Co-op Campfire: A Gaming Podcast

Memories from the Game Shelf

Co-op Campfire Podcast Season 1 Episode 4

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What cozy stories and cherished memories are kept on the game shelf? Ryan and James explore some of their favorites, from Amiibo-chasing to hardware heartbreaks. James fights the inevitability of becoming hollow as he tackles a devious Dark Souls quiz.

Links Mentioned

Fox Amiibo Places 3rd in Smash Tournament Article

Special Thanks To

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Stay Cozy!!

Intro

James

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the next episode of the co-op campfire. Ryan, bud, how are you doing tonight?

Ryan

I am doing pretty good. I just got back from a Boston trip. Oh, heck yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, it was super fun. We went to Boston three years ago, but yeah, this time we explored a little bit north of Boston. It was like northeast of Salem in Glouc Gloucester. No, it's this is the tourist of me. It's spelled C-L-O-U-C-E-S-T-E-R. The first half of the trip, I was pronouncing it Gloucester. What a noob. I know. What a scrub. It was, and then like our tour guide that we went on. Uh we went to a castle that was nearby in that same town. And they were saying, like, oh yeah, here in Gloucester. Like, and I was like, oh my god, what an idiot. I'm so dumb. I'll see myself out. But

Ryan's Boston Trip

Ryan

anyway, it was it was really fun because we stayed in the little town uh northeast of it called Rockport, and it was about as like a coastal town as you could think it would be. We stayed at the Rockport Inn, and all the rooms were like really unique. It was very much my wife's style. The stay was great. We explored Rockport a bit. We were able to just like walk everywhere we wanted to, which was super nice. Got some great donuts and coffee like every day. And then we went on that tour to Castle Hammond, which is like this legit castle from this inventor, John Hammond, that just like that was his like permanent residence. It's got a great hall, like you would expect. But the best part was that it had this inner greenery area where you walk in and the ceiling is just like all windows, and there's this pool that's there. And apparently a funny story was that John Hammond, for his guests that would come over, he would say, Oh yeah, just take off your shoes and go walk in the waiting pool. That thing was eight feet deep. So people would step in. He would just be a troll, just laughing at him, and they just fall into this pool. So rude. I know.

James

I don't know if you had any thoughts. Like, obviously, you're enjoying the trip, you're not decompressing like with video games or anything. My mind went to like this is a Dark Souls area where I'm gonna step in this damn pool that's like a trap. That's like, I can't believe he's gonna do this, you know?

Ryan

It's pretty crazy. You're like trying to show people your nice castle, and then he's just like, Yeah, just go open the pool. You know, it's it's fun.

James

Crazy troll, dude. It is wild. Did you leave like a soapstone message for like the next people on the tour? Like, no, no, no, no, no, don't step back, water dangerous, or some message or something. Be wary of water.

Ryan

Oh, actually, speaking of Dark Souls, I did see a real life Zweihander there. So that was like peak. That thing was humongously long, and it was so cool to like see an actual one in front of me. For listeners, that's like my favorite weapon in Dark Souls, and it's also something that James is rocking right now in his playthrough, which I am very proud of him for.

James

I've really learned to appreciate the Zwi on this playthrough, and that thing is massive. I would have loved to see it in person with you just to kind of get like this is what I'm using in this game, and it probably ridiculous just like he's seeing it in person like that.

Ryan

Hey, next Boston trip, we'll take you. I'd love to show you that castle. It's so fun.

James

And as uh your resident Dunkin' friend, I would hope that you have picked a better donut spot than Dunkin' Donuts, even though that is a Boston thing up there.

Ryan

Yes. Shout out to Brothers Brew in Rockport. You are awesome. We love the vibe, and we will be coming back for your one and a half inch doughy donuts. They're so good. Oh my god.

James

Near me, there's a place called Hurts Donuts. They have this massive, like, it's gotta be like a five-pound cinnamon roll or like something absolutely insane. Or they have like these really huge, you know, crazy filled donuts that are just like out of left field for what you would normally order. So I'm glad you found like a cool local place that really had the home run donut that you needed. It actually turned me on to caramel. Caramel, however you want to say it. It was all you, man. Choose your fate, caramel or caramel. It's like your dialogue tree in a video game. You have to make a pivotal choice right now. How am I saying this for the rest of my life?

Ryan

Am I gonna be called an idiot or a normie? By the way, next time we hang out, we're gonna go get that cinnamon roll because that sounds amazing.

James

So last week we slowly transitioned into our rebrand of a Resident Evil podcast, and now we're we're foodie reviews now. We're experimenting, guys. You know, you never know what we're gonna be at the campfire. We just gotta try things out, see what works, you know, see what hits. We're throwing darts at a board. One of these is gonna stick at some point.

James's Copy of Chrono Cross

James

Well, what about you, man? What's been going on? One game that I have been playing lately is Chrono Cross. This is a game that you were speaking to a little bit earlier about maybe your cozy or comfort game isn't the newest remastered HD version of the title. It's this original copy, this original way to play it on that hardware that can be a special experience. This specific copy of Chrono Cross is really special to me. About a year and a half ago, I was going through the worst time in my life. I was feeling hopeless and just in a really dark place, just really awful. My life was kind of flipped up on its head of just everything crashed at once, and it was just horrible. It was horrible to go through, and I was just so down. And a good friend of mine held on to this copy of Chrono Cross that I had bought at a half price books. It wasn't any like, oh, this was passed down for me from like my like no, this was I just bought this copy at a half price books and was intending to play it, but she wanted to borrow it, and so she gave it back to me while I was going through a lot of this stuff as just kind of like a it was like a hopeful reminder. It's like I'm still here, you know, I'm still okay and things are gonna be okay. And you know, despite the worst days that I went through and like some of the stuff that was weighing me down and awful, I always looked up to this copy on my shelf as things are gonna be fine that was given to me as like a really important reminder of just pushing through.

Ryan

Beautiful, yeah.

James

So it's just as the number one chrono trigger hater on planet Earth, I I have no idea, you know. I was always we're really nervous to like play this game because one, it has such a meaning to me, but also like, what if this game fucking sucks? You know what if this is what if this is an RPG that I just hate, you know?

Ryan

After all that, I have no clue.

James

I have no clue. It's just been it, I've been like so hesitant to start it. James is like, I went through all that. Oh god, this is worse. Shit. I guess I gotta finish it just for the meme.

Chrono Cross 1st Impressions

James

Thankfully, I have been enjoying it. It has been really fun. It's interesting. It's got like 45 different characters that you can recruit. It bounces back between the main world and there's like a parallel world. They specifically did not want to do time travel, they didn't want to lean into the same, I don't want to say gimmicks, but they wanted to make it stand on its own with its own unique spin. So as the main character, you going through this intro town, just this like little small fishing village, everybody knows you, and it's like, hey James, what's up? Good to see you. Oh, you know, your friend's waiting for you over by the pier or whatever, and you know, it's like cozy. But there's this storyline where you get kind of whisked away to this parallel world where events are different. There was like a meeting spot me and this girl in the village had where you know we made like our cute little vows as kids, like, oh, we're gonna marry and have kids and stuff on this like little rock on top of a cliff. In the parallel world, that is my tombstone where I died 10 years ago. Oh scored. It's really crazy. So, you know, and then you go back to the town and they're like, Oh, I've never heard of James before. Are like, are you new here? It's like, I mean, what are you talking about? I know it's like everything is different. People's lives are like completely different in this parallel world to see like people be there's like a fisherman that's like I got a wife and kids, I'm super happy. You know, I always wonder about like I made a I made a decision to be a fisherman and like I wouldn't change anything, but I always wonder what would be different if like things turned out differently. And in this parallel world, like he's like a like a crazy cultist and is just like completely like he gave up his fishing dream and is and like the family's like he just sits in the basement all day and just prays to the it's like it's so weird. It's so weird.

Ryan

Oh god, so saved his life, yeah.

James

But um it's just like really intriguing to see what is different, and like it does feel like you're experiencing two different worlds, and it's cool because you can take some items from like the main world, and when you go to the parallel world, they're important. So it's sort of like, Hey, I have this key item, I'm going to present it in front of this NPC, and if it is the key item that they need, they will have something to say about it, or I can recruit them.

Ryan

Oh, like like a Phoenix Wright kind of gameplay, huh?

James

Yeah, and you have like a description of it in the menu. So that fisherman that had a wonderful life with his kids and wife in like the happy world, he gives you like this shark tooth. He's like, Hey, you know, I don't know who's gonna need this one day, but like this was something that I was really proud of when I like pursued my dream. I don't need it, I've got my kids, they're my treasure. You can have this. So in the parallel world, you can give him that shark tooth and be like, bro, this was you, this was your dream. And he's like, Oh my god, no, no, he's like have he's like freaking out. He's like, What are you talking about? I gave up that dream forever ago. But that's what he needs to sort of write the path. It's that kind of detective work. What do I have in my inventory and who's gonna need it? And so it's really exciting when you get to recruit new characters, like how you recruit characters at all. Battle system's fun, the graphics, the CG. I'm having a blast playing it. I just keep falling asleep and not saving my progress. So I will work on that for the next podcast. But the one game you cannot afford for your PS3 to auto-shut down on. It was another multiverse that you entered where it just ended at that point. From the parallel world, I'm gonna bring a cup of coffee, and then when I wake up, I'm gonna give it to main world me and tell myself about the horrors I'm about to face in this RPG. You're gonna come up to this monster who's gonna kick your ass, but first have a cup of coffee. So

Introduction to the Game Shelf Stories

James

last episode, the first thing I did was walk out to my living room and just take a look at my game shelf. And it got me thinking about some of those really heartfelt and personal stories that we have just sitting out on the game shelf. Yeah, I'm ready for some cozy gaming campfire stories. Ryan, I would love to hear from you. What was something that you grabbed off of your game shelf? What spoke to you?

Ryan

We

Ryan - Wave 1 of Amiibo

Ryan

gotta go back to 2014, which was the launch of Nintendo's new hot product line, the amiibos. Now, how hyped were you for the amiibos, James, when they first came out?

James

I was pretty hyped, but I also have to remember context because I never owned a Wii U. So this was the time of the Wii U, and that was like the integration that they were baking in. It had the the gamepad had the NFC reader. So I was hyped for amiibos as like a cool product, but I skipped the Wii U.

Ryan

That makes sense. Yeah, okay. Well, I had one, and I always wondered what that little white rectangle outline was on the right of the gamepad, and we finally got to find out when they announced that was like an NFC reader for the amiibos. It was mainly for the Smash Brothers line, it was gonna be the first wave of amiibos. It had all the classics, it had Mario, Peach, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, like all your main, I think original Smash Brothers for the N64 amiibos lined up with it. It also had Marth, Animal Crossing, and We Fit Trainer.

James

So was it Animal Crossing? Was it the Villager?

Ryan

Yes, the Animal Crossing Villager.

James

Well, because I know they would do Animal Crossing Villagers, the animals, much later, but I didn't remember if that was like because it was the Smash line, right? Basically, yeah.

Ryan

The Animal Crossing one you're thinking about was the most affordable line to buy because Toys R S could not get rid of them.

James

Well, sorry to derail your super awesome personal experience with like capitalist sadness. Let's get let's let's hop back, let's bring it back.

Ryan

So, anyway, it's 2014. I was a college student on a tight budget, but when the amiibos came into play, every trip to Walmart became do I buy cereal or do I buy a new amiibo? So naturally, I had to buy to the hype. That was the inkling of FOMO first starting to creep in. We'll call that like tier zero.

James

The first purchase I had, what was my first amiibo, James? God, uh my guess would be Link if I had just knowing you. Right. You know, Link.

Ryan

My favorite series. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It was Star Fox.

James

Okay, you didn't know it at the time, but it was all gonna come full circle to like years and years later. It's like we're gonna have a really nice podcast episode about Star Fox, and it starts here.

Ryan

We're gonna have a steep listener drop-off at that point because we've we've just stopped. We can't keep talking about Star Fox. Oh my god. Campers just hang out for a second. I bought Star Fox for the stupidest reason. To recap, the advertisement for amiibos were that you could train them in the game, like a primitive like AI leveling system for your amiibos, and then you'd save it. I read an article that was titled A Level 50 Star Fox Amiibo gets third place in a local smash tournament. It was just like, oh, that's so funny. Like, here's some of the moments that actually beat high-level players and stuff. And for some reason, my mind went to, well, gosh, I should have that. Like just in case I enter a tournament. Guess who has never ever trained him? And he's still sitting on my shelf today at level one.

James

Okay, I gotta say, Ryan, now that you've put this out into the world, we're gonna train amiibos and have them fight each other. I we have to. Yeah, I clearly we have to see this through.

Ryan

I trained something else eventually, but yeah, we will definitely do that. Anyway, just funny tidbit. My first amiibo was Star Fox, which was dumb. So then the next Walmart trip, I was thinking like, okay, well, now I gotta grab Link. But then Collector's FOMO started coming in. So I advanced to tier one of FOMO. And I was like, okay, now I gotta think strategically. Like, who's gonna be bot and who's gonna stay for a while? Well, Link is going to stay for a while, but Zelda, she looks real pretty. I think they're not gonna make as many as her. I'm gonna grab her for sure. So locked in Zelda. Now it was at this time, making the decision to grab Zelda. I saw a Marth amiibo in the wild.

James

That's a huge find. And I I wasn't even like fully on that train, and I know how crazy of a find that is.

Ryan

Campers, it was a crazy find because they were soon dubbed, I think within weeks of release, the holy trinity. Marth, We Fit Trainer, and the Animal Crossing Villager were the holy trinity of amiibo finds that was the only time I ever saw any of them.

James

And by the time I went back on the third trip, he was gone. It makes me think of like Pokemon collecting nowadays because you can't find them. You can probably find like loose packs and stuff, but for those like elite trainer boxes and things, I mean, you think about people waiting hours in line before a drop, that's like what people would do for amiibos. It was crazy. Yeah, we did that.

Ryan

Okay, so now we're on tier two of FOMO because from that moment on, I just saw nothing but reds, pinks, and yellows of Mario, Peach, and Pikachu flooding the amiibo shelves, but no more Mars. Maybe a green speckle of links every now and then, maybe some DKs, but never anything like that again. Samus, was she up there? Samus was there, yes. We got some oranges in there too. I think I actually bought Samus next, fearing it was like another Zelda situation of like maybe an uncommon tier developing. But anyway, now FOMO is fully activated. From then on out, it was like, okay, wave two was announced. Where are they gonna release? Okay, I gotta get my pre-orders in. Okay, if we can't get the pre-orders in, then James, you, me, and a couple other buddies, we're gonna be a target waiting for Rosalina. I don't know. We were like hunting. It was amiibo hunting era going full stack. When I couldn't find it, I would have to resort to the eventual eBay buy. Eventually, how I got my Marth copy that's sitting on the shelf now.

James

And I can't even imagine that price had to be painful if you're on eBay.

Ryan

Dude, I wish I tracked like how much I've spent or like what my most expensive buy was. I don't think I've ever gone more than like 50 or 60. I think I maybe did that for I do have the gold Mario. That was like a fabled one. That was a Walmart exclusive gold Mario, and they all said silver, but that was I think those were beanjacked up to like 100 when that came out.

James

No, it's okay, Ryan. I have the shitty silver one. You can go ahead. That's fine.

Ryan

Inferior. What are you what are you even doing?

James

Clearly an inferior collector. Yeah.

Ryan

But to wrap it all up, that started a fun collection. And it was nice because I knew when it would end, too. It wasn't just like, oh, I'm collecting comics for the rest of my life or like movies or games. Like, I mean, I love collecting my games, it don't get me wrong. But it was nice to like, I know this will eventually end, and I'll just like buy into the waves that are coming out. And it was fun, like again, hanging out with you, like going up to the stores. We still find amiibos today that tickle our fancy, and it's always just been a really fun hunt.

James

If they release another Smash game with more amiibos, are you back on that train? I will probably kill myself.

Ryan

Oh my god. No, it's that would be so tough. I just don't know how they could replicate that. I mean, I still get hyped when like the new Zelda amiibo come out, the Tears of the Kingdom ones and stuff. There's certain lines like Shovel Knight was especially cool. Like an indie game to get that much hype to have like physical goods printed out for it. And I have the golden Shovel Knight too. That might actually be like one of my favorite amiibos and one of the few that's still in box because I'm a filthy out-of-box collector. Sorry.

James

I was actually gonna ask you if you had like a favorite one over the years. Like, I don't do you still like hold that fox one as kind of special just because he was your first one, or is he just like, oh, it's just a normal fox amiiibo, everybody has this?

Ryan

Column A, column B. He's not my favorite, but I do still look at him and I'm like, that was my first guy. I can't let anything happen to him.

James

He he started at all. And when we do our match, our amiibo fighter match, you have to train that fox amiibo. That was like the whole purpose. We have to close the loop. Yep. First of all, Smash Ultimate was so crazy. I don't have to think too hard when I say it. It's like the best fighting game roster ever constructed and maybe ever will be. Hands down. We can always joke about there being 18 Fire Emblem characters, but some of the pulls they were able to get for, I mean, like Minecraft Steve, Sora. I mean, it was crazy. It's still unheard of to this day, even looking at my shelf. I think it's just neat that you have a persona amiibo. I'm not gonna train him as like a figure character or whatever, but just the fact that there's a Nintendo figurine officially licensed that has a cool third-party character from a series that I like. I think it's just neat. And that made it even more fun when they kept announcing all these wacky DLC characters, and they did the variations, you know. I was super happy to be a player two Corinth owner before she got reprinted, and then the stonks went all the way down, Ryan.

Ryan

Dude, the whole ecosystem of amiibos is insane. I know Cloud had two different versions, so that was a whole thing of like, oh, I gotta go to the GameStop and make sure to pre-order this one, and but I can't forget about the other variation.

James

Bayonetta player two, the cloud player two. It was it was it was a nightmare. And then they I think eventually they just stopped where it's like we can't. Like you think about Minecraft Steve, I think they had Steve and Alex, if I remember correctly, and then they're like, we can't do anymore, we can't do all of them, we can't do Enderman, we can't do the creeper. It's like no no no, we just you get Steve and Alex, and we have to drop it.

Ryan

Well, thankfully, those were also released in like a double pack, so it it helps mitigate the complexity there to some extent. The thing is, like, even in 2014, I think you would agree with this too, James. There wasn't like very much physical Nintendo stuff, like toys or anything. This is like one of my new favorite treasures. You gave me the Diddy Kong Racing banjo like car that you can actually wind up and like zoom away. I still have that sitting on my back over there. But that kind of stuff like just wasn't common. So when Amiibos came out, even as like a young adult, it was like, oh, I have this toy and I have this figurine and it's hand-painted quality, it's just amazing. I totally into this. I finally have Nintendo stuff I can put around my room. That's it's such a joy.

James

It was such a smart business decision to lean into the figure aspect of it because I mean, let's be honest, they were trying to do just additional life support for the Wii U times. I do appreciate that console for what it is today, but it did not sell well at all. It was a very unfortunate. Unfortunate failure in Nintendo's catalog, but there was kind of that fad at the time, right? Where there was like that figure implementation. You had things like Skylanders, Lego Dimension that were trying to do a spin of it's literally Lego, but it works like an amiibo with Disney had their own with like Disney Infinity, even past the oversaturation of that idea that eventually would just stop being a gaming thing that got implemented fairly regularly. Like Nintendo knew to your point, this is just a cool Nintendo figure people will be happy to own. You think about what these things even do. It's like, I don't know, cool. I can train him to meme at a Smash tournament, or I can press it on the thing to unlock a weird costume in a game. That's not what you're getting it for. You're getting it for like that quality, that really cool collectible aspect of it.

Ryan

A hundred percent. I mean, buying like the new Donkey Kong that does what you just said and unlocks a costume. But I bought it like dude, it's the new Donkey Kong design. He's so cute. They're still awesome to this day. I love it. James, what is your favorite figure?

James

Oh gosh, my favorite amiibo? That's it's a good question. I'm gonna actually go look. Alright, so first of all, very fun to look at the shelf and just look at how much amiibos I have. I have two answers. Uh, one is the F U answer. Do these do these guys look familiar, Ryan? All right, do these characters look familiar?

Ryan

Thank you, campers, for joining us today. It's been it's been fun.

James

Almond Celica from Fire Emblem Shadows of Valentia. Look at how detailed they're look look came as a two-pack, Ryan. Look, they both have crossing swords and different bases. Whoa.

Ryan

I got mine too. I can go get them. I can go get them.

James

But my answer for sure is this one. Aww, I love it. So for the campers at home, this is just the uh traveler link from Breath of the Wild. He's riding a horse and he has like his hood up. This was like a cool moment when I went to pick up my switch. I remember it was at Walmart on like launch day. I got Bomberman R and Breath of the Wild, and I got this amiibo, and I was like all in. I remember sitting out on my table, just like all of my Switch crap, and I was like, this is gonna be a good weekend. I do remember using the amiibo in Breath of the Wild and just getting all of those extra bonuses. There was one that just unlocked Epona as like a horse. That was this one.

Ryan

Yeah.

James

It was just cool. I just remember more so than for the sake of collecting or because it's like the smash line or like a character I like. I I was like kind of invested in like using this one. When I look at this one specifically, and not even the other Breath of the Wild amiibos I've collected, this brought me back to like launch night. Aww. That's like a cool one for me.

Ryan

I love that. I used that one too immediately for Epona. And I think I only wrote Epona like the entire game. So functional and an amazing figure. Like, what more could you want? But that's so cool that it ties you to the moment of release. We were there together. I remember you buying Super Bomberman R and picking that out, but I didn't realize you got the amiibo. That is so cool.

James

That picture I took with that amiibo in 2017 and just all of my like the switchbox Breath of the Wild propped up, and I was like, we're good, man. We're here. So that's awesome, dude.

Ryan

I love that.

James - Star Wars Battlefront

Ryan

Well, enough about amiibo. James, what do you got for us?

James

There's a new Star Wars movie that just came out, right? Mandalorian and Grogu? Uh I wouldn't know. They don't advertise these things anymore. Okay, hot takes. We'll get on our anti-Disney podcast next episode. Something, and this calls back to my dad again, too. Something that I always bonded with him over was Star Wars. And the thing is, like 2026 James, I'm not like the world's biggest Star Wars fan, but something that I loved growing up was Star Wars games. And that was a cool way to explore the medium. I mean, you you know Ryan, episode one, Pod Racer, and N64, that was the good shit.

Ryan

Oh, peak. My sister claims that's like the one game she can beat me at. And it's true. She is she is a force to be reckoned with there. So shout out to you, sis.

James

It was kind of a weird and wacky world of quality for some of those Star Wars games. I remember never making any progress in Shadows of the Empire for N64. That was a game that was very ambitious, but is a little jank. It's a little tough to play today. It doesn't control super well. It's very floaty when you jump.

Ryan

Like you're pretty committed to those jumps.

James

Yeah, you can like rotate yourself, but you're like committed to the arc. You know, it's very weird to like actually need when they need you to platform. It's very difficult. That was a game that frustrated me. I remember seeing the Battle of Hoth, because that was the first level you did in that game, and then you would go into the base, like Echo base, and it's like I was done. I was done after like maybe that the level after that.

Ryan

Quick shout out. My dad loves Star Wars too. And uh, we got all the way to Boba Fett, and he was frickin' hard. That was like level five. Wasn't he in his slave one shooting at you?

James

Yes, do I remember that correctly? Yeah, that's it. That was phase two.

Ryan

Like, honestly, he's really hard immediately if you don't just have like the pulse rifle, I think you get that's like a machine gun kind of thing. But you kill him and then he comes back out with his frickin' ship, and you're like, what the hell do I do against that?

James

So the Star Wars game that I remember like latching onto, and like this was the game that I was like waiting for as a kid. This was the I remember being sold by the marketing was Star Wars Battlefront 1. Now I love Star Wars Battlefront 2 and have almost just as fond, if not maybe more fond memories with how they evolved the gameplay and like how they took it a step up from the first game.

Ryan

Jedi battles, Jedi's.

James

You had the space battles like going into land inside the ships and like take out the core and stuff. But Battlefront 1 was the reason I got this console. And I remember some of my cousins coming over to visit, and like, well, we didn't have anything to really play. I think we had the game cube, but I think even my dad knew it's like, well, he's not playing the GameCube, we need something different, you know. He doesn't get to come over a whole lot. The Xbox, right? Well, yeah, so we didn't have an Xbox, like at my dad's. My dad would never play a video game, he plays very little. We've played the Ninja Turtles arcade game. Like he always jokes, like, if it's got two buttons, I can do it, you know. So we have some of those like old beat-em-up games we would play together, but Star Wars, that was an easy sell. He would love to watch it, he would love to be a part of this. I remember showing him Kashyy or some of the other maps, and like, you know, they had the Hoth level, and it was just so cool to like experience on the back of the box, right at the top, live the battles. That was the cool that was it. That I didn't need anything more. It was like you just show me the cool battles I can relive, and it was awesome. It was cool to have it at home because we would sometimes like I don't know if you ever remember seeing there was a Sega arcade game, it was the Star Wars trilogy arcade. That was the one that had the joystick. Oh, yeah, and like the big seat, and you would play through, I think it was the Death Star run was episode four, the Battle of Hoth was like the episode five rep. And then it was Yavin. I think you were doing like the speeder bike level, and then they had like, I remember seeing like the demo screen where you would fight Darth Vader, you would have like the lightsaber mini game.

Ryan

Yes, and he'd kick your ass every time.

James

Every time, every time you would never win that fight, you know. So, like we had experiences with Star Wars, like seeing the movies or like out and about, but this was like the first home console game we really latched on to for Star Wars. I remember with my cousins, with some of my friends, like in middle school, it would be like unhealthy amounts of soda. It was like Dr. Pepper and like M&Ms. I remember like a big fat bowl of M&Ms, and we would just play hours of Galactic Conquest. That mode specifically was like your goal was to overtake the galaxy. It was sort of not really chess like, it was more just like pick which fight you're gonna do. That fight happens. There might be some like bonuses you can activate depending on whether you own it or you have like a consumable. But your goal was to basically like do a bunch of fights and make it to like their home planet and like end the game. I remember so many weekends, it would just be like galactic conquest, unhealthy amounts of sugar, and just playing through this game. That was such a cool memory. Like, even past Battlefront 2, even I I remember getting excited for when EA did the reboot. I guess going back to our remakes, reboots, and remasters episode. They rebooted Battlefront with that Xbox One PlayStation 4 Battlefront, and it was good. It was a good return to form, like it was fun, but it didn't really scratch that same itch that the original one had for me. It didn't have those cool Galactic Conquest modes or like local modes. It just it was good, but I have such fond memories of that first game. I remember laughing with my dad and my friends at like the crazy ragdoll physics when you would throw a grenade and you would you would like be launched and you would do like all you'd be rolling so fast on the ground. I always remember sometimes you would try to do a strat where you had like the dark trooper and you'd have that like jump shot jackpack. Oh, dude, that was hype. And you would like throw a grenade at your feet and do like a jump at the last second, and you would just go flying. Like you would watch yourself to get to like an objective. It was just fun. Like I loved, loved, loved this game. When I think about how many hours I've put into games like Battlefront 1 and 2 have to be up there with like I've played these games till the disc wore out, man. Those were some good experiences.

Ryan

Do you have any moments from those friend sleepovers of you guys playing Galactic Empire? Anything crazy happening?

James

Not crazy happening. I just remember like sometimes it was an odd number. So it was almost like there would be one in like a mercenary rotation. You know, we have three controllers, but there's only two factions. So it would be like, oh, it's the battle at Kashyyk, and Andrew, it's your turn to hop over on James's team, you know, even though he just helped the other person like the other round or whatever.

Ryan

Yeah, he was the balancer.

James

Yeah, yeah. So it's just funny to have like sometimes like I just remember the ragdoll physics were so crazy. Even maps on like Genosha that had like super heavy vehicle implementation where you had just like those crazy clone tanks and stuff, like just firing. I don't know. I just remember so much of epic battles being waged, but it was just like a fun thing that I remember. Like, we probably had other games to play, like again, we had the GameCube, we had multiplayer games for that, or even other multiplayer games on the Xbox, but like that was the one we always called back to. Man, that's terrific. And

James - Star Wars The Force Unleashed and the Death of an Xbox 360

James

a quick shout out The Force Unleashed. Ooh, you love that one. I sure do. Do I? I will always remember this fucker because this is the game that red-ringed my 360.

Ryan

Oh no! Yeah, oh no, I never knew that. Yeah, yeah.

James

So no, no, we'll go over it. We'll go over it. On the back of the box, they have a very epic scene of Star Killer, your character, you know, Vader's apprentice, pulling down with the force an entire Star Destroyer, like the biggest fleet ship from the trailer. Crazy. It's like, what a crazy moment, right? I think it was like one of the best games at that time for Star Wars, where it was like you hadn't seen anything like it in a Star Wars game. You have access to all of the force abilities that you want. You play it how you want, you can lean into your evil side, you can be a Jedi, you can do like a little weird mix in between. You have those crazy moments like on the back of the box where you're just like, I mean, it's on the cover, it's unleashed. You're never you haven't seen stuff like this in the movies or anything. Really cool set piece moments. So when you pull down the Star Destroyer, you have like on-screen prompts, you're using you're pulling like both of your thumbsticks down, and your controller is rumbling. It's crazy. It is like such an insane moment, and it's so slow. You're like, oh my gosh, is he gonna do this? He's pulling this thing down. Oh my gosh, I can't push these thumbsticks down anymore. I'm going with the prompts. It was truly like it, like they were really selling the moment, and then I remember the video going out, and then just like out of nowhere. It was during that scene. So during like the the most hype crazy moment of this entire game, my console dies. I don't even think I was really like, I think I remember seeing like news stories about it or reports. What happened with my console? Did it red ring? I just noticed that it had like the three rings, and I was like, Oh, why isn't it where you know you're trying all the things, you're unplugging it, plugging it back in, you're trying to like just whatever. You're trying to figure out what's up, and then it's just like, oh no, my console's just dead, isn't it? So for a while I did not finish this game because one, I didn't have a console, and two, I was mad, but it was kind of nice. I I didn't ask for it because like I had a Wii, I had, you know, we still had the Xbox, I could play Battlefront, you know, and I had other games for the Xbox. I just accepted, like, I'm just not gonna have a 360 for a while. And for Christmas that year, my mom and stepdad surprised me with a 360 bundle for Christmas. They were like, Man, that sucks. Why would your console do it like that? And that was a really rampant problem with the hardware failure of the 360s at the time, and I just caught it.

Ryan

Yeah, mine was Red Faction Gorilla, did mine in. And I don't even think it was games that did it in. I can understand why you we would think that at the time, but it was just like the console itself was just like, yep, I I've uh I've been hot for too long. I'm done.

James

There really wasn't a console I can think of before it that really had problems like that. I mean, I'm thinking maybe the original NES, sometimes the pin connectors would be goofy. You could still kind of work around that. This was just like, no, your console's just dead. And another game on the shelf that reminds me, it's kind of like a combo pair. So I have the problem and the reward. So I have part of my bundle with that 360 bundle I got for Christmas was a combo pack of Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda all on one cart. Oh, hell yeah. Let's go. And I remember playing through Lego Indiana Jones, and I was like, hey, I like Lego games, those are fun. And then Kung Fu Panda, I have not finished to this day.

Ryan

Wow. I I love the double bundle to our campers. It's it's literally one box. One side says Lego and the other side says Kung Fu. And it's kind of cool, they like split it up on the side label. Holy crap, James, do you know how much that is worth today? $7. Well, the loose version is uh graded it's eleven dollars.

James

Wow, what an investment! Wow, this is worthless. So yeah, I just I don't know. I was looking at games what I had on my shelf. I just looked at the Star Wars games and I pieced itself like a narrative forward of like where I started with Star Wars games and the bond I had with my dad. That was something even outside of video games that we liked, but that was like a cool way to bring it back in, and then it blew up my console.

Ryan

What a beautifully wholesome beginning and a tragic end.

James

It's a tragic story, you know. Not all stories end well.

Ryan

Okay,

Dark Souls Party Member Roll Call

Ryan

James, I have another quiz for you. Are you ready?

James

Ryan, you know how much I have been quizzed lately. This seems a little unfair.

Ryan

Well, this is gonna be the Dark Souls of Quizzes because it literally is the Dark Souls of Quizzes. We've been talking about Dark Souls, and I want to test your knowledge about the NPCs that we have been meeting.

James

Oh, lovely.

Ryan

That's right. It is party member roll call time, Dark Souls 1 edition. I'm gonna read you a quote. You get one point if you tell me who said the quote, and then another point if you tell me where they were, because as you know, NPCs like to move around in this game.

James

I'm gonna do so poorly on this. That's the thing. We have to in the middle of a playthrough. You know, we're the middle of a playthrough. We haven't met everybody yet, and if we have, uh we'll get to it. We'll get to it. When I play Dark Souls, I'm like so ingrained and like I'm locked into like we're clearing the area, we're killing the boss, but there are so many other interactions that I just forget about, or I may not even remember their name. So we'll we'll get there. We'll get there.

Ryan

You mean to tell me you don't finally remember our first playthrough years and years and years ago?

James

The switch videos will tell the story that I forget with my ADD brain.

Ryan

All right, well, let's get started. And I'm gonna do my best/slash worst impressions of these characters.

James

This is what I expect from you. So I I will almost be internally grading you, but I know the scoreboard will count my efforts.

Ryan

Hey, we're doing our best. Podcast won't let us clip audio from the game. So you know what? Take what you can get. Alright. First quote. Here we go. Talk. Tis no good, but forge, very good. I help anytime.

James

Okay. Um I I'm sure he has a name. I know this is the blacksmith, and I want to say this is the first time you meet him, and this is outside. I'm it's not. I mean, I guess technically it's right outside Sen's fortress. I don't remember what that location is. It's like not the the city, but it's like in between. You know, if you go this way, you go to Sen's Fortress. If you go down, you go to the Dark Roots Garden. Final answer? Final answer.

Ryan

I'm sorry. It was a blacksmith, but it was the giant blacksmith from Anne Orlando. Anne Orlando. God. Okay, alright, alright, okay. Start off strong. Well, we'll get the next one. Here we go. You really are fond of chatting with me, aren't you? If I didn't know better, I'd think you had feelings for me. Oh no. Dear me. Pretend you didn't hear that.

James

Oh god. I and again, I'm bad. Oh, this is uh this is Solaire? Yeah? Yeah. Now where was he when he said that? The bridge? The edge of the bridge, or is this also an Anna Orlando before I murdered him in my run?

Ryan

You gotta pick one. I need a submission. Give me Anorlando. Yes, good audible. I thought you'd remember because well, yeah, because you just killed him. But we we had just done this.

James

The curse of a game that has one auto save, and that's it. So for context, this is not something I was intending to do for the record, Ryan.

Ryan

Yeah, just like you didn't intend to kill uh the Jarhead and Elden. Oh my god.

James

Okay, that one I will defend on the game. The other knight Solar Jesus truly awful. But in our current run, chilling it in Orlando, we're all helping each other clear the area. I'm at the bonfire where Solaire is sitting, and I don't know like if I had an update on my computer or something where it like popped out of full screen, went to windowed mode, something happened. It was just like whatever. And I had my controller just off to the side. I was playing on controller, not mouse and keyboard. And I don't remember if I like fumbled my controller or something happened, but I was a fumble definitely happened. Yeah, uh a fumble of all time because as I was trying to fix the window, or I don't know, my whatever reason, I like fumbled my controller and the attack animation did not stop. So once I got everything situated, it's like, all right, we're back in full screen, and oh no, Soler has aggroed me and he's not stopping.

Ryan

So uh also you were wielding the Zwai on ironically, right?

James

Yeah, uh, we just talked about how amazing and cool and how awesome that moveset is. Well, it was pretty effective in murdering my friend.

Ryan

So some might say the wide reach of the Zwy is advantageous, not in this scenario. Truly a double-edged sword, if you will. But hey, it's a pretty good shield. Uh, campers will let you know how the uh courtroom takes that testimony.

James

I'm confident once the prosecution submits the the tape that it'll actually like we'll be fine. We'll be good. Alright, quote three.

Ryan

Oh, you you're no hollow, eh? Thank goodness. I'm done for, I'm afraid. My insides are damaged. I'll die soon, then lose my sanity.

James

I don't remember his name, but I feel like this is the knight that you find at the very beginning of the game in the intro level. Yes, that's what I'm gonna go with at the beginning of the game, and that's kind of your introduction to killing someone who goes hollow. What's the name of that area? Jailtown. So I can't fucking remember these places, dude. I should know this, but I don't remember. But I'm just gonna say the intro, and I will take I'll take the point away, but just knowing that I have the right location, I'll just I'll give you the point since I know what other intro area could you be talking about.

Ryan

It's called the Undead Asylum. Got it. And his name is Oscar of Astora, similar to Solaire.

James

Damn. Gone too soon, Oscar.

Ryan

I know he's a bro. So fun fact I found dialogue that it almost sounded like you would find him later, and he'd be like, Oh yeah, got out of that. Asylum, I'm glad to see you're okay. And that might have been like cut content or something. Because I don't know if there's anything that you can do necessarily in the current version.

James

Like a placeholder text or something. Because he drops a key correctly that you need to progress.

Ryan

Yeah. So like you have to talk to him.

James

Could you use the master key? Is that not one of the doors that can open?

Ryan

No, I wish. I'm pretty sure. I think he gives you the key to level two of the fort.

James

That sounds correct, yeah. And that's like a very significant key you need to do that. So it could be, could have been placeholder text. They could have recorded it and just said, you know what? No, he's meant to go hollow here.

Ryan

Well, I'm sure they had a bunch of ideas for like different quest lines, and that whole topic's very interesting of like cut quest lines and who we ended up getting. Even who we ended up getting, but then they played an entirely different role. Interesting stuff. Alright, quote four. Oh, there you are. You must help me. Or else she'll have me for lunch. You're my only hope. Oh, please. She'll have me for lunch?

James

The only thing I can think of is like God, what like Qualag's domain, but I feel like you don't. I'm trying to think of like what she or the the Wyvern, like over on the bridge. I'm trying to think of like what is eating somebody. You're in and out of this area pretty quick. Is this Big Hat Logan in the archives? And I I could be wrong, like the Duke's archives, like after the dragon that comes down and kills you, and then he's in the jail cell.

Ryan

Is that your final answer?

James

That's gonna be my answer.

Ryan

Sorry, it is not Big Hat Logan. He's usually a pretty chill guy, even for being in like a cage in the middle of a fortress. He was in quite a predicament. I'm trying to workshop it in my head. I hear your logic. This was actually Laurentius of the Great Swamp, our boy who was stuck in the barrel. It was in the depths because there was two butchers outside.

James

Yes. Okay. Got it. Got it. Read between the lines. Got it. Okay.

Ryan

Tricky one. That might be one of the hardest ones on here. That's a good one.

James

I've I honestly completely forgot about him, but I vividly remember that area. And I do even remember rescuing him. I just didn't remember he had that quote.

Ryan

I will also cut you a break because I thought our Dark Souls 1 original playthrough was like a year ago. And I I realize it's been like four years ago. Yeah. So I was like, oh, he he did the pyromancy. He'll remember this quote for sure, because he retains useless knowledge like I do. Alright. Quote five. Things are getting treacherous in these parts. A horrible goat demon has moved in below. And up above, there's that humongous drake and a bull demon, too. If you stick around this place, it might end up being your grave. Ooh.

James

So a drake above and a bull below. Is that what this person is saying?

Ryan

Yes, a horrible goat demon below, a humongous drake, and a bull demon above.

James

Okay, my guess is that this is. God, I wish I remembered her name. So I guess this is technically this is right before like undead parish in the firelink shrine. It's like in between. Because it's in that little sewer area. My guess is that it's that crazy like witch or whatever behind the gate. I don't remember her name. That NPC. That's gonna be my guess.

Ryan

I'm sorry, buddy. You were so close. It is the merchant in Undead Berg. No, don't get no. Oh, James has left me. He is gone.

James

See this?

Ryan

Do you see this? Yeah, I see your copy of Dark Souls, yes. Oh, come on. Don't desecrate the copy. I'm about to eat this switch card. No, it tastes like earwax. I know from experience. Don't do it.

James

I have a chaser, don't worry. There's still two more questions, buddy. We can do it. Alright, let's finish it before I go hollow. I've already gone mad. I can't do anything right in this quiz.

Ryan

Alright, quote six. Friend, I have an idea. A good one, really. I will ruse those dire fiends, and you can slip away in the confusion.

James

This sounds like a quote that God, why am I blanking on him? I I know this is my favorite NPC, and I can't think of his fucking name because I'm just like blanking in this quiz. Onion Knight. I'll take it. And uh God, it's it's actually killing me that my like it's blanking. This is god, oh, where is this? This is late in the game. This is pretty late. I god, I don't remember where this is. Like, is it like the catacombs or something? Because he has a very specific thing you're he's trying to clear out for you.

Ryan

Yeah, do you remember the enemies that he's trying to clear out for you?

James

I don't, but I remember you have to jump down and you have to like let him do damage, but have him not die, and it's very you cannot do the thing for him. You cannot just clear out the enemies for him, and it's very difficult. You're right on what you have to do. Where is it? The catacombs, I don't fucking know. It's and it's in this really grimy, like swamp. Like, I remember there's like goop underneath you, and it's like very hard to maneuver around.

Ryan

You're very close. It's uh lost Isolith. It's admittedly like the only area that sounds like that in that area. But yes, good call that it was late in the game. I think that's like his second to last quest line segment.

James

Yeah, because the the last one is the sad one, basically, even though that's like you do the thing correctly, because I think that's where it would end if you do it incorrectly. It's Sigmire. Fuck. Yeah, Sigmire. Thank you, thank you. You got there. Still closed.

Ryan

Alright. Last question, and you can get a bonus point here. You can get extra credit, James. Wow, I need it. I have two quotes, quote unquote quote.

James

Okay.

Ryan

Hard to say. I'll say first option. If you get it, you get a bonus point. If we have to go to the second, you can still earn two points from this. Alright, so the quote is. Okay. Who does that and where are you? You come back to this spot time and time and time and time again.

James

Wow, well, surely it must be the fucking blacksmith I missed from the first time. Um, that is he's around the undead parish, is my guess.

Ryan

Yay, you got it. Yes, it's always the clinging of the hammer that welcomes you back to undead parish.

James

Does the giant not do that?

Ryan

He does it in a different way. It's like a little like more tinkering, but this bonfire is a warp point. Every time you come back here, you always hear the hammer going. Yay, so full three points. Good stuff.

Party Member Roll Call Results

Ryan

All right, James. Out of 15 points, you got one, two, three. You got 50%. Congratulations.

James

I'll see you after class. It's fine. I know you wrote that on the paper.

Ryan

It's a glass half full, buddy.

James

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Ryan

All right, well, thanks for joining me there. That was fun.

James

I have a feeling, uh, just a gut feeling, that the next quiz that I get to give to you, you better be ready for it.

Ryan

Oh no. Can I just keep doing these, please?

James

No, no, I can't do this every time. It's simply not fair. Oh, damn it. Campfire's gonna get really heated and not the fun way.

Ryan

Don't kid don't kindle the bonfire. Don't kindle it.

James

I need the extra flasks, please.

Fan Mail!

James

Before we get going, we wanted to highlight a couple bits of fan mail that we received since the last episode. So we have a Sly Cooper fan that reached out, didn't realize I was a topic ahead, talking about my favorite remaster. My wife likes the Spyro ones and would like to request a similar treatment for the Sly Cooper trilogy. I was very excited when Age of Mythology, Age of Empires, got a remaster and Age of Mythology retold with new content and balance updates, but my life does not accommodate hardcore RTS gameplay right now. I'd like to hear you talk about emulation in context of enjoying old games as well. Roast marshmallow to perfect golden brown. Appreciate that. That's why we always keep the campfire going. Ryan, did you ever play any of the Sly Cooper games at all on PS2?

Ryan

No, I was not a PlayStation kid, but I know for sure I would have done the whole shebang like Crash, Spyro, and Sly. They did get remastered though for PS3, didn't they?

James

It was like a remaster. It was I think it was more of like an HD upscale. I could be wrong. I know the reignited trilogy was like a true visual overhaul. Well, that was a remake for sure.

Ryan

Yeah. And the Sly Cooper was like a remaster collection, I believe.

James

They have the Sly collection in 2010, which was just an HD upscale. This is what I was talking about with the cursed Resident Evil 1 HD upscale of the remake of the first game. Like that horrible sentence I just got. We cannot afford to get into this again. No, no, no. But I see what you're saying. So, like you said, the Spyro trilogy was truly like a remake, complete visual overhaul, different technology. It was like that kind of an upgrade where that collection was just a very light HD upscaling for PS3, and then you just have them emulated on PS4 and PS5. So yeah, I think it would be great to see Sly really reimagined in that way to really like on PS5. That would be gorgeous. Sly Cooper re-heisted.

Ryan

Yeah, yeah. You know what? No, no, no, no, great.

James

No, I saw your I saw your face. No, no, no. It was great. It was great. All right, bye. All right. So I don't know, Ryan. I we we were having such a cozy time. I don't like want to end on this. I think you had requested it though, so I'm gonna go ahead and read it. This actually was a comment on our Joy of Comfort games episode. We have a Shadows of Valentia fan, which hey, appreciate you. Shadows of Valentia is so good in all caps. Glad to see some Shadows of Valentia appreciation on here. It's so hard but so rewarding. Not to mention the music soundtrack is in all caps, all bangers, and is one of my favorite things about the music in Shadows of Valentia is how it adds to what is happening and key moments in the story. And when you find out later what some of that music means, it adds to the depth of the game. Keep up the good work, all I can't wait for more episodes. Ryan, play Shadows of Valentia.

Ryan

First of all, Camper, thank you so much. We love hearing that kind of feedback. Second of all, Camper, thank you so much. I will play the game. Actually, it's a great segue from The Last Camper, too. They mentioned emulation. Oh. The problem has been I have the copy and I want to play my copy, but I have tried playing on my 3DS and it just keeps crapping out, like right when I'm about to beat the level. I don't know what's happening. I don't know if it's my modded 3DS, which is surprisingly easy to mod, by the way. Meme insert here. But I have the ROM. I just got a new device that I might talk about later in that requested emulation episode. Thank you for that. So I will get on it, but do not breaking bad me because I've been recommended breaking bad so much that I don't want to watch it. So I will play it. Just give me a second, please.

James

Would it be weird if uh campers, there was also a bit of information he might have left out where I just gave him my personal copy that I verified to work? I want to play my copy. I'm sorry, I'm quirky like that. It's my baby. What if I threw your copy in the trash and you didn't know?

Ryan

And it's like, oh, here's oh yeah. I would question our friendships.

James

I'm delete deleting my save files, you'll never know. Okay. All right. Well, we'll we'll we'll cross that bridge later. Thank you again for the feedback. I'm excited for him to eventually get to it. And I am excited for an emulation episode. I think that would be a great topic for us to explore.

Ryan

Yeah, sincerely, thank you both for writing

Outro

Ryan

in. We love hearing that kind of feedback.

James

Well, Ryan, it's getting pretty late here at the campfire, but I had a great time tonight. This was such a fun discussion.

Ryan

Yeah, oh my gosh, all these memories. I mean, this is this is what the campfires are all about, man. Just sharing good vibes, good stories, and just our love for gaming. I love it.

James

Absolutely, man. Sometimes you forget about a game or an experience until you hold it in your hand, and it's just cool to look back on some of those things.

Ryan

Yes, indeed. We will have more stories in the future, whether it's our fans or us, and definitely more good vibes. So thank you all for listening, and we will catch you at the next campfire.

James

Stay cozy!

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