The Besties - A Souls-like for Fans of N64-era Mascot Games

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

Special guest Lucy James (GameSpot, Giant Bomb, Frames Per Second Podcast) joins Frushtick and Plante to discuss Another Crab’s Treasure. Have you ever wondered what it would have looked like had Rare made a Souls-like in the early ‘00s? Now you have an answer! Plus, the crew shares updates on other games they’ve been playing, from Stellar Blade to TopSpin 2K25. Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Lucy you just did a long flight what is your mo for like surviving a flight what do you usually go to i do. Long flights a lot i'm very lucky in that one of my best friends is also my dentist. And i grind my teeth okay going somewhere with this great i find my teeth and she gives me muscle relaxants for that and so i pop a couple of those as we're boarding. And then i just kind of Sit I wait until the first meal Yeah, and then I'm one of those insane people who turns on the flight map and just puts it on and then falls asleep Do you oh wow you just pass out? Well, I mean you are taking muscle relaxant. So that's really helps Yeah, is it cost prohibitive to bring your friend slash dentist with you every time?

It is, however, I know that she would enjoy it. So you know, the- Especially on those drugs. Exactly. The thing that I'm paying a lot of money, but you can't put a price on her joy. Can you? That's true. That's true.

And she does fit into the carry out. She does. She kind of might. She's pretty short. No, so I also kind of go in with these grand plans that I take my Kindle and I'll finally finish that book. I will finally play that game I've been meaning to on Steam Deck or I'll finally, like I was sat in Heathrow Airport, which has really good Wi-Fi for some reason. And I downloaded the entire season of Fallout,

didn't do anything, the whole flight I feel I feel blessed when it comes to a long long at that point you're basically time traveling which is a pretty good plus yeah it's also but I do that thing do you ever how do you clear out pictures on your phone because I also dedicate time to on flights oh I okay so I pick a photo I go into, okay, so I pick a photo, I go into the photo app, right? I pick a photo and then I have to hold down, like drag to the bottom right

and it starts picking them rapidly. Yeah. Oh. But then I have to wait forever because it's thousands of photos. Yeah. And then I can hit delete. There is a delete all button. You've really like picked a scab. Yeah. Of my life. There is a delete all button.

You've really like picked a scab of my life. There's a delete all button. It never works. It's there as a lie. It's there as a challenge. So that's how I do it. Do you do it manually? Is that what you're about to do?

Oh wow. No, no. So I've had, I've been in the iOS ecosystem for 10 years. I have 35,000 pictures and my iCloud is running out and I refuse to pay any more. So every time I'm on a flight and I've been on a lot of flights recently, I go through and I'll take a folder and I'll clear it out. So on this last flight alone, I cleared out 2000 screenshots. Wow, just screenshots. Serial killer.

Who is taking that many screenshots? You're on Jess. No, no, no killer What you're telling me is you get on a plane and you have like a game that you're looking forward to in a book that You're ready for and then you like you turn to your dentist friend you brought along you you open your palm she gives you drugs you take them and then you then you open the phone app and then one photo at a time you go yeah i'll delete it i'm i'm happy for you does it sound like you are i'm trying to put a positive spin on it i do that i do the do the, um, what do you call her? You know the woman who was like, does it spark joy? Oh yeah. I do that, I look at every picture.

Marie Kondo. Marie Kondo. I'm Marie Kondo on my phone. I look, I'm like, does this picture of my ex from seven years ago spark joy? No! Bin! And then, but then, what you get to do is it all goes into the bin, and then you get to hit select all, and then you get to hit delete all, and you just get to see... And then that annoying little ping from iPhone saying that your iCloud is full is gone. For another week.

That's fucking catharsis right there. You're living the dream. Literally, because you're sleeping the whole flight, so you're fine. This is what I do to get to sleep. Oh, bless you. Un-ter-scannable. Well, I think we should go to the show and talk about video games before I find out that Lucy also has my street address and is knocking at my door. My name is Russ Frushing and I'm the best game of the week. I shouldn't be first, but here we are. My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I know the best game of the week and we have

a guest and that person is... Me! Get in there Lucy, say it. Lucy James, do I get to do it? Oh my god! Get in there, Lucy. Say it. Lucy Jam- Do I get to do it? Oh my god. Yeah, do it. Please do it.

My name is Lucy James and I know the best game of the week. Welcome to the latest and greatest of video game home entertainment. It is not Pac-Man anymore. It's a video game club and just by listening you'll remember. And today we are talking about another crab's story which is... Another crab crabs treasure. Treasure. Dead, dead crabs tell no tales.

Another crabs treasure, which is why they don't generally have me start the show. We have a very special guest in Lucy James, who is joining us all the way from GameSpot and Giant Bomb. Welcome. Definitely didn't write Game stop in the notes I wasn't anything but it's it's okay happens I didn't I didn't I said it right game spot exactly and and welcome welcome Lucy you you joined us I want to

say probably a year ago give or take yeah I was for a game that shall not be mentioned well the thing is is that I was trying to explain this scenario to a friend of mine, and I couldn't for the life of me even remember the name of the game I talked about with Heath. I just remember it was the Justin Roiland game. Yes! Like, the week he got revealed as being a monster. Yeah. It was the day after we recorded. Because I remember you just Discord messaged me with a, um...

Have you seen this? ItYou were my personal sacrifice." I was out that week, and I remember thinking, who took that one from me? And now I really apologize for calling you a serial killer. I thought we've had many episodes together because we see each other often enough in LA. A Jeff Keaton event. Anything happens in LA yes

I didn't know you guys gather that's great and we perform an episode yeah we don't record it oh we we just kind of that's our only way of actually community all like in the corner of SGF or something we'll just be you know that little live stage that's just us we blocked it we block it out for an hour and then we just take that Jeff yeah well Jeff the live stage that's just us. We blocked it. We block it out for an hour and then we just take that job. Yeah. Well, Jeff's the audience. That's why we do it.

Chris plant. I have a question for you. Yes. What is another crab's treasure? Another crab's treasure is a I would say Nintendo 64 rare era style spin on the open world Dark Souls formula, but maybe for families and also a platformer. I don't know. Did I try it?

Did I do it? I think you did it. I think we'll learn a little bit more right after this break. Before we go on, it should be noted that there's obviously two absences here in Justin and Griffin. They are actually dead. They died. I killed them. I was the serial killer. Now, Justin and Griffin are on tour and they've left us with a far better upgrade in Lucy. So we're all very happy for that.

And with that, I think we're going to jump in and talk about another crab's treasure, which is maybe the cutest souls like I've ever seen. You didn't think ceaseless discharge was cute. You know, as I was saying it, I did think of tunic, which might be slightly cuter than this, um, but it does have more death, so it's hard to say. I didn't play Ceaseless Discharge, I must have missed that one. He's the boss in Dark Souls 1? Is this the one that just hangs on the wall?

Yes, yes, yes. Yes, I remember. And you just poke at it until it falls off? It's a great thing to Google Ceaseless Discharge. Yeah, it's definitely going to linger in my Google recommendations for a while. Lucy, do you wanna talk about what this game is? Sure. And you can use your pun if you want. I know you're very proud of it.

I know, I messaged Russ, because we were joking, because I was like, oh, is this gonna be a canceled game? Like last time, am I gonna get canceled by proxy every time I appear on the besties? But luckily, nothing cancelable in this one. As far as we're aware. As far as we're aware.

But we were coming up with puns, and I said that another crab's treasure is a shoals-like, like a shoal of fish. Incredibly good. Thank you. And very accurate. And why is it accurate, Lucy? Oh, Chris Plank gave it an 8al of fish. Thank you. Incredibly good. And very accurate. And why is it accurate, Lucy? Chris Plank gave it an 8 out of 10. I made a little sign Olympic style. I realized it was a visual joke as I was doing it.

This is the danger of us now using video and not sharing that video with anybody. This is exactly like us doing the podcast for Jeff. I keep saying it's a mistake. It's not for anybody. But shoal, can you explain that? I'm not familiar with this word. So you know how you get a shoal of fish? Like a group of fish? You've never heard of the word shoal, Chris Plant? A school of fish? No, no, no. Was shoal or school? Don't worry, I Googled it to make sure that my pun was accurate.

I thought a shoal was like a reed. I was wondering if shul was an accent of school, and I was like, is this pronounced differently? Is this just a British thing? No, you're right. Yeah, a shul is a large number of fish swimming together. A shul and bream. Well done, Lucy. You crushed it. I mean, as far as I'm aware, this game is more focused on crabs. Yeah, that was the annoyance. However, there are parts where you can see Sholes of Fish swimming around you. And they do attack you.

They do attack you, so I felt just fine. I was going to save this for later, so I'll just give you one. We can get to it later. But I have come prepared with some crab jokes. Okay, hit me. So just to kind of like get us... Just do one now and then we'll move on. What do crabs order at Starbucks?

Crabachino. You're right. Oh. Okay, you're not allowed any more of them because I guess. Oh no, no, no, no. Don't worry, we have more. Okay, no, I wanna hear about the game.

Yes, please. So, I mean, where to even begin? It is, you did an excellent recap of what the game is, but when you start to play, you are a cute little hermit crab, just enjoying yourself in your pool, in your little shallow water, and then one day, a shark comes along,

but not an actual shark, you know one of those little sharks on a, what do you call it, with a mouth that moves? The plastic, like, toys you get at the carnival. Shark on a stick. Yeah. Comes along and he basically says, hey, you're behind on your home loan. I'm going to take your shell and you got to pay the Duchess if you want to get it back.

And so then it becomes a soul-slike where you fight through the shallows and then you go and find the Duchess and then you are fighting against these corrupted crabs and fish. It's so funny that the little fish that attack you basically are the dog stand-ins from souls games, the way that they attack you. Um, and you kind of go through and you notice, at least I noticed like kind of straight away is that the water is filled with junk. And so there is also this blight that is infecting all of the other crabs and whoever populate the waters. And then you kind of get to the sands between. I really

enjoyed that. I really enjoyed that. And you basically have to go on a quest to find bits of a map and then try and stop this blight and get your house back. So that's the kind of basic story of it. But also it is so difficult to talk about this game without bringing up souls because you want to judge it and talk about it on its own merits, but it lifts so much. Like I unlocked, I unlocked a power where I was regaining health. If I hit the enemy back really quickly, I basically had the Bloodborne Health Recovery thing. So it's a fun, but also it's packed full of humor.

It's super colorful. It is more direct, certainly from a narrative standpoint than any Souls game where like, as you said early on, like they literally tell you like, here is your quest that you should go here. There's not that element of, I have no idea, like I'm dropped into this giant universe and oops, I'm going to the graveyard

when I really should be going to the town instead. It's very directed in so far as I know Plant, you were describing it really as like Baby's First Souls-like, which I think is probably- Yeah, but as I played more, I'm curious if that holds up. I'm curious who y'all think the audience is for this because it's not easy. No, no. At times.

Like it's very strange in that half the time it feels like a yes, banjo Kazooie type of platformer. And when I say that, like you get a grappling hook move that is zipping you around and you are straight up doing just old fashioned platforming. But then in that same beat you will while doing platforming be confronted with a like pseudo mini boss where now you are having a Souls type of fight on a platform that you could fall off of. And it's not easy. And the, um, the.

Perry, I mean, I guess more just blocking system in the game is, is different. It, it took me a while to get used to what it wants me to do, which is it wants me to absorb damage, um, with these different shells. So, oh yeah, because you've, you've lost your shell and it's been taken away, uh, because you weren't paying your taxes. And this is a game about taxation. You can grab different shells or shell standings in

the environment and they're kind of everywhere. So that could be like a tin can or a soda can or the plastic cap on the top of a water bottle and those shells absorb a certain amount of damage and also have like special moves attached to them. And you are expected to constantly be absorbing damage hiding in the shell when you're attacked and then getting it down to zero and then trading off to another shell. At least early in the game. There are combat changes like Lucy mentioned as you go. That is, on top of it being just kind of a challenging boss fight, just a shift for me playing Souls games. So yeah, I'm curious, like saying all that, who is this Thor?

MARK MIRCHANDANI Yeah, that's a good question. I do think, Yeah, that's a good question. I do think because the aesthetic implies like you said banjo-kazooie I think like 10 and up kind of age. Yeah, I mean 10 year olds are really good at video games So I'm like I wouldn't necessarily slight them on that front that's a good point that maybe like kids are just so good at games now that a Seven year old is gonna play this and just gonna to stop through it so it won't matter. Yeah. I don't know. I'm not sure. I guess there's kind of, you know, there will always be the the souls sickos who just want to play. I and pineapple is 100% going to play it right here. The guy plays like all the souls likes you've never heard of. I think it's yes, it's kind of like that genre

where you're always chasing that high and if everyone else ever tries to ape it in some way, you kind of dip your toe in just to see like, you know, Lords of the Fallen came out last year and I was like, I probably wouldn't be interested in that otherwise, but now they're trying to do a soul. So, you know, until until me and Zachy put something else out then. Yeah, I mean, this is my Metroidvania basically, like I'll play every Metroidvania, out and... Yeah, I mean, this is my Metroidvania, basically. Like, I'll play every Metroidvania. Doesn't matter. But I think, I mean, in terms of the humor,

I think, I mean, it's hitting for me. There are some jokes in there that I think are really funny. And I was, I think part of it is though, is that I kind of go into the game thinking I'm gonna have a nice restful time and then I'll come up against a boss. Because I think, I struggled with the bosses quite a lot. Yeah.

Um, and I think there are some things definitely in gameplay. I don't think the healing works particularly well. Did you find that you really have to like slam it because it's just not as responsive as hitting triangle and getting a blood vial or something and, and bloodborne it's like, it's not that there's kind of weird quirks to it. And you know, the shells I really like it again, like, like you plan. It took me so long to kind of get out of that soul's mindset and not, and then actually, oh, turtling is a valid, valuable way of playing this game.

Yeah. Instead of just dodging everything. Yeah. Yeah. And the dodge, I could not get to work at all. Um, like I, I, I found that I was always too far away. I couldn't both dodge and then close distance back to the bosses fast enough.

I unlocked a thing that helped with that one. Okay. Yeah. Like an air dash basically. Oh yes. Which was pretty good. But I don't even find myself getting into a rhythm of it. I think the shell stuff is what really sets it apart. I'm really enjoying that just because as you say,

they are littered everywhere. And then what you can do is, did you have a favorite shell? For like umami? So do you mean, I mean, that thing? Yeah, or even just the bar, however much defense it gives you. Like, did you have a favorite one?

I usually opt for the ones, yeah, I guess that were like the more tanky version of shells. I found a few of them that match that, but yeah, I... You can ensure them. So every time you come out of the little room, that was the nice part. That was a really nice little bit where it's like, oh, well, you can have this. Can you explain the, it's called umami style, right? Yeah. Is that what? That was the elemental damage thing, right?

Yes. And it's tied to your shells. Each power is tied to a shell. Each power, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So can you, how did that work for you? Me? Yes.

OK. I mean, so every time you get a different shell, so the things you start off typically are the bottle caps or a can, and each one has a magic power powered by MSG assigned to it, which I really enjoyed. And then, so if you hit X, I was playing on with an Xbox controller, it just kind of fires out. So if you were playing with the soda can, for example, it fires a bunch of bubbles and then they kind of hone in, hone in on the enemy that's coming at you.

Um, there's other ones where if you had the coffee cup, if you hit X, it makes all of your attacks faster, or if you're in the, I really enjoy the tennis ball. Cause if you hit X, it like fires you away. And then you regain that MSG by, by smacking the life out of enemies with your little fork. So it's kind of a nice way of having a magic system, I guess, without having an actual magic system. And it's all, it is encouraging you to use up your shell, break it, get a new one. And learn different play styles too.

I mean, they're like get a new one. And learn different play styles too. I mean, like mentioning the tank thing, I think it's the tin can that electrifies. And it wants you to take that block and then get hit and then zap whatever's around you. I like that it was very focused in its build crafting nature. Like it was a visual difference, whereas I love Elden Ring. It's probably my favorite game ever made. It can be very overwhelming because you kind of feel like,

oh, I have infinite options for making this character. And I can equip this shield with this sub ability and like really build craft the hell out of it, which is great, but it can be intimidating. Whereas this, I thought, okay, there's a visual indicator of exactly what power I have at any given time. It actually impacts the way I play.

And so like a bigger shell versus a smaller shell, but also having those unique powers, I thought was just like, I instantly know what I can use at any given time. And then there are kind of like unique light add-ons within the actual menu too, that are more permanent, which helps. Yeah, like passive perks, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you can have are more permanent, which helps. Yeah, like passive perks, basically.

Yeah, so you can have like this one, which is basically, you know, is it the white stick from Dark Souls, the white tree branch, or the sacrificial thing where it breaks, but so you don't die. You don't lose your stuff. Yeah. Don't lose your stuff.

Yeah, I think it's a very cool, neat approach to the genre. I think if you're expecting the level of polish or I don't wanna say quality, because it's a good game, you're not necessarily gonna get from level experience. But I do agree with what Lucy said earlier about people like Iron Pineapple who play every single From Software game,

or Souls-like, I should say. I think those sorts of people that love this genre and just want to explore new worlds, this will feel like a really cool palette cleanser. Was there an easy mode? Yes. Oh, I didn't say that. Oh, there was one boss I got so stuck on

that I was like, right, I'm going in. That's great. I think I'm probably gonna go back and play a lot more. You're able to switch at any time. You can. There's also, so there's a mode to make it a little bit easier. Then there's an assist mode. And then there is a button that you can toggle that I didn't try, but it just says, give Krill a gun.

Okay, I'm going to try that. I should just, okay that. I know! I should just, okay, because I agree, the writing is really fun, and really of that, I keep mentioning rare, but that thing where it's like, it's for kids, but it's really winking at adults. There's like a whole microplastics through line, like all the currency you get whole microplastics through line,

like all the currency you get is microplastics, and then you have to like release, that's how you level up, is by releasing the microplastics from your body. It's like, yeah, there's some clever stuff in that. You see the loading screens where it's like, if you find yourself dying a lot, maybe you're just not good at the game yet. Which I really enjoyed. Correct.

It's not even for me like, well, I'm also just bad at the game, but, but beyond that, like it's not what I want from this game and like, I'm glad that it has those options because what I enjoy most about it is returning to that, like classic platformer thing I loved once I finally got it's only like an hour in, but when I got the, um, the, the grappling hook, I was like, okay, now I get what this game is like doing and not having to worry about the souls of it all, or only when I want to, that sounds so much better. Also one other thing, and I know this is the thing we always say when it's like,

sounds like faint praise, but I mean it. like, sounds like faint praise, but I mean it. The music in this game is very good. Like very, very, very, very catchy. We've talked about, oh my gosh, Tiny Wings many times, and it gave me like major Tiny Wings vibes. I do not buy video game records very often, if ever. And this is a game where I'm like, oh, if this comes out, I would get that immediately.

Um, I just really, really enjoyed it. And maybe again, that's what kind of threw me off is everything is telling me this is a cool hangout game. And then you meet a boss and it's like, no, I'm sorry. You seem to have been misled. I'm going to ruin your life now. No, that's great. There's difficulty.

I'm definitely going to consider dropping it down because I just like the exploration stuff. I don't like getting crushed in the shell, as it were, repeatedly. I do also really enjoy the movement, the game feel. Did you play Tinykin? Oh, that's what I thought. Yeah, I did as well. It was like a Pikmin style game.

Yeah. I really, I really love the movement in that game. It's like the one thing that stuck with me the most. I finished the game. I loved it. But the way you're zipping around on the bar of soap, this also feels the same. I just love the way that Krill just shimmies around. And I love, I love running around. And then when you kind of start linking it up with the grappling hook with kind of the swimming floating a little bit, and then eventually you can use your shell to roll. And it's just this really nice movement. And it's yeah, kind of that's where I was getting indefinite like flow state stuff where you're just like, Oh yeah, just gonna run around the sea bed. One quick question, because I know we probably want to get to the next section. But how does a crab call their mother?

On, oh, oh, oh, I raised my hand. On his shell phone. Yes! Yay! You did it! Yay! Let's go to the next part. Yes.

Let's take a quick break and we've got some more games to talk about. That was Another Crab's Treasure. Cool, welcome back. We've got a some more games to talk about that was another crabs treasure cool welcome back we've got a few more games to talk about it's worth noting original hey sorry yeah no this just came up a really quick I'm seeing breaking breaking news why don't crabs use Wi-Fi Wi-Fi. Because they're afraid of getting caught in the net. What are they looking for? Okay, we can go.

We were talking about Stellar Blade. I feel like, Plant, you played a chunk of that. I played a little bit of it and it wasn't necessarily grabbing you. Is that fair to say? I don't need to talk about it. I don't know why you're trying to get me cancelled. I'm very happy that somebody played Nier Automata and they want to try to do more of that. Yoko Taro said this was better than Nier in a lot of ways. Yoko Taro has a real habit of saying things that I don't agree with. And also putting his characters in games that I would prefer never to be seen playing. It's not just that like, look, I'm not here to yuck anybody's yums about like the pervy nature of the game. Lots of people enjoy like, sexy bodies.

That's okay. That's up to you. It's more that I just found the game like wholly fine. And I, yeah, I was disappointed that it wasn't doing more. Like if it's going to kind of borrow that lineage, I expect it to like have something to say and I was, I was not getting that from this game. Uh, but Hey, if you like actiony combat and you like really gross monsters and you like sexy anime characters,

like, hey, it's here for you. This game definitely is gonna hit all those check boxes for you. Word. Well, I know, Lucy, you were playing a game whose name is maybe the least memorable video game title I've ever read. It's called Tales of Kanzara.

Yes. I don't know anything about this game. Oh, OK. I am excited to talk about it then. So it is a game from Abu Bakar Saleem, who was the my name is the voice of Bayek from Assassin's Creed. Oh, sure. Yeah. He started his own game studio. And this is the first release. And Tales Kanzera is a is Abu lost his dad when he was pretty young. And this is a game all about his grief and how he has tackled his grief across his life.

And it's really cool. It's a metroidvania. And you play as a character named Zao, who is a shaman and he has, he's lost, he's also lost his father and he kind of makes this bet and, not bet, but he kind of says, hey, you know, he comes up against, I believe it's another God, sorry if I get that wrong, but it's basically said, hey, bring my father back. I will take these three spirits across to the other side, basically. And if I do so, you have to grant me something and I want my father back. And it is, I'm not finished it yet. Maybe about a third of the way through, but it's just basically one of those

games with a character who talks a lot, but I don't hate listening to them talk. Like, wow, that is a real, which is basically, you know, like, sorry, horizon, but I can't listen to Aloy say that, you know, she's got to do this. I'm going to do that. And this is like when that was talking and and he's and he's kind of interacting, he's ruminating on his predicament and chatting to people, it's like, I'm really interested in what he's saying, because he at the beginning of the game, it's like this very cocky, like, oh, I can do this, don't worry about it, you know, I'm going to get my father back, I'll show

you all. And then it's just this this journey that he goes on. And I am not reading Metroidvania person. I think the most I got into one was Prince of Persia from earlier this year. Yeah, sure. And I think Tales of Kinsera doesn't necessarily do anything, you know, there isn't like this cool gameplay thing that it's done that, you know, Prince of Persia had so many like the little, uh, taking pictures on the map or whatever, you know, all of those things. Movement feels good, movement, uh, combat feels good. It doesn't get super, super complex. I'm not feeling particularly challenged at any point.

However, and this is not damning with fame praise. I mean, this is like in a genuine way, it's just really nice to play. I feel accomplished. I feel like the curve is really nice, but ultimately I'm there for the story and so far It's hidden. So that's what's really interesting about that is the Metroidvania is traditionally are like Intentionally very light on story like it tends to be very if not surface like very little dialogue You look at a game like Ori or Metroid even those games are like very little dialogue, you look at a game like Ori or Metroid even, those games are like very environmental storytelling driven. So it's interesting to hear that this game

not only does a lot of narrative, but also it does it really well. Yeah, it's voice acted as well. And it's just really, I'm not completely I'm not familiar at all with like Bantu myths or anything. And I'm definitely going to be like looking up more to after this because I think it's really interesting, it's really well done and the music is so cool and it's really well crafted. And also just for a studio's first game, for Abu's first game, it is wild just kind of how

out there it is, I guess, in terms of telling a story like that, it's really cool, I'm really enjoying it. Works great on Steam Deck. That's awesome. That's always a good sign. It's also, you mentioned Prince of Persia. That's the second time that we've seen, another culture pulling from their mythology

to tell stories in a really interesting way. So we also saw it with Chia, which was that great open world exploration game that pulled from the mythology of New Caledonia, which I thought was terrific. I like that games more and more are getting you curious about the real world. I feel like that's, you know, what people turn to literature and books for. And it's a thing that like every great medium can do.

And I mean, that that's a natural benefit of diversifying who gets to make games and the stories that they tell is it's going to introduce you to more and more of the world and not just the same fantasies over and over again. Yeah, I mean, no offense to like God of War, but I'm kind of done with that kind of mythology. He's so sad. He's so sad. He's so sad. Just like everything became Nordic myths for a little bit. Alan Wake and I enjoy Don't Get Me Wrong.

I read Neil Gaiman's Norse Gods, but now I'm kind of ready for more different mythologies now. Agreed. Chris Point, you got some tennis to talk about. I've got tennis for the two or three of us. Well, I was trying to do a tennis for two. Yeah. Thank you.

Um, uh, top spin 2k 25 is out. Has there been one of these coming out every year for the last 20 years? And I just didn't know. I, that's a fair question. I think the last one came out in 2011. Oh, okay. Cool. So yeah, wow.

I, they really have taken a break. I, I, yeah, I, I believe that's correct. I think top spin four was the most recent one. Um, whatever the case, I was a huge virtual tennis fan. Loved virtual tennis. Virtual tennis. I more than honestly, any Dreamcast game, I put hours into virtual tennis fan loved as a kid for tennis. I more than honestly any Dreamcast game I put hours into virtual tennis and I I still can't quite describe the appeal of

it because I wasn't a huge sports video game person. The best I can think of is tennis is like pong dumb thing to say but it's so easy to like hop in and immediately enjoy, right? It is not like learning to play a basketball game or a football game. There's a straightforwardness of just get the ball back over the net. And virtual tennis, I thought was kind of the optimal version of that, where it is a little bit sim and a little bit arcade. You could hop in, but you could gradually get really, really good at it. And 2K 25 top spin, 2K 25. It's an air to that it right away. You feel like, OK, I know how to instinctively play this game.

I just hit a button at the right time and I'm near the ball. It's going to probably get it over the net and then gradually it complicates that in such interesting and enjoyable ways. I think that's like the key part that it's actually fun as it gets more and more difficult and that is based off of, you know, timing of, um, there's like a meter where it like, kind of, I think of like kicking a field goal and Madden meter, uh, that fills as the ball approaches and you want to like release the

shot right as it hits this like little green mark, but that how fast it fills can change in, I mean, in the matter of a second, I mean, this is happening within a second. And if somebody hit the ball very fast at you, it's going to feel really quickly. If somebody hit the, it's slow that it's kind of feel slowly. If you're moving up the court towards the ball, that's going to adjust the speed. So like you are constantly having to think about your position, your footing, whether or not you're going to actually charge the ball, whether or not you're going to like play it.

I think it's called the baseline or the back of the court is. Yeah. Um, you, you within an hour of playing it are starting to like really think about the strategy of your tennis game, even if you don't watch or play tennis ever. Um, so it's great. I mean, it's, it's so impressive to play a sports game that really gets you in from the top and has a great training mode.

Um, uh, with, um, uh, Mackenro is doing the voiceover for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he's like, Hey, welcome. Just to having a nice time. And I'm like, I hope he yells at me soon. Then I will feel alive.

Um, I do recommend that if you do play it, um, that there's a career mode and a career mode and a tutorial mode. The tutorial mode is great, super helpful. Skip it if you're gonna do the career mode because the career mode kind of builds tutorials into it. And I made the mistake of going through this very long tutorial and then went into the career mode

and it's like, great, now practice hitting the ball 10 times. And I'm like, yeah, I'm pretty familiar with that one. Mackenroe, you got me, you little, you little scoundrel. great, now practice hitting the ball 10 times. And I'm like, yeah, I'm pretty familiar with that one. Mackenroe, you got me, you little rascal scoundrel. You did it again. How do we convince the Mario tennis people that this is the Mario tennis game that we want?

We don't want the goofy ass, like, this fucking Koopa's running around the court. I just want a straight up like tennis RPG. Yeah, just good tennis. Oh, and this does have upgrading. It has like lots of different like outfits and stuff, but then it has ways to upgrade your racket in the career mode that is like getting to that RPG vibe.

Yeah. It has like a very good grind to it. And I say grind as a compliment in this case. Yeah. Do you think you're gonna want one before the next 10, like it's gonna be another 10 years before one of these comes out. Like why would you ever buy-

No, there will be a pickleball game before the next Top Speed game. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Fucking Rockstar is gonna come in after they made Time of Ten. Rockstar's pickleball game. Gosh, yeah.

I love how that seems very plausible. I was in Target yesterday and they have the display that's the new clothes and everything and it was all pickleball themed. Of course. I was like, what the? I don't even understand what pickleball is. It's just little tennis. I think so.

But not as little as table tennis. It's like medium tennis. It's medium tennis. Well, as little as table tennis. It's like medium tennis. It's medium tennis. Well, it's like slower tennis. So it's not as hard on the knees. I don't know that you move. I think you stand still like it's the ball. No, you do move.

Oh, you do. Otherwise you need one hell of a wingspan if you're not moving. Well, I thought it was like more like four square, but the ball. No, you play it on a tennis court. You just adjust the size of the tennis. Oh, you only use the four ball. Anyway, this has been the pickleball podcast.

Oh my God. I guess that's probably not true. You probably... This is, I do love our podcast of three people who have not played pickleball, except for me, in a long time, talking about pickleball. Anyway, the game is great. I, if you are the type of person who has been craving a Mario tennis game, this is it for you

Like you just want a sports RPG and it's surprisingly hard to get those like there aren't that many of them, which is weird It's it's true. Well, I mean you could also play the story mode and madden like, you know, I mean like we're 2k But yes, I think that you're actually gonna play. No, that's not gonna happen That's great. Okay. I want to talk about plants. Actually, Lucy's going to talk about plants because I don't know anything about plants. Hi. His name's Chris. No.

So I started playing Botany Manor. I played it at GDC actually last year. It was part of the Xbox little showcase thing. And so we have a joke on Friends Per Second, which is the podcast, what I do outside of work. And every time there is a game that's kind of wholesome, cozy, uh, and my cohost Ralph will always say that is a Lucy ass game and now, and that is, that is, should be the tag on steam, I think now because botany manner is so up my

street, it's really annoying. I mean, not in that, I'm an outdoorsy person in any way, but I just love puzzle games and I love just kind of like walking around experiencing stories. And so, Botany Manor is this great mix of the puzzle game at the heart of it is you turn up at a fancy manor and you are some kind of botanist, you've been away for a little bit and you have to figure out the exact conditions that plants need to grow and that you have a little book of all of your plants and you have to grow them and that's those are the puzzles. So basically you know the first one you do is oh this this plant

grows in Sicily and it needs this very specific temperature so in the greenhouse I'll turn the heat up to this temperature I'll put the soil in I'll put the seed in I this temperature. I'll put the soil in, I'll put the seed in, I'll water it, I'll put it in front of the heater, and then magically it grows because that's how plants work. And then it'll unlock the door. And you know, you kind of go on to the next room, and then you go into the main house and you're kind of unlocking more rooms by completing the puzzles. And then at the same time, you're kind of figuring out the past of this family who live there There's this big family tree on the on the wall as you come in and you are Yeah, you kind of experiencing the story that way, but it's it's also just like it's one of those games that encourages you to read everything

That is wild. It sounds like mist but with like plant as the underpinning. Yes, and it's just really it's really sweet And there's also it it's, I don't know, it's just, I love a, I love a puzzle game where you, it makes you feel clever and empowers you and it doesn't pander to you at any point. I'm sure there are ways of getting hints and whatever. You can look it up online if you get stuck, but it's just, it's just really pleasant and I just really, I think after a lot of travel and a lot of busyness and also can't, I can't go to another hundred hour game at the moment.

I'm sorry. I did, I did Yakuza into Final Fantasy. Persona 3 is still waiting for me, but I was looking at my Steam Deck and I was like, no, I just want to, I just want to walk around a nice manor and pretend that I'm in Downton Abbey. Does Botany Manor have the option that gives you a gun? You know, a water gun, maybe. No, no, no.

No. Sad, no, I didn't look. I didn't look, but I, I was just really enjoying it. It's, um, I'm trying to think. It's point and click or you, are you like actually moving through those? You're, you're actually walking around. And I mean, in terms of, you know, how it looks, it's point and click or you, are you like actually moving through those spaces? You're actually walking around. And I mean, in terms of, you know, how it looks, it's not as stylized, I guess.

I think that's my one kind of complaint is that it just does look a little bit, you know, it could, it could be a little more zhuzh. It could be a little more fun, uh, in terms of how it looks, but in terms of a game experience, it's very pleasant. And I, I think the puzzles are genuinely really good. And I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm actually going to play it. I'm going to play a little bit after this. Oh, you know what it looks like? It looks like what was that John Blow game?

Oh, The Witness. Yes. A lot of people say that. The Witness. It looks like that. Yeah. I don't want to diminish their work, but that was my immediate thought in seeing the visual style. I'm kind of into that. It's like simple and kind of direct and inoffensive. I also think it's pretty short. I love it. Or like a few hours. I love a short game.

So I'm very into that. If you haven't, I'm going to use your platform to tell people to play The Last Campfire if you haven't. It's from Hello Games from a few years ago. Fantastic puzzle game. I forgot that came out, which makes me feel sad because I love No Man's Sky. I love their stuff.

I'm very excited for the next game. And I feel like this game kind of came out and didn't make as much of a splash, but that's really good to hear. Well, I've been playing a game, but it's still under embargo for another two weeks. And I love it so much, but I can't really talk a lot about it.

So I think we're just gonna jump right into one quick reader mail question actually more of a statement Lucy you mentioned the fallout show earlier. We talked about it last week Had you what did you watch any of the episodes or I watched episode one last night, okay? So this will actually be maybe potentially interesting and we'll we'll skip over anything. That's like spoilery This letter comes from Ben Cox I don't know if you all missed this or just chose to not talk about it But I feel like the three main characters represent the aspect of player choice in the fallout games

They fall on different spots of spectrum between order and chaos Lucy represents a player That's altruistic and lawful the ghoul is much more selfish chaotic downright evil sometimes Maximus represents a more morally gray character. In that way, I think Maximus is brilliantly written. A player that makes choices by the seat of their pants based on the current circumstances might look a lot like Maximus. His choices may seem erratic,

but that's exactly how many players act, particularly if they aren't interested in role playing. I kinda like that. That's like a really interesting approach. It would be slightly better if Maximus then just picked up every item Yeah, I really need and 12 more of them You know, I was playing New Vegas. We talked about it on rest these in a past episode and I couldn't help but notice that like the challenges in Starfield,

we were constantly overloaded, does not happen in New Vegas, because it's so clear what actually has value versus not. I had the exact same criticism of Starfield. Like, why do I need to pick up this clipboard? Why do I need to pick this up? Why, why, why, why, why? This is pointless. This is not role-playing. This is annoying. Yeah. So, yeah, it's just baffling to me that they like continued down the road of like no you can pick everything up There's no reason to and in fact, it's actually a negative but you can pick it up

very odd Cool any other things that we want to talk about in terms of honorable mentions Lucy This can be a game. This can be a movie, a book, anything. You name it. Ooh, I went to the cinema back in the UK and I saw Monkey Man, which is now available to stream. And it is, again, we're talking about confident debuts. This is the debut movie from Dev Patel. British people know him off of skins. Everyone else. I didn't actually know that's where he got his start was on skins. That's amazing. Him and Nicholas Holt, I think we're in the same like first season of skins together.

Crazy. And then obviously Slumdog Millionaire was like the like blowing up his career and he's since worked very steadily since then. He's terrific. Yeah it's fantastic and I really really enjoyed it. I liked being back in the cinema again you know. I'm one of those terrible people who just goes oh I'll wait for streaming and then I go to the cinema I'm like oh this is actually the best. I think it just depends on the movie there's some movies that just like crush in movie theaters. I remember seeing the Godzilla minus one. And that was like such a good movie theater movie. It was great. Also matters which theater. You know, like you go to like a crappy theater

with like a crappy screen and crappy sound and you've spent 20 bucks. I go to the Alamo in San Francisco a lot. Which is, you know, there was some kerfuffle on X for me known as Twitter, where people were complaining about people bringing in food and stuff. And honestly, I find the Alamo, even though they have people constantly coming in and out to bring food and drink, less disruptive than the youths on their phones being loud, talking, you know, because in the Alamo, you will absolutely

get kicked out, right? And so I think it's, it's your preference, but I think when you go to a theater that is, I don't know where people are more respectful. I don't know if you've ever listened to Kermode and Mayo. They used to do the film podcast in the UK, like big, big, like they were the BBC film people and they left to do their own podcast outside of it.

But like they had rules of the cinema, which was like no loud food, like no talking, no phones and stuff. And there were jokes, it was just the code of conduct. And I kind of like internalized it. So I am the most silent person in the cinema. And I kind of get irrationally angry when people are not, I will ask you to be quiet.

I am that person, unfortunately. You get one 10 second glance at a phone if there's like an emergency scenario. You get one 10 second glance at a phone if there's like an emergency scenario. Yeah. If you look at your phone again, I don't care if you're my best friend sitting next to me, I've done this, I'd be like, put your fucking phone away, dude. No, I went to see Hamilton in the UK,

it just opened, right? Yeah. We were so excited about it. Tamar Hussein, who works with me at GameSpot, is incredible at getting tickets for things. He has like the luck of the draw every time he got us to see really early tickets to Hamilton, incredible seats. And I kid you not, the guy in front of me had a laptop.

Was he reviewing it? Was he blogging live blogging the Hamilton performance? And he can't even fathom it. And he was on, I don't know what he was doing, but he was on his laptop and I lasted a song and I tapped him on the shoulder and I said, hey, I'm sorry, could you put your lights away? It is so distracting to literally everyone behind us.

And he went, oh, I work on the show. And I was like, so why are you sat in the middle of the audience? Like what is this? What is this, my guy? That's so bizarre. It was so bizarre. But he did, and then he shut his laptop.

So I was like, you can't be working that hard. Yeah. Well, I agree with all of your very strict movie theater rules and theater rules in general. That's crazy to me. I'm fun. I'm fun. No, I... No, that is fun.

That is good. I I thought I had the worst but you beat me mine is I saw Manchester by the sea and the woman in front Of me had an iPad out and she kept reading the news It's like ma'am. His children are dead. I will I will allow a Google when people are like, who is that actor? Because sometimes it's very funny. Because you just go see. That's crazy.

Allow one. You don't, you know, Robert Pattinson is it? Okay. Oh, that's Batman? Damn it. Spoiled it for myself. I like that we both pulled the same Robert Pattinson movie. Anyway, Chris Point, do you have any honorable mentions? I just started mini-shoot adventures. the same Robert Patton's movie. Anyway, Chris Point, do you have any honorable mentions?

I just started Mini Shoot Adventures. Yeah, we're gonna do a whole resties on it, so I don't want you to talk too much about it. I'm not gonna say anything other than people should play it. It's a Zelda, like old school Zelda meets twin stick shooter. And the design is really something special. We'll talk more about it. What was it called again mini?

mini shoot adventures talk about forgettable branding, but it does sound like a good game my kind of my kind of game Okay, I think we did it Chris point you want to recap the games we talked about Yes, I definitely do that and I am ready to do it. We talked about another crabs treasure stellar blade tales of Kinsara top spin 2k 25 botany manner we talked about the fallout TV show You mentioned in embargo game that we can't talk about many shoot adventures and The film monkey man, which is now available to stream cool before we thank the patrons which we will speaking of patrons we do have a

Bracket battles episode coming up first week of May Y'all have been voting for that topic in the patreon for people that are subscribed to the patreon The number one voted subject we will not be doing, I'm sorry. We basically had a long list of topics that we thought would be cool. And the number one voted one was best romanceable character, which actually does seem like quite a bit of fun. But I feel like in our, us being just like kind of genius. Four old dudes. I think that's what you're getting at. in our, us being just like, kind of homogeneous.

Four old dudes. I think is what you're getting at. Where four white straight guys isn't gonna be the best listening experience. And we thought about having guests. It's Garis Vicarians, oh. We could certainly have guests and things like that. That's true, that's a good point.

But I think I am personally a little hesitant and worried about executing on that episode. So we'll do the number two most voted episode, which is also very good, which is appropriate because it is the best second game in a series. So we're going to be doing a big bracket episode, uh, delving into those, uh, and some more fun bracket, uh, topics in there. Uh, that being said, we will pay homage to anyone's favorite romanceable characters over the next few episodes. So if you want to drop those into the comments on the newsletter,

please do so. I certainly have plenty of them. But yeah, definitely want to see your picks for the best romanceable characters. Okay, some Patreon business. Thank you to the following patrons. We have ultimate Danny 5000 Lacey Copeland Mitzvah melting and Millet milk a lot of M alliteration going on today. Thank you patrons. For those that aren't subscribed to the Patreon, you can find it at patreon.com of the Resties every single month with Chris Plant and I, as well as a Bracket Battles episode that comes up every month featuring the whole gang. And we have a good time. We record it very late at night and we tend to get a little loopy. So hopefully you've enjoyed that. Anyway, Lucy, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me.

It was a pleasure. We got to talk about games that we enjoyed and weren't embarrassed by in some way, which was a delight. Where can people find you? I'm on Twitter, at Lucy James Games. I'm Lucy James Games everywhere. And day job, I work at GameSpot and Giant Bomb. And then in the evenings, I do the Friends Per Second podcast over on Skill-Up's channel and then a bunch of other stuff but you know I've too many jobs.

That's right. And what do you call a crab that works at a pizza shop? Wait wait wait. Uh. Uh. Oh I don't know. Would you call it a crustacean? Yes you would.

I would. Next week on the besties, we have No Rest for the Wicked, which is in early access at the moment. And it is from the studio that brought you Ori and the Blind Forest, as well as the other Ori game, which I loved both of those games. And this is like a total departure for them. So I'm very interested to see what they're doing.

It is available in early access right now. If you wanted to play it, you can go ahead and play it on Steam. I don't know what to expect, but I'm optimistic and hope it is cool. And I think that's going to do it for us on the Besties. Thanks so much for listening to Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's... best games? Besties!