Super Garbage Day - Episode 101: Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC)

This episode has the following; 2000's edge lord themes, big tiddy goth vampires, 500+ f-bombs (B-Ross was drunk), and a deep dive into one of the most under-appreciated RPG's from the early 2000's... welcome to the masquerade.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Oh fuck me. Okay, let's just go into first impressions. I am such a troubled, troubled man right now. That was terrible.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Literally just watching it. You just fall apart. That hasn't happened since like our first episode.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Welcome to Super Garbage Day, a retro video game review show where my co-host and I play a game 20 years or older that you, the listener, chooses. Every episode we randomly pick a game submitted by the community to play, kindly dissect, and then discuss. Welcome to episode 101. It's been 16 months, but I am your host, B. Ross, also known as Charlie Coleslaw. And with me today is my co-host. Count Mr. Miller. Count Mr. Miller. So usually I have a segment here, and I don't really feel like doing one other than just like maybe like a talking crash-esque thing. But I gotta tell you about my day. It's been a really weird. It's been a weird week. It's been a weird couple of weeks, to be honest with you. There's there's a lot I can't go into uh for respect of my you know everything. But I do want to say though, as of today, here's the thing. So um, you know, I was a garbage man, and then for a while I was an executive assistant, and apparently I have a lot of jobs, which doesn't seem very like you know um stable, but I'm back to being a bartender, and I love being a bartender. I actually like own that completely. I love I love that, and I work at like a bar that has lottery, and this is new to me. I don't really worked at a bar that has like lottery, and if you're not aware of what that means in Oregon, we have video lottery machines that are you didn't miss much, my friend, which bring a whole different level of a lot of different things. Um, primarily it's adding another vice to a vice ultimately, and uh so it's all new to me. You know, I never worked at a lottery bar, and uh it's been great though. Like, I'm gonna be completely honest with you. I make twice as much money as I used to. It's kind of phenomenal and insane. Um, but it's still not enough to like you know buy a house and survive as a you know middle class person, which doesn't exist anymore, but I'm like political. Let's uh let's stay on the point here. I today decided after my shift, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna throw$20 in one of these machines. Now I'm not a gambler, I don't like to gamble. It just seems like wasting money. But today I was like, you know what, I'm gonna throw$20 in there. I'm doing good. I played poker on the weekend at a house game, I won. And I was like, eh, I got a little bit of money, extra money, whatever. Let's throw 20 bucks in here. Bro, I throw 20 bucks in this game, I don't even understand how it works. It's just like a bunch of flashing lights or whatever on these video lottery machines, and anybody listening who's not from Oregon, it's just like the it's the whatever slot machines are now in like Vegas or whenever you go to a place at the Indian Casino, I don't know. Uh$1,600. I made sixteen hundred dollars. Oh, nice. So you you actually have to go to uh Salem. I I have to go to Salem, correct. But I don't I was like, what? I put 20 bucks in this, hit a bunch of buttons, sixteen hundred dollars. Okay, right on. That's amazing, makes no sense. Um, and that's all it is. I'll never touch the the games again. I'm like, cool, I'm walking away from this, but I'm on this weird high because this happened like two, yeah, no, you two hours ago. So this is like recent. I'm like, what this is crazy. Like, I just thought I'd that's how they get you though, right? Go ahead, Mr. Miller.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

No, you you beat the system, dude, because I uh I worked at the bars that had lotto my entire time, yeah. And you just watch people just piss money away chasing that dragon.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Oh, I mean, it's yeah, I mean, I I worked here for a couple months, I love my job. I will tell you, you are not wrong. Like watching people literally come in and go back and forth from the ATM machine and know that they shouldn't be doing that, and no, and like, oh, oh, yeah, like no, no, I would watch people hit big, they'd win like 800 bucks and then just put it all right back in.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

I saw that too, and I'm like, dude, you were up, you were actually up at this point, maybe by only like a hundred bucks, because I've seen you put more than five hundred dollars in that machine, but it's like, dude, that would have just cleared your debt with this bar. You could have gone home, paid your rent, had a sandwich.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

But that's not that's not the mentality of the average like video lottery player, though, because they're always chasing that high. That's what I realized from like watching it as a bartender. I'm like, this is a drug for them, and that like it doesn't even matter win or lose, they have to do it. And I've watched that literally happen with this really nice lady who comes in and she works for like she's like actually is a not a doctor, but she works with a doctor. I'm not gonna say too much, and she came in and she like hit like 800 bucks, and she was still like flying high and buying everybody drinks, and and then I was like, Well, here you go, here's your money, and she tipped me like 60 bucks. It was crazy, you know. And then she walked back to the machine, and I thought in my head, I'm like, I'm not gonna say shit because part of my job is just like you know, like be the bartender and whatever. But in my head, I was like, You need to you need to go home right now. And bro, four hours later, she's walking out of there with zero money. And I was like, Oh man, she had that moment though, she had that moment, and she could have still had it, but now it's even worse because she lost the money initially and then got up and then sunk it all. Oh, it's rough, it's a rough environment to witness, but yeah, I'm not playing that shit ever again. I'm like, yeah, I'm up, it's good, we're good. I don't even understand this game, but yeah, I'll take my 1600 and buy some master system games. Yeah, there you go. Well, yeah, so that was uh that was uh that was the the big event today that was bizarre. Also, I made great tips too on top of it. So I was like, oh, this is fantastic. But uh yeah, those things, those machines don't like really speak to me, is the thing. Like I don't quite understand. Like I've always been like when it comes to gambling, I like I like skill-based games.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

We had um uh an old roommate that is like early 20s, who he was um uh working at a uh a hospital, he was making decent money. Um, and we actually had to take his debit card from him uh so that he could and give him an allowance because he would literally get his paycheck, pull it all out, and go blow it all on uh the video lottery. And I'm like, dude, I'm not covering your rent another time. But also, if we don't pay your portion of the rent, we all lose our house. Like, yeah, that's rough, dude.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

That's really what it is, though. It's engineered to do that, though. Like I've noticed it with the game. Like, my my short time playing these games, I'm like, they're absolutely engineered to hit your like dopamine receptors and be like, oh no, you're doing good. Keep putting money in.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah, they they trickle, they trickle feed you. Um, my mom, uh, when they lived in uh uh Southern Oregon, they would go to one of the Indian casinos down there. And they would literally, they're just like, Okay, well, this is our gambling money, uh, win or lose. We're just here to just watch flashy lights. Um, and I was like, that's the correct mentality. You're just like, I'm just that is the way to do it. I'm just here to blow some time because I'm old and retired, and I'm like, I got an extra 300 bucks. Let's just go look at the things and try and get some bonuses and what people watch, and then they'd have dinner and then they'd go home. And then it'd be like, Did you win anything today? And it's just like, nope, but uh that was our entertainment for the week, so yeah, and unfortunately, that's not the demographic.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

It's uh yeah, from my viewpoint, it's uh a lot of people who are addicted to drugs, and uh I don't know, they all have dirty hands. I don't understand it. Super dirty hands. I've seen people come in that look really primed and proper and like very clean, and super dirty hands. I can't figure it out. I'm like, why it's from it's from it's from rubbing their fingers over those nasty ass machines all day. I cleaned the shit out of them, but yeah, I'm just surprised. That's like the weird common denominator.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

I used to work in a blockbuster and just restocking the shells, my hands would be fucking filthy. Oh, that makes sense. And I'm just like, all I touched was DVD cases, and and I was just like, I I must clean the entire store. This needs to be purged with fire.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

I feel like you're giving them the benefit of the doubt, but uh I do too, because I'm like, I don't want to know why your hands are like look like you worked in a coal mine, you know, like it's it's all good. I'm just gonna keep dipping my fingers in the bleach water, you know, as a bartender does a thousand times. But yeah, it was a weird, it was a weird scenario, and um, yeah, so I I'm gonna like I'm actually gonna use that money to like have like a super cool experience with my kids. Like, I'm gonna like totally plan out sorry, burping. That was like the most deep gutted burp. That was I was like holding in a burp the whole time you were talking, and I was like, Oh, it'll be fine. It just fucking overwhelmed me.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Um that was the that was the gambling demon that was manifesting, just being purged out of the game.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

This is great content. But yeah, I was um I'm gonna use that money and just give my kids like the best summer experience, and they just never gamble again because I'm like, no, fuck the system. You're not getting me. Plus, I don't understand your game, like, and I make money off of it. That's the whole thing. It's like a big portion of the tips I get are from people hitting, and they're like, and I cash them in, they give them their money, they give it back, and I'm like, yeah, fuck yeah, let's go. So yeah, it was it was a weird, cool day. Yeah. Well, hopefully, my boss doesn't hear this episode, but but she knows. She knows. She has a clientele.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Well, yeah, she would have to know because she's gonna pull, she's gonna, she's gonna pull the um the records and be like, oh, somebody hit sixteen hundred dollars and b Ross has to go to Salem today, huh?

SPEAKER_00 11:23

You know, the funniest part of that is that like they have to um, so we have the like the lottery guy come in and uh he has to post up on the wall like the winners, like the big winners, and uh like there's optional pitchers. I was like, Yeah, I'll I'll do the pitcher, you know, like fucking, yeah. It'll just be me, like the bartender. So I think that'll be a good selling point for people coming back. Like, oh, the fucking bartender hit the jackpot, and it'll be like, Look, and you can do it too. You can do it too. Believe in yourself, even though your world is crumbling around you, and you're just all you have left to hit your dopamine and serotonin receptors. I'm being so mean right now, but it's really, really what it is. Like it's it's so gnarly, like, but it's good money. What are those words you said?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

No, dopamine and serotonin? What are those? Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

We don't have we haven't had those since 2012. So, yeah, those those went away a long time ago. Oh my god. Okay, let's uh move on. What's new in Atlanta Super Garbage Day? Well, you know, it's been a fucking while since episodes released. I I'm so sorry, everybody. It's just been you know, I can give every excuse in the world, all the problems, but to be completely honest, I've been slacking on it, and so it really falls on me. Um that's really all it is. I I've been trying.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

I was I was ready two weeks ago for this episode. I know you were, and I apologize.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

It's just it's just such a I don't know. I I I don't want to be a person that gives excuses. I'm just like trying. Uh it's just been a trying time. Um, but I love the show and I love you know everything that's going on. Uh anyways. Yeah, so that's what's going on. Mr. Miller, what's going on with you?

SPEAKER_01 13:17

I I am two weeks out from being unemployed. Hooray. No, no, from uh from Leica? That's that yeah. Well, because the movie's wrapping. I'm that's that's my end date. And then they're just gonna do final polishing and ship it off to the print shop.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

You don't get like any royalties on the release, or I'm sure that they fucking definitely they probably definitely were like, fuck that. I'm sorry, bro.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

We don't even have the visual effects community, doesn't even have a union. You think we're getting royalties?

SPEAKER_00 13:51

I'm sorry, man. But hey, move back.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

I get we can release the episode every day. I get a credit and I get to make an IMD. All right. I I get I get a credit in the excuse me. The demons are coming out on both of us. I get uh I get a credit in the film and I get to make an IMDB page. Hooray.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Hey, yo, it's gonna be Oscar nominated, though. So there's that.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Oh it oh it better. Oh, it better be. I think it has to be every one of their releases were so you have that, yep, and we've lost every single one of them. Hooray! Well, you know I hope it wins. Just there's always the there's always the globes. There's always the globes. Always the Razzies. Who knows? Yeah, well, I'm no we we we we we never won an Oscar, but we've always won like an Academy or not an Academy Award, a Golden Globe. Always a bridesmaid, or one of those other yeah, never the never the bride.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

So well, hopefully this is the one. I fucking hope it is for you, man. So because that's a huge thing to have on your resume. But you know, it's yeah, whatever. If you have to move back, it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

You know, it would be real it I mean it would be really funny because it's just like I need I need a roommate. Yeah, well, you know, we'll see how the things pan out. We'll see how things pan out once that fun enjoyment money uh runs out, then I'll I'll be I'll be able to scrape the bottle.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Well, I'm very proud of you, man. You you you've you've done so much, like it's so cool to see you go from like full sale right into Leica and then like put all that work in, and then you know, like in you're such a hard worker. It's one thing that like I really really looked up to you about is that you're you're an extremely hard worker. You put all of your soul into anything, even at Pegasus. I'm just like totally doxing us right now, but like I've always highly respected you for like your your work ethic, and um, you deserve it, and it's coming for you. So, yeah, I don't know where I'm going with that. I'm just I'm running the high of winning a fucking video lottery jet.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

So well, I appreciate it. Let's talk some video games. Yeah, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Let's move the fuck on. All right, let's talk about the retro question of the week. This comes from me. What objectively bad game is fun in your eyes? And Jojo Vergeho says, the bad games I know for fun would probably be the game called One for the Original. Oh, I'm sorry, One for the Original PlayStation. Where you play a guy who loses his arm as quick with an arm cannon and all. I'm trying my best with this, but I think I know what I'm talking about. I thought that was actually based off initially like Bruce Willis was in that? No, no, that's not the same game, but you know what I'm talking about here? This makes any sense?

SPEAKER_01 17:06

One with the video game with with with No, I have I have the only thing the only one I know is the uh the Chet Lee film.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

What am I- Oh, it's a great film though. Where he has to fight himself. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Are you are you thinking of uh what is it? Surrogates?

SPEAKER_00 17:22

That's no like I think I'm confusing this game. No, no, no, no. Uh that's that's looper. What is the game that had Bruce Willis in it, though, on the PS1? It was like, I thought this was it. It's called One. The diehard arcade port? Anyways, I know what I know what game he's talking about. It's actually not a bad game. Um, from my recollection. It was like a good rental, but it wasn't like a good purchase. But I swear to god, if anybody can remember that fucking Bruce Willis game. Bruce Willis Apocalypse. Apocalypse, that's what it is. I thought Armageddon, but that's what I confused it for.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

No, and then there there was also uh and we we even played we even played it for the show, um uh the uh uh uh fifth element game.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Oh god. Oh yeah. For the cursed fucking super garbage bowl that never once concluded anytime I tried to do it. Oh my god, what a fucking I was like what foreshadowing that was. I was just like, you gotta be kidding me.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

I played all this bullshit, we're not even gonna record. I know.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

It was all me. Don't worry. It was all it falls on me. I try my best. All right, firefighter says boy and its blob. Instead of boy and its blob. Well, I guess it's the same thing. I know boy and its blob. Yeah, from Mark Kitchen or whatever, David Crane. I don't I don't remember who put his name on the front cover, guys. By the way, you gotta you gotta listen. Listen. I'm a little slurry. All right, I want I won sixteen hundred dollars. I bought the whole bar tequila shots. Yeah, it's no longer a children's podcast. Oh, we're good now. No Yoshis. Anyways, uh that game actually is charming and I like it. And I remember as a kid, I didn't understand it, but I was like, uh, it's kinda cool. He's fucking feed jelly beans to your thing, and it fucking becomes a rocket. But uh, I don't think it's a bad game. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Um I you know, I don't really have that much experience with it. I just know of it. I was like, oh yeah, that game.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

It's good. I mean, ish, but like it's it's well made. Like aesthetically, it's pleasing, and I think like its mechanics were it was not really, it was super new first time. Like, go through your jelly beans and throw it to your blob and it like does it. It's got a nine out of ten. Yeah, nine out of ten.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

It's got a nine out of ten on on on the Steam review, so it can't be awful.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

No, it's actually not a bad game. I mean, it's different. I think it was ahead of its time. Like, people were not ready for that kind of shit. But alright, I gotta move on. Alright, Mask Keaton says The Legend of Zelda 2, the adventures of Link. Love the fighting mechanics, XP, and music. Well, alright. Well, I'm a known hater of this game. I've tried. I've come back to other games that are bad or you know, quote unquote shitty games, and realize that they're good. But I cannot appreciate this game. I just hate this game. I don't really hate it. I shouldn't say hate. Hate's a strong word, but it's just too I don't know. It's weird. It gives me weird vibes. It has when I was a kid. I didn't like the the sounds, the way it was the music, any bit of it. I I just don't like Zelda 2. I never have. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 21:02

No, I I I'm I'm with you on that. I I actually have the same vibes like this. Every time I've ever picked it up, I'm just like, this feels cursed. Yeah, it feels cursed. Like there's something about it. The perfect word, yeah. Yeah, and I was just like yeah, it just it it has an uneasy feeling, and I don't know if that's like on purpose, but I think it was it was changing uh the mold before the original mold even set, if that makes even sense. Yeah, like it went too far, it was it was too much of a departure. Yeah. My favorite is at least it still is just a platformer. It's it the DNA is still there, but like Zelda 2, which is like We're gonna be a weird side-scrolling RBG now.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

It was funny too is that everybody thinks about the part twos of other games, right? That's cobbled into it. Like, you know, Simon's Quest, this game, Mario. They were so different. And it was weird because I don't think they meant to do that. But they did. And I think this was the weakest link of the three going into their like part twos that were unconventional.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

So the weakest link. I see what you did there. I I'm wondering if it was the same kind of thing that happened with Mario 2 where it was meant to be another game, and they're like, we can't sell that. No way. Put link in it and call it a Zelda.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

No way. This was absolutely a fucking uh what's his face was like, no, we're doing this game and we're gonna like step it up. I'm just putting it out there, I haven't done the research, so well, I think that like it was of the three of the three like sequels that were weird, this game was the most ambitious in a sense of like trying to like change the formula because obviously like Mario 2 was just like they're like, Oh, well, fuck, Americans can't take fucking you know the what became the lost levels. They're like, Well, it's just fucking take a look at it. Yeah, let's take Doki Doki Panic and like make that Mario 2, and they're like, Oh, yeah, cool, and it works. Here you dumb, here you dum dums. Here's this easier game, yeah. Castlevania, they're like, Oh, let's just make it a little more expansive and a little more like open world, you know. But fucking Zelda 2 was such a departure from the first one, and the first one was so remarkable. I think of the three original games, 100% think that Zelda was like number one, you know, because like personally, Mario 1 is a fucking six out of ten game. I don't care what anybody says. The first Mario is not that good of a game, but it was remarkable for its time period, like what it did and how it taught you how to play in the first level and everything for platforming, absolutely fucking remarkable for everything moving forward, but it's not that good of a game. Like it's it's not in retrospect. Mario 2 fucking made it amazing. Castlevania 2 actually now in hindsight, pretty amazing what they did. They kind of did the same thing that Mario did, in a sense, expanding Simon's Quest is a much better game, the engineer journal.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Yeah, Simon's Quest is awesome. The music is better, the music's better. The controls are better. It's cool.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

The the the sprite the sprite work is better, yeah. Zelda 2. Nah, nah dog. Like, no, it's it's it ain't doing it for me. Uh it's it's weird. It's so weird. It's it's such a fucking departure from the first one to where you're like, okay, is this where we're going? So much that you know that the they went when you get to Zelda 3, they were like, oh no, we didn't we need to go back to the fucking first one. Like this was way too far.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Like they're like, oh, oh, oh shit, we fucked up. Good.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

We fucked up, yeah. That's my whole take on it. Is that you can tell moving forward with all those fucking IPs where they kind of fucked up, and that's why I don't like Zelda 2 because I was a part of that crowd. I was like, nah, weird. I don't like it. Nah, it doesn't feel good. I I gave it the time of day multiple times, but no, no, I ain't fucking with Zelda 2. So it's gonna be like the longest episode ever, but good. It's been like fucking four weeks. Um, let me move on. Florida's best Keith says Earth Defense Force 2017. Okay, I gotta talk about this game. I love this game. So, my experience with this game's uh Earth Defense Force 2017 was when I was collecting uh Xbox 360 games and trying to do a YouTube channel about it. And I came across this, and it was like three dollars at my goodwill, and I bought it, and I played all the games, but that one in particular, I was like, this game's fun as fuck, dude. This game is great, it's jank, it has fucking frame rate issues, there's a lot going on, but god damn, this game's fun. So I 100% support that view. Um, Chris Copley. Have you ever played this game?

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Um I I I had to look this one up, and no, I have not played it personally, but I I've seen people play it, and it looked fun as shit because I love kaiju, I love my big dumb monsters and giant bugs, and um, so yeah, this is so this looks tight.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

You had to play it. Like, I I this is one of the few fucking 360 games I own because I love it so much.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

It's giving me like um I know I know you're not like climbing on them and stuff, but the scale at least is giving me uh Shadow of the Colossus.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Mixed with mixed with Lost Planet. Did you ever play that one?

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Oh yeah, Lost Planet on 360, yeah. It definitely has those vibes, but it came from like a line of different like EDFs. So like it's like the perfect that game is so underrated. That's an underrated game. I don't I would never consider that a bad game because it's so fucking fun. You should play that. It's a good game.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

All right, yeah, if I get my hands on it, I'll let you borrow it.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

I got fucking six Xbox 360s because I thought they were the next thing to pop. I don't think I I don't think I have a 360 anymore. I will send you one, bro. When they were about to shut down the Xbox 360 marketplace, I was like, bro, I'm gonna go to my fucking goodwill because they had tons of them, and I I bought so many of them for$15.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

I was there.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Oh, you were?

SPEAKER_01 27:57

I never went, I was there for it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Well, yeah, I'll send you one. It's fine. I'm I'm sending my polo. That's so funny. Just for that game, it's good, it's a good game. That game's fantastic, it's silly too. All right, Leithco says Robocop NES. Never played it, but I hear it's kind of jank. I hear like from what I've seen, people say that like you know, the movement is a little rough and stiff, and it's super hard, but I feel like that's like a lot of NES games. Have you played RoboCop on the NES?

SPEAKER_01 28:31

No, um, the only of the uh the robot guy franchise games that I played on a console was the uh SNES Terminator 2 game. Oh fuck, dude. I remember that game.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Bro, the fucking motorcycle? The motorcycle fucking driving around like top-down view. Oh, dude, that's part sucks.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Just the first level was hard as shit as a kid because the mechanics don't make any sense. Yeah, and you move, you move like garbage. It's like they were trying to make you this menacing, like creeping death, kind of like he is in the movies, but in a game, it does not translate well.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

No, it does not, and they also didn't make the didn't make like Arnie look like really tough.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

He looks like your average Joe in like a fucking he looks he he looks more like the T1000 than he does uh um bro, those parts of the games are fucking rough too, though.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

When you get to the house, I don't know. I that game's fucking rough, dude. Ugh. Alright, anyways. Game time says Archon or Archon NES. Archon? I don't know what that is. Is that like the weird yeah? Is that like the weird like um semi-chess game? That's a bullet hell, I believe. It's a bullet hell. I thought that was like a uh my my brain is remembering um.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Oh wait, no, no, no. This is it's it's battle chess. It's bat it. It is it is like battle chess, which I never played Archon, but I did I did play the shit out of battle chess on my uh um uh my Mac when it first came out.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

So you're probably really good at this game. You probably would have owned it. I don't know. I'm I'm pretty decent at Chess, so I suck. I I barely can remember names these days, so well, all right. God, that was a lot of people. But I appreciate it. Yeah, let's keep going with this. Mr. Miller, which objectively bad game is fun in your eyes?

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Uh too human for the uh um the Xbox 360.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Oh no shit. Didn't they have like a big background like thing going on with it?

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Like like it was it was in development hell forever. It it it sunk like three companies. Um it's this it's this yeah, it's like because it like bounced from one company to another, and as they just like closed their doors, people just like to use it as the scapegoat of what what shuttered them. Uh Thousand Knights was the last developer that had it, and they went under like right after it uh released. Um, and it's this like uh Diablo-esque third person shooter fighter um set in Norse mythology, but it's all like sci-fi.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Wait, wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Diablo-esque third person shooter, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

It's a looter shooter, but it's in third person perspective, but you can also use melee weapons because you can like choose to go down like the melee path or the gun path. Oh, so um, and and then you get like magic powers, um, and you're supposed to be playing Balder. Um oh, no shit. Yeah, you play the first the first like section of it is like reliving the tales of Beowulf. So you have to fight Grendel and his mother, and then you go off to fight other Norris uh monsters and deities, and um it it got absolutely dunked on, but I loved that game, and I was really bummed that you never got a sequel because they teed it up for this big sprawling epic. I wanna I wanna play it now. It was like Taylor made for me. Yeah, it sounds like it was exactly for you. Everyone else, everyone else hated it, and I'm like, this game is awesome. You all suck. I love this. It's probably how Mask Keaton's feeling as we just dunked on Zelda 2.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

I mean, listen, there's like a weird, I don't know. The Zelda 2 is definitely like a very debated conversation, right? Like, like I don't hate the game, I appreciate it, but like it's not for me. It's so not for me. It I reject it like physically and mentally, like I just don't like it, but it's not a bad game.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

And I only know one other physical person that has actually played Two Human. Everything else is just you know, internet people. Oh, yeah, no. Um, my my room, my current roommate is the only other person that I know of who's actually played it. That's my submission. Yeah, if you can find it, good luck.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Really? Is it like expensive now? I gotta see. I'm down with that. I still collect 360, so well, I'll do that later. Okay, but no, you you piqued my interest for sure on this. Um, my answer is not as cool as that, but um, I'm just gonna say, where's Waldo on the NES? Now hear me out, everybody. I know this game is fucking dog water. Hear me out! I know this game is fucking a dog shit sandwich, but it is such a fun speedrun. Like, the whole reason I started playing this game is because the speedrun is so fast, it's like under two minutes, and so I like memorize the game or you know, like try to figure out like where it is. It's a fucking super shitty game. Like when you load it up, you're like, Oh, where the fuck? I can't tell what the fuck Waldo is or who the fuck Waldo is. It gets even worse when you up the difficulty because it like changes the color of Waldo, which is uh really a sin, a cardinal sin to like where's Waldo. But as a speed run, it is so fucking fun because you do it so fast, and I realize this would be a fun game to if you taught somebody, it would take you like 10 minutes to teach somebody how to speedrun this game. You can do it in your house if that this is this has never happened in the history of America or probably the world, where you're like, Oh, come over, I'll teach you where's Waldo and then yes, we'll fucking practice speedrunning together. But every fucking time I load up speedrun.com, it alerts me that somebody has pushed me down further. Then now I'm like, Okay, whatever. Everybody like fuck you guys. All right, cool. Yeah, you just want to play the easy game, but it's fun, it's a fun game if you speedrun it. Super shitty, awful game, otherwise.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Oh, anyways. I do want to make a correction. Thousand Knights wasn't the last people that had two human, it's silicon nights.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

That's why they didn't that that makes more sense. I remember that. They made um, correct me if I'm wrong, though. Did they make um eternal darkness? They did, and they made Legacy of Cain. Oh, they're a good company, dude. Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

They were a good company. Sorry. Oh no, they made some good shit.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

Fuck, dude. Fuck the world. This world sucks, man.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Two human 60 60 million dollar failure.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Oh, dude, and also like fucking um eternal darkness didn't do well either. That sucks, man.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

That game's amazing as well. If anybody has a GameCube one hunt and you're into horror, 100% recommended.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

That game's amazing. Yeah, it is, but it's hard now because it's like it's not gonna like hit as good as it did in the past, right? Like, like it's it was an experience for the time, but now like especially if you just like you just grab it and you just if you just throw it in and you don't have like save files and stuff that you care about. Yeah, but like it's hard to like tell somebody who doesn't know about that game to be like, hey, play this fucking game cube, this antiquated game, and I'm not gonna spoil anything. And they're like, no, I got better things to do.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Um there's a yeah, just just for anybody who's curious who doesn't know, there is a sanity system that fucks with your shit. And when it came out, we were just like, This game's possessed, it's ruining my system.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

It was a big deal, and also amnesia fucking bit off them hard.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

Those are also great games, they are good games.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

What do you think of the bunker?

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Um, I haven't finished it. Um, but I I I was enjoying it. It's it's it's different because you can fight back a lot more, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

But it's also like it adds a little bit to like the whole situation.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

If you haven't played Amnesia, it was way better than the one that came out before the bunker. I can't even remember the name.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

Oh, it's like a machine of machine of pigs.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

No, machine of pigs is dope. Um before that, all right. There was one just before that was after that, and it's basically a walking simulator. They they kind of well. Hold on. You like machine of pigs? Yeah, machine of pigs was awesome. The the monster is so scary in Machina Pigs, it is fucking terrifying. Yes, that's what I'm here for. I'm for the I'm here for the creatures.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

What do you think of Outlast then? I really like Outlast. I do too. Um, that first one's fucking that one's rough to get through. I not in a sense of like it's bad, but in a sense of like it's fucking if you have bad anxiety that you don't play the first outlast. Like it's it's rough.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

That that might be that might be something I have to get back into once I have more free time, is uh actually start streaming some horror games.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

You should man. I'm all I'm here for it. What do you think is the scary you know fuck this? Um what do you think is the scariest game you've ever played?

SPEAKER_01 38:52

Uh the alien game.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Isolation?

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Alien isolation, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

Really?

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Yep, that one like that one actually had uh me and my buddy just on the couch screaming like like little girls.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Um I think you spoke of this before. I think we've talked about this, but like three years ago on the show.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Well, it's just the fact that the AI is so good and then it learns and it's actively hunting you and not just like on little paths, yeah. Um, because it actually feels like you're being hunted by a monster, unlike most horror games where it's just like, okay, well, he's gonna go around this corner and I just run away. But like with this, you're just being like, is it safe to run around that corner, or is he just standing there waiting for me?

SPEAKER_00 39:44

So it's kind of like the the the roguelikeness of it, right? Where you're like, oh fuck, I don't know, I gotta figure out like a different path.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

It is that feeling of being actively hunted and not just knowing a strat, yeah, figuring out the strategy, yeah. Because you have to adapt and change. Because if you do the same thing over multiple deaths, it's learning how you play the more you die. So you have to start switching your your your shit up to confuse it.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Yeah, I haven't played it yet, actually. Uh it's great. I know, you're kind of scaring me. You'd love it a little bit. I'm like, I probably would fucking love it, be honest. I would because my answer was that res Resident Evil 7.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

So oh, seven was a seven was a really good one for the first half. I did not like it.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

No, man, when it gets to that fucking ship, though, when you go to the boat, it falls apart. Yeah, I'm like, why? Yeah, you had the perfect game. It's still my favorite Resident Evil, but like seven, like the fucking whole you know, backwoods part of it, like got me. I know it's scripted too, but no, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

But that one, that one actually utilizes some of the tech from isolation.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

No shit. Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

So like they the the the especially with the the uh the the mom. Yeah, when she's like when she's like hunting you through the house, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

Yeah, the fucking bro. Oh like I remember when I first played that game, I was like, I played on my Steam Deck, so it's like not even like the best fidelity, but I remember there was an option to play a VR, and at the time I had like a VR headset, and I'm like, fuck no. Oh yeah, fuck no, I'm playing this game because I played like the first hour and a half of it, and I'm like, this is some of the best survival horror I think ever. Like, personally, I think it was such a fucking symphony of everything that's scary, and like also at the at that point, like technologically, like, and then moving you know, Resident Evil into a first person situation, which people were super against, but then again, you're like Resident Evil 6 and 5 are like, but yeah, god damn, it was such a punctuation of of it all coming together that I was like, oh, this is so fucking good, you know. Yeah, that that one is definitely a runner-up.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

I haven't played eight though, so well, eight is just Lagoon's fantasy. You just have you just have hot vampires, which we will get to in this event uh uh yes, eventually.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

We're 46 episode. My bad.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

But um I I I will say if we throw VR into the mix, Subnautica.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

Oh, fuck that, dude. No, that actually wins. I mean, that was a that was like that was that wins, dude. Yeah, Subnautica, bro. It's not even a horror game.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Subnautica in VR is the most visceral horror experience I've ever dude.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

It's a visceral horror experience without VR. It's uh it's not even a horror game, it's just so like unsettling in the the depths and the noises, and you know the fucking crazy creatures are coming. It's like the way your brain thinks when you're fucking scared in your room or whatever, like when you have like a night terror, yeah, and then you're like, oh no, it's not real. But in that game, it's fucking real, you know. You're like, oh shit.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

No, it's as and in in in VR, as soon as you transition into the twilight zone, I'm just like, nope, I'm out. So you played that on VR? I didn't play the whole thing, I just loaded up an old save file.

SPEAKER_00 43:44

Number one, I would not play that fucking game in VR. Number two is as Resident Evil 7, but no and three would probably be out last if that exists. But number one, no fucking way I'd play fucking Subnautica M VR.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

No way. Yeah, I had my I had my Had my brand new nice headphones and my VR, and I'm like, let's do this. And I'm like, oh no, I spawned way too.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

Let's not do this.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

And then the first time you just hear something, yeah, you just hear something roar off of the distance. I'm just like, and I'm done.

SPEAKER_00 44:17

And you know it's bad too. Because when you experience it, you're like, oh yeah, this thing is fucking terrifying and awful. This is exactly what my nightmares told me it was gonna be. Dude, that game is so good. Yeah. Like, honestly, that's one of the best games ever made, in my opinion. It's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

It's such a bummer, they drop they dropped the ball with the second one.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Bro, I heard like that that's kind of turning out like a leak right now because there's like a court thing that happened, and then the person that was like effing that up is not getting the power, so they're going back to making the second one. But honestly, Subnautica is one of the probably the most underrated game, I think, of all time. Because it came out of nowhere and it was so fucking good. It's it was like a collection of everything at the time. It was like the perfect Minecraft game, the perfect alien isolation game, the perfect fucking, I don't know, just fuck around game. It was like such a great, but it's also really scary, super fucking scary, and it's not a horror game. It needs this flower.

SPEAKER_01 45:24

It's just it's just so funny how it uh it eases you in because it's so nice and pretty and safe in that first zone, and then it's just like, all right, now go to your sunken ship. By the way, it's radioactive, and there's these giant demon monsters.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Yeah, have fun. I want to chew you, and it gets worse and worse, it gets more scarier, and they're like, Well, here's more like a tech. Like, here you go, here's like the suit. Oh, and here's like the cyclops, but also you're gonna go into the gates of hell soon, so yeah. Have fun.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Yeah, when when you start going into the uh as like this game, this the most like well, we were gonna talk about vampires. Now we're this is a subnautica episode.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Yeah, Subnautica is the episode now. That's so good though. It's a top 10 best game of all time in my eyes. Like, easily, like the game is so fucking different and such off the cuff. It's like Nirvana to me. Like, I'm not a big Nirvana fan. I don't give a fuck about that band.

SPEAKER_01 46:26

I was I was like, I was like, like state of enlightenment.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Hear me out. No, no, I mean like the band, how they came out of nowhere and they like did something different, and like it was like it worked, and it was so weird, but it worked. Uh, but some not obviously Sumnautica didn't get like the the renown of of I actually don't like Nirvana, but I do like grunge. But I thought like like Subnautica was definitely there because it's it was just such a fucking weird different thing, and it nailed it so hard that other things came out that kind of mimicked it and and like took inspiration, but I don't think it's ever gonna really get its like credit. So uh even though like well did did it come out before Alien Oscillation or I guess he just hold on, yes, it did. It it came out before. Okay, so it was it had to been a fucking inspiration. Had to.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Well, it's it it also it it it it ticks too many phobia boxes for people that I don't think it gets played because they're like, oh, it's a drowning simulator and thassiophilia uh or thassiophobia, uh whatever that word is.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

I don't know it.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

The fear of big things in the ocean.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Yeah. Let's talk about this episode's game, which is Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines on the goddamn PC. Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines is a 2004 action role-playing video game developed by Trokia Games and published by Activision on for Microsoft. Oh fuck me. Okay, set in Waifull Publishing's World of Darkness. The game is based on White Wolf's role-playing game, Vampire the Masquerade, also the Book of Nod, if anybody wants to know. Folllows a human who is killed and revived by a fledgling vampire. The game depicts the fledgling journey. Sorry, fledglings. Oh, fuck me. Who cares? Through the 21st century early. Ah, Los Angeles to uncover the truth behind the recently discovered relic. And that Harold's oh, fuck me. Okay, let's just go into first impressions. Can't even. I am just such a troubled, troubled man right now. That was terrible. That was that's gave up for the first time watching.

SPEAKER_01 49:01

You just fall apart. That hasn't happened since like our first episodes. Oh god, I'm metal.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Walking 101 episodes in. I just can't get it together, man. Alright, I'm gonna be very succinct here. Very gothic, very horny. Total early 2000s new metal vibes. Right out the game. Um, a lot of options. If you haven't played this before, it's probably gonna turn you off because it's so like antiquated the way it looks. But um, yeah, you're first uh jumping in, you get this like cutscene that's kind of like silly and ridiculous. And depending on like, you know, like the way you create your character and what you choose, and uh your your alignment, um, you kind of get a different looking character, but I think they're always the same looking character, but they're all different based off like the the the bloodline that you choose. Mr. Miller.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

It's it's dated, but not, anyways. Uh first impressions. I first played this game when it first came out. I did too. Um, and and so yeah, I was uh it was right up my alley as a a a burgeoning young metal goth kid. Um the uh honestly, like for its time, graphics were groundbreaking, like that first the fact that they had full facial animations for the the voice acting. I was just like, all right, this is tight. Um and it's just it's it is that it's it's dark, gritty, nasty vampires. It's vampires how they should be, they're sexy and they're evil.

SPEAKER_00 50:47

You know, you know what's funny is I always I don't want to budge into your first impressions, but I should have brought this up in mind. You know, like you you state that like it was like really actually graphically impressive and different and and really sexy for like the person back then, at least like from what you're used to. And I think a lot of that was because like the source engine, it uses the source engine from from Valve. Game on the tails of Half-Life 2. Well, no, it literally was released the same day, and that was the problem, is that there was this contract between them. They're like, you can use the source engine, and so they did, but they're like, You can't release this game before Half-Life 2, and so they're like, Okay, I guess we'll release it the same day, and it's hard. Yeah, so like this game released the same day as Half-Life 2 because the contract stated that you can't use a source engine until Half-Life 2 comes out, and they picked the literal worst fucking day to release this game, and I think that was a big problem with its like popularity, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

But anyway, that I mean that's that's such a that's such a good loophole, though, where it's like it didn't come out before your game. Yeah, I know. Like in court, in court, they would win that 100% because same day is not before, right?

SPEAKER_00 52:08

But the problem is is they went really hard on this game, and I think it got completely motherfucking overshadowed by the release of Half-Life 2, right? Because Half-Life 2 didn't just come out, it also came with the new Team Fortress and the new Counter-Strike source, right? Like, so it it it picked a really bad time. They should have waited like two more months, I think, if they would have like let that hype die down and then released it, and I think that kind of worked against him.

SPEAKER_01 52:37

Yeah, um, I mean, no, I mean that's that's that that's really it. I this is again, it is an RPG. There are uh gun mechanics and stuff, but it it is an RPG at art. So if you're not into definite RPG conversation-based quests, yeah, yeah, it's but uh yeah, let's uh let's get into it.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

Let's get into gameplay. Alright, so this is as Mr. Miller stated, very much an RPG. Um, I think it's actually one of the purest RPGs in video games um that you can play, outside of like something like Boulder's Gate or fuck, I don't know what else. But it really really ties in closely to its uh roots, which is the pen and paper game, which is great, by the way. I that's the only pen and paper game I actually like. I've never was really into like DD. Um Vampire the Masquerade is fucking really fun. Uh you gotta get the book of Nod. Whatever. Long time ago, this is like super memories from fucking 20 years ago. But ultimately, this game is linked to more of the pen and paper, which is interesting because you didn't really see this happening in gameplay up until this point. It was kind of like touched on a little bit, but it didn't go as hard, I think, as it did in this game, up until this game, really. Because there was a lot of like DD games, but they didn't go fucking full bore into their like pen and paper realm or like their roots, like this game did. And you create a character, you know, it's uh you got the tra uh treadors. I can't pronounce it correctly. Bruja Tor here, here, I I'm I'm I'll I'll I'll do this part for Gangrel, Tremor.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

Go ahead, Nosferatu. There's the Tor There's the Tor the Torreador, Torreadors, yeah, the Bruja, the Bruja, the Gangril, the Tremir, the Nosferatu, the Ventru, and the Malcavians. Correct. And they are all um, it it almost is like a it's a class system. So when you first start this game, I highly recommend doing it this way. There is a quiz at the beginning that's like a personality test, yeah, that will just build a character for you, and it will assign your points and everything. And if you have no idea how this game is played or what it is, and you're interested, just do that and just let it auto-level for you.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

I want to jump in here real quick though and say that like outside of Ultima and um like I think at this point, like like Elder Scrolls games, this is the only other game to do this, anyways. Continue.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

Yeah. Um, because well, you can really, really fuck up your character if you don't know what you're doing, because you there is no way to respec, to my knowledge. No, um, and once you put a point in to something, it's there, and it might be something that you're just never gonna be good at because you're a horribly deformed Nosferatu, and you're never gonna be that was your character.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

You played Nosferatu.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Yeah, no, no, no, I didn't. I uh I played a Gangril, I was gonna do a Nos. Oh, you did Gangril, okay. Um, for yeah, because I took the test and that's what it gave me. And I hadn't played one before, but I will uh just to break it down for the listeners at home. If you're curious and you really just have a specific uh specific uh playstyle, not like the ocean. Um Torreador. If you like to be a fighter, if you like to be a fighter, you want to do a brew ha. If you like to be a bard, you want to be a torreador. Yeah, if you like um to to be um kind of like a sorcerer, then you want to be a tremere.

SPEAKER_00 56:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:48

Um, if it if you're all about like manipulation, they they get they kind of are like all rounders. I don't know, manipulative, then no ventru.

SPEAKER_00 56:59

Oh, ventru, okay.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

Because they're they're all care, they're all charisma, but they're not as sexy as the torridors.

SPEAKER_00 57:06

Well, the Toriadors have like a higher class, right?

SPEAKER_01 57:08

Like that's the Ventru are the ones in that are in charge. Um, the Torridor are are more like seductresses and like um, and then the Gangril are like your druids. Um, and Malcavians are they're kind of all over the place because their whole thing is they're a little crazy.

SPEAKER_00 57:31

That's what I played as, yeah. So that was my run through, which was actually my original run uh playthrough as well. The first time I played this game, I actually uh did like the whole, you know, uh, you know, do the quiz, how to quote unquote quiz, figure out what it was. And it's like, oh, you're Malcavian. And then later on in my life, like 20 years later, I was like, I'm absolutely Malcavian. I'm gonna play as my fucking Malcavian. Like, I just feel like one, but we'll we'll get into why. Um, yeah, and then of course, you know, uh uh you pick those or between those, and you get attributes. You you pick like your physical, social, mental. You get to put points in there, which is great, as well as abilities and disciplines. Um, you have talent, skills, knowledge. Um, the disciplines are interesting though, because they're kind of like your superpowers, right? Well, they're not. Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry, I know you want to speak here.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

I didn't, I didn't, I was just like, I didn't cover the Nas. The Nosferatu are rose. Oh, yeah, go ahead. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:29

But but yeah, no, no, no, no. As uh they're the oldest, they're the eldest. Yeah, the Nasferatu is like literally like wrote the book of Nas, right?

SPEAKER_01 58:38

So each well, each each race does have something they are specifically good at and things they are specifically bad at, right?

SPEAKER_00 58:50

It's like a cool balance, too, because like as Nasferatu, it's so uh so hard to explain this game because it's so deep, but like the whole masquerade is the idea that you're not supposed to like put your fucking vampirism out in the public, right? So they created a society that has all these different chapters and all these different like allegiances and and bloodlines. Um, and the Nosferatu kind of get like the chin end of the stick because they look so fucking deformed and crazy that they're not supposed to actually be seen by the public. And what's cool about this game is like they include that in there if you actually play, if you decide to do that, which I think is like one of the hardest classes, I'm gonna call them classes to like start the game with because you have to constantly kind of like live in the sewers, you know.

SPEAKER_01 59:36

Um, whereas I think the second hard probably is Octavian, but feeding is really difficult as a NOS uh early on until you get like the good obfuscation, which is like your stealth abilities. Yeah. Because they're one of the only races that can fully go invisible. Um uh eventually, but until then, yeah, you're you're literally like running through the sewers just snatching up rats just to stay alive, which kind of seems like a like a replay class, really.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:07

If you if somebody's coming into this game for the first time, they get to play, you know, probably as a Bruha or whatever, and you're like, oh this is cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

I uh yeah, yeah, I wouldn't recommend a NAS as a first play. It's the hardest class play is half the first quests you can't even do because you physically cannot talk to people, yeah, and you can't be visible, you know. Like, yeah, yeah, you have you have to figure out how to complete these quests without ever being told what the quest is.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:38

Whereas the other the other end of that is like the Malcavian, where like you're kind of like given a lot of like the the quest later on, and you're like, oh, okay, like it kind of guides you, but it's also like a lot of nonsense. We'll get into that. Furthermore, there's attributes you put points into physical, social, mental, as any other fucking RPG. Uh, abilities, you know, you have your talents and skills and knowledge, which actually are like kind of interesting because you um if you you know you pick your clan, and then like it's really good to figure out which what attributes and abilities you want to like pump those points into because they really could fuck you, like Mr. Miller said, if you don't know what you're doing initially with that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:21

Um, I mean, yeah, like I'll I'll I'll just give a I'll I'll give an immediate example. Like, if you're a Toriador, they are really, really good at all of the conversation skills. Yeah, like they're really seductive, they're really persuasive. But if you're just like, I'm gonna be a tank tore, no the fuck you are not. No matter how many points you put into defense, you are still just physically weaker than even just a baby um ventru.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:51

You gotta do you gotta do fucking firearms if you're doing that route, like or just pretty much pump it into fucking auspec.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:58

They really, really lean into their min-maxing in this, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:05

Yeah, which also like the disciplines, though, too. Like, that's a big part of it too, because like there's kind of like the the the the blanket statement of spells in the game, where you have like presence, um, celerity, I think it's called, and auspecs, where it works well for what you choose, but it actually works really fucking against you if you choose the wrong thing. Like, for instance, if you take if you choose like celerity with a fucking Nas, it's not gonna work. But in my case, I went Malcavian because Malcavian is the crazy um clan. So, like, with the thing with the Malcavians is that they are within their clan, you just have like baked-in mental illness, right? But it's like the kind that also it's like the you're a genius, but you're also fucking psycho, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:56

So you have well you're you're you're clairvoyant, but you can't trust that you can't trust your predictions because yeah, is that the voices in your head, or is that actually a vision, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:07

And the way you communicate in the game as an Alcavian is so fucking funny because it's all not only is it fucking like really off the coffin weird, but also even the font itself is changed to be kind of like disruptive and weird, and I think that's fucking such a great little additive in this game.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:26

That's a built-in for um for all of the conversation abilities, have a different font.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:32

I noticed that.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:33

So that that Malcavian font is specifically the Malcavian option. It's like only you would say that.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:41

And it's funny too because they went really fucking hard in this game. That's like a big part of it, though. Is that like they really put their the devs went, they were like definitely fans of this fucking pen and paper game. You can just tell.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:54

That's why it's why uh I guarantee, I guarantee you, a writer, if not multiple writers from White Wolf were in the room with the devs at all times.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:05

Absolutely, because uh we even got to the fucking writing in this game, right? Like it like we're gonna talk about graphics and audio.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:12

I mean, that's part of the gameplay. That is a majority of the gameplay, so we can talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:15

It's story, you know, like it's so fucking good, you know. Like I can talk about like ultimately. Let me just cut to the chase here. The character anime was pretty much fucking Ted Bundy, because I had a Malcavian who's fucking crazy, but I pumped everything into charisma, you know, and then like firearms. Because I was like, I don't want to fucking deal with like uh, but we gotta talk about the combat a little bit. Like the combat is it's pretty shitty at first, like it's very jank. It gets better as you fucking you know pump your fucking stats and you understand like the the gameplay mechanics, but at first it's really fucking janky and hard, especially when you get that that you know that first mission where you have to go get the druggie house, which actually is cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:00

The 38.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:01

Yeah, but what's cool though is that the game also introduced there's different routes to beat missions because you can just go in this house, you're supposed to well fuck, I'm jumping so far ahead, but you know what I mean. You know what I'm talking about, like the beach house, fucking go up the stairs. All those guys, they have like literal drugs on the table. It's so crazy. The game has like no filter whatsoever. Yeah, this game has no filter, it would not come out these days.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:25

Nah, dude, it's sex, it's sex drugs and rock and roll the entire world.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:29

It really is, it really is. We even got to like the club yet and everything. There's so much to talk about in this game. Um, but you know, like you can literally go in there and like just fucking blast everybody or kill everybody or whatever, but also you just go around the back and like turn off the lights, you know. Like they give you the other options that really wasn't like uh outside of like Deus X, we weren't really seeing that in a lot of games with these multiple like ways to do this, and it's like expansive open world RPG game, and so it was so ahead of the Of its time, I really feel even like early on, before you get to fucking confessions, before you get to the fucking uh sabot missions, before you get to fucking Grout Smansion, like before you get to the fucking cool the first mansion. Oh man, I I don't know. It's gonna be such a long episode because there's so much I want to talk about. Oh that first mansion. Oh dude.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

Anyways, I think that was one of the oh go ahead. We'll talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:27

Yeah, well, we're we're going to it's still in gameplay.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:32

Okay, well, that is one of the first missions where it literally, like, I'm just like, wow, this game is doing way more than I've ever experienced an RPG like this.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:44

It went so hard. So the first mansion mission, uh, it's it's definitely like here's the thing is this game on the surface seems like a whatever game, like a run-of-the-mill vampire game, but it really isn't. It's so fucking deep, and it goes so much deeper, just specifically this game, because you get to this point where you have to go to this haunted mansion, and the haunted mansion is such a fucking great, I don't know, just display of of horror in a game where you don't even get attacked. This is a spoiler alert, but like it's so freaky and it's so well done, and it didn't have to go that hard, just right there. That even in that first fucking interaction, it could have just been shitty. Go in there, whatever the books fly off the shelves, you see a ghost, whatever. No, no, it went full-blown fucking survival horror. It almost felt like a different genre, and just that part, yeah, and you revisit that later.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:46

We have to just spoil this part just just because just to describe what happens in that because it does, it goes, it goes like full Resident Evil style, yeah. Like the house is trying to kill you, yeah, and it will. Like, there's portions where just like doors will lock that you used to be able to open, and then the room will set on fire, and you have to find a way out. There's a there's a section where there's an elevator that gets jammed. Oh, and it's gonna kill you. Yeah, well, you have to you have to try and like jump up it and it'll slam down and kill you. But before you could just do it, and it's just like, oh okay, I've done this before, and then all of a sudden you hear the thing break above you and you're panicking, and it is it's a one-hit kill. It's like you just gotta do it. Um, you can get killed by the stuff being thrown off the walls if you're not careful. Uh, there's a ghost that attacks you with knives in a kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:46

Uh yeah, it's it's really kind of like a it's a it's a it's a literal haunted house, you know what I mean? Like when you go to one in real life, like that's what it feels like. Like everything in it was engineered to kind of fuck with you, but but you don't really feel like fully in danger.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:03

Well, the the best part about it is like a real haunted house. If if you ever experienced a real poltergeist or something, you can't fight it, even as a vampire, you can't fight ghosts. So, you know, you have this thing coming at you, and you just have to like juke it until it it it it's done being maniacal and continue on. It's a really very well-done section of this.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:33

It is, and they kind of revisit it later, though, with with Grout's mansion, you know, like um, which is not quite the same.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:40

There's all sorts of weird supernatural bullshit in this game, yeah. Yeah, but it's cool. Well, yeah, because you have to navigate that um that hallway that changes unless you know the right pattern, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:52

Which I I saw later in the game control, which I was like, oh, I'm so I was trying to uh replaying this game. I'm like, I'm seeing a lot of influence in like you know, uh contemporary games that I was like, oh shit, yeah, these people played people who made this played vampire of the masquerade bloodlines for sure. Like it's kind of cool, like it was setting a lot of standards that I it didn't realize it was setting, but definitely in like that one, also like there's like an email system, right? That's not real a really an email system, but like there's it's it's like incorporated into it to like add to the storyline, which is funny because it adds massively to the storyline later, uh, at least as an Alcavian, because you're like, Oh, okay, well, is this telling me the real thing or not? And it's so funny because it's that fucking like green.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

Oh, it's it's old school. You you feel like hacker man because you actually have to physically type everything in exactly as it is. Um, you can. There are ways to like find the passwords and stuff in the environment by talking to people or overhearing conversations, so much harder as a Malcavian, though, dude.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:00

It's so much harder.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:01

Like, oh, I I I I bet. Um, but you know, you can also just invest in a hacking skill, and it'll just be like boop boop boop, did it for you, which I didn't.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:12

I pumped it all into fucking not that, which I was like, oh, damn it. I knew I should have known this was we're gonna cross this bridge, but yeah, and the hotel mission, the whole fucking hotel mission is fucking dope too. I mean, there's so much in this game I don't want to ruin because I don't really want to talk about it, but like the hotel mission's fucking cool, the blood bank mission is fucking cool, the sabot missions are fucking dope. Like, and the game is not even that long of a game, really, but it's like that's so much replayability because there's so much fucking side shit in it that really expands deep and it shouldn't had.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:49

Yeah, I think I think if you just dedicate yourself to it, you could probably grind it out in 20-30 hours, at least just get to the end. Very rewarding if you do that, though, like super rewarding, it's totally worth it to just start up a new character at that point because this game is playable however you want to play it, and you will find stuff every playthrough because you're a different clan, you're a different sex, you're well.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:20

The clan the clan differences are are so extreme that it's like it kind of demands replay value, right? But I don't I'm really like fucking glazing this game, but there are some really shitty parts of it, like like the fucking museum is terrible, like all the stealth parts of it are fucking awful, and I think the combat kind of sucks, but uh well I actually like the melee combat.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:48

Um, there's like there there is a combo system based on like the direction that you're moving and where your camera's facing. Um, and then there's like there there's a blocking mechanic where there's like normal blocks and perfect blocks where you can like throw the enemy off. Also, depending on how good like your skills in brawling or whatever weapon you choose.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:12

Um, I didn't fuck with guns as much. That's I think that's the big difference. It's like I was like, oh fuck, the the melee sucks, but I like I pumped all into fucking like pistols and fucking shotguns.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:23

So it was like a different they aren't really known for their for their melee abilities.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:28

No, apparently not.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:29

There are there are times though when like you have to use a gun. Um like early on when you get to downtown, when you get to downtown LA, that you know what boss I'm talking about in the sewers. Um, you basically have to use a gun against him.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:46

And later on, too. Because like, especially the vampire hunters, so that you experience later on, because you you you're in LA ultimately, you start in downtown, or sorry, Santa Monica. Um, and then uh you move on to Hollywood. Actually, I think Hollywood is the third part. No, no, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:06

No, you you go to downtown first, and yeah, then you go to Hollywood.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:10

You go to Hollywood. Before we even get into graphics and audio, I just want to talk about like fucking Grout's mansion is so fucking fun, so cool. And we didn't even talk about like the weird like parts of the game that don't involve combat or any kind of like uh malice, like going to the club, you know. There's two clubs I that I came across, possibly three.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:33

There are yeah, there are six, there are six clubs altogether.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:36

Six, I only went to two. I remember I remember uh frequenting confessions a lot, and what's cool though is that you go to these clubs and you just fucking start dancing, you know, just fucking dancing, or whatever, and then like people just join you, and then you're just fucking dancing, and you're like, you know, let's let this roll for a while. This is nice, a little break from we didn't even go into like the basic thing where you have to like feed, we didn't even we just bypass the whole initial fucking gameplay. Like you gotta feed, you gotta have blood. We've been talking about we didn't even talk about it. Like, there's like poisonous blood, you're gonna eat rats, you know, like if you're if you're fucking Nosferatu, you know, like fuck this this game's deep, dude. Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:21

If you if you if you eat if you eat somebody who's sick, you get sick. Yeah, like there's there's like a vampire plague that's going around that all the homeless people, well, not all of them, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:33

Like if you're a certain clan that's like higher class, you can't like eat lower things, but if you're NAS, you're just like I'm gonna eat fucking feed on rats, you know, like and live in the sewers. It's so crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:45

Yeah, well, it's funny because the NAS, like, um, it also works uh against them. If you eat someone who's like too sanguine, like they're too good a blood, then it's like too rich for you, and you're just like, uh, I don't feel so good, even though you look like shit to begin with.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:05

It just it's so insane the amount of detail that was put in this game, like it really is mind-blowing revisiting it.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:14

You can also try and be like a quote unquote vegetarian vampire and like just raid blood from like blood banks and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:23

Yeah, that's uh that's actually a really cool mission, too, though. When you find out like the the blood bank person that you talk to, and then later on, I don't want to ruin it, but like it's fucking cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:33

But there's other clinics throughout the game, so if you're trying to play that like I don't kill people route, it's totally doable.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

This game also mindfucks you a couple times. I was actually surprised that it it like pulled the rug out from under me, even though I played it like 20 years ago. I was like, oh fuck, I didn't even realize that. Oh shit, that character was that character. You know what I mean? You know what I'm talking about? Like, I was like, oh, I was being fooled the whole time. Yeah, it's crazy how well it does that. And you know what? We gotta get to this. I mean, we can go on and on about the gameplay. We barely fucking scratch the surface on like uh any part of uh like how intense and like really well done the gameplay is on this game, but we gotta talk about the graphics and audio. All right, Mr. Miller. What do you think of the voice acting and writing of this game?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:29

It it stands up to modern. I mean, I I would say Bethesda take notes. Like they killed it with this game.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:41

Um, the absolutely agree. Absolutely, dude. Is fucking unbelievably good.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:49

Everyone, everyone has a unique voice. You don't read like you rarely hear the same person except for like random NPCs, like a lot of the homeless people sound the same, unless they're like a named person, as they do in real life. That's that's actually you're not wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:09

I I hey man, I'm like one fucking step away from that, but yeah. Shout out to the homeless listeners.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:17

Um but like they have the god they have they have they have great um especially for the time, uh uh face sync up, I guess is the word I'm looking for. Um, like they they actually look like they're saying the words they're saying, it's just not a jaw just kind of jammering at you.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:39

I'm so impressed by like how every character literally is a character, like they really go hard. Yeah, like even to the point where like the characters can change their personalities and you realize they are actually fucking with you. I haven't seen that in a lot of games, to be honest with you. Like, not in oblivion, not in like a lot of uh Bethes games, you know, like like think about like Smiling Jack, right? Like who's voiced by fucking Bender, you know, from Futurama, or think about like you know, uh uh Jeanette and her uh the the poster girls, yeah, who spoil alert, you find out are the same person, they just have fucking split personalities. Like, I forgot about that, and I was like, oh shit. Oh, or the guy that I can't remember the character he was, but he was like really happy-go-lucky and goofy, and it was like, hey man, and then you realize later in the game that he was acting that way towards you to fucking like manipulate you. There has not been a lot of games I played, RPGs, that actually literally manipulated me, but this game did, and it would for people who play it for the first time because the characters are so well written and they're so individual, and they're so well voiced, even though they kind of have like that old they're dated, like obviously the graphics are dated, and like you know, the the graphics engine is not the way things look now, but for the time, holy shit, dude, it was like knocking it out of the ballpark when it came to character development and like depth of character, all of them with like you said, exception for the homeless, because fuck the homeless, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:22

Unlike a lot of RPGs where you're just kind of it gets to a point where you're just like, All right, well, get to the actual quest line. Like, what do I really need? Like, I wanted to hear every line of dialogue these guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:36

Yeah, and also like they have their own, even all the sex, you know, like the Nosferatu from Hollywood, or like the hunters when you come across the hunters, or you know, even when you get the Sabat, like they all have their own different fucking personalities that fit in with like their storyline, and it fits so fucking good. You're like, bro, why did you release this game on the same day Half-Life 2 came out? Fuck man, this could have been, and by the way, uh, this game got a sequel before fucking Half-Life 2, which is fucking romantic. Yeah, we don't want to and the sequel apparently sucks, but we don't want to talk about that sequel, and even at the time, like the graphics I talked about earlier. You know, that there's three different locations, but it's ultimately like a giant open world map. They look so different, and like they're really expansive, and they really have a lot of life going on in them. I I I understand like it's older school and antiquated the way like the NPCs work and operate and like how you talk to them and shit, but it really feels alive, like the the game definitely like sends home the atmosphere, it does it so well that and it really does it with like the the character building. Any person you talk to, you just feel like you're actually talking to a person in the game, it's not just like uh blah blah blah blah blah blah uh move away, and then also you can like suck their neck and like lure them away, or like you know, whatever you want to do. You really feel well lived in this world because it's so well fucking orchestrated. Visually, I mean the audio obviously is I'm harping heavily on like the voice acting. I mean, there's not much to say about like the music, sound effects, or whatever, but really this game fucking pushes hard on that fucking voice work, and it is they did a pump, they did a good job there, man. Like it's it's unbelievable how fucking good the voice acting is this game and the characters and the development.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:30

I don't I don't know. I will say, um, as far as music goes, especially in the clubs where they have actual tracks by real bands, like it it's it's it's pretty cool that like you know, you can just pick your vibe where it is like uh I like I like this place, I like the music here, or you know, because they're they're very distinct. Um same thing with like in the in the graphics department, it gets to a point where you can on site you know what kind of vampire you're dealing with because they dress a certain way, they look a certain way, they they really graphically shine in that department of identifying who you're dealing with without even having to talk to them yet. Um once once you start you know getting deeper into the game, because there's a there's a few where they'll throw you some uh uh screwballs, but um generally it's just like oh okay, this this guy is definitely a uh um uh drawing a blank on their name.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:43

Um definitely Nas Fratu.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:47

Oh, those are easy, yeah. It's like, oh, is this look like Carl does he look like Carl Schreck? Okay, that's a Nas. Um but uh the um the Tremeer are really easy too because they usually are like all reds or whites, like very like high gothic, like this is a wizard or like a priest kind of uh or mind you, just the NPCs, you can tell the ones that are turned by like the glistening. That is a that's a nice effect, too. You can tell who's a ghoul just on the street because then you know, like, oh yeah, I don't want to really fight that guy because he could probably hurt me. And I'm not trying to go over here and feed on someone else's ghoul.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:37

How dare you! Yeah, but no, it does such a great job of like fucking building this world and it's so visually well done. And then with who the fucking casting director was for the voice work here, but like I hope they went on to do fucking great things because I assume they would because I mean they had fucking Bender in it, like everybody's it was such good voice acting that you didn't even give a fuck that it was like a stiff ass face just moving their mouth up and down.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:05

You like felt the character, and you man, John DiMaggio was on scare 2000s of video games.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:14

He was making some good money back then, he still is probably well.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:19

I mean, adventure. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:20

I mean, that's really all I gotta say.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:23

Yeah, uh play this game. We're not even done with the review yet. Play this game.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:29

Play this game. Well, hold on. Let's get to well. Before we get to our obviously like um opinion of the game, let's at least uh go into the verdict section of the podcast. All right, well, before I let Mr. Miller take the reins here, um, I will give my verdict on Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines on the PC. I always say if a game from the past was released today as a quote-unquote throwback style, would it be beloved, right? Would it be appreciated? In this case, absolutely yes. Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines has like an impressive amount of death, depth, sorry, death, well, death and depth.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:20

It has an impressive amount of depth, too, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:23

Yeah, and style. Um, it kind of reminds me of Prince a little bit. I don't know why. But um, even if it's corny and outdated in some cases, like uh the game is dated. Like, we can't, and there's a lot in it that's a little corny and shitty and dumb, but like it really is uh like overshadowed by like how the story and writing and world building is fucking fantastic, and it promotes multiple playthroughs because you get to like experience like the different fucking clans and like the builds, and oh man, it's so good. And it's really quite a fucking shame that this game received actually kind of not good reviews when it came out because it had to go up against literally Half-Life 2. So I am so upset that this game never actually received a proper sequel or was like delved into more or was set as a standard as like Daggerfall was because could you imagine if this was a Bethesda fucking you know, like instead of a the Elder Scrolls, they also like invested in this, like they did Fallout. Can you imagine how fucking good that would have been, except for the last, I guess, you know, fucking 10 years of Bethesda? Yeah, you know, like I'm just such a fucking missed opportunity of of such lore and goodness. This this was the fucking um like moral wind. This should have been the moral wind of Vampire the Masquerade, but it didn't go any further until the shitty fucking sequel was released. And it should have got a and And this game should 100% get a goddamn remaster like Oblivion. There's but it'll never happen because the world is unfair and cruel. 89 out of 100. If you play this game, it's awesome. Mr. Miller.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:17

I 100% agree with you. Um one of the biggest problems with this world and this setting is it wears its edge on its sleeve. The world of darkness is meant to be a parody of our current world. It's always about 10 years behind when it's actually set. Everything's a little dirtier, a little grimier, and a lot gothier. But that's also part of the charm of it. Is this just it's like, oh, finally everyone wears jeans and leather, and and it's just it's just it's tits out and gas masks, and we're just gonna go rage at the bar. Um it sounds like the old days of the Black Forest, honestly. Um it does tits out and gas masks. But but as far as as a video game interpretation of a tabletop that I only know from reading about the tabletop, I have never been had been privileged enough to have somebody run it for me because they're cowards. And um, I'm down, but uh, and it it's one of the games that I promised myself I would never run until I get a chance to play as a player. Um it is one of the most literal translations because being a social tabletop game, that is the biggest part of this. Yes, there's combat, yes, there's um exploration and stuff, but the the the meat and potatoes of it is the combat and it nailed or not the combat, the conversations and the mystery and the intrigue, and it nails it so much. Um when it was released, it did have a lot of technical flaws, and I think that really held it back. But there is no better time to play it than now, and I'm just gonna plug it. It's on uh GOG for like may, I think maybe 20 bucks. It might be less than that. Uh, maybe catch it on a sale, but it is fully patched with everything that fixes those those technical issues. Um, so I 100% say go play this game and I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna push it just over the edge. I'm gonna give it that that solid A minus. Uh, we're we're I'm gonna give it a 90 out of 100.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:51

Woo! Ladies and gentlemen, with Mr. Miller's um total in mind, that gives Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines a 179 out of 200, which is fucking fantastic. I uh 100% play this game. It's there's if you give it the time of day, and it doesn't take a lot to give this game the time of day, just get past like the first like in 15 minutes, you know, of like the cringe. You will absolutely love this game. It is so well made, it is so it has such heart, and you can just tell, like I said earlier, the the the developers were fans of this tabletop, and it shows, and it's a fucking crying shame that nothing else was made from this, like I don't know, IP that shows the same tenacity and love to to the tabletop game as this does.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:46

So I will also caveat for anyone that's like on on on the fence with like the hyper sexualization and everything. This game is PG 13 as far as that is concerned. Like there is there's no graphics text scenes, and it's all it's it's all just like the stuff you would see at a goth bar.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:06

Like, yeah, it's just it's just edgy to be edgy.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:09

Yeah, it but it's it's nowhere near as gratuitous as like blood rain, for example, where yeah, where where the physics are just all over the place, and it's it's like it's not in your face with it, it is part, it is part of being a vampire. If you know anything about classical literature, they are an allegory for sexual predators, so that's that is one of their weapons, so it is just part of the territory. And if you're not into that, then it might not be for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:42

Also, blood running came out after, too, which is yeah, that checks out, perhaps uh heavily inspired.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:48

But I I just wanted to say that because I know some people are just might be turned off by that kind of thing and wouldn't wouldn't give it the time of the day, which might have hurt this game in the in the the the first place as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:00

I don't know, it came out in like 200 what, four. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:05

I mean, that was the time when that was a time when integrated games were so few and far between.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:11

Right, but also at the time when fucking you know the jackass community and everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:16

Yeah, I don't know, but it is it is it is 100%.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:18

It is what it is, it's accessible and it doesn't go, it doesn't like get too far. I know what you're saying, though. It doesn't go too far into like a a realm of like, oh god, this is very offensive, or like so like terribly socially outdated that you're like cringy, you know. It's it it stays it stays in this lane, it's not gross, yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right, well, there you go. Uh unsurprisingly, we both love this game, and you should absolutely play it because it's fucking phenomenal. But it's time to pick another game, and for the love of God, I hope that we can play this game and review it sooner than I've been uh putting out. And I apologize, everybody. Um, we will I will I will do we it'll be faster this time, I promise.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:59

All right. Is it time to spin that wheel?

SPEAKER_00 1:34:19

Oh, what is this? Okay. Well, I gotta look it up a little bit here. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:32

All right, did we get another troll game?

SPEAKER_00 1:34:35

No, uh we'll see. Alright. Uh so uh the next game to be reviewed, Mr. Miller, is a point-and-click adventure. Okay, I like these. Okay, written and directed by Gilbert P. Austin. Not familiar with him. Okay, it came out in 1996.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:58

Oh god, are we doing laser shoot, Larry?

SPEAKER_00 1:35:01

No, but it's uh around the same time as uh bad mojo. And you must let me just tell you a little bit of the story here. Um you're uh you're a teenager, and you awaken in a small Texas farming town, you have no memory, and you discover that you do not recognize your mother or younger brother who have um Yeah. It's Harvester. We're playing Harvester.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:31

Okay, I've never heard of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:33

Okay, well, it's a uh uh from what I'm seeing, it's extremely violent and insane. So, um I don't know anything about this game, but uh it's a point and click that has a lot of gore and apparently is extremely controversial. So okay. Harvester on the PC point and click. Off to off to G O G. Off to G O G. Yes. Join us for the next episode for Harvester on the PC. Um yeah, it was more I read into the the I was like, oh, I don't want to give away I'm reading too much where I'm like, oh, I don't want to read anymore. Like it's uh I don't know if it's like groundbreaking Oscar nominated storyline, but we are in luck.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:21

It is on sale, 70% off right now. If anybody wants to play along, it is a dollar eighty.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:29

A dollar eighty? Let's go. Oh, it's my kind of game. All right, I want to thank the patrons. Thank you guys for still paying for the Patreon. You don't have to anymore. I mean, we don't I donate all of it to the uh Green Hills Humane Society, which actually they sent me like a really cool letter saying that we were uh they were like you were one of the only podcasts to donate. So, like, give me this little like picture. I'll take a picture of it and um put it on the Discord. But yeah, hey, we've helped save they sent me like statistics, like we saved like a certain amount of cats and dogs and stuff, I guess. You know, it's cool. Thank you guys. You don't have to still be on the Patreon, though. I we're just finishing the show and uh you know, go well, you know, whatever. Anyways, join the Discord, small community of like-minded people like Noggs 56, and there's a lot of like you know, the Twitch people in there, but it's all good. We're all big family now, so appreciate. Like, I know the the Charlie Coleslaw thing is like we're blending realms here. I'm sorry, guys. I'm just like having a great day, and anyways, and you can add questions. Oh fuck me. Retro question of the week if you want, and join us in the community events. Um I mean that's all there is, man. Like uh, we're just gonna play out the next fucking list of games and we're gonna have the best time of our lives. I'm sorry this episode took so long, guys. Uh you have no idea. I know there's always excuses coming from me, but this last like three weeks was fucking insane. I don't know what's going on. I promise you, we'll get Harvester out fucking ASAP Rocky. I promise. Um, yeah, Mr. Miller. Any parting words? I love you. Bye. I love you too. All right, everybody. Have a super garbage day. Never judge a book by its grammar. And let's cut to B. All right, get some sleep, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:19

Thank you for watching with my dad eye. I just want to say everybody, guys, bye.