(Spoiler Alert: This article contains significant spoilers for Bravely Default’s story.)
Last year, Square-Enix released a game which garnered much attention from JRPG fans. Taking inspiration from the Final Fantasy games from the NES/SNES-era, Bravely Default was seen as both a return to form for fans of those games and a breath of fresh air for others who are tired of more modern RPGs. Along those lines, the game’s main quest is very similar to those from its spiritual predecessors, Final Fantasy 3 and 5 in particular. At the same time, significant late game reveals can be seen almost as a critique of those very same plots.
When it comes to plot twists, the context behind them is often crucial in analyzing how powerful they are. Therefore, it is necessary to explain the initial premise of the story before I can discuss it further. Set in the fictional world of Luxendarc, Bravely Default begins when a catastrophic event causes the village of Norende to be swallowed up in a giant hole. At the same time, the four crystals of Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth have their light snuffed out by a mysterious darkness. The sole survivor of the destruction by this Great Chasm, Tiz Arrior meets the priestess of the Wind Crystal, Agnes Oblige. Joined by two others, and guided by the cryst-fairy Airy, they embark on a quest to awaken the crystals and save the world from the encroaching darkness. Along the way, the forces of the Eternian Empire attempt to prevent them from completing their quest.
If you have played a JRPG in the past 20 or so years, this storyline is probably going to be very familiar to you. Bravely Default deliberately invokes these tropes knowing that any seasoned JRPG player is likely to just accept them wholesale, without a second thought. Of course the light from the four crystals will be enough to stop the darkness and close the Great Chasm. Of course there is an evil empire out to stop our heroes. Players wouldn’t expect any depth, nor would they go out of their way to seek it. Knowing this, Bravely Default cleverly subverts this basic plot with an interesting twist.
Once the final crystal has been awakened, Airy informs the party that a Holy Pillar has emerged, and that using its power should cleanse the world of all evil, including the Great Chasm. When the ritual is completed, however, the actual effect is far from what was anticipated. The party finds themselves in an alternate, parallel Luxendarc. While largely similar to the one they hail from, there are numerous small differences between the two worlds. Some individuals live in different areas, while others have depth to their character that was previous absent. Still more who previously had no relation with each other have suddenly become fast friends or bitter foes. Unfortunately, the Great Chasm is not one of those differences, as it still exists where the village of Norende once stood. The crystals in this new world have also been lost to darkness. Suggesting that something might have gone wrong at the Holy Pillar, Airy recommends trying again by awakening the crystals once more. The party agrees since they cannot think of another option.
Gradually, the characters begin to realize something isn’t quite right. While they continuously awaken the crystals and active the Holy Pillar, the result is always the same. Once more they arrive at another parallel world and once more they embark on a brand new quest to save it. Through the many exchanges and battles between our heroes and the forces of the so-called evil Eterian Empire, it becomes clear that their journey is self-defeating.
This is where important facts are revealed that change the context behind the player’s actions. The party was never saving the world. Airy was, in fact, tricking them into doing the exact opposite. “Awakening” the crystals overloaded them with so much energy that they were spiraling out of control. Appearing as a Holy Pillar, this excess power was constantly being harnessed by Airy to rip holes in the fabric of space-time. Each time, these holes took the form of Great Chasms where the village of Norende once stood. With enough Luxendarcs linked together, Airy could use them to summon her dark god, who wished to devour worlds for power.
While it seemed at first like the Eternian Empire was trying to stop the protagonists because they are the designated bad guys, the truth is that they were just to stop them from making a terrible mistake. Almost 2000 years before the events of the game, an Agnes from a different parallel world had warned them of what happened to her. Just like our heroes, her friends were tricked by Airy into awakening the crystals, and she had attacked them all once they outlived their usefulness. Her wounds fatal, that world’s Agnes had just enough time to enter the Holy Pillar and appear to warn a future world of their eventual fate. This story, passed down from one ruler to the next even since, had motivated the Empire’s current lord to marshal his forces against the current party. There was no evil plan here. Like our heroes, they only wanted to do what they could to save the world, only they actually had the correct information, researched and retold for centuries.
With this plot twist, Bravely Default makes two big critiques. The first of them is of the very JRPGs of which it takes inspiration. In those games, the heroes rarely ever questioned the morality of the quests they embarked on. Scarcely did they so much as take a minute to analyze a situation to see if acting would even be the right thing to do. Their heroism is born more of moral luck than any virtue they may have. When pressed into an uncomfortable or unfortunate situation, the first person they speak to just so happens to have the same noble goals, and sets them on the path to do right.
It is just as likely that the protagonists talk to an individual with less noble goals. Such a person could quite easily use the party’s ignorance to further their own ends. In Bravely Default, our main cast has the best of intentions in attempting the close the Great Chasm and save the world. However, like those before them, they had failed to understand exactly what they were getting themselves into, granting Airy the opening she needs to use them as pawns. When the forces of the Eternian Empire attempt to convince the team that they are putting the world in danger, nothing short of direct violence can get through, and even that does nothing to assuage their stubborn determination. These same traits are innate to many JRPG leads, and Bravely Default shows just how easily they are manipulated.
The other critique is aimed directly at the player. Over the course of the story, said player can awaken the crystals and summon the Holy Pillar a total of five times, yet only the first of these five are required by the plot. At that point, if the player is observant enough, they can attempt to sabotage a crystal awakening ceremony and stop Airy’s plans, triggering an alternate ending where the dark god was never summoned. The player is not given explicit knowledge of this until the third cycle, where the protagonists themselves start to doubt their appointed task. Pressing on despite this knowledge will allow Airy to succeed, forcing the party to fight her god themselves.
Because the main plot allows the player to stop Airy in the second cycle, but only informs them of this in the third, it is likely that most (including myself), will voluntarily aid Airy even when they don’t have to. Like the lead characters, the player will not even question whether or not what they are doing is right, blindingly going wherever they are told. Games like Bioshock have made similar points in the past, but it is one worth reiterating.

While Bravely Default uses the same language as and draws from older JRPGs, it uses them in a way that is more self-aware. It is able to criticize its spiritual predecessors in a way that, while not unique, forces the audience to think more about what they are doing and why. That alone sets it apart from other games in its genre. I hope Bravely Second is just as introspective as this when it finally comes to the west.

In this episode, we continue to explore the lengths of Aiden Pearce’s depravity.

For those who are curious, this is the link to the Austin Walker article I brought up at the start of this episode.

It ties in well to the overall point that we make in this episode about the game’s sense of morality. I once wrote my own piece about how the game’s systems make Aiden Pearce out to be an amoral individual. He can only fight crime through violent means, and his only way of interacting with civilians is to steal their money.

Another example comes from this very episode. When Nikki gets that threatening call, Aiden Pearce goes after the caller despite his sister’s warning that he really shouldn’t. In order to follow this guy, we steal a car and commit several thousands of dollars in property damage to the city, and a couple of vehicles. Even if we assume nobody got hurt aside from our target, there is no denying that Aiden Pearce is at least putting random, yet innocent people in danger.

Yet the best part of it all is that in the end, when we leap on the guy and snap his neck, the game declares it to be “Justifiable Force”, and awards us with positive reputation. According to Watch_Dogs, it is “justifiable” to steal a car, cause wanton destruction, and murder a person if said person is guilty of nothing more than making a threatening phone call.

The person we killed is, of course, not in the right. However, this is a case of disproportionate retribution. As scared as Nikki was, and as awful as it is to willingly terrify a random stranger for a small payout, it is not enough to be killed over, or even beaten up over. Despite this, the game has dubbed such retribution as morally acceptable.

Ladies and gents, THIS is our protagonist.

And I hate him so much!

0:02:00 Gaming News
Metro 2033 and Last Light offer 1/3 of each game as demo
To answer Sam’s question from the podcast, those demos are also available on console.
And here is the article about game controllers Sam was talking about.

Infinite Crisis is closing down
That did not take very long.

The Vita is now a legacy platform.
Which sucks, because it had a lot of potential. Sony can really suck sometimes.

0:32:40 Sam went to Momocon
Which I had never heard of until he mentioned it on Twitter. Considering how big it is, that’s something I probably should know. It seems like a convention I would enjoy going to.
And here is the Giant Bomb Gal-Gun clip Sam and Chris were talking about.

0:45:00 Sam played The Witcher 1
Apparently it’s okay, and somewhat sexist.

0:48:00 Sam finished Gravity Rush
It’s a good showcase of what the Vita can do. As a game, it is distinctly lacking.

0:54:00 Sam finished the first Yakuza game.
And his thoughts on it can be found here.

0:55:55 Garrett has been playing Smite
League traitor…

1:01:50 Garrett watched Season 1 of “Rick and Morty”
I swear that I’ve heard that shows name before, but I can’t remember where.

1:15:55 We talk about Steam’s new refund policy.
And of course it has problems. To me, this is once again an issue where Steam has great intentions, but didn’t fully think through the consequences of their action. For the record, we are in favor of Steam revamping the refund policy. We just feel that this isn’t a good solution.

1:22:05 We talk about Demon’s Souls (finally)
Even if you’re not fan, the Souls games serve as really intriguing case studies in game design. The level and boss design, at least in Demon’s Souls, were really top-notch. Though there is a lot of challenge, it’s not hard if you take the time to learn the systems.
The Demon’s Souls commentary that Sam talked about is here.

1:36:55 I played more Bravely Default.
Long story short: If you liked old-school Final Fantasy games, you will love Bravely Default.
I will also be writing an article to better explain the point I was trying to make about Bravely Default criticizing the standard JRPG plot.

1:44:30  I watched the Kill Bill movies.
I liked both movies, but I say that about most of the movies I watch. My opinion probably doesn’t mean much of anything when it comes to movies.

1:50:41 Chris got Splatoon.
For the record, the “squid now, kid now” stuff is referencing this commercial.
We also spent this segment complaining about how terrible Nintendo has handled Amiibos. Nobody can find ANY of these goddamn Amiibos. It’s so dumb how Nintendo can’t seem to manufacture enough of them.

2:05:25 Sam, Chris, my friend Ryu, and myself have finished FUSE
And we are all just happy to have finished the game. Chris wants to beat it on hard, but I was happy to move it to my shelf.
As promised, here are the trailers for the original Overstrike concept, and the revamped FUSE concept.
Since we mentioned it, here is Hyper Bit Hero’s video on the changes between both concepts.

2:21:55 Wrapping Up.
Remember, you can e-mail us at thetexturepop@gmail.com.
We also have finally started Interactive Friction with Episode 0. Episode 1 is also available.
And, of course, don’t forget Garrett’s Twitch channel.

After all that teasing, we finally start the main event. Here is the first actual episode of the Watch_Dogs series.

I think it is pretty clear from the outset that neither Sam nor I enjoy this game. However, we believe that there is enough in the way of interesting critical conversation to warrant a season on the game.

And honestly, Aiden Pearce as the protagonist is a major reason why we hate this game. Throughout the game, he is the most selfish, self-centered, bitter, angry, ruthless, violent, and arrogant prick I have EVER played as. He makes Jason Dilweed look like goddamn Mother Theresa. This will be a recurring theme throughout the series, but this might not even be an issue if the game was better at acknowledging the flaws in his character, or make him suffer for it.

This has all the makings of a classic noir-story, or a Greek tragedy. Unfortunately, much like the case of Far Cry 3, Ubisoft failed to capitalize on the many interesting angles they could have gone.

If we start doing more Ubisoft, I wonder if that will become a recurring theme.

As I stated in my last post, today marks the start of the new season of Interactive Friction, covering Watch_Dogs. But before we get to the game proper, Sam had the idea to do an episode talking about the initial E3 reveal.

The point here was to outline what we expected from the final product after watching this trailer. Hopefully, this should give more context to many of the points we will be making throughout the season.

What I find most interesting is just how different Aiden Pearce is here compared to the actual game. Even though it sounds like the same actor, he sounds so much better without the gravely voice. He’s also noticeably more personality is these few minutes than he does for most of the story in the main game. It makes me wonder exactly why Ubisoft changed him around so much. Do they legitimately think that the asshole in the main game is more palatable than the man from the trailer? Is that really what focus testers said?

There are many other differences, some subtle and others more overt, that are really obvious in hindsight. I’m curious as to what everyone else though when they saw this, as I suspect Sam and I are far from the only ones who felt as we did.

The actual game will start on the next update. Stay tuned, internet-goers!

It has been some time since our last season of Interactive Friction. After braving the dilweeds of Rook Island in Far Cry 3, we became born survivors in Tomb Raider (2013). Now, we enter a new chapter.

Rather than continue our island tour, Sam and I have decided to head back to civilization. Next stop: Chicagoland.

That’s right, (script) kiddies, Interactive Friction plays Watch_Dogs. This promises to be an interesting season, mostly because both of us have huge problems with this game.

Our first episode will come out on Monday. We look forward to showing you what we’ve gotten ourselves into.

0:01:15 Gaming News.
Supergirl TV Show Trailer
As a whole, it piqued my interest in the show enough that I want to give it a chance. It has some parts that DC fans might not like, but there’s enough done right that I think it can both bring some female attention to DC superheroes and get old fans to keep watching.

0:15:45 Garrett has played some Dying Light.
It’s a game I have had my eye on for quite some time. Though zombies have begun to show their decay, it’s nice to know that there are still some new and interesting things that can be done with them.
We also have a really good discussion on durability mechanics in video games in this segment.

0:28:45 I had a summer indie game adventure.
In particular, I played Flower, The Unfinished Swam, and Race the Sun.
They all have their strengths and weaknesses. At the same time, each one is worth spending time with just to see some of the other game design ideas.
Out of the three, I had the most fun with Race the Sun. Though it was the hardest, I was very engaged in trying to get as high of a score as I can.
At the same time, both Flower and The Unfinished Swam show how one can use non-violent mechanics to keep players interested.

0:38:45 I finished Demon’s Souls.
But we’re not talking about it until Sam gets back.

0:39:00 I played Bravely Default.
As a fan of the old-school Final Fantasy games, I am LOVING this game. The turn-manipulation mechanics at the core of the game give players more control over the pace of a battle. There are also enough difficulty options that any RPG fan should be able to get the kind of gameplay experience they want. Despite the classic (read: generic) Final Fantasy plot, there’s enough going for Bravely Default to keep my interest.

0:51:30 Sam, Chris, my friend Ryu, and I played Friday Night FUSE!
And at this point, we are really only playing it so that we can get to the end. It’s just a bland game.

0:59:30 Chris talks about his new move, and getting internet set up.
Here are the “Super Bitch” and “Asshole Brown” stories I talked about.

1:02:30 Chris binge watches Chappelle’s Show.
Like I said, this is on my list of shows to watch. I will get to it at some point.

1:24:45 Wrapping Us.
Feel free to e-mail us at thetexturepop@gmail.com.
Garrett’s Twitch can be found here
My article on the popularity of Demon’s Souls
And, of course, Interactive Friction.

Given how many people have asked me to try it, I find it surprising that it took me so long to play a Souls game. With an abundance of free time, I found myself enjoying my time with it. As I sit here, ruminating upon my new-found experiences with Demon’s Souls, a question crossed my mind: Why exactly is Demon’s Souls, and the Souls-series by extension, so popular and successful?

That might seem like a silly question to most, yet it makes no sense for Demon’s Souls to get so popular when one thinks about it. At the time of its release, the game had fierce competition from all sides. Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Assassin’s Creed 2 all came out in the holiday season of 2009, right when Demon’s Souls first appeared on North American shores. These games are all remembered as some of the best in the console generation, especially for the PlayStation 3. A new IP with limited marketing from a fairly unknown developer, this stiff competition would make it theoretically difficult for Demon’s Souls to gain footing in the hearts and minds of gamers.
Along those lines, Demon’s Souls’s unconventional design could have been considered a major obstacle in its success. Even now, it can be tough to tell non-Souls players why they work so well. Explaining this appeal when Demon’s Souls was new and not quite as popular would still have been even more so. This can be best demonstrated by the various claims that Demon’s Souls is great because it is “hard”. The punishing nature of its combat can make it seem “hard”, yet that is not truly the case. I will go into more detail later, but the game is only as punishing as it needs to be, and no more. Given the fact that so many people were introduced to the franchise on other such inaccurate explanations, it is logical to assume that they would avoid the franchise for fear of difficulty, as I did for a long time.
But Demon’s Souls did not fall into the shadows of obscurity as one might expect. On the contrary, it grew as From Software continued iterating and reiterating on the core mechanics, transforming the ideas behind it into the very successful franchise we know today. That raises the question of why exactly this series became so popular and successful when so many other, more readily accessible games did not?
The most obvious reason is that its metric for success was significantly lower than that of most other games. There are many classic stories of publishers whose sales predictions for their games were “optimistic” at best. From the expected 7 million copies sold of Resident Evil 6 to the 5-6 million units projected for the Tomb Raider reboot, gamers have become familiar with excessively high hopes from laughably naive publishers. Though both examples come years after Demon’s Souls’s release, they represent the mentality of the modern AAA gaming space.
By all accounts, Demon’s Souls was subject to much more realistic and manageable sales goals. Almost one year after the game came out, in September 2010, it was announced that the first entry in the Souls series soul-ed over 500,000 units. In the eyes of the various publishers responsible for each territory, this figure “nearly quadrupled sales expectations”. For From Software, who developed the product, it was enough to keep working on similar games. Under a different development house these numbers could have easily been interpreted as a failure, so part of the success and popularity of Demon’s Souls could be partially attributed to From Software’s more conservative measurement of “success”.
That said, a lowered bar for success is not enough to achieve it. Like any game, Demon’s Souls lives and dies by its design. Even now, years after the initial release, the game represents a genuine effort to cater to an underserved niche. The same design elements that would intuitively lead to its demise could actually be credited for Demon’s Soul’s popularity. There exist many people who dislike various aspects of modern game design. These people may not necessarily enjoy having an objective marker telling them exactly how far away they are from where they are supposed to go. Linearity of both game and level design might not satisfy their urge to explore and discover. Combat in many games may require too much of a focus on reflex and speed. It is for these people from whom Demon’s Souls was designed. That, in turn, is the largest contributor to its success.
The world of Demon’s Souls is deliberately designed to counter many of the expectations in more modern game design. No objective marker is present. In order to figure out where to go and what to do next, players must pay attention to both the visual and audio cues throughout the environment. Guidance does exist, but it is not as readily apparent as it may be in other games. One has to use their own logic and intuition in order to not only figure out what they need to do, but how to do it.
All of the various hidden weapons, armor and trinkets also serve to encourage exploration. Entire essays could be written exclusively on the placement of items in Demon’s Souls. Not only are they just far enough off the beaten path that players will naturally want to wander around areas to look for them, but they are placed in areas where one could logically be expected to find them. For example, players can find the Graverobber’s Ring, which shields its bearer from the vision of evil spirits, on the body of a corpse in an old jail cell. Though the game never draws attention to it, this one item tells the story of a man who used the ring to protect himself from the vengeful spirits of the graves he defiled. Yet, he ultimately could not outrun the law, and died once the chaos that started the game broke out. Almost all of the items in the game tell such stories. Attentive players looking to explore will find themselves enjoying the act of piecing together Boletaria’s history in this manner.
As I mentioned earlier, while combat in Demon’s Souls is routinely described as “hard,” the truth is not quite as simple. It is a learning process, where players have to figure out how to defeat the foes standing in their way, and even the ones charging at them with reckless abandon. It is less about placing an arbitrary challenge before the player and more about rewarding them for properly analyzing the enemy and capitalizing on moments in their animations where they are made vulnerable. The damage players take is only as high as it is to draw attention to their own mistakes, that they might correct them. Because these windows of opportunity tend to be fairly large, precision timing is not as important. The emphasis is on recognizing both the chances enemies give to attack and those the player gives for foes to do the same. Tactics are at the forefront.
By using these principles in its game design, among others, Demon’s Souls caters to audiences that many other games simply don’t or won’t. I posit that these oft-forgotten gamers are very loyal to both Demon’s Souls and the Souls games because it is one of the few franchises that satisfy their specific needs. Of course no one would argue that modern game design conventions are bad. But the same design philosophies that appeal to the largest subset of all gamers are not the ones that scratch the same proverbial itches that Demon’s Souls will. So while Demon’s Souls is meant for a specific niche, my guess is that this niche is both wide enough and so generally unappeased by other franchises that they took what they could get and ran with it.
Even if it were the case that the target audience was better served, the mechanics and design of Demon’s Souls strongly encourage the creation of a community. The lack of hand-holding in the game almost forces players to collaborate and share their accumulated knowledge with others. Even without the aid of dedicated websites, the note system, where players can leave messages for others to take advice from, and the bloodstains that show where and how others died, both make it easy for people to aid one another indirectly. With these in-game tools, players are more likely to offer their knowledge to others that they have never, and will never, meet.
Even outside of the game’s systems, this spirit of cooperation exists in fans of Demon’s Souls. The moniker of a “wiki game,” that expects one to look online for item information, character builds, and strategy, is often criticized. While I can definitely acknowledge that it is not a design that everyone will like, those that do will form healthy communities around them. As someone who invested 250+ hours into The Binding of Isaac, I know all too well how fun it can be to just talk and share advice with others. During my playthrough of Demon’s Souls, the friends I knew who had played it previously were all too happy to offer tips whenever I asked. The community, and the loyalty born from it, are not accidents. They are logical consequences of the way the game was designed.

Seen in this light, what initially seemed like a freak accident could also be interpreted as an inevitable result of many interlocking circumstances. Given that Demon’s Souls had such low expectations, served an undervalued niche, and encouraged this niche to work together and build a community, of course it would catch on with such fervor. It is counter-intuitive, yet the logic is there. As for me, now that I have acquired a taste for Souls, I plan to delve deeper into the Dark.

Chris and Garrett both had important reasons they could not attend. This left Sam and I to hold the fort this week.

0:01:30 Gaming News
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate revealed:
There are some interesting ideas being floated about, but time will tell with this game. After all, it IS Ubisoft we’re talking about. Speaking of…

Ubisoft no longer supporting PS3/360
Honestly, that’s a long time coming. We all knew this would happening sooner or later, now that the new consoles are out.

0:11:05 Sam has been playing Project Cars.
And I don’t have a whole lot to say about it. We do end up talking about steering wheel peripherals though.

0:16:30 Sam talks about his friend playing Bloodbourne.
And how annoying it can be to watch someone else play a Souls game when you’re an expert at it.
Speaking of people being bad at Souls games…

0:18:45 I have been playing Demon’s Souls
Much to Sam’s excitement. It’s been fun so far, and very interesting from a game design perspective.
(Note: At the time of recording, I was very new to Demon’s Souls had not even looked at the wiki yet. When he’s saying things like “World 1-2” and “World 2-1”, I know what he means by that terminology as I write this. At the time, I had NO IDEA what he was talking about. Keep that in mind when you listen to this.)

0:33:30 I bitch about Rayman:Legend’s lack of online co-op.
Because I really wanted to play with my friend. It’s a shame he lives in a different state entirely.

0:37:30 I have finished Resonance of Fate
WARNING: We spoil a few things from 0:40:00 to 0:46:35 and from 0:49:50 to 0:52:45
Overall, I really like the game, but I understand why I didn’t catch on. Considering how much of the game’s plot is unresolved, it’s a real shame that we will likely never get a sequel.

0:54:00 Wrapping Up.
Interactive Friction should have some new content coming out in the next week or so. In the meantime, feel free to watch our seasons on Far Cry 3 and Tomb Raider.

My apologies for the late posting. I have been busy for these past few days.

0:01:33 Gaming News
Batman: Arkham Knight Season Pass (Costs $40)
I don’t know whether I should have been surprised to see this or not. This is the logical extension of the pre-order/season pass system. It was bound to happen, and giving Warner Bros. awful history in its short time as a well-known publisher, they were going to be one of the ones to push as far as they did.
It is interesting how publishers don’t seem to realize that this system subtly encourages consumers to just wait for the collector’s edition, with all of the DLC content included. Playing the launch day-edition is almost a fool’s proposition, unless you are extremely sure that you’ll enjoy the content.

PT has been completely removed from the PS Store.
Even worse, all active copies now have an expiration date. It’s less a condemnation of Konami, but more of an acknowledgement of the consequences of the brave, new world of digital gaming.
As an addendum: Since the time of record, SuperBunnyHop’s video on Konami temporarily received a takedown notice, but Konami failed to file it correctly.

0:24:20 Sam bought a new gaming monitor.
This one specifically, or a similar model.
Sam spends the rest of this segment talking nerdy to us. And we also talk about how it’s changed his gaming habits.

0:40:10 Sam purchased the New 3DS.
Ignoring the confusing name, Nintendo is terrible about the transfer process. At least the customer support was good enough.

0:51:30 Sam beat Dark Souls 2: Scholars of the First Sin
And we talk about it’s differences with the base game.

0:57:35 Garrett is sick as a dog.
And a title was born.
Here is the hot kool-aid video he was talking about.

1:02:35 Garrett talks League of Legends.

1:08:55 I played Resonance of Fate
To get an idea of what kind of hilarity is in this game: Here are both the raisins scene and the hand slap scene.
Though the combat is extremely difficult to explain, it’s really fun to play. There’s a ton of strategy involved and it looks really stylish.
Side note: You can hear the South in Sam’s voice when he pronounced “naked” as “nekkid”.

1:24:50 I finished up Drakengard 3.
As we said before, this series and the world it takes place it is so very rich and fascinating. In a way, it’s basically a giant criticism of video games, fantasy worlds, and the people who enjoy them. It’s undeniably dark, and I love it for precisely that reason.
I also wrote a piece about how the game lampshades its mechanics. It can be found here.

1:38:35 We played more FUSE together.
The only reason parts of this game are fun and/or funny is because the rest of the game is so bland, monotonous, and boring that any sort of mildly interesting stimuli causes some sort of reaction. Those parts are less amusing in and of themselves and more interesting in light of the fact that everything else is so boring.

1:47:50 Chris has been playing Splatoon’s Global Test Fire.
Sounds pretty fun.

1:59:00 Wrapping Up
Once again, my Drakengard 3 article here.
Sam’s site.
Garrett’s Twitch Channel.
And of course, you can e-mail us at thetexturepop@gmail.com
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