Retro Jammers
Join the Retro Jammers: Carter, Jeff, Jerad, and Tanner as we play through retro games weekly and review how they play today. The podcast is designed to be like a book club in which games are chosen and played through. We highly encourage listeners to join in and play along weekly. We also take suggestions for our gaming wheel for the next game we play on Facebook and Twitter. Jam it in!
Retro Jammers
Episode 06 – God of War (PS2)
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In this episode, Tanner, Carter, and Jerad dive into God of War on the PlayStation 2. It was Carter’s pick, so they break down their first impressions, what still holds up, and what feels dated. They talk about the brutal combat, memorable boss fights, and how Kratos’ story kicked off one of gaming’s biggest franchises. They also compare it to other action games of the era and discuss why it made such a lasting impact.
Welcome everybody to the Retro Jammers Podcast. Today we're going to be talking about Carter's Pick, God of War, on the PS2. First of all, I want to say thank you all to the three guys who uh left us a community suggested games. Do y'all want to go over them real quick just so uh we can remind the audience?
SPEAKER_02I want to hear them.
SPEAKER_00For those of you who haven't listened to the previous episode, quickly, if you want to leave us a community game, this is your last chance to have it to where we can play it uh for the next season. Go to Facebook, Retro Jammers, find the post, and comment the game you want us to play in the comments, and then we'll add it, and then that you'll have a possibility for it to get chosen. But these are the three games that we got. We got Metroid Fusion from Caleb Cook. Are you all familiar with this at all?
SPEAKER_03Um I played Zero Mission and beat it completely. Um I'm pretty sure this one's fusion's on Game Boy Advanced as well. It is. So yeah, I would be uh down and ready to play that one.
SPEAKER_00Now, Zero Mission, that's a remake of the original NES one, right?
SPEAKER_03It is, but the I tried to play in the original NES one after I beat Zero Mission, and it's definitely uh definitely hard to play that one. The uh Zero Mission is a definite quality of life, way better. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I am pumped for this because I know that uh a lot of people say like Metroidvania's, like Castlevania Symphony of the Night, I played two summers ago for the first time. Love that fucking game. And I know that Metroid has a very similar like playstyle to it. So as of now, if these are the if if these are the only three community games that we get, we'll just add them all. Fuck it. We'll just throw them all in there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I played uh on Metroidvania games. I played this game called Fist, like Forged and Shadow Torch, which is like a newer game. Um, but it was on Game Pass, and I just played it to try it out. And I love a good Metroidvania game.
SPEAKER_00You've never played one, have you, Jared? Like uh uh you don't know what that is, probably.
SPEAKER_02I wouldn't think so. I'm aware, but I don't think I've played one.
SPEAKER_00Well they're fun as hell. We'll definitely probably be playing it once it gets chosen. The second game from Old Faithful here, the OG Dave Mathis. He's he's sticking to his roots, he's sticking to what he believes in. He's picking an NES game called Little Nemo. I have no idea what the hell this is. I thought this was finding Nemo at first.
SPEAKER_03Oh no, sir. This is Little Nemo. This game is awesome. Basically, you're a kid, you go to a dream world, and you can like basically you can put on a suit, like a frog suit, but you're riding the monster. It's awesome. You'll just have to play it. It's been a while since I played it, but I used to play it a lot as a kid.
SPEAKER_00Actually, both these guys, Caleb Cook and Dave, uh, both chose NES games and they won in our previous podcast. One of them was uh Mario 3 from Caleb and DuckTales from Dave.
SPEAKER_02So I feel like me, you and I avoid NES games and Carter welcomes them.
SPEAKER_00Well, even uh one, it's my age. I know that, but here's the thing. I just I there have been NES games I've really enjoyed. I really I love Mario 3, that's a classic.
SPEAKER_02What about Star Tropics?
SPEAKER_00Star Tropics was good. It was way too fucking hard. Way too hard.
SPEAKER_02That was a good game. Like, for me to play that and enjoy it, that was a good game.
SPEAKER_00Carter, can you beat that game with no save states, no rewind? Oh yeah, people's done it.
SPEAKER_02I'm sure they have.
SPEAKER_03One in a million, but like Can I do it? Hell no. I don't have the time for that. I'd have to play that game, only that game, for months to know exactly where everything's at. At your age now. Carter's got the time.
SPEAKER_02At a holiday and says, Carter, while you weren't here, me and the other cousin beat Star Tropics. Carter instantly knows, full of shit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, 100%. No chance. No chance in hell. I'd be like, okay, well, if you beat it, and I watch you beat it, and it's on the NES with no cheat codes, here's my bank account. I'll drain it and hand it to you.
SPEAKER_00It is that hard. The one thing I remember or never forget about Star Tropics is the main theme song to it, and I always just imagine Carter just like dancing while he's playing the NES with a big ass grin on his face. Just so happy.
SPEAKER_03It does bring me pure happiness to hear that song. So I'll be purely happy if you put it in the episode.
SPEAKER_00Okay, and lastly we have, and this guy, I feel so bad for him. He's chosen this so many times, even back in the day whenever we did this thing. Zombies Ain't My Neighbors from Mitch Toggle.
SPEAKER_03I've played all of these except Zero Mission. Or not Zero Mission, but uh the Metroid game Fusion. And I've been excited about it. No, I haven't played it in a long time. This is one that is really good, even if you play it solo player, but if you can couch co-op it with somebody, oh, ten times better.
SPEAKER_00You need to invite Jeff over or over to play with you.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it's so good, especially as a couch co-op game. Um I don't know. This wasn't on the Switch online, like where you could play with someone online, is it? I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00I I know Metroid Fusion is, I don't think Little Nemo is, and I don't think this is.
SPEAKER_02What is the original system? Is it NES? This is Super Nintendo.
SPEAKER_03Super and Super and Sega Genesis, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Randomly, on like a arcade cabinet, my mom bought my boys ten years ago for Christmas. This is one of the preloaded games, like on the arcade.
SPEAKER_03It might have been an arcade game, too. I mean, it would make sense. Like I said, it's a perfect co-op game. Like two-player. You know what it reminds me of?
SPEAKER_00And I've never I've never touched it, but from the look of it and the way that people describe it, have y'all ever played Goof Troop on the Super Nintendo? Did we not have that as a pod game? No, we've never did Goof Troop, but it it reminds me of that where it's that top-down and there's two people playing at the same time. It probably doesn't have the same like gameplay style to it, but that's exactly what it reminds me of.
SPEAKER_02That was like a top-tier two-player game, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, one of the unreleased episodes, and it blew your mind. And I'm one of these days I'll probably do a From the Vault episode because it never got released. But I chose that Mickey Mouse Circus game on the Super Nintendo, and that's what we did. I love that game.
SPEAKER_03I do too. Oh, yeah, we didn't do that one.
SPEAKER_00It was good. Because like what was crazy was I I had memories of playing it with my cousin whenever on her uh Sega Genesis, and then Jerry was just like, Why are you picking this game? Because this game means a lot to me, and I had no idea that you even had any connection to it at all. Do you remember what the connection was? It was your grandma.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, my dad's mom would sit like back in the bedroom in like '94 and play a video game, like a lady born in the late 30s that had no electronic, like, would play this with me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That was just why that was definitely not my intention at all when I chose it, but I was just like, that's so cool that you and I know like you all had a full night. I'm pretty sure Jeff came over. One of your buddies, um, Lambert, came over and was playing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. I took pictures and sent them to you all because they were playing together. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's a good game. It is a good game. But most of the Disney games from that era are good. Like they're they're very quality. But yeah, I'm pumped. These three games all look very high quality. I like how they're from different systems and different generations. So if you all want to get in on this, this is your final chance because we got one more game left after this episode, which is Star Fox 64, and then we're gonna be creating a whole new season. So you probably got about a week to get your suggestions in. So make sure you get it.
SPEAKER_03Hopefully. Hopefully a week.
SPEAKER_00Star Fox 64 is a two-hour game. If we can't do that in a week, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's as well say, it's not really the uh getting through the game, it's uh being able to actually meet up and record.
SPEAKER_00That's that's been a challenge too. Yeah, it's it's a different, it's like a bunch of different factors that are it's just tough when you're adults and shit and you got shit going on. It's tough to get this going.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you got work, kids. Like I said, my wife's in clinicals all weekend and stuff, so it's literally me and the kids all the time. So it's just tough right now. But I mean, I'm I appreciate that we still get to do it when we can. I like doing it.
SPEAKER_00Me too. And that's the key. It's just keeping it going. You know, don't just give up on it. Even if it takes a month like this episode did, just keep going. Keep going. Speaking of which, Jared, uh, uh, we were talking like before the episode started. You're in your attic, right? And it's like completely converted to basically a full well how would you describe it? Is it a man cave or like a game room?
SPEAKER_02I would say game room, and it's a a very unused game room that only I only come up here to record, which is six times in the past two years. And like maybe once a year to find like a cord to another console. But I'm here now and it looks good. I wish I used it.
SPEAKER_00What's wild is you have two preteen sons, and you would think they would be up there all day, like playing whatever you got, like a cool what's on that arcade machine that you have? Is it um Blitz?
SPEAKER_02I have a four-player Blitz the League arcade machine, and then I've got a full like arcade machine that has just Legends Ultimate written on the top. And I don't know what's on there. Like, I like I know zombie.
SPEAKER_03We'd have been wild when we were kids up there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like this is awesome up here, but I will give them this they would come up here if the Wii was plugged up here, but I like kind of just decided to plug the Wii up downstairs, and which my kids are currently playing the Wii right now.
SPEAKER_00You know what really warmed my heart, and I'm being completely 1000% serious. When we recorded Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, and we discussed on the episode that like your two your two boys and their friend came over and you like did the personality thing and you played a little bit of Mystery Dungeon, but afterwards you all had a full night of just playing the Wii. And these kids who weren't even fucking born whenever the when the Wii was the Wii was dead when they were born. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't even a system, the Wii U was out at the time. But yeah, that goes to show how fun that system is to this day with local multiplayer. These kids who have no predisposition will like love playing the fucking Wii.
SPEAKER_02I think right now you could take four kids aged five to twelve, twelve, fifteen that have never seen a Wii and put in Wii Sports or Wii Sports Resort and they would have a blast.
SPEAKER_00This may be controversial. I don't know. I know a lot of people would probably say the N64, but I think the Wii is the best local multiplayer system ever created. Am I wrong?
SPEAKER_02I agree. Like, I think the people that say that were like a generation, like in 2005 they're saying that, and now that we're here, like it's that generation back to the Wii. That's the best local multiplayer system for sure.
SPEAKER_03I'd say it probably is. I mean, I can't think of any times where we've all met up and actually played the Wii, which is kind of weird. I know we've done it a few times. Oh, me and Jared stuff. And we've done it with the Wii U, I think. Y'all played some tag game. Oh my god. That shit was fun. That one was fun. Oh my god. That one was good. That was fun. Remember that Carter? Hell yeah. I had a Wii U remember, but uh tag game was uh I would say like you talk about those kids playing the Wii. I mean, plug up the Wii U and let them play tag, and hey, there you go.
SPEAKER_02Carter won a contest for a Wii U. Yeah, it should have been a PS4. They replaced the prize, but yeah. That Wii U game was good. What was Nintendo Land Tanner?
SPEAKER_00Nintendo Land. It was the it was that generation's Wii Sports. It was a pack-in game that had a bunch of different Nintendo themed minigames on it. And yeah, we played that to fucking death. It's essentially like Carter said, it's a tag. One of them is Mario, and the rest are a bunch of toads running around. And the guy who had the game pad is Mario, and you run around and you basically just chase the toads, and that's basically all it is until you tag them out. But God, we spent hours playing that minigame.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love that. I love that.
SPEAKER_00I loved how like the camera on the Wii U gamepad of who was holding it was like on the screen on the TV, so everyone could see like your face like as we was playing it. The Wii U got the Wii U was just underrated, man. I I genuinely think that. Like I think that was it was the marketing, it was the the name of the system, and probably the time of its release.
SPEAKER_03It was like the Vita, it was just wrong place. The PS4 was coming out and the uh Xbox One and stuff, and the Wii U was pretty much like PS3 level.
SPEAKER_02And it was marketing, right? Oh yeah, like nobody really knew what it was.
SPEAKER_03Like for me, the reason I got rid of it though was because I was like, oh man, I don't want to go buy a game for it. I'm like, oh 60 bucks, I'll buy it you're 58 bucks. I was like, nah. That's always been Carter's like Nintendo hate. Yeah, well, that's what started. But uh I don't really hate it, it's just uh I'm just it's just hard to afford. I was gonna say, when we played multiplayer, the only time I remember us playing a huge multiplayer game was we went to Jeff's house, our producer Jeff's, and we stopped and bought like 50 snack wraps, 50 cheeseburgers, 50 McChickens.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, if you're talking about it.
SPEAKER_03I think we did like a land party with an Xboxes, right? Like we connected them all and played Halo and stuff, and I think we played Madden.
SPEAKER_02No, it was fun. Halo.
SPEAKER_03It was Halo, definitely, but I remember me and you playing college football, and I think that was just four that would have been a different night, even.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it was like the one night that you're talking about was amazing. Like, in my mind, Jeff didn't have any parents there, and we're like 13. He did not. We're 13-year-old old boys, eight to ten of us, yes, with like five CRTVs. And I do remember Jeff coming to my house. How old are we? Are we can we drive?
SPEAKER_03We're about we're about 14, 15. We're in that 15 eight, because I was thinking Jeff had a job or something because he's the one who went to He worked at McDonald's. Yeah, he worked at McDonald's, so we had to be what, 15, 16? This might have been this was high school, I think. I just remember some so I lived in Oceana. God, we're getting so old because I'm like, in high school, I think. Uh you know, way more than 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_02What I remember is I lived behind Sonoco, which is where I ended up reliving as an adult. At the time I had whatever internet it was, and we had two different boxes, like a router and a modem, and like Jeff came over to pick me up. So that's why I thought we were 15, 16, like maybe 9th, 10th grade instead of 30 grade.
SPEAKER_03I think I want to say that Jeff drove. I don't even know if I could. Well, I I could drive since I turned 16. So I could drive, Jeff could drive. I don't know if you could drive yet. I probably couldn't. Because I mean, guess what I'm saying? I think you were 15 still, not 16. And me, a few of us just turned 16. So it was right then. I mean, prime time for no parents to be there, 15, 16-year-olds, kind of hanging out. MSN Messenger.
SPEAKER_02A little bit like we're lucky we had a good group of kids. Like, nowadays, you kind of worry about like what the fuck's going on? Yeah. But like Jeff comes and picks me up, and we try out, like, I start unplugging our internet and shit, and my mom's like, What are you doing? And I'm like, nothing, mom. Like, I'm trying this, like, just to make sure what would work with an Xbox. We take my internet's modem, and uh, we learn like that's a modem. Like, we we kind of didn't, we were new to this. Like, uh, that was probably pretty popular at that time for people, but we're young and rural and didn't really know what's going on. But anyway, Jeff picks me up. I live right beside a McDonald's. He sends us through the like next, he drives through the McDonald's drive-thru. I'm sitting there with my little modem in my lap. He's like, Yeah, I want uh 25 McChickens, uh 25 cheeseburgers, and 25 fries. And the crazy thing is they're like, that'll be $60. Like, that was nothing. It was a dollar per sandwich. I know that for sure. 99 cents. And he like doesn't, and he's pumped. And like what's really wild about this is like we didn't sit around and like plan this that I remember. No, it just happens from what I remember. It just happened. So, Tanner, there all of a sudden there's like eight to ten 14 to 16 year olds at Jeff's house with no adults on a Friday, Saturday night.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you're thinking there's a huge, massive party going on.
SPEAKER_02No, we ate McDonald's and played Halo and we we had a legit land party of Halo and really didn't know what the fuck we're doing, but probably had one of the best nights of my life. Like we got to the point at like 3 to 4 a.m., people are getting fucking sleepy. Like it was 2v2v2v2v2. We had five, four to five Xboxes, and then one CRT TV to each Xbox in a different room in Jeff's house. Yes, all over the place. So like you would get sleepy or whatever, or just pissed off at the other team. You would send your teammate to like spy and try to like look at their TV to see where they are, like certain people getting mad. Nobody fought, nothing like major happened, like something bad could have happened that night, a bunch of fucking unsupervised, barely teenagers, but like top.
SPEAKER_03It's crazy because all we wanted to do was hang out and get this working. Once we got it working, we were like, this is what we're doing, this is awesome. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00There may be a picture from that night. Well, well, no, no, no. It probably wasn't from that night, but I remember there's one where Jared is playing the Xbox 360 and his little sister's there standing right in front of you, but there's a bunch of guys around you, and you all are playing Halo.
SPEAKER_02That was a spons, a school-sponsored video game tournament to raise money for the band team. Oh I I was a freshman in college, so that's probably 2008, 2009. And my little sister begged me to like enter us in this Halo thing, and there's guys like one to two years older than us whipping everybody's ass. And I was like, Little Brooke, we're not gonna win. And after the tournament, like I think it was first to 20 or 25 kills, we lose like 25 to two. She just runs up to me and punches me and like runs out of the room crying. And and then like me and Kelly get ready for the Call of Duty tournament, like, which is next.
unknownOh my god.
SPEAKER_00See, I never knew what that was. I always assumed that was either at Steffi's house or Jeff's or something like that. I didn't know.
SPEAKER_02I was in a public school, like at a hosted tournament, and Little Brook like thought, I think she thought we'd go in there and win this Halo tournament with her as an eight-year-old and me as an 18th, like non-Halo player. There were legit Halo players there. We get in the lobby and get our asses fucking kicked. I just I'll never forget. Like, at one point, I think I'm just laughing as we're dying over and over. She just fucking runs up to me, Tanner, punches me like two to three times and runs out the room. And I'm like, I mean, damn, I can't do anything. Like, I ain't I can't do it.
SPEAKER_03You and Kelly, you and Kelly came in second, though, in the Continuity tournament.
SPEAKER_02What I remember about the COD tournament is they couldn't get the land shit to work for it. Me and Kelly were prepared to win this motherfucker. So what we ended up having to do is like the guys we played, I don't remember who they were. They were they were not bad. They had all the buildings mapped out for each map, and they would call them building A, Building B, Building C to like talk to each other, and they weren't called that on the map, but they knew that like they had studied the maps that well enough. But at the same time, like I just felt like me and Kelly were dealt a dirty hand because we expected to be me and Kelly on a TV versus them two on a TV, and it didn't work out that way.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, because they could have seen you, they'd have been like, they're in building D, and y'all be like, what the hell?
SPEAKER_02Damn, those were some good times, man. Early to late 2000s, great gaming times.
SPEAKER_00Definitely missed the vote on that element of it. Mostly for me, it was just online multiplayer or two to four people on a GameCube or a Wii or whatever. But yeah, that shit does sound fucking awesome.
SPEAKER_02So we're on a little bit of a tangent on this episode, like at one point this week. Do y'all remember like the craze of Guitar Hero, Rock Band, all that? I know you all know. Oh, yeah, of course, yeah. Was that and this is that same era? That was a good ass time. Like Guitar Hero took mine and Carter's generation by storm. Like, people love that shit.
SPEAKER_03Like the last few weeks of school, whenever there was nothing going on, it was in like almost every other classroom. There was somebody playing like Guitar Hero or something.
SPEAKER_02Like, really. I loved rock band, like because I think like I was good enough to be like monsters. Dookie and the shit monsters was our band. But let me go back. Like, I hit Guitar Hero a few months late. I bought it for a girlfriend I had at the time and gave her the game. She came to my house, played one song, and got a decent score because she had played it. Uh, whatever the first song is on Lake.
SPEAKER_00So from Weezer, here's the first song on Rock Band.
SPEAKER_02No, not Rock Band. This is PS2 Guitar Hero.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02So I learn it and like I play it that night until I destroy her score. And then I gave her the gift after like I showed, like, I whipped your ass on this score, but I don't think she read it. But anyway, because I was so late, Trey Hunt, our buddy, could fucking rock out on Guitar Hero. So I got rock band and I was like, this is my thing. And I started the drums, and I got I got to where I could finish songs on hard and whatever the last different undersell your talent, Jared.
SPEAKER_03You have played songs and I watched it. I couldn't do this. You were playing the guitar. And like the bass at the exact same time. You were hitting the drums with the bass while you're playing it.
SPEAKER_02Jesus Christ. Well, so we had a good time with that. But we had Carter on vocals, Steffi on bass, and Trey, which is a super smart Ivy League guy on league guitar, me on the drums. I'll just never forget. Like it was my house. I had an upstairs room like I do right now with all this gaming shit. We had a little rock band going. And I learned you could make a band and all your shit would be posted to Xbox Live, like your scores all together. Every time you would advance, you could unlock like shit for your guy, like facial hair, clothes, that sort of thing. You know I love that shit. Character customization. So I came up with Dookie with, and I just remember once I named our band Trey, it was just me and Trey that night that was there kind of playing with our account. And Trey's like, uh, you know, Jared, I've never seen a band be named after the drummer. Also, you I thought part of Dookie. I'm Dookie. I was Dookie. Like I had a big fucking band. Cookie, cookie, cookie, dookie, drummer, cookie.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, drummer, cookie, dookie. But you were basically Bill Collins of your band. Like you were the drummer, but the front man. I guess so.
SPEAKER_02But uh you could create like a little label like with art at the time, which was fucking amazing.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02We had like a piece of shit, like reaching down and holding hands with like a tiny human, and that was our band's label. And like I spent hours on designing that. But I'll never forget, they wouldn't let you type Dookie and the shit monsters. Xbox filtered that out. They're like, no, this is bad. So I had to put Dookie and the SHI exclamation point T monsters. But great times. Anyway, go on, go on. But my my thought is like, I wanted this week, all of a sudden, like it hit me, all this nostalgia video game shit that we love. I want to buy rock band right now and make my kids learn to play and me play with them in a band.
SPEAKER_00Dude, that sounds incredible because they probably have never experienced anything like that because it's just not their generation.
SPEAKER_02It's not at all. And it would be fucking learning from the ground up.
SPEAKER_00Not only is it like it's fun as shit to play it and they're loving it, but it also exposes them to different kinds of music too. And then they can like, you know, love the songs from that game. Because that rock being a guitar hero exposed me to so much music that I still like. Do you know? Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like you're you're hitting the nail on the head, Tanner, because me and my youngest son Owen, like I got him up this morning at like 7 a.m. Because I had to travel two hours away to be fitted for a tux at a men's warehouse for a wedding. And he wanted to listen to music that's on my phone and then rate the song one to ten. So when it started getting to like the 80s stuff, here's how old we're getting. Like he's like, like he would know a song, and he's like, oh, that's from the 2000s. I like that song. I'm like, what the fuck? Like, who calls it the 2000s?
SPEAKER_00That's a that's a 2000s song. Well, I it was crazy because the first I've been called Unk by your oldest son. I'm like, I'm I'm an unk? Really? Am I that fucking old now? Like I I just it's crazy. Go on, Unk. That's what he said. I said something that was like not like a slang term that like kids use today, and he's like, okay, Unk. I was like, what? Shocked me. But you need to do that though. Get a rock band set, get it, and uh, and keep us updated on it. Well, uh, boys, before we get into God of War, uh, what have y'all been playing anything lately or has it been pretty much dry for you all? That I will say, because I never really have anything to report in terms of like I usually just play the pod games because I haven't been able to play games much. I bought a new game and I've been playing it and I beat it Astrobot.
SPEAKER_03Isn't that like the uh PlayStation Intro game, sort of, to show you how the system works?
SPEAKER_00No, this is the one that they made a fully fleshed game of, and it was game of the year two years ago. Yes. Um it was crazy because I'm like, this, this little fucking like Sony platformer is game of the year. I went in a game store and it was like 30 bucks, because usually it's like 70, and I'm like, that's way too much for a platforming game. But I'm like 30, it's it's more doable. I bought it, I tried it out, and my God, it's fucking amazing. Like I can absolutely see why it won game of the year. It's like a platformer, like kind of like a um like a Mario 3D world style of game, but it's like the most biggest celebration of like Sony and PlayStation characters I've ever seen because instead of like in Mario, you know, you go through the level and you're collecting these stars and stuff, like to get, you know, to make progression. In this game, you're connecting or you're collecting tiny little like Sony characters as you go. And it's like and everything's like a big reference to Sony. Each level is like tailored. This is a the God of War theme level. You go in there, you collect all the God of War characters, and there's references left and right, and it's like it's so fucking good. Like, I'm so happy I played that game. But yeah, that's what I was thinking of because where we were playing God of War, I was picking up on all the little like Easter eggs and stuff because I was playing that while I was playing this. I was just like, I would never pick up on that shit if Carter would have never chose it. No, you're welcome. It's crazy. It was a really, really good game. Then again, Carter, well, have you been playing anything other than God of War?
SPEAKER_03I have been playing God of War. Ragnarok. Um this got me in the mood to play some Ragnarok, so I'm finally getting around to that. You never beat it. No, no, no. You didn't elevate your fishing level five or ten points. No, um, I'm still doing that. I've still like in between work meetings, I'm still playing some old school RuneScape. Right now I just hit 60 wood cutting while we're doing the ep the podcast. So yeah, that's still that's that kind of game though, RuneScape. You can literally just let it go while you're doing anything. But uh, no, I tried to play some God of War.
SPEAKER_00I beat God of War and God of War Ragnarok, and you're in for a hell of a journey.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I've already beaten God of War like twice, so now I'm finally getting the Ragnarok because I really didn't have anything that would run it. Now I do.
SPEAKER_00I have something that runs it, a PS5 card, or you should look into getting it.
SPEAKER_03No, no. They break too much. You're a Sony guy. Yeah, but Jared's already spent $4,000 on PS5s. I'm good over here. This is what you need to do.
SPEAKER_00You need to go in fucking Jared's, you need to go in fucking Jared's house, look under his couch. There's probably a PS5 under there. Just grab it and take it out and work on it, and you got the bam, you there you go. You know, Jared gave one of his uh several fucking dead PS5s to uh his sister. She walked in at in the house and was just like, Can I have this? And he's like, You can take it, it's broke. She took it off. Did it work? She's got it fixed.
SPEAKER_02I wondered about that. She don't talk to me ever since I made my tomodachis a week ago have sex with my own.
SPEAKER_00Are you having fun with that Tamadachi game?
SPEAKER_02I think it's fun. Like, it's it's not a game you can sit there and be super into.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna need some context. What the hell? No, Tamodachi, not Tamagotchi, but he's like, yeah, I'm making Tamagotchis have sex. I'm like, what in the hell?
SPEAKER_02Okay, so I don't take this shit serious. It's a Nintendo game that I know is kind of popular. I know my sister loves that shit. Like she upset. She knows it from the 3DS deck.
SPEAKER_03I really hope we get to the point, man.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay, okay. So you basically create these characters out of your Mii's. I think the game was made to like have more interaction from your Mies on the Wii Days slash 3DS days, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But they basically live a life like The Sims. So I get the game. I'm playing my Switch 2 in Beb, which I very rarely do, but I've like got the demo to this game, and like I wanted to experience it. I ended up buying the full game, even though I haven't touched it, which is sad. So me and my wife are sitting there, and like I made myself, and I'm this guy, I'm running around putting on clothes, that sort of thing. I make my wife, I make Little Brooks' dad, Tom Gallion. I make a couple other characters, but anyway, it's like uh Jared is about to go over to Brooke's house, which is my wife, and talk about an activity. What activity should he introduce to her? And I'm like, Nintendo won't let this shit fly. So I type in sex thinking that it's gonna like lag a block or something. Yeah, yes. And it doesn't, it like zooms into my guy and it's like, yes, I will talk to Brookie about sax because it voices those characters.
SPEAKER_00It's the most fucking um what's that goddamn game we used to play on the PC Hollywood video or what? Yeah, Hollywood High, Hollywood High voices ever.
SPEAKER_02It does so it but except we're not typing it like it's AI generated, like text, like so. Anyway, it like fast forwards my guy over there, and it's like hello Brookie. And my wife's watching this while we're about to fall asleep, like she's kind of into it too, like entertainment-wise. It's like today I want to talk to you about Sax. She's laughing and I'm laughing. And Brooke's like, I don't know if I've ever heard about Sacks. And my guy's like, I named my town Mineral Town, which is of course just Natsumi guy here, Harvest Moon. Uh, there's the episode shout out. There it is. It took us 50 minutes to get to it, but anyway, our island is called Mineral Town Island, and my guy's like, Yeah, brook, nobody is better at sax than me and all of Mineral Town. And she's like, Wow, maybe you can show me how you do sax, and like it just keeps going. And I am, you know, my fifth grade comedy, I am fucking rolling crying. My wife's not impressed. And then I like send a screenshot to Little Brook, and I'm like, what the fuck is this game? Like, she hasn't responded since then, man. Like, I think she's upset with me, but it it's hilarious as hell because I forget I did that. And apparently, like, once you do some shit like that, everybody remembers it. But when I made my mother-in-law the other day on the game, Yvette, like, it she like like is talking to me and having a conversation, and it's like, and my wife's there, and it's like Yvette is explaining to Jared how she is better at sex than anybody else on the island. And it's a fucking Nintendo game.
SPEAKER_00That makes me kind of proud of Nintendo in a way. It's like, dude, you you know, you're you're not being a complete fucking stick in the mud. You're actually having a little bit of fun with this shit.
SPEAKER_02Tanner, you're like me. Like, I thought 100% that shit is fucking censored.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's all every thing has been censored in the past 20 years. It like it, whether it be Pokemon, Animal Crossing, you cannot name your character certain names. It bleeps it out immediately. That shocked me whenever I seen that. I'm like, how did you get this through?
SPEAKER_03I'm pretty sure. There will be an update.
SPEAKER_01Oh god.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they they overlooked the one word that they shouldn't have overlooked.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh no, they could talk about sex.
SPEAKER_02Ah no, I'm I'm pretty sure I don't remember the Nintendo game, but they like banned my last name, Cook, because it was too close to cock. I don't I don't remember the exact name, but I'm I'm pretty sure it was like first party Nintendo. They're like, no, you can't use this profanity. That's ridiculous, man.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, that that game looks so fucking fun, man. Like I mean, it's like you said, it's kind of like it's it's kind of a game from a different era. It's like it kind of reminds me of something that would have come out in the 90s or 2000s. It's kind of like, you know, just a um simulation style game. You create a bunch of of your friends and you just watch them kind of interact in a way you can set their personalities and and just see how they they uh talk to each other. It's a cool game.
SPEAKER_02You answer a few questions and then like it generates a personality, which so far it's been kind of spot on for the people I've made, which has cracked me up. When it explains after I answer a few questions.
SPEAKER_00Was it Didi like uh proposing a Tom Gallion or something like that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Dee Dee wants to keep dating Tom Gallion, and I keep clicking like, no, no, like that's your mother, ex-mother-in-law.
SPEAKER_03And before we get too far, let's not forget Sony did ban your current occupation. You could not be a therapist as you're gonna tag, which is stupid. What?
SPEAKER_02Carter or Jeff Warren was like the rapist. Like instead of.
SPEAKER_03Well no, therapist, just a capital R. Because you're a therapist. Holy shit.
SPEAKER_02You assholes.
SPEAKER_03Jeez. Yeah, yeah. Thank you everyone for joining us for the uh God of War episode. Yeah, we have now arrived uh to Kratos.
SPEAKER_00So, Carter, so you chose this game. Uh, did is this something that you grew up with, or is this just something that you wanted to try? Like, where did where did this uh come about?
SPEAKER_03I guess sort of you could say I grew up with it. When did I I forget when this came out, 2004, 2005, something like that? I can look at it. Yeah, 2005. 2005, yeah. So um the way I heard about this game, so obviously I was in high school when this came out, like freshman sophomore-ish. But when this game came out, I remember I went to Aaron's house, I used to listen to the podcast a lot. And there used to be the king of gaming channels was the G4 channel. I don't know if you guys remember that.
SPEAKER_00Well, it was a TV show, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it was a TV show. That's what I meant, like actual channel. Um not like YouTube channel, like a TV channel.
SPEAKER_00That's how fucking Gen Z I am. When you say channel, I think of YouTube.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no. I was talking about a TV station on the old uh box. We had to adjust the you know the the ears on the antenna to get it to work. No, we um yeah, it was the because this it was actually called the G4 channel, um, which was a TV show. Uh or not the TV show, but the channel had a bunch of different TV shows. Like X Play and stuff. Yeah. Uh but they previewed this show, and I remember being over there, and they were like, oh, check out this. They already watched the episode like four times because back in the day you you had a TV, you watched what was on it. And X Play was on, and they were like, check this new game that's coming out. And I just remember he was on there like ripping like the Harpies like wings off and stuff, and they were showing the gameplay of it, and they were like, This game is uh not one that you want to play around your mom or anything. You can't just make sure you don't do that, and that's because of the sex scene and stuff in the beginning of the game. But I just remember it being like mind-blowing at the time that this game was gonna be like that graphic and it was that awesome looking. Like, I mean, even now I think the game looks great, and we'll get into it, but I just remember seeing that game come out, and I was like, oh my god, I have to play this game, and it was awesome, one of the best games I ever played.
SPEAKER_00Would you all say this is Sony's biggest franchise now? Or is it top three? Like, is this the biggest?
SPEAKER_03Uh let me be clear. Sony is has probably has some of the best games in the industry, period.
SPEAKER_00But they never did the thing like sorry, Carter, but don't have to break Astrobot for me, because we're celebrating their entire history. It's like it's flooded back to me how much good fucking shit Sony has made. Because like it goes through every little thing. And I was just like, God, like that, they really are truly like they're on par with Nintendo easily.
SPEAKER_02Oh, they don't keep shit alive like Nintendo, that like you're not gonna get a Mario game every so like after it's got its few games, I think they kind of kick it to the curb.
SPEAKER_00Once this system's over, we're done with those franchises. We're done. We're moving on to a whole new batch of franchises. Nintendo's more like, here's our top ten franchises, we're gonna keep them alive forever.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I agree. Nintendo's like, we're gonna re-release Mario, we're not gonna update it, we're just gonna slap HD on it, sell it for 80 bucks, see what happens. Oh, it sold 30 million copies, let's just do that again in a few years.
SPEAKER_00Well, Sony's like, okay, the PS1, we got Crash, we got Spyro, the PS2, we got Jack and Daxter, we got Sly Cooper, we got the PS3, we got Little Big Planet, you know, it's like that. It's like we they keep introducing new stuff every generation.
SPEAKER_03Well, I think like when you look at certain franchises too, like we played the Legend of Spyro games, and they just instead of like making what works with another like platformer spyro game, they were like, let's do something different. Oh, it didn't sell very well, we're done. Yep. Just like they did with the Vita, they're like, oh, this isn't selling very well, let's just stop. But yeah, I think that uh that has something to do with it, but they never committed to like a mascot for their company, kind of like Nintendo always had Mario.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. But that's the reason I'm saying that I think maybe God of War is top three biggest because this is one of the only franchises that is still coming out today and that they're still pushing. Uncharted's over. Yeah, that's done.
SPEAKER_02Sad. Yeah, Nathan Drake was a dog.
SPEAKER_00I'll never forget Jared dressing up as Nathan Drake. I don't even know the context, but I just remember seeing that picture.
SPEAKER_03He was into it because I mean, when you get into Uncharted, man, that's that's top-tier gaming.
SPEAKER_02I think at one point I wanted to end all aspirations of any other career and just go look for treasure like Nathan Drake as a 28 year old.
SPEAKER_00You kind of resembled him back then too, because you were probably like 1920 whenever those games were big, and like you you you looked like Nathan Drake a little bit. So I I can see it. I mean and it it is a classic Jared Cook character. It's a guy who is a fucking like good with the ladies, kind of like suave uh the like one of those types, like kind of like a solid snake type. I'm like, yeah, this is a Derek character written all over it.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Bub.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, God warrior, they're actually gonna redo it and keep it going. So this might be do they have another franchise they've kept going this long? I mean, like, seriously? I'm trying to think harder.
SPEAKER_00I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02Like, I don't know anything from PS2 that's still carried over to today.
SPEAKER_00Maybe Ratchet and Clank. Like they started making those again. Have they? Yeah. There's a new one, uh Rifts Apart. It was a launch title for the PS5, and then there was one for the PS4.
SPEAKER_03Um I mean, they even had uh Kill Zone for a while that was a really good first-person shooter. I remember I had it on PS3 and it can't it launched on PS2, and then they made Shadowfall on PS4. They had uh Resistance for a while. Um they've had some good bangers, it's just uh they make them and then if they don't start selling well, then moving on.
SPEAKER_00Well, God of War is always that's the thing with God of War is like I had never played any of the original trilogy games whenever you pick this. I played the God of War uh 2018 and then I played Ragnarok and I fucking loved them. But they're they're very different, very different from what this game was. This game I have a lot of experience with, this style of game, because I have played games that kind of rip well, I will say this game kind of ripped off another game that I played. Devil May Cry. This the Devil May Cry came out probably four or five years before this game did, and it's like pretty much the exact same kind of playstyle. But I I would say I prefer God of War way more to Devil May Cry, but I've only played the original. But the games that I played um that were like this were like Dante's Inferno, and then there was a Castlevania game called Lord of Shadows. It's basically just like God of War, like to a T. And I love those games. Like Dante's Inferno was a game where you're like going through the nine is there nine circles of hell or eight circles of hell?
SPEAKER_03Like you get like attacked by like penises or vaginas or something. Well, that's the lust circle.
SPEAKER_00So the lust thing is completely like that's crazy.
SPEAKER_03What's that called? That's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_02Carter's still playing persona.
SPEAKER_00But that yeah, I love those games. So once I started playing this, I'm like, oh, okay, this is familiar. I know exactly what this is.
SPEAKER_03Man, I'm upset that you played the uh 2018 God of War first, though, because that scene where he takes off the uh blades of chaos and digs them up, that hits so freaking hard when you beat the original trilogy. Are you holding on to the city?
SPEAKER_00Oh, Daddy's back.
SPEAKER_02How far did Cook get into this game?
SPEAKER_00I would say probably title screen. You read the title screen off.
SPEAKER_02So let me tell you this. I wish, I wish to God I would have bought it on the PS2 and played it regular. I played on the uh streaming service. I beat the ship and talked to Poseidon and beat the sea monster and went to Athens four fucking times. What the what why? What happened? The first time, like it it didn't take. The second time I got like basically almost through it, and they wanted to play the Wii, we just plugged up in my living room, and they brought a buddy over, and I was like, Well, fuck me. The third time I did it again, like it just every time something happened, but I made it is hard to like that many times. It's hard, and I'm not good at games, and like I'm trying here to play it on normal. The last time through, I just put it on easy and and just like I just wanted to see the story. Yeah. So I like I talked to Poseidon, you need to defeat this guy for me. I think I had sex with the woman. Circle, circle, rotate, stick, right and up.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, I kept getting to that part, and for some reason, I got too long.
SPEAKER_00They should have saved the sex scene for the end of the game.
SPEAKER_03So that reminds me of this conversation we had about uh Conquerors. We're all like, we got to the sunfly. Remember that.
SPEAKER_02I forgot to save after the scene so many times. But uh I talked to is it Athena? Is that the god that's on the boat that's like go about Air Ace? Yes, because Athens is getting under attack. You asked me to beat the boat level, and I got your ass right now.
SPEAKER_00Okay, you there we go. I see I I did honestly, I thought you didn't put any time into it. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Um I'm trying.
SPEAKER_00No, it is what it is, is what it is.
SPEAKER_03It's time, man. I totally get it now. I used to not get I mean right before, and this isn't uh this Is not about God of War, but I remember we'd all be doing something, I'd be like, damn it, Jared never wants to do anything anymore. He's always just sitting around with his kids and blah blah blah. Now that I'm there, I'm like, damn, I can't believe Jared went out with us like every now and then. Like now I'm just like, hell, if I get free time, I'm like, hey Carter, you want to come out? Hell no. I'd rather just sit here and just stare at the wall in silence for a minute.
SPEAKER_02It's funny. We're kind of like hitting different like my kids are becoming more and more self-sufficient, but they're into so many sports. But where you're at now is a tough, tough time. Tough, tough.
SPEAKER_00How old are your kids, Carter? I know this is off topic, but five and two. Oof.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's rough. Very tough. A lot of parenting.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, Carter, what you were saying about the blades, like in the uh God of War remake, not remake, but the reboot. Yeah, I knew that was iconic, and I knew that was like, I was like, oh, the God of War fans are eating this fucking shit up.
SPEAKER_03Oh my gosh. Dude, I literally, when that scene happens, and we're talking about the 2018 version, but whenever he finally goes back and it's so many hours, because I didn't know anything about the game going into it, right? I mean, I knew it was God of War. I didn't even know that you were running around as like a dad the whole time, which is made double cool since I've got Elliot now. So I can imagine him as HSS Loki. It was so freaking cool whenever he finally goes back and he digs up the uh blades. I was just like adrenaline, like heart rushing, like, oh my god, this is like the hair is rising on my back. Like, this is fucking awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, even even with me, and I had no context. I had context, but I didn't play the game, so I had no st no nostalgia with it. It still was a cool ass scene. But that's the one thing I will say. I didn't know, like, I did not like Kratos in this game at all.
SPEAKER_03Because I know him from the newer games, like how he's more Oh, if he was this, yeah, if he was this version, then he would have just killed all of the gods, and it would have been not even a game. He'd have just killed everyone.
SPEAKER_00Well, in the new games, he's a lot more like human and like chill and relaxed and stuff. In this, he's like a fucking monster. He's just wants to kill everything evil, just like just brutal.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, like that right off the bat, whenever he goes and gets the key, and that guy's like, You came back for me, and he's like, I didn't come back for you, and just kills the guy on that sea monster's neck.
SPEAKER_02Yes. I played it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but that was uh I know that scene.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this one, and the in the original trillion, he's pretty much all furious throughout the whole thing because But that's the story though, right?
SPEAKER_00Like he's having these visions and stuff, and he and that's the only way that he can get peace is is through like killing these gods, correct?
SPEAKER_03Correct, because he killed his family. I mean, I don't care to spoil the story because I mean this game has been I know we talked about what you didn't want to ruin the Pokemon one, but I'm like, these games technically came out 21 years ago. Like that's true.
SPEAKER_00I mean go ahead, Carter.
SPEAKER_03I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ruin Ragnarok for you, or because I haven't Blood Beat it yet and hope nobody else ruins it for me. But uh this game has been out a while, and they're getting ready to remaster it too and remake it completely from the ground up. Basically, he killed his family in a rage. He was just tricked by the gods to actually do that, you find out. But anyway, he kills his family and he has nightmares about it, and he wants to be like not just forgiven, but he wants them to remove that he did that, like remove the memory of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And um he is just pissed about that, and then they never really do anything about it. They're just like, yeah, yeah, well, you did it, so it just sucks to be you. And uh that's the whole point of it, is he's just furious and tries to kill the gods.
SPEAKER_00And that's that's one thing about me. Uh like you know how like how I said about Ark, um how that game was like an education on dinosaurs for me, and like I know I like like dinosaur stuff now, and it's kind of like that. There was a game I used to play, a MOBA called Smite, and it was like these characters that you play are gods from different pantheons and stuff, and that was one thing I fucking loved about God of War, was like because I have a lot of connection to a lot of these like different Greek gods, and and in the newer games it's Norse mythology, it's like Norse gods. And I love that shit because I'm just like, oh, there's Athena, there's Ares, there's like all this stuff. So that that element of it was cool because it's always keeping me on my toes of like what new god are they gonna introduce here? Because I know a lot about him.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah. I'll tell you what's freaking awesome. If you ever play God of War Three, because you know there's one, there's two, there's three, the original trilogy, Hercules is in it, right? And you gotta fight him. And Hercules is voiced by Kevin Sorbo in the video game, who plays him in like Hercules' Legendary Xerne. If you ever watch those, I did, so it's pretty cool for me. Not quite. I've heard of it. I don't think I've ever seen it though. But yeah, they had Hercules voicing Hercules, which is pretty freaking cool.
SPEAKER_01Hercules, Hercules.
SPEAKER_00I think I think um Elijah Wood voices someone in that game too, I saw. Which is the same guy who voiced Spyro in the game that we play.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But uh it's just this version of Kratos is ruthless.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's very, very different. If you're coming off the newer games and you're thinking Kratos is more of this disciplined dad, and then you go to this, it's just like, what the fuck?
SPEAKER_03Okay, that's serious character development. Well, that's the whole point of the character development is he's so ruthless and evil and like not really evil, but like just super uh well, I mean, I guess he is a little bit evil, but he's mainly ruthless. He does kill civilians in this game.
SPEAKER_00It's like innocent and doesn't he doesn't give a fuck. He will kill them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but that's kind of part of his character growth is um and and I don't want I won't spoil the trilogy for you because uh he does something really awesome at the end of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um but after he ends the Pantheon, that's why he is trying to raise Atreus better because of all the stuff that he went through and how he was. That's the whole point of the whole new God of War and how he acts differently. He doesn't want Atreus to be.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm right there with you, Carter. I wish I would have played these and then went to that because I feel like that element of it would have hit a lot harder. Seeing like how this is.
SPEAKER_03It did. That's that's what I mean. Like, I'm I hate that you played that one first because it's completely different. Then you go back to this and you're like, dude, he was kind of a prick compared to what he is now. Like, yeah, that's why he is the way he is now.
SPEAKER_00But we I mean we were talking about the blades, how they're iconic, and I remember sending you a message about this. They also give you a sword at one point in the game. I was like, I I don't know, maybe this is an unpopular opinion. I was using the sword pretty much the entire time. Like that was like my main weapon throughout the entire game.
SPEAKER_03I like the sword because it hits harder.
SPEAKER_00Not a lot less range on it, but I I just preferred it. There was something about it that just like felt I like the damage on it better. And that's one thing I will say, I love the fucking customization in this game to where you can level up whatever ability you like or prefer throughout the game. Like you don't have to level up certain things. So like you whenever you kill things, you get what is it called, like blood points or something like that, where you it like piles up a bunch of like packs.
SPEAKER_03Basically, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then you can drain it into whatever you you like in the game, whether it be the weapons or the uh the four abilities in the game. Zeus's Fury, Medusa's gate.
SPEAKER_03Or Zeus's Fury, Poseidon's or I think it's Poseidon's Wrath when I was taken. Rage or Wrath or something like that. It's Rage, Poseidon's Rage. Army of Hades. Yeah, the Army of Hades is pretty freaking cool. But uh I always I'm the opposite, or not the opposite, but like I always power up the blades first, like all the way up before I do anything else, to be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's like my favorite thing to power up because you start getting different combos later too. Like it's not just your like when you power up the blades, it's not just like oh, now it hits harder. It's like, no, now you can hold like L1 and hit square and he does a different combo, X will do a different combo, and you get a bunch of different combos with it.
SPEAKER_00I was intimidated every single time that I would level up one of my things because well, not the ability so much, but like the weapons. Like whenever you level it up, it'll be like, okay, you unlock new combos, and then there'd be like five to seven combos in your face. I'm like, oh my god, okay, I gotta remember this shit, like what I can do and what I can't do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But it's really not that serious about it. Like, you don't have to be able to know every single combo, but uh, but it's I just like that it helps you exactly, yeah. Which is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00The one thing I will say about this game is I didn't expect it to be as like puzzle oriented.
SPEAKER_03Yes, the puzzle it's very the the huge massive puzzles. Like I think the last puzzle is almost dreadfully difficult, the rings of Pandora.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. Hundred percent. That is like even early on. I don't know if you remember this one, Carter, but there was one where there was this like um like this catapult that was like uh next to this bridge, and you had to push it to where it was it got on this little platform that spins where you have to like fire the arrow into the wall and you have to like spin it twice to like face the direction.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Jesus. I I was stuck on that part for maybe an hour because I had no idea. Oh, was you? Yes, I had no idea what to do.
SPEAKER_03Well, I had played it before. I gotcha. Um I remember first playing through the game being like, oh my god, I thought this was just gonna be killing a bunch of monsters and flying. There's so much puzzles and thought that goes into every little like once you get into the actual puzzles of it, it's like, man, you really gotta figure this shit out.
SPEAKER_00Yes, a hundred percent. And that it was cool though, because I it was like um a little bit of Zelda in there. Or it's what kind of like what it felt like. It was like a little different, and that I think it's what sets this game apart versus like Devil May Cry and those other games that we mentioned because they're they're more or less just combat. Then this game, you know, it sprinkles in a little bit of like you gotta stop and think type shit, which I like. But yeah, I mean for all and I mean all in all, I really did enjoy this. I only had very, very limited like um complaints. I think the own one of the biggest complaints I had was like the fixed camera was a little shit at times. I didn't like how you couldn't.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you can it's definitely aged.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like the fixed camera and stuff. Like I well, I mean, you play the newer God of War, that's that's kind of like 2026, that's what you're comparing it to nowadays. But yeah, that fixed camera was definitely even I was there were certain parts where I know where I need to go, but getting there just didn't feel natural. Like when I'm trying to when you gotta jump backwards.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, like the backtracking, like it felt wrong. Because I'm like, okay, I've already been through here and I'm like in the camera, you can't really like rotate it to see what you're looking for. So I'm like, I don't am I doing this correctly? Am I going the right way? Yeah, there was a lot of times where I kind of like had I lost my direction a little bit because of that camera.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, same for me. I I mean like like I said, coming from a newer game, like the new God of Wars and stuff, going back to this one, you can definitely feel that camera sitting still. But yeah, I did like how every enemy, um they did a lot of repeat enemies, of course, in this tile of game users.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, they always do that.
SPEAKER_03But um, they would introduce new enemies that would have a certain way to kill them that you could always take. Like the minotaurs, you could like knock them down, and then every time you'd stab into them, you would get like uh I think it was health from them. The Gorgons, if you rip their heads off, I think it gives you magic. Which is pretty cool. And you don't have to do that. You can kill them just regularly. Every time they introduce a new enemy, you'd get something cool like that to kill them with.
SPEAKER_00Did you have a favorite ability that you used? Like uh my primary one was Army of Hades or Zeus's Fury. Those were the two I like alternated through the most.
SPEAKER_03Once I unlock Zeus's just slinging those lightning bolts, I got that's fun. Like that's a good time.
SPEAKER_01That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00That's the one I used the least. Like I enjoyed it, but I didn't use it, unless I because that that item I feel like you had to use a lot. Like there would be times where there's an enemy like super far away and you had no choice, like you have to use it. Yeah, I just I for whatever reason I never that was the one I used the least. See, that's what I that's what I was saying. I like the customization of it because there's different like styles you can play.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but 90% of the time, if I can use the blades, I was always using the blades. Um I love the blades. But yeah, yeah, when it comes to the magic, I did like, even though it's one of the first ones you get, Poseidon's Rage, when you get it juiced up, when you can start smashing circle, I think, to make it get bigger and bigger and just keep going. Really like that ability once you get it powered up. Same. And you're in a crowd. Honestly, they're all they all have their use once you get them powered up. They're also which is cool. That's how you can well, I guess I'll just beat it again, and this time I'll level up something else.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, this game was definitely you could tell it was definitely ahead of its time in a lot of ways. The one thing that I was just like very impressed with with the PS2 is like I'm you said graphically the game looks really good, and I agree. For a PS2 game, it looks excellent, but the scope of it. Like, you know, what like that one time whenever you see um Ares for the first time and he's fucking gargantuan huge, and he's just in the background like fighting and stuff. I'm like, okay, if I would have played this as like an eight-year-old whenever this game came out, I would have been like loving it. Because it reminds me a lot of um Shadow of the Colossus in that respect. Yes, which is another PS2 game, and it's like with these humongous like creatures and shit like that, and it's it's just cool. I like that kind of stuff. For instance, I had a moment like that even recently when I played the uh the God of War in 2018. When you first see Yormangander, oh my god. Oh holy shit.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I could do a whole episode I could do a whole episode on that when the snake, the world snake pops up and just the scene and everything. Oh my god, dude. It's one of them like chills.
SPEAKER_00Honestly, it like gives you gives you chills because it's so intimidating of like this fucking humongous fucking snake.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I got the same similar feeling when I was younger. Whenever you see, I think it's Atlas when you go to get Pandora's box and he's just walking around and he's just this huge monster.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_03That's kind of the similar feeling. But uh, of course, nowadays it's not quite as impressive as it used to be. But back then back then it was like, holy shit, there's a huge monster on my screen. Look how huge this is. I would just stand there and watch it for a little bit, walk around, like, I gotta climb on that. But uh it's freaking crazy because I I I always loved Greek mythology anyway, and this game is straight Greek mythology to a T all the way through it. It follows some of the those stories from Greek mythology that aren't the most popular, but it kind of pulls them out of nowhere, and you're like, oh, okay, that's pretty dope.
SPEAKER_00Like I said, I love that stuff. Is is the entire original trilogy just is it predominantly like Greek? Is it is that all it is?
SPEAKER_03Oh, the entire original trilogy is the Greek mythology, it's all Greek. And um that's what that's part of what they talk about in the second one or the reboots, the 2018 version, when uh Mamir's like, I'm on the hip of the bloody ghost of Sparta. Um they mentioned a few times why he doesn't have all his powers because he destroyed the Pantheon, basically.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03Not to spoil it, but you've kind of already seen that. But that's kind of what this game goes to. But still it's worth playing through because even though you kind of know what's going to happen, it's a lot cooler than just, oh, I guess he kills everybody and goes away. No, no, there's more a lot more to it than that.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Definitely. Well, Carter, are you ready to get into our scores on this game?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. Um as picker of the game, I will kick it off. This game is, I mean, it is a iconic game for a reason. I absolutely love playing through it. I think the graphics still look incredible. Um, there are HD versions on the PS3 if you wanted to get a little even better looking, which I think is what Jared played through. Is that what you play through, Tanner, or do you just play straight PS2?
SPEAKER_00No, I I I um I emulated the game and it was the original PS2 game. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Which is still good enough to do that. Yeah, yeah, he does. He's got that HP Victus.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah. Oh, so he's ready for a little arcanum. Okay, good to do that. I am ready for arcanum.
SPEAKER_03Oh god, another little spoiler alert? I hope so. I could do that again. We never did do the episode, did we? And I beat it. I never got the play. So yeah, we need to do that all again.
SPEAKER_02Good to know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, okay. I like it. But uh playing through this game, I mean, it was fun to play through it again because and I've beat this game so many times. It's it's just one of my favorite. Like, it's a fun game to always go back to because I'm just like, yeah, it's not gonna be a bad time. I'm gonna have a great time with it. It introduced you to Kratos, like actual young Kratos, uh, which is pretty cool that Tanner got to meet that guy, which is a completely different guy. So I think the story's absolutely incredible. But yeah, once you uh beat the game, and then it really sets up the second one, and then once you beat the second one, and you really gotta play the third one because it just flows together so good. But this is just the first one. And since it was the first one, there was a few things like Tanner mentioned, the uh the camera angle was a little off sometimes. I don't know, just I would say overall, like I said, still a fantastic game. I'm gonna go ahead and just give it a 8.5. I consider giving it a 9 just because of how good it is, but I just know what comes next, and we're giving it a 2026 review score. Um and I still think it holds up as an 8.5 in 2026.
SPEAKER_00Definitely. I'll piggyback off that. Um, I never played this game before. I only played the modern God of Wars, and I didn't know what to expect going into it. And once I started playing it and got used to the gameplay, it definitely is an incredible game, like Carter said. Very fun. I think it was the perfect length. That 8 to 12 hour, depending on how good you are. I think it was absolutely perfect for this style of game. It didn't overstay its welcome. Constantly introduce new things, keep the gameplay fresh, and I really enjoyed it. I love the Greek mythology aspect of it. But yeah, there were a few complaints. Like some of the puzzles were a little out there and a little bit difficult. But I mean, if that's what you're into, then you'll have a lot of fun with it because you actually have to use your brain. There's a lot of points in this game to where it's just like, oh fuck, like this is not hand holdy like today. They are not holding my hand whatsoever. Um and like the like Carter said, the camera can be wonky at times, but you know, it's a game from over 20 years ago. You're gonna you expect that from time to time. Yeah, but yeah, definitely an amazing introduction to a franchise. Like, I mean, if this is the first game of the franchise, I can only imagine what two and three are like. Definitely enjoy it. I'll I'll give it an eight. Solid eight. Jared, do you feel comfortable enough giving it a score or just move on?
SPEAKER_03How would you like to see?
SPEAKER_02I trust you, Jared. It's fine. I was gonna say an eight based on what I played. Okay. I think the combat and combos feel great for PS2 time. Like I could tell, like the way you could build and level up, this was gonna be a good game. The presentation of the cutscene from gameplay to cut scene and what I did play several times from gameplay to cutscene seemed ahead of its time for PS2. Yeah. Like it's hard, like, and what kind of sucks is I kind of played the PS3 version, which I don't know if that upgraded shit. Probably just AD.
SPEAKER_00That's probably the only difference.
SPEAKER_03Like, that's all it was is HD, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It felt like a PS3, PS4 game at that PS2 level. Like, I think they did a like if I was into God of War, this is a top-tier game. I've never played a game. Like, this is my first God of War ever. Wow. And I need to go back and spend some more time with it.
SPEAKER_03Jared, uh, and I'm saying this real for real. If you played the newest God of War, uh like 2018s, and then got into the Ragnarok, it's cool because Kratos is playing as a dad. Uh like for me, I grew up in 2005, so I grew up as you know, there's Ruthless Kratos, he's just this badass. Now that I'm a dad, he also is a dad. And it's just it's fucking cool to play as him as a dad, because you're literally like he's taking care of his kid throughout the game.
SPEAKER_00And you kind of like for me, I was like, I know I know Jared, whenever uh The Last of Us came out, he loved that game and Joel and Ellie, and it's very similar, very similar. I think that's a very Sony thing. It's like they found the way to sucker people into a storyline is if you have a a dad and a kid, it's like you can't help but get into it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it cracks me up until we're gonna go, boy. And now I'm sitting there, I'm like, Elliot, boy.
SPEAKER_02Is Kratos like a legit Greek, like, is he something? No, this is this is made for PS2 to be in that universe. Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's it. Kratos is he's not even a god, is he?
SPEAKER_02No, he's I knew he wasn't that like, but like you all teaching me that. Like, that's pretty cool that they chose this to play into.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this is a really good series, and I'm not just like saying, oh yeah. I mean, Tanner's played it too.
SPEAKER_02People love it. I know I'm missing out. I need to spend some more time with it.
SPEAKER_00Alrighty, so where are we at? Two eights and an eight point five. Is that like an eight point three? I'm bad at math. Probably.
SPEAKER_03Jared should have just made it easy and said eight point five. 8.5. Or I should have made it easy. I should have just said eight.
SPEAKER_00You could tell you could tell it's been three weeks in between recordings because we had a lot, we were like constipated and wanting to get it all out.
SPEAKER_03I love just hanging out talking about whatever, and then all of a sudden we're like, hey, it's almost an hour in. We need to talk about our game now.
SPEAKER_00Oh shit, yeah. That that's something I'm I need to get better at as a podcaster. I because I feel like there was something that I found, and it it was funny, that a lot of podcasts have like these archetypes that naturally people fall into, and there's three different ones, because usually a podcast there's three hosts. There's the host that's kind of like trying to keep shit on the rails and is like kind of like the mediator, like kind of like trying to navigate the podcast. And I feel like I'm that's my role, like I navigate or I like get into it. There's the one that's more the like the intelligent guy who has a lot of information and kind of understands like a lot about what we're talking about. I feel like that's Carter. And then you have the wild card, which is like crazy making jokes and just like that is absolutely Jared. There's no fucking question about that.
SPEAKER_02What the fuck?
SPEAKER_00For my role, I feel like I need to get a little bit looser and just more just like whatever happens, happens. We'll get to the game at some point. We're having fun, just just this ain't our job.
SPEAKER_03We're having a good time. Yeah. It's just fun for me. I love doing this. Like I said, we got to play God of War. I got to like this was this is what I love about it. You played the new God of War, and you haven't got to play the old one. Now we had a reason to talk about the old one. You don't just get to go out and play it and be like, oh yeah, Carter, you were right. That was cool. No, we get to go on a podcast and actually talk about it. Um, which is like I said, that's my favorite thing because we've been able to play these and then we actually get to come and talk about it.
SPEAKER_00Well, this this is 100% true, and I'll say this. I don't really get to play games anymore because like I'm in college and a lot of shit going on, and usually the podcast is my only time to really play games, but whenever I do, and I do this because my friends enjoy it, I will get on like I play my games on my laptop and I join a Discord call with them and then I share my screen. So they will like keep it on the corner of their screen while they're doing what they're doing because they like to see like the games that I play. And my buddy Josh said, like, you know what? This shit is so fucking awesome because like there's no reason for you to be playing these games in this day and age. And it's also for me in education, like for these people who don't understand or know anything about the history of games. So like I'm like, okay, well, this week we're playing Conquer's Bad Fur Day. He and he was fucking cracking up, laughing at the shit that was going on, and like even the even the shitty parts, like whenever I'm sitting there raging at like how much I hate the game, he's like, Man, I wouldn't trade this for the fucking world 'cause this is like teaching me about the history of games, and it's also an excuse to go back and play these and like get this shit like under your belt and like experience with it. So it's just So cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I love that. I absolutely that's one of the things, like I said, that's spot on with what I love about it. A reason to go back and play the games that are, I mean, that we might have missed growing up. The games that we grew up with that we get to share with other people be like, hey, remember when we played this game? What are you talking about? Well, let's put it on the podcast and find out.
SPEAKER_00Well, we got one more game left, and then uh then we're done. We're not done, but then we gotta um come up with two games of our own each, but we're gonna add two a wheel, and then we'll add the community game. So do not forget, go to Facebook, leave a comment on what you want us to play. This week we're gonna be playing Star Fox 64. Is this a new game for all of you all? Yes, never played it in my life. I've dabbled in it, I've never beat it.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna say I'm with I've seen it beat. I've sit on a the edge of my friend's bed and watched him play it for hours, but like I was just observing.
SPEAKER_03I feel like a kid. I'm like, I know him from the movie. Mario Galaxy movie that Jared created.
SPEAKER_02I didn't watch too. Don't don't spoil it for me.
SPEAKER_00Alrighty, boys, let's get into Star Fox 64. We're going back to 1998 retro jammer style.
SPEAKER_02Yep, that's what we do.