[00:00:00] Dude, those Meat Loaf album covers are something. They're pretty fucking sweet. This one's just like...

[00:00:07] They're better than music.

[00:00:09] There's like a giant bat on a tower and then there's this like skeleton motorcycle flying at it. That's metal as shit.

[00:00:19] Yeah, the guy did all the heavy metal magazines, which was a big thing at the time.

[00:00:25] Yeah, why is this Meat Loaf?

[00:00:26] Which is funny because this album is not heavy metal at all.

[00:00:29] No. Why do all of his fucking albums have a motorcycle on him, dude?

[00:00:33] Is he just horny for motorcycles?

[00:00:35] Yes! I mean, who isn't?

[00:00:36] Well, I mean, you know, everybody's got their thing they're horny for, I guess.

[00:00:41] Shining Force Meat Loaf and Motorcycles.

[00:00:43] Apparently.

[00:00:44] It's the trifecta.

[00:00:46] Ichiban Kasuga.

[00:00:47] Ooh, okay. Yeah, I'm horny for him.

[00:00:50] I'll take a bowl of the white gravy and a bowl of brown gravy.

[00:00:54] What a do, everybody.

[00:00:57] Hey, it's me, Aaron.

[00:00:58] Dryer lint is delicious and I'll never stop eating it no matter what my therapist says.

[00:01:02] And you're listening to Super Pod Saga.

[00:01:04] What's that, everybody?

[00:01:16] Hey, it's Super Pod Saga.

[00:01:18] It's the second greatest collaboration of all time.

[00:01:21] Normally, Jerry and I are on a quest to discuss every video game topic in existence one week at a time.

[00:01:26] Jerry is still out.

[00:01:28] He's still down and out.

[00:01:29] He had a small procedure.

[00:01:29] He's doing well.

[00:01:31] He's recovering.

[00:01:32] He's at home.

[00:01:33] But today, we're talking about Shining Force.

[00:01:36] Yeah, before we get to that, let's intro the guests.

[00:01:39] We have two fabulous returning guests.

[00:01:42] First up, basically a rotating host on the show.

[00:01:46] Hello, Fred.

[00:01:47] Ah, yes.

[00:01:47] This is the greatest collaboration of all time.

[00:01:50] Super Pod's number two.

[00:01:50] We have hit number one.

[00:01:52] So, yes.

[00:01:53] I am back finally talking about this game that I love so much.

[00:01:58] In fact, at the time of recording, just recently an episode of SideQuest came out, which was me talking about the game.

[00:02:05] So, go check that out.

[00:02:07] I was wondering about that.

[00:02:07] Yeah, it couldn't have synced up better.

[00:02:11] Yeah, it's very coincidental.

[00:02:13] Also, joining us once more, we have Jala.

[00:02:15] Hello, thanks for coming back on again.

[00:02:17] Hi!

[00:02:17] You actually want to be back!

[00:02:20] After all the chaos last time.

[00:02:22] I was going to ask you if that meatloaf disaster was because you ate Jerry.

[00:02:28] No, he's in my freeze.

[00:02:29] He's in my deep freeze right now.

[00:02:31] I don't know.

[00:02:32] I was going to make some cannibal joke, but after the last cannibal jokes we made, this would...

[00:02:36] He's in the cryo-recovery chamber.

[00:02:38] That's what we'll call it.

[00:02:41] Oh, yeah.

[00:02:41] The hyperbolic time chamber.

[00:02:44] He's just training for his...

[00:02:48] He's training for his fight.

[00:02:49] I don't know.

[00:02:50] He's dead.

[00:02:51] He's one of those people who voluntarily freezes himself thinking they will be unfrozen in the future.

[00:02:58] They watched that one episode of Star Trek The Next Generation where that dude's like, I gotta check on my stocks!

[00:03:03] And they're like, what the hell are you talking about?

[00:03:05] What's a stock?

[00:03:06] Oh, look!

[00:03:07] That's South Park episode where Cartman freezes himself so he can get a Nintendo Wii.

[00:03:11] And then they're like, what the fuck is a Wii?

[00:03:13] Oh, we have that ancient technology in this museum of ancient technology.

[00:03:20] Yeah, so, guess, game, it's all happening.

[00:03:24] It's all here.

[00:03:25] Super Pond Saga.

[00:03:26] Before we get to anything else, with this whole new found cool Super Pond Saga formula, we're gonna ask our guests, if they haven't been on already, what's your favorite video game memory?

[00:03:39] We'll start with whoever wants to start.

[00:03:40] What's your favorite gaming memory?

[00:03:43] Staying up in college on my laptop, which was like back in those days, the laptop would burn out and die and be really, really hot.

[00:03:51] But I'd be up all night in the middle of the night playing Morrowind because that's my age right there.

[00:03:56] Fuck yeah.

[00:03:58] Fuck yeah.

[00:04:00] I have too many just because gaming was a communal thing for me for a long, long time.

[00:04:07] So, growing up, I grew up with other kids around the house because my mom used to babysit for them.

[00:04:13] And one of the other kids had a GameCube like me and he would bring over Mario Kart or the wrestling games I didn't have and we would play those all the time.

[00:04:22] I remember I went over to somebody's, a friend's house and we played Smash, Melee, and that's when I learned about like the competitive stuff when they would be like only on the Hyrule Castle level.

[00:04:32] Like no items.

[00:04:33] I'm like this is lame.

[00:04:34] What the fuck's wrong with you people?

[00:04:36] Little than I know.

[00:04:38] Bullshit.

[00:04:38] But probably my favorite was, I forget which birthday it was, but I brought a bunch of people over and we had a Soul Calibur 2 tournament.

[00:04:47] Woo!

[00:04:47] That was super fun.

[00:04:49] Yeah, the GameCube version of course.

[00:04:51] I don't remember who won, but we were just laughing the whole time.

[00:04:54] It was great.

[00:04:54] I would have loved that man.

[00:04:56] Why do I, why did I have to be in Iowa?

[00:04:58] God damn it.

[00:04:59] Nobody in Iowa played Soul Calibur.

[00:05:01] I don't know anybody else in Iowa.

[00:05:04] There's just me.

[00:05:06] Well there's Corey Taylor.

[00:05:09] Oh yeah, I went to high school with him.

[00:05:11] No, that's just a typical Iowa joke.

[00:05:13] I was like Australia.

[00:05:14] They all know each other.

[00:05:16] Fuck.

[00:05:17] I've done a couple of tweets here and there being like, hey Iowa podcasters, where are you at?

[00:05:22] And I get fucking zero hits.

[00:05:24] Like I'm the only motherfucker here, dude.

[00:05:27] There's probably one, but they're probably podcasting about some bullshit that you don't care about.

[00:05:32] It's probably sports, dude.

[00:05:33] It's probably fucking sports.

[00:05:35] Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:05:36] Well they have college teams probably.

[00:05:38] But they're actually like sports in Iowa.

[00:05:42] They have an NFL team.

[00:05:43] They have.

[00:05:44] No, they don't.

[00:05:45] They don't know.

[00:05:47] They're there.

[00:05:47] That's bullshit.

[00:05:48] The closest would be.

[00:05:49] Let's see.

[00:05:50] There's the Kansas City Chiefs to the south.

[00:05:52] There's the Minnesota Vikings.

[00:05:54] That's Kansas City.

[00:05:55] I know.

[00:05:55] I'm saying I'm saying what the closest would be geographically is the Chiefs and there's

[00:05:59] the Vikings and the Packers, the Bears if you want to.

[00:06:03] So if you're in Iowa, you get to choose which one you like, you know?

[00:06:07] That's true.

[00:06:08] That's true.

[00:06:08] I guess you do get the best of both worlds here.

[00:06:10] Like the true, like the true Ohioan I am, I picked the Minnesota Vikings.

[00:06:14] Okay.

[00:06:14] Does Ohio not have a team?

[00:06:16] Yeah, we have two.

[00:06:17] The Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns.

[00:06:20] Okay.

[00:06:20] Okay.

[00:06:21] Okay.

[00:06:21] Where is, no, Pittsburgh is Philadelphia.

[00:06:23] That's where I was thinking that was Ohio for some fucking reason.

[00:06:26] Anyway, anyway, moving on from that.

[00:06:29] Jerry's here.

[00:06:29] Jerry's not here.

[00:06:30] We can't talk about sports.

[00:06:31] I love it.

[00:06:31] You miss out on all the fun.

[00:06:32] Pittsburgh is Philadelphia.

[00:06:33] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[00:06:37] I wasn't going to say anything.

[00:06:38] I'm sorry.

[00:06:39] I had to.

[00:06:41] It's fine.

[00:06:42] Pittsburgh, Philadelphia.

[00:06:43] It's all one thing.

[00:06:44] I mean, like Aaron just ate Jerry.

[00:06:47] So, I mean, you know, we just gotta be nice to him.

[00:06:50] That's true.

[00:06:50] I've got that stomachache.

[00:06:51] He's delirious from the Jerry pizza loaf.

[00:06:54] My tummy hurts.

[00:06:56] That'd be fucking wild.

[00:06:57] Imagine like,

[00:06:58] Hannibal Lecter.

[00:06:59] Imagine Hannibal Lecter, like chopping somebody up.

[00:07:02] He's like, I'm going to make the most delicious.

[00:07:04] And he lifts off some like gross fucking diner food, like chicken fried steak with like this.

[00:07:10] That was really Australian, not British.

[00:07:12] But like, yeah, you get, you get the point.

[00:07:14] Hannibal Lecter making diner food.

[00:07:16] Everybody's making hash browns.

[00:07:17] It's just funny because like, I, I'm just sitting here thinking about, okay, so you ate your co-host and had indigestion.

[00:07:26] That's too good.

[00:07:27] You can't even write this shit.

[00:07:29] Probably.

[00:07:30] Halloween, everybody.

[00:07:31] Happy Halloween.

[00:07:35] So we have some super important breaking news, everybody.

[00:07:39] We are super important.

[00:07:41] Oh, somebody died.

[00:07:42] News indeed.

[00:07:42] Switch.

[00:07:42] Do you get announced finally?

[00:07:44] No, but close.

[00:07:45] Uh, so Princess Crown, the, uh, Saturn exclusive released all the way in fucking 1997.

[00:07:52] It's been only Japan, at least only in Japan, just fucking two days ago, October 26th.

[00:07:59] We finally got an English patch.

[00:08:01] It's still early though.

[00:08:02] It's not 1.0 yet.

[00:08:03] It's like 0.8 or 0.9, but it's there.

[00:08:07] Like you can play the game in English.

[00:08:08] There might be some bugs.

[00:08:10] No, no, not bugs.

[00:08:11] I think it's...

[00:08:13] Oh yeah, like the ones in Jala's Kitchen.

[00:08:15] Ah!

[00:08:16] They've invested Princess Crown.

[00:08:18] Yeah, that's been all over my, my server for a while.

[00:08:21] Like as soon as it dropped, everybody was just like, oh, cause I've got Juliet in there.

[00:08:25] Shout out Juliet, who is really big fan.

[00:08:29] Yeah, man.

[00:08:29] It's a really cool game.

[00:08:30] It's, it's Atlas, but like pre vanilla where it's got the, the cool, awesome art style.

[00:08:36] It's a 2D beat em up, RPG hybrid.

[00:08:40] It's pretty sweet.

[00:08:41] I played like an hour of it, but yeah.

[00:08:44] Head up CD Romance.

[00:08:45] Go play it.

[00:08:46] Here's one more clap for y'all.

[00:09:09] Okay.

[00:09:10] We're moving on from that shit.

[00:09:12] Now we're talking about Shining Force.

[00:09:14] Woo!

[00:09:16] Yeah, let's go.

[00:09:17] Not sexy Shining Force either.

[00:09:18] Yeah, not that shit.

[00:09:19] No, this game's kinda sexy.

[00:09:19] Woo!

[00:09:21] Woo!

[00:09:21] There we go.

[00:09:22] Since when?

[00:09:24] Okay.

[00:09:26] What head champion do you have going?

[00:09:29] There's horse people.

[00:09:31] I mean, there is that code for May and, for, for Tau and, um, and, uh, well, Henri.

[00:09:38] No, not May, not May.

[00:09:39] Henri?

[00:09:40] Tau and Henri, thank you.

[00:09:43] Shit.

[00:09:44] So, this is my favorite game.

[00:09:46] I don't remember the character.

[00:09:47] I can't even talk though, cause like on, uh, my Shining Force 3 episode, uh, I was

[00:09:51] like, his name is, it's Elef and Toru?

[00:09:56] It's Torasu, but I forgot his name.

[00:09:58] It had been a minute since I thought about that.

[00:10:00] Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:10:01] I know who you're talking about.

[00:10:01] But anyway, yeah.

[00:10:02] Uh, so talking about weirdness.

[00:10:04] Shining Smug.

[00:10:04] The horny thing in Shining Force.

[00:10:06] So, in Shining Force 3, there is a character named Spirited.

[00:10:09] She is a human general, and she is affianced to a centaur knight.

[00:10:14] And I'm like, I didn't think that this game was gonna go here.

[00:10:18] But, here we are.

[00:10:20] That's cool.

[00:10:20] That's like all the Pokemon stuff.

[00:10:23] Everybody banging Typhlosion.

[00:10:25] Like, you know what?

[00:10:26] We also forgot, I also forgot to have you guys introduce yourselves and like plug your

[00:10:30] shit.

[00:10:31] Son of a bitch.

[00:10:32] Whatever.

[00:10:33] Well, they know me by this fucking point.

[00:10:36] 3DO podcast.

[00:10:37] Woo!

[00:10:38] Yeah, talk about random bullshit on 3DO with Bill.

[00:10:40] It's a great time.

[00:10:43] That one episode you guys did with Will, Chris, and Jake.

[00:10:46] That was so fucking...

[00:10:47] That was...

[00:10:48] You guys went like on, and then on another one, and then on another one, and then on

[00:10:52] another one.

[00:10:52] Like, you just stacked so many topics on top of each other.

[00:10:55] I mean, we knew it was gonna be a BS episode, so we just kinda went with it.

[00:11:00] Bill kept being like, so horror games, right?

[00:11:04] And then you guys would just talk about gummy bears or some shit, I forget.

[00:11:09] Yeah, I think so, yeah.

[00:11:11] Yeah.

[00:11:13] Speaking of gummy bears though, hey, Shining Force, we'll introduce...

[00:11:17] I'm not gonna let Jala do her plug.

[00:11:21] Oh, alright, Jala do your plug.

[00:11:23] I do a podcast called Jala Chimes Place, which is nothing like this current episode.

[00:11:27] And it's very well researched and pretty well, you know, thorough on topics.

[00:11:35] We kind of go in between talking about media, like video games or books or movies, and then

[00:11:41] also talking about serious life topics.

[00:11:43] The most recent serious life topic that will be coming out this next week, as of the time

[00:11:50] we're recording anyway, is on the science of flavor, like what makes flavor happen.

[00:11:55] And this is the beginning of upcoming episodes with my chef friend.

[00:12:00] And we're going to be talking about the actual cooking stuff and how to make flavorful combinations

[00:12:06] of things and all different kinds of stuff.

[00:12:08] So lots of food episodes coming up on down the pipes down there.

[00:12:12] So the last media episode shoot, oh, would have been a Phantom of the Opera 1925 Phantom

[00:12:18] of the Opera with Lon Chaney.

[00:12:19] Oh yeah.

[00:12:20] But I've also been in the middle of doing Shining Force 3.

[00:12:23] And I'm going to continue doing that because Shining Force 3 is three discs, three games

[00:12:29] under one title, one long story between three different characters with three different,

[00:12:34] you know, narratives that intertwine together to come together to make this one game.

[00:12:39] And so as of this date, we have two episodes out.

[00:12:43] There are going to be two more after that, but they are both three hours long a piece.

[00:12:47] So there will be another six hours on top of that coming down the pipes eventually.

[00:12:53] So doing the Lord's work.

[00:12:57] Also, where was that flavor episode when I cooked and ate Jerry?

[00:13:01] Right.

[00:13:02] Damn it.

[00:13:04] It'll be for your next human body.

[00:13:05] That's right.

[00:13:06] Well, it's going to be out in time for the holidays.

[00:13:09] A little early for cooking Jerry.

[00:13:11] I mean, you know, you should have just used it for your holiday ham.

[00:13:15] Save another bit for when I marinate and roast Jerry.

[00:13:17] For Thanksgiving or something.

[00:13:20] That's right.

[00:13:21] So anyway, that's Jala Chan, that place.

[00:13:24] A stuffed Jerry for Thanksgiving.

[00:13:26] Oh, dude.

[00:13:28] Stuff him with just all sorts of shit.

[00:13:29] Shove a duck up there.

[00:13:32] Jer-ducken?

[00:13:33] A turducken, but it's Jerry.

[00:13:35] Yeah, Jer-ducken.

[00:13:35] Okay.

[00:13:37] So it's like it's a duck inside of Jerry and then Jerry inside a chicken?

[00:13:42] Wait.

[00:13:43] No.

[00:13:44] I don't even know.

[00:13:45] Wait, yeah.

[00:13:45] I don't know.

[00:13:45] Who cares?

[00:13:46] Something like that.

[00:13:47] That sounds right.

[00:13:48] It's beautiful.

[00:13:49] We'll put him inside a camel.

[00:13:50] Just like Star Wars that one time.

[00:13:52] So Shining Force.

[00:13:53] Yes.

[00:13:53] Shining Force.

[00:13:56] Yeah, Shining Force released for the Genesis worldwide 1992.

[00:14:00] Jala wrote down.

[00:14:01] A lot.

[00:14:03] Yeah, Jala wrote down a lot of shit.

[00:14:05] Let's go.

[00:14:06] You hit it, Jala.

[00:14:07] Sure.

[00:14:07] It was developed by Climax and Camelot, who would both go on to make other Shining and

[00:14:13] related in-universe titles, such as Landstalker and Ladystalker from Climax, and Shining Force

[00:14:19] 2, Shining Force Gaiden 1 and 2, which later were combined and remade into Shining Force CD,

[00:14:24] and Shining Force 3.

[00:14:26] That was all Camelot.

[00:14:27] And this game has been consistently re-released on basically every platform, either as part of

[00:14:33] a Sega collection, or as a standalone title, the most recent time that it has been released

[00:14:39] has been on the Nintendo Switch Online, plus the expansion pack.

[00:14:44] But you can also get it, or at least you could get it on Steam.

[00:14:47] I don't know if you can still get it on Steam.

[00:14:48] It is still on Steam, and it is 99 cents.

[00:14:51] Yep.

[00:14:52] A whopping 99 cents for this bad boy.

[00:14:54] Damn.

[00:14:55] Yes.

[00:14:56] That's good, dude.

[00:14:57] I had no idea Landstalker was in the same universe as the Shining games.

[00:15:02] That's really, really cool.

[00:15:03] And Ladystalker is like a weird sequel thing that they made, but it was only released in

[00:15:06] Japan, and it has like a...

[00:15:08] It's not like a guy stalking a lady, it's a lady Landstalker.

[00:15:14] Oh, okay.

[00:15:15] And then I believe that goes into Time Stalker.

[00:15:18] Yes.

[00:15:18] I was about to ask about that.

[00:15:20] Some of the Shining in the Darkness characters, because Climax also made Shining in the Darkness,

[00:15:24] are also in the Time Stalker's game as well.

[00:15:27] Yes.

[00:15:27] I believe Camelot helped with Darkness as well.

[00:15:30] Somebody told me that Climax and Camelot have twin brothers for heads of the companies,

[00:15:38] and so for a while they worked together on a lot of stuff, but then they just kind of veered

[00:15:42] off and did their own thing.

[00:15:44] I don't know.

[00:15:45] Yeah, because Landstalker is like a weird isometric third-person thing, but I felt it was related

[00:15:52] when the UI and a lot of the sound effects are the exact same as Shining Force.

[00:15:55] Well, yeah, the sound effects in some of the tracks really sound like that.

[00:15:59] The art style is a little different, but it also...

[00:16:02] It is, yeah.

[00:16:03] But it also kind of has that Shining Force vibe to it, and it's supposed to be in the same world as Shining Force.

[00:16:09] Yeah, I could believe that.

[00:16:11] But I just never could get into it.

[00:16:13] I always found the game...

[00:16:15] Isometric games are always just kind of...

[00:16:16] Well, that one was notably hard because the camera would occlude your ability to actually hop around and stuff.

[00:16:23] Yes, it is.

[00:16:24] But I loved that game because I was just like really a big fan of what the concept was for that.

[00:16:31] But then again, I was also like at the time that it came out, like I was a younger person than probably you were when you were retro gaming it.

[00:16:40] So, you know, like I was like a small child when this game came out for real.

[00:16:45] So, you know, but anyway...

[00:16:49] Let's see, Landstalker, I was not alive yet.

[00:16:52] Yeah, see? So there you go.

[00:16:54] I wasn't even conceived.

[00:16:56] There you go.

[00:16:58] Dude, I keep reading more and more about Time Stalkers because like this is on my Invernic.

[00:17:03] I've had it on there for a while, but we need to play it.

[00:17:05] I had no idea.

[00:17:06] It was just a big, like basically RTS roguelike crossover of different like climax characters and shit.

[00:17:15] Oh, I might have to play that sometime.

[00:17:17] That sounds really good.

[00:17:18] It's one of those games that it doesn't have really good reviews, but I imagine it's one of those kind of like cult classic type things.

[00:17:25] It might be.

[00:17:26] I don't know because I haven't played it either, but it might be one of those things where like it's like got ideas and stuff that would later become genres and everything and like become staples of stuff.

[00:17:38] But like in the time that it was first out, it just wasn't received well.

[00:17:42] You know, like really cool ideas sometimes just don't fly off the bat.

[00:17:47] You know, usually people have to get used to it.

[00:17:49] Right. So it's the it's the problem with being ahead of your time.

[00:17:52] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:53] So but also fuck reviews.

[00:17:55] What's really weird about Shining Force 2 for Shining Force as well is the fact that Shining Force, the original gets ported forward a lot.

[00:18:03] But like Shining Force 2 doesn't.

[00:18:05] And a lot of people that I know really prefer Shining Force 2 over Shining Force 1 and Shining Force 1 got a remake on the GBA, which is actually probably my favorite version of it.

[00:18:15] And, you know, like that was it. But they didn't remake or do anything with the second game.

[00:18:20] And they also didn't with Shining Force CD or Shining Force Gaiden, depending on what you want to call it.

[00:18:25] Well, Shining Force 2 has been re-released. It was on the Wii Virtual Console as well.

[00:18:30] It's on the NSO.

[00:18:32] It was in the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and the Sega Genesis Classics.

[00:18:35] It doesn't get re-released as much as 1, but 2 has been out there.

[00:18:39] And yeah, a lot of people prefer Shining Force 2. In some ways, I do think it's the better game than Shining Force 1.

[00:18:45] But Shining Force 1 holds such a special place in my heart that like when I do like say my top games of all time, I just put them together because like I don't want to pick one over the other.

[00:18:55] I just like them both that much.

[00:18:56] And then there's me and I'm just like, sorry, I have to say Shining Force 3, but Shining Force 1 is right up there too.

[00:19:02] And I also really enjoy Shining Force 2, but like Shining Force 1 was my very first RPG of any stripe.

[00:19:09] So for me, it was like the first iteration of this genre that I love.

[00:19:15] And also I love TRPGs.

[00:19:16] And why?

[00:19:18] Because Shining Force was my first, you know, RPG.

[00:19:22] So of course I love that genre.

[00:19:24] So, you know, that being the case, you know, it's still got a special place in my heart.

[00:19:29] And I was just like talking to some folks because I'm doing a currently I'm doing like a text venture project of my own.

[00:19:36] So while I'm working on that, I mean, while talking about this game and thinking about this game and looking at all this stuff and going, you know, if I were to do a TRPG, it would look like Shining Force 1.

[00:19:49] Because I like the way the battles look, you know, the way that they lay them out and everything.

[00:19:53] I mean, I know Pokemon eventually would do something like that as well, you know, with the way that they set the battles up where you've got like your main guy that's on your side of like facing away from you over the shoulder at the bad guy, you know, kind of thing.

[00:20:09] And you're seeing their back and everything.

[00:20:11] And then they do their little attack.

[00:20:12] But it's not the same with Pokemon as it is with like your little night guy.

[00:20:16] Come on.

[00:20:17] Yeah, like Shining Force has animation, you know, like it has Max going in for the sword hit.

[00:20:23] Whereas, you know, in Pokemon, you just have your what looks like a squirtle, the back head of a squirtle doing like tackle and he just goes, you know, it doesn't hit the same.

[00:20:32] Yeah, and they don't, they don't do any kind of like animations, like like Shining Force does until maybe like fucking black and white, which is in.

[00:20:42] Oh, fuck 2005 or some shit.

[00:20:46] It was it was I believe it was the second DS Pokemon game.

[00:20:49] So it was a little later.

[00:20:51] Well, and then to you've also got the fact that like the Shining Force battle music is just like, you feel like it's an epic battle when you go in there to actually play the battle and it's got that music.

[00:21:01] And like that has lived rent free in my head for a very long time.

[00:21:05] And like, even here's my nerdy.

[00:21:07] I will sit there and be like training and I'll think about the battle music and I'll think about the fight scene and the little animation.

[00:21:14] I'm like, no, I got to beat the shit out of this punching bag.

[00:21:18] You know, like and specifically the first part of it, because in the battles, you're constantly hearing the same.

[00:21:26] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:21:27] First part of the music over and over.

[00:21:29] It doesn't loop.

[00:21:29] It just, you know, it'll just cycle back, which in the later game, when the battles get like much longer and much more expansive, you hear those tunes much longer and you see like the whole extent of them.

[00:21:41] But yeah.

[00:21:41] But yeah, absolutely.

[00:21:42] Like the soundtrack in this game is burning in my brain because it's not my first RPG.

[00:21:46] It was my second.

[00:21:47] My first RPG was Phantasy Star 2.

[00:21:49] I've probably told the story before, but back in the day on the PC, I had the like, it was like a Sega Genesis collection.

[00:21:56] It was like two CDs that had a bunch of just Genesis games you could play on your computer.

[00:22:00] Right.

[00:22:02] And I was like, oh, because I grew up with the Sega Genesis.

[00:22:04] I was like, this is great.

[00:22:05] I want this.

[00:22:05] And there was a bunch of games on there I didn't know, like, you know, Vector Man and Flicky and Kid Chameleon and all this shit.

[00:22:11] And then there was Phantasy Star 2, which had and it showed like the title screen of like the two like fire ladies in space.

[00:22:17] I'm like, oh, that looks neat.

[00:22:18] Fire ladies in space.

[00:22:19] That's how I describe it.

[00:22:20] And I tried playing the game, could never get into it because as a kid, turn-based RPGs didn't make any sense to me.

[00:22:27] I was like, why can't I just go up and hit the fucker?

[00:22:28] It wasn't until Paper Mario Thousand Year Door on GameCube that made me understand the turn-based RPGs.

[00:22:34] And then later on with Dragon Quest XI, I fully understood.

[00:22:38] But it also had Shining Force and that opening like prologue cut scene, you know, that opens the game with the whole like, you know, the glowing light and everything intrigued the hell out of me as a kid.

[00:22:50] And then, you know, you start doing everything.

[00:22:52] And then the tactical RPG stuff made so much more sense to me.

[00:22:56] Like weirdly enough, I don't play that many tactical RPGs because a lot of them I think are too like difficult.

[00:23:02] But Shining Force, I liked it because as a kid, I equated it to chess.

[00:23:06] Like you just move your pieces around and you just kind of strategize where you put everybody.

[00:23:10] And everybody has their own different properties for movement and attacking.

[00:23:13] So in my head, I was like, oh, that's why.

[00:23:15] That's why I like it.

[00:23:17] And I would just play those first couple battles over and over and over again until it crashed on me.

[00:23:22] Because of course it would crash on me.

[00:23:23] Like that fucking dogshit PC.

[00:23:25] Right.

[00:23:26] So I never got to sit down and play the game properly until...

[00:23:30] It was probably when the Ultimate Genesis Collection came out and it was in there.

[00:23:34] And then that's when I got to actually go even further into it.

[00:23:38] And since then, I've beaten it probably twice in my entire life.

[00:23:42] I know you've probably done that a lot more than me.

[00:23:45] Well, like I...

[00:23:48] Okay, 1992.

[00:23:49] So I was 10 when this game came out.

[00:23:53] And so I was right in the pocket for having time to play this game.

[00:23:57] So that was back when Blockbuster existed.

[00:24:00] So I went and I rented it from Blockbuster.

[00:24:02] Actually, my sister did.

[00:24:03] And she brought it home and then I got addicted to it.

[00:24:06] And then I was fighting over the TV.

[00:24:08] Because this is back when everybody had to share a TV.

[00:24:11] And I had to fight my parents and fight my sister to try to play this game.

[00:24:16] And yeah, I played the shit out of it.

[00:24:18] And then eventually I bought a copy of it.

[00:24:20] And then, of course, every time I saw something that said Shining Force, I then bought it.

[00:24:23] And I told everybody last time I was on about my sob story about the Shining Force CD and what happened with that.

[00:24:30] That's a story I tell quite often about the tragedy of it breaking before I could ever open it up and actually play the game.

[00:24:38] I definitely was into the series from that first entry.

[00:24:43] And I played the hell out of it.

[00:24:45] I played so many times through.

[00:24:48] Because back in that era too, 1992, that was before the internet.

[00:24:54] Because the dot-com boom was like 95.

[00:24:58] So, that being the case, when this game came out, all you had to do was to just sit and play the one game that you had.

[00:25:06] And you played the shit out of it.

[00:25:08] And then maybe you'd get some more.

[00:25:10] And then you could alternate between five games maybe.

[00:25:13] Or whatever.

[00:25:14] Yeah, so I played this so many times.

[00:25:18] I was so late to this whole fucking series.

[00:25:21] So, I think my first exposure to Shining Force as a whole was when I got my 3DS back in like 2015.

[00:25:31] And they had...

[00:25:33] Because they had a bunch of Game Gear games on the virtual console for the 3DS.

[00:25:36] One of them being Shining Force Sword of Hajah.

[00:25:38] Oh, wow.

[00:25:39] Yeah, the Gaiden game.

[00:25:40] Yeah.

[00:25:41] Is it pronounced Hajaya?

[00:25:43] That's how I've always said it.

[00:25:45] Well, in Japan it's called like the Shining Force Gaiden.

[00:25:49] Because it's, you know, like the side alternate.

[00:25:51] That would have been way easier.

[00:25:52] Yeah, yeah.

[00:25:53] Because there was the three of them and only one of them properly came over here for some reason.

[00:25:58] I bought that.

[00:25:59] And I was...

[00:26:01] This guy right here?

[00:26:03] Yeah, dude.

[00:26:04] With the Dragon Quest XI theme.

[00:26:07] My modded 3DS, yeah.

[00:26:09] I...

[00:26:10] So, I bought that.

[00:26:11] Played it.

[00:26:12] Loved it.

[00:26:13] I was already a big fan of tactical RPGs.

[00:26:15] I had no idea what Shining Force was.

[00:26:17] So, I looked it up on the interweb one time.

[00:26:20] And it turns out they were on mobile phones.

[00:26:22] I think it was like the Sega Ages series.

[00:26:25] And they were free.

[00:26:26] So, I was like, well, fuck yeah.

[00:26:27] I guess I'm going to download these.

[00:26:28] And I played them at work.

[00:26:29] And I was like, this is cool.

[00:26:30] But I'm tired of all these fucking ads.

[00:26:33] And eventually I got Sega Genesis Collection.

[00:26:38] I think on Switch.

[00:26:40] I forget what the hell it was called.

[00:26:41] The Sega Genesis Classics.

[00:26:43] Yeah, there we go.

[00:26:44] I can remember.

[00:26:44] They always...

[00:26:45] The name is always the same, but like different.

[00:26:47] Yeah, they always have to try to change it up.

[00:26:49] Because there's the one on PS2.

[00:26:50] That was also on PSP.

[00:26:51] And the PSP version was fucking dope.

[00:26:53] Because, you know, portability.

[00:26:55] And then on the 360, they were like,

[00:26:56] Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.

[00:26:58] I thought it was always a dumb name, but whatever.

[00:27:00] And then...

[00:27:00] Yeah, and then there was the Sega Genesis Classics.

[00:27:03] And now there's...

[00:27:04] You know, they re-release these games all the time.

[00:27:05] Because it was their glory days.

[00:27:08] You know, so they like to always bring these up.

[00:27:10] But when you ask them for anything else,

[00:27:12] they're like, what's a Saturn?

[00:27:14] What are you talking about?

[00:27:16] Dream who?

[00:27:17] Well, you know, part of the reason why they can,

[00:27:19] you know, do some of these is because

[00:27:21] they were publishing these, you know?

[00:27:24] So that's why it's like, well, they have the rights to this.

[00:27:26] They can do that, you know?

[00:27:27] They have to go wrangle rights from somebody

[00:27:30] for some of the later stuff, so...

[00:27:31] Yeah, and it's an easy...

[00:27:34] And it's an easy, like, you know,

[00:27:35] just throw them into a collection,

[00:27:37] just shove it out there.

[00:27:38] Because Sega Genesis simulation

[00:27:39] was figured out a long time ago.

[00:27:41] So it's pretty easy to do.

[00:27:43] Especially these days with what, like, M2 does with it.

[00:27:46] It's incredible, man.

[00:27:47] Oh, dude.

[00:27:48] Those ports are so fucking good.

[00:27:50] I have a total non-sequitur

[00:27:50] that I must explain to you.

[00:27:52] Earlier today, I saw a video on Instagram

[00:27:55] of a crocodile that attacked a pumpkin and ate it.

[00:28:00] And that is all.

[00:28:02] Like, because crocodiles apparently

[00:28:03] are not always carnivorous.

[00:28:04] Sometimes they do eat veggies

[00:28:06] and vegetation and stuff.

[00:28:07] And there was this one crocodile

[00:28:08] that just really wanted that pumpkin

[00:28:10] and just mowed down on it.

[00:28:12] And its name was Akilah.

[00:28:14] And it was great.

[00:28:15] I'll post a link for y'all.

[00:28:17] That's all.

[00:28:17] Was it carved into, like, a jack-o'-lantern?

[00:28:19] Or was it just, like, a plain-ass pumpkin?

[00:28:21] It was a plain-ass pumpkin

[00:28:22] that Akilah murderated.

[00:28:25] We'll share you a link.

[00:28:26] Murder.

[00:28:27] Yeah, murderated this.

[00:28:28] By the way, Jala, I had no idea

[00:28:30] there were so many secret characters

[00:28:31] in this game.

[00:28:32] That is so...

[00:28:34] I think that's what really got me hooked

[00:28:36] on Shining Force 2.

[00:28:38] That was the first one I started with

[00:28:39] when I started playing these.

[00:28:41] And 2 already had, like,

[00:28:42] quite a few optional secret characters.

[00:28:44] I love that 1 also has so fucking many.

[00:28:47] Yeah, like, you can go through.

[00:28:49] So many other...

[00:28:50] You can go through with your main party

[00:28:52] that you started out with

[00:28:54] and still be fine

[00:28:54] because, like, unlike Fire Emblem,

[00:28:57] which has permadeath,

[00:28:58] this game does not.

[00:28:59] So at the end of battle,

[00:29:00] anybody that you have

[00:29:01] pops back up again.

[00:29:03] So that being the case,

[00:29:05] like, there is no penalty

[00:29:05] for death in these games.

[00:29:07] Or at least...

[00:29:08] There is no penalty

[00:29:10] until Shining Force 3

[00:29:11] where you actually have

[00:29:12] a support system

[00:29:13] and then it'll damage your support

[00:29:14] if you lose people in battle.

[00:29:18] But...

[00:29:18] The main guy you have to protect

[00:29:20] is Max

[00:29:20] because if you do,

[00:29:21] then the whole battle...

[00:29:22] Right, right.

[00:29:22] You fail it,

[00:29:23] then you have to restart

[00:29:24] the whole thing,

[00:29:24] which you can kind of

[00:29:26] exploit a little bit to grind,

[00:29:27] but that is more using the...

[00:29:30] Oh, what is it called

[00:29:30] when you go back to the priest?

[00:29:32] Egress, yes.

[00:29:33] Kind of the egress way

[00:29:34] of grinding.

[00:29:36] Because for a long time,

[00:29:37] I was like,

[00:29:37] fuck, like,

[00:29:38] my characters always feel

[00:29:39] so underleveled, you know?

[00:29:40] And I was like,

[00:29:40] what do I do?

[00:29:41] And I googled it

[00:29:42] and someone's like,

[00:29:42] oh, just egress

[00:29:43] and use that to spam.

[00:29:44] Yeah.

[00:29:45] Like, the same battle

[00:29:45] and just overlevel

[00:29:46] the hell out of your character

[00:29:47] and that's how you beat them.

[00:29:49] I would just let them

[00:29:50] fucking die.

[00:29:51] I never really, like,

[00:29:54] leveled up my characters

[00:29:54] to grind them up,

[00:29:55] but what I would do

[00:29:56] is every single time

[00:29:57] you got a new character

[00:29:59] that was, like,

[00:29:59] stupidly underleveled,

[00:30:00] which I will say,

[00:30:01] this game is terrible

[00:30:02] about giving you

[00:30:03] new characters

[00:30:03] that are, like,

[00:30:04] level one

[00:30:05] and you guys are, like,

[00:30:06] level three promoted

[00:30:07] and you're like,

[00:30:08] now I gotta grind

[00:30:09] this guy from nothing.

[00:30:10] He can do one damage.

[00:30:12] What is up with this?

[00:30:13] Bullshit like that.

[00:30:14] I would grind

[00:30:14] those characters up

[00:30:15] to be appropriately leveled,

[00:30:18] but, you know,

[00:30:18] other than that,

[00:30:19] like, I did it.

[00:30:20] If they were worth keeping.

[00:30:21] No, I did that

[00:30:22] to every single character

[00:30:23] I recruited.

[00:30:23] It didn't matter

[00:30:24] if they were worth

[00:30:24] keeping or not.

[00:30:25] I made everyone

[00:30:26] the same level.

[00:30:28] How sweet of you.

[00:30:30] Very good quality.

[00:30:32] I stan Yogurt

[00:30:33] as the best mascot ever.

[00:30:36] Yogurt,

[00:30:36] the hamster

[00:30:37] with a helmet.

[00:30:37] Yogurt's so cool, dude.

[00:30:38] He's great.

[00:30:39] Like, completely useless.

[00:30:41] I tried once.

[00:30:43] I had this grand idea

[00:30:44] in my head.

[00:30:45] I was like,

[00:30:45] well, this is back

[00:30:46] before I knew

[00:30:47] what a Magikarp was,

[00:30:48] but I really thought

[00:30:49] it was going to be

[00:30:49] a Magikarp kind of situation

[00:30:51] where, like,

[00:30:51] it was shitty

[00:30:52] and then eventually

[00:30:53] you could, like,

[00:30:54] you know,

[00:30:54] suffer through

[00:30:54] and make it level 10

[00:30:56] and then it could be promoted

[00:30:57] and then it would be,

[00:30:58] you know,

[00:30:59] magical.

[00:31:00] Like, it turns into

[00:31:00] something really badass

[00:31:01] and I'm like,

[00:31:02] okay, there's got to be

[00:31:03] something here, right?

[00:31:04] And, uh, no.

[00:31:05] Uh, every time

[00:31:06] that he gains a level

[00:31:07] he remains level one.

[00:31:08] Nothing happens

[00:31:09] to his stats

[00:31:09] and he drops

[00:31:10] a yogurt ring

[00:31:11] which you can give

[00:31:12] to somebody else

[00:31:13] and then they look

[00:31:14] like yogurt

[00:31:14] and they turn into yogurt

[00:31:15] so you can have

[00:31:16] a whole party

[00:31:17] of everybody

[00:31:17] looking like yogurt

[00:31:18] if you level up

[00:31:19] yogurt enough.

[00:31:20] But he doesn't do anything

[00:31:22] and he's just a hamster

[00:31:24] with a helmet.

[00:31:25] Except to be amazing.

[00:31:26] It's awesome.

[00:31:28] Yes, he is great.

[00:31:29] And you have to do

[00:31:30] some, like,

[00:31:31] kind of weird stuff

[00:31:32] to get him.

[00:31:32] Like, not that bad

[00:31:33] but, you know.

[00:31:34] Like, you have to talk

[00:31:35] to him and you have

[00:31:35] to, like, go notice him

[00:31:37] when he's off in a corner

[00:31:38] and then he just joins you

[00:31:39] and he's just like,

[00:31:40] ah, yes.

[00:31:41] Hero, I have been

[00:31:41] waiting for you.

[00:31:42] And you're like,

[00:31:43] what?

[00:31:44] Okay.

[00:31:44] And then he's just in your

[00:31:45] and then he just shows up

[00:31:47] in your headquarters

[00:31:48] and you're like.

[00:31:48] Yeah, and he's like,

[00:31:49] hi, I'm here.

[00:31:51] And you're like,

[00:31:51] okay, yeah.

[00:31:52] Because there's a few

[00:31:55] characters that, like,

[00:31:56] yeah, you can totally

[00:31:57] miss them.

[00:31:57] If you're not looking

[00:31:58] for him, like Domingo

[00:31:59] or Kokichi or Musashi.

[00:32:01] Hanzo is the worst

[00:32:03] because he's in a bush.

[00:32:04] Oh.

[00:32:05] And he's in the,

[00:32:06] he's in that little

[00:32:07] flowery bush

[00:32:08] in the very last town,

[00:32:10] Runefaust.

[00:32:10] You have to search it

[00:32:11] and he's right there.

[00:32:12] So you only get him

[00:32:13] for, like,

[00:32:13] the last couple battles

[00:32:14] but he's so,

[00:32:16] he's fucking awesome.

[00:32:17] He's worth having

[00:32:17] even though, like,

[00:32:18] Musashi is the man.

[00:32:19] Yeah.

[00:32:19] Like, really.

[00:32:20] His movement speed

[00:32:21] is trash but

[00:32:22] if you work on that,

[00:32:24] you know,

[00:32:24] he's so good.

[00:32:25] Like, he was always

[00:32:26] my guy who would,

[00:32:27] like, one-shot

[00:32:28] the final bosses

[00:32:29] because he was just

[00:32:30] that powerful.

[00:32:30] He would just

[00:32:31] poof every time.

[00:32:32] Oh no,

[00:32:32] I would use all

[00:32:33] of my mages.

[00:32:34] I had, like,

[00:32:34] every mage with me

[00:32:35] in the last battle

[00:32:36] and I nuked everyone.

[00:32:37] It was great.

[00:32:39] Yeah, because I think

[00:32:40] going into the characters,

[00:32:41] I think that's what

[00:32:41] was always my favorite

[00:32:42] part about this game

[00:32:43] was it has such a

[00:32:44] colorful cast of characters

[00:32:46] that I feel a lot of

[00:32:47] RPGs don't have.

[00:32:49] Like, say, like,

[00:32:49] Fire Emblem

[00:32:50] will just have a bunch

[00:32:51] of, like,

[00:32:52] human warriors

[00:32:53] and mages.

[00:32:53] They're just the same thing

[00:32:53] over and over.

[00:32:55] Yeah, like,

[00:32:55] it doesn't have a lot

[00:32:56] of variety

[00:32:57] whereas Shining Force

[00:32:58] has all kinds of variety.

[00:32:59] Like, yeah,

[00:33:00] you have your humans,

[00:33:00] your mages,

[00:33:01] your warriors,

[00:33:02] your dwarves,

[00:33:02] but, like,

[00:33:03] centaurs,

[00:33:04] which is not a common

[00:33:05] thing in RPGs at all,

[00:33:06] really.

[00:33:07] Like, you have your,

[00:33:08] like, flying birds,

[00:33:09] you have, yeah,

[00:33:10] Jogurt,

[00:33:10] the weird gopher boy.

[00:33:12] You have the inexplicable

[00:33:14] armadillo man,

[00:33:15] Guntz.

[00:33:15] Guntz?

[00:33:16] The steam knife.

[00:33:17] Oh, shit.

[00:33:18] Yeah.

[00:33:18] Oh, I love the Wolfman.

[00:33:20] I have a sticker of Guntz,

[00:33:21] but he's on my other bottle.

[00:33:23] I have that sticker of Guntz.

[00:33:24] Well, and then,

[00:33:25] I've had a few people

[00:33:26] ask me about Guntz.

[00:33:27] They're like,

[00:33:28] what is that?

[00:33:28] And I'm like,

[00:33:29] do you really want me

[00:33:29] to answer that question?

[00:33:30] Do you want me to be here

[00:33:31] for the next 15 minutes

[00:33:33] to tell you?

[00:33:33] Yeah, like, yeah,

[00:33:34] the armadillo

[00:33:35] in a steam-powered

[00:33:36] suit of armor,

[00:33:36] which you find him

[00:33:37] at first,

[00:33:38] I believe,

[00:33:38] in the circus town,

[00:33:39] where it's like,

[00:33:40] he's testing it,

[00:33:41] and it's not working.

[00:33:42] Like, he's like,

[00:33:42] oh, this thing is hot,

[00:33:43] and I hate it.

[00:33:44] And then later on,

[00:33:45] I believe it's after

[00:33:46] the battle with the general,

[00:33:48] he's in like,

[00:33:49] that little, like,

[00:33:49] pig, yeah,

[00:33:50] yeah,

[00:33:51] and he's in the little pig pen,

[00:33:52] and he's like,

[00:33:52] look,

[00:33:52] I can do him a thing now,

[00:33:54] and you get him.

[00:33:56] And he's still slow as shit,

[00:33:57] but anyway.

[00:33:58] Oh, yeah,

[00:33:59] but he has super high defense,

[00:34:00] and I love his battle animation

[00:34:02] where he is holding a spear,

[00:34:04] and then just fucking

[00:34:04] chucks it like a sword.

[00:34:07] But if you promote him,

[00:34:08] he gets that really cool,

[00:34:09] like,

[00:34:09] stone-looking armor

[00:34:10] with wheels,

[00:34:11] and just, like,

[00:34:12] charges in the enemies.

[00:34:13] He just wheels himself out there?

[00:34:15] Yeah,

[00:34:15] pretty much.

[00:34:16] But I always kept him,

[00:34:17] I always kept him in my party

[00:34:18] because, yeah,

[00:34:19] he was always like a tank.

[00:34:20] Yeah.

[00:34:20] And I would always, like,

[00:34:21] put him right next to a healer

[00:34:23] or, like,

[00:34:23] a low-level character

[00:34:24] so that they could,

[00:34:25] you know,

[00:34:26] get the benefit of using

[00:34:28] stuff on him.

[00:34:29] Yeah.

[00:34:30] Exactly.

[00:34:30] Well,

[00:34:31] and then Domingo

[00:34:32] is just a scrubbing bubbles,

[00:34:34] scrubbing bubbles,

[00:34:35] little pad,

[00:34:37] Brillo pad thing.

[00:34:38] Like a little squid.

[00:34:38] It just looks like

[00:34:39] one of those little animated

[00:34:40] scrubbing bubbles.

[00:34:41] That's what he looks like.

[00:34:42] And he's the best mage

[00:34:43] in the game.

[00:34:44] I don't know how that happens.

[00:34:46] Freeze!

[00:34:47] Yeah,

[00:34:47] you find the egg,

[00:34:48] and then,

[00:34:49] yeah,

[00:34:49] the Domingo egg,

[00:34:50] and then you go to the warmer

[00:34:51] and then it hatches,

[00:34:52] and he's just like,

[00:34:53] I'm here.

[00:34:53] I'm in your party now.

[00:34:55] You're like,

[00:34:55] oh, okay.

[00:34:56] Well,

[00:34:56] and then he shows up

[00:34:57] in Shining Force CD as well.

[00:34:59] I haven't even gotten

[00:34:59] a chance to play that,

[00:35:00] but yes,

[00:35:00] he's in there.

[00:35:01] Yeah,

[00:35:02] he shows up quite a bit later,

[00:35:04] I think.

[00:35:05] But yeah,

[00:35:07] CD does have some callbacks

[00:35:09] to the older games in there,

[00:35:10] which is cool.

[00:35:10] Well,

[00:35:10] I mean,

[00:35:11] those are supposed to be

[00:35:11] the kids of the original

[00:35:12] Shining Force anyway,

[00:35:13] so.

[00:35:14] For Gaiden 1,

[00:35:15] yes.

[00:35:15] Gaiden 2 is a slightly

[00:35:17] different story,

[00:35:18] and then there's that

[00:35:19] fresh scenario,

[00:35:21] scenarios 3 and 4 in CD

[00:35:22] that connect them together,

[00:35:24] and then there's Gaiden

[00:35:25] Final Conflict,

[00:35:26] which is game gear only,

[00:35:27] and that's meant to

[00:35:28] connect 1 and 2.

[00:35:29] Mm-hmm.

[00:35:30] Because everyone was like

[00:35:31] with 2,

[00:35:31] like,

[00:35:32] oh,

[00:35:32] is Bowie Max's son?

[00:35:33] It's like,

[00:35:34] no,

[00:35:34] I see why you would think that,

[00:35:36] but he's not.

[00:35:37] Like,

[00:35:37] Shining Force 2 is,

[00:35:38] in a way,

[00:35:39] its own completely different story,

[00:35:41] but,

[00:35:41] you know,

[00:35:42] the Gaiden games

[00:35:42] kind of bridge them together.

[00:35:44] But we're not here

[00:35:44] to talk about 2.

[00:35:46] Let me tell you about

[00:35:47] Boken the Adventurer.

[00:35:49] So,

[00:35:50] there's an NPC

[00:35:51] that shows up

[00:35:52] in a bunch of the different towns,

[00:35:53] and his name is Boken,

[00:35:54] and for the longest time,

[00:35:55] I was like,

[00:35:55] that's a weird name,

[00:35:56] but then,

[00:35:57] like,

[00:35:57] when I learned Japanese,

[00:35:58] and then I came back

[00:35:59] to this game much,

[00:36:00] much later,

[00:36:00] and I was like,

[00:36:01] that's hilarious.

[00:36:02] His name is Adventurer.

[00:36:04] His name just means adventure,

[00:36:05] and he's just out

[00:36:06] on an adventure.

[00:36:07] Like,

[00:36:07] you find him,

[00:36:08] and he's like,

[00:36:09] yeah,

[00:36:09] I'm gonna go on an adventure.

[00:36:10] I've got my backpack,

[00:36:11] and then you see him again,

[00:36:13] and, like,

[00:36:13] he's in the cliffs,

[00:36:14] like,

[00:36:14] scaling the cliffs,

[00:36:16] doing rock climbing.

[00:36:17] You're like,

[00:36:17] what the hell are you doing

[00:36:18] over there,

[00:36:19] Boken?

[00:36:19] And he just keeps showing up.

[00:36:21] You're gonna hurt yourself.

[00:36:22] he just,

[00:36:22] no,

[00:36:22] he doesn't.

[00:36:23] He just keeps showing up

[00:36:24] in random places,

[00:36:25] and he's not a merchant.

[00:36:26] He's nothing else.

[00:36:27] He's just a guy.

[00:36:29] Dude,

[00:36:30] I,

[00:36:31] I wanna,

[00:36:31] I wanna point this out.

[00:36:33] I,

[00:36:34] I like Fire Emblem,

[00:36:36] but,

[00:36:36] like,

[00:36:36] I'm doing a little

[00:36:37] side-by-side comparison

[00:36:38] of characters from,

[00:36:39] say,

[00:36:40] like,

[00:36:40] Fire Emblem on the SNE,

[00:36:41] ES,

[00:36:42] or even the GBA.

[00:36:43] Dude,

[00:36:43] the characters on,

[00:36:45] the characters in Shining Force 1,

[00:36:47] or really any Shining Force,

[00:36:48] they're so fucking colorful,

[00:36:50] so unique,

[00:36:51] so cool,

[00:36:52] and yeah,

[00:36:52] it's not just people.

[00:36:53] There's Birdman

[00:36:54] and all sorts of shit,

[00:36:55] but so many of the Fire Emblem characters

[00:36:57] just look the fucking same,

[00:36:59] but with,

[00:36:59] like,

[00:36:59] a different color of hair.

[00:37:00] That annoys the shit out of me.

[00:37:02] Blue-haired Marth,

[00:37:03] red-haired Marth,

[00:37:04] white-haired Marth.

[00:37:05] Exactly.

[00:37:06] Right?

[00:37:07] Exactly.

[00:37:07] Yeah,

[00:37:07] that's pretty much it.

[00:37:08] Like,

[00:37:09] Fire Emblem was always heavy

[00:37:10] in that,

[00:37:10] like,

[00:37:10] anime aesthetic.

[00:37:11] Which I've always had

[00:37:12] kind of mixed feelings on.

[00:37:14] Whereas Shining Force

[00:37:15] definitely has,

[00:37:16] like,

[00:37:16] an influence of anime,

[00:37:17] but I wouldn't call it,

[00:37:18] like,

[00:37:19] you know,

[00:37:19] hard anime.

[00:37:20] It's more cartoony.

[00:37:20] Yeah,

[00:37:21] it's like,

[00:37:21] yeah,

[00:37:21] it's more,

[00:37:21] like,

[00:37:22] like,

[00:37:22] Japanese people trying to draw

[00:37:23] American cartoons.

[00:37:25] Like,

[00:37:25] it has that kind of look to it.

[00:37:26] So,

[00:37:27] like,

[00:37:27] it's how you compare it to Sonic.

[00:37:28] Luke with the gigantic nose.

[00:37:30] Yeah,

[00:37:30] it's like,

[00:37:30] it's like,

[00:37:31] it fits in with Sonic,

[00:37:32] because Sonic is his own

[00:37:33] kind of unique art style,

[00:37:35] you know?

[00:37:35] Shining Force's aesthetic

[00:37:37] is more like 70s anime,

[00:37:40] where they actually drew

[00:37:41] characters looking more

[00:37:44] human,

[00:37:45] like,

[00:37:45] actually human,

[00:37:46] with not the huge eyes

[00:37:48] out to wherever

[00:37:49] kind of thing.

[00:37:50] Yeah.

[00:37:51] And with,

[00:37:51] like,

[00:37:51] some sensibilities

[00:37:52] that seem kind of Western,

[00:37:53] because they were

[00:37:54] kind of cribbing originally

[00:37:56] on,

[00:37:56] you know,

[00:37:57] like,

[00:37:57] Western animation styles

[00:37:58] when they were doing

[00:37:59] their stuff.

[00:37:59] And,

[00:38:00] like,

[00:38:01] 70s,

[00:38:01] 60s and 70s Japanese

[00:38:02] animation especially

[00:38:03] has,

[00:38:04] like,

[00:38:04] a,

[00:38:04] you know,

[00:38:06] look more like

[00:38:06] what this is doing.

[00:38:08] So,

[00:38:08] you know,

[00:38:08] the artist,

[00:38:09] who unfortunately

[00:38:10] passed away,

[00:38:11] like,

[00:38:11] what now,

[00:38:12] a couple of years ago now?

[00:38:14] Anyway,

[00:38:15] he was really drawing

[00:38:16] from that kind of

[00:38:17] an inspiration.

[00:38:18] That's kind of why

[00:38:19] Shining Force doesn't exist

[00:38:21] for me after Shining Force 3,

[00:38:22] when you don't have

[00:38:23] Climax or Camelot

[00:38:24] working on it.

[00:38:25] Aside from

[00:38:26] the remake of 1,

[00:38:27] which,

[00:38:28] that's a good game.

[00:38:29] So,

[00:38:30] Was it Atlas

[00:38:31] who did that?

[00:38:32] No,

[00:38:32] that was,

[00:38:33] what was it,

[00:38:34] Adventure,

[00:38:35] some weird

[00:38:35] freaking,

[00:38:36] hold on,

[00:38:36] give me a second.

[00:38:38] It was

[00:38:42] Amusement Vision.

[00:38:43] Amusement Vision.

[00:38:44] Oh,

[00:38:44] AV.

[00:38:45] Oh,

[00:38:45] AV,

[00:38:46] nice.

[00:38:47] Yeah,

[00:38:47] so,

[00:38:48] so,

[00:38:49] anyway,

[00:38:49] yeah,

[00:38:49] but,

[00:38:50] like,

[00:38:50] talking about

[00:38:51] those optional

[00:38:52] characters,

[00:38:53] like,

[00:38:53] the optional

[00:38:53] characters are wild.

[00:38:55] You can get

[00:38:55] an optional

[00:38:55] character before

[00:38:56] you even get

[00:38:56] to your first

[00:38:57] battle.

[00:38:58] So,

[00:38:59] like,

[00:38:59] you can get

[00:38:59] Gong

[00:39:00] at the beginning,

[00:39:01] like,

[00:39:01] right before

[00:39:02] you finish

[00:39:03] your first

[00:39:03] battle if you

[00:39:04] really want to.

[00:39:05] Well,

[00:39:05] you have to,

[00:39:06] like,

[00:39:06] leave the first

[00:39:07] battle.

[00:39:07] you have to leave it,

[00:39:07] but,

[00:39:08] like,

[00:39:08] because you're

[00:39:08] forced into,

[00:39:09] like,

[00:39:09] that Guardian

[00:39:10] Bout,

[00:39:10] but,

[00:39:10] yeah,

[00:39:10] you can just

[00:39:11] ditch and then

[00:39:11] go see Gong,

[00:39:12] and Gong's just,

[00:39:12] like,

[00:39:13] I'll join you.

[00:39:14] Yeah,

[00:39:14] he's just,

[00:39:15] like,

[00:39:15] outside chopping

[00:39:16] wood,

[00:39:16] and he's,

[00:39:16] like,

[00:39:17] oh,

[00:39:17] there's bad

[00:39:17] guys.

[00:39:18] I must go.

[00:39:19] I am a monk.

[00:39:20] I've always,

[00:39:21] they're always,

[00:39:21] like,

[00:39:21] oh,

[00:39:21] I've always wanted

[00:39:22] to do this.

[00:39:23] Yeah,

[00:39:23] yeah,

[00:39:23] and you can meet,

[00:39:24] like,

[00:39:25] Gort,

[00:39:25] like,brief,

[00:39:26] even leave

[00:39:26] Gardiana.

[00:39:28] He's just,

[00:39:28] like,

[00:39:28] chilling in that bar

[00:39:29] off in the corner.

[00:39:30] I don't think you

[00:39:31] have to talk to him

[00:39:31] the first time.

[00:39:32] No.

[00:39:33] To get him to join you.

[00:39:34] he,

[00:39:35] yeah,

[00:39:35] after the attack,

[00:39:36] he'll,

[00:39:36] he'll come.

[00:39:37] Yeah,

[00:39:37] because,

[00:39:37] so I guess he's

[00:39:38] actually kind of,

[00:39:39] he might be,

[00:39:40] um,

[00:39:40] optional too.

[00:39:41] Like,

[00:39:41] I don't think you

[00:39:42] have to talk to him,

[00:39:43] so you might just,

[00:39:44] he's optional.

[00:39:45] because as a kid,

[00:39:46] I,

[00:39:46] as a kid,

[00:39:47] I never had him.

[00:39:47] It wasn't until

[00:39:48] later on where I was

[00:39:49] like,

[00:39:49] oh,

[00:39:49] where's this path go?

[00:39:50] And then you find Gort.

[00:39:51] And I'm like,

[00:39:52] oh,

[00:39:52] sick,

[00:39:52] another Luke.

[00:39:53] A slightly better Luke.

[00:39:56] I like Gort better.

[00:39:58] Anyway,

[00:39:58] he looks,

[00:39:59] he looks,

[00:39:59] he looks cooler.

[00:40:00] But I think as far as,

[00:40:01] like,

[00:40:01] their stats go,

[00:40:02] they're about even.

[00:40:02] Luke is probably,

[00:40:03] there's a point where Gort

[00:40:05] is better,

[00:40:05] but,

[00:40:06] like,

[00:40:06] all the characters

[00:40:06] kind of trade back and forth

[00:40:08] about,

[00:40:08] you know,

[00:40:09] their,

[00:40:09] their stats and stuff.

[00:40:10] Yeah.

[00:40:11] Unless you're Hans.

[00:40:13] Or Arthur,

[00:40:14] for that matter.

[00:40:19] Because,

[00:40:19] like,

[00:40:19] so all the centaurs

[00:40:20] are usually some kind

[00:40:22] of a knight.

[00:40:22] Like,

[00:40:22] you can have a bow knight,

[00:40:24] like Lyle,

[00:40:24] who's another optional character.

[00:40:26] Or you can have,

[00:40:27] or you can have just,

[00:40:28] like,

[00:40:28] a regular centaur knight,

[00:40:30] who is,

[00:40:30] you know,

[00:40:30] got,

[00:40:31] like,

[00:40:31] a halberd,

[00:40:32] or a spear,

[00:40:32] or a lance,

[00:40:33] or something.

[00:40:35] But then there's Arthur,

[00:40:36] who has magic,

[00:40:38] but only,

[00:40:39] like,

[00:40:39] one spell after several levels,

[00:40:41] and then,

[00:40:43] and it's weaker than a regular mage,

[00:40:45] and then also can use a lance.

[00:40:47] But his defense,

[00:40:48] and his attack,

[00:40:50] are both weaker than a regular centaur knight.

[00:40:52] God damn it.

[00:40:53] So the dual classing is screwing him up real bad.

[00:40:55] But I love him,

[00:40:56] and I will always,

[00:40:57] always take care of him

[00:40:58] in every single game I take,

[00:41:00] I get him.

[00:41:00] Because he's just in town,

[00:41:02] and he's like,

[00:41:02] I'm doing laundry to help the people.

[00:41:04] I'm,

[00:41:05] I'm retired.

[00:41:06] That's it.

[00:41:07] Well,

[00:41:07] it's cool.

[00:41:07] Yeah,

[00:41:07] what's cool is he's at the mage school

[00:41:09] where Henri is.

[00:41:10] So it's,

[00:41:11] like,

[00:41:11] tries to explain why he's able to learn

[00:41:13] some,

[00:41:13] some magic spells,

[00:41:14] which is cool that he's able to do that.

[00:41:15] But yeah,

[00:41:16] it's,

[00:41:16] he's such a pain to level up,

[00:41:18] that it's just like,

[00:41:18] he's in shining force three,

[00:41:20] and he's still doing laundry.

[00:41:22] That's all.

[00:41:24] And you can have him in your party,

[00:41:25] and I do have him in my party,

[00:41:27] and I level him up,

[00:41:28] and I make him very good.

[00:41:30] So,

[00:41:31] see,

[00:41:31] if he had an attack where he threw,

[00:41:32] like,

[00:41:32] a laundry bucket at somebody,

[00:41:33] it would probably do a lot of damage.

[00:41:34] Right?

[00:41:35] I mean,

[00:41:35] he should have a special attack

[00:41:36] that is just laundry related.

[00:41:39] But,

[00:41:39] just throw somebody in a washing machine.

[00:41:41] Right.

[00:41:42] Well,

[00:41:42] then you've got,

[00:41:43] like,

[00:41:43] Pell and Vankar,

[00:41:44] who are more centaur knights

[00:41:45] you can pick up along the way.

[00:41:47] There's Yogurt,

[00:41:48] there's Kokichi,

[00:41:49] which we didn't even mention him.

[00:41:50] He's an inventor

[00:41:51] that makes,

[00:41:52] like,

[00:41:52] a wingsuit.

[00:41:53] He's a little old guy.

[00:41:55] He's cool as shit.

[00:41:56] Like,

[00:41:56] he should have,

[00:41:56] like,

[00:41:57] his own side game or whatever.

[00:41:58] he should.

[00:41:58] Because he's so cool.

[00:41:59] Because you meet him,

[00:42:00] I think it's in the cliffside town

[00:42:01] of Bustow.

[00:42:02] And then he goes flying off.

[00:42:04] Yeah,

[00:42:04] he's like,

[00:42:04] he's like,

[00:42:05] dude,

[00:42:05] check this shit out.

[00:42:06] And then you watch him,

[00:42:07] and it just does not go well.

[00:42:08] But later on,

[00:42:09] you find him,

[00:42:10] and he's like,

[00:42:10] yeah,

[00:42:10] it works.

[00:42:11] We'll join up,

[00:42:11] you know?

[00:42:12] And yeah,

[00:42:12] he's such a kooky character.

[00:42:13] I love him.

[00:42:14] I believe he's in the same town

[00:42:15] you get Zylo.

[00:42:16] Yes.

[00:42:17] Which is Zappa.

[00:42:19] Yeah,

[00:42:19] where you find Frank Zappa.

[00:42:21] He did not die.

[00:42:22] He just retreated into a Sega Genesis RPG,

[00:42:24] like a true legend.

[00:42:26] Oh,

[00:42:26] this is Zappa in Chrono Cross also.

[00:42:28] That's cool.

[00:42:28] Yeah.

[00:42:29] And Zylo is like,

[00:42:31] as soon as you get him,

[00:42:32] it's like he just stays in your party forever.

[00:42:34] Because really,

[00:42:35] when you get him,

[00:42:36] he's super overpowered.

[00:42:38] And then,

[00:42:38] as long as you keep up with him

[00:42:40] throughout the game,

[00:42:41] he just stays like one of your most powerful characters.

[00:42:44] It's a shame,

[00:42:45] though,

[00:42:45] that I think his promoted battle animation

[00:42:47] isn't as cool.

[00:42:48] No,

[00:42:48] it isn't.

[00:42:49] Because I love his unpromotional,

[00:42:50] where he's just like,

[00:42:51] he just jumps out of frame

[00:42:53] and just comes down and scratches.

[00:42:54] But promoted,

[00:42:55] he just sends a bunch of ghost wolf spirits.

[00:43:00] Yeah,

[00:43:00] ghost wolves at the people.

[00:43:02] Yeah,

[00:43:03] but it's not as cool.

[00:43:04] Yeah.

[00:43:04] But Zylo is great.

[00:43:05] They treat him as like a big deal

[00:43:07] when you get him.

[00:43:08] And then,

[00:43:08] yeah,

[00:43:08] he's just like one of the best characters.

[00:43:10] Well,

[00:43:10] and so,

[00:43:11] so his original name is Zappa.

[00:43:13] But then in Shining Force 3,

[00:43:14] there's also another wolf man

[00:43:15] and his name is Frank.

[00:43:17] Frank Zappa.

[00:43:19] So they really went there like all the way.

[00:43:21] That's fucking crazy.

[00:43:22] They went there all the way with that.

[00:43:23] So.

[00:43:24] It's the burnt weenie sandwich of video games.

[00:43:26] And then there's Aleph,

[00:43:27] which is.

[00:43:28] You guys probably don't get that joke.

[00:43:30] No,

[00:43:31] but it sounds cool.

[00:43:32] I'm a,

[00:43:33] I'm a pretty big Frank Zappa fan.

[00:43:34] So.

[00:43:35] Oh,

[00:43:36] Aleph is a fox person and she is a mage.

[00:43:39] Then you have Torasu who is like,

[00:43:42] I think he's a,

[00:43:43] is he a hobbit or is he a dwarf?

[00:43:44] I don't know which one.

[00:43:45] I know.

[00:43:46] I know.

[00:43:47] Aleph is a hobbit,

[00:43:48] but.

[00:43:49] And then there's Lyle and Hanzo and Musashi as well.

[00:43:53] So.

[00:43:54] Yeah.

[00:43:54] I have to say this,

[00:43:55] this is about Shining in the Darkness.

[00:43:57] In Shining in the Darkness,

[00:43:58] there is a little hobbit character that you can get.

[00:44:01] I forget what they name him in English,

[00:44:03] but his Japanese name is Bilbo.

[00:44:06] And he's like your healer,

[00:44:08] but he has like a giant fucking axe.

[00:44:10] And yeah.

[00:44:11] That's awesome.

[00:44:11] And then Dark Souls name is Mephisto.

[00:44:13] So,

[00:44:13] so,

[00:44:14] you know,

[00:44:16] fun stuff.

[00:44:17] I prefer Dark Souls.

[00:44:18] I know.

[00:44:19] Dark Souls like,

[00:44:20] Mephisto is a little too on the nose,

[00:44:21] you know,

[00:44:22] but yeah.

[00:44:23] But yeah,

[00:44:23] like Shining Force One has just one of my favorite,

[00:44:25] like cast of characters in any RPG.

[00:44:28] And like later on in the game,

[00:44:30] when you,

[00:44:30] when it's like,

[00:44:30] oh,

[00:44:31] you can only have 12 and now you have like all these people,

[00:44:33] it can be harder to kind of choose who you want to have in your party or not.

[00:44:36] But it's what makes replays so much fun.

[00:44:39] Cause you can mix it up and do all kinds of weird combinations.

[00:44:42] Like I've seen all centaur parties.

[00:44:44] I've,

[00:44:44] I've seen,

[00:44:45] I've seen all centaur.

[00:44:46] I've seen all kinds of crazy shit.

[00:44:48] Oops,

[00:44:48] all centaurs and mages.

[00:44:49] That would be me.

[00:44:50] I've done that many times.

[00:44:52] Yeah.

[00:44:53] Yeah.

[00:44:53] But there's a lot of like,

[00:44:54] and most of the characters will have like people who like stand for them or not.

[00:44:58] Like everybody has their favorite centaur.

[00:44:59] Like the one that they're like,

[00:45:01] they keep like,

[00:45:01] weirdly enough,

[00:45:02] I keep Ken the whole time.

[00:45:03] I love Ken.

[00:45:05] Like,

[00:45:05] like.

[00:45:06] May's cool.

[00:45:07] I like May.

[00:45:08] Yeah.

[00:45:08] May's cool.

[00:45:08] Hmm.

[00:45:10] See,

[00:45:10] I,

[00:45:11] I didn't even mention him up there.

[00:45:13] Um,

[00:45:14] I didn't even mention blue,

[00:45:15] the dragon or earnest,

[00:45:17] which is another one of the centaur nights.

[00:45:19] So yeah,

[00:45:20] earnest is my centaur that once I get him,

[00:45:22] he's in my party and he stays there.

[00:45:24] I don't know.

[00:45:25] Emo boy.

[00:45:25] So emo boy.

[00:45:27] I don't know.

[00:45:27] I just,

[00:45:28] I'm.

[00:45:28] But yeah,

[00:45:29] but yeah,

[00:45:29] blue is,

[00:45:30] is,

[00:45:30] is a special case.

[00:45:31] Like I,

[00:45:31] I do love blue,

[00:45:32] but like if you really want like blue to be like a usable member of your party,

[00:45:38] you know,

[00:45:39] you have to grind it like almost immediately because he is so weak when you get him.

[00:45:43] And especially you get them like right before the cane fight.

[00:45:46] And it's like,

[00:45:47] this is the worst time to get a new character.

[00:45:49] Yeah.

[00:45:50] But it,

[00:45:50] but if you stick with them,

[00:45:51] it's yeah,

[00:45:52] he,

[00:45:52] he can be great.

[00:45:53] The one character who sucks and it's a shame that he's so important to the lore is Adam.

[00:45:57] Yeah.

[00:45:59] The weird robot.

[00:46:00] I know.

[00:46:00] It's,

[00:46:00] I don't like him.

[00:46:02] I don't like Adam at all.

[00:46:03] Like he's a,

[00:46:03] he's a unique character and his connection,

[00:46:06] the max and all that is really interesting,

[00:46:07] especially in guide in final conflict.

[00:46:10] Like they're the two main characters of that game pretty much,

[00:46:12] but just in battle,

[00:46:13] he's so just really,

[00:46:15] it's not worth it.

[00:46:17] I know.

[00:46:19] I would grind him up and I'm like,

[00:46:21] why am I even bothering?

[00:46:23] He's never going to be good.

[00:46:24] I,

[00:46:24] he's not going to be in my end party,

[00:46:25] but because I was like,

[00:46:27] no,

[00:46:27] I've got to,

[00:46:28] I've got to grind them up every time.

[00:46:29] And it would be every single time I play this game.

[00:46:31] I don't know.

[00:46:32] I just,

[00:46:32] I got into a habit and I'm like,

[00:46:34] no,

[00:46:34] they all have to be the same level.

[00:46:36] Like that served me well in shining force three,

[00:46:39] because in shining force three,

[00:46:40] you have to use every single character that you have in the final fight for each of the different scenarios.

[00:46:46] And then in the very last game,

[00:46:49] you use every character from every shining force in the final battle of the game that has multiple maps.

[00:46:56] Like every,

[00:46:57] like multiple maps happen on like all of the end fights on those.

[00:47:00] And you have to have all of your characters be like decently leveled unless you want them to all die and fail the game.

[00:47:07] So that,

[00:47:08] that tendency,

[00:47:09] it worked out.

[00:47:10] It worked out.

[00:47:11] My brain can't comprehend that.

[00:47:12] Yeah.

[00:47:13] It's so cool though.

[00:47:14] I mean,

[00:47:14] like it's super ambitious,

[00:47:16] super ambitious and nobody ever did anything like it before or since like people tried,

[00:47:22] people did sort of similar things with like that hack.

[00:47:25] They tried to release one story across a bunch of different discs,

[00:47:28] but you know,

[00:47:29] it's not the same because it's like one single plotting story with the same characters where this is like you get different characters each time,

[00:47:36] you know,

[00:47:37] and then they have a narrative that winds together kind of like Resident Evil 6 has their like paths that all cross.

[00:47:46] So anyway,

[00:47:47] the closest comparison I could make was,

[00:47:49] uh,

[00:47:50] was Camelot's next major RPG,

[00:47:52] which was Golden Sun.

[00:47:53] Cause Golden Sun and Golden Sun,

[00:47:54] the Lost Age essentially do the same thing.

[00:47:56] Whereas it like,

[00:47:57] there's a part in Golden Sun where it's like,

[00:47:59] Oh,

[00:47:59] a certain party like goes off and does their own thing.

[00:48:02] And that's where the Lost Age picks up and Golden Sun,

[00:48:04] you stick with Isaac and crew and then Lost Age goes its own way.

[00:48:08] And then they come together at the very end.

[00:48:09] Cool.

[00:48:10] Which is,

[00:48:10] which is handled really cool.

[00:48:12] And,

[00:48:12] and it feels like a streamlined Shining Force 3.

[00:48:15] I mean,

[00:48:15] it was made by Camelot,

[00:48:16] so it would,

[00:48:17] it would make sense,

[00:48:18] I think.

[00:48:18] Um,

[00:48:19] and kind of was there like swung song because when it comes to RPGs,

[00:48:23] cause I mean,

[00:48:23] yeah,

[00:48:24] there's that like DS Golden Sun that sucks,

[00:48:25] but other than that,

[00:48:26] they've just been doing like the Mario sports games.

[00:48:28] Yeah,

[00:48:29] the sports minds.

[00:48:29] Which,

[00:48:30] I mean,

[00:48:30] which,

[00:48:31] which were good for a while,

[00:48:32] for a while they were fucking fantastic,

[00:48:33] but they just,

[00:48:34] I don't know,

[00:48:35] they don't hit the same way anymore.

[00:48:36] Right,

[00:48:37] right.

[00:48:38] They really don't.

[00:48:39] yes,

[00:48:39] yeah,

[00:48:40] super rush is disappointing.

[00:48:43] Hey,

[00:48:44] Aaron,

[00:48:44] what's your favorite Shining Force character?

[00:48:46] That's tough.

[00:48:47] I have a couple that I switch between all the time.

[00:48:51] Gort is a fucking killing machine.

[00:48:53] Unless he's up against those fucking bats that dodge like seven hits in a row.

[00:48:58] Fuck those bats.

[00:48:59] The bats suck.

[00:49:00] Especially the ones that poison you.

[00:49:02] Or no,

[00:49:02] they,

[00:49:02] no,

[00:49:02] they're constantly putting you to sleep.

[00:49:04] Yeah,

[00:49:05] putting you to sleep.

[00:49:05] And every time you're just like,

[00:49:06] wake the fuck up,

[00:49:07] wake the fuck up.

[00:49:08] Like,

[00:49:08] they're getting hit by a fucking like sonic wave or like any kind of attack.

[00:49:12] They're getting kissed to death.

[00:49:14] you're getting your fucking limbs chopped off.

[00:49:15] Wake up.

[00:49:16] Wake up,

[00:49:17] Max.

[00:49:17] It's a deep sleep.

[00:49:18] Only some of us can dream of.

[00:49:21] Fuck.

[00:49:22] Yeah,

[00:49:22] Gort is a fucking killing machine against literally anything except for bats.

[00:49:27] May.

[00:49:28] She just does not fucking die.

[00:49:30] Yeah.

[00:49:30] For me anyway.

[00:49:31] I don't know if it's,

[00:49:32] she's just got too good of defense,

[00:49:34] man.

[00:49:34] Yeah.

[00:49:35] There's a lot of great characters.

[00:49:36] She stays solid throughout.

[00:49:38] Like May and Ernest are probably my top two centaurs.

[00:49:40] Although Pell's up there a lot too.

[00:49:43] But.

[00:49:44] I didn't get very far in this game because there's just a bunch of,

[00:49:48] sorry,

[00:49:48] there's been a bunch of other shit that I've been juggling around.

[00:49:50] I do plan on actually beating this game a whole lot more.

[00:49:54] I'd love the,

[00:49:55] the bird people though.

[00:49:56] Their designs are super cool.

[00:49:57] Oh,

[00:49:57] when you get them,

[00:49:59] especially Balbaroy.

[00:50:00] Holy shit.

[00:50:01] Yeah.

[00:50:01] Well,

[00:50:02] they're both pretty good.

[00:50:03] I,

[00:50:03] I was always sad because I'm owns attack is not as good as Balbaroy and

[00:50:09] Balbaroy's attack is not as good as like most of your other attacking

[00:50:12] people because they're more like scouts,

[00:50:14] but like they serve more of a purpose in shining force three.

[00:50:18] They actually have like functionality there.

[00:50:20] As,

[00:50:21] as being kind of scout people,

[00:50:22] but for this game,

[00:50:24] the bird people are kind of nerfed,

[00:50:26] unfortunately,

[00:50:26] but I love them anyway.

[00:50:27] And I always use them.

[00:50:29] But the part where you get the bird people though,

[00:50:33] that shade Abby,

[00:50:35] that whole section is super cool.

[00:50:37] Oh,

[00:50:37] that is a fantastic section.

[00:50:39] She.

[00:50:40] Yeah.

[00:50:40] Cause I think that's where you have the like the fight that's in

[00:50:43] that like demolished church as well,

[00:50:45] which is like one of the best fights in the game.

[00:50:48] there's that,

[00:50:48] but then there's also the fact that like you're walking around the

[00:50:50] abbey and everybody's acting all freaking weird to you.

[00:50:53] And then like you,

[00:50:54] as you're walking around,

[00:50:55] people start blocking off the exits and then they don't say anything

[00:50:58] different.

[00:50:59] They just repeat their same lines.

[00:51:01] And then like the music's all weird and creepy and off tune and like,

[00:51:04] you know,

[00:51:05] minor key.

[00:51:06] And then,

[00:51:07] you know,

[00:51:07] as you get out there,

[00:51:08] you're like,

[00:51:09] Oh God,

[00:51:09] they've trapping me in.

[00:51:11] And then once you get up there,

[00:51:13] then Balbaroy,

[00:51:13] like you find out that he's been turned to stone or whatever.

[00:51:16] And he's like,

[00:51:16] run or whatever.

[00:51:17] And then,

[00:51:18] you know,

[00:51:18] then the fight starts and it's like,

[00:51:20] Oh,

[00:51:20] that's really cool.

[00:51:21] It's very,

[00:51:22] you know,

[00:51:23] atmospheric really,

[00:51:24] really cool.

[00:51:24] Like a bright pixel game.

[00:51:25] Like they didn't change.

[00:51:26] They didn't put like clouds or occlude anything or make anybody look a

[00:51:31] message.

[00:51:31] It was the same bright colors as everything else,

[00:51:34] but they still made it feel,

[00:51:35] you know,

[00:51:36] like,

[00:51:36] Oh shit.

[00:51:37] You know,

[00:51:38] when you got to that part.

[00:51:40] So,

[00:51:40] yeah,

[00:51:41] I was always,

[00:51:41] I was always impressed with the storytelling of this game,

[00:51:43] you know,

[00:51:44] cause it's,

[00:51:44] it's all done just through like the normal text boxes and just like the

[00:51:49] same,

[00:51:49] like top down graphic animation.

[00:51:50] You see the whole game.

[00:51:51] Like there's never,

[00:51:52] there's rarely any cuts to like different style,

[00:51:54] like cut scenes or anything like that.

[00:51:56] None of that really happens.

[00:51:57] It's all done,

[00:51:58] you know,

[00:51:59] through the same vantage point you see the whole time.

[00:52:01] And they make use of that,

[00:52:02] like very effectively with the shade Abby stuff.

[00:52:05] And then like the whole thing with you getting Zylo.

[00:52:08] And then later on when you get a cast into like the mermaid,

[00:52:11] the mermaid town and then the stuff that happens later on in the game,

[00:52:15] like it's all handled like really,

[00:52:17] really well.

[00:52:17] Oh yeah.

[00:52:18] And then like,

[00:52:19] for me,

[00:52:19] one of my favorite fights would be like the Rindo circus tent with the

[00:52:23] marionettes.

[00:52:24] That's a great fight.

[00:52:24] That's a,

[00:52:24] that's a,

[00:52:25] and I love the music from that arena as well.

[00:52:29] Such good music.

[00:52:30] Yeah.

[00:52:30] Yeah.

[00:52:31] The arenas are just about all designed very well.

[00:52:33] I think probably my favorite battle.

[00:52:36] The one I always think about is the battle with the laser eye.

[00:52:39] That one's a really good one.

[00:52:40] Chapter.

[00:52:40] Cause it's like the first battle that goes on for like an hour.

[00:52:44] Like it takes a while.

[00:52:46] But,

[00:52:47] and,

[00:52:47] and it's the first time where you really see the,

[00:52:49] the kind of like creeping science fiction in shining forest.

[00:52:52] Cause the whole time it's set up to be this fantasy thing.

[00:52:55] But the further you get into the game,

[00:52:57] they introduce like the laser eyes and the robots and max gets the chaos

[00:53:00] breaker,

[00:53:00] which is just a lightsaber.

[00:53:02] Like they just slowly incorporate the science fiction elements in there to

[00:53:05] make a really cool blending of the two that not a lot of games really pull

[00:53:10] off.

[00:53:10] Well,

[00:53:10] but I think this game does very well.

[00:53:12] Right.

[00:53:13] Well,

[00:53:13] because that's the ancients,

[00:53:14] you know,

[00:53:14] like that's the technology of the ancients.

[00:53:16] So.

[00:53:17] Yep.

[00:53:18] This is really reminding me of,

[00:53:19] of mother three really,

[00:53:22] really hard with how it starts off like lighthearted and like,

[00:53:27] I guess mother three isn't like medieval,

[00:53:29] but it starts off like lighthearted and like happy.

[00:53:33] But then they,

[00:53:33] they go,

[00:53:34] they push,

[00:53:34] they shove you real hard,

[00:53:36] real quick into science fiction.

[00:53:39] Like I'll say mother three hits the,

[00:53:41] hits the I'm sad button a lot quicker.

[00:53:44] Right.

[00:53:45] Yeah.

[00:53:46] But I,

[00:53:46] but I,

[00:53:47] but I see what you're saying.

[00:53:47] Like it starts out one thing and ends in a,

[00:53:50] like a completely different way.

[00:53:51] And shining force does that a little bit.

[00:53:53] Yeah.

[00:53:54] And man,

[00:53:55] the fucking,

[00:53:56] I'm looking up the whole laser eye thing.

[00:53:58] Does that sound familiar?

[00:53:59] I feel like I've,

[00:53:59] it's in the third chapter before,

[00:54:01] but like,

[00:54:02] it's in the town where you get Zylo.

[00:54:04] I think,

[00:54:05] I don't think you have him in your party yet or like you just,

[00:54:08] I think you have to beat the laser eye before you can get the remedy you need for him or something like that.

[00:54:13] Yes.

[00:54:14] Cause that,

[00:54:14] yeah.

[00:54:14] And then you see,

[00:54:15] I think it's Pele,

[00:54:15] like get thrown off the cliff as well.

[00:54:18] And then he comes back up.

[00:54:19] He's like,

[00:54:19] Oh,

[00:54:19] I'm fine.

[00:54:20] Like,

[00:54:20] how the hell did you survive that?

[00:54:21] That's a recurring theme.

[00:54:22] People falling off cliffs or getting thrown off cliffs and then being okay later.

[00:54:26] Like that's the thing that happens in shiny force three all the time too.

[00:54:30] Yeah.

[00:54:31] And then,

[00:54:31] yeah.

[00:54:31] And that battle,

[00:54:32] it's like when it comes,

[00:54:33] it's at a time where it's like,

[00:54:34] Oh,

[00:54:34] I've been used to like these smaller battles with slowly progressing villains.

[00:54:38] And then by this time it's like,

[00:54:39] Oh,

[00:54:39] here's the super long battle.

[00:54:41] It's going to take you a long time.

[00:54:42] And the characters,

[00:54:43] well,

[00:54:43] they're the,

[00:54:44] the leveling is still pretty good,

[00:54:45] but then you have to figure out how to get across the bridge to get to the laser eye,

[00:54:50] because it takes,

[00:54:50] I think it's what,

[00:54:51] like six or seven turns before it finally shoots off.

[00:54:54] Um,

[00:54:55] it's,

[00:54:55] it's a few,

[00:54:56] I want to say it's much,

[00:54:57] it's more than six or seven turns.

[00:54:59] Cause like when you're going across,

[00:55:02] when you're trying to make your way across,

[00:55:04] it'll fire at least once or twice as you're going.

[00:55:07] So,

[00:55:08] uh,

[00:55:08] maybe it's like every third turn or fourth turn,

[00:55:10] maybe.

[00:55:11] Cause if I remember correctly,

[00:55:13] when it starts,

[00:55:13] it goes like initiating,

[00:55:15] nine and then eight,

[00:55:17] seven,

[00:55:18] like each turn,

[00:55:19] it like,

[00:55:19] maybe,

[00:55:19] I don't know.

[00:55:20] I seem to remember it.

[00:55:21] Well,

[00:55:21] then again,

[00:55:22] I might've been just going slower across because,

[00:55:24] um,

[00:55:24] one thing that's cool about that battle too,

[00:55:26] is that you have your first like real flying enemies that are like,

[00:55:30] uh,

[00:55:31] they like there,

[00:55:32] you've got Pegasus Knights that you're fighting against and they are so strong that like,

[00:55:36] unlike the,

[00:55:36] like the bats are,

[00:55:37] were a pain in the butt,

[00:55:38] but like when you get to the point where you have Pegasus Knights coming after you and you've got stuff on the ground and you've got the laser eye going at the same time,

[00:55:44] like you have to use your bird people.

[00:55:46] At least I would always use my bird people to like,

[00:55:48] you know,

[00:55:49] uh,

[00:55:49] aggro them and bring them back and then just,

[00:55:52] you know,

[00:55:52] keep the,

[00:55:52] the bird people just far enough away that they would survive long enough to get back to the group and be healed so that my other people,

[00:56:00] you know,

[00:56:00] could attack the pulled enemies because otherwise if you go onto that,

[00:56:04] you know,

[00:56:05] uh,

[00:56:05] bridge,

[00:56:05] you're just going to get gang banged by everything.

[00:56:08] Yeah.

[00:56:09] It's really the first battle that tests your like strategy RPG skills because you have all these things to juggle and then you can use the laser eye to your advantage.

[00:56:26] Mm hmm.

[00:56:29] You know,

[00:56:29] but that's if you don't want the experience,

[00:56:32] you have to make sure that you,

[00:56:34] you know,

[00:56:34] yeah,

[00:56:35] I would try most of the time to see if I could get the full health guys out there so that way they could get injured and then I could just finish them off and get the ending experience.

[00:56:44] There you go.

[00:56:45] Yeah,

[00:56:45] but there's,

[00:56:46] there's so many enemies in that battle.

[00:56:48] I was always like,

[00:56:48] I can sacrifice a few of these guys.

[00:56:50] It's not going to hurt too much.

[00:56:51] Yeah.

[00:56:53] Yeah.

[00:56:54] Yeah.

[00:56:54] Yeah.

[00:56:55] And it's a fantastic battle.

[00:56:56] Like,

[00:56:56] it's really like the first true cinematic battle of the game.

[00:56:59] I think the,

[00:57:00] like the first enemy that was really just like,

[00:57:03] you know,

[00:57:03] the first boss character that made me go,

[00:57:06] oh,

[00:57:06] that's a creepy looking motherfucker was like the chaos battle where you're fighting.

[00:57:10] That's where you get Adam.

[00:57:11] But like,

[00:57:12] I don't care about Adam,

[00:57:12] but like chaos looks creepy and cool.

[00:57:15] So,

[00:57:16] I mean,

[00:57:16] Oh,

[00:57:17] you've got like your others.

[00:57:18] You've got Kane design.

[00:57:19] Well,

[00:57:19] you've got Kane before that.

[00:57:21] And you've also got a ball,

[00:57:22] Bazaak,

[00:57:23] which is the general and they're big guys with big sword.

[00:57:27] I know ball sack.

[00:57:28] I love,

[00:57:29] yeah.

[00:57:30] Well,

[00:57:30] I love,

[00:57:30] I love the buildup to that.

[00:57:32] Cause it's the caravan,

[00:57:33] the moving town and you meet him like in a bar or like,

[00:57:36] you know,

[00:57:36] and he's just like,

[00:57:40] this whole thing is bullshit,

[00:57:41] but I'm loyal to rune Faust.

[00:57:44] So we're going to meet on the battle.

[00:57:46] And he's like,

[00:57:46] if you beat me,

[00:57:47] then I know you're the one who can like topple this up.

[00:57:49] Yeah.

[00:57:49] You know,

[00:57:50] like it's handled in a really like surprising,

[00:57:53] like well-written way,

[00:57:54] you know,

[00:57:55] that I think some other games just didn't do at the time.

[00:57:57] Right.

[00:57:57] I know.

[00:57:57] And he knows it's bullshit,

[00:57:58] but he's just like,

[00:57:59] it's like somebody has to take this down.

[00:58:01] And if you take me down,

[00:58:02] I know you can do it.

[00:58:03] You know,

[00:58:04] like the,

[00:58:04] the,

[00:58:05] the heroic sacrifice.

[00:58:06] Oh,

[00:58:06] right.

[00:58:07] And that,

[00:58:07] that was one of my favorite battles as well.

[00:58:09] And our bound tall just because of,

[00:58:11] you know,

[00:58:12] that characterization that they give him,

[00:58:14] because most of the other bad guys,

[00:58:16] like they're just like her,

[00:58:17] her,

[00:58:17] I am bad guy because bad,

[00:58:19] you know,

[00:58:19] but like,

[00:58:20] he's,

[00:58:20] you know,

[00:58:21] the only guy who's like,

[00:58:22] no,

[00:58:23] I'm just a guy who has other motivations and we end up coming into

[00:58:26] conflict.

[00:58:26] And that's,

[00:58:27] again,

[00:58:27] that's another thing that they do a lot more of in shining force

[00:58:30] three.

[00:58:30] They have a lot of conflict of ideals,

[00:58:33] forcing people to fight and things like that.

[00:58:36] And that game.

[00:58:37] So this is an idea they were playing with even in this game,

[00:58:40] which is cool.

[00:58:42] Oh,

[00:58:42] the general I'm thinking of,

[00:58:43] his name was Elliot.

[00:58:44] Oh,

[00:58:44] Elliot.

[00:58:44] Yeah.

[00:58:44] Yeah.

[00:58:45] Yeah.

[00:58:45] Yeah.

[00:58:45] He's the dragon guy.

[00:58:46] Yes.

[00:58:46] Dragon guy.

[00:58:47] So Balbozac.

[00:58:47] Yeah.

[00:58:47] No,

[00:58:48] Balbozac was the pirate guy,

[00:58:49] wasn't he?

[00:58:50] He was the pirate guy.

[00:58:50] Yeah.

[00:58:51] He's a bit later on.

[00:58:51] Yeah.

[00:58:52] He's a bit later on.

[00:58:53] It's like,

[00:58:53] I think it's like at that point you,

[00:58:54] you get like Domingo and all in earnest.

[00:58:56] Yeah.

[00:58:56] Yeah.

[00:58:57] You get,

[00:58:57] you get earnest for that fight because he's,

[00:58:59] he wants to go kill Balbozac.

[00:59:02] So.

[00:59:07] And then you,

[00:59:07] you know,

[00:59:08] end up.

[00:59:09] Mermaids.

[00:59:10] Yeah.

[00:59:11] Yeah.

[00:59:11] And that's when I,

[00:59:12] that's when I would promote my characters.

[00:59:14] Like when you finally get the promoted weapons,

[00:59:16] it's like,

[00:59:17] okay,

[00:59:17] now it's time to like promote these characters.

[00:59:20] Aaron.

[00:59:21] It's been a long time since you.

[00:59:25] I'm just,

[00:59:26] I'm a,

[00:59:26] I'm absorbing everything you guys are saying.

[00:59:28] And,

[00:59:29] uh,

[00:59:30] one thing that's kind of like popped into my brain.

[00:59:33] And I think,

[00:59:33] I think the reason why I enjoy shining force,

[00:59:37] probably more than most other strategy RPGs is for one,

[00:59:41] there's,

[00:59:42] how do I explain this?

[00:59:43] So,

[00:59:44] so like fire emblem and quite a few other,

[00:59:46] uh,

[00:59:47] tactical RPGs,

[00:59:48] they feel more like visual novels than anything else.

[00:59:51] It'll be like,

[00:59:52] it'll be like combat and then just walls and walls and walls of text.

[00:59:58] And,

[00:59:58] uh,

[00:59:59] I'll usually just skip and then,

[01:00:01] you know,

[01:00:02] combat,

[01:00:02] skip dialogue,

[01:00:03] combat,

[01:00:04] skip dialogue,

[01:00:05] and kind of repeat that to where it's like,

[01:00:06] I don't give a shit about the story.

[01:00:07] I'm just here for the combat that kind of pulls me out of that shit.

[01:00:10] Unless it's really good,

[01:00:11] like three houses,

[01:00:12] blah,

[01:00:12] blah,

[01:00:12] blah.

[01:00:13] But shining force has,

[01:00:15] it has this really,

[01:00:17] really good,

[01:00:19] great balance of like meaty,

[01:00:22] like really satisfying combat.

[01:00:25] And then like the story,

[01:00:26] they don't shove too much down your throat at one time.

[01:00:29] They'll just be like,

[01:00:30] dude,

[01:00:30] Rune fast.

[01:00:31] They're fucking at it again.

[01:00:33] They're there.

[01:00:33] They blew up this one place.

[01:00:35] They're at it again.

[01:00:36] So you gather up your crew.

[01:00:40] Who else?

[01:00:41] Well,

[01:00:41] well,

[01:00:42] if I remember correctly,

[01:00:43] the story is Rune fast is always just like a normal town until like dark soul came in and like slowly influenced them to become the evil town because he needed them to help awaken the dark dragon.

[01:00:53] Yeah.

[01:00:53] And they started,

[01:00:54] they started doing raids and stuff into guardian.

[01:00:57] And then you find out,

[01:00:58] Oh,

[01:00:58] well,

[01:00:58] they are trying to get to this,

[01:01:00] you know,

[01:01:01] door to get into the tower of the ancients.

[01:01:03] They want to open this door and guardian by the name guard that the whole point is we're supposed to be guarding the gate and we done failed.

[01:01:11] Well,

[01:01:11] shit.

[01:01:12] You think we think the town would be a little bit closer to the great seal,

[01:01:15] you know,

[01:01:16] like when you do that cabin,

[01:01:17] you do that chariot ride.

[01:01:19] It's like,

[01:01:19] I feel like this shouldn't be this long with the bulb.

[01:01:21] Zach.

[01:01:23] The ball Zach.

[01:01:24] Yeah.

[01:01:25] Or my favorite town.

[01:01:26] Uh,

[01:01:27] Marinara.

[01:01:27] I think it's actually Mariana.

[01:01:28] Yeah.

[01:01:29] Mariana.

[01:01:30] Yeah.

[01:01:30] Yeah.

[01:01:32] What I always liked about dragon or with shining force is yeah.

[01:01:35] Like the,

[01:01:36] the pacing of the,

[01:01:37] like the town exploration and the battles was always done really well.

[01:01:40] You didn't do too much of one or the other.

[01:01:43] Cause one of my issues with shining for CD is that they don't really have any of that.

[01:01:47] It's just like battle,

[01:01:48] battle,

[01:01:49] battle.

[01:01:49] There'll be some story before the battle.

[01:01:51] You'll do like the little menu towns,

[01:01:53] whatever.

[01:01:53] Right.

[01:01:54] And it can just,

[01:01:54] it can,

[01:01:54] it can be a little bit much,

[01:01:56] but I think shining force one does a really good job of like the traditional RPG style.

[01:02:01] Like,

[01:02:01] Oh,

[01:02:01] you go in the town,

[01:02:02] you talk to people,

[01:02:03] you upgrade your stuff,

[01:02:03] blah,

[01:02:04] blah,

[01:02:04] blah.

[01:02:04] And then you learn about what's going on and then you go do the battle,

[01:02:07] but it's paced in a really good way.

[01:02:10] And yeah,

[01:02:10] it has that like dragon quest charm to it.

[01:02:12] Well,

[01:02:13] we're like all the NPC dialogue is kind of light and humorous and you can,

[01:02:17] you know,

[01:02:17] and you'll chuckle throughout the whole thing that when it gets serious,

[01:02:20] it's like,

[01:02:20] okay,

[01:02:21] it's time to get serious now.

[01:02:22] Like it's able to balance everything without being too much of one or the other.

[01:02:27] Right.

[01:02:27] And so like another thing that I wanted to say too,

[01:02:30] is to your point,

[01:02:31] Aaron,

[01:02:31] about like fire emblem games and their story and how they have a lot of story.

[01:02:36] And it's just like,

[01:02:36] skip,

[01:02:37] skip,

[01:02:37] skip.

[01:02:37] Well,

[01:02:38] part of the reason for that is because the story in fire emblem is never exciting or new or interesting.

[01:02:43] Like other than three houses,

[01:02:46] the only thing that people are going for the,

[01:02:49] for to a fire emblem game is going to be the battles or maybe the characters and the support conversations.

[01:02:54] Oh yeah.

[01:02:55] The wife.

[01:02:55] like they,

[01:02:56] they're,

[01:02:56] they're,

[01:02:57] especially from awakening on,

[01:02:58] like they're there for the support conversations in,

[01:03:01] in hooking up their characters.

[01:03:03] But like,

[01:03:04] you know,

[01:03:04] I mean,

[01:03:04] like I understand that there are some games that had some cool ideas that were,

[01:03:08] you know,

[01:03:08] some of the older pre awakening games as well,

[01:03:11] had some neat ideas going on with that.

[01:03:13] Um,

[01:03:13] don't want to give away stuff for these old ass games,

[01:03:16] but,

[01:03:16] um,

[01:03:17] you know,

[01:03:19] most of them though,

[01:03:20] have this whole dragon,

[01:03:22] good dragon,

[01:03:24] bad,

[01:03:24] God,

[01:03:25] bad,

[01:03:25] got to go destroy.

[01:03:26] And everybody's like the,

[01:03:28] all the certain characters have the same certain roles every single time.

[01:03:31] And it's like,

[01:03:32] uh,

[01:03:33] I don't know.

[01:03:34] I don't give a shit about any of the stuff that you're telling me right now.

[01:03:37] You know,

[01:03:38] I've thought for the longest time,

[01:03:40] this is just me.

[01:03:40] I'm so glad it's not just me.

[01:03:42] Holy fuck.

[01:03:42] The,

[01:03:43] the fire emblem stories are stupid.

[01:03:44] Yeah.

[01:03:45] I mean,

[01:03:46] they're always the same.

[01:03:48] So like the,

[01:03:49] um,

[01:03:50] awakening really,

[01:03:51] really tried.

[01:03:52] I just like they did time travel plus a dragon,

[01:03:55] the actual story itself of awakening.

[01:03:58] Wasn't interesting at all.

[01:04:00] I mean,

[01:04:00] like the mechanics were great.

[01:04:02] And some of the aspects were great.

[01:04:03] Like the time,

[01:04:04] time traveling thing that happens in that is cool.

[01:04:07] But like,

[01:04:08] I don't remember what even was like grim,

[01:04:11] dark dude was going to go corrupt the future or something.

[01:04:15] And I don't know.

[01:04:16] I don't care.

[01:04:17] Somebody died.

[01:04:18] I could care less.

[01:04:20] I don't care.

[01:04:21] I don't care.

[01:04:21] It was like Teflon and it just totally slipped off my brain after I was done

[01:04:26] with it.

[01:04:26] I remember three houses.

[01:04:27] I don't remember because it's not well written.

[01:04:30] They put all their interesting cuts,

[01:04:32] talk and everything into the support conversations.

[01:04:34] That's where it all went.

[01:04:36] All in the support conversations.

[01:04:37] Love the support conversations though.

[01:04:39] Yeah.

[01:04:39] Some of them are really fun.

[01:04:40] I mean,

[01:04:41] like it's,

[01:04:41] it's fun to see that dialogue.

[01:04:43] Cause some of them are actually really,

[01:04:44] really hilarious or very well written.

[01:04:46] Like,

[01:04:47] like any,

[01:04:47] like I've only been with vice.

[01:04:48] He's like,

[01:04:49] let's go work out,

[01:04:50] bro.

[01:04:50] Let's go train,

[01:04:51] bro.

[01:04:51] Let's fuck up some protein shakes,

[01:04:53] bro.

[01:04:53] Let's use basically just the ultimate workout,

[01:04:55] bro.

[01:04:55] He's awesome.

[01:04:56] Yeah.

[01:04:56] The only fire emblem game I've played to like,

[01:04:58] like the whole thing is three houses.

[01:05:01] And what I remember most from that game,

[01:05:04] aside from like really liking the combat and all that was always the support

[01:05:07] conversations you had with Bernadetta because I chose the black

[01:05:10] Eagles and that she's always behind,

[01:05:13] she's always behind that door.

[01:05:15] And like your whole conversation is trying to trick her to come out.

[01:05:18] You know,

[01:05:19] and,

[01:05:19] and you'll be this close and she'll be like,

[01:05:21] wait a minute,

[01:05:22] you're trying to get me out of here.

[01:05:23] No,

[01:05:23] fuck that.

[01:05:24] I'm not doing that.

[01:05:25] You know,

[01:05:25] just her whole stuff was like,

[01:05:27] was really fun.

[01:05:28] And there was a lot of like,

[01:05:29] you know,

[01:05:29] fun characters,

[01:05:30] but yeah,

[01:05:31] like I could see why people don't like the heavy persona,

[01:05:34] like nature of three houses because it can get in the way of battles.

[01:05:38] And I do remember that being like,

[01:05:39] I just want to get like to the combat.

[01:05:41] Cause the combat in three houses is fantastic.

[01:05:43] Oh yeah.

[01:05:44] But you know,

[01:05:44] but the school stuff can drag.

[01:05:46] Well,

[01:05:47] especially when it's like,

[01:05:48] you're trying to teach them to like level them up.

[01:05:50] And then I have to like really think about like,

[01:05:52] Oh,

[01:05:52] what should I have this person focus on?

[01:05:54] You know,

[01:05:55] I don't want to go fishing.

[01:05:58] Stop giving me fishing mini games.

[01:06:01] I mean,

[01:06:02] I like fishing mini games,

[01:06:04] but three houses is not one of the better ones.

[01:06:06] It's not a good one.

[01:06:07] It's not.

[01:06:08] Like,

[01:06:08] I would rather do the fishing mini game in a Sonic frontiers.

[01:06:13] It's actually not bad because it's super easy to do.

[01:06:16] And you can just grind all of the items you need by just fishing.

[01:06:20] Seriously.

[01:06:21] You can spend like half an hour fishing in Sonic frontiers and get all the shit you need to like progress the story.

[01:06:26] Yeah.

[01:06:26] It's actually kind of ridiculous.

[01:06:28] So one thing I,

[01:06:29] but I don't want to hang out with big,

[01:06:30] the cat.

[01:06:31] Well,

[01:06:32] one thing I have to say though,

[01:06:33] about shining force three.

[01:06:34] So Thrak,

[01:06:35] you played some of it.

[01:06:36] You know that the beginning of the first scenario is slow as shit because it's just a lot of talking to set you up to give you the story because it's giving you the story for the next hundred plus hours that you're going to be spending on this game.

[01:06:50] Yeah.

[01:06:50] And it's like,

[01:06:51] it was kind of my,

[01:06:52] it was kind of my big issue with three because one and two do such a good job of like telling the story,

[01:06:57] but in a way that doesn't get in the way of playing the game that I think three,

[01:07:01] it just kind of like threw me for a loop.

[01:07:03] So I wasn't expecting that.

[01:07:05] And the second scenario and the third scenario do not do that.

[01:07:08] It's only the first scenario that they did that with.

[01:07:10] And it's just,

[01:07:11] I guess because it's the first one in the set and they,

[01:07:14] but like the second and third one,

[01:07:15] they put you in a battle.

[01:07:16] Like you're,

[01:07:17] you're immediately in a battle and you're immediately doing stuff.

[01:07:20] And I think because it's a 3d game,

[01:07:22] it also like plays a lot slower because you have to worry about the camera and all this other stuff.

[01:07:27] And there were so many times I would get like blindsided by somebody that I wasn't like expecting because I didn't have the camera in a right spot as well.

[01:07:34] So I would kind of screw myself up with some of the battles.

[01:07:37] And then like that one battle that I just couldn't get past because it was just pissing me off because I just couldn't figure that fucking dude out.

[01:07:44] And it made me go like,

[01:07:45] well,

[01:07:45] and that's the thing though.

[01:07:46] I did like,

[01:07:47] I liked the train battle where you have to like kind of race to like,

[01:07:51] to like move the tracks.

[01:07:52] Like I was able to do it.

[01:07:53] Awesome.

[01:07:54] Though it took,

[01:07:54] it took me like half a dozen tries to actually get it.

[01:07:57] So it was like,

[01:07:57] it's that,

[01:07:58] uh,

[01:07:58] the centaur you get like right at the start,

[01:08:00] like you have to,

[01:08:01] yeah,

[01:08:01] you have to like race him there.

[01:08:03] Specifically him.

[01:08:03] And he has to be on the right square to do it.

[01:08:06] Yes.

[01:08:06] Yeah.

[01:08:06] I actually looked up a walkthrough to be like,

[01:08:08] okay,

[01:08:08] get a square.

[01:08:10] Get over that.

[01:08:10] Right.

[01:08:11] Yeah,

[01:08:11] exactly.

[01:08:11] But what,

[01:08:12] but if you're able to do that,

[01:08:13] then that battle becomes super easy.

[01:08:15] Well,

[01:08:15] it's,

[01:08:16] it's like you have to learn all that stuff,

[01:08:19] but like,

[01:08:19] um,

[01:08:19] the cool things that they are doing in three though,

[01:08:22] they have like a support system,

[01:08:24] which as you build it with each of the different characters fighting

[01:08:27] together in combat,

[01:08:28] you end up getting like,

[01:08:31] um,

[01:08:31] bonuses where like,

[01:08:32] if you have your,

[01:08:33] um,

[01:08:34] dwarf character,

[01:08:35] Obright next to anybody else,

[01:08:37] he gives them at the higher level of the friendship tier,

[01:08:41] a 15% defense boost,

[01:08:43] which is a big.

[01:08:45] That's boost.

[01:08:46] So,

[01:08:46] I mean like just as an example,

[01:08:49] but like there's other characters that'll help each other critical and

[01:08:51] things like that,

[01:08:52] which if you have one of the characters that have the instant death

[01:08:55] weapon that sometimes gives instant death and you can do that even to

[01:08:58] a boss,

[01:09:00] uh,

[01:09:00] that's baller.

[01:09:01] That's awesome.

[01:09:02] So,

[01:09:02] um,

[01:09:02] there's a lot of benefits to that system that they have in there.

[01:09:05] But again,

[01:09:06] that's the one where if one of those characters in that support,

[01:09:09] you know,

[01:09:10] uh,

[01:09:10] you know,

[01:09:11] relationship ends up dying in combat,

[01:09:13] that,

[01:09:13] then that support drops a little bit.

[01:09:15] Like you get penalized on that because,

[01:09:17] you know,

[01:09:17] obviously you can't trust the person in battle if they just died.

[01:09:20] So,

[01:09:21] you know,

[01:09:22] but,

[01:09:22] um,

[01:09:23] they've got that,

[01:09:23] they've got some other systems as well.

[01:09:25] They also have,

[01:09:26] uh,

[01:09:26] one extra map,

[01:09:28] like a ruins that you can go into to get extra treasures and stuff.

[01:09:32] Once per chapter,

[01:09:33] they have one of those battles.

[01:09:35] So you have multi-map battles every chapter as well as your main battles.

[01:09:40] And then of course the end,

[01:09:41] you've got multi-map battles as well.

[01:09:43] So,

[01:09:43] I mean like they're doing a lot of cool stuff.

[01:09:45] There's also,

[01:09:46] um,

[01:09:46] in Shining Force 3,

[01:09:47] there's a bunch of hidden items you can pick up everywhere,

[01:09:49] which Shining Force 1 doesn't really trade in hidden items everywhere.

[01:09:53] They have hidden characters everywhere,

[01:09:54] but not really hidden items.

[01:09:56] Yep.

[01:09:56] Yeah.

[01:09:56] Yeah.

[01:09:56] Shining Force 3,

[01:09:57] it's just the game that I was playing and I'm like,

[01:09:58] there's so much here and there's like,

[01:10:01] it's a game that's very ambitious.

[01:10:03] Yes.

[01:10:03] And like,

[01:10:04] and I would like to see like a sort of modern reinterpretation of it.

[01:10:08] You know,

[01:10:09] like,

[01:10:09] I mean,

[01:10:10] Sega's never going to do it,

[01:10:11] but I would like,

[01:10:12] like,

[01:10:13] it's a game that I think deserves a second chance.

[01:10:15] And I think like,

[01:10:16] say if you said to Atlas,

[01:10:18] like,

[01:10:18] Hey,

[01:10:18] do you want to like remake Shining Force 3?

[01:10:21] Hey Atlas.

[01:10:21] Like,

[01:10:22] do you want to fucking make these games into one?

[01:10:24] like,

[01:10:24] like it would be,

[01:10:26] it would be an interesting exercise,

[01:10:27] I think.

[01:10:28] Cause it's,

[01:10:29] there's so much here and yeah,

[01:10:30] so many people love it to death,

[01:10:32] but like playing it as really ahead of its time too,

[01:10:35] but playing it now,

[01:10:36] it just,

[01:10:36] it feels so impenetrable because there's so much of it and it does so much.

[01:10:40] And I have a lot of respect for it,

[01:10:42] but it just like my love of Shining Force 1 and 2 is from how,

[01:10:46] like how streamlined and easy they are to play,

[01:10:48] you know?

[01:10:49] And then three just doesn't do that.

[01:10:51] Well,

[01:10:52] it's,

[01:10:52] it's Shining Force 3 plays more like a three houses would,

[01:10:57] except not with all the,

[01:10:59] the university stuff.

[01:11:00] It's got like the same pattern of like town and,

[01:11:04] and battle stuff.

[01:11:05] But then you also have all the extra text you've got from three houses where

[01:11:10] you've got your story stuff coming into play.

[01:11:12] So it's more like that.

[01:11:14] So it actually is like you say,

[01:11:16] Aaron,

[01:11:16] it's like,

[01:11:17] uh,

[01:11:17] it is kind of ahead of its time for,

[01:11:20] you know,

[01:11:20] it was released in 98.

[01:11:21] I mean,

[01:11:22] that's a long fucking time ago for a game to be,

[01:11:25] you know,

[01:11:25] and it also came out a little bit before final fantasy tactics.

[01:11:29] So you want to talk about a slog of text,

[01:11:32] you know,

[01:11:32] you want to talk about an impenetrable game.

[01:11:34] Let me tell you about final fantasy tactics,

[01:11:37] which if you don't have somebody Sherpa,

[01:11:39] you Sherpa in you through,

[01:11:41] you will just go through and fuck up really bad.

[01:11:44] See,

[01:11:45] I,

[01:11:45] I,

[01:11:45] I have a final fantasy tactics advance.

[01:11:48] Oh,

[01:11:48] that was the cleaner version of it.

[01:11:51] So,

[01:11:51] and that's a game that I play,

[01:11:53] I tried playing and I'm like,

[01:11:54] I have no idea what the fuck.

[01:11:56] We'll see like at all.

[01:11:58] And,

[01:11:58] and again,

[01:11:58] the battles are great.

[01:12:00] Like that stuff is super fun,

[01:12:01] but everything else where it's like,

[01:12:02] you got to do the treasure hunting.

[01:12:04] And it's like,

[01:12:04] well,

[01:12:05] where am I going?

[01:12:05] What the hell am I doing?

[01:12:06] And nobody doesn't really explain anything to you.

[01:12:09] Like,

[01:12:10] but like,

[01:12:10] but like the excess text in shining force three,

[01:12:13] it feels like it was a camelot thing.

[01:12:14] Cause golden sun as well.

[01:12:17] Like every,

[01:12:18] every single conversation in golden sun goes on for way too fucking long.

[01:12:22] Well,

[01:12:22] like even when it's just like,

[01:12:23] Oh,

[01:12:24] we beat it.

[01:12:24] They're all just,

[01:12:25] a lot of them are like,

[01:12:26] Oh,

[01:12:26] we beat the guy.

[01:12:27] Let's go on to the next thing.

[01:12:28] And it's like,

[01:12:29] okay.

[01:12:29] And then they just keep talking.

[01:12:31] Yeah.

[01:12:31] I know.

[01:12:31] Shut up.

[01:12:32] It's not that interesting.

[01:12:33] Like what you're saying,

[01:12:34] isn't that interesting?

[01:12:35] They kind of clean it up and they shorten up how much conversation is

[01:12:39] happening as scenario one goes on.

[01:12:42] And then in scenarios two and three,

[01:12:44] it's a lot cleaner and it's not nearly the amount of text,

[01:12:47] but the very beginning of the game is,

[01:12:49] you know,

[01:12:50] stuck with a bunch of that,

[01:12:51] unfortunately.

[01:12:51] But,

[01:12:52] um,

[01:12:52] you know,

[01:12:53] insofar as like the complication of what you're doing with battle,

[01:12:56] it's less complicated than a fire emblem and way less

[01:12:59] complicated than a final fantasy tactics,

[01:13:02] which is very crunchy.

[01:13:03] That's the most crunchy of those or tactics.

[01:13:05] Yeah.

[01:13:06] Yeah.

[01:13:06] Yeah.

[01:13:07] Exactly.

[01:13:08] but since we're talking about story,

[01:13:09] should we talk about shining force and it's infamous mistranslation?

[01:13:13] Yes.

[01:13:14] It's translation errors,

[01:13:16] which has,

[01:13:16] Oh yeah.

[01:13:17] Yeah.

[01:13:17] Uh,

[01:13:18] because when they brought this game over,

[01:13:19] um,

[01:13:20] they did not fully translate it.

[01:13:22] So they will.

[01:13:23] And also they misspelled,

[01:13:24] uh,

[01:13:24] some characters wrong.

[01:13:25] So like,

[01:13:27] no,

[01:13:27] it's Luke is technically lug lug,

[01:13:29] I believe.

[01:13:30] Like,

[01:13:30] and it's actually,

[01:13:31] it's,

[01:13:32] I think it's supposed to be Lou,

[01:13:34] like L U G H,

[01:13:36] which is an Irish folk hero.

[01:13:38] Yes.

[01:13:39] Um,

[01:13:40] and they spell Cain wrong.

[01:13:41] Like I believe they have,

[01:13:43] how well,

[01:13:44] cause I believe in,

[01:13:45] um,

[01:13:45] um,

[01:13:45] in this it's Cain,

[01:13:46] K A N E like the wrestler,

[01:13:48] but it's meant to be spelled K A I N like Cain and Abel.

[01:13:51] Cain and Abel.

[01:13:52] Oh God.

[01:13:52] And which makes a lot more sense when you realize,

[01:13:55] drumroll or spoilers,

[01:13:57] Max and Cain are brothers,

[01:13:59] but the,

[01:14:00] but the Western version does not tell you that at all.

[01:14:03] Like that whole thing gets scrubbed.

[01:14:05] So when you do the battle with Cain,

[01:14:08] right,

[01:14:08] like it's meant to be the sort of like big moment.

[01:14:10] Cause it's like,

[01:14:10] Oh,

[01:14:11] he's this big bad guy.

[01:14:12] And then you do that battle.

[01:14:13] And then at the very end,

[01:14:14] his mask comes off.

[01:14:15] And then he's,

[01:14:16] and then he's like talking to Max,

[01:14:17] like,

[01:14:17] Oh,

[01:14:18] I can't believe I did that.

[01:14:19] What the hell was wrong with me or whatever.

[01:14:21] Mother three.

[01:14:21] And the way he's talking about it is like,

[01:14:23] you're supposed to know what's going on,

[01:14:26] but you don't know what's going on.

[01:14:27] So you're like,

[01:14:28] well,

[01:14:28] what the heck is this?

[01:14:29] And it was the,

[01:14:29] the mistranslation.

[01:14:30] Well,

[01:14:30] and the,

[01:14:31] uh,

[01:14:32] Game Boy Advance version,

[01:14:33] resurrection of the dark dragon has a better translation.

[01:14:37] So that is ameliorated.

[01:14:39] And then that version for the GBA.

[01:14:40] And it has a lot more dialogue.

[01:14:42] It has more dialogue and it has an extra character and a new mechanic that includes tarot cards,

[01:14:46] which is pretty cool.

[01:14:48] It's kind of,

[01:14:48] Aaron would like it.

[01:14:50] It's like a card system.

[01:14:51] I love cards.

[01:14:51] It's,

[01:14:52] it's kind of like the card system from like circle of the moon,

[01:14:55] sort of,

[01:14:56] because you can actually get,

[01:14:57] well,

[01:14:58] because you get,

[01:14:59] um,

[01:14:59] like,

[01:15:00] uh,

[01:15:00] enemy cards and you can use those cards to get different buffs in the battles because of this one little dude that you've got.

[01:15:07] Feed it.

[01:15:07] Yeah.

[01:15:07] So spoon.

[01:15:08] Yeah.

[01:15:09] That's so that's why I did it on your Amber neck now.

[01:15:11] I have it.

[01:15:12] This is why I wanted to,

[01:15:14] I have a car.

[01:15:14] I have a card of it.

[01:15:16] So official card of it.

[01:15:18] I spent,

[01:15:18] Oh,

[01:15:19] yeah,

[01:15:19] it's over there.

[01:15:19] I'm not going to go grab it.

[01:15:20] Um,

[01:15:21] well,

[01:15:22] that that's all I wanted to say about that.

[01:15:24] Like that version is a better one.

[01:15:26] They did add one guy,

[01:15:28] one little character.

[01:15:29] And then like,

[01:15:29] he's not story important.

[01:15:31] He's just a guy that shows up and does the thing.

[01:15:33] So he's just added to your,

[01:15:34] your cast.

[01:15:35] And then they have this added mechanic,

[01:15:37] which is kind of like a super tactics,

[01:15:39] agree kind of feel with the card thing.

[01:15:41] Right.

[01:15:41] Um,

[01:15:42] or like circle of the moon,

[01:15:43] having the little card thing.

[01:15:45] And,

[01:15:45] um,

[01:15:45] you know,

[01:15:46] having that as a bonus mechanic was pretty cool as well.

[01:15:49] And then of course with a better translation,

[01:15:52] why wouldn't you want to play that version?

[01:15:54] You know?

[01:15:55] So,

[01:15:55] but nobody knows about like,

[01:15:57] every time I mentioned it and everybody's like,

[01:15:58] I've never played that before.

[01:16:00] I didn't even know there was a game boy advanced version.

[01:16:02] And yeah,

[01:16:03] it kind of sailed under the radar when it came out,

[01:16:05] you know,

[01:16:06] because,

[01:16:07] because a lot of it,

[01:16:08] it feels like it's trying to sort of modernize shining course one with like,

[01:16:12] you know,

[01:16:12] the extra text and the extra game modes and all that,

[01:16:15] which is,

[01:16:15] it's perfectly fine.

[01:16:16] Like it,

[01:16:17] it doesn't hold the same,

[01:16:18] like,

[01:16:18] sprites look so good.

[01:16:20] Yeah.

[01:16:20] Like it doesn't,

[01:16:20] it doesn't hold the same love that I have for the original Genesis version,

[01:16:24] but it is a very good,

[01:16:25] like version.

[01:16:26] It's hilarious because I got,

[01:16:28] I was the one who got it when it was like extant and new and shiny.

[01:16:32] And I played it for when it first came out when I was,

[01:16:35] you know,

[01:16:36] 10 or whatever.

[01:16:37] And I played the shit out of it,

[01:16:38] but I still am like,

[01:16:40] that's a better version.

[01:16:42] Like,

[01:16:42] I love both versions.

[01:16:44] I love the original one that I played.

[01:16:46] That makes no sense when you get to Kane,

[01:16:47] but I mean,

[01:16:49] you know,

[01:16:50] so the GPA version is like,

[01:16:52] it's,

[01:16:53] it's not missing anything from the original game.

[01:16:55] No,

[01:16:56] it adds some stuff.

[01:16:58] Yeah.

[01:16:58] It adds a little bit,

[01:16:59] not like,

[01:16:59] but not like a huge amount.

[01:17:01] It's basically,

[01:17:01] it's just like expanding on what's already there.

[01:17:04] So you have a lot more like story bits with like more talking and yeah,

[01:17:08] like the extra character and all that stuff,

[01:17:09] but it's not,

[01:17:11] it's not anything that's like super essential,

[01:17:13] but it's like,

[01:17:14] if you're a shining force diehard,

[01:17:15] it kind of gives you a reason to play the game again.

[01:17:17] Cause it gives you a little bit more,

[01:17:19] but it doesn't like,

[01:17:20] it's not subtracting anything by adding anything.

[01:17:23] Let's put it that way.

[01:17:24] Not at all.

[01:17:25] So not at all.

[01:17:26] Yeah.

[01:17:27] But yeah,

[01:17:27] but it is a,

[01:17:28] it is a solid version.

[01:17:30] It was that weird era where like Sega were letting like THQ publish a bunch of GBA games for him.

[01:17:34] Like the Sonic advanced games were published by THQ.

[01:17:37] Why?

[01:17:37] Who the fuck knows?

[01:17:38] The only thing I'll give that the GBA remake,

[01:17:43] like,

[01:17:43] like minor,

[01:17:45] a minor dislike for us.

[01:17:46] Cause it just has the,

[01:17:47] the game boy advanced,

[01:17:48] like washed out colors.

[01:17:49] Cause yeah,

[01:17:50] no backlight.

[01:17:50] They had to make a brighter shit like that.

[01:17:52] Otherwise it looks,

[01:17:53] it looks really good.

[01:17:54] It sounds awesome.

[01:17:55] Jala,

[01:17:55] you've done an excellent job selling me on this.

[01:17:57] So I'm going to,

[01:17:57] I'm going to play it after I beat,

[01:18:00] uh,

[01:18:01] original shining.

[01:18:02] I've never beaten the remake.

[01:18:04] I've gotten to like chapter two.

[01:18:05] I think I will eventually be talking about shining force one in detail.

[01:18:10] And then also the remake,

[01:18:12] because I also did this whole,

[01:18:13] let's talk about the original and the remake when it comes to,

[01:18:17] uh,

[01:18:17] Lunar from Sega CD.

[01:18:19] I did the Sega CD version side by side with the PlayStation one version.

[01:18:23] And I will also be doing Lunar two after I finished the current shining force three.

[01:18:29] So then we'll be doing shining force to compare and can,

[01:18:32] contrast the shining force or not shining force,

[01:18:34] the Sega CD version and the,

[01:18:36] um,

[01:18:39] PlayStation version.

[01:18:40] So hopefully before the stupid re-release comes out,

[01:18:45] because now they're,

[01:18:45] they're releasing the,

[01:18:47] the remakes or whatever for Lunar.

[01:18:49] So coming up to you soon,

[01:18:51] but yeah.

[01:18:52] So like,

[01:18:53] uh,

[01:18:53] in the game,

[01:18:53] something else.

[01:18:55] Um,

[01:18:55] so instead of having like a school,

[01:18:58] like how,

[01:18:58] um,

[01:18:59] fire emblem three houses has where you have,

[01:19:02] like that is your home base.

[01:19:03] Instead of that,

[01:19:04] what you have in shining force is your headquarters and you have a headquarters in every town.

[01:19:09] And so you can go in there and every single time that some big story event happens,

[01:19:13] you can go in there and talk to all your different people and they will say different stuff.

[01:19:17] Oh,

[01:19:17] it's so cool.

[01:19:18] It's so fucking cool.

[01:19:20] And like,

[01:19:21] like fire emblem and not to keep bashing on fire emblem because I do like fire emblem.

[01:19:29] I do like fire emblem and fire emblem does have a base in each game,

[01:19:33] but again,

[01:19:34] it's just visual novelized.

[01:19:35] So you just see in the background,

[01:19:36] you don't get to venture around it and like talk to each,

[01:19:39] you don't see each character,

[01:19:40] like sitting at a fucking booth,

[01:19:42] drinking a fucking mug of something,

[01:19:44] or just like in the little training area,

[01:19:46] hitting a dummy or something shining force.

[01:19:48] You can go all around your little base and talk to all your dudes and they'll be off doing whatever in there.

[01:19:52] And they'll have their own little dialogues as well.

[01:19:54] Yeah.

[01:19:55] And you can go in and like see what party you have like set up in the main room.

[01:20:00] And what I always,

[01:20:01] always my head cannon was like the weird lizard guy who's like taking care of all that stuff.

[01:20:05] I'm sure he has a name.

[01:20:06] I can't remember his name.

[01:20:07] Nova.

[01:20:07] Thank you.

[01:20:08] Is that like when you're doing the battles before you get to the towns,

[01:20:11] he kind of like sneaks around and sets up like a headquarters for you.

[01:20:13] Cause it's like,

[01:20:14] it's always conveniently done right before you get into the town.

[01:20:17] It's always underground.

[01:20:18] It's always there.

[01:20:18] Yeah.

[01:20:18] It's just some ran,

[01:20:19] even when the town is like kind of hostile towards you,

[01:20:21] there's still like headquarters right there.

[01:20:23] Yep.

[01:20:24] Like in,

[01:20:24] like in the second town,

[01:20:25] when you get thrown in jail and Chris gets you out,

[01:20:27] like they're still conveniently a headquarters.

[01:20:29] Yeah.

[01:20:29] Oh yeah.

[01:20:29] Speaking about like the different races and stuff.

[01:20:32] So this,

[01:20:33] this game has hobbits and dwarfs.

[01:20:34] They're two different things that they've got in there.

[01:20:36] They've got elves,

[01:20:37] they've got humans,

[01:20:38] centaurs,

[01:20:39] bird men,

[01:20:40] wolf men,

[01:20:40] apparently Fox people.

[01:20:42] They also have Kay and tall,

[01:20:43] which Kay and tall,

[01:20:45] which in the game boy advanced version,

[01:20:47] they call them cantars.

[01:20:49] And that's because like the,

[01:20:51] the Japanese pronunciation is,

[01:20:53] uh,

[01:20:54] can't or,

[01:20:55] which sounds like con cantor.

[01:20:57] So,

[01:20:58] um,

[01:20:59] but it's like this kind of,

[01:21:00] I don't know.

[01:21:01] I,

[01:21:02] some people say that they look more like dogs.

[01:21:04] I think they more look more like deers.

[01:21:06] Cause they've got like these long faces and they're really thin and small.

[01:21:10] Yeah.

[01:21:11] Yeah.

[01:21:11] I'd say a deer.

[01:21:12] Yeah.

[01:21:12] She looking,

[01:21:13] she looking like blitzing,

[01:21:14] right?

[01:21:14] Yeah.

[01:21:14] Looking like a blitzing motherfucker.

[01:21:16] And you know,

[01:21:17] okay.

[01:21:17] So,

[01:21:17] so Chris Rudolph,

[01:21:19] the red nose,

[01:21:19] right?

[01:21:20] You're this bitch.

[01:21:20] Rudolph,

[01:21:21] the red nose,

[01:21:22] Chris.

[01:21:22] Anyway,

[01:21:23] critical hit,

[01:21:24] not Chris Redfield.

[01:21:26] The other Chris,

[01:21:27] I want to see Chris from shining force,

[01:21:30] punch a boulder.

[01:21:32] Anyway,

[01:21:32] um,

[01:21:33] no,

[01:21:34] Chris,

[01:21:34] Chris's name in Japan is chippy.

[01:21:36] I'm glad they changed it.

[01:21:38] Chippy.

[01:21:39] What the fuck?

[01:21:40] That makes that weirdly makes more sense.

[01:21:43] Because that character is so weird.

[01:21:45] And I don't know,

[01:21:45] whatever anyway.

[01:21:46] It's like shout out to anyone named chip in real life.

[01:21:49] Well,

[01:21:49] chip is one thing.

[01:21:50] Chippy is totally different.

[01:21:53] I only know one chip.

[01:21:55] His name is chip Eston.

[01:21:56] And he was one of the guys on whose line.

[01:21:59] Oh,

[01:21:59] I think I know who that is.

[01:22:01] Yeah.

[01:22:01] Sorry.

[01:22:01] No,

[01:22:01] I'm not going to go off about,

[01:22:02] about whose line.

[01:22:03] That's another episode.

[01:22:04] I'll come back and we'll talk about how great whose line is.

[01:22:07] But I love that.

[01:22:08] Speaking of the character portraits,

[01:22:10] like I love the character portraits.

[01:22:13] Like we talked about the art style,

[01:22:14] but we didn't go in about like,

[01:22:15] I remember as a kid,

[01:22:16] I loved to like seeing these big portraits of these characters,

[01:22:20] you know,

[01:22:20] and their mouths would do the,

[01:22:21] the,

[01:22:21] the,

[01:22:21] the,

[01:22:22] the,

[01:22:22] you know,

[01:22:22] talking thing.

[01:22:23] But it was like,

[01:22:23] it was so cool to like,

[01:22:25] see these characters,

[01:22:26] like kind of in some like more detail.

[01:22:28] And then mix it with,

[01:22:29] when you see them in battle,

[01:22:31] when you see the,

[01:22:32] from behind animations as well.

[01:22:33] And you can kind of paint a picture in your head of like what they would look like in a more sort of like,

[01:22:38] you know,

[01:22:39] like,

[01:22:39] like the full art style kind of thing.

[01:22:40] Well,

[01:22:40] and then of course,

[01:22:41] this is back in the day where you had a manual and the manual had the artwork in it.

[01:22:46] So you can see what they look like.

[01:22:47] And,

[01:22:48] you know,

[01:22:48] but I've never owned the original Sega Genesis version of this.

[01:22:53] I've never owned a cartridge.

[01:22:54] I've rarely seen one or two in the wild.

[01:22:57] Like they're hard to find.

[01:22:58] They are.

[01:22:58] They are for sure.

[01:23:00] So.

[01:23:01] Damn it.

[01:23:01] Once upon a time,

[01:23:02] I used to have pristine copies and I had everything all nice and neat and clean.

[01:23:06] And then I sold everything to get the next system that was coming out.

[01:23:08] Cause you know,

[01:23:09] at that time it was like desperate for the money to get the next system.

[01:23:13] And then went,

[01:23:14] Oh shit.

[01:23:14] Why did I sell all my really good stuff?

[01:23:17] I think we've all been there.

[01:23:19] I did that with,

[01:23:19] yes,

[01:23:20] I did that with skies of Arcadia legends and my game cube.

[01:23:23] That game you hate.

[01:23:23] Because I really,

[01:23:24] I know.

[01:23:25] I mean,

[01:23:26] I,

[01:23:26] I,

[01:23:27] I really want to like skies of Arcadia legends,

[01:23:30] but the dungeons pissed me off.

[01:23:31] Anyway,

[01:23:32] the,

[01:23:32] the character portraits and shining force.

[01:23:35] I also really love that.

[01:23:36] They all have a different colored background.

[01:23:38] Like some are orange,

[01:23:39] some are yellow,

[01:23:40] some are green,

[01:23:40] some are a different shade of green like that,

[01:23:42] but also kind of helps to paint like how unique and different each character.

[01:23:46] It gives them all a little bit of personality,

[01:23:48] you know,

[01:23:48] it's like,

[01:23:49] it's like some color theory almost,

[01:23:51] you know,

[01:23:51] like tied to like the location you find them in.

[01:23:53] Yeah.

[01:23:54] Their class,

[01:23:54] the type of character that they are,

[01:23:56] you know,

[01:23:57] it's all,

[01:23:58] it's all like done like explicitly,

[01:24:00] you know?

[01:24:01] Well,

[01:24:01] and then I also,

[01:24:04] I was,

[01:24:05] uh,

[01:24:05] I also really appreciate how each character actually,

[01:24:09] like,

[01:24:09] they don't just look different.

[01:24:12] They also feel different to play with as opposed to,

[01:24:15] again,

[01:24:16] fucking like tactics ogre or,

[01:24:19] um,

[01:24:20] fire emblem or like anything else.

[01:24:22] Every character is just like,

[01:24:24] like a carbon copy of whatever fucking class they are.

[01:24:27] Just copy and paste,

[01:24:28] like another cavalier,

[01:24:30] copy and paste another fucking mage.

[01:24:31] Like they're all the same fucking thing,

[01:24:32] but each character in shining force,

[01:24:35] they,

[01:24:35] they feel different.

[01:24:36] God damn it.

[01:24:36] They feel unique and different.

[01:24:37] And I love that.

[01:24:39] Well,

[01:24:40] they also,

[01:24:40] um,

[01:24:41] you know,

[01:24:41] like they kind of have strengths and weaknesses of that are unique to each

[01:24:45] character.

[01:24:46] And,

[01:24:46] you know,

[01:24:47] like the mages,

[01:24:48] for example,

[01:24:48] you've got a specialized fire mage or an ice mage,

[01:24:52] you know,

[01:24:52] or whatever,

[01:24:54] a lightning mage.

[01:24:55] And that person does only the light spark spells,

[01:24:57] you know,

[01:24:58] like that's cool.

[01:24:59] And,

[01:24:59] you know,

[01:25:00] like that kind of also goes into like their personalities and things like

[01:25:03] that,

[01:25:04] uh,

[01:25:04] which is really cool.

[01:25:06] But,

[01:25:07] um,

[01:25:07] yeah,

[01:25:07] with the visuals though,

[01:25:08] some fun facts,

[01:25:09] because I happen to have the shining force encyclopedia,

[01:25:12] uh,

[01:25:13] is that like,

[01:25:14] um,

[01:25:15] the people who were doing all the art on this game,

[01:25:19] they were taking source photos from a bunch of different locations of

[01:25:22] ruins and all different kinds of stuff that they were using as their

[01:25:26] reference points for making everything.

[01:25:28] And even all of the little,

[01:25:30] um,

[01:25:31] squared off maps that are on like track to a grid that become pixelated on the

[01:25:37] screen for you.

[01:25:37] They hand painted all of those.

[01:25:39] And then they were translated into pixel art from there.

[01:25:42] So those were all hand painted and,

[01:25:45] and,

[01:25:46] and they also,

[01:25:47] not only did they set up still lifes for all of their items so that they

[01:25:51] could paint the items and then pixelate those,

[01:25:53] but they also had people dress in costumes to pose for photos,

[01:25:59] to be references for all of the battle animations.

[01:26:01] So the guy that was max,

[01:26:03] like is a guy,

[01:26:04] it's a dude.

[01:26:05] I can show you the dude who played back.

[01:26:06] Cool.

[01:26:07] And like,

[01:26:07] you know,

[01:26:08] all the people like the wizard with the pointy hat,

[01:26:10] they had a girl from probably their office in an outfit with a cloak,

[01:26:14] with a pointy hat.

[01:26:15] And then they were doing all of the,

[01:26:17] the animations and stuff.

[01:26:18] Janice.

[01:26:19] Yeah.

[01:26:20] Somebody.

[01:26:21] Yeah.

[01:26:22] So,

[01:26:22] and,

[01:26:23] and they had like reference photos and this book has some of those

[01:26:26] reference photos of some of the places and some of the people that

[01:26:29] became this game.

[01:26:31] So.

[01:26:32] And,

[01:26:33] and that really shows in like the final product because yeah,

[01:26:35] like the visuals are just so gorgeous and just,

[01:26:38] yeah,

[01:26:38] have this look about it that really stands out from all the other like RPGs of

[01:26:43] the time as well,

[01:26:44] you know,

[01:26:44] like comparing it to say fantasy star or like final fantasy or whatever.

[01:26:48] It just like,

[01:26:49] it just,

[01:26:50] it,

[01:26:50] it show,

[01:26:51] it has more of like a storybook presentation to it,

[01:26:54] which I think is what makes it.

[01:26:55] Especially like the opening.

[01:26:56] Yeah.

[01:26:57] The opening to like every game where it's just like,

[01:26:59] blah,

[01:26:59] blah,

[01:26:59] blah.

[01:26:59] Look at,

[01:27:00] look at my book.

[01:27:01] I'm going to tell you a story.

[01:27:02] And then you pick your file.

[01:27:04] That random elf.

[01:27:05] Simone.

[01:27:05] Who's like Simone.

[01:27:07] Yeah.

[01:27:07] Yeah.

[01:27:07] Who's just like reading the shit.

[01:27:08] Yeah.

[01:27:09] I never liked her.

[01:27:10] Oh,

[01:27:10] it's so funny.

[01:27:13] I'm just like,

[01:27:14] yeah,

[01:27:14] the way I'm trying.

[01:27:15] So,

[01:27:16] so little Jolly,

[01:27:17] who was 10 Walmart greeter of this game.

[01:27:21] Love the little opening.

[01:27:23] Cause it starts off with do,

[01:27:24] do,

[01:27:25] do,

[01:27:25] do,

[01:27:25] do,

[01:27:26] do,

[01:27:26] do,

[01:27:26] do.

[01:27:26] And it's got the music.

[01:27:27] And then it starts,

[01:27:28] you know,

[01:27:28] like an ages long,

[01:27:29] the opening scene is,

[01:27:30] you know,

[01:27:31] to death.

[01:27:32] I will sit there and every single time it comes up,

[01:27:34] I will like read it out loud and just,

[01:27:36] you know,

[01:27:36] like in time with the text when it comes up on the screen and I get

[01:27:39] little chills,

[01:27:40] you know,

[01:27:41] cause like I,

[01:27:41] I have like this long memory of just loving this game so much.

[01:27:46] But then when the thing I liked about Simone,

[01:27:49] okay,

[01:27:49] is because I was 10 and I was playing this.

[01:27:52] And then this girl is like,

[01:27:54] I think that they're coming back and they're going to try to resurrect

[01:27:56] dark dragon,

[01:27:57] but nobody's going to listen to me because I'm a kid,

[01:28:00] you know,

[01:28:01] will you help us?

[01:28:02] And that's what she says.

[01:28:03] And I was like,

[01:28:04] yes,

[01:28:05] I'll help you.

[01:28:06] Damn it.

[01:28:06] Adults suck.

[01:28:07] You know,

[01:28:09] I'm 10.

[01:28:10] Yes.

[01:28:11] Oh,

[01:28:12] it's like never ending fucking story.

[01:28:13] Yeah.

[01:28:14] A little bit.

[01:28:14] Yeah.

[01:28:15] Yeah.

[01:28:15] And even as an adult,

[01:28:16] you're like,

[01:28:16] yeah,

[01:28:16] these adults don't know.

[01:28:17] Yeah,

[01:28:18] exactly.

[01:28:18] It's like,

[01:28:19] right.

[01:28:20] Right.

[01:28:20] I mean,

[01:28:21] like the,

[01:28:21] the witch seemed like meh.

[01:28:22] I didn't really care about the witch lady from two.

[01:28:25] My favorite,

[01:28:26] my favorite.

[01:28:27] Oh,

[01:28:27] with the cauldron where she's just like,

[01:28:29] yeah,

[01:28:29] we're doing shit.

[01:28:31] We're doing shit.

[01:28:32] We're making crystal maps.

[01:28:33] She just,

[01:28:34] she's a more striking image.

[01:28:35] She is a more striking image.

[01:28:37] But in both cases,

[01:28:38] it's just like,

[01:28:38] yeah,

[01:28:39] let's just get to the game.

[01:28:40] Who cares?

[01:28:40] I,

[01:28:40] I always named the main character poop.

[01:28:43] Like every play through,

[01:28:44] I was in the main character poop.

[01:28:46] So like every time,

[01:28:48] every time,

[01:28:49] every time I boot up shining force to the witch would be like,

[01:28:51] Oh,

[01:28:52] poop,

[01:28:52] you're back.

[01:28:54] I am back.

[01:28:56] Stop the party.

[01:28:57] Great.

[01:28:58] Well,

[01:28:58] I have to say when Jerry's coming back up.

[01:29:00] So I know that this is,

[01:29:01] so I know that this is a shining first one.

[01:29:03] We're talking about that.

[01:29:04] I do want to give props to the beginning of shining force two and how that

[01:29:07] starts out with,

[01:29:08] with the beginning of that,

[01:29:10] where it's got the caper that,

[01:29:11] that ends up getting the light and dark jewels and,

[01:29:13] you know,

[01:29:14] like Slade Slade goes and does all of that.

[01:29:17] What's funny is my ex husband's name is Slade.

[01:29:21] Oh,

[01:29:22] so yeah,

[01:29:23] I should have known better from shining force too.

[01:29:27] It told me,

[01:29:28] I can't believe you married a rat.

[01:29:29] Right.

[01:29:31] Anyway,

[01:29:32] but yeah,

[01:29:32] the intro shining force one,

[01:29:34] it's so good.

[01:29:34] Like it,

[01:29:35] it's still to this day envelops me with that sort of like that sort of

[01:29:38] wanting of fantasy that like,

[01:29:40] even as a kid I had,

[01:29:42] cause it just,

[01:29:42] it like the music,

[01:29:44] like the little lights.

[01:29:45] And then it's showing like,

[01:29:46] Oh,

[01:29:47] they seal dark dragon.

[01:29:48] He's coming back.

[01:29:49] It's all just set up in a way that just,

[01:29:50] it just completely immerses you in the fantasy.

[01:29:52] So I have to,

[01:29:53] which I don't know.

[01:29:54] Maybe it's like a jaded adult.

[01:29:55] It's harder for me to do that with like newer things.

[01:29:58] But like every time I boot up shining force,

[01:30:00] I'm immediately like a kid playing this for the first time again,

[01:30:03] being like,

[01:30:03] Oh,

[01:30:03] this shit is so fucking cool.

[01:30:05] I'm so ready.

[01:30:05] And then shining force too,

[01:30:07] has that really fantastic opening with Slade and,

[01:30:10] and,

[01:30:11] and the jewels.

[01:30:11] It's more cinematic,

[01:30:12] right?

[01:30:13] Like it's much more cinematic,

[01:30:14] but it is,

[01:30:15] that is also handled.

[01:30:16] It goes on a little bit,

[01:30:17] but it's handled like brilliantly and it gets you right.

[01:30:20] Well,

[01:30:21] what I wanted to say about shining force,

[01:30:23] uh,

[01:30:23] original shining force is that,

[01:30:24] uh,

[01:30:25] you hit it on,

[01:30:26] on the head there,

[01:30:27] Aaron,

[01:30:27] where you were like it never ending story because like,

[01:30:30] it's a kid reading the book.

[01:30:31] Who's got the adventure,

[01:30:32] you know,

[01:30:32] and like you go into the book and you're doing the adventure.

[01:30:35] It's that,

[01:30:36] but it's also,

[01:30:37] um,

[01:30:37] like just the beginning of just the opening and everything.

[01:30:41] It's just like the opening to the movie legend with Tim Curry,

[01:30:44] where he plays darkness.

[01:30:45] And,

[01:30:46] um,

[01:30:46] it's got a,

[01:30:47] that's,

[01:30:48] that's like,

[01:30:48] you probably too young to know what the fuck this is.

[01:30:50] You should go look it up and look at the opening of this thing.

[01:30:53] It's got a great soundtrack from Tangerine dream.

[01:30:55] Ridley Scott directed it,

[01:30:57] Tim Curry and Mia Sara and Tom Cruise in it.

[01:31:01] And,

[01:31:01] uh,

[01:31:02] anyway,

[01:31:02] the opening to that is very similar in vibe to this.

[01:31:05] And that was one of my favorite movies when I was little.

[01:31:08] So like I had like a set thing,

[01:31:11] that was really my thing.

[01:31:12] And this was in that wheelhouse of my thing,

[01:31:14] you know?

[01:31:15] So I am a big Tangerine dream fan.

[01:31:18] Yeah.

[01:31:19] You should check it out.

[01:31:19] I'm a big Tim Curry fan.

[01:31:21] He is so fucking cool as darkness.

[01:31:23] You should see him.

[01:31:24] Yep.

[01:31:24] If you have never seen that movie,

[01:31:26] definitely go check that movie out.

[01:31:27] Is that like the big,

[01:31:29] uh,

[01:31:30] like red porn dude.

[01:31:32] Okay.

[01:31:33] I think I know what you're talking about.

[01:31:35] Check it out.

[01:31:35] He's pretty fucking cool.

[01:31:37] Um,

[01:31:38] Oh yeah,

[01:31:38] I know this.

[01:31:39] Yep.

[01:31:39] A random side tangent.

[01:31:41] There's like a,

[01:31:41] a very popular like music fan site.

[01:31:43] Um,

[01:31:44] and they do like these like rough guides for all like these artists where you pick

[01:31:47] like five tracks or whatever,

[01:31:49] and you write a little quote about them.

[01:31:50] And the best quote is like,

[01:31:51] like,

[01:31:52] like the front for them.

[01:31:54] And I have that for Tangerine dream.

[01:31:56] I was the one who wrote that.

[01:31:58] Awesome.

[01:31:59] They're,

[01:31:59] they're,

[01:31:59] they're a favorite band of mine.

[01:32:01] So let's talk.

[01:32:02] Anyway,

[01:32:02] let's talk about sound some more since we're talking sound soundtrack for

[01:32:06] shining for.

[01:32:06] So I have to say,

[01:32:07] um,

[01:32:08] the way that the soundtrack is handled for this game is fantastic.

[01:32:12] And it kind of,

[01:32:13] uh,

[01:32:14] ends up getting around the problem of the farty sounds that Genesis can

[01:32:19] make it depending upon how you,

[01:32:23] Hey,

[01:32:23] depending upon how you design for the sound chip,

[01:32:26] you can fuck it up.

[01:32:28] It's just,

[01:32:28] it's just,

[01:32:29] I I've always defended.

[01:32:30] Yes.

[01:32:31] I loved the Genesis.

[01:32:32] I was a Genesis child.

[01:32:33] I was a Sega child,

[01:32:34] you know?

[01:32:35] So I understand.

[01:32:37] Yeah.

[01:32:37] But we know what it can.

[01:32:38] Yes.

[01:32:38] It also has the capacity to make stuff like this,

[01:32:41] but because they use all of these,

[01:32:43] um,

[01:32:44] you know,

[01:32:44] like kind of strings sounding stuff and it's got the drums and stuff like

[01:32:48] that.

[01:32:48] Like it's,

[01:32:49] it's very martial and militant and has,

[01:32:51] you know,

[01:32:52] like energy to it that gets you going,

[01:32:54] you know,

[01:32:55] especially during battle.

[01:32:58] It helps that it helps that like,

[01:33:01] they're not using like the real harsh,

[01:33:03] like square waves or even like the more kind of harsh or sawtooth.

[01:33:06] Like they can be like,

[01:33:07] even sometimes like the more triangle waves,

[01:33:09] they just find a way to keep it all kind of serene and soft,

[01:33:13] you know,

[01:33:14] without it,

[01:33:14] without it really kind of hitting too hard,

[01:33:16] you know?

[01:33:17] And again,

[01:33:18] it,

[01:33:18] it feels like say like a movie soundtrack or just like a really good

[01:33:22] orchestral piece that's been digitized.

[01:33:24] Right.

[01:33:25] Right.

[01:33:25] You know?

[01:33:26] And,

[01:33:26] and that's what,

[01:33:27] yeah.

[01:33:27] And,

[01:33:27] and,

[01:33:28] and yeah,

[01:33:28] this,

[01:33:28] this intro piece that we're listening to is just,

[01:33:31] uh,

[01:33:32] it just,

[01:33:32] it reminds me of,

[01:33:34] of,

[01:33:34] of my days as a youth,

[01:33:36] you know,

[01:33:36] props to,

[01:33:37] I'm going to see if I can say this name,

[01:33:39] right.

[01:33:40] Masahiko Yoshimura.

[01:33:41] Yeah.

[01:33:42] Masahiko Yoshimura.

[01:33:43] Now the thing about that is,

[01:33:45] uh,

[01:33:45] that person has like this and shining,

[01:33:49] shining in the darkness as their two writing credits or music credits.

[01:33:53] Those are the only two credits that exist for this person.

[01:33:56] So we're pretty sure that that is,

[01:33:59] that's such a satisfying item noise.

[01:34:01] I love that.

[01:34:03] It is.

[01:34:03] But like,

[01:34:04] uh,

[01:34:04] it's the best.

[01:34:05] And then sometimes,

[01:34:06] and sometimes depending on the version,

[01:34:07] that final note trails and you can feel like it's never going to end.

[01:34:11] All the sad.

[01:34:12] This is the shade music,

[01:34:13] man.

[01:34:14] This is,

[01:34:15] this is what plays when you get all those people creeping up on you and you can't get around.

[01:34:21] See,

[01:34:21] see my favorite is the,

[01:34:23] um,

[01:34:23] I'd have to,

[01:34:24] I like the,

[01:34:25] uh,

[01:34:25] like the,

[01:34:26] when you go to Gardiana and it's not the simple town theme,

[01:34:29] it's more like the militant town theme.

[01:34:32] Yeah.

[01:34:33] I like that one where it's like,

[01:34:34] we got serious business.

[01:34:35] Right.

[01:34:36] The music's getting dark.

[01:34:37] Right.

[01:34:38] Well,

[01:34:38] so,

[01:34:39] um,

[01:34:39] a lot of fans think that the person who wrote this music,

[01:34:42] it was just a pen name for somebody else.

[01:34:45] And they,

[01:34:46] they,

[01:34:46] some people have different theories about like who it might be or whatever.

[01:34:50] And I'm not going to try to cite all of that information,

[01:34:52] but you know,

[01:34:54] um,

[01:34:54] since the only credits for this person were like two games and then they disappeared off the map and were never seen or heard from again.

[01:35:01] Like,

[01:35:02] I don't know.

[01:35:03] Like that's kind of weird,

[01:35:04] uh,

[01:35:04] especially since it's this good of a quality.

[01:35:07] So yeah,

[01:35:14] this is also the music that plays after you go back to Gardiana and you find it wrecked.

[01:35:19] You find your hometown wrecked.

[01:35:20] Yep.

[01:35:21] So this is so good.

[01:35:24] The next one's even better.

[01:35:25] It's my favorite,

[01:35:26] favorite,

[01:35:27] probably my favorite theme ever.

[01:35:30] I think they're all in order.

[01:35:33] Maybe.

[01:35:33] Yeah,

[01:35:33] this should be in order.

[01:35:34] If it's battle three,

[01:35:36] then that'll be the next one.

[01:35:39] But I'm pretty sure whoever did the soundtrack for Shining Force 2 was a different composer.

[01:35:44] Shining Force 2 has a completely different vibe.

[01:35:46] it does.

[01:35:46] And that's part of my problem with it because I really,

[01:35:49] really love the soundtrack to this and like it has a certain feel to it that 2 doesn't have.

[01:35:54] It has a different.

[01:35:55] And then of course,

[01:35:56] Shining Force 3 has Motoi Sakuraba who did Dark Souls.

[01:36:00] And that's the person who did the soundtrack for 3.

[01:36:03] So.

[01:36:04] Yeah.

[01:36:04] Yeah.

[01:36:05] But,

[01:36:05] but Shining Force 2,

[01:36:07] the,

[01:36:07] the town theme has been my alarm for,

[01:36:10] I don't know how many years now,

[01:36:11] but every morning I wake up and in here.

[01:36:14] Do,

[01:36:14] do,

[01:36:14] do,

[01:36:14] do,

[01:36:15] do,

[01:36:15] do,

[01:36:15] do,

[01:36:16] do,

[01:36:16] do,

[01:36:16] do,

[01:36:17] do,

[01:36:17] do,

[01:36:17] do,

[01:36:17] do,

[01:36:18] do,

[01:36:18] do,

[01:36:36] marionette battle.

[01:36:36] All the little marionettes that you fight in there are so hardcore.

[01:36:40] And then when you get to that big puppet master at the end and he's got the freeze spell.

[01:36:44] Ooh,

[01:36:45] that sucks.

[01:36:46] And you're not,

[01:36:46] yeah,

[01:36:47] and you're not really prepared for it at that point.

[01:36:49] You're not prepared for the magic using.

[01:36:51] Yeah.

[01:36:51] that's when you gotta learn the checkerboard strategy

[01:36:53] yeah

[01:36:55] did we ever touch base on how

[01:36:57] badass the combat scenes are

[01:36:59] by the way I think we talked about it for a little bit

[01:37:01] but dude they're just

[01:37:03] unmatched in strategy

[01:37:05] RPGs like other

[01:37:07] games try to be like

[01:37:08] Final Fantasy Tactics or like Tactics Ogre

[01:37:11] where it's just like Sprite

[01:37:12] does weak ass slash damage numbers

[01:37:15] but like this game just goes

[01:37:17] cinematic as shit with that

[01:37:19] oh yeah and it does a lot of subtle things

[01:37:21] with like light and sound effects to really

[01:37:23] like make each hit like

[01:37:25] punch you know every single time

[01:37:27] like even when you're trying to like get

[01:37:29] Lawen to do his one HP kill so he can

[01:37:31] get the 49 XP cause you just

[01:37:33] he's like three levels down like come on

[01:37:35] fucker you need to get heal level 2 you know

[01:37:37] right

[01:37:38] even just that little stuff it just

[01:37:41] finds a good way of making each hit

[01:37:43] feel impactful and like

[01:37:45] when you start a lot of the battles sometimes it'll take

[01:37:47] a long time till you finally fight

[01:37:49] but then when you get to that point where

[01:37:51] it's constantly happening all the time

[01:37:53] you know

[01:37:53] but you never get sick of it

[01:37:55] and when you get a new character you're always like

[01:37:57] oh what is it gonna look like

[01:37:58] yeah and that's the thing

[01:37:59] you're like oh what's their attack gonna look like

[01:38:01] what do they look like in battle

[01:38:02] you want to know right away

[01:38:04] yeah and and when you

[01:38:05] and when you start

[01:38:06] what's their fucking trick gonna look like

[01:38:07] and when you start promoting your characters

[01:38:09] and a lot of them change how they look

[01:38:11] you know that's always

[01:38:13] fantastic to see

[01:38:14] oh yeah

[01:38:14] well and then too

[01:38:16] um

[01:38:17] now that part right there where it's like

[01:38:19] like that part it just makes me think about

[01:38:22] like how all of those

[01:38:23] marionettes in that one battle

[01:38:25] the first time you hear it

[01:38:26] are like swiping at you

[01:38:28] and you know like clawing at you

[01:38:29] and everything

[01:38:30] it has kind of like a clawing

[01:38:31] scratching kind of sound to it

[01:38:33] like a slasher movie where it's like

[01:38:35] yeah

[01:38:36] it's like that

[01:38:37] so

[01:38:38] like wayne's world

[01:38:38] but i mean like um

[01:38:40] fire emblem does

[01:38:42] for example like they have little battle animations

[01:38:44] in some of the later games

[01:38:46] that are like 3d little battle animations

[01:38:48] you can see and everything

[01:38:49] but like

[01:38:50] that doesn't feel the same to me

[01:38:53] as

[01:38:54] you know

[01:38:55] yeah they don't feel the same

[01:38:56] yeah it doesn't feel at all the same

[01:38:58] they don't have that

[01:38:59] yeah to this where it's like

[01:39:00] you know

[01:39:01] this is closer

[01:39:02] like because a lot of those 3d battles

[01:39:03] they're further out

[01:39:04] from you

[01:39:05] so like you don't

[01:39:06] it's not up in your face right

[01:39:07] but like

[01:39:08] you know this is max

[01:39:09] max looks like he's like

[01:39:11] five feet from you

[01:39:12] and is

[01:39:12] you know

[01:39:13] and then like when the enemy

[01:39:14] is attacking

[01:39:15] you

[01:39:16] in some of those bosses

[01:39:17] or some of the larger enemies

[01:39:19] man when they hit you

[01:39:20] it looks like they're just gonna

[01:39:21] you know

[01:39:22] totally impale you

[01:39:23] on the end of their weapon

[01:39:24] and then throw you into the sea

[01:39:26] or something

[01:39:26] you know

[01:39:27] like it's just like

[01:39:27] oh shit

[01:39:28] yeah

[01:39:29] and those enemy

[01:39:30] and those enemy sprites

[01:39:31] are always fantastic as well

[01:39:33] you know

[01:39:33] your dwarves

[01:39:33] yeah like the laser eyes

[01:39:34] the laser eye

[01:39:35] like kane

[01:39:36] when you see kane

[01:39:37] yeah

[01:39:37] like holy shit

[01:39:38] like he is

[01:39:39] like imposing

[01:39:40] and just

[01:39:41] oh when he has the two swords

[01:39:42] and you're not sure

[01:39:43] when he's gonna slash

[01:39:44] when he first starts attacking

[01:39:45] you know

[01:39:46] and then like later on

[01:39:47] like the giant

[01:39:48] like dark dragon

[01:39:49] and dark soul

[01:39:49] well and chaos

[01:39:50] was the first one

[01:39:50] that was like a big thing

[01:39:52] that you were fighting

[01:39:53] yeah chaos is like

[01:39:54] holy shit

[01:39:54] yeah oh my god

[01:39:55] what is this

[01:39:56] what are we doing

[01:39:58] so

[01:39:58] what are we doing

[01:39:59] right

[01:39:59] right

[01:40:00] so

[01:40:01] yeah

[01:40:02] fantastic stuff

[01:40:04] and yeah

[01:40:04] and this music

[01:40:05] yeah like

[01:40:05] it has that sort of

[01:40:06] like classical vibe to it

[01:40:08] but it's very bouncy

[01:40:09] which I think is

[01:40:10] what really helps it

[01:40:11] because like those drums

[01:40:12] are just like

[01:40:13] so perfectly placed

[01:40:15] and it just really helps

[01:40:16] give you that like boost

[01:40:17] to kind of keep going

[01:40:19] you know

[01:40:19] it's almost like

[01:40:20] it's motivating you

[01:40:21] when it's like

[01:40:21] you're hours into this battle

[01:40:22] but you're like

[01:40:23] I need to keep fucking going man

[01:40:25] well it's

[01:40:25] and the music can really

[01:40:26] help push you

[01:40:27] well like this part right here

[01:40:28] that we're hearing

[01:40:29] this is like

[01:40:30] you know

[01:40:30] like the more melodic element

[01:40:32] and stuff like that

[01:40:33] but a lot of the basic drums

[01:40:35] and stuff that they've got going

[01:40:36] those are like

[01:40:37] traditional war things

[01:40:38] right

[01:40:38] so

[01:40:39] it's got like this

[01:40:41] it's got like the militant

[01:40:42] part of it

[01:40:43] from the drums

[01:40:44] that they're using

[01:40:45] but then they're also

[01:40:46] putting in these lyrical notes

[01:40:48] you know

[01:40:48] to kind of give it complexity

[01:40:50] which is really cool

[01:40:52] so

[01:40:54] so yeah

[01:40:55] like it's one of my favorite

[01:40:56] video game soundtracks

[01:40:57] of all time

[01:40:58] like

[01:40:58] there's not

[01:40:59] like

[01:41:01] there's not many RPGs

[01:41:02] I think that come close to this

[01:41:03] which could be a hot take

[01:41:05] but I think there's

[01:41:06] a lot of acclaimed

[01:41:08] RPG soundtracks

[01:41:09] and I'm like

[01:41:10] they're good

[01:41:10] but I don't think

[01:41:11] they're this good

[01:41:12] well I mean

[01:41:12] here's the thing

[01:41:13] Shining Force has a way

[01:41:15] of sounding

[01:41:17] extremely cohesive

[01:41:18] in a way

[01:41:19] that a lot

[01:41:19] of other RPG soundtracks

[01:41:21] don't

[01:41:21] like

[01:41:22] a lot of their soundtracks

[01:41:23] don't sound

[01:41:24] of a piece

[01:41:24] you know

[01:41:25] that sounds like

[01:41:26] you know

[01:41:27] different people

[01:41:28] wrote different songs

[01:41:30] or something

[01:41:30] or you know

[01:41:31] like there isn't

[01:41:32] like a mishmash

[01:41:33] of different genres

[01:41:34] I will say

[01:41:34] yeah

[01:41:35] something like that

[01:41:36] where it's like

[01:41:36] a different genre

[01:41:37] or it's just like

[01:41:38] a totally different

[01:41:38] attitude to the piece

[01:41:40] and like yes

[01:41:41] tone

[01:41:42] tones

[01:41:42] you know

[01:41:43] having a tone

[01:41:43] is one thing

[01:41:44] like this is the sad piece

[01:41:45] this is the victory

[01:41:46] piece

[01:41:46] you know

[01:41:46] whatever

[01:41:47] but like

[01:41:48] okay

[01:41:49] another soundtrack

[01:41:50] that is a very good

[01:41:51] soundtrack

[01:41:51] that is

[01:41:52] of a game

[01:41:53] that I personally

[01:41:53] love a whole hell

[01:41:54] of a lot

[01:41:54] is Lunar Eternal Blue

[01:41:56] in specific

[01:41:57] not Lunar the first game

[01:41:58] but Lunar Eternal Blue

[01:41:59] the sequel

[01:42:00] that game

[01:42:01] has a lot

[01:42:02] of reprisals

[01:42:03] of the main theme

[01:42:04] that go throughout it

[01:42:05] and it is very cohesive

[01:42:08] Hiroyuki Uwadare

[01:42:09] did that

[01:42:10] and he's fantastic

[01:42:12] so that's a very

[01:42:14] very awesome soundtrack

[01:42:15] that also feels cohesive

[01:42:16] but you know

[01:42:18] again

[01:42:18] like this composer

[01:42:19] only has two credits

[01:42:20] and then disappeared

[01:42:21] so like

[01:42:24] I'm like

[01:42:25] you know

[01:42:25] that's somebody's pen name

[01:42:26] that's gotta be

[01:42:27] somebody's pen name

[01:42:27] because this person

[01:42:28] has got to be

[01:42:29] still somewhere out there

[01:42:30] doing music

[01:42:31] I don't know

[01:42:31] so

[01:42:33] who knows

[01:42:34] and when I look up

[01:42:36] their name

[01:42:37] all I see is like

[01:42:38] the Shining Force Central

[01:42:39] being like

[01:42:39] now it might be

[01:42:40] this person

[01:42:41] well the Shining Force Central

[01:42:42] people are like

[01:42:43] so like

[01:42:44] I love them to death

[01:42:45] they're the reason

[01:42:45] why we have

[01:42:46] the Shining Force 3

[01:42:47] translation project

[01:42:48] and everything

[01:42:49] but like

[01:42:50] yeah

[01:42:52] it's

[01:42:53] they're like

[01:42:54] the hardcore fan group

[01:42:55] from over in the UK

[01:42:56] so

[01:42:59] I think the

[01:42:59] the Genesis

[01:43:01] like little fart sounds

[01:43:02] they work pretty

[01:43:03] fucking well

[01:43:04] for brass instruments

[01:43:05] oh yeah

[01:43:06] you can definitely

[01:43:07] get a tuba sound

[01:43:08] out of that

[01:43:08] but like

[01:43:08] what I think

[01:43:10] are the trumpets

[01:43:11] there

[01:43:11] where it's like

[01:43:13] like

[01:43:15] I can't really tell

[01:43:16] what those are supposed to be

[01:43:16] but they sound pretty

[01:43:17] trumpety

[01:43:17] it reminds me of like

[01:43:20] GBA Pokemon

[01:43:21] trumpets

[01:43:22] like Ruby and Sapphire

[01:43:25] yeah

[01:43:26] what I always liked

[01:43:26] about the soundtrack

[01:43:27] it was um

[01:43:28] it feels like

[01:43:28] it goes on a journey

[01:43:29] with you

[01:43:30] you know

[01:43:31] because it starts out

[01:43:31] very kind of light

[01:43:33] and you know

[01:43:33] and jauncy

[01:43:34] but it just gets

[01:43:35] more and more serious

[01:43:36] by the end of the game

[01:43:37] as well

[01:43:38] you know

[01:43:39] yeah well I mean

[01:43:39] like this is one of the

[01:43:40] later battle themes

[01:43:41] and like

[01:43:42] you know

[01:43:42] it's got higher stakes

[01:43:43] and you know

[01:43:44] there's a lot more

[01:43:45] going on

[01:43:45] and there's a lot

[01:43:46] more nuance in this

[01:43:48] yeah

[01:43:48] and it's

[01:43:49] yeah

[01:43:49] it sounds more

[01:43:50] experienced

[01:43:50] you know

[01:43:51] like

[01:43:51] like we're in

[01:43:52] music theory 3

[01:43:53] now

[01:43:53] you know

[01:43:54] so you know

[01:43:55] what's up

[01:44:00] right

[01:44:00] so

[01:44:02] something that

[01:44:02] we wanted to mention

[01:44:04] though

[01:44:04] was some of the stuff

[01:44:05] that we dislike

[01:44:06] about it

[01:44:07] so my

[01:44:08] we'll get to that

[01:44:09] we have two more tracks

[01:44:11] and then we have to do

[01:44:12] the ad break still

[01:44:12] okay

[01:44:13] fine

[01:44:14] oh

[01:44:15] oh shit

[01:44:15] we haven't done

[01:44:16] an ad break yet

[01:44:17] yeah

[01:44:31] see if I ever

[01:44:32] became

[01:44:33] see if I had ever

[01:44:33] become like a

[01:44:35] like a conductor

[01:44:36] of an orchestra

[01:44:36] or whatever

[01:44:37] or like was in the

[01:44:38] classical world

[01:44:39] I would have been

[01:44:40] like okay

[01:44:40] I'm arranging

[01:44:41] this soundtrack

[01:44:42] and we're getting

[01:44:43] an orchestra

[01:44:43] to fucking play it

[01:44:45] I would have done that

[01:44:46] and everyone

[01:44:46] would have been like

[01:44:47] why the hell

[01:44:47] are you doing this

[01:44:48] for some random game

[01:44:49] and I'm like

[01:44:49] listen to this

[01:44:50] this one's fucking hard

[01:44:51] holy shit

[01:44:52] yeah I know

[01:44:52] like a

[01:44:54] classical snare drummer

[01:44:55] would have a field day

[01:44:56] with this

[01:44:56] he would fucking

[01:44:57] love this shit

[01:44:58] right

[01:44:58] because it's like

[01:44:58] it feels like

[01:44:59] the focal point

[01:45:00] you know

[01:45:01] well and that's why

[01:45:02] it's like

[01:45:02] every time you're

[01:45:03] playing the battle

[01:45:03] you don't get sick

[01:45:04] of it

[01:45:04] because you got the

[01:45:05] baller battle themes

[01:45:06] you've got the

[01:45:07] baller overworld themes

[01:45:08] you got all this

[01:45:09] other stuff going on

[01:45:10] like you know

[01:45:11] yeah and in games

[01:45:12] where it's like

[01:45:13] you're gonna spend

[01:45:13] a lot of time in battle

[01:45:15] that music really

[01:45:16] needs to be good

[01:45:16] and in my years

[01:45:18] of playing this game

[01:45:19] I have never

[01:45:20] gotten sick of that soundtrack

[01:45:21] well and the thing

[01:45:21] is is that like

[01:45:22] again this feels

[01:45:24] way higher stakes

[01:45:25] than your first

[01:45:26] battle themes were

[01:45:27] you know

[01:45:27] like this feels like

[01:45:29] oh man there's a lot

[01:45:30] going on

[01:45:30] there's a lot riding

[01:45:31] on the outcome

[01:45:32] of what's going on

[01:45:33] right now

[01:45:34] god damn

[01:45:38] those drums dude

[01:45:39] i want to go to

[01:45:40] war now

[01:45:40] i know

[01:45:41] that's what i'm

[01:45:41] telling you

[01:45:42] like it's

[01:45:42] it's a good

[01:45:43] stuff man

[01:45:44] i want to kill

[01:45:45] somebody

[01:45:46] you already did

[01:45:47] jerry's gone

[01:45:48] oh yeah

[01:45:49] i didn't kill him

[01:45:50] i ate him

[01:45:50] i ate him

[01:45:51] you didn't kill him

[01:45:52] you ate him

[01:45:52] so that means

[01:45:53] he's alive

[01:45:53] in your stomach

[01:45:54] right now

[01:45:55] that's why

[01:45:55] you've got

[01:45:55] indigestion

[01:45:57] if he was

[01:45:57] listening to this

[01:45:58] he would have

[01:45:58] killed him

[01:46:00] no he's gonna

[01:46:00] need this music

[01:46:01] for when he has

[01:46:02] to battle the

[01:46:02] toilet later

[01:46:05] the skibbity

[01:46:05] toilet

[01:46:06] no

[01:46:07] oh my god

[01:46:08] oh the staff

[01:46:09] roll okay

[01:46:10] yeah at the end

[01:46:10] of this game

[01:46:11] when you beat

[01:46:12] the game

[01:46:12] it has the

[01:46:13] whole staff

[01:46:14] credits but at

[01:46:14] the same time

[01:46:15] it shows you

[01:46:16] clips from every

[01:46:17] single battle

[01:46:17] it has like

[01:46:18] battle animations

[01:46:19] i love when games

[01:46:20] do that

[01:46:20] and it shows you

[01:46:21] battle animations

[01:46:22] not necessarily

[01:46:23] ones that you

[01:46:24] had because like

[01:46:25] i'll be like

[01:46:25] my ken didn't

[01:46:26] go up against

[01:46:26] that guy

[01:46:27] you know or

[01:46:28] whatever but like

[01:46:29] they have you

[01:46:30] know like the

[01:46:31] battle animations

[01:46:32] where you've got

[01:46:32] your guy in the

[01:46:33] foreground and the

[01:46:34] enemy in the

[01:46:34] background and

[01:46:35] they have all of

[01:46:36] those um go

[01:46:38] throughout all the

[01:46:39] credits where like

[01:46:39] between this medley

[01:46:41] that they've got

[01:46:41] going at the very

[01:46:42] end of the game

[01:46:42] and the fact that

[01:46:44] you've got just

[01:46:45] these cool little

[01:46:46] scenes animation

[01:46:47] scenes to see

[01:46:48] where like it feels

[01:46:49] like you're going

[01:46:50] back through your

[01:46:51] whole adventure and

[01:46:51] just reminiscing

[01:46:52] about all the

[01:46:53] stuff you just did

[01:46:54] and the fact that

[01:46:54] you just finished

[01:46:55] this cool game

[01:46:56] you know like it's

[01:46:57] so cool you end up

[01:46:58] watching all the

[01:46:59] credits you know

[01:47:00] and it even has

[01:47:01] like a post-credits

[01:47:02] it does with uh

[01:47:03] with max with max

[01:47:04] and adam you know

[01:47:06] where max just

[01:47:07] decides to retire

[01:47:08] from all of this

[01:47:09] and as far as we

[01:47:10] know he just you

[01:47:11] know vanishes into

[01:47:13] obscurity just like

[01:47:14] the composer right

[01:47:16] it was the composer

[01:47:17] all along he was

[01:47:18] the guy who wielded

[01:47:19] the sword of light

[01:47:20] so yeah but yeah

[01:47:23] it's it's it's all

[01:47:24] really good like

[01:47:25] that it's the most

[01:47:26] cinematic the game

[01:47:26] gets with the cut

[01:47:27] scenes at the very

[01:47:28] end you know where

[01:47:29] and it feels very

[01:47:30] earned and that's

[01:47:32] the thing like it

[01:47:33] makes you feel like

[01:47:33] oh man this is my

[01:47:35] reward is to get to

[01:47:36] go back through all

[01:47:36] of this and think

[01:47:37] about all these

[01:47:38] different scenarios

[01:47:39] that we came up

[01:47:40] across this whole

[01:47:40] time so it's

[01:47:43] awesome but it

[01:47:50] doesn't have the

[01:47:50] the secret special

[01:47:51] battle in shining

[01:47:52] force 2 where at

[01:47:53] the end of it you

[01:47:54] fight all the the

[01:47:55] major bosses on a

[01:47:57] floating sonic head

[01:47:57] in space what

[01:48:00] yeah in shining

[01:48:01] force 2 in shining

[01:48:02] force 2 when you

[01:48:03] beat the game you

[01:48:04] unlock a special

[01:48:04] battle that is just

[01:48:05] like a giant sonic

[01:48:06] head and then you're

[01:48:08] just like fighting

[01:48:08] all of the bosses at

[01:48:10] once like every

[01:48:11] single boss you

[01:48:11] fought in shining

[01:48:12] force 2 is their

[01:48:12] own party and then

[01:48:14] your party has to

[01:48:15] fight them that's

[01:48:16] rad as hell it is a

[01:48:18] really hard it

[01:48:19] sounds like it

[01:48:21] huh I've never seen

[01:48:22] that even though I

[01:48:23] beat that game

[01:48:23] several times

[01:48:24] interesting yeah I

[01:48:26] think it's you have

[01:48:27] to do some secret

[01:48:28] stuff for it I

[01:48:29] forget exactly but

[01:48:31] see then here's the

[01:48:33] drum roll at the

[01:48:34] end and you're like

[01:48:34] oh no it's coming

[01:48:35] to an end yeah in

[01:48:40] shining force 2

[01:48:41] it's when you get

[01:48:41] to the end credits

[01:48:43] you let it hang

[01:48:45] for a bit it'll

[01:48:45] say and more and

[01:48:47] then push c and

[01:48:48] then it gives you

[01:48:49] the battle push c

[01:48:51] yeah and then yeah

[01:48:52] the map is shaped

[01:48:53] like sonic the

[01:48:53] hedgehog well okay

[01:48:54] in fact let me let

[01:48:55] me let me find the

[01:48:56] picture and I'll show

[01:48:56] it to you

[01:48:59] while you're doing

[01:49:00] that I think we

[01:49:01] should take an ad

[01:49:02] break huh what do

[01:49:03] you guys think

[01:49:04] you told me we

[01:49:05] were okay good

[01:49:07] make sure you

[01:49:09] remember it's time to

[01:49:23] thank the patrons hey

[01:49:26] thank all of you for

[01:49:27] supporting the show

[01:49:28] each and every month

[01:49:29] all of you are

[01:49:30] official superstars

[01:49:31] your VIPs you're

[01:49:33] you're super awesome

[01:49:34] other other cool words

[01:49:36] like that hey

[01:49:38] let's let's do it

[01:49:39] let's thank them

[01:49:39] man a novel console

[01:49:41] jared schrader

[01:49:42] jameson empire

[01:49:43] adam phineas

[01:49:44] trey

[01:49:45] jeff miners

[01:49:46] jenny e

[01:49:47] kevin demo

[01:49:48] thrack

[01:49:49] mr kwong

[01:49:50] matt aka stormageddon

[01:49:52] and quest 64

[01:49:54] well known

[01:49:54] nintendo 64 game

[01:49:56] thank all of you

[01:49:57] for supporting the

[01:49:58] show and being

[01:49:58] extra extra extra

[01:50:00] extra cool

[01:50:01] with extra cool

[01:50:02] sauce both on the

[01:50:04] side and on the

[01:50:05] sandwich and all

[01:50:06] that thank you so

[01:50:07] much

[01:50:07] uh goodbye

[01:50:20] family fun

[01:50:22] there's so many

[01:50:23] options so many

[01:50:24] theme parks to

[01:50:24] choose from so many

[01:50:25] water parks to

[01:50:26] choose from

[01:50:26] introducing pallet

[01:50:28] land it's the it's

[01:50:29] the one and only

[01:50:30] theme park where

[01:50:32] everything is made

[01:50:32] completely out of

[01:50:33] wood shipping

[01:50:35] pallets

[01:50:35] um roller coasters

[01:50:38] the the snack

[01:50:39] the snack shacks

[01:50:41] the uh the games

[01:50:42] like the darts and

[01:50:43] balloons and shit

[01:50:44] everything it's all

[01:50:45] made out of wooden

[01:50:46] shipping pallets

[01:50:46] pallets pallets

[01:50:47] pallets it's uh

[01:50:49] yeah sure man it

[01:50:50] costs fucking

[01:50:51] nothing at all to

[01:50:53] repair anything so

[01:50:54] admission is super

[01:50:55] cheap you can get it

[01:50:56] for basically free

[01:50:56] just five dollars but

[01:50:58] uh but at the same

[01:51:00] time yeah shit falls

[01:51:01] apart very easily but

[01:51:02] hey it's really easy

[01:51:03] to fix so so if you

[01:51:05] love roller coasters

[01:51:07] that really aren't

[01:51:09] safe at all to ride

[01:51:10] on or merry-go-rounds

[01:51:12] that are also are

[01:51:13] not at all safe to

[01:51:14] ride on or anything

[01:51:15] at all it's just not

[01:51:16] not 100% safe uh

[01:51:19] pallet land is the

[01:51:20] place for you hey

[01:51:21] thrak what's your

[01:51:21] favorite part about

[01:51:22] pallet land my

[01:51:23] favorite part as you

[01:51:25] said was the pallet

[01:51:25] snack stand which is

[01:51:27] not only made of

[01:51:28] pallets but the only

[01:51:29] thing that they sell is

[01:51:30] just like a bucket

[01:51:30] of pallet wood so

[01:51:32] it's like you're it's

[01:51:33] the only thing you can

[01:51:34] consume there um it

[01:51:35] it really did a

[01:51:37] number on my

[01:51:38] intestines but it

[01:51:39] was super cheap and

[01:51:41] it did keep me full

[01:51:42] uh while i was going

[01:51:43] through the pallet

[01:51:44] haunted house oh

[01:51:45] which was just a

[01:51:46] bunch of random

[01:51:47] pallets sprung

[01:51:48] together and

[01:51:49] spray paint a

[01:51:50] blind there is an

[01:51:50] entrance but we have

[01:51:51] no idea if the exit

[01:51:52] still exists so if

[01:51:54] you can't get through

[01:51:55] it um just just yell

[01:51:57] as loud as you can

[01:51:59] and uh somebody will

[01:52:00] come save you in the

[01:52:01] next uh three to

[01:52:02] five minutes

[01:52:04] we'll have janice from

[01:52:05] accounting run out

[01:52:05] there real fast she'll

[01:52:07] come grab you from

[01:52:07] the bus she'll like

[01:52:08] knock all the place

[01:52:09] just like tal from

[01:52:10] trying to score

[01:52:12] don't cast fire you'll

[01:52:13] burn both things down

[01:52:16] drac we're real sorry

[01:52:17] about all those splinters

[01:52:18] that you got in the

[01:52:19] haunted pallet house

[01:52:20] uh we'll take care of

[01:52:21] all of those but uh

[01:52:23] well they they were

[01:52:24] covered in powdered

[01:52:25] sugar so they went

[01:52:25] down oh wonderful yes

[01:52:28] jala what's your

[01:52:29] favorite part of

[01:52:29] pallet land i can't

[01:52:30] tell you about my

[01:52:31] favorite part because i'm

[01:52:32] so upset that these

[01:52:33] fuckers took all my

[01:52:34] pallets back when i

[01:52:37] worked at the bookstore

[01:52:38] the fuckers used to

[01:52:39] take my pallets all the

[01:52:40] time and i used to

[01:52:41] get real salty about

[01:52:42] that shit well that's

[01:52:43] why they took them

[01:52:44] and then they stuck

[01:52:45] thrack in the freaking

[01:52:47] haunted house and

[01:52:48] buried him and took

[01:52:50] away the exit hey

[01:52:52] they didn't stick him

[01:52:53] in there he he went

[01:52:53] in there voluntarily on

[01:52:55] his own don't try to

[01:52:56] don't try to throw

[01:52:56] that all on pallet

[01:52:57] pallet tail took all

[01:52:58] of my damn pallets

[01:53:03] we'll throw them in

[01:53:04] pallet jail

[01:53:09] uh coming up this

[01:53:10] summer we've got the

[01:53:11] we've got the the

[01:53:12] pallet maze it's like a

[01:53:13] corn maze but or no

[01:53:14] that's uh that's a fall

[01:53:15] thing my bad pallet

[01:53:16] pallet maze with pac-man

[01:53:20] oh that's good yeah it's

[01:53:21] like it's like a corn maze

[01:53:23] or like like a hedge maze

[01:53:24] but instead of instead of

[01:53:26] any lush greenery or any

[01:53:28] organic bullshit it's

[01:53:29] just i mean i guess

[01:53:30] pallets are kind of

[01:53:31] organic because they're

[01:53:32] made from wood but it's

[01:53:33] pallets the thing is

[01:53:34] there's pallets you might

[01:53:35] you will get splinters

[01:53:37] do not touch the walls

[01:53:38] you will get splinters

[01:53:38] again it's just pallets

[01:53:39] the really shittily made

[01:53:40] pallets um and they

[01:53:42] may or may not be

[01:53:43] covered in lead paint

[01:53:44] that too that too they

[01:53:46] may not be they may or

[01:53:47] may not be infected with

[01:53:48] ebola who knows who

[01:53:52] knows and then we have

[01:53:53] and then we use that

[01:53:54] lead paint to paint like

[01:53:56] ghosts on the pallets and

[01:53:57] then we have to pay

[01:53:58] people to like hold

[01:53:59] them and pretend to be

[01:54:00] the ghosts in the

[01:54:01] pack man it's just like

[01:54:03] it's like a like a

[01:54:04] sandwich board kind of

[01:54:05] thing where it's just

[01:54:06] like it's just really

[01:54:10] shittily put on there

[01:54:10] they're like their face

[01:54:11] like they have like uh

[01:54:13] like a white um like a

[01:54:15] white mask on so they

[01:54:16] kind of try to blend in

[01:54:17] with the light i don't

[01:54:19] fucking know they're just

[01:54:20] this everything's just

[01:54:20] real shitty like dollar

[01:54:21] store vibes see i love

[01:54:24] the i love the the section

[01:54:25] where it's like you know

[01:54:26] you put your face in you

[01:54:27] know and it's like oh

[01:54:28] look at me i'm like a

[01:54:28] lumberjack or whatever

[01:54:30] but um um time was

[01:54:32] running short time was

[01:54:33] running short so they

[01:54:34] just cut a hole in the

[01:54:35] pallet that's like oh

[01:54:36] look at me mom i'm the

[01:54:37] pallet isn't that great

[01:54:38] and then pac-man came up

[01:54:40] and ate you

[01:54:43] and now he has ebola

[01:54:45] from eating me it's

[01:54:47] revenge for that pac-man

[01:54:49] game you were playing

[01:54:50] no fuck that oh my god

[01:54:52] dude oh god smug pac-man

[01:54:55] yeah he lost the whole

[01:54:56] fucking tournament too by

[01:54:57] the way rip big rip

[01:55:00] the tournament of

[01:55:02] champions because that's

[01:55:05] just what the they

[01:55:06] sponsored the show

[01:55:07] pallets yeah

[01:55:11] um oh fuck rose i had

[01:55:13] your wife's like what the

[01:55:14] fuck

[01:55:15] yeah it's all pallets

[01:55:17] um

[01:55:19] bless her heart

[01:55:20] i was just gonna say oh

[01:55:22] yeah r.i.p smug pac-man i

[01:55:24] can't believe you lost the

[01:55:25] tournament to a murder of

[01:55:26] crows but murder of crows

[01:55:27] wins again anyway thanks

[01:55:30] for sponsoring the episode

[01:55:31] pallet land we love you

[01:55:35] charmeleon

[01:55:35] war turtle

[01:55:36] mewtwo tentacruel aerodactyl

[01:55:39] armonite

[01:55:40] slow bow

[01:55:41] pigeon

[01:55:41] arbok

[01:55:42] that's all folks

[01:55:43] catch him catch him gotta

[01:55:45] catch him

[01:55:46] catch him catch him

[01:55:57] that's right

[01:55:58] give charlie back our

[01:55:59] pallets

[01:55:59] or else

[01:56:02] oh fuck that hurt

[01:56:03] joke

[01:56:05] jerry coming to say

[01:56:06] hi

[01:56:09] he's like i got something

[01:56:10] to say about pallets

[01:56:11] no amount of pepto bismol

[01:56:12] can keep me down bitch

[01:56:16] and we're back

[01:56:17] back with uh

[01:56:18] with cannibalism and our

[01:56:20] dislikes

[01:56:20] right

[01:56:21] well there isn't

[01:56:22] there isn't a lot to

[01:56:24] dislike i got one

[01:56:25] but i have one i have

[01:56:28] one too

[01:56:28] i agree with this this

[01:56:29] one that i have

[01:56:30] highlighted

[01:56:31] oh thanks

[01:56:33] go for it

[01:56:35] me

[01:56:35] okay yeah

[01:56:36] yeah

[01:56:37] fuck item management

[01:56:38] in this game it's such

[01:56:39] bullshit it's so

[01:56:40] annoying because

[01:56:41] like

[01:56:43] like yeah it seems like a

[01:56:44] minor thing but like each

[01:56:46] character only gets four

[01:56:46] slots right and one of

[01:56:48] those slots is your

[01:56:49] weapon so you really

[01:56:51] only get like three slots

[01:56:52] for most characters so

[01:56:53] it's like oh yeah you try

[01:56:54] to have like an herb or

[01:56:55] like a healing seed for

[01:56:56] every character but when

[01:56:57] you're max exploring around

[01:56:59] you know you open it up

[01:57:00] and how many times do you

[01:57:01] open up a chest and say oh

[01:57:02] you found this thing but he

[01:57:03] can't carry it

[01:57:05] then you have to go in and

[01:57:06] organize everything and it's

[01:57:08] yeah it's really annoying

[01:57:09] thankfully shining force to

[01:57:10] fix that

[01:57:11] and just passes it on to

[01:57:13] every guy i think shining

[01:57:13] force three as well does

[01:57:14] that whereas just it just

[01:57:16] passes on to every

[01:57:16] character and so you can

[01:57:17] organize them later

[01:57:19] that was one thing i never

[01:57:20] well

[01:57:21] particularly one thing i have to

[01:57:23] say too is shining force

[01:57:24] three the weapon and your

[01:57:25] accessory are not part of

[01:57:27] your inventory that's

[01:57:28] separate so you still have

[01:57:29] your four slots

[01:57:30] thankfully

[01:57:31] son of a bitch

[01:57:32] yeah

[01:57:32] that's that's so good

[01:57:35] yeah it it just feels

[01:57:36] like it was something that

[01:57:37] they just probably just

[01:57:37] didn't think about until

[01:57:38] after right yeah came out

[01:57:40] kind of a thing right

[01:57:41] it's really my only major

[01:57:43] gripe with the game

[01:57:44] well mine is gonna be when

[01:57:46] you get your other extra

[01:57:47] characters don't put them

[01:57:49] at level one unpromoted

[01:57:50] fucker

[01:57:52] and that's the thing is

[01:57:54] that that's the shit that

[01:57:55] they kept on doing like

[01:57:56] um not a lot of characters

[01:57:58] but there is a character

[01:57:59] that you can get in

[01:58:00] shining force three that

[01:58:01] will be level one

[01:58:02] unpromoted but thankfully

[01:58:03] the shining force

[01:58:05] translation project has

[01:58:06] patched that shit so now

[01:58:07] it's at like level nine

[01:58:09] unpromoted instead of

[01:58:10] level one so all you have

[01:58:11] to do is level one up and

[01:58:13] then you've got a

[01:58:14] promoted character so

[01:58:16] bless them

[01:58:17] yeah it's so good it

[01:58:18] helps that with shining

[01:58:19] force one the like the

[01:58:21] level grinding isn't

[01:58:22] really the worst thing in

[01:58:23] the world because it

[01:58:25] feels like the you know

[01:58:27] like the xp amounts

[01:58:28] never really change but

[01:58:30] it feels like like your

[01:58:32] progress bar doesn't get

[01:58:33] bigger each time yeah it's

[01:58:34] the hundred it's like

[01:58:34] yeah it's the hundred

[01:58:35] um points the hundred

[01:58:37] every time and yeah like

[01:58:38] every time you you kill

[01:58:40] an enemy regardless of

[01:58:41] how much hp they have

[01:58:42] it's always like the 48

[01:58:43] 49 so it's really easy to

[01:58:45] get people caught up

[01:58:46] until unless you're a

[01:58:47] healer when you get to

[01:58:48] like the that one tower

[01:58:50] and you've got a left

[01:58:51] and tarasu and then like

[01:58:53] atom and blue and you've

[01:58:55] got a level all of them up

[01:58:56] at the same time it's

[01:58:58] fucking terrible that one

[01:59:00] particular part is like the

[01:59:01] worst like if it was one

[01:59:02] that's one thing but if

[01:59:04] you've got like a you know

[01:59:05] bottleneck of several of

[01:59:06] them and you're all trying

[01:59:07] to share all of them but

[01:59:09] also get multiple levels

[01:59:10] for all of them before you

[01:59:12] can move on oh that was

[01:59:13] such a pain in the butt

[01:59:14] fuck yeah yeah it

[01:59:16] really is a pain but

[01:59:17] usually usually i would

[01:59:19] leave like adam to the

[01:59:20] side i usually didn't

[01:59:21] bother with him i still

[01:59:22] hate it that's just a

[01:59:23] me yeah that's fair

[01:59:25] that's fair because like

[01:59:26] once i get like musashi

[01:59:27] it's just like oh yeah

[01:59:28] this guy's the fucking

[01:59:29] man like you know

[01:59:30] just like you funnel

[01:59:31] everybody into him

[01:59:32] because he's because even

[01:59:33] when you get him like

[01:59:34] he's so fucking powerful

[01:59:35] like you don't even really

[01:59:37] have to grind him maybe

[01:59:38] just to get his i

[01:59:38] usually put a speed ring

[01:59:39] on him but you know

[01:59:41] other than that i was

[01:59:41] just like yeah he's

[01:59:42] like and i have to say

[01:59:44] too like there are like

[01:59:45] the birdman in specific

[01:59:46] and also arthur the

[01:59:48] mage knight like the

[01:59:49] mage knight class and

[01:59:50] the birdman class they're

[01:59:52] really like they don't

[01:59:53] have a super important

[01:59:55] function in this game

[01:59:56] and like the mage knight

[01:59:57] never does like in any

[01:59:58] of the shining forces

[01:59:59] never does but um the

[02:00:01] bird they just were

[02:00:02] like oh this would be

[02:00:02] cute but it doesn't

[02:00:03] amount right i mean like

[02:00:04] arthur can be mid if

[02:00:07] you really work on him

[02:00:08] yeah he can be mid but

[02:00:09] that's all he can be

[02:00:10] everyone's a seven yeah

[02:00:11] yeah so but like the

[02:00:14] birdman in shining force

[02:00:15] three have a very

[02:00:16] specific function that

[02:00:17] they perform for you so

[02:00:19] like they're really good

[02:00:19] in that game in specific

[02:00:21] but like in one they're

[02:00:24] they're not that great

[02:00:25] you know like the

[02:00:26] birdman are pretty weak

[02:00:27] and you don't even really

[02:00:28] need two of them you

[02:00:30] know yeah you're

[02:00:30] shining force two you

[02:00:31] only get the one you

[02:00:33] know which is perfectly

[02:00:34] fine but then you also

[02:00:35] get peter who's like a

[02:00:36] bird i hate peter's

[02:00:37] design own sorry yeah

[02:00:39] especially his original

[02:00:41] like his unpromoted oh

[02:00:42] yeah anyway and you

[02:00:45] spend so much he does

[02:00:46] so much fucking damage

[02:00:47] though i know like he's

[02:00:48] so powerful but for like

[02:00:50] a good chunk of the time

[02:00:51] you get him you can't

[02:00:52] control him and so he

[02:00:54] would steal your kills

[02:00:55] all the fucking time

[02:00:56] fuck you peter

[02:00:57] so much but once you

[02:00:59] eventually get control

[02:01:00] of him then it's like

[02:01:01] perfect but even when

[02:01:03] you promote him he

[02:01:04] doesn't look much better

[02:01:05] no not really who is

[02:01:09] i forget his name luke

[02:01:11] i forget his name too

[02:01:12] it's not i don't think

[02:01:13] it's luke don't remember

[02:01:15] no it is luke it is

[02:01:17] shit yeah well then

[02:01:19] again let me see this

[02:01:20] let me see this bastard

[02:01:22] i'll send you a link

[02:01:23] oh yeah yeah oh yeah

[02:01:25] he's like a fucking

[02:01:26] eagle or something yeah

[02:01:27] he's sweet i forgot

[02:01:28] about him yeah yeah

[02:01:29] because that's that's

[02:01:30] when you have like peter

[02:01:31] and peter's like oh

[02:01:32] we need to go talk to

[02:01:33] luke or whatever right

[02:01:34] yeah so he's awesome

[02:01:36] yeah shining force 2

[02:01:37] it doesn't have as

[02:01:38] interesting of a cast of

[02:01:39] characters but i think

[02:01:40] as far as like the

[02:01:41] battle goes it feels

[02:01:42] like they're more well

[02:01:43] rounded oh yeah yeah

[02:01:44] for sure but then you

[02:01:45] also get a pegasus

[02:01:46] knight which is cool

[02:01:47] you don't get a pegasus

[02:01:48] knight that is cool i

[02:01:49] do yeah yeah the

[02:01:50] pegasus knight is sick

[02:01:51] um like one of the

[02:01:53] like main bad guys

[02:01:54] from earlier in the game

[02:01:56] becomes a member of

[02:01:57] your bat of your

[02:01:57] party much later which

[02:01:58] is really cool um they

[02:02:00] do some interesting

[02:02:01] stuff in shining

[02:02:01] force 2 with all that

[02:02:02] and and it tries to

[02:02:04] have a jogger but a

[02:02:06] a useful jogger in

[02:02:07] kiwi which i know you

[02:02:09] don't like kiwi but i

[02:02:10] fucking i i like kiwi

[02:02:11] okay until he gets

[02:02:12] bigger and goes bald and

[02:02:14] then he looks like a

[02:02:15] kappa like i mean like

[02:02:16] he's already bald as a

[02:02:17] small one but he then

[02:02:18] he looks even uglier when

[02:02:20] he yeah when he's

[02:02:20] promoted he looks like a

[02:02:21] fat um like razor

[02:02:23] except he's like he has

[02:02:24] like the kappa hair so

[02:02:26] like the the japanese

[02:02:27] yokai kappa with the

[02:02:29] bald head yeah see i

[02:02:30] like when he's

[02:02:31] unpromoted and like his

[02:02:32] attack is he just

[02:02:32] throws the hat well he

[02:02:33] kind of skips a little

[02:02:34] bit and then throws

[02:02:35] the hat it's real cute

[02:02:37] yeah yeah he's we've

[02:02:39] all done that he's

[02:02:40] very pokemon oh very

[02:02:43] much so but he but

[02:02:45] he's cute and he and

[02:02:46] and he's like more

[02:02:46] useful than i like

[02:02:48] you know yogurt for

[02:02:49] the fact that he is

[02:02:50] useless he is there

[02:02:52] just to be a mascot

[02:02:53] that is all he's there

[02:02:54] for

[02:02:55] yeah i get that for

[02:02:59] sure another like

[02:03:01] really really small

[02:03:02] nitpick i have with

[02:03:03] with shining force one

[02:03:04] is like um say like

[02:03:08] a couple people die

[02:03:09] and then max dies and

[02:03:10] then you go back to

[02:03:11] the church um i hate

[02:03:13] that you then have to

[02:03:14] like talk to the to

[02:03:15] the priest and like

[02:03:16] revive everybody and

[02:03:17] shit like just do it

[02:03:19] automatically well i

[02:03:20] guess no because you

[02:03:21] have to pay for him to

[02:03:22] do it and they

[02:03:22] wouldn't depending on

[02:03:23] their level yeah

[02:03:24] well still it's like

[02:03:26] it's a pain it's still

[02:03:27] stupid especially if

[02:03:28] you have a lot of

[02:03:28] losses in one and

[02:03:30] then you go back to

[02:03:31] town and you're like

[02:03:32] i'm gonna be here for

[02:03:33] a while waiting for

[02:03:34] the little ditty to

[02:03:35] finish so they can be

[02:03:36] resurrected you hold

[02:03:37] you hold the a button

[02:03:38] for five minutes

[02:03:40] and fucking so uh

[02:03:43] there was this battle

[02:03:45] i think like at the

[02:03:46] beginning of of

[02:03:47] chapter two or

[02:03:48] something basically uh

[02:03:50] it was like gort or

[02:03:50] luke one of them

[02:03:51] got poisoned uh

[02:03:53] max got fucking he

[02:03:55] got his butt wiped he

[02:03:56] fucking died went

[02:03:57] back to the church i

[02:03:58] thought okay well

[02:03:59] they're probably not

[02:04:00] healed anymore or

[02:04:01] they're probably not

[02:04:01] poisoned anymore they

[02:04:02] stay so yeah they

[02:04:04] stay poisoned went

[02:04:05] back into the battle

[02:04:05] they were still

[02:04:06] poisoned and there's

[02:04:08] just fucking sand as

[02:04:09] far as the eye can

[02:04:10] see so they slowly

[02:04:12] worked their way up

[02:04:13] the map slowly being

[02:04:15] like slowly having the

[02:04:16] soul drain from their

[02:04:17] body step by step

[02:04:19] until finally they had

[02:04:20] like two health left

[02:04:20] and i was like i don't

[02:04:21] fucking care anymore

[02:04:22] man just died

[02:04:22] anecdotes for like

[02:04:24] any of your characters

[02:04:24] didn't have any

[02:04:25] anecdotes no i didn't

[02:04:26] think to buy any i

[02:04:27] thought i didn't think

[02:04:28] he'd be poisoned oh

[02:04:29] you can just like find

[02:04:30] them like in the

[02:04:30] chests throughout the

[02:04:31] towns i didn't find

[02:04:32] shit man well oh i've

[02:04:35] got another small

[02:04:36] nitpick so like when

[02:04:37] you go to the shop and

[02:04:39] you are getting

[02:04:39] weapons i want them to

[02:04:41] just say do you want

[02:04:42] to equip that do you

[02:04:43] want to sell your old

[02:04:44] one and like they do

[02:04:45] that in shining force

[02:04:46] three all rpgs should

[02:04:47] do this they do that

[02:04:48] in shining force three

[02:04:49] but they do not have

[02:04:50] that that quality of life

[02:04:51] thing in this first game

[02:04:52] but then again again

[02:04:53] it's old you know like i

[02:04:55] that was that was like

[02:04:56] an old rpg yeah a lot

[02:04:58] of them had that and

[02:05:00] and i think in shining

[02:05:01] force 2 they have it

[02:05:02] um but not in the first

[02:05:03] one when you go in and

[02:05:04] and look at the the

[02:05:06] weapons like you all

[02:05:08] right i think you can in

[02:05:09] this game like you can

[02:05:09] compare the stats compared

[02:05:10] to what they already

[02:05:11] have equipped well no

[02:05:12] you can't in this game

[02:05:13] you can't see what the

[02:05:14] stats are so you just

[02:05:16] have to guess you feel

[02:05:17] like well that is more

[02:05:18] expensive than the one

[02:05:18] that i have it must be

[02:05:19] better yeah yeah usually

[02:05:21] it's like oh it's

[02:05:22] different so it must be

[02:05:23] better but then it's

[02:05:24] like short sword middle

[02:05:25] sword long sword well

[02:05:27] with the centaurs they

[02:05:28] can have like say the

[02:05:29] throwing spears or they

[02:05:30] can have the lances

[02:05:32] which you you kind of

[02:05:33] have to choose which

[02:05:34] one because like the

[02:05:35] you know the the

[02:05:36] throwing lances aren't

[02:05:37] as strong but they have

[02:05:39] much more range you know

[02:05:40] you get much more

[02:05:41] range so you kind of

[02:05:43] usually what i would do

[02:05:44] with the centaurs i

[02:05:44] would have one with the

[02:05:45] with the spear and then

[02:05:46] one with the lance or i've

[02:05:47] seen where people will

[02:05:48] have one of each and

[02:05:50] then they just kind of

[02:05:50] swap between them in the

[02:05:51] battles because i think

[02:05:52] you can swap and it

[02:05:53] doesn't correct that's

[02:05:54] that's one of the good

[02:05:55] things that is a good

[02:05:57] thing yes that you can

[02:05:59] do all that kind of

[02:05:59] stuff in a turn but i

[02:06:01] just found that was too

[02:06:01] cumbersome so i would

[02:06:02] just have one be the

[02:06:03] range the one yeah put

[02:06:05] the uh spear on arthur

[02:06:08] who doesn't have a strong

[02:06:09] attack anyway he can get

[02:06:10] the range and kind of

[02:06:11] plink from the background

[02:06:14] implying i'm using

[02:06:15] yeah i know that's

[02:06:16] that's assuming that you

[02:06:17] have arthur anywhere near

[02:06:19] your team which that

[02:06:20] unless you're doing all

[02:06:20] centaurs i mean he's

[02:06:21] more memorable i mean

[02:06:22] he's more memorable

[02:06:23] than vancar he's like

[02:06:25] hey enemy fuck you

[02:06:25] vancar is the most

[02:06:26] forgettable one

[02:06:27] vancar just he vancar

[02:06:29] is the most he's he

[02:06:30] looks drunk he's got

[02:06:32] the big pink nose

[02:06:33] it's that red nose yeah

[02:06:35] it's just like he's like

[02:06:36] right after you get

[02:06:37] pele so you're just like

[02:06:38] oh another centaur yeah

[02:06:39] you know like you just

[02:06:40] like screw that guy

[02:06:43] and yeah and hans and

[02:06:45] diane i never cared for

[02:06:46] either one of them they're

[02:06:47] not great arthur's hans

[02:06:48] especially like like

[02:06:49] like hans is good at the

[02:06:52] start but after a while

[02:06:54] it's just like yeah speed

[02:06:55] increase by one yeah like

[02:06:56] that's the joke dude

[02:06:57] that's all he ever gets

[02:06:58] motherfucker dude

[02:06:59] so stupid yeah so you get

[02:07:01] so when you get diane you're

[02:07:03] like oh maybe she's a

[02:07:04] little bit better and you

[02:07:04] swap them and it's like

[02:07:05] they're like a tad yeah

[02:07:07] like slightly but then you

[02:07:08] get once you get lyle

[02:07:09] once you get lyle fuck

[02:07:11] them both we're lyle baby

[02:07:14] and lyle's so cool

[02:07:15] especially because like

[02:07:16] he'll have like the the

[02:07:17] bazooka and he's like

[02:07:18] shooting arrows out of the

[02:07:20] bazooka but it's so cool

[02:07:21] yeah holy shit he's great

[02:07:23] and his movement speed is

[02:07:24] fantastic oh by the way

[02:07:25] he can take so much

[02:07:26] there is a steam knight in

[02:07:28] shining force 3 named

[02:07:29] jade that you can get in

[02:07:30] scenario 2 who has a

[02:07:32] fucking tank he's driving

[02:07:35] around in a tank

[02:07:36] awesome so that's so

[02:07:37] sweet awesome i've always

[02:07:39] those the the one class

[02:07:41] in shining force 2 that's

[02:07:42] basically like it's like

[02:07:43] like a motorcycle cannon

[02:07:44] thing but it's got the

[02:07:45] little fucking side car

[02:07:46] on it that shit is so

[02:07:47] cool it's so stupid but so

[02:07:49] cool who the fuck was

[02:07:50] that i've had that i don't

[02:07:51] remember any of the names

[02:07:52] except bowie i don't

[02:07:55] remember bowie and luke and

[02:07:56] what what was this chester

[02:07:58] stupid chester okay

[02:08:00] chester oh yeah chester

[02:08:01] chester kind of sucks oh

[02:08:02] yeah he's the knight yeah

[02:08:04] he always dies that

[02:08:05] bastard that bastard

[02:08:07] dies uh let's see oh

[02:08:09] oh it's like one of the

[02:08:10] upgraded for like the

[02:08:11] archers for like janet and

[02:08:13] all them oh yeah in

[02:08:15] shining force 2 oh oh

[02:08:16] you're thinking of road

[02:08:17] i think so has the the

[02:08:19] canon yeah yeah dr road is

[02:08:21] a historian living in the

[02:08:22] town of hassan and and

[02:08:23] blah blah blah blah yeah oh

[02:08:24] yeah it's when you're dealing

[02:08:25] with the achilles swords

[02:08:26] that's absolutely him

[02:08:27] yep yep yeah and some of

[02:08:30] the yeah i believe some of

[02:08:31] the the range characters

[02:08:32] later on you can like turn

[02:08:33] them in the tanks yeah

[02:08:34] because there's a

[02:08:35] shining force 2 they can

[02:08:36] hold and then yeah because

[02:08:37] in shining force 2 you can

[02:08:38] like promote characters but

[02:08:39] then you can like say oh

[02:08:40] do you want to be this

[02:08:41] promotion or that

[02:08:42] promotion it gives you a

[02:08:43] little bit more well

[02:08:44] fluidity in that but it's

[02:08:45] only with specific

[02:08:46] well to be fair you've got

[02:08:47] uh guns who is a steam

[02:08:49] knight and he has like

[02:08:50] wheels so in his

[02:08:52] promoted form yes so

[02:08:54] that's awesome yeah and he

[02:08:56] just just shoves his whole

[02:08:57] entity into you and that's

[02:08:59] how you die

[02:09:01] that's what happened to

[02:09:02] jerry

[02:09:05] get in me jerry

[02:09:07] see i see i'm looking at

[02:09:08] i'm looking at jay at j

[02:09:09] driving the tank around i'm

[02:09:10] like this is about kira

[02:09:11] chronicles type shit here

[02:09:12] this is awesome

[02:09:14] oh okay

[02:09:16] that is sweet

[02:09:17] yeah i can vibe that

[02:09:19] all right well yeah what

[02:09:20] uh

[02:09:22] thoughts overall also we

[02:09:23] didn't really did we talk a

[02:09:24] whole lot about like the

[02:09:25] overworld map stuff

[02:09:28] compared to like other

[02:09:29] tactics rpgs no where

[02:09:31] we didn't

[02:09:33] no

[02:09:35] okay before we get the

[02:09:37] thoughts waiting the whole

[02:09:38] time

[02:09:38] before we get the thoughts

[02:09:40] overall uh yeah this game

[02:09:42] shot i don't i can't think

[02:09:44] of any other tactics rpg where

[02:09:46] you you do this kind of

[02:09:47] thing but that's just the

[02:09:48] typical um jrpg you know

[02:09:50] wander around the world map

[02:09:52] go to this town go to

[02:09:53] there explore this shit

[02:09:55] find a cave uh bang a

[02:09:57] bear whatever you want

[02:09:58] and then then you have

[02:10:00] baldur's game

[02:10:01] i'm just joking

[02:10:02] yeah do all that and then

[02:10:04] yeah go to your your

[02:10:05] tactics uh combat and shit

[02:10:06] like that i can't think of

[02:10:08] any other tactics rpg that

[02:10:09] does that because like

[02:10:10] tactics ogre don't do that

[02:10:11] disgaea don't fucking do

[02:10:13] that

[02:10:15] even in tactics you're like

[02:10:17] on a track going to certain

[02:10:19] places you can get random

[02:10:20] battles but you can't really

[02:10:21] explore explore

[02:10:23] yeah and fire emblem it's

[02:10:25] just like hey you're in

[02:10:26] chapter three and then you

[02:10:28] do a battle and then they

[02:10:29] talk for 30 minutes and

[02:10:30] then it's like do you want

[02:10:31] to save your game

[02:10:32] chapter four baby and then

[02:10:35] and it's just that round

[02:10:37] robin but yeah thoughts

[02:10:38] overall man uh what uh

[02:10:40] what sum this bitch up

[02:10:42] i mean it's one of my

[02:10:43] favorite games of all time

[02:10:44] so

[02:10:45] it was my

[02:10:46] it was my favorite rpg

[02:10:48] it was my first rpg and uh

[02:10:51] got me started on tactics

[02:10:53] rpgs but also all rpgs in

[02:10:55] general and

[02:10:56] yes like it's interesting

[02:10:58] because although there's like

[02:10:59] a whole shining series of

[02:11:01] games that's like all the

[02:11:03] spinoffs like shining soul and

[02:11:05] shining the holy ark and

[02:11:06] whatever

[02:11:06] like i haven't played

[02:11:07] shining force neo we're not

[02:11:09] talking that doesn't exist

[02:11:11] no no that game's kind of

[02:11:13] the phone game

[02:11:14] no no it's a pst game it's

[02:11:16] kind of lame

[02:11:17] no i bought that game when it

[02:11:20] first came out and i

[02:11:21] like played a little bit of

[02:11:23] it and i immediately took it

[02:11:24] back and returned it i was

[02:11:25] like oh no

[02:11:27] that's what i said it's kind

[02:11:28] of terrible

[02:11:29] no it doesn't exist it

[02:11:31] doesn't exist it's not real

[02:11:33] it's in your imagination

[02:11:34] anyway um

[02:11:36] oh it even looks

[02:11:37] stupid

[02:11:39] sega sega did not know

[02:11:40] what to do with the series

[02:11:41] after the saturn well the

[02:11:43] thing is is that in japan

[02:11:44] they had a bunch of um

[02:11:45] shining force mobile games

[02:11:47] in japan only and they

[02:11:48] never brought them over

[02:11:49] here and i'm not talking

[02:11:51] like the gotcha game that

[02:11:52] they were gonna make but

[02:11:53] then didn't that they

[02:11:54] canceled the heroes of

[02:11:55] light and darkness that

[02:11:56] was um a couple of years

[02:11:57] ago so i hate that that

[02:11:58] saddened me it didn't

[02:11:59] release because i was like

[02:12:00] because i saw it i was

[02:12:01] like i'm not into it but

[02:12:03] i'll play it just to just

[02:12:05] to show support and then

[02:12:06] it got canceled like

[02:12:07] well it's because it

[02:12:08] was gonna be something

[02:12:09] new anything shining

[02:12:10] force damn it but um

[02:12:12] yeah yeah yeah and it

[02:12:14] was some like random like

[02:12:15] no-name korean studio that

[02:12:16] was doing it i think and i

[02:12:18] my guess is they probably

[02:12:19] just were in over their

[02:12:21] head probably

[02:12:22] when they're like oh

[02:12:24] maybe not

[02:12:25] yeah but yeah like

[02:12:26] because because i i

[02:12:28] focus mostly on the

[02:12:29] shining force games

[02:12:30] themselves like the

[02:12:31] mainline shining force

[02:12:32] games but i more

[02:12:33] recently started playing

[02:12:35] shining in the darkness

[02:12:35] and i will probably go

[02:12:37] through and eventually

[02:12:38] chip away around

[02:12:40] assignment play on the

[02:12:41] rest of all the shining

[02:12:43] titled games up through

[02:12:44] shining force 3 which was

[02:12:45] the end of the series

[02:12:47] there's nothing else after

[02:12:48] that oh you don't want

[02:12:49] to you don't want to play

[02:12:50] shining no oh my god

[02:12:52] oh or like shining

[02:12:54] resonance refrain or

[02:12:55] whatever the fuck yeah

[02:12:56] that game is hot

[02:12:58] somebody gave me that

[02:12:59] somebody gave me that

[02:13:00] game it's bad it's in my

[02:13:03] steam i don't want to

[02:13:04] open it i mean i will

[02:13:06] defend shining soul 1 and

[02:13:08] 2 yeah those games are

[02:13:09] pretty cool they're

[02:13:10] actually pretty decent but

[02:13:11] they're their own yeah

[02:13:12] well those are one of the

[02:13:13] spinoffs and that's one of

[02:13:14] the ones that i will be

[02:13:15] eventually playing and

[02:13:16] shining the holy arc is

[02:13:17] directly related to

[02:13:18] shining force 3 because

[02:13:19] one of the characters

[02:13:20] came from that game and

[02:13:21] one of the villains came

[02:13:23] from that game so we

[02:13:25] have to do some

[02:13:25] parts but basically every

[02:13:26] game after soul 2 is not

[02:13:28] worth your time that's

[02:13:29] what i say to everybody

[02:13:30] like up to shining soul 2

[02:13:32] you're pretty good after

[02:13:33] that except for the gba

[02:13:35] game which i will defend

[02:13:36] forever because it's

[02:13:36] great so yes yes that's

[02:13:39] good that's awesome that's

[02:13:39] its own but that's its own

[02:13:40] thing that's awesome yeah

[02:13:43] man it's it's it's wild

[02:13:46] that um so many i mean so

[02:13:50] prior to me getting into

[02:13:51] this series as a whole uh

[02:13:53] i was i kept looking up

[02:13:54] like oh shining games ranked

[02:13:56] and everybody puts shining

[02:13:57] force 1 not like super

[02:14:00] low but like much lower

[02:14:02] than like 2 and 3 for

[02:14:03] whatever reason but it's

[02:14:04] solid as fuck for a first

[02:14:06] entry into this whole

[02:14:07] series it's it's very very

[02:14:11] solid for a for tactics

[02:14:12] rpg especially from 92

[02:14:13] man it's it's meaty and

[02:14:15] it's it's a little bit on

[02:14:17] the simpler side but i

[02:14:18] think that goes that's

[02:14:19] like to the game's

[02:14:20] advantage yeah you know

[02:14:21] because if anything it's

[02:14:22] like it's an entry point to

[02:14:24] like tactics games

[02:14:24] exactly if you want to get

[02:14:25] somebody into tactics

[02:14:26] games this is the game to

[02:14:27] start with because it's

[02:14:29] it's super simple to get

[02:14:30] into the story isn't that

[02:14:31] complicated it has a really

[02:14:33] cool cast of characters and

[02:14:34] and it's a game that's kind

[02:14:35] of hard to put down once you

[02:14:37] start playing it and it's

[02:14:38] it's and it's only like maybe

[02:14:40] 30 hours like it's not a

[02:14:42] super long game at all well

[02:14:43] and not only that like there's

[02:14:45] a total of i think 30 battles

[02:14:47] in the first game something like

[02:14:48] that so across eight chapters

[02:14:51] so it has nice little breaking

[02:14:53] points so if you get in there

[02:14:55] and you're playing a few

[02:14:56] battles and then you're at

[02:14:57] the end of the first chapter

[02:14:58] and then well that's a good

[02:14:59] stopping point then you can

[02:15:00] just kind of play it over

[02:15:01] time meter it out and all of

[02:15:03] that but um you know it's a

[02:15:05] really good game and it is a

[02:15:06] solid game um it's for having

[02:15:10] a simple story it's a simple

[02:15:11] story but at the same time it

[02:15:12] gives you so much world building

[02:15:14] and makes you have a lot of

[02:15:15] questions about other stuff that

[02:15:17] like doesn't get explained in

[02:15:18] the actual you know game itself

[02:15:20] that kind of allows them to

[02:15:22] expound upon it in the later

[02:15:24] entries when they touch upon

[02:15:25] some of those same things

[02:15:27] later on um you know and

[02:15:28] some of the other games that

[02:15:30] they have so that's cool yeah

[02:15:33] and it's not like say like a

[02:15:34] fire emblem three houses that

[02:15:36] like throws way too much story

[02:15:37] at you and all this like really

[02:15:40] complicated shit like shining

[02:15:41] force is very like yes simple

[02:15:43] it does have that world

[02:15:44] building and lore that i really

[02:15:45] like in there but it's not like

[02:15:48] so much that it overwhelms the

[02:15:50] player yeah there's lots of

[02:15:51] breathing room like it'll be

[02:15:52] yes story combat and then you

[02:15:54] just troll around the town and

[02:15:56] just like look around and

[02:15:57] explore and talk to people

[02:15:58] yeah throw the shopping cart at

[02:16:00] that lady yeah mad at you and

[02:16:02] throws you in the river and

[02:16:03] then you get the treasure chest

[02:16:04] in the middle which is totally

[02:16:05] worth doing you can go and get

[02:16:06] yourself turned into a chicken

[02:16:08] by a witch and walk around town

[02:16:09] and talk to people oh yeah

[02:16:11] talk to people as a chicken

[02:16:12] why is a chicken why is there a

[02:16:14] chicken here get away chicken and

[02:16:15] then you're like okay well fuck

[02:16:18] yeah there's a lot of like cool

[02:16:19] mpc um interactions in this game

[02:16:22] and like all the towns like

[02:16:23] there's not a super huge amount

[02:16:24] of mpcs and they all have

[02:16:26] something that's like kind of

[02:16:27] interesting to say well and

[02:16:28] that's the thing right so like

[02:16:30] if you're gonna have mpcs in a

[02:16:32] town somewhere number one make

[02:16:33] it to where it like the town

[02:16:35] isn't so big that it exhausts the

[02:16:36] player before they get to the end

[02:16:37] of it right yes and then to

[02:16:39] make sure that those characters

[02:16:41] either have something funny and

[02:16:43] memorable to say or give you some

[02:16:45] world building information or

[02:16:46] something right and that's what

[02:16:48] happens here like every single

[02:16:50] mpc you come across is either got

[02:16:51] some funny shit to tell you you

[02:16:54] know or it's giving you some

[02:16:56] world building character building

[02:16:57] you know oh there's a little

[02:16:59] nugget of information you know

[02:17:01] like like when you were talking

[02:17:02] about the circus battle like you

[02:17:04] can talk to that kid who's like

[02:17:05] really excited for the circus oh

[02:17:07] then later on it's that kid who

[02:17:09] gets kidnapped and you're like oh

[02:17:11] shit you know and if you talk to

[02:17:12] him you're like oh well shit I gotta

[02:17:14] save that kid you know and then

[02:17:15] and it's all and it's all little

[02:17:16] stuff it's all handled in like an

[02:17:18] old-school video game way of it

[02:17:20] not like overloading you with like

[02:17:21] so much time spent to like this

[02:17:24] like endless like sort of text and

[02:17:26] all that it gives you all the

[02:17:27] information that you need it adds in

[02:17:29] like the flavor text as well you

[02:17:31] know it's done in that old-school

[02:17:33] way where it's like we're limited on

[02:17:34] memory so we can't have too much

[02:17:36] but yeah it part of the thing too is

[02:17:39] that I feel like too many games these

[02:17:42] days want to hold your hand and they

[02:17:44] want to play to the lowest common

[02:17:45] denominator and explain to death what

[02:17:48] is going on and not only that but

[02:17:51] then they have to tutorialize

[02:17:52] everything like this game is not a

[02:17:55] complicated persona five this this

[02:17:57] game is not complicated enough to

[02:17:59] require tutorial and I mean granted

[02:18:01] it's also trading on you having a

[02:18:03] manual and being able even if you

[02:18:05] don't have the manual you can pick

[02:18:06] this up and play it and not have you

[02:18:07] know a problem I never had the man

[02:18:10] yeah so and I was able to figure it

[02:18:11] out as a dumb kid and so another thing

[02:18:14] nothing the game does really really

[02:18:17] really well is like it encourages you

[02:18:19] to explore a lot and it really like

[02:18:23] heavily rewards you for exploring not

[02:18:25] only other like all the cool secret

[02:18:28] characters that you can recruit there's

[02:18:30] all sorts of cool shit that you can

[02:18:31] find in like hidden chests everywhere

[02:18:33] whether it be like a cool new weapon or

[02:18:35] this maybe some extra healing items or

[02:18:39] you know this or that like it the

[02:18:40] accessories like like a speed ring

[02:18:43] yeah like certain like certain things

[02:18:45] that like will boost a character stats

[02:18:47] where it's like oh I really need this

[02:18:48] or they can ingest an item that will

[02:18:51] like boost them by a little bit instead

[02:18:52] of having to wear something as well

[02:18:54] yeah yeah so good and all the towns are

[02:18:58] really cool to explore you know they

[02:18:59] all have their own little character to

[02:19:00] them as well and it's fun because like

[02:19:02] in the first castle for example you

[02:19:05] know if there's a guy with a telescope

[02:19:07] on top of you know one of the towers in

[02:19:09] the castle and you can go up there and

[02:19:11] the guy's like oh all the way you have

[02:19:13] to go all the way up there's like you

[02:19:15] know you have to go up so many stairs

[02:19:16] to get up there and then you finally get

[02:19:18] up there I do it every time you finally

[02:19:20] get up there the guy's like oh there

[02:19:22] hordes of rune faust this that and the

[02:19:23] other but then if you look into the

[02:19:25] telescope from the other side he's

[02:19:27] like ah it's a big guy and he jumps

[02:19:29] back from the telescope and then you

[02:19:31] can go and you can look through the

[02:19:32] telescope yourself but like it's this

[02:19:35] funny little interaction that like you

[02:19:37] know it makes you want to go wander

[02:19:39] around and go talk to people I mean

[02:19:40] like there's the lady with the cart

[02:19:42] where she's like don't splash my new

[02:19:43] dress and then you splash her with the

[02:19:45] you know throw the cart at her and

[02:19:47] then she throws you into the river and

[02:19:49] that's how you get a chest you know like

[02:19:50] yeah like that's that's the the

[02:19:53] dragon quest influence there because in

[02:19:55] dragon quest they all will have like

[02:19:56] that like that charming dialogue and

[02:19:58] those little like funny bits that

[02:20:00] happen that keep you kind of engrossed

[02:20:01] like it like it's a way of like

[02:20:03] keeping the story progressing while not

[02:20:05] always focusing on like the serious

[02:20:06] thing that's going on you can have the

[02:20:09] little comedy bits as well yeah and

[02:20:10] that was something that like dragon

[02:20:12] quest was doing like well before this

[02:20:14] and you can tell it's like an influence

[02:20:15] on the game and also with like how

[02:20:17] colorful it is because dragon quest has

[02:20:18] always been really colorful as well but

[02:20:20] yeah this is a fucking game so much

[02:20:23] it's such a 99 cents and you can also

[02:20:25] emulate the shit out of this like why

[02:20:27] aren't you playing this game oh yeah

[02:20:29] yeah it's it's super easy to find and

[02:20:32] play yeah it's not super long and it is

[02:20:35] very beginner friendly like even like

[02:20:38] if you're struggling in the battles you

[02:20:40] can just kind of figure out a strategy

[02:20:41] that works best for you you know like

[02:20:43] not everybody plays this game like the

[02:20:45] exact same way which is another thing

[02:20:47] that makes talking about it so much fun

[02:20:49] because everyone has different party

[02:20:50] members that they lean on more than

[02:20:52] others or will be like oh like I'll try

[02:20:54] like this kind of thing you know you have

[02:20:55] a lot of different options like more than

[02:20:57] I think people would expect like it's

[02:20:59] not super in-depth when it comes to the

[02:21:02] battle system but it has enough depth

[02:21:03] to really like really like you know

[02:21:06] kind of dig your teeth into without it

[02:21:07] being like you know too big of a meal

[02:21:09] like yeah like Jerry yeah definitely

[02:21:12] without more I can chew more than I

[02:21:13] can chew with Jerry yeah it's kind of the

[02:21:16] perfect tactical RPG well it's great

[02:21:18] because it's like I hate to throw that

[02:21:20] well the thing is is that when you get

[02:21:23] to something that's crunchier like a

[02:21:24] fire emblem with permadeath as you know

[02:21:27] like the the fixed state of several of

[02:21:29] the entries before you get the option

[02:21:31] and then you know something like a

[02:21:34] tactics where it's so opaque that you

[02:21:36] have to go dig and guides or find

[02:21:38] somebody to tell you how to play to play

[02:21:40] it I mean you know this game you can

[02:21:42] pick up and play you don't really need

[02:21:44] to have a tutorial to be able to do the

[02:21:46] battles and stuff but it also still

[02:21:48] challenges you without making it feel

[02:21:50] impossible to do like you can learn this

[02:21:53] game on its own terms and beat the game

[02:21:56] and feel satisfied with your result however

[02:21:59] that comes about

[02:22:01] oh yeah exactly yeah yeah you can brute force

[02:22:06] it you can see strategic whatever works oh

[02:22:09] yeah like as a kid that's what I used to do

[02:22:11] I used to do brute force my way just like set

[02:22:13] everybody up in a line and push them forward

[02:22:15] and it seemed to work half the time so

[02:22:18] whatever works it's satisfying when you

[02:22:20] figure something that works and

[02:22:21] especially like if you're like by the

[02:22:23] skin of your teeth and you barely win

[02:22:25] you're like oh that was so cool oh oh

[02:22:28] yeah like whenever you knock out a boss

[02:22:30] it always feels really good especially

[02:22:32] the unexpected critical now it's time for

[02:22:57] the saddest but probably the most generous

[02:22:59] part of the show it's random

[02:23:04] recommended games random recommended games

[02:23:08] time segment of the show where we leave

[02:23:11] you listeners with a neat little treat a

[02:23:14] little game that we recommend you guys

[02:23:15] all play who wants to start us off which

[02:23:18] one of you guys wants to start well we

[02:23:20] should talk about Jerry's recommended

[02:23:21] game which is Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004

[02:23:25] Jerry loves golf he loves it to death in

[02:23:30] my stomach I guess I'll go first the game

[02:23:36] I'm recommend should I recommend dating

[02:23:39] so the game I'm recommending it's a it's

[02:23:41] a recent game just recently came out it

[02:23:44] has Sega attached to it which I thought

[02:23:46] about it yeah totally no it's a Sonic

[02:23:49] Cross Shadow Generations so yeah they

[02:23:52] just recently did this I remember when

[02:23:54] they first announced it I was like hmm I

[02:23:56] don't know about this like like a song

[02:23:58] Generations remaster why not but like

[02:24:00] adding the shadow stuff I didn't know how

[02:24:02] much it was gonna be one way or the other

[02:24:04] right but I pre-ordered it anyways you

[02:24:07] know I'm a Sonic boy and then I played

[02:24:10] through the shadow generation story over

[02:24:11] the weekend and I gotta say it's probably

[02:24:14] one of the best 3d Sonic games ever made

[02:24:16] like the way they're able to combine the

[02:24:19] level design of generations with the

[02:24:22] overworld of Sonic frontiers and and just

[02:24:26] a little splash of a Bowser's Bowser's

[02:24:28] Fury influence in there it's all really

[02:24:30] makes it a a fun little five five and a

[02:24:33] half hour experience with shadow that I

[02:24:36] found myself like really digging by the

[02:24:38] end of it like the stories also was also

[02:24:40] like decently solid for a Sonic game

[02:24:42] you can tell that they're leaning on Ian

[02:24:44] Flynn to write all the stories now I mean

[02:24:47] get it get a guy who actually gives a

[02:24:49] shit about the lore to write the stories

[02:24:50] right and yeah it was fantastic so I

[02:24:54] highly recommend it and the Generations

[02:24:56] remaster is also pretty good as well it's a

[02:24:58] it's a $50 yes it's a $50 product so you

[02:25:03] know not a full price game but you get a

[02:25:06] remaster of a classic with a new new game

[02:25:09] thrown on top of it which is awesome that's

[02:25:12] really yeah I I recommend it I can't

[02:25:14] believe I'm saying it like Sega did

[02:25:16] something good with Sonic it's amazing I

[02:25:18] mean I've liked the last couple things

[02:25:20] they've like I thought frontiers was good

[02:25:22] I did enjoy superstars for what it was

[02:25:25] but this feels like no this is like a

[02:25:26] genuinely good product so hopefully from

[02:25:31] how good this is they learn from it and

[02:25:34] then when they do frontiers to like

[02:25:35] frontiers to could be a genuine banger

[02:25:37] like I think it has all like they're

[02:25:40] setting it up so hopefully they knock it

[02:25:42] out of the park but this is Sonic team

[02:25:44] we're talking about so I will hold my

[02:25:46] breath yeah so the one that I'm gonna

[02:25:52] recommend is actually dark I'm like which

[02:25:55] one do I want to actually recommend dark

[02:25:57] nights with Poe and Monroe this is a full

[02:26:00] motion video game that is by Diaveki

[02:26:03] studios they just announced that they are

[02:26:05] going to do the infamous madness of Dr.

[02:26:08] Decker 2 the sequel to their original

[02:26:10] full motion video murder mystery game and

[02:26:14] so like this studio does a bunch of

[02:26:17] murder mystery stuff they started by doing

[02:26:19] a bunch of murder mystery party games and

[02:26:21] then they went into the video game space

[02:26:23] and they have released for four games so

[02:26:28] let's see one two three maybe four or

[02:26:31] four or five games so far deck Dr.

[02:26:34] Decker shape-shifting detective dark

[02:26:37] nights of home and row and murderous muses

[02:26:40] and then now they're going to be doing

[02:26:41] Decker 2 so in dark nights at home and

[02:26:46] row like it's basically the third game

[02:26:48] in the series and it references the other

[02:26:51] games but at the same time it's 100%

[02:26:54] playable on its own and it's basically

[02:26:56] the short little episodic things about

[02:26:58] two podcasters who live in this weird

[02:27:01] ass town called August it's got

[02:27:02] Lovecraftian elements there is a murder

[02:27:05] there is a mystery but like there's also

[02:27:07] a lot of small vignettes of different

[02:27:09] stories that are going on around the

[02:27:11] murder mystery that is happening in

[02:27:13] this town including a bunch of really

[02:27:15] creepy scenarios where you're not 100%

[02:27:18] sure what's real and what's not and so

[02:27:21] like you just have these time choices

[02:27:23] that you have to make and each one of

[02:27:27] these little chapters is a nice short

[02:27:28] bite that you can just kind of you know

[02:27:31] have fun with and then you know turn it

[02:27:33] off and then come back to it again

[02:27:35] later so definitely a high recommend

[02:27:38] from me

[02:27:40] this is 1000% of me it is a fun it is a

[02:27:44] fun game so I mean I love FMV and

[02:27:47] because it's branching choice there's a

[02:27:49] lot of different options so if you go

[02:27:51] through the same thing and you just you

[02:27:53] know play it out differently like you'll

[02:27:55] get different endings for him so that's

[02:27:57] awesome yeah it reminds me a little bit

[02:27:59] of a while ago this year I played a

[02:28:01] contradiction

[02:28:04] fun fact I have I have interviewed

[02:28:07] Rupert Booth who played Jenks in

[02:28:09] contradiction on my show oh so I have

[02:28:12] that that interview I'll have to link

[02:28:13] you that episode but also I interviewed

[02:28:15] Diaveki Studios on my show as well so

[02:28:19] that is awesome so so it's like they're

[02:28:22] all kind of connected in the same yes

[02:28:24] they are all of them like murderous

[02:28:26] muses takes place in a different

[02:28:28] location but it's all in the same

[02:28:30] universe but the first three games are

[02:28:32] all in the same place so okay so it

[02:28:36] goes dr dr decker shifting shape

[02:28:38] shifting and then dark nights with

[02:28:40] that's really real but you again you

[02:28:43] can play any of them individually but

[02:28:45] there will be references you know from

[02:28:48] one to the other so like you know

[02:28:50] shape-shifting detective has some

[02:28:51] callbacks that if you play Decker you

[02:28:54] will pick up on some extra things you

[02:28:56] know having played that when you're

[02:28:57] playing shape-shifting detective and

[02:28:59] if you play dark nights with Poe and

[02:29:01] Monroe and then you go back and play

[02:29:03] the other ones then you'll be like oh

[02:29:05] that's what that was doing this is the

[02:29:07] decker homage you know oh this is what's

[02:29:09] happening in this part you know a

[02:29:11] little bit but like there's a lot of

[02:29:13] stuff that they leave unexplained and I

[02:29:15] love that they leave it unexplained because

[02:29:17] we don't need everything explained to

[02:29:19] us like let the story breathe and let

[02:29:21] let the let the player fill in some

[02:29:23] details so exactly yeah this is a game I

[02:29:28] would play on stream oh yeah you should

[02:29:30] it's fun just understand that sometimes

[02:29:32] you're not gonna have any idea what your

[02:29:34] options really are you're just gonna have

[02:29:35] to pick something and go so that would

[02:29:39] be the benefit of having having checks

[02:29:41] and be like what should I ask him well

[02:29:43] the thing is is that like the the dark

[02:29:46] nights with Poe and Monroe has like a

[02:29:47] timer so you have to pick one within a

[02:29:50] certain amount of time otherwise it'll

[02:29:51] just proceed but yeah if you're doing

[02:29:53] decker yeah you can definitely do that

[02:29:55] on stream it's very fun yeah nice to my

[02:29:58] wish list the uh the game I'm

[02:30:02] recommending is metal storm I played this

[02:30:04] for a little bit today probably like a

[02:30:06] couple hours I've pumped into it then

[02:30:08] actually it's pretty fucking short metal

[02:30:10] storm it's an NES game published by

[02:30:12] irum if anybody knows irum they also

[02:30:14] did our type and they also did in the

[02:30:16] hunt and a bunch of other really

[02:30:18] awesome shoot-em-ups basically plays

[02:30:20] this little little robot and you're

[02:30:22] going into this basically like a death

[02:30:24] star kind of thing it's just like this

[02:30:26] mechanical mechanical being that shoots

[02:30:29] lasers and shit but it's just it's a

[02:30:30] running gun shoot-em-up you're going

[02:30:33] through different levels and you can you

[02:30:35] have this ability where you can

[02:30:36] basically reverse gravity so you can hit

[02:30:38] jump and up at the same time you can

[02:30:40] walk on the ceiling hit jump and down

[02:30:43] and you will go back to the floor but all

[02:30:46] the levels are really really well made

[02:30:49] there's all sorts of cool little

[02:30:50] puzzles you have to try and figure out

[02:30:52] from you know jump out on the ceiling to

[02:30:53] the floor and back and trying to do that

[02:30:54] really quick while trying to take out

[02:30:56] enemies and avoid cool or not cool

[02:30:58] avoid hazards like spike floors or these

[02:31:02] little doors that only flip this way

[02:31:05] when you're on the ceiling and flip down

[02:31:06] back that way when you're on the when

[02:31:08] you're on the ceiling or whatever and

[02:31:09] yeah it's really really sweet game the

[02:31:12] graphics are really really awesome for

[02:31:14] for an NES game I mean I guess it did

[02:31:16] come out really late in 91 so that's

[02:31:19] probably why Metal Storm it's surprisingly

[02:31:22] not super late there were still a bunch

[02:31:24] of games coming out for the especially

[02:31:26] in Japan Japan didn't want to retire it

[02:31:30] yeah well to be fair it was selling so

[02:31:32] well it's like why bother and then like

[02:31:36] was it the PC engine was doing all right

[02:31:38] you know and then the mega drive never

[02:31:40] really took off there so you know I get

[02:31:44] where they're coming from yeah I've

[02:31:44] played Metal Storm this game is fucking

[02:31:46] awesome it's such a cool it's such a

[02:31:48] cool-ass game it's a very like when you

[02:31:50] think of like old-school NES game you

[02:31:53] know it's like you think of something

[02:31:55] like this you know like I think the

[02:31:57] first time I heard of this game was when

[02:32:01] stop your sail since from fighting

[02:32:02] reviewed it but that's when he was

[02:32:04] the happy video game nerd I don't know

[02:32:05] if you guys remember that you know this

[02:32:08] this is like when ABGN was like becoming

[02:32:10] like the the hot shit you know early in

[02:32:13] in and then he's like well why are we

[02:32:15] like being so bitchy why don't we just

[02:32:17] talk about games that are awesome and

[02:32:18] this is like the first review he did for

[02:32:20] a game called Metal Storm I was like

[02:32:21] yeah this game is fucking cool as hell

[02:32:23] it's all it is still a great game yeah

[02:32:25] love running gun shooters anyway

[02:32:27] listeners that's it it's the end of

[02:32:29] the show go on home make sure to check

[02:32:33] out of course more Superpod saga you

[02:32:35] can check out Thrax all of Thrax stuff

[02:32:36] on superpodnetwork.com Jala have a link

[02:32:39] to all of her stuff in the episode

[02:32:40] description all that stuff make sure to

[02:32:43] check out the patreon two four dollars a

[02:32:44] month early access bonus content all

[02:32:46] that cool shit everybody say bye

[02:32:48] you