it's a challenge, and your bullets are limited, and that's a whole other kind of stress. Your tension during those fights, it does make you scream and jump and get your heart beating because you're not powerful enough to do my go-to game plan, which is just big boom, right? Like I'm the wizard in DD in Resident Evil, right? That's that's the style of Resident Evil I like. Unlimited ammo on a Magnum, unlimited ammo. Yeah, just blow everything away. I don't want the rocket launcher, though. I don't want to one-shot the bosses, I want to do the mechanics, but with a better gun than them. Okay, yeah, that's my thing. But I don't panic, but I do get stressed. And that stress is what makes games feel scary. It's not actually scary. In fact, I finished my recording playthrough of Resident Evil Requiem. I just wanted to record all the way through, let the cutscenes play everything. So I have the footage on my external hard drive and I can use it for YouTube videos. And even with me watching all the cutscenes, I was four minutes away from succeeding at the speed run of four hours achievement again. And when I was doing the speedrun, I beat the game in three hours and thirty minutes. But this run I beat it in four hours and four minutes without trying to speedrun. So I was not scared at any point in time. I knew exactly where I was going the whole time. I did die twice during boss fights because I refused to use the rocket launcher.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

But if you're doing a speed run, shouldn't you be using the rocket launcher?

SPEAKER_01 29:20

I wasn't doing a speedrun, I just kind of all I almost succeeded at the speedrun again. Oh, I see. Even though I wasn't doing that, and also I found out that the watching the cutscenes does not factor into your playtime because Resident Evil Requiem is like four hours of cutscenes, and by clear time was four hours and four minutes. So wow definitely took me more than four minutes to beat the game. Was it scary? No, not anymore. I'm not scared in Resident Evil Requiem anymore at all.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

Yeah, but the the first time you played it?

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yes. I was terrified. The the the entire playthrough where you have limited bullets and giant monsters running through the hall that you can't kill. Yeah. Yeah. Awful. It's scary.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Scary is it? About. Took me a year to beat Dead Space.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

I love Dead Space. I haven't got it. I haven't started it. Haven't even downloaded it yet. The original. Yeah. No, the remake, I think.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

I didn't play the remake.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

I didn't play the original. I only played the remake.

Horror Games Stress And Speedruns

Metaphor ReFantazio On Steam Deck

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Oh, so I played the original when it first came out, Xbox 360. The game scared me so much that I would put I had a mission that I was going to beat it in a year. So every month, because there's 12 chapters, I think, or 10 chapters, I did, I did one chapter every month because the game legit scared the shit out of me. When you're in zero G and the Necromorphs start biting you, oh dude, no, I don't do well with that. I don't I don't do well. But I I will say there's a game that I'm involved in that I I'm quite fond of right now. And which one's that? Metaphor Gree Fantasio. That's it. I was before I went away a couple for Easter weekend. We went to Rhode Island. I was like, you know, I really want to play a new game. And on the Steam Deck, Elden Ring isn't great on the Steam Deck. Like, if you're exploring, it's fine, but like if you're fighting a boss, it's not great. It's not a great experience. And so I found this game and I was like, oh, it's a turn-based RPG. I had a lot of fun with Claire. Let me try it. So they had a demo and the prologue demo, and it was really good. I want to say I played it for I don't know, 11, 12, 13 hours, and it was a free demo. And I was completely hooked. And so I bought the game and now I'm playing it, and it's really good. Now, again, I'm bringing back the it to the Steam Deck. It's flawless on the Steam Deck. And it that allows me to play wherever. Now I haven't played it in probably four days or so, but that's okay because I've just been busy, but it's there, and it's so good. And I'm starting and it respects your time. That that's the biggest thing, I think, is I was in a dungeon, and like there's these like golden doors that you can like see like a golden aura on the door, and you go in, and that's where you can save it and do your thing. And then if you leave the dungeon, you can go back to the dungeon and then teleport back to that room, which is really respecting your time, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

As far as graphics and how it runs on the Steam Deck, it's an anime style cartoon art video game. When you make your game that way, it allows you to make a game that runs perfectly on any device. And because of that, I don't know why more games don't just use that art style. Because if you look at the amount of gigabytes you need for games that look truly amazing, like I mean, Claire Obscure Expedition 3 is a small download. So this is not that's not a game like that's an example of what I'm saying, but there are several games that when I want to play them on my PS5, I download them and they're over a hundred gigabytes. And when you want to play Persona 5 Royal, Metaphor Refantasio, Persona 3 Reload, all those Atlas games, they are not that huge, and they run so well. Their stories are amazing, they're long games. I just feel like there's no downside to choosing that as the way your game is gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

Yeah. Well, I don't disagree with you, Doc. Well, yeah, I feel like some games are just, you know, like I'll use Call of Duty. I think Call of Duty is like 200 gigs.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Yeah. And out of all those gigabytes, you know, how big of a leap forward is the 200 gigabyte version of that game versus if you change things in the structure of where all that data is being stored. Like, if you tried to have a 90 gigabyte version of that game, what would you lose? And I mean, you are a graphics interested person, Marcus, and I'm not. So I don't what I'm saying is you might notice the difference if they consolidated some of that visual data into things that are easier to store in smaller space. But if those assets were watered down to make the game a hundred gigabytes or 90, I don't think someone like me would even notice the difference.

SPEAKER_03 35:22

I think you would notice. If a game looked like shit, you would be able to tell. I mean, you're playing on a PlayStation, so games are made for that to run good. Run well, run well. Things run good. Yeah. So for me, you are playing on a system where games look the continuously good because they're made for it. If you played a game that like didn't look good, you would be like, wow, this doesn't look great. Like, if you play Elden Ring on your Steam Deck, you're gonna notice the difference.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

Oh, I don't like playing Elden Ring on my Steam Deck. I'm right there with you on this. I want to also add something to how cool it is that you're playing Metaphor Refantasio. I just want to bring something to your attention, Marcus. I think I said this in our phone call, but our listeners didn't hear it, so we're repeating it. I love that you're so excited by this game and you're like, guys, it's so good. But the first time you texted that to me and Doritos, we were actually playing Baldur's Gate 3, and I guess I was filled with inspiration from a successful charisma role or something. And I just was like, oh yeah, Marcus, thanks for letting us know the 2024 game of the year is a good game.

SPEAKER_03 36:47

Yeah, but I don't see it. You know what I mean? You don't feel like you're playing a game of the year when you're playing that game. No, not yet. I think it's I think I am at a point in my gaming life that I play a game that until it's not fun. You know what I mean? Okay, I I no longer care about chasing a platinum. Well, I never have, but chasing like I don't I don't have to beat a game to feel satisfied that like I did it. I play a game until it's not fun.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

I don't know why, but you just made me have like a Rick Blair in my head moment, like yeah, to play the game, whoa, you gotta platinum the game. I don't know. Yeah, well, no, it's but that's not what he's saying.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

You know, the one game I actually want to play, it doesn't run good on my computer, and that's Final Fantasy X.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

And I tried it on my Steam Deck, Switch, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

So I think that's what I'm gonna do. I think I'm gonna get it on the Switch, and I bet it'll run a lot better. On the Switch, yeah, where on my PC it doesn't run great, and on the Steam Deck it wasn't great, but I actually want to play that game. But right now I'm playing Metaphor, so that's pretty much my life.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

Hmm. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

I mean, you say you don't chase platinums, but I just chase two at the same time. So well, Dorito we're just different player types, then there's Doritos.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

I I I've used this example on the show a million times. The difference between Doritos and he was fighting double crucible knights in Elden Ring, swearing up a storm, these fucking guys, blah blah blah. And I was like, wait a minute, there's a boss room that who's has two crucible knights, and he goes, Yeah, where is that? Well, you wouldn't know because you saw a squirrel and went the other way.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Pretty much, that's about right.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Because I'm like, man, that sounds awful. I can't beat one of them, let alone two.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Yeah. I miss Elden Ring. Maybe I should download it on the PS5 and see if it's a different experience than what I did on my PC.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

Where do you have the DL DLC?

SPEAKER_01 39:11

On my PC. But Windows 11 has ruined my computer just in terms of hard drive space. So I don't know how well Elden Ring would run right now. You could easily get it.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

Fix or upgrade. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Yeah, it's probably coming soon.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

To a theater near you. Or just wait for Elden Ring to come out on the Switch 2.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

I have never played the Switch 2. It really does belong to my son.

2026 Gaming Goals And Streaming Plans

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Oh, you okay. Yeah, I I don't either. You know, speaking of handhelds, I should see if I can get Final Fantasy on the uh Switch. I have a baby one. Like a little baby. Oh, the light? Yeah. What would you say your gaming goal would be for 2026?

SPEAKER_02 40:19

Doritos, I choose you. In tribute.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

I'm a Pokemon now?

SPEAKER_02 40:25

Crap.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

You could be. So say we all. Fireball at Marcus.

unknown 40:33

Fireball.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

I don't know. My my for me, I'm just trying to enjoy my games. I'm trying to play stuff that's a little still a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I still have you know, I'm just always gonna play Soul Tour. But try to to play other games to expand my just gaming enjoyment. I am not I'm not ever gonna try tower through stuff, push through stuff as quick as I can. Otherwise just chew through games so fast I don't enjoy 'em. But I am going to just play games I enjoy.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

That's kind of my goal for this year. Alright. Dr. Kaufman.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

Dr. I think an award-winning helicopter.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Yeah. I think for me, I wanna I wanna be able to get the Platinum Trophy in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. And then that'll just set me up to be completely ready whenever they do release part three of that trilogy. And I think I do ultimately want to get caught up in Final Fantasy XIV. I I really just want to get to the point where I know what it is I want to play as a streamer, and I just do it, and things are in my comfort zone. I think there's been so many months where I just wasn't sure what kind of content I wanted to create, and it has gotten to the point where I'm not creating anything, and that bothers me. So I want to just get back into consistency, but also consistent and enjoying what it is I'm choosing to do.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Also, there's so many really good games that have come out since my cutoff date or including them in the gamer's journey. And I constantly am thinking about that list is getting bigger and bigger as time goes on, games that did not get mentioned in that book because they were brand new or they weren't out yet. And I am always wondering what would be different if I had Metaphor Refantasio in my mind. What would be different if Claire Obscure Expedition 33 existed? You know, these are games that have changed me forever, and the version of me that wrote The Gamer's Journey didn't have those yet. Right. That makes some interesting motivational thoughts happen in my brain every day.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

Yeah, it The Journey Strikes Back. I still wait for social media, stealth announcement.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Yeah, Shadow Drop. It's released today. I wrote it in secret.

SPEAKER_03 43:43

Right. I'm waiting for that day.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

We'll see. But I promise everyone that it's it's not gonna be a quad AI generated book, so it's gonna take a while. Well

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Whatever it is, the uh Journey Strikes Back is really intriguing to me. I just want you to name it that. Have them all the stars.

SPEAKER_01 44:12

I I've never once considered that to be the name.

SPEAKER_03 44:17

Well, it's gonna be the trilogy.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Yeah. Return of the journey. The third one.

SPEAKER_03 44:25

No, the journey returns.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

Oh man. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 44:34

Anyway, I was curious about what your goals were. What's yours? I need to dedicate, like, I'm busy, and I hate the excuse of how busy you are because if you really want to do something, you will make time for it. And I need I need to make time for me and gaming. And that is my goal, been my big goal of 2026, is to make whether it's I'm gonna use Monday nights. If Monday nights is my night, it doesn't matter if I have hockey or you know, whatever Monday night from eight o'clock to ten o'clock at night, or whatever that is, nine to eleven, whatever it is, that's my game time. And I need to, that's my goal. The game-wise, like I said earlier, I play a game just to play. And when I'm done with it, I'm done with it, and that's okay. I would love to play Crimson Desert, but I can't. I can't invest that much time.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

For me, I'm trying to find a game that can consistently be something that I want to stream, and so if a game is fun and lengthy and deep, that could be a good game. But also, I played Expedition 33 uh twice on my stream last year because I I didn't retain the information the first time through. So, you know, if a game is short, that's good too. I've beaten Resident Evil 9 like eight times now. Because it's a four-hour game if you know what you're doing. That's crazy. Yeah.

Games As Mental Health Practice

SPEAKER_03 46:43

Well, I think making time is the way it's just for me, it just has to happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

I do have something that I want to tease, and I don't know how far ahead of schedule we are on this, but I pitched something at work today that basically will change potentially the way people that cross paths with me learn to understand video games as a psychological experience. And it was received so positively from my leadership that it's almost certainly going to happen. And I don't want to say what it is, but it could be another thing that goes right side by side with what my book is in terms of having that positive influence of making people have smarter conversations about video games and mental health. And that that really is my mission. That's why I started the podcast, even though we accomplish other goals too. I think for me, that is my main quest showing up is to try to help people understand that when we play games, we do think pretty intently about the experience and what it is we're trying to do. And that thought process style can filter into who we are as people outside of video games. And we can use that in a really positive way to achieve things, to respect other people, to connect with them. And every time I talk about the social stuff in video games on threads, there's always people that are like, gaming communities are so toxic. What are you talking about? And you know, those toxic communities, you know, PvP and you know, that kind of thing, highly competitive spaces. That's true. The games I'm talking about are different kinds of spaces for sure, but I still think overall games are a net positive, even in the social side of life. And I just want more people to understand how that happens for people.

Everyone Can Be A Gamer

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Yeah, I can see that. And I want everybody to play video games.

SPEAKER_01 49:03

Yeah, even if it's wordle. It's a New York Times game where you have to guess a word every day. Oh. Five letters, you get a color code for how many letters you got right, and then you have to use the process of elimination to guess the word in a set number of attempts. I think you get five attempts to guess the word.

SPEAKER_04 49:28

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 49:29

It's a video game. You have a daily streak, and there's rules and there's limits, there's a you know, limited number of attempts. People that play that are kind of the crossword puzzle type bunch of people. Oh, sure. And they they probably don't think of themselves as gamers, but it is a game with set rules, rewards, it happens on a screen. That's a video game.

SPEAKER_03 49:54

You know, it's funny is my wife always said, I'm not a gamer, and there was like a point where she was playing Candy Crush and more hours that more hours than I play video games.

SPEAKER_01 50:05

Yeah, it's funny how you know that there are a lot of things in life in the adult world, and adults looking down at children too, where if you do it not my way, it's a bad thing, but my way is completely justified.

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

And we call that what's a good vocabulary word for that? Hypocrisy, maybe. Yeah. It's important to check yourself before you wreck yourself. Continue the journey.