Jedi Survivor

The Pixel by Pixel podcast is reviewing the game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The hosts discuss the performance issues of the game and how it affects their enjoyment. They also mention the improvements in the movement and animation compared to the previous game, Jedi Fallen Order. The customization options and exploration are praised, as well as the use of the PS5 DualSense controller's haptic feedback. The combat is also discussed, with the hosts appreciating the smoothness and the feeling of being a Jedi. The accessibility options, such as an arachnophobia mode, are highlighted as a positive addition to the game. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Welcome back everybody to the Pixel by Pixel podcast where we take you pixel by pixel through the latest things in video games, nerd stuff, anything you want. I'm your host, Ryan Mednick, and alongside me on this Jedi Council, we're viewing Jedi Survivor. We've got Chandler Foote. Oh yeah, here we are baby. Oh yeah bro, and right next to me we got Spencer Norris. What's up everybody? Let's get into it. I'm excited for this. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, today, everybody, I said it already because I'm so excited, we are reviewing our very first review, Pixel by Pixel's first review, Jedi, Star Wars Jedi, that's like the title, Survivor. You gotta give it the whole title. Exactly, because if you just say Jedi Survivor everyone's like, wait, who's surviving? The Jedi? And it's like, obviously, come on. Anyways, but first off, before we get into that review, we'll do some housekeeping. You know, just the usual, we're up on Spotify and Apple, I need to definitely get us spread out more, but we're up on there and we got a couple new reviews I'm going to read off, so we'll give it to you. We got one from Smetty0870, gave it five stars, says, these guys know their stuff. Great podcast to check out. Anything and everything video games, these guys really know what they are talking about. Give it a listen, it's awesome. Thank you Smetty. What up Smetty? Smetty, bro, that's what we're talking about. We got Oop, I Fell, Gamer, I Hardly Know Her. This podcast gave me a renewed sense of life and filled my head holes with cold, hard knowledge. That's a really hot term, I like it. The only issue you'll have is a wanting for more. Man, this guy sounds, we might have to block this guy from the podcast. Cool your ear holes, your head holes, man, alright, relax. And then for the last one, our first real fan, hey, maybe actually, yo, alright, hit us up in the DMs, we'll talk. The last review is from renowned podcast reviewer, and the title is Chuck Stan, these sounds like some sexy lads. I can just tell these dudes know their stuff and love sharing their passion. This Ryan dude sounds like he isn't good at smash bros, but he's good at smashing his bros. Alright. Alright, look, I'm not going to justify that with a response, alright, Chuck, go ahead and give him a thank you for this. Thank you, thanks for being a Chuck Stan. But also get out of my face. I will thank you though. I thank you. No, alright. Well, thank you guys for those reviews, we appreciate it. All five stars, you know, I appreciate it, we're out here doing the work and I'm glad you guys are out here, you know, taking the assignment and giving us reviews and, you know, elevating the podcast, it's fun. We appreciate it, for real, thank you. Awesome, well, I mean, we'll get right into it today, lads, we're reviewing Jedi Survivor, yo, third time's a charm, let's go, we'll get right into it. So, I mean, overall, I kind of want to, I mean, we can kind of start wherever, you know, let's start with Smessy, let's start with Smessy. Yeah, I mean, I guess, where do we, well, you wanted to start with, oh yeah, disclaimer, yeah, so, a quick disclaimer, so, I mean, if you're at all in the gaming sphere, you know, Jedi Survivor launched with some pretty huge performance issues, mostly on PC, but all over the place. I do want to say real quick, usually I play games on PC, and I bought this game for PS5 which, usually I only get the exclusives for PS5, so that should tell you something. So definitely don't want to ignore the problem that there are performance issues, that there's plenty of them, they say that they're going to patch them out, you know, it's kind of the norm these days, they kind of send out a broken port sometimes, especially to PC, but it's kind of egregious this time, but I did want to preface that by saying that did not hurt my enjoyment of this game whatsoever, like, I was able to look past it 100%, we'll get into the reasons why, but I did want to preface that, so, yeah, there you go, suspense. Yeah, and we can talk about that a little bit, because, I mean, my experience has been even kind of different, just because I just have on Xbox Series S, so I don't have, like, a performance mode or anything, and been running it on... It's just 30 FPS, just, yeah, on Xbox Series S it's 30 FPS, and on PS5 and Xbox Series X you can have a performance or quality mode, which, quality is 30 FPS, performance is 60 FPS, and on performance it is not hitting 60 FPS at all. Yeah, yeah, so my experience has been, I mean, relatively smooth, I mean, there's a little bit of, like, you know, smooth texture per minute and things like that, and I did have one crash, but, so my experience has been, I feel like I've been a lucky one, but also, I guess 30 FPS isn't, like, a big thing nowadays, but I'm not a big graphics guy, so... Yeah, exactly, and someone who's, I'm a big graphics snob, but even for me, like I said, like, it didn't kill my enjoyment, but it is something that I obviously noticed, and I should say, I do want to add this, that when it does run smooth, when it's running 60, when it's doing the thing, this game, this game looks insane, like, it gets me excited that when they do patch it on PC, I can run it 1440, 100 FPS, the whole nine yards, like, that's what I'm looking for. The full shebang. Yeah, exactly. But, beyond that, I mean, we can, I mean, with the performance issues, I mean, with Chan, I mean, how much have you played so far? So, I'm on PC right now, I have a big, big ol' monitor, but gotta resort down to a 1060. Yeah, pretty much any setting you use, it's not gonna make a difference. But, I figure, you know, I figured out a way to, like, it's not choppy, so, yeah, so, it's been really enjoyable. I mean, we have it, like, all across the board, we got PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, and PC, so, it's good to kind of have all those different perspectives, and what the gameplay's been like. And, I mean, I said it for myself, but, I mean, I guess I should ask you guys, I mean, did the performance issues really, like, if you had to say, yeah, this is really dragging down my experience, or was it kind of like, yeah, I noticed, but it's like, nah, you know, it's not really a thing. Well, since it's just graphics, I feel like I don't notice it as much if it, like, things were popping in and out, if you just, like, froze, and then you started going again. Like, none of that really happens, except for the, just, like, somewhat unfortunate graphics. Yeah, but exactly, and it's like, I feel like it's just, you can kind of take Solace knowing that everyone's experiencing it, not just you, it's not like a just you problem, or whatever, like. But, that doesn't take away from, like, what's being experienced, is this, like, open world Star Wars. Exactly, yeah, like this, and we'll get right into it. So, I mean, I'll preface this by saying, I have to preface a lot in this podcast, but I'll start off with saying, so, just kind of a synopsis of Jedi Survivor, basically, we're continuing the story of Cal Kessis, which, he is the original main character from Jedi Fallen Order, which is the first game, which we won't get into the entirety of that, but long story short, he survived, he learned all his Jedi skills, and now you are starting off as a full-fledged Jedi Knight in the fight with the Empire, like, you've got all your Force powers from the first game, and so now you just, you kind of, you're dropped into the world of Star Wars yet again, I think it's ten years after the fall of the Republic, yeah, so ten years around the same time as Kenobi, and so, you know, the Empire is full on going, and you're just a lone Jedi kind of trying to make your way in the world, and that's, that's without getting into any spoiler territory, that's just kind of the brief synopsis. You're Jedi Survivor. You're Jedi Survivor. What more could you want, in the age that it sits in. Jedi Survivor. I mean, sorry, sorry, I will not fanboy. No, hey, listen, we're, we're gonna just, we'll get it out of the way, we're gonna fanboy, because first of all, it's Star Wars, baby, it is Star Wars, and let me tell you guys, this game is as Star Wars as you're gonna get. Now I do want to also say, I haven't finished the game, I'm about, I think about fifty percent of the way through from what my percentages look at, Spence, I don't know, do you know about where you're at? Uh, I haven't looked at my percentage, but yeah, I'm not super far, I've only gotten to like a couple of points. Okay, so none of us have beaten, I mean, yeah, none of us have beaten. Yeah, I'm still on course. I'm still in. It's technically a review in progress, but we're not, like, really looking to give it a score this time around, because we haven't finished it, but I'm sure in other episodes we'll bring it back, saying, like, oh, okay, we finished, it's ten out of ten, whatever. But, um, I mean, from as far as what we've played, my experience has been like, I mean, this has been the Star Wars game that I've been waiting for. I mean, we talked about it last episode, about what our perfect Star Wars game would be, and I said, it'd be Knights of the Old Republic, but updated, and the one thing I can say about this game, and I think this is gonna be, like, if you wanted to put this on the back of the box, this is Knights of the Old Republic meets Jedi Academy meets Force Unleashed, and then obviously with the DNA of Jedi Fallen Order, like, it is incredible what these guys pulled off. Yeah, it's been a really, really great experience for me. I think probably, like, the biggest thing, or at least the first thing I noticed, is just how many, like, great quality of life improvements there are from the first Fallen Order game. Like, probably the first thing I noticed is how much smoother it is to just, like, climb. The animation, everything. Oh, yeah. Like, in the first game, you had to hold down left trigger, like, the whole time. The grab thing. Yeah, and it's, like, really bad. You need to get those upgrades and climb faster, remember that. Yeah, and you were starting out slow, so, like, going back to that would be, like, really jarring, but now it's, like, it's super fast, super clean, you don't have to, like, you know, jumping the platforming of it, it's, like, a lot smoother, so. Yeah, I think on top of that, like, I mean, that goes right into the animation, like, everything is animated in a way, like, I've been noticing that. When you jump onto a ledge that's just small enough, instead of doing the full double jump, he, like, rolls onto the ledge, or, like, when you're doing a wall run and, like, stop the wall run, he'll kind of, like, do, like, a side turn. Like, it's not just, like, oh, trying to get to one animation to the next, it reminds me of a PlayStation Studio quality of, like, when you play The Last of Us 2, like, everything, when you're running against them, exactly, you're, like, grabbing the wall and stuff. Jedi phone, or, sorry, Jedi Survivor, we get that mixed up a ton. They just, that adds to the quality of the movement, everything is just so fluid. Yeah, I think it's helped me to, like, want to explore more. Also, the fact that, another thing that I was going to bring up, just the, because the game is, like, it's more difficult, too, than the first Fallen Order game. There's just, there's a lot more, like, combat challenges to take on, which I, you know, really wanted. I was excited. I thought the first game was too easy. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. Once you get a hang of the first game, I feel like you can breeze through it. I mean, it gives you all the tools to do it, right? Yeah, so now, like, it, you know, I want to explore more, one, so I can, you know, fight things better, but then also, just because, like, moving around, doing things in general, just, like, feels a lot more, yeah, more fun, less of a chore. Like, not that the first one was, like, really a chore. But in comparison, like, it is that step above. I mean, that's what the sequel is. That's what's so great about it. Like, literally, it's everything you're saying. It is an improvement. That's just the textbook answer. It is an improvement of everything from Fallen Order. The movement, the combat, even just, I mean, the graphics, obviously, all the stuff aside, this game looks fantastic. When they have it patched out, and I don't think it'll ever be perfect, but when it gets up to snub, up to snuff, whatever, it'll be one of those games we look back at, like, this is a gorgeous game. Just got to keep up with the hardware. Exactly. I mean, they just didn't unlaunch, and hey, Star Wars fans know how to wait. Exactly. We know exactly how to wait. One of these days, it'll be great. One of these days. But no, it's, exactly. And so, but not to take away from that, I did want to add into that with the whole exploration. I feel like, in Jedi Fallen Order, it definitely egged you on to explore. It definitely, like, egged you to, but this one, the level design is almost like, hey, you can jump up here, and you can also jump up here, and you can also jump all the way over here, and there's definitely something up there. Whereas, like, in other games, you're like, sometimes you go up somewhere, and you're like, oh, there's nothing up here. I didn't get all this work. But, like, this one, if you think you should go somewhere, you should check it out. Because whether it's, I mean, and we'll get right into it, it's all the collectibles are like customization options. Whether it's for your lightsaber, your beard, your hair, your shirt, your jacket, your pants, this game has customization out the wazoo. Yeah, I think in, like, the first one, like, I didn't really play around with customization very much after a while. It was just ponchos, and it was just shirt colors. Yeah, not very exciting. But this game, you know, like, I find a new hairstyle or whatever, and I'm like, let me, you know, like, check it out, check out my new jacket or whatever. Exactly. See what it's about. And just, like, you know, still going on the exploration style. Like, just the map, for me, has been way better to look at. Oh, yeah. Like, just so much easier to navigate. I've never loved, like, hollow maps in general. Yeah, because it's hard to see, like, the actual landmarks. Yeah. And this game, like, I feel like it's really good. Like, it's still a hollow map, but it's a lot clearer than in the first game where I'd get lost and be like, how do I get back? I feel like they made a lot of the, they made the landmasses more defined, but also, like, the markers of where you're supposed to go, and, like, they labeled a lot more stuff rather than, yeah, you're right. In Fallen Order, it looked like just a blue jumbled mess. But this time around, you definitely... Topographical. Yeah. Like, they add a lot more detail to the map, so it's easier to read. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, Chandler, so coming right out, I mean, so you didn't finish Fallen Order, but you jumped pretty much right into Survivor. I mean, you have, I mean, I did replay Fallen Order before this, but that was about four weeks ago at this point. So you're, like, literally switching Fallen Order to Survivor. So, like, I want to know how that is for you. Instantly, I, um, okay, so there's a few, uh, there's a few better moments that I had in, uh, Fallen, uh, Fallen Order. You call it Fallen Survivor. Yeah. You know, why? Why is it like Fallen Survivor? But, no, Fallen Order, um, I, there's just, like, a few more defining moments that I've experienced in that game, um, as of yet, and, you know, I instantly, though, it's overshadowed by, uh, something as simple, like, in Jedi Survivor as the new controller vibrations, uh, with the PS5 controller. Like, that, I was immersed right off the bat because of those. Like, that was, uh, it's on another level. I'm so happy, I'm just so happy to, like, be able to experience Star Wars like that. Like, it's mind-blowing. I'll piggyback off that, because that was one of my notes that I wrote down, was that, like, the PS5 DualSense capabilities, they went all out. Like, I, when I, I mean, obviously, on a controller, it's going to feel good regardless of the vibrations, but on, if you guys don't know, haptic feedback is, like, this thing with PS5 specifically, DualSense. It just makes, I mean, you feel everything in the game. So, like, specifically, if you walk up against a current of electricity, you can feel it on the right side of the controller, and if you turn around, you'll feel it on the, on the underside, and if you turn all the way around, you feel it on the left side. So, it's very immersive, and so when you turn on your lightsaber, it kicks in. You feel the lightsaber ignite. When you ignite your DualSaber, you can feel that on the other side of the controller. So, I just wanted to give props to the team for an amazing use of the, of the vibrations of this game, because I, I'm going to say, I feel like a Jedi. I feel like a Jedi. Yeah, the combat, and slicing and dicing, man. There's a, if you, so one of the triggers, if you, the heavier the enemy when you pull them, the more, the more heavier it is to, or harder it is to pull back on the trigger, which is such a cool addition. It's adapting with the, like, Star Wars, like, franchise. Like, they're getting a little bit darker, and it's, hey, you know, so is fuckin' society, you know? And with that came the endearment, man. I mean, like, that's one of those quality of life things that is like, you don't realize how much you miss it in Fallen Order until you have this one move where he grabs you, you slice off his arm, and then you smack him across the face with a lightsaber, and you're like, oh, that's, that's what Jedi do when they're surviving, okay? Yeah. Yeah, that goes into one of the things I was thinking a lot throughout my playthrough was just like, just like the lightsaber feeling a lot smoother, like, the way it cuts being more, like, we talked about it last episode, like, having like a, almost like a badge in lightsaber, but like, this game, it definitely is feeling like you're cutting through. You're cutting. You figured it out. Yeah, and you see the dismemberment and stuff, which is, it's crazy, man. Which, by the way, you can turn it off. You wanna go family mode? Oh, yeah. Yeah, they do have a lot of accessibility options. Accessibility. That's a good thing to bring up. They have an arachnophobia, which I was, I was thinking about was like, do I, because every time I fall in order, those spiders come up, and I'm like, ah, all right, I don't really like all that, but that's a cool thing that they added an arachnophobia thing that you won't even see those enemies. They just take them out completely. That's crazy. Yeah, that's a really cool thing that they're adding. Whoa. It's like, it's like we're getting the, we're getting the, like, allergies. Yeah. Going to, like, being not conscious, you know? Like, no, it's like, now we're, like, phobia conscious. Well, and I, and I like it. Like, accessibility just makes it so everybody can play games. Yeah. Like, that's all I care about. Last of Us Part II is a perfect example, which I won't even go too much into that, but just accessibility is a good thing, and if you're adding more options to your games, that does nothing but include more people. Yeah, more options. Fantastic. Exactly. So cool. You can play it, you know, if you don't want to toy with it, then it's great, but, like, the people who need it, it's there. Exactly. I think it's good to have that in games. Exactly. Yeah. So that's a good thing to bring up. And, I mean, going right into the combat, too, I mean, we got to talk about the combat, man. Fall in order, I still, I adore that combat. I love the way it feels. It's solid. You do still kind of have that batty feeling, but when you do have those takedowns and executions and when you pull a guy and stab him, that feels fantastic. Now, if I'm saying that's fantastic fall in order, you bet your ass that in Survivor it feels just as good, but, oh, dial it times ten. Incredible. It feels a lot, just, yeah, just like a huge step up on the combat side. And so many, I mean, you have more stances, like, more, like, saber abilities that you can use and stuff. I mean, that's not too spoilery to talk about. There's five. No, it's like right off the bat. Yeah. I don't have one, but I know what it is. Yeah, and I think they talk about a promotion. So, you have your single-bladed stance, which, that's the normal thing. You got your dual, I always get this, so there's a staff stance, but it's not called a staff. What would you guys say? Dual blade? Dual saber? It's a dual saber, you know, staff, it's a staff-looking thing. And then you have, you know, actual dual lightsabers where you have two in each hand. And then they have the, two new stances. One's the crossguard stance and the blaster stance. And, holy cow, I am a blaster stance fan. I haven't gotten to that one yet. I just barely got it, like, last night. And, yeah, I'm sticking with it. I won't even say, like, too much on what, because it is a fun thing to, like, discover yourself. But the blaster stance is, y'all, if you're playing this game, get the blaster stance and use that thing. The takedowns? Oh, man, they are incredible. That's one thing I love about these games is that they, like, incorporate the finding of these new abilities. Just Cal remembering how to wall run. Yeah, they interweave it with the story. Yeah, yeah. And, like, a whole flashback. You learn, like, way more depth in character about Cal and, like, you just feel for him. One of my headcanons that I love is I'm like, you know why he's learned all these lightsaber stances and all the, you know, you use a blaster now? It's because Homie met Darth Vader and said, I'm not ever letting a man like that catch me lacking again. Like, he was like, nah, I'm not ever going against that. But it's like, literally, everything he does feels deadly. I mean, in the first game, he felt, you know, new and young and fresh to everything and that's because he was. He was still basically a kid. Now it's five years along and this fight with the Empire is like, I mean, just in the way that he looks with his grizzled beard and the way he talks, but, like, the combat, he doesn't care. He's destroying. Yeah, sometimes I'm like, this doesn't feel like the Jedi way. Exactly. No, these are war crimes. Well, troopers, you know, like they don't even see me coming. Just just like stabbing a guy. When you like jump down on a guy and you like tackle him and he's like, cut him up. And it's like, all right. Yeah. Like relax. Brutal execution. Yeah. But it's a lot of fun. There's a lot of different executions, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I just think I think they added so much variety to combat that it's just when you have a combat system like in God of War, I was always like, I want the next. I love the story. I love the exploration. Give me the next combat encounter. I don't have enough enemies here. Give me more. Let them all keep coming for me. It's just I adore. It's so much fun. Yeah. I think probably my favorite part, like by far, just just doing the combat. Yeah. Fighting large groups of enemies. Oh, yeah. And the force power. I was about to say, man, using the force. They have so many new force abilities. And it's like just you you can just step up. Yeah. It's a step up. I'm almost fanboying because I'm just thinking about all the things you can do. It's an objective step up. Like they really made they they honed in on the intricacies. Yeah. It really did. If you thought like one of the things I wanted to say was if you thought Fallen Order and this was something I thought when I first played that game in 2019, I knew it was good. I was one of my favorite games of that year. But I was definitely like, I see the vision. I see how they can improve graphical stuff. You know, whatever. But I was like, I see the vision here. And then we get Survivor and I'm playing this. And again, I haven't beaten it. But I am like, this is everything I wanted and everything I almost expected from from the sequel, especially when they said Survivor. And I was like, I heard the tone. We're going darker. And it's like, I feel that in every ounce of this game in the story, in the in the gameplay and even the environments just feel like they have more. Just it's just I don't know. There's something more to it. Yeah. Yeah. Just to piggyback off that, like that's been I've had very similar thoughts just because with Fallen Order, I the first time I mean, I played it and I thought it was a good game. Yeah. Not like a not a great game. Yeah. And to be honest, if it if it wasn't for me caring about like the Star Wars anthrology and like the fact that you're a Jedi, I don't think I would have played it again. It was just a good game and moved on. I'm never going back to Fallen Order after this game, I'll tell you that. Yeah, exactly. Like this is but now like I was in the same boat where I was like, I can see like there's the potential here. Like if they just polish everything, like it just felt like it lacked a little bit of polish just all around. And if they can just like hone in on everything and give us more customization, more deep combat. Yeah. Everything you talked about. It's like it's yeah, this it's all there. It's exactly what you're saying. It's like this is the Star Wars game that we've kind of been waiting for. Yeah, exactly. It's like I just a great game. Exactly. And that's a perfect I mean, that's a perfect lead into what I want to say is I mean, with this being I said at the top of the show with it being, you know, almost like a Star Wars movie when I'm playing. I mean, I won't spoil anything at all, but there is a moment kind of early on. It is kind of like the throw into the next section of the story. And it's just this moment when you meet a certain character and stuff goes down and the music it hit. And I was like, I feel like I'm in Snoke's throne room. I feel like I'm in Obi-Wan versus Anakin. I feel like I'm in a Star Wars movie right now. And then I just I started to pick up more. And obviously, music is just inherent with Star Wars. And I love music in general, but it really got me to appreciate it more and more of like when you're just walking around, you kind of hear the whimsical little, you know, I don't know how else to say it, but the whimsy of the Star Wars music. Or when BD-1 is doing his scandal. Like, I don't know, man. Like the music is just incredible. Another level. I really enjoyed the ambience of it, at least on Kobo. Yeah. Yeah. It's just been like, really, it's helped with the immersion and just like and you can hear, you know, like classic Star Wars music kind of intertwined into it. So it's just like, yeah, it's just that's something I think about a lot is like the exact same music you heard when you were a kid. Like, that's something that a new hope. Yeah. But that's something that shouldn't happen with me. Sorry. Oh, go ahead. No, that's that's all. Oh, hell yeah. I was going to jump on top of that with the music. The reason why it hits so hard for me is because it and why this why it reminds me of Jedi Academy. Have you guys played Jedi Academy at all? The one we talked about? No, no. I don't think so. So, yeah, it's it's kind of like open world exploration in a way, but it's more linear. Anyways, in a lot of the sections that you're in, the open world levels, like they're that ambient. And that's one of the things that I kind of had the through line for when I'm exploring Kobo and I'm cutting down a little thing for a seed and I just hear the little, you know, just the twang of Star Wars music. I'm like, well, I feel like I'm a little kid playing Knights of the Republic or Jedi Academy doing the same exact thing, but with the greatest graphics I've seen. Like, it's just crazy. Yeah, you can you can definitely tell there's a lot of love put in this game for not just for Star Wars, but I think like just game design. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I actually saw a really cool Easter egg of like an Easter egg for like, I mean, there's a lot of Star Wars Easter eggs, obviously, but I mean, I saw one for like going back on Super Metroid, like when you first do the wall jump. Yeah. And there's those little animals that like jump on the wall. Yeah. It's like it's exactly like Super Metroid did it like the first time. You have to figure out how to wall jump. And it's just like it's just a cool example of like a game showing you what to do, not telling you. Exactly. I mean, I love that left screen. Hey, jump here. I love that environmentalism. That's why Zelda is such a fantastic game. Yeah. I love it. Zelda is always going to come back. God of War is always going to come back. But because they don't they don't say, hey, do this. They show you through game design. That's that's why we play games. Elden Ring. Elden Ring. Exactly. That's why we play games to, you know, feel like we're top dog. But also, you know, we're not we don't need our hand held the entire time. Yeah. And I feel like this game does that well. Yeah. And then some great puzzles, too. I mean, since you brought up Zelda, I had to think about some puzzles. Yeah. I had to like when you're moving like the balls around on Kobo to like change the bridges and stuff like that. Yeah. I don't know. That just like stuck out to me. I'm just like, there's some really like, you know, fun puzzles in here. Not like frustrating, but also like they make you think a little bit about it and you feel accomplished when you do it. Exactly. Yeah. And I yeah, it's not hand holding. And I love to even have a they have an accessibility thing, but an option to disable hints. So like because usually BD1 or they'll talk, you know, Cal said, oh, I think I have to do this. Yeah. I think you have to turn off that option, which I did, because I like figuring it out. I don't like when I even get that little hint until there's that like, all right, I've been doing this for 15 minutes. What do I need to do? But I just think that's another cool addition of like, again, you can have the option to have the handhold or you can just do it yourself. Yeah. It's nice because I think I didn't even toy with that option, but it just came up like it offered me a hint at the beginning of the game. And you can also say no. Yeah. And then like since then I haven't had it. Yeah. And I think that might I think that might also turn off the option when you do it that first time, too. Yeah. So that's been that's been pretty nice. Yeah. Some games either like step in or even the last game, like it did the same thing where it would offer you a hint. Yeah. It would. It did offer. Yeah. Yeah. It said like, hey, you're two minutes later. Hey, you still don't know how to do it. All right. I'm trying to figure it out. Do you know how to play this game? Exactly. But no. Yeah. And I think on top of that, just with puzzles and everything, it goes with everything we talked about with vibration and just feedback. Everything feels good to do in this game. And I wanted to bring up and I have a couple little things, but like collecting items in this game, like the little like data disks or the priorities, like he does the force grab and you feel it on the controller. That is something that when I did the first time, it's now every time I find a collectible, I like, you know, get my shoulder and I can't wait to do this. Collect it. And he does a force grab and I feel it go on the controller. I'm like, that's the stuff where you collect the four shards stuff and it like breaks open and goes to his back. It feels like the force. Yes. Literally. I'm like, I'm one with the force. Yeah. With me. Yeah. It's just another layer of emotion that they can add. It's so cool that they have such a like intricate controller. Oh, yeah. Capable of that. Yeah. I feel like I'm missing out, but, you know. Hey, man, one of these days you'll learn. For now, you don't, you know, it's like 60 FPS. You don't know what you're missing until you know. So you just, you stick with it. And then one day when you get a PlayStation, you're like, I can't ever use an Xbox controller again. Dude, give me the Ready Player One haptic suit, full haptic suit and like you have force powers. Like if they keep this up, I could see some crazy, crazy, crazy VR stuff happening. The thing is, with this game, I genuinely think, I mean, here's what I'm going to say. The next game, first of all, I know there's going to be a next game. I haven't beaten the game, but I know there's going to be a third one. This game just feels like, OK, give me that last one. I know it's going to be perfect. But that being said, they get their shit together with the performance and all that stuff. And they give us a third game that is on the quality of what I've played so far. I'm not talking about the ending or anything yet. I think that's going to be an all-timer. This one, I've been talking to Brendan on the side. I've been saying like, this is like, I haven't felt this way since God of War Ragnarok, which isn't too long ago. But still, like, games don't grip me like that unless they're a God of War or Spider-Man or Red Dead. But like, right now, we're sitting here doing this podcast, talking about it. I'm like, I want to go home and chop up the Stormtroopers. Exactly. Understandable. Yeah. The Stormtroopers can just rock. That's the perfect segue into enemies. Let me just say, the battle droids. Have you gotten the Kobo yet? No, I haven't. I won't even spoil too much, but they show that in gameplay. That's okay. I know you fight battle droids, bro. Come on. There's battle droids. And let me just say, they're perfect. They are perfect in every little way. Every time I find one, I listen to what they have to say, and I'm like, they made this game just for me. The dialogue is awesome. It's fantastic. It's just like the Clone Wars. Exactly. There's a lot of funny moments in it. I've laughed out loud. Laugh out loud dialogue. Especially if you love Star Wars. Exactly. I genuinely cannot believe how many times I've laughed out loud at this game. There's this one little spot. I was literally just exploring Kobo, and I just saw this girl raider and a droid talking. And she goes, have you heard of the new T-16s? And I just found out about that meme right when Kenobi was coming out. And now I notice it in everything that I watch or see of Star Wars. Because it was like this OG thing in A New Hope. I watched New Hope, and they said, have you heard of the new T-16s? I was like, bro, I love it. They just keep carrying that joke. It's so funny that they carry that all these years. In all the properties. And once you hear about the joke, and then you just hear it. You always catch it. You're like, hold on. You're like, when are they going to go with the T-17s? What are we doing with them? But yeah. No, exactly. That's another thing we should bring up. If you are a Star... Look, this game by itself is fun to play. Fantastic. If you aren't a Star Wars fan, I recommend it anyways. It's fun to play. If you are a Star Wars fan, die hard like we are. You are going to get so much out of this game. They bring so much to the forefront. I'm not going to say anything here, but they bring a lot to the forefront. That is just very exciting. Very exciting. Yeah, it's definitely... Like, for a Star Wars experience, it's like... It's feeling like one of the best things we've got in Star Wars. In recent times. Next to Andor, bro. Yeah, like Andor, Vlad Long. Andor might be a masterpiece. I was going to say, Andor, every single episode is perfect. Yeah. That's a whole side to it. Yeah, exactly. That's just another Star Wars episode. Andor podcast coming at you. Andor next week. But no, like, seriously. But it feels of that quality. Because I think I've talked about it last episode. I love... And I'm completely fine with Star Wars not always being this. But I love when Star Wars gets dark. I love it when they get into the... Oh, we're on our... And I mean, most of Star Wars is the back leg rebellion. But when they show, like, the direness of, like... Oh, this is a Jedi who is tired from the fight. He's tired of having to fight all the time. Like, how can we get out of this? But also, like, still fulfill your duty. And it's like... I just love when Star Wars goes more into, like, the personal aspect of things. But also, you still have these grander moments that still are bigger than life. The pressure of that duty. Exactly. Yeah. You gotta face that somehow. And you gotta be... You know? You gotta choose the type of force you wanna inflict on your environment. Yeah, exactly. Now, this... Yeah, I think it'd be worth talking about... I mean, just kind of going along with that. Just like... Like, just Kyle. I mean, we won't spoil, like, what's going on with him. Exactly. No, we can talk about a light overview of the story. We can talk about just little things. But we won't talk any specifics. We won't talk, like, characters specifically. But just the overall direction of the story. I think it is a good thing to bring up, for sure. Yeah, I just... Because I, so far, have just been impressed with Kyle's character. I just am loving how he's so much more mature. Yep. Definitely, you know, looking like he's been through some shit. Yep. The scars on his face. The beard. Yeah. He's buffed up a little bit. His demeanor. Yeah. Everything is just like... Yeah, and it's kind of like that darker side you were talking about. But, like, making it really personal. That, like, you know, he has this way of, like, having to, like, fight and run from the Empire all these years. Yeah. And... I don't know. I'm just really loving his characterization so far. Yeah. And I mean, that's perfect. I love... I mean, exactly what you said. Kyle, off the rip, you hear right up there, he's like, I'm working with Saw Gerrera. And if you know Star Wars, if you know Saw Gerrera, you know, oh shit, he's been doing some crazy, like... Saw Gerrera is an extreme rebel. Like, extreme, extreme. Killing civilians type stuff. And so, Kyle's working with him, like, dang, like, he's in the fight. He's doing the stuff. And exactly what you said, like, I love how it's not him, like, unsure of himself being in it. He's like, no, I'm doing this. Like, I'm fighting the Empire the only way I know how. And we jump right into the point of a story where it is kind of that shift of, like, am I fighting the right way? Am I doing the right thing? Am I making a difference? And that's kind of where we are with him, which is exactly what you said. I think... My entire point with this was that the transition from Fallen Order to Survivor with the characterization of each... With Grease, with Seer... Again, I won't go into any specific things, but Grease, Seer, Merrin. I feel like it's very believable. And I feel like that's hard to do in a Star Wars world, especially when you don't have, like, multiple movies or multiple episodes of a show. Like, this is game number one, game number two. And I feel like they were able to really take these characters, put them into the next, you know, five years later, and not make me go, well, this is a little unrealistic. Like, they are where they should be, and it feels good. Yeah. Yeah, I fully agree. I think they've been... Like, you would almost think that with the time gap going on, you would be like, oh, so what the heck? Why are we doing this? But, like, it does... You know, it just feels like it fits, and it works for the story. I don't know. Yeah. I feel like they do a good job of, you know, showing that the relationship with all... I mean, all kinds of characters, but showing that the relationship is still there, whether it's strained or whether it's still strong or whatever. And they just have a good way of not just shoving it in your face of, hey, here's where they've all been. Here's what everyone's doing. Just to die a lot. They're explaining itself. Exactly. Yeah, it's kind of leaving some mystery, but also, I mean, it's become clear, you know... Exactly. Yeah, and we're doing our best not to... You know, we're doing... We're being vague on purpose to not say anything specific, but it does develop. Exactly. We haven't been there. We could die at the end. It could be a Rogue One situation. No, the best storytelling is when you hold back on most of what's happening, and then like, you're like, oh, oh, here's where we are. And I feel like the story does that well. Yeah. Like, it starts off a certain way, and then it starts going, going again. I'm not going to say it again. This is my last time saying it. I haven't beaten it. And I just feel like where we're going... And, you know, I feel like in Jedi Fallen Order, I was gripped from the get-go, because it was very much like, from the get-go, you're on the run. You get what you're trying to do. You're trying to find the Jedi Fallen Order. You're trying to rebuild this Fallen Order. And like, then it develops from there. Whereas Survivor, it's like, you're kind of like, okay, where are we going to go from here? How is this going to develop? And again, I'll harp on this, that the through line that they have of Star Wars, you know, continuity of pulling in things from the shows and the movies, again, masterfully done. I can't... I really want to do an episode where we just go full story when we're all done with the game. But like, it's because they just... Yeah. I'll touch on it. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Oh, yeah. For sure. Easy. When we talk about games we're playing, I'm sure either next week or the week after when we're all done, like, I'm sure we will. But yeah, like, again, I cannot say this enough. If you're a Star Wars fan, this is the game. Like, this is the game right now. This is just the episode that we don't have to go... Spoiler alert. Exactly. Spoiler alert. Exactly. Because it's... Nah. With these reviews, like, especially if we're off the rip, I want this more to be people getting an idea of our thoughts on the game and kind of what we enjoy in-game. And then if we have finished the game, we'll give scores. But like, as for this, this is more just discussion. I mean, we have been fanboying, but I mean, that kind of gives you an idea. This game, I don't really have a lot of criticisms outside of the... Yeah. We've talked about the graphical fidelity. They'll fix that, I hope. But like, beyond that, I mean, is there anything you guys dislike? No. Or find that it's lacking? Or like, I'm almost like, man, I'm ready for this in the sequel. Yeah. Like, so far. Again, you know? Yeah. I don't know what to say, like, so far. But I mean, yeah, just like, overall, I've just been really satisfied. Like I said before, like, I kind of have a fair amount of criticisms for Fallen Order. It's not my favorite game. Yeah. It's just kind of a good game. But like, this game, I'm like, yeah, this feels like, you know... This feels like a moment where, like, when I played, like, God of War... Or Elden Ring, yeah. Or Elden Ring and stuff, where it's like, yeah, I'm just going to be into this. Yeah. And just fully sucked in and not caring about... Even if I find... I'm sure I will find things to criticize, but it's not going to take away from the fact that I'm loving the game. Exactly. And I mean, I'm going to harp on this yet again. I have had the graphical issues, and yet, like, I am itching every second to get back to this game. And like, I just... I mean, you guys have seen it. I'm on photo mode all the time. This game, man, the thing they do with lighting... I mean, it's a lightsaber. You know? When you're in the dark and you have all those different colors of lightsaber, and I love how it, like, illuminates the walls and the water and stuff. Man, I just cannot think of many things in this game that I dislike. The look of it, the way it plays, the navigation, the levels themselves. I even feel like... Harping back on the level design, I don't feel as confused when I'm moving through this, where, like, you go on Dathomir, you know how that was. Yeah, you get so confused in some of the places in Fallen Order. Exactly. There's that one planet where... I can't even remember. It's like the... Dethil. Yeah, where, like, you're going down slides and stuff. Into the ice tunnels and stuff. Yeah. And so you can't go back. Yep. You have to find all the random ways up. This game actually has fast travel. Oh, yeah! We haven't even heard about that. Especially it's so much bigger, too. Yep. Like, that's such a great quality. Yeah, when we're talking about these... For this style of game. Yeah, when we're talking about these levels, like, these aren't just levels. Like, these are almost full-on open world, like, God of War, but even bigger, just because of how much verticality there is to the levels. Yeah, it's like different realms. Exactly. Like, what is Ragnarok in God of War, like, feels like that. Exactly. I feel like just the way that we're able to... Can we cut that? Yeah, bro. I love this because I love editing these. So just to go back real quick to Fallen Order, the levels in Fallen Order. Yeah. And a quick aside, I feel like the critiques we're going to be making mostly are going to be comparisons from just the old to the new. Oh, yeah. That's the most basic thing you can. Yeah. And I think people will have experience with it anyways. Exactly. So, and we haven't played that far, so there's not a ton to critique, but... Exactly. Who knows? This could all fall apart in the next two hours. I don't know, but... But with those levels in Fallen Order, I just... Some shit was just too hard to get out of. I just couldn't maneuver enough. That's also speaking on the movement of that game, too. It was a little wonky. Yeah. A little. But just now, being able to realize their full potential, Star Wars comes through with the actual, just formed movements that you feel like you're actively participating in an actual character. Like blockbuster movies. Yeah. When you're moving, it's not like, oh, I feel like I'm jumping the wrong... You feel like everything, you're doing the right thing. I know that sounds weird, but you play Fallen Order. Sometimes I jump, and I'm like, all right, I didn't mean to jump that direction. It's kind of wonky. But Survivor, it's so snappy, and so like, okay, exactly how you walked on. Yeah, I think because for me, when a game has... Just the overall platforming like that just feels... Floaty. Even floaty, or just like, that's not up to what you would want. It just feels like... It just feels a little... It'll bring down the experience a little bit. But with this game, it's like I haven't even thought about how I'm moving around and exploring because the platforming and everything just is not as much of a chore. It feels much more natural. And I feel like a big part of that is the grappling hook. That thing is so... That thing is so... Bro, that's a grappling hook. If your game has a grapple hook, that's a 10 out of 10. Exactly. Yeah, but I've said this for years. No, exactly. End of review. I've said this for years. You gotta grapple hook. The day we were talking about Rainbow Six Siege, I said, hey, that's a better game because it has a grappling hook. So I'm saying it now. You know why this game beats every other game you've ever played? Because it has a grappling hook. Even the other games have a grappling hook. This is Star Wars with a grappling hook. Yeah. Get out of here. But no, seriously. One of my favorite things was when I first used that and you hooked on something and then you flip onto the ledge instead of... I thought you'd just grab onto it and then you have to pull yourself up. No, he just does the flip on top. I'm like, alright, hey. You don't gotta be that smooth, but you are that smooth. Again, it's just one of those things with game design where if you don't even make me think about, oh, the platforming is a little floaty or oh, this is a little wonky. If everything just does what it's supposed to and feels good and looks good, that's something that, yeah, it may not seem like a big deal because we're not bringing up that, oh, platform is floaty, but we're talking about it now. The comparison from Fallen Order to Survivor, that's an improvement right there. I just love when you can see such dedication to little things like that that may not seem like they matter, but in the overall, we're just saying, they matter, big time. Oh, yeah. Alright, so jumping over from game design over to the more actual lore things within the game, I did want to talk about it a little bit. It's already known that there's a character from the High Republic era, which is, again, we talked about this last episode, but it's the era that's more into all the books and the comics more than anything, but this is its first time being said there's a little kid show that came out. They're bringing the High Republic to the forefront in this game, and it is story spoilers, so I don't want to go too much into it, but I did want to say that that's one of the things that gripped me, was that the second you kind of, and again, I won't say too much, but the second you kind of realize, like, oh, they're giving you lore beats about the High Republic, that's when I was like, oh, okay, they got me. I mean, they already had me because of Star Wars, but it's an era that I know very little about because I haven't read the books yet, so it's just very cool to get this taste of it to almost be like, okay, how does this connect to the overall story of that one, or that era? How are they going to bring life into this era? They will, like, it's just going to happen. And I thought it was really cool, and this isn't really a spoiler, but there's like, so I told you guys about how, I told, this is a group chat we have, I talked about how in the High Republic there's the knee hill, which are like the space marauders that have the web pathways through the universe, they know specific directions and stuff like that, and it was just like, it's cool having that knowledge of just stuff like that, and that's not a spoiler at all, I'm not, I promise I'm not. I keep on, guys, I'm not going to spoil it, that's my last time saying it, it's not a spoiler. Yeah, I'm giving you background on what, like, could possibly come into play, but like, just things like that, even seeing, I saw the knee hill name in a lore beat, and it was cool, like, knowing who they are, like, what they are already, instead of being like, oh, who's the knee hill? Like, that's just something you should know, in the High Republic, they're basically like the big bad, they're not the Sith, but they're the big bad, so. I just really like that they are diving deeper into sides of Star Wars that aren't really at the forefront right now. Yeah, exactly, just to reiterate, like, as a Star Wars fan, you know, as a fan of the High Republic, I also know, like, pretty much nothing about the High Republic, so, like, just to learn more about it, like, when I started seeing, like, the logos of it, and stuff around it, it's like, wait, is that, like, all the High Republic? I also get really interested in the story that way, so that's been really exciting to have that. Exactly, and I feel like that's, it's a cool jumping off point for, again, you have Star Wars diehard fans like us, like, we love Star Wars, I'm telling you, I just don't always have the time to read or don't think about it, and so, like, this entire era that's in that, you know, that space, it's hard, you miss out on some of the stuff, so it's cool that they are bringing it right, you know, we all play video games, so when it's right there in front of your face, and you maybe hear a character's name, or hear something that's cool, like, the way that they use the Force and stuff like that, like, you're like, oh, where can I learn more about this? Boom, books are right there, that's Star Wars, baby, it's all connected, but no, it's fantastic, I love it. Yeah, so, I mean, we've pretty much gone over everything without, you know, going too deep into the story, so, I mean, any closing thoughts for you guys, what do you think? Just for me, just to kind of, I guess, you know, make a focused point, like, for me, this has just been, like, all the improvements that I hoped and wanted for from Jedi Fallen Order, you know, that being a game that I played and enjoyed, but it was like, there's a lot more potential to be hit here, and it feels like this game is like, it's reaching it, and it's just been a great experience, and, you know, if you don't have performance issues or you have a way to play it where, you know, or if you're okay with 30 FPS, like I am, like, you know, for me, it's a highly, highly recommend this game, for sure, but also, you know, if you're not, like, a big Star Wars fan, like, if you're a Star Wars fan, I highly recommend it, but maybe, you know, if you just want a great game, you don't care much about Star Wars, like, it's probably worth waiting a little bit, and just like, but I think for anybody who likes games, this is going to be a game that's worth playing. Oh, yeah, I think in the long run, we'll be talking about this game. Yeah, like, we're Star Wars fans. Yeah, it's a blockbuster game. Like, we have to talk about this game in particular, probably a little bit too much, and sorry, but hey. It's like God of War, though. So far, I've been putting it on the level of Ragnarok, not the heights of Ragnarok, but on the level of, like, I'm playing this, I love it, I want to get back to it, but we'll get to that. So, Chen, I mean, I know you're pretty much just on Coruscant right now, right? Yeah. But I mean, so far, you know, to give a score or anything, like, what would you, what are your overall thoughts? 4.01. All right. Around there. All right. Yeah. 4.01. Yeah. That's a good score for, like, two hours of gameplay. Yeah. That's a testimony right there. But with the potential to build up to, like, one of my favorite games ever. Like, this is, this is straight up, even looking at it, and I know what it could look like because I've seen the photos. I've seen, like, and I know it can get there with the processing power, just, you know, the software matching it. So I just, I feel like I'm just ready to really, like, start grinding it at its fullest potential. And at the same time, I'm enjoying, like, little bits and pieces while we're slowly getting there, you know? Yeah. Because I do really, like, value, like, looking at something for the first time and, like, experiencing what the artist truly wanted to encapsulate within that. But at the same time, like, I get it. Like, I get it. From what I've played, I get it. Like, I know what's going on. Yeah. And I know what they're trying to get across. And from right now, like, I know I want to keep playing this game, even though it's, you know. Even though? Yeah. Awesome. Well, that's a shining review. So, like, that's a cool thing I like right now. Like, we have a spectrum. We have me and Spencer who have played a ton. You have a guy who's played two hours, and he's already like, hey, with all the caveats, this game fucks. I love saying that, you know, at some point. But, you know, as my final little, you know, send-off, you know, and with the disclaimer, of course, I will say this for the last time. If you're getting this on PC today, as this comes out, as you guys are hearing this, I would say no, hold off. I don't recommend it. Don't get it on PC. If you can play it any other way, I say get this game. This game, for me, is – I keep on harping back to God of War and Ragnarok, and those games, to me, are my favorite games of all time. Now, all you have to do is put Star Wars in that kind of flavor of game, and you've got my exact formula for what I want. We've said it the entire time. This game builds on the foundation of Fallen Order and takes it to new heights that I honestly didn't expect. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I am. And, again, you're talking to a guy that – or listening to a guy that is a graphics snob. I want my 60 FPS, my 100 FPS. I want my 1440. I want my graphics to be perfect, and yet it does not take away the enjoyments, the story beats, the emotional moments, my laughs, my sadness, the dope-ass navigation, the combat. Like, I cannot recommend enough that this game, by itself, as a pure game, 5 out of 5 for me, I highly recommend. But that's a review in progress. It's a light score, a 5 out of 5 light score. But, no, I recommend this game to anybody who's a Star Wars fan, and if you're not, you're in for a wild time if this is your introduction to Star Wars. If you've never heard of Star Wars by now. Yeah, then you're living under a – you're in a banter tank. All right, that was terrible. This is a good old introduction if you've never been introduced to Star Wars. Yeah, pick up a lightsaber as Cal. Chop up these stormtroopers and be like, ah, I want to see people do this more. Yeah. There you go. Breezy money, baby. That's the pixel-pixel-pixel. Yeah. It's pixel-pixel-pixel-by-pixel-by-pixel. Like I said, we're taking you pixel-by-pixel, so we're just talking about all the pixels. Now, if you enjoyed this, please leave us a rating. If you want to hear more reviews, give us a rating. Tell us how you feel. Let us know that you enjoyed this, and we're excited to come back with some more, because it's Zelda time, baby. We are in the Zelda era. The month of Zelda. It's going to be May. It is May. That's what's on my mind. Yeah. Look, Jedi Survivor is my bread and butter, but we're about to get into the era of Spencer Norris, everybody. The guy who's going to take over the podcast. You're not going to be hearing from any of us. It's just going to be him for ten hours telling you the lore of Zelda. It's going to be fantastic. You're going to want to sit down. Get a cup of jelly. Get your coffee. Open up your little ear hole. Yeah, your head hole. The weird guy out there. Sorry, but that was weird. Anyway, but no, seriously, this has been fantastic. We enjoyed doing it, and, yeah, I think that's it. That's it. All right. See you next time. Greasy money, baby. Woo! Greasy money. Sorry.