Watched some of your sleep aid series and loved them, frog detective 🐸 got me hooked the wholesomness is inspiring. This is series is incredibly funny. 💕 Whenever people don't get people that watch lets players, I will definetly show them your videos, I mean your voice acting is amazing, are you a pro voice actor? 🤩
I know this VOD is weeks old now but I just have to say, you noticing Phoenix's almost obsessive empathy regarding kids who have gone through horrible experiences is one of my favorite things. It's one of the reasons Phoenix is easily tied with Maya and Edgeworth for my favorite character in the original trilogy. It even has roots in the first game before Pearl was ever introduced! In the first game, Phoenix's cell phone ringtone isn't ever used. Instead, it first plays in Rise from the Ashes, where it's Ema's ringtone, not Phoenix's, and it rings when Phoenix hits the redial button on Lana Skye's phone. Jake Marshall gets confrontational, and Phoenix lies to him and says it was his ringtone, and it was just a coincidence that it started ringing when he hit the redial button. Then in the next game's, it's a plot point that Phoenix's ringtone is the Steel Samurai theme. Phoenix doesn't like The Steel Samurai. He changed his ringtone just so Ema would never be found out. I know this was technically a retroactive thing because Rise from the Ashes was written after the last game of the trilogy, but I *adore* this as a tiny, near unnoticeable character detail.
Wait, if Tri’s friends repair the rifts by using their echo ability, does that mean that a lot or all of the restored land, buildings, and PEOPLE are just copies of the originals that are still lost to the rifts 😨
Might I recommend Disco Elysium The Final Cut? The dialog is so softspoken, especially from the skills and Kim, not to mention the soundtrack can be so soothing sometimes. Also, someone's made a Disco Elysium Shadow Fandub Fan Animatic posted right here on RU-vid. Watch it, it's accurate. It's the "Something just happened" monolog.
(I lost the actual timestamp while writing this comment and YT is being super annoying on mobile, so I'm just gonna go with the vague 1:08:00 timestamp) I think, regarding the whole "Astrobot pats itself on the back for celebrating old series that they haven't done much with" point--while I definitely see the article's point, I feel like it treats Astrobot as a product of the executives instead of what I think it is: a love letter to Sony games, by Sony devs who seem to genuinely love and respect their IPs, from the very popular to the super niche. It would have been incredibly easy for this game to be something like Playstation All-Stars or even Nickelodens Brawl (or God forbid, the Funko Pop game); games that might show the devs research and dedication but otherwise feel like they're pointing at certain parts of it and going, "Look! Isn't it cool to see X and Y on the same screen?" Which isn't bad by itself! But what makes Astrobot shine in comparison is its charm. It's a super charming game. You can tell the devs really had a lot of fun working on the gameplay, the level design, picking out game reps and what their interactions would be like. Hell, the fact that some trophies are so specific like Kiryu's and Crash's makes me really happy, because it's clear they wanted to add a little extra something for players that go out of their way for these interactions. Even the big title levels like the Ape Escape and God of War ones, you can see how they add little callbacks and references for players familiar with it. (Honestly the music for the God of War level alone tells me that they had fun creating this game.) Again, I see the articles point but I think it feels disingenuous to the people who went above and beyond for this sort of premise. I genuinely believe that, even if all these IPs had gotten new games in the past like, month or so, the game would still be how it is now: a very charming and fun celebration for all things Sony. This REALLY could have ended up like Funko Fusion... but, it didn't. And I'm really glad for that. I think Astrobot, at its core, is the perfect example of how nostalgia can be utilized to make great things. I'm so proud of the team asobi and I really hope this wins GOTY.
Just wanted to say how much I appreciate your perspective, mechanics analysis, game design knowledge, and willingness to engage with the storytelling and lore in every video - especially since you play so many games I love! I’ve been playing this one on my own since it came out, and it’s quickly become a favorite. And as always, yours is the first playthrough I looked for - and it does NOT disappoint! Zelda is a young princess with a magical rod and the power to seal the darkness - of course she would commit arson and break pots!!! So happy with how much freedom we have in the PC’s “characterization” 😂 Nintendo has definitely been paying attention to American ttrpg culture and this was a great way to model Zelda as the archetypal wizard/rogue while link is more the paladin/rogue - equal in power, difference in execution (both rogues though, because they are wiry little weirdos) I hope you and yours made it okay with the hurricane - my family is in the SE too and it’s been insane, stay safe!
Additional game comment: I loved that I never felt like it was a “girls’” game. I was always ABLE to be violent or unladylike with my solutions and it is never “wrong” or treated like a “bad princess”. They really struck a beautiful balance between the fantasy/medieval/celtic lore and maintaining the character’s agency. Love the damsel in distress flip and the lore nuggets about Link’s journey before he saves her. Just. Yes.
I actually think Zelda is a warlock (with Tri as her patron) while Link is definitely a ranger 🤓 Though I do agree both kinda have some rogue elements, maybe they multiclass as rogue.
@@Ammeeeeeeer i see!! I went Wizard just with the sheer number of summons and abilities she has (that all use “spell slots” and intelligence) - though I DEFinitely see the “tri as patron” pov, especially cause Zelda has the charisma of a princess!!! Also link as ranger/paladin makes more sense than rogue - tbh I absolutely forgot about rangers (typical smh)
I like to imagine there were many opportunities Mar couldve said to keep up the ruse that defeating King Arthur was the actual "end" of the game. Say since it was the 2000s, Sonic franchise was going under after 06 and financial cuts had the game to be short this was the "original" secret rings concept, but was never fully fleshed out and rushed out the door established that King Arthur was the big bad since the beginning and now game was over (: Mention "in an interview", the writers kept going back and forth and could not decide on a proper ending so played it safe
31:54 Of all the people I've seen get that puzzle piece (which at the moment is just you, Alphrad and RTGame) you're the first to actually get it the intended way lmao.
im not meaning to be an asshole but gosh am i tired of the whole discussion around framrate with the grezzo games. this convo has been a thing since 2019 where its kinda undermined the artstyle and how much its doing for itself both in front and behind the scenes. like no i dont think a game this gorgeous would run on an old laptop hello?? that feels like bad faith hyperbole (edit: i misquoted with the last part especially, which is entirely on me, my bad)
the art style is fantastic! if anything the shoddy performance undermines the beautiful art of the game more than any criticism does. it makes it hard to appreciate what it’s doing when literally just moving from one screen to another becomes an eyesore to look at cause of all the juddering and slowdown. if this has been a conversation since 2019 i feel like your frustration should be more pointed at the studios refusal to actually address the problem, which u haven’t exactly argued doesn’t exist in the first place. performance matters as a part of the experience. i think this game is wonderful so far, which means it’s even stranger that it so blatantly ignores even the easiest of fixes for a problem that has been widely documented since their last game. and for what it’s worth… i never said laptop haha.
@@SnapCube2Prefacing this reply that I keep re-writting this cause im struggling to word this I admit! Okay I was mistaken it was "A game like this could run on my 2015 pc" at around 11:50 which i was misquoting, which I'm sorry for that (idk why that was so hard for me to find i thought i hallucinated it) (ill edit the comment to correct myself acknowledging my misquote) But I guess with your point, which I partly get, is that I take issue with how repeated that point is without much regard for context. With Link's Awakening, that was Grezzo's first HD console game EVER. Then with this game, its a game in the same engine of a much larger scale of world and how you interact with it. It's likely with this in mind they DID optimise the og one but then the scale of the new game got beyond that recent optimising. Otherwise this game would run worse. This is a good faith assumption Im making based on grezzo's history. I think the main issue i take is the assumption of capping 30 being the fixer. There's a chance they tried that and elected not to. Now, could that be an option? Yes, but I think that changes the criticism to moreso about options. I also just, don't agree about links awakening being one of the worst performing switch games, but since both of us have played recently it is a very much an "each their own" kinda thing. I've had a lot of games make me motion sick/overstimulated from performances. I look at Age of Calamity, Frontiers on switch (which at the time was my only option), scarlet violet (despite loving that game as well), etc I think the hardware point is genuinely valid when we know switch 2 was likely internally delayed, throwing a wrench into things. But I do understand your points and don't wish to be rude at all (if I am! genuinely my apologies thats not my point, its late here in the uk and ive been exhausted all day)
