Ep 117: Side Quests Vol 9

[00:00:08] And welcome to episode 117 of A Gamer Looks At 40, I'm Bill Tucker

[00:00:15] And I know, it's not Final Fantasy 7, I know!

[00:00:20] It's been a few weeks since we've been on that train, but I've been recording interviews

[00:00:24] My editors have been working tirelessly cutting these things up

[00:00:28] And I promise you we will have some Final Fantasy 7 coming your way very very shortly

[00:00:33] But in the meantime I was looking at my list of things, I was looking through the old archives

[00:00:39] And I noticed that I have a bunch of stuff in the Side Quests folder

[00:00:44] Now when my editors cut up the interviews and I'm putting things into their little buckets to make the full episodes

[00:00:51] There are things that just don't fit anywhere

[00:00:54] But rather than throw them away, because they're usually cool comments or interesting thoughts

[00:00:59] I just put them into a bucket called Side Quests

[00:01:03] And I have had 8 of these Side Quest episodes over the last few years

[00:01:07] And this is Side Quest Vol 9

[00:01:09] Just a random collection of thoughts and introductions about a wide variety of topics

[00:01:16] An omnibus, if you will, for this podcast

[00:01:19] So starting us off on this episode is Wade, aka Prof Noctis on Twitter and Twitch

[00:01:26] He is probably one of the smartest people I've ever met

[00:01:30] And an excellent conversationalist

[00:01:33] He is a professor of video games at the University of Alabama

[00:01:37] And just an all-around fascinating person to talk to about games

[00:01:42] In this clip, we talk about how video games are amazing at creating first-person memories

[00:01:48] Well, and let me say this

[00:01:50] I mean, I don't know if this would go into a 15-podcast better

[00:01:54] But my research talks about this

[00:01:56] This is the reason why I use video games in my classrooms

[00:02:00] Because the research shows that your brain forms first-person memories

[00:02:06] When you're playing a video game

[00:02:08] Anybody that's ever played a game gets this

[00:02:10] And you can even talk to a kid literally today about what game they're playing

[00:02:15] And ask them what they did

[00:02:16] And they will say, I saved the princess

[00:02:19] Not Mario saved the princess

[00:02:21] And this is a subtle way that gives us a sign that our brains are processing that I did this

[00:02:27] That it's a first-person memory

[00:02:29] Because they have agency

[00:02:30] And this is what makes video games unique from watching a movie

[00:02:34] And even reading a book

[00:02:35] Because it is a first-person memory

[00:02:38] My research asked the question

[00:02:40] Can you channel that first-person memory to activate a third-person acquisition of knowledge?

[00:02:47] So, as you're studying something in humanities

[00:02:49] Can you pair it with a first-person memory in a game so you can recall it?

[00:02:53] So that when Noctis goes through a cave

[00:02:55] You remember the story of David going into a cave

[00:02:57] King David, for example

[00:02:59] And the answer is yes

[00:03:00] Long story short

[00:03:01] Wow, that's so fascinating

[00:03:03] That's so interesting

[00:03:04] It's really cool

[00:03:05] I mean, I have a seven-year-old son

[00:03:07] And I'd much rather him play a game than watch a movie or a show

[00:03:12] Because again, you have that agency

[00:03:13] And he makes those connections

[00:03:15] And sometimes for negative too

[00:03:18] My son had a situation

[00:03:19] This is going to be off-topic, but that's fine

[00:03:21] He was playing

[00:03:22] He loves Pokemon

[00:03:23] He was really into Pokemon

[00:03:24] And he wanted the cards

[00:03:25] Now he has Pokemon cards

[00:03:27] And we're teaching him the game

[00:03:27] The whole thing

[00:03:28] And he wanted to play Pokemon Shield

[00:03:30] A sword or shield

[00:03:31] One of the more modern ones

[00:03:32] And he was playing

[00:03:34] And he got

[00:03:34] Like anybody who's ever done an RPG has done

[00:03:37] He got to a section of the game

[00:03:39] He was not supposed to be in

[00:03:40] And got completely wrecked

[00:03:41] And just got decimated

[00:03:43] And it killed him

[00:03:44] And he was really

[00:03:45] I'm genuinely upset

[00:03:47] Like truly upset

[00:03:49] And it was a cool

[00:03:49] It was a good moment

[00:03:50] Like a teaching moment

[00:03:51] Like, hey

[00:03:52] This is

[00:03:54] This happens when you lose

[00:03:55] And this is

[00:03:55] How to deal with losing

[00:03:57] So just

[00:03:58] I think even

[00:04:00] Because play is vitally important

[00:04:01] And I know Red and I

[00:04:03] Have talked about this a lot

[00:04:03] And I'm sure you've probably

[00:04:04] As well

[00:04:05] The idea, the concept of play

[00:04:07] Is so important

[00:04:07] Even as adults

[00:04:08] We don't do it enough

[00:04:10] Right?

[00:04:11] Because so much learning happens that way

[00:04:13] And growth

[00:04:13] And everything else

[00:04:15] No dude, that's really cool, man

[00:04:17] Any other

[00:04:18] Yeah, go please

[00:04:19] I think we have so many stories

[00:04:21] Like that

[00:04:22] I mean, certainly

[00:04:23] When a difficulty spike

[00:04:25] Or something like that

[00:04:26] Decimates us and our character

[00:04:27] And we feel that viscerally

[00:04:28] I remember

[00:04:29] Oh gosh

[00:04:30] Again, I think it was six

[00:04:32] Maybe seven years old

[00:04:33] Playing on the regular Nintendo

[00:04:34] Before I got my Super

[00:04:36] Rent

[00:04:37] Another rental

[00:04:38] Like I

[00:04:38] I'm sure you remember the days

[00:04:40] When we used to go on Friday nights

[00:04:42] Totally

[00:04:42] And get a pizza at a rental game

[00:04:44] Like those days are

[00:04:45] The best

[00:04:46] There's a whole episode

[00:04:47] I'm more than for our kids, you know?

[00:04:48] There's a whole episode of this show

[00:04:49] About rentals

[00:04:50] If you want to listen back to it

[00:04:51] I need to

[00:04:52] We just talk about rentals

[00:04:54] Like with ten different people

[00:04:55] It's

[00:04:55] I just have such nostalgia

[00:04:57] For those days

[00:04:58] Because it was a family thing

[00:04:59] But also it's like

[00:05:00] Let's try this game out

[00:05:01] And like

[00:05:01] It just didn't the same

[00:05:02] Anyway, I remember one particular game

[00:05:04] You probably remember it

[00:05:05] It is Princess Tomato

[00:05:07] And the flower

[00:05:08] Or the vegetable kingdom

[00:05:09] Or something like that

[00:05:10] Salad Kingdom

[00:05:11] Every time

[00:05:12] I feel like I've had this conversation

[00:05:13] Three times

[00:05:14] Yes, I've talked

[00:05:15] Oh my gosh

[00:05:15] I've talked about this game

[00:05:17] Yes, yes

[00:05:17] Well, let me tell you

[00:05:18] This game is like

[00:05:20] It's an odd

[00:05:21] Like kind of point-click

[00:05:23] Sort of adventure

[00:05:24] For the NES

[00:05:24] Where you play as like

[00:05:26] A little tomato sprout

[00:05:27] Something or other

[00:05:28] Anyway, the one thing I remember

[00:05:30] About this game

[00:05:30] I've never played through it

[00:05:32] All the way

[00:05:32] I don't even remember the story

[00:05:33] I remember there is

[00:05:35] An angry green jalapeno character

[00:05:38] In a suit

[00:05:39] And you get him mad

[00:05:41] And he turns blazing fire red

[00:05:45] Okay?

[00:05:45] And he locks you in a room

[00:05:47] And he raises water

[00:05:48] While he's watching you

[00:05:50] About to drown

[00:05:51] And this horrified me

[00:05:54] I had visions of like

[00:05:55] The devil

[00:05:56] And like the underworld

[00:05:57] And I like went to my mom and dad

[00:05:59] And I'm like sobbing

[00:06:00] They're like, why are you afraid?

[00:06:01] I was like, the devil's trying to get me

[00:06:03] It's like

[00:06:04] The devil is a jalapeno

[00:06:06] Don't you understand?

[00:06:07] The devil is a jalapeno

[00:06:08] There was fire

[00:06:09] I was like, oh my gosh

[00:06:10] And they took the game away from me

[00:06:12] They took it back

[00:06:12] And I never played it again

[00:06:14] And I still have this like

[00:06:15] Visceral memory of it

[00:06:18] Oh, totally

[00:06:19] I remember Fester's Quest

[00:06:21] I remember getting that as a gift

[00:06:23] And I remember

[00:06:24] Do you remember

[00:06:25] People don't remember Fester's Quest

[00:06:26] This piece of it

[00:06:27] I remember

[00:06:28] If you dilly-dallied

[00:06:29] On the screen too much

[00:06:30] This horrifying spider

[00:06:32] Would start stalking you

[00:06:33] From the bottom

[00:06:34] Or the top

[00:06:34] Or forget which direction

[00:06:35] I could not play that game

[00:06:38] Still

[00:06:39] I would have

[00:06:40] Bad memories of that spider

[00:06:42] Terrifying

[00:06:43] It is horrifying

[00:06:44] To this day

[00:06:45] Like I think that

[00:06:46] What is it?

[00:06:47] Resident Evil 3

[00:06:48] With the nemesis system

[00:06:50] Maybe Resident Evil 2 as well

[00:06:51] Where something's constantly chasing you

[00:06:53] It conjures that PTSD in me

[00:06:55] Of like that spider

[00:06:57] Infester's Quest

[00:06:58] Coming after you

[00:06:58] Yeah, I can't do it

[00:07:00] Terrifying

[00:07:00] And that kind of links back

[00:07:03] To what we were talking about

[00:07:04] With Final Fantasy 4

[00:07:05] In that it's

[00:07:06] Those formative experiences

[00:07:08] Really do connect

[00:07:10] Right?

[00:07:11] And they linger and last

[00:07:12] And that's really cool

[00:07:18] Coming up next

[00:07:19] Are brand new friends of the show

[00:07:21] Matt and Jeff

[00:07:22] Of the Fun and Games podcast

[00:07:24] I interviewed them

[00:07:26] A couple of weeks ago

[00:07:27] As of this recording

[00:07:28] For Final Fantasy 7

[00:07:30] And it was an amazing conversation

[00:07:32] We got into personal thoughts

[00:07:35] We had a lot of fun

[00:07:36] Laughed a ton

[00:07:37] I cannot wait

[00:07:38] To share those clips with you

[00:07:40] Over the next couple of months

[00:07:41] As we kind of lead into

[00:07:43] The holiday season

[00:07:45] But I wanted to give you guys

[00:07:46] A quick introduction

[00:07:47] As to what they're all about

[00:07:49] What they do on their show

[00:07:50] And give you an opportunity

[00:07:52] To meet them

[00:07:53] Before you hear them

[00:07:55] On the full

[00:07:56] Final Fantasy 7 podcast

[00:07:58] So without further ado

[00:07:59] Here's Matt and Jeff

[00:08:01] From the Fun and Games podcast

[00:08:03] Introducing themselves

[00:08:04] And their show

[00:08:05] Alright well guys

[00:08:06] Thanks so much for taking time

[00:08:08] To chat with me a bit

[00:08:09] About Final Fantasy 7

[00:08:11] And maybe more

[00:08:12] If we get to it

[00:08:13] Who knows

[00:08:13] Who knows where the conversation goes

[00:08:15] But Jeff, Matt

[00:08:16] I'd love for you to start out

[00:08:17] A bit by telling those

[00:08:18] Who don't know you

[00:08:19] What y'all do on your podcast

[00:08:21] And what y'all do online

[00:08:24] Sure

[00:08:24] Jeff you wanna go first?

[00:08:25] Yeah sure

[00:08:26] Well

[00:08:27] Outside of podcasting

[00:08:29] I am a voice actor

[00:08:31] Actor, musician

[00:08:32] And

[00:08:33] In the podcasting world

[00:08:34] In the video game world

[00:08:35] And why Matt and I

[00:08:37] Are here right now

[00:08:37] Is we both produce

[00:08:39] Fun and Games podcast

[00:08:40] Which is a

[00:08:41] Video game conversation podcast

[00:08:43] With an optimistic view

[00:08:45] Of gaming

[00:08:45] Coming from the idea

[00:08:46] That every game

[00:08:47] Is somebody's favorite

[00:08:48] And nobody can play

[00:08:49] Every game that's out there

[00:08:50] So we bring

[00:08:51] Our gaming history

[00:08:52] Into our present

[00:08:53] And future

[00:08:54] And so

[00:08:55] We like to talk

[00:08:56] With people

[00:08:56] In and around the industry

[00:08:58] About all sorts of

[00:08:59] Big and small developments

[00:09:00] Champion indie gaming

[00:09:01] And just generally

[00:09:03] Engage and enjoy

[00:09:06] This hobby

[00:09:07] This media

[00:09:08] And

[00:09:09] Bring

[00:09:10] Who we are

[00:09:11] To

[00:09:11] All y'all

[00:09:12] And hope to hear back

[00:09:13] From everyone else

[00:09:13] And we also do another show

[00:09:15] On our feed

[00:09:16] But

[00:09:16] Matt's a better one

[00:09:17] To talk to about that

[00:09:18] Thank you Jeff

[00:09:19] Yeah so

[00:09:21] Sidequests

[00:09:22] This is a series

[00:09:22] That I

[00:09:25] Brainchilded

[00:09:25] That's a word

[00:09:26] Sure

[00:09:26] I was tired of the

[00:09:28] Negativity on the internet

[00:09:29] I think the inspiration

[00:09:31] Of the series

[00:09:32] Sidequests

[00:09:32] Was

[00:09:32] I saw a screenshot

[00:09:33] From

[00:09:34] Paper Mario

[00:09:35] Origami King

[00:09:36] And people were mad

[00:09:37] About it

[00:09:38] Even though they knew

[00:09:39] Nothing

[00:09:40] About the game

[00:09:41] And it was

[00:09:43] Frustrating to me

[00:09:44] That people were

[00:09:45] Being so negative

[00:09:46] On a game

[00:09:47] That had

[00:09:47] No info

[00:09:48] On it yet

[00:09:49] And so

[00:09:49] With that

[00:09:50] I was like

[00:09:50] Well I'm going to

[00:09:51] Create a series

[00:09:51] Where a different

[00:09:52] Post every episode

[00:09:53] Can come on

[00:09:53] And talk about

[00:09:54] A game they love

[00:09:54] And why they love it

[00:09:55] And that's how

[00:09:56] Sidequests was born

[00:09:56] I did the debut

[00:09:57] Episode on Control

[00:09:58] Because I just

[00:09:59] Played it

[00:09:59] And was obsessed

[00:10:01] And the series

[00:10:02] Ethos is along

[00:10:02] The lines of what

[00:10:03] Jeff had said

[00:10:03] Which is

[00:10:05] You know

[00:10:05] Every game is

[00:10:06] Somebody's favorite

[00:10:07] Good bad

[00:10:07] Doesn't matter

[00:10:08] It's irrelevant

[00:10:08] Everyone has

[00:10:09] A favorite game

[00:10:10] And we wanted

[00:10:11] To be able to

[00:10:11] Tell those stories

[00:10:12] And not just

[00:10:12] For podcasters

[00:10:13] Like us

[00:10:13] But fans of the show

[00:10:15] Actors

[00:10:16] Comedians

[00:10:17] You know

[00:10:18] Musicians

[00:10:19] Literally

[00:10:20] Anybody who

[00:10:21] Wanted to

[00:10:22] Tell their story

[00:10:24] And we've done

[00:10:25] As of we're recording

[00:10:26] Today

[00:10:27] Over 333 episodes

[00:10:30] And then for every

[00:10:30] 50 episodes

[00:10:31] We do a milestone episode

[00:10:32] Where me, Jeff

[00:10:32] And a guest are joined

[00:10:33] For a longer form

[00:10:34] Version of it

[00:10:35] Where we round table

[00:10:35] Talk about a game

[00:10:36] We love and why

[00:10:37] We love it

[00:10:37] We've done

[00:10:37] Super Mario World

[00:10:38] Shovel Knight

[00:10:39] Chrono Trigger

[00:10:40] I mean had some

[00:10:41] Incredible guests

[00:10:42] For that as well

[00:10:42] And it's just

[00:10:44] Another way for us

[00:10:45] To share in what

[00:10:47] We love

[00:10:47] And bring the

[00:10:48] Audience into the

[00:10:49] Conversation

[00:10:50] Because every

[00:10:51] Episode we say

[00:10:52] We thank our

[00:10:53] Listeners for being

[00:10:53] A part of the

[00:10:54] Conversation

[00:10:54] Because it is a

[00:10:55] Conversation

[00:10:55] And it's not

[00:10:57] This

[00:10:57] The shows that

[00:10:58] We do

[00:10:58] Your show too

[00:11:00] It's nothing

[00:11:00] Without the

[00:11:01] Audience and the

[00:11:01] Fans who want to

[00:11:02] Like engage in

[00:11:04] That dialogue

[00:11:05] Because that's the

[00:11:05] Best thing about

[00:11:06] Games is talking

[00:11:06] About it

[00:11:07] And so yeah

[00:11:07] And as for me

[00:11:09] I am also a

[00:11:10] Producer on the

[00:11:11] Show

[00:11:11] I also host

[00:11:12] Another podcast

[00:11:13] Called Reignite

[00:11:13] Which started as a

[00:11:14] Mass Effect podcast

[00:11:15] Is now a

[00:11:16] Dragon Age podcast

[00:11:17] And for the

[00:11:17] History of the

[00:11:19] Show we're

[00:11:19] Actually current

[00:11:20] With production

[00:11:21] Of games at

[00:11:22] Bioware because

[00:11:23] They're putting

[00:11:23] Out a new

[00:11:24] Dragon Age as

[00:11:24] Of when we're

[00:11:25] Recording and

[00:11:25] That's exciting

[00:11:26] It's me and my

[00:11:27] Co-host Frankie

[00:11:28] Bradley the

[00:11:28] Strange we put

[00:11:30] Ourselves in the

[00:11:30] Shoes of Shepard

[00:11:31] And then discuss

[00:11:32] Why we made

[00:11:32] Those choices

[00:11:33] We did it then

[00:11:34] For Ryder in

[00:11:35] Andromeda and

[00:11:36] Now we're doing

[00:11:36] It we did it

[00:11:37] For the

[00:11:38] The warden who

[00:11:39] Can have any

[00:11:40] Name and now

[00:11:41] Hawk as we are

[00:11:42] Playing through

[00:11:42] Dragon Age 2

[00:11:43] Currently and

[00:11:44] That's more

[00:11:45] About why we

[00:11:46] Make the

[00:11:46] Choices we

[00:11:47] Make the

[00:11:47] Decision making

[00:11:48] In games and

[00:11:48] Most importantly

[00:11:49] Why we romance

[00:11:50] Who we romance

[00:11:51] In those games

[00:11:52] Because that's

[00:11:52] Really what we

[00:11:54] Want to talk

[00:11:54] About and so

[00:11:56] That's been a lot

[00:11:56] Of fun I've been

[00:11:57] Producing that

[00:11:57] Series and

[00:11:58] Co-hosting it for

[00:11:59] A long time and

[00:12:00] Then I'm also a

[00:12:00] DJ in my

[00:12:01] Downtime I

[00:12:02] Stream a little

[00:12:02] And yeah

[00:12:05] I think that's

[00:12:06] Everything so

[00:12:07] Yeah

[00:12:07] That's awesome

[00:12:09] I love your

[00:12:10] I love side

[00:12:11] Quest because

[00:12:11] Just like you

[00:12:12] Said I've been

[00:12:12] Wanting to do a

[00:12:13] Side quest for

[00:12:14] A while every

[00:12:14] Once in a while

[00:12:15] I look on my

[00:12:16] Pod feed and

[00:12:17] I'm like damn

[00:12:18] Side quest I

[00:12:19] Need to do a

[00:12:20] Side quest thing

[00:12:20] Because I know

[00:12:21] You just accept

[00:12:22] Not any

[00:12:23] Anybody but

[00:12:23] Really it feels

[00:12:24] Like a door is

[00:12:25] Open come and

[00:12:26] Tell your story

[00:12:26] Type of situation

[00:12:27] I love that about

[00:12:28] About that because

[00:12:30] That's how this

[00:12:30] Show is too I'm

[00:12:31] Very much so hey

[00:12:32] You don't need to

[00:12:33] Be a podcast you

[00:12:34] Don't need to be

[00:12:34] An expert just

[00:12:35] You have a cool

[00:12:36] Story to tell about

[00:12:36] A game you love

[00:12:37] Come on over and

[00:12:38] I love when other

[00:12:39] Shows do that because

[00:12:40] You're right the

[00:12:41] Conversation is what

[00:12:42] Kind of elevates

[00:12:43] Gaming to the

[00:12:45] Levels quote unquote

[00:12:46] Of other types of

[00:12:47] Art forms like you

[00:12:48] Can have really cool

[00:12:48] Conversations so I

[00:12:50] Love it man you

[00:12:50] Guys do awesome

[00:12:51] Stuff well thank

[00:12:51] You I appreciate

[00:12:52] That yeah I mean

[00:12:54] I'm happy to have

[00:12:54] You do an

[00:12:55] Episode anytime we

[00:12:55] Have a running list

[00:12:56] Of stuff that's

[00:12:57] Taken because not

[00:12:57] Everything in the

[00:12:58] Feed we have

[00:12:58] Stuff beyond that

[00:12:59] Just reach out

[00:13:00] After this and

[00:13:01] We'll get you set

[00:13:01] Up there are a

[00:13:02] Few final fantasies

[00:13:03] Unclaimed just

[00:13:04] Saying just throwing

[00:13:05] That out there

[00:13:06] All right I'm

[00:13:07] Still playing nine

[00:13:08] For the first time

[00:13:09] Right now so in

[00:13:10] Preparation for this

[00:13:10] Series so and and

[00:13:12] Enjoying it I am

[00:13:14] Really liking I tried

[00:13:16] To play eight I

[00:13:17] Tried I gave it

[00:13:18] Three hours I gave

[00:13:19] It three hours of

[00:13:20] Dad time and that

[00:13:21] Was that was the

[00:13:22] Best I could give

[00:13:23] It next up we have

[00:13:32] Josh of the still

[00:13:34] Loading podcast

[00:13:35] Talking about the

[00:13:37] Joy of conventions

[00:13:38] Now if you've never

[00:13:39] Listened to the still

[00:13:40] Loading podcast they

[00:13:42] Are an absolutely

[00:13:42] Fantastic retro gaming

[00:13:44] Show they talk about

[00:13:45] Games of all types

[00:13:46] I had the great

[00:13:48] Honor honestly truly

[00:13:50] Great honor to be a

[00:13:51] Part of their final

[00:13:52] Fantasy draft 2024

[00:13:55] This past I think

[00:13:56] It was released a

[00:13:57] Couple of months ago

[00:13:58] If you haven't

[00:13:59] Listened to that

[00:13:59] Episode myself and

[00:14:01] Three other people

[00:14:02] Attempt to cobble

[00:14:03] Together the ultimate

[00:14:04] Final fantasy in an

[00:14:06] NFL slash NHL style

[00:14:08] Draft and it was a

[00:14:10] Ton of fun really good

[00:14:12] People on that show

[00:14:13] And I did not win

[00:14:15] As a matter of fact

[00:14:17] I lost pretty big

[00:14:19] When it came to the

[00:14:20] Final voting but it

[00:14:20] Doesn't matter it was

[00:14:21] Still a great time I

[00:14:23] Don't know I thought

[00:14:24] My I that's the kind

[00:14:25] Of final fantasy I

[00:14:26] Wanted to make evidently

[00:14:28] Others didn't agree

[00:14:29] But what I can't agree

[00:14:30] On is that Josh is an

[00:14:32] Amazing person to talk

[00:14:33] To about games and I'm

[00:14:34] So grateful he was

[00:14:35] Able to join me for

[00:14:37] This podcast so let's

[00:14:39] Chat with Josh as we

[00:14:40] Talk about video game

[00:14:41] Conventions and all the

[00:14:43] Nostalgia feels video

[00:14:45] Game conventions are

[00:14:46] Just churches for

[00:14:46] Gamers it's I like

[00:14:48] That it's I like that

[00:14:49] I mean that's what it

[00:14:50] Is like I'm without

[00:14:52] Going into anything for

[00:14:53] Myself I am I always

[00:14:56] Feel weird saying this

[00:14:56] Because I I never want

[00:14:58] People to think that

[00:14:58] I'm pushing anything

[00:14:59] On them but I am

[00:15:00] Really I am a

[00:15:01] Christian but I'm not

[00:15:02] Like a not a nuts

[00:15:03] One just to be clear

[00:15:05] But um the one of

[00:15:07] The things that they

[00:15:07] Talk about with church

[00:15:08] Is that it's supposed

[00:15:09] To be communal that

[00:15:10] The reason why you meet

[00:15:11] Every week is to be

[00:15:12] Around like-minded

[00:15:13] People that's what

[00:15:15] Conventions are and

[00:15:16] Kind of in a in a

[00:15:18] Lesser sense what the

[00:15:20] Final Fantasy games kind

[00:15:22] Of bring where

[00:15:22] Everyone's meeting

[00:15:23] Around this thing and

[00:15:24] You're communing over

[00:15:25] Final Fantasy um in I

[00:15:28] Don't know I think

[00:15:29] That's a really I'm not

[00:15:31] Trying to compare

[00:15:31] Final Fantasy to

[00:15:32] Religion especially

[00:15:32] Since Final Fantasy

[00:15:33] Kills God a lot of

[00:15:35] Times but constantly

[00:15:36] Constantly all the time

[00:15:38] But um it's it is

[00:15:40] Something where I think

[00:15:41] It's a it's an

[00:15:42] Interesting it's an

[00:15:44] Interesting thing I

[00:15:44] Think it's just yeah I

[00:15:45] Think it's just that I

[00:15:46] Think that kind of like I

[00:15:48] Think the tv show analogy

[00:15:49] I gave before is a is

[00:15:50] Probably the best one

[00:15:51] Like you all meet up

[00:15:52] The next year like oh

[00:15:52] What did you see what how

[00:15:54] Far did you get I I like

[00:15:55] That concept and I I like

[00:15:57] The fact that we create

[00:15:59] Communities around things

[00:16:00] We love like when I go to

[00:16:01] Video game conventions I

[00:16:02] Often make the joke I

[00:16:04] Don't know why I'm there

[00:16:05] Because I don't collect

[00:16:06] Anything not buying

[00:16:07] Anything I I like

[00:16:10] Cosplay I don't cosplay

[00:16:12] Myself but I find it

[00:16:13] Interesting and fun and

[00:16:13] in and cool uh and

[00:16:15] Then I always land on I

[00:16:16] Like being around the

[00:16:17] People I like being around

[00:16:19] Like-minded people talk

[00:16:21] To people about video

[00:16:22] Games check out some

[00:16:23] Games play some games

[00:16:24] And being around like-

[00:16:26] Minded people is a good

[00:16:27] Thing and I'm also a

[00:16:28] Christian so we're and

[00:16:30] I'm not a crazy one as

[00:16:31] Well so we're you're in

[00:16:32] A safe place in that

[00:16:33] Regard you're right

[00:16:34] Community is the idea is

[00:16:36] That's supposed to be a

[00:16:37] Group of people like-

[00:16:38] Minded people sharing

[00:16:39] Experience and that is a

[00:16:41] It's a very uh it's a

[00:16:43] Very interesting piece of

[00:16:44] It so I like how you're

[00:16:46] Kind of connecting those

[00:16:46] Dots uh between the

[00:16:48] Playground experience um and

[00:16:50] These games that are

[00:16:51] Intended to be solo but

[00:16:52] Really don't because you

[00:16:54] Connect with them so much

[00:16:55] You want to share it just

[00:16:56] Like that tv show and

[00:16:58] Just like twitch or a

[00:16:59] Podcast yeah I love I

[00:17:01] Love when people there's

[00:17:02] Somebody right now um I

[00:17:04] Found on twitter they're

[00:17:05] Gonna run through what

[00:17:06] Became a be the fish for

[00:17:07] The first time I can't

[00:17:09] Wait to watch that

[00:17:10] Stream because it'd be so

[00:17:11] Fun experiencing that with

[00:17:13] Somebody who's never

[00:17:13] Played that game before how

[00:17:14] Fun is that right like I

[00:17:16] Love I love that kind of

[00:17:17] Stuff so I think that makes

[00:17:18] A lot of sense and that

[00:17:19] That definitely does link

[00:17:21] Up next up we reunite with

[00:17:26] Carson who is heavily

[00:17:28] Featured on the earlier

[00:17:30] Final fantasy episodes I

[00:17:32] Don't believe I have any

[00:17:33] Clips from him for final

[00:17:34] Fantasy 7 which is a shame

[00:17:36] Because he was such a fun

[00:17:37] Conversation to have had a

[00:17:39] Lot of great insights in

[00:17:41] This clip we talk about

[00:17:42] Final fantasy of course but

[00:17:44] Also the games we were

[00:17:45] Playing other than that and

[00:17:48] How much of a departure it

[00:17:50] Was to experience this

[00:17:52] Sprawling nes rpg so that

[00:17:54] Was so you're talking about

[00:17:55] The first final fantasy the

[00:17:56] Original nes yes yes the

[00:17:59] Original gotcha so did you

[00:18:01] Find yourself confused I

[00:18:04] Played it when I was eight

[00:18:06] I'm 43 now so I was eight

[00:18:08] When I first played the

[00:18:08] First final fantasy on nes

[00:18:10] And seven or eight probably

[00:18:12] Seven that sounds about right

[00:18:13] Just age wise so were you

[00:18:16] Able to get through it how

[00:18:17] Do you remember how far you

[00:18:18] Got no no I think I have

[00:18:22] Vivid memories of getting to

[00:18:23] At least matoya's cave okay

[00:18:26] And then stopping getting to

[00:18:28] Hear that music and oh yeah

[00:18:30] Yeah I think the biggest

[00:18:31] Thing about final fantasy in

[00:18:33] General to me is the music oh

[00:18:34] Absolutely that music I

[00:18:36] Cannot get through initial

[00:18:37] Conversation without talking

[00:18:38] About the music and we'll

[00:18:39] Talk about it because I

[00:18:40] Definitely want to get your

[00:18:41] Take on it and spend some

[00:18:42] Time and but just on the

[00:18:43] Initial interviews we may have

[00:18:45] To just do an episode just on

[00:18:47] The music but we'll see we'll

[00:18:48] See how it because seriously

[00:18:49] It's it's ridiculous because

[00:18:51] It's so important in in ten

[00:18:53] Well monster is a big part of

[00:18:55] The music but I think there

[00:18:57] Are some little composers

[00:18:59] Hidden in between the final

[00:19:01] Fantasy games that really

[00:19:03] Deserve recognition now like

[00:19:04] Sokin for final fantasy 14

[00:19:06] Sure a bunch of others totally

[00:19:08] Totally absolutely yeah there's

[00:19:11] Lots of contributors and and

[00:19:12] And we'll talk about the music

[00:19:14] I definitely want to just make

[00:19:15] That its own section but going

[00:19:16] Back to the original final

[00:19:17] Fantasy do you remember how it

[00:19:19] Felt as as a child like

[00:19:20] Exploring that world what were

[00:19:22] You playing at the time and

[00:19:23] Was this drastically different

[00:19:26] Than anything you had seen

[00:19:27] Before I'd say fairly

[00:19:28] Different I think the games I

[00:19:30] Played back in the day I on my

[00:19:34] NES I had I had the Bigfoot

[00:19:37] Video game nice and I had a

[00:19:41] And I had a RC Pro-Am

[00:19:43] Definitely Mario and Mario 2

[00:19:46] And Mario 3 and those games and

[00:19:48] When you say when you say

[00:19:49] Bigfoot you mean Bigfoot the

[00:19:51] Monster Truck right yes I

[00:19:53] Remember that game I remember

[00:19:56] The Bigfoot the monster truck

[00:19:58] Game why do I remember that you

[00:20:00] Just awoke a memory in my head

[00:20:03] That I didn't know existed so

[00:20:05] Strange back in yeah back in the

[00:20:07] Day I was a big monster truck fan

[00:20:09] Watching rallies on TV and

[00:20:11] Everything like like like having

[00:20:14] Little toys and whatnot and and

[00:20:16] Watching uh there was a show

[00:20:18] Called the power team it was an

[00:20:20] Old animated show about video

[00:20:22] Gaming how we're just basically it

[00:20:25] Had Bigfoot the guy from NARC and

[00:20:28] Uh some some red tomato dude and a

[00:20:31] Basketball player and a barbarian what

[00:20:34] Is happening I'm looking at a

[00:20:35] Screenshot of this madness of this

[00:20:38] Absolute madness yes it's got a

[00:20:41] Basketball player a tomato and

[00:20:43] Amplifomorphic tomato some sort of

[00:20:46] Standard army dude and a barbarian

[00:20:48] Yes that is weird yeah that uh that

[00:20:51] Army dude slash police guy is from

[00:20:54] It's from the video game NARC okay

[00:20:56] Yeah

[00:20:56] The arcade game the computer

[00:20:57] Wow so it's not so it's Matt

[00:21:00] Max force I'm looking at it now on

[00:21:02] Online it's Max force from NARC

[00:21:04] Kuros from the Wizards and Warriors

[00:21:06] Series Quirk from oh that's Quirk okay

[00:21:09] Yeah the the tomato and Tyrone from

[00:21:12] Arch Rivals and then Bigfoot from

[00:21:15] The game of the same name they based

[00:21:17] On the famous monster truck Bigfoot that

[00:21:19] Is so yeah that's uh sorry to

[00:21:22] Deverge that in tangent that that's

[00:21:24] Fine I listen this is a this is a

[00:21:27] Rabbit hole that may need to be

[00:21:28] Descended upon at some point I because

[00:21:30] Boy that is adjacent I got Mike hey

[00:21:33] Mike do you want to do an episode on

[00:21:34] Uh on this on the other power team

[00:21:38] Wherever it's going that's so funny

[00:21:39] I think I had I have over the time

[00:21:48] I've owned at least oh at least one of

[00:21:52] The major consoles like I've never had

[00:21:55] I've never had uh turbo graphics or uh

[00:21:59] Or uh 3do or stuff like that but I've

[00:22:03] At least had I've had a PlayStation I've

[00:22:06] Had a Saturn I've had uh

[00:22:10] Gamecube N64 and all that

[00:22:12] That's awesome man that's awesome yeah

[00:22:15] I had to I had to I had to pick a

[00:22:16] Fork in that road and I took I took

[00:22:18] The N64 fork and I don't as someone

[00:22:21] Who enjoyed RPGs I definitely that's

[00:22:23] Definitely was the wrong road to take

[00:22:25] But uh yeah yeah yeah I assume you

[00:22:28] Had to deal with Quest 64

[00:22:31] I think I never played it I never I

[00:22:34] Never dared I think in my back of my

[00:22:35] Mind I was always like one day

[00:22:37] They'll make some square will make

[00:22:39] Something for the N64 I promise I

[00:22:42] Don't need to play Quest 64 I think I

[00:22:43] Knew enough from other people talking

[00:22:46] And uh because I was 17 so I was

[00:22:48] Probably reading reviews a lot at the

[00:22:49] Time anyway and whatnot so um yeah this

[00:22:52] That yeah yeah that was uh when they

[00:22:55] Were were on a uh split with Sony after

[00:22:58] The the Nintendo PlayStation and the

[00:23:01] Philips EDI and whatnot that's a

[00:23:03] Debacle yeah that whole disaster exactly

[00:23:05] Right coming up next is James and JJ of

[00:23:14] The Retrofits YouTube channel uh both of

[00:23:17] These guys have been on the show before

[00:23:19] You heard them in early Final Fantasy

[00:23:21] Episodes and you will continue hearing

[00:23:23] Them as this show evolves and progresses

[00:23:26] Through the series but I love when two

[00:23:30] Friends just get together and have fun and

[00:23:34] James and JJ are always having an absolute

[00:23:37] Blast in the channel whether they're

[00:23:39] Playing Quest 64 or making up silly

[00:23:42] Voices or just being themselves is a

[00:23:46] Real treat to listen to and watch so

[00:23:48] Let's hear a little bit about what they

[00:23:50] Do online what their show is about and

[00:23:52] Learn more about James and JJ JJ James

[00:23:56] Thank you guys so much for coming on

[00:23:58] Taking time out of your Saturday to join

[00:23:59] Me to talk about Final Fantasy I've said

[00:24:03] The word Final Fantasy too many times

[00:24:05] Already in these series of interviews but

[00:24:08] Um it's a series that warrants a big

[00:24:11] Discussion right so James JJ I'd love to

[00:24:14] Hear first from you know just what do

[00:24:15] You guys do online a little bit about

[00:24:17] Yourselves and maybe your first touch

[00:24:18] Point with the Final Fantasy series as a

[00:24:20] Whole sure our channel is called retrofits

[00:24:26] We mostly do older games but we've kind

[00:24:29] Of gotten to the point where we just do

[00:24:30] Whatever we want and we basically just

[00:24:33] Play through and give funny voices to

[00:24:36] Characters that don't have voice yeah it's

[00:24:40] Uh it's very um free flow unscripted

[00:24:44] Entertainment except for the fact that

[00:24:46] We're usually reading lines from the script if

[00:24:49] That makes any sense well we we kind of

[00:24:52] Improvise if the dialogue is stupid yeah

[00:24:54] But but I mean it's it's mostly about

[00:24:57] Getting that feeling back from you know

[00:25:00] Couch mold like not even couch

[00:25:02] Multiplayer just being on the couch with

[00:25:05] Your friends like playing cool games and

[00:25:07] Hanging out and talking and uh you know

[00:25:10] That that kind of stuff that we we feel

[00:25:12] Like we had like even as recently as like

[00:25:14] 2012 2013 before online gaming became the

[00:25:18] Absolute norm right I love that and yeah

[00:25:21] Do you guys see guys normally stick with

[00:25:22] Retro games and any particular style of

[00:25:24] Game do you guys do or do you are you

[00:25:26] All over the map a little over the map but

[00:25:28] We tend we both kind of lean towards rpgs

[00:25:32] Yeah well which makes sense it's just yeah

[00:25:35] It's our favorite uh general genre especially

[00:25:38] In the older games uh I mean we break away

[00:25:41] A little bit I think we played medieval on

[00:25:43] One set of episodes that was really fun I'm

[00:25:45] Trying to think of another well we played

[00:25:47] The uh the resident evil for not the remake

[00:25:50] The hd remaster so that we could do a what

[00:25:53] We call the fun run where where we put

[00:25:56] Ashley in the armor and just ran around

[00:25:58] With the the chicago typewriter for 20

[00:26:00] Episodes to try and to try and beat the

[00:26:03] Game in the funniest way possible uh that

[00:26:06] Was that was a lot of fun but uh but we

[00:26:09] Started off actually with uh jj and and

[00:26:12] My uh collective favorite uh games uh which

[00:26:17] Were suikoden and suikoden 2 oh cool um yeah

[00:26:21] Those those were really really big for us

[00:26:24] When they first came out and it's

[00:26:25] Actually uh how we met oh cool it's yeah i

[00:26:30] Was i had a costume for the first character

[00:26:32] For the first main character of the game

[00:26:34] And he was the only person at the anime

[00:26:37] Convention that we were at that recognized

[00:26:39] That's cool the convention itself was

[00:26:41] Actually in dallas it was akon it was one

[00:26:43] Of the largest anime conventions in the

[00:26:46] U.S. and nobody recognized you that's so

[00:26:49] That was crazy to me when you were like

[00:26:52] You're the first person who got it right

[00:26:53] No that can't possibly be true but it was

[00:26:57] That's so good i mean to be fair it is a

[00:27:00] Little bit of an obscure game it is it is but

[00:27:03] When you're at an anime convention you

[00:27:05] Would think you would think you'd more

[00:27:07] Than a cup more than one next up on the

[00:27:14] Podcast we have kyle from the rpg show

[00:27:18] Talking about dnd final fantasy legos and

[00:27:23] Game facts message boards we cover the

[00:27:26] Gambit let's jump into it kyle man thank

[00:27:30] You so much for taking the time to join

[00:27:31] Me on a gamer looks at 40 we're gonna talk

[00:27:34] A bit about final fantasy and from what i

[00:27:36] Understand you're a huge fan but before we

[00:27:38] Get into the questions and the interview

[00:27:40] Itself i'd love to hear a bit about

[00:27:42] Yourself kind of you know some of your

[00:27:45] History with final fantasy and gaming in

[00:27:46] General and just kind of get a feel for

[00:27:49] For you yeah so uh my name's kyle currently

[00:27:53] Doing episodes on the rpg show as well as

[00:27:57] Um games my mom found with mike uh first

[00:28:01] Time on this one so pretty excited to be

[00:28:03] Here uh been a huge final fantasy fan for a

[00:28:07] Really long time um probably since like

[00:28:09] 1991 honestly um not just 40 yet i'm only

[00:28:13] 37 but uh but definitely up there so uh

[00:28:16] Played a lot of them over the years and uh and

[00:28:19] Yeah excited to get on and kind of talk

[00:28:20] About some of my favorites and uh and you

[00:28:22] Know how they uh molded my uh gaming career i

[00:28:26] Suppose along the way yeah right on man

[00:28:29] Absolutely very cool what do you do on the

[00:28:30] RPG show sure uh so we just cover rpgs

[00:28:35] Mostly jrpgs um all sorts different

[00:28:37] Varieties um anything from you know chrysalis

[00:28:41] All the way to final fantasy 16 my son he's

[00:28:50] Seven i had leos as a kid i was i was mr

[00:28:55] Build the model to the spec in the

[00:28:58] Instruction booklet build the model to the

[00:29:01] Instruction booklet do not stray my son i

[00:29:04] Will give him a batman lego set within

[00:29:09] Within an hour it's combined with all his

[00:29:12] Other legos and all the other sets and i

[00:29:14] Panic in my heart i'm like will you're

[00:29:17] Going to lose the you're going to lose the

[00:29:18] Piece that he doesn't care he likes to just

[00:29:20] Make his own thing i think that's the kind

[00:29:22] Of brain that that attracts you know what

[00:29:26] I mean who can like who wants to like get

[00:29:27] Into the elemental pieces of these systems

[00:29:29] And just break them apart it sounds like

[00:29:31] Tactics was just especially given your dnd

[00:29:34] Experience that sounds like a natural

[00:29:36] Extension

[00:29:37] Yeah that was really it like and and i

[00:29:39] Played tactics before i played dnd without

[00:29:42] Realizing a lot of these games a lot of

[00:29:45] These games that i played were basically

[00:29:47] Just visual dnd so it was just one of it

[00:29:51] Was a really easy transition once i got

[00:29:54] Into it and yeah i think i've been dming

[00:29:56] For 20 years now almost nice and you still

[00:30:00] Do it still dm uh yeah actually um so

[00:30:03] I'm one of those uh unicorns i've got a

[00:30:05] Group that's been playing together for

[00:30:07] Probably 16 years once a week wow oh my

[00:30:12] Gosh that sounds awesome once a week

[00:30:15] Yeah we've moved a couple times changed

[00:30:17] People but uh but yeah we play we're on a

[00:30:20] Seven and a half year campaign right now

[00:30:23] What is going on here that's so cool oh

[00:30:28] My gosh i love that that's cool do you do

[00:30:31] It over zoom now or do you start is still

[00:30:33] Local people like local friends you meet

[00:30:34] Up with in person yeah yeah it's local um

[00:30:37] I'm currently on hiatus because uh we

[00:30:39] Just had our second son about two and a

[00:30:44] Still going they're still playing thank

[00:30:45] You yeah that's awesome i'm gonna put a

[00:30:48] Little footnote it's not video game

[00:30:50] Related but that is fascinating that is

[00:30:53] That is so cool that is i love i love that

[00:30:56] That is awesome i want to go now i'm

[00:30:58] Going to after this conversation i won't

[00:31:00] Do it now but i will later i'm gonna look

[00:31:02] Up omega monkey on game facts because a

[00:31:05] That is an og username definitely an og

[00:31:09] Username there's no number it's not

[00:31:11] Omega monkey 87257 that's pretty awesome

[00:31:16] And and game facts for me is this is a

[00:31:19] Wonderful little i almost a graveyard

[00:31:22] It's not because it's still pretty active

[00:31:24] It's a wonderful like time capsule i think

[00:31:27] Of like reviews and i don't know i kind

[00:31:31] Of love game facts as like as an entity so

[00:31:34] I am going to do a little cyber stalking i

[00:31:36] Hope you don't mind to see if that's fine

[00:31:39] I'm pretty sure there's an underscore in

[00:31:41] The middle don't don't quote me on it i

[00:31:43] Haven't logged on in probably 15 years

[00:31:49] I love it that's so good i love that um

[00:31:52] Were you involved in like message boards

[00:31:54] And stuff too at that time sounds like it

[00:31:56] Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely definitely that

[00:31:58] Was kind of my introduction to like um

[00:32:00] Really talking about gaming with people um

[00:32:03] Growing up, you know in that midwestern area

[00:32:05] You only have so many friends who would

[00:32:06] Really be into the stuff everyone was not

[00:32:09] That i didn't play you know madden and

[00:32:10] FIFA and all those other things but there

[00:32:12] Weren't a lot of people into these games so

[00:32:14] You kind of had to search at that time to

[00:32:16] Find people like that and places like game

[00:32:19] FAQs or you know different chat websites

[00:32:21] At the time were really the place to find

[00:32:23] That that's awesome man that's really cool do

[00:32:27] You have do you remember how the community

[00:32:29] Was on that side of the world this is going

[00:32:31] A little off off center but i promise i'll

[00:32:35] Find community especially in the early internet

[00:32:38] Days extremely fascinating um because it

[00:32:41] Was so new and like you just said it opened

[00:32:44] Us up to entire worlds of people that we

[00:32:47] Never had access to um do you think kind

[00:32:49] Of cool stories of maybe people you met in

[00:32:52] Those online communities maybe friendships

[00:32:53] Made anything like that yeah i mean um

[00:32:57] Knowing that i really kept in contact with

[00:32:58] After that time frame because you know it

[00:33:01] Was just difficult then you didn't have a

[00:33:03] Lot of video chat or things like that um

[00:33:05] Sure sure definitely um there was a good

[00:33:07] Group of people there um one or two

[00:33:10] People that i met uh from wisconsin or at

[00:33:12] Least talked to and a lot of people there

[00:33:14] Would actually do a bunch of trivia contests

[00:33:16] Every so often to kind of have you know a

[00:33:18] WWE trophy belt or whatever um that you

[00:33:21] Can brag around in your little signature for

[00:33:23] A couple of weeks until the next one popped up

[00:33:26] So we would do a lot of that yeah a lot

[00:33:28] Of that kind of stuff and and you know

[00:33:30] Random stuff like where's the batmobile on

[00:33:32] Final fantasy 7 you know those kind of

[00:33:34] Questions so

[00:33:35] That's so good no i love that that's really

[00:33:38] Cool that's great that's that's cool i love

[00:33:40] Again i i love it when people make

[00:33:42] Connections in games over games because

[00:33:45] Again it's a part of the medium that

[00:33:46] People don't talk about and kind of it's a

[00:33:49] Very commutative can be a very commutative

[00:33:51] Um commutative community experience i don't

[00:33:55] No that's fine whatever that word is um

[00:33:57] That's really very very very cool we're

[00:34:07] About 30 minutes into the show so it is

[00:34:10] Now time to talk about my wonderful lovely

[00:34:13] And fabulous patrons including two brand

[00:34:17] New members to the a gamer looks at 40

[00:34:20] Family it just so happens they're both

[00:34:24] Kind of family first off welcome my

[00:34:26] Sister lindsey harney uh she is signed on

[00:34:29] To the three dollar fan tier and to mr

[00:34:32] Joey coro you've heard him on a recent

[00:34:35] Tales from the bargain bin and some of

[00:34:37] The early episodes he has also joined the

[00:34:40] Crew as well on the five dollar frontier

[00:34:42] Thank you to both of you they signed up

[00:34:45] Like a month ago and patreon stopped

[00:34:48] Giving me notifications so i'm sorry but

[00:34:51] I guess a thank you is better late than

[00:34:54] Never they are joining amazing people like

[00:34:57] Philip becker terry canair greg seward of the

[00:34:59] player one podcast and generation 16 series of

[00:35:02] Videos games with coffee the let's play

[00:35:05] Princess bt gobles tim knolls formerly of the

[00:35:08] Elitist julian of the stage select podcast seth

[00:35:12] Sergil of the all-end network and the one and

[00:35:15] Only fabulous and ever demon air he harney if you

[00:35:19] Would like to join these wonderful human beings in

[00:35:22] Your financial philanthropy then mosey on over to

[00:35:26] Patreon.com forward slash a gamer looks at 44

[00:35:29] Check out the tiers and if something strikes your

[00:35:32] Fancy sign up today

[00:35:40] Next up on the show is a man who needs no

[00:35:44] Introduction because I talk about him all the

[00:35:47] Time and i'm on his show all the time and it's

[00:35:51] Always a blast and it's always a good time to be

[00:35:54] Hanging out with the one and only mike alberton of

[00:35:57] Games my mom found here are some snippets from a

[00:36:00] Conversation who knows how long ago where we

[00:36:04] Talked about gaming as an escape and how fear can

[00:36:09] Be a strong powerful motivator you know i i have

[00:36:13] More about a but only once you play it but to

[00:36:16] Kind of go back just with fs7 in general like

[00:36:17] One of my favorite characters as a kid and i

[00:36:20] Think still is i always liked vincent i always

[00:36:23] Thought this is cool just badass sorry cool

[00:36:26] That's just a cool character just a cool character

[00:36:29] And uh did you when you played it did you do his all

[00:36:32] His side stuff and because there's a lot of like

[00:36:34] Skippable stuff that yeah no i did all his i mean i

[00:36:36] Did everything in the game i got nice and around back

[00:36:38] Then as a kid i got the gold chicobo and i'll do

[00:36:41] That obviously with that i got did everything

[00:36:43] There was to do before i beat the game because

[00:36:46] Fear for one thing where i'm like i can't beat

[00:36:49] This game unless i do everything so there was

[00:36:52] That too were you like that as a as a kid was

[00:36:55] That kind of one of your things oh god yes i was

[00:36:58] Terrified of beating games and final bosses so i

[00:37:00] Would do everything the game had to offer so i

[00:37:02] Felt powerful enough to beat the game you just

[00:37:06] Want to i mean i i don't do it now but i still yeah

[00:37:09] Now it's more i just try to do it to do it but

[00:37:11] Yeah back then it was that fear too and if you and

[00:37:13] Plus i think maybe just keep the game going too yeah

[00:37:16] Which i think is great i think i i'm just curious if

[00:37:18] It's a completionist thing or it's so more for you

[00:37:20] It's more of a fear thing where it's like no i i i don't

[00:37:23] Want to take on the final boss unless i am completely

[00:37:25] Overpowered and guaranteed to to lay the smackdown

[00:37:29] Interesting it also was a friend of mine that the

[00:37:32] Guy that i mentioned earlier i was like 14 or 15 at the

[00:37:34] Time when i was 10 maybe even older but he was terror he

[00:37:37] Was scared of games too and so he just wouldn't finish

[00:37:39] Games i think that fear also came on to me because he

[00:37:43] Was someone i looked up to because he was so much older than

[00:37:45] Me sure so i think that played a part played a big part in

[00:37:48] It too and probably longevity like you know you're a kid

[00:37:52] You'd only have so much you only get so many games and i mean i got a decent amount

[00:37:55] My parents are good to me but like you still only get so much not like today where i

[00:37:59] My steam games all the time

[00:38:01] We're constantly spending money on games we'll never play of course we are

[00:38:05] Fair point

[00:38:06] Fair point man that's what i love about your show too man because you you you will take

[00:38:10] That risk you'll just be like i'm gonna do an episode on this game

[00:38:13] Literally two people have heard of has never released here and we're just gonna do this game

[00:38:17] That's part of is i just want to play different things like that's why i did dirge because i just wanted to play dirge again

[00:38:22] I missed it i was like i remember this being cool even though my life was a mess

[00:38:26] I remember this game being fun

[00:38:28] And i want to replay it and i so i just ps2 emulation got it going and yeah

[00:38:35] Did you find those games to be an escape for you during that time?

[00:38:38] I think so

[00:38:39] I was also unfortunately playing final fantasy 11 at that time too a little bit which is a whole not nightmare

[00:38:45] I cannot wait later

[00:38:47] I can't wait till we get to final fantasy 11

[00:38:51] I know you have i know you have a bunch of stories you've shared some of that already on the show but that's a good one still

[00:38:55] But yeah, I know

[00:38:56] No games are definitely escape. I mean they were escape from you when I was a kid

[00:38:59] They would have been escape when I first played ff7 because I was bullied as a kid because I have a

[00:39:04] scar on my lip

[00:39:05] From cleft palate and I had a speech impediment when I was a kid so games are always an escape

[00:39:10] I mean, I think they still are in their own in their own form

[00:39:14] I mean also now it's almost a job

[00:39:16] Essentially, which I love

[00:39:18] Yeah, because then it always has something to focus on but

[00:39:21] Yeah, I think nowadays that yeah like it's more of the more of uh, the source of your kind of creative output as well

[00:39:27] So but which which I think marry really well and and that's and that's a good thing. That's a healthy

[00:39:32] That's a healthy relationship. Yeah, totally

[00:39:34] I've said this a bunch of time over the last few years, but I really truly feel

[00:39:44] Very grateful that I'm surrounded by people making cool stuff

[00:39:50] It's it's great and I my I can genuinely say

[00:39:53] Most of my friends in this space are making things

[00:39:57] I genuinely look forward to listening to or watching like

[00:40:01] Julian at stage select and mike from games my mom found and all these other podcasts and shows

[00:40:07] But one of those people who've been consistently doing that over the years is moses aka the well-raided mage and his series game logica

[00:40:15] As of this recording it launched I think around three or four months ago

[00:40:20] There's a bunch of episodes out there and I had to ask him the last time he was on

[00:40:25] About this new project and what we can expect from it. So let's give it a listen right on man

[00:40:31] so

[00:40:32] Moses man, thank you so much for taking time to join me today to talk about the final fantasy series

[00:40:37] This conversation has been a long time coming

[00:40:40] I uh, I apologize

[00:40:41] I didn't get you in for the initial overview stuff, but i'm sure we'll probably weave that through our conversation about the different games as we go forward

[00:40:48] But um

[00:40:49] Before we do anything I want to congratulate you on game logica. Oh, I love it

[00:40:54] It is so good and I was talking with

[00:40:57] uh friend uh julian last night

[00:41:00] And from stage select podcast and I was commenting how cool it is to have my friends doing good work

[00:41:05] Like it's like so like doing really good stuff and game logic is awesome, man

[00:41:10] So congratulations on that. Hey, I appreciate it, dude. Uh, you know, it's nice to hear from colleagues and uh

[00:41:16] That that they appreciate it that one's uh

[00:41:19] It's been a long time in the making and um

[00:41:22] It's a team effort. So there's a lot of people working really hard on it

[00:41:26] Um, so i'm really happy with how it turns out it because you understand this as a creative person

[00:41:33] Uh because you're making it you see all the things that need to improve

[00:41:38] And you may not necessarily have the skill set or the know-how to improve those things

[00:41:45] Uh, but i'm trying and it's a exciting and terrifying thing because audio visual is not my forte

[00:41:52] Uh, you know, i'm more on the wordsmithing

[00:41:55] Aspect so I can write a script in like 10 minutes, but

[00:41:59] It takes me like two weeks to do a 10 minute video. So yeah, irony there

[00:42:05] No, for sure, but the stuff is coming out really good. The work is really good

[00:42:09] It's got a great balance of humor

[00:42:12] And information and lightness. I just yeah

[00:42:15] So good. I really really enjoy them. Thanks very much. Thanks for your support, too. I appreciate it

[00:42:20] Yeah, absolutely, man. No problem as soon as I saw it I was again, it's not like oh, it's red's new thing

[00:42:25] I saw it like oh, no, I have to I have to put something behind this because this is so so so good

[00:42:30] So well, you know, it's a it's a remarkably untapped uh topic, uh, topic too

[00:42:35] Yeah, and I think there's a lot of people do well

[00:42:37] Not a lot of people there are some really good key creators doing this sort of thing for final fantasy

[00:42:43] uh coincidentally to this podcast episode

[00:42:47] but um

[00:42:48] uh looking broadly at topics, um, I don't I don't think too many people are exploring it so

[00:42:55] It's really now i'm trying to get people on board thinking along those lines. We just rolled out a subreddit trying to generate more discussion

[00:43:02] Uh, I think will be good for everybody regardless of you know

[00:43:06] I always tell people you don't have to be religious to watch the channel. That's not about my personal beliefs

[00:43:12] Necessarily. It's not about your personal beliefs

[00:43:14] It's just about beliefs which are essentially stories, you know

[00:43:19] You know

[00:43:19] Yep, exactly and I think I think having that

[00:43:22] That kind of caveat on there is really good because it opens up to everybody

[00:43:26] It's like you don't need it's not a religious thing

[00:43:28] It's talking about all these different ideas and how they've wormed their way into games over the years

[00:43:32] Yeah, exactly

[00:43:33] It's really really really good

[00:43:35] I appreciate it

[00:43:41] Next up is comedian nate mcclellan

[00:43:44] He was all over the initial final fantasy episodes and he rejoins the show to talk about an ancient service

[00:43:52] From long long ago x again. I'm older than you. I think I think i'm much older than you, which is fine

[00:43:58] I'm i'm always you. I feel like as I get older i'm slowly becoming the oldest person in the room

[00:44:03] No matter where I am and i'm actually fine with it. I'm actually I think it's great. I'm like that's awesome

[00:44:08] That's great. I feel like a wizard or something

[00:44:10] I can talk about netflix when they sold dvds and I remember that

[00:44:14] You had to put the disc into the we to even stream

[00:44:17] That's right. That's right. You had to put that's right

[00:44:20] You have to put the netflix disc in the we to stream we content my very soft very quick aside. My brother

[00:44:27] Was heartbroken that they stopped sending dvds. I think it was a year ago now because he was still

[00:44:35] Taking advantage of the dvd sending service. It was probably just him. It's probably for years

[00:44:40] Yeah, they stopped that last year. I think it's like last year. I want to say wow

[00:44:46] That went on longer than I thought I thought this ended in like

[00:44:49] 2015 2016 no, it was like last year

[00:44:52] I was a last took off

[00:44:53] No, I think it was last year because I remember seeing it like the end of street

[00:44:58] Finally, they're gonna finally stop sending dvds and I text my brother my bobby. Do you hear this and he goes I sure did

[00:45:03] I got an email and he was crushed because because there are still lots of like these old movies and old criterion collection stuff

[00:45:11] Then old foreign films that they would send via dvd that you can't get on streaming and he would

[00:45:16] He till the very very end

[00:45:21] I was one of the first people who started doing netflix

[00:45:23] Delivery and I think he completed it

[00:45:28] They have been sending netflix dvds to the same house probably lives because he lives in the house. I grew up in for like 20 years

[00:45:34] It's and he he was crestfallen. He was like

[00:45:38] Did they send him an award or anything like you know what? I should ask him. Well, bobby did they ever send you a plaque?

[00:45:43] Right because I need to yeah

[00:45:47] I need to do a side story on netflix

[00:45:50] I would I would send that person i'd be like i'd want to know i'd call him up

[00:45:54] I'd be like i'm so sorry to like, you know kind of pry into your personal life, but what's up, man?

[00:46:01] I love that person still using the service

[00:46:03] I we we laugh we work my brother is a as a is an old soul. That's how I describe him

[00:46:08] He's five years younger than I am. He's in his mid-30s and

[00:46:11] but he I

[00:46:12] I like he's like an old soul because he's still uses the a cable tv the music match like you know

[00:46:19] The new music channels on cable tv

[00:46:21] He still listens to those while he eats dinner and such. Yeah, he puts on music match on the tv and then he'll eat dinner

[00:46:28] You know with whatever while he's eating dinner. He listens to music while eating dinner and he doesn't put on spotify or he puts on music match

[00:46:35] And he still had dvds sent to his house and blu-rays of course via netflix

[00:46:42] I I we always laugh and say

[00:46:44] We wonder if he was like the only customer left and they are just keeping it up every year

[00:46:48] They're like all right, can we finally get rid of this dvd thing? Nope. There's this one guy in bloomfield new jersey

[00:46:53] Who is still getting these old kurosawa?

[00:46:57] Movies from from netflix. I don't know we have to keep it on for this one guy and eventually they're like no

[00:47:03] No, they have to finally go. I always wonder if there's this one part there if he was one of the one of the true last uh holdouts

[00:47:10] uh, i'm sure i'm I mean

[00:47:12] Probably one of the few I mean, yeah, i'm sure not

[00:47:15] I'm sure he wasn't patient zero, but definitely he yeah, he was a dying freak for sure

[00:47:22] Coming up next on this edition of side quests is the amazing duo of jeff and trevor of new dad gaming

[00:47:30] I love these guys and whenever we get together and start talking

[00:47:34] The conversation always goes to dad stuff and to life stuff

[00:47:39] And to dear lord, we are aging rapidly and there's nothing we can do to stop it

[00:47:44] Let's jump into it appreciate and especially your line was perfect. Like i'm a

[00:47:50] Gamer looks at 40 now. He looks at 20. So it's just it just we don't you don't have time

[00:47:55] it is so condensed how much gaming time you have. It's just

[00:47:58] I want I want to see this i'm so excited to see the story, but I just cannot

[00:48:03] Wait two years for it to unfold as I find the time to actually

[00:48:07] Manage to get through when I was 20. I had the time because I had nothing else better to do two weeks ago

[00:48:12] I drew to drove to dallas and back for an overnight so I could my son can go to a taekwondo competition

[00:48:17] He's seven

[00:48:19] He's seven as one does and i'm driving him to dallas so he can go to a taekwondo competition

[00:48:24] That he won air quote medals at this game medals because he's seven

[00:48:30] That's what I did. I got no time. I have no time to grind for these things

[00:48:34] My wife and my wife was the big our big purchase of the week was we got turbo tax for for 20% off at costco

[00:48:41] Yay, that's like that is what we do now. I don't hold on

[00:48:46] That's just

[00:48:48] The greatest thing I purchased was a costco turbo tax

[00:48:51] We were stoked. We're like, yes, it's like we get this addition because taxes are coming soon. I think I don't know

[00:48:59] All you gotta all you have to do is like tell your kids that story over dinner and like now you're getting into boomer territory

[00:49:05] Right. Yeah. Well, that's the ultimate cheat codes too, right?

[00:49:11] So life has changed in 20 years again. I agree to jeff like when I was younger probably yeah

[00:49:16] Yeah grind through it, but now i'm like listen

[00:49:18] Timers are ticking that doom counter, you know in final fantasy six when you get hit doom it goes down

[00:49:23] It's going

[00:49:24] I think that's time for all this

[00:49:31] And finally why not end today's episode with a clip from my conversation with the great julian of the stage select podcast

[00:49:39] and the reason i'm gonna conclude with julian is

[00:49:43] This is a segment where

[00:49:45] He

[00:49:46] Thanks me for doing the show and I struggled with whether or not I should put this in here

[00:49:51] This is more of just like a hey you're doing a good job

[00:49:54] But I think julian really captures what this show is about and what this show is trying to do

[00:50:00] And if you're listening this far if you are now 49 minutes

[00:50:04] Into a side quest episode that has nothing to do with anything

[00:50:09] You're probably in the same boat

[00:50:11] But I really like the way julian encapsulated

[00:50:13] The point of a gamer looks at 40 in the midst of him saying some very nice things about me

[00:50:18] So at the risk of being self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing

[00:50:23] I'm gonna throw this in here

[00:50:24] julian from stage select puts the purpose of a gamer looks at 40 into a lovely little basket

[00:50:31] I want to

[00:50:32] To thank you

[00:50:34] um for this podcast

[00:50:37] Because I have gotten to a point recently where i'm starting to realize that

[00:50:42] The history of video games is so

[00:50:47] poorly

[00:50:47] um

[00:50:49] archived

[00:50:50] and

[00:50:51] We're getting to a point now with like

[00:50:54] youtube culture and

[00:50:57] Like a tiktok culture and stuff like that where you have people

[00:51:00] Who are very young who weren't there at the time, which is fine

[00:51:04] But they don't

[00:51:06] Know

[00:51:07] They don't know and they don't take the time to research things

[00:51:12] To to be able to to fill that in

[00:51:14] There are people who do the research and and I give them all the props in the world

[00:51:18] But having this type of like oral history

[00:51:21] Of people who were there

[00:51:23] I think is so important

[00:51:25] um

[00:51:26] Because you know, I like I can I can talk about

[00:51:29] How it was when the thing came out because I was there

[00:51:33] Right, um, especially in from the retail capacity where it's like I can I can tell you what the

[00:51:38] You know reaction was to this or that

[00:51:42] um

[00:51:42] And not and not the weird internet version of it that that morphin evolved over 20 years

[00:51:48] uh, and and I I think I think there's value to that so

[00:51:51] You know, you're just you're just doing amazing work here and and i'm i'm glad to be a part of it in a small way, man

[00:51:58] Oh, man. Thank you. That's very

[00:51:59] It's very kind of you to say I

[00:52:00] It's this is a this is a weird show in that it's hard to explain

[00:52:04] Like in 30 seconds, you know when when people say I tell I also do a podcast

[00:52:10] They have certain assumptions on what it is

[00:52:12] And it's like well, no, no, no i'm not

[00:52:14] I'm not again nothing wrong with two people or three people talking

[00:52:17] You know like getting friends together and talking about games. That's fine

[00:52:20] And I trust me I like shows like that like your show like stage

[00:52:24] I like you know all the a lot of shows that do that. I like that

[00:52:27] but um, I really wanted to focus on just those personal stories because

[00:52:32] They do exist and they're they're not found anywhere at least

[00:52:36] Not in this kind of format. So I appreciate that

[00:52:39] You actually inspired me to do we haven't started it yet, but uh, my idea for a patreon series for my podcast, which is

[00:52:45] um myself and my friend john golston who you had on for for us to talk about game fellas and

[00:52:51] and

[00:52:52] Talking about and sharing those stories, uh, and when I pitched it to him

[00:52:56] He said well, I don't know if my memory is good enough

[00:52:58] Uh, to like really recount a lot of that stuff and I said that's exactly why we need to do it now

[00:53:04] Because like I don't want this stuff to get lost

[00:53:06] And and I I want there to be a record of it because it's I think it's it's not because it's not just about

[00:53:11] Our personal history and retail. It's also about video game history

[00:53:14] um, and I think I think

[00:53:16] There should be as much video game history out there as we can possibly get because

[00:53:20] you know

[00:53:21] heaven knows like a lot of the game developers sure didn't hold on to their history. So someone has to do it

[00:53:27] Yeah

[00:53:36] Thank you once again for checking out this edition of a gamer looks at 40 if you enjoyed this podcast

[00:53:43] There's a whole bunch more to listen to tons of final fantasy content tons of legend of zelda content

[00:53:49] earthbound and everything in between go to a gamer looks at 44 zero to check out all of my everything

[00:53:56] There's also a section for full series playlists in the upper part of the website

[00:54:02] Just click on that and it'll give you playlists of all these different series that I do

[00:54:07] That way you can listen to the entire legend of zelda series in one very long go

[00:54:13] Perfect for that transatlantic flight. You may be taking at some point down the line

[00:54:18] Thanks again to kev and pete harney for their help in cutting up these interviews

[00:54:22] Thank you to my guests for taking time out of their busy schedules to join me and thank you for listening

[00:54:28] To a gamer looks at 40 and until next time simply be kind to yourselves and each other

[00:54:34] And getting again

[00:54:34] Thank you

[00:54:34] Thank you

[00:54:35] Thank you