NOCLIP

I would recommend podcasters to rob banks instead because gambling is immoral.

Welcome back to the podcast and to our very important series on games titled after women’s names that begin with the letter L. Today, we’re talking about Lorelei and the Laser Eyes a puzzle game from Simogo, developer of games like Year Walk and Sayonara Wild Hearts. Taking the form of an enormous escape room, where solving number puzzles and unlocking doors is the name of the game, you progress through an ever growing list of goals to uncover the “truth” as it is quantified in the menu. The game has a few consistent motifs that pop up to anchor you into the narratives main themes and provide clues to the puzzles, and combined with a story that has real concrete answers you can figure out yourself with the information provided, it really meshes a mechanical satisfaction with a narrative one. In the same vein, the difficulty of the puzzles really lands in a spot that will likely be satisfying for most people, if a bit easy for people who are diehard fans of the genre. Mostly more simple than you would think at first glance, recognizing patterns and identifying a pool of answers to choose from will serve you better than raw enigmatology in this case. The game isn’t perfect, a bit too long, and if you’re not a fan of puzzle games generally this likely won’t change your mind, but it’s a stylish package put together by a developer that really knows how to nail a tone. We’re going to be talking about the interconnectivity of puzzles, the stylish execution of a visual style and we determine that person we often most agree with is ourselves.

Thank you for joining us again this week! Not know what this game was going into it may have not been the best idea from a scheduling perspective, and maybe had something to do with us thinking it was bit overlong, but in the end it was still a good time. Do you think our devotion to Simogo’s games is unhealthy? Do you just agree and enjoy their output? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, we’re actually interrupting the GTAWNTBWTLL theme as we enter October and will be talking about Crow Country, so we hope you’ll stay tuned for that.

What’s the definition of imaginary? A Podcast that only exists in your mind.

Welcome back to the podcast! Our second game titled after a woman’s name that begins with the letter L is Who’s Lila, a pretty bizarre adventure game in which you control your character’s face. The object of the game, at the outset, is to sell your responses in conversations by molding your face, Mario 64 stye, into an expression that will go over well. This adds a layer of complication into an already unsure situation which means that any conversation can have a lot of different possible outcomes. This makes more sense when you realize that the game is meant to be played repeatedly, with many short narrative branches that conclude and intend for you to restart after. Beyond that, there are puzzles to solve that step outside the bounds of the conversation mechanics and, in fact, other bounds, and these might be the highlight of the game for some people. As a complete package, this is a strange and experiential game with a surprisingly intriguing narrative that has a lot to grab onto. We’re going to be talking about the hurdles and strengths of having an unprecedented mechanic set, the complicated nature of exploring the different paths in the game, and the benefits of an eyebrows first approach.

Thank you for joining us again this week. There are days when I wish that if every game we talk about could be something like this. I love what this game does to innovate even if the complete package has its issues. Did the theming and odd concept sell you on this game? Let us know in the comments or over on the Discord! Next time, we’re talking about the most recent of the games we’re playing this month with Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, so we hope you’ll join us for that!

The Queen of Podcasts is weak to fire.

Welcome back to the podcast, and to the very special “games titled after women's names that start with the letter L” theme! To start us off, we’re going to be talking about Lorelai, a 2D side-scrolling adventure game. Lorelai is the third game in a series that began with Downfall and the Cat Lady, the latter of which is by far the most noted. Not least of which is because we did an episode on it, trendsetters that we are. Lorelai is a not insignificant visual upgrade from Harvester’s previous games, but the themes and narrative beats between the Cat Lady and Lorelai are very similar, just focusing on a different character in the same world. Otherwise the games play about as you’d expect. You collect inventory items to be used in puzzle solving, talk to people and largely just experience the story. The result is two very comparable games and one of them unfortunately comes out on top by most metrics. We’re going to be talking about the narrative and character writing, the big swings taken visually and how they generally made the game more atmospheric and interesting, and we really step up to the plate for step dads for some reason.

Thank you for joining us again this week! I’ve been unreasonably excited about this stupid theme, but with one exception: Lorelai was the only game in it that was a known quantity to me. That being said, as a big fan of the previous games by Harvester Games, maybe my expectations were somewhat too high. What did you guys think about this one? Are you a fan of the series and have thoughts on this game, or are you new and wondering why we care so much? Let us know in the comments or over on our discord. Next time, we’re going to talk about Who’s Lila, a mystery game and a game with a mysteriously weird method of interaction, so we hope you’ll join us for that.

Please consider supporting our planned podcast expansion.

Welcome back to NOCLIP! Today, in our last episode of our DLC theme, we’re talking about Echoes of the Eye, Outer Wild’s expansion that adds a new explorable area into the base game. Describing it like that, you can maybe see why we had originally planned this for Pocket, but this is Outer Wilds, so the exploration and puzzles in this expansion are dense and complicated. So our decision to end Pocket is already paying dividends, I suppose. Echoes contains one new celestial body to fly to, yes, but within it there are new areas, a clever use of old mechanics to create new interactions and, slight spoiler, many new subareas full of clues and puzzles to uncover. Similarly to the base game, talking about much in specificity would be a bit of a spoiler, but the thing to take away from that is that this feels very much like the base game. If you enjoyed the self-directed gameplay of Outer Wilds this is largely more of the same, but tonally and environmentally it does have enough to make it feel fresh. We’re going to be talking about the difficulty we each had actually getting to the DLC in the first place, the satisfaction and frustration the new puzzles bring, and we talk about which of my actions were free of consequences.

Thank you for joining us again this week! As we discussed on the episode, we may not have come back to play this DLC for a while, or possibly ever, had we not done this theme so it’s exciting to jump back into a game that inspired such strong emotions when we last talked about it. Much like the original, this DLC can be tough to get into and tough to finish, but the journey is really the point in this game and the journey is extremely good. Did you play this right away when it came out or are you just now being reminded it exists? Let us know in the comments or over in our Discord server! Next time, we’re starting the extremely catchy “Games Titled With Women’s Names That Start With the Letter L” theme, which begins with Lorelai, so strap in for that!

I’m feeling full of beans.

Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re talking about the DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Future Redeemed. This is an expansion type DLC which gives you a full new party of characters, starts you at level one and makes subtle but meaningful changes to the mechanics and has you set out on an entirely new story set in the same world as the base game. This is probably for the best given how long it’s been since we’ve played the original, so we don’t have to deal with high level enemies while forgetting all of the mechanics, but as is usually true with Xenoblade games, what is probably the most interesting development in the DLC concerns the story. The DLC features characters from far flung parts of Monolith’s trilogy, and the ways and reasons they interact with your party take a focus in the narrative. Because of this the DLC focuses a bit more on the overarching narrative, which is on the more complicated side, but it still puts a decent focus on character stories, just maybe in a less impactful way than the base game. Mechanically, the new classes are largely fun and well designed, with some hitches here and there, and the new systems give you something novel to sink your teeth into if you are so inclined. All that said, the game plays mostly very similar to the base game so if you were a fan of that, you’ll probably enjoy another 20-30 hours of this as well. We’re going to be talking about how the mechanical changes affected our play, the characters and what archetypes they fill both in the story and as narrative devices, and we realize that maybe we’ve been the dumb guy all along.

Thank you for joining us again this week! This was a game that we really liked originally and probably wouldn’t have gone back to for the expansion for a long while if we hadn’t done this DLC theme, so I’m happy we got the chance. If you’ve been through it, how did you feel about the changes from the base game? Did you feel compelled to fill out your affinity goals to level everyone up? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, we’re going to finish out DLC by talking about Echoes of the Eye, the DLC for Outer Wilds, so we hope you’ll join us then!

Oh, podcast.

Welcome back to NOCLIP Pocket…for the last time! We’re interrupting our DLC theme because of the episode 100 milestone, and we’re talking about Super Mario Land. If you’ve been following for a while, you know that we started Pocket with an episode on Super Mario Land 2, so we felt it was appropriate to end it with the original Super Mario Land. This is a platformer and one of the earliest games in the Mario series. Released on the Game Boy, the limitations of the platform, and the age of the game, are both apparent in how it affected visuals and design, and impressive in how they were overcome. This feels very quaint to come back to, but compared to how simple the majority of Game Boy games were, this feels like a real accomplishment. With 12 levels over 4 worlds that explore different themes, this feels more like a Mario game than you might expect, and one that has some meat on its bones, even if it isn’t very long. We’re going to be talking about the level design in comparison to Super Mario Bros. and how much we think was hardware versus the state of game design in 1989, how the music carries the presentation despite the simple visuals distracting from some surprisingly detailed sprites, and we call for Mario to be restored to his former vehicle-driving glory.

Thank you for listening to NOCLIP Pocket this week! To be clear, the podcast itself is going to continue on after today, but we think Pocket specifically has outlived its necessity. Moving forward, we’re going to hold on to the same release schedule and cadence of games we talk about, but will be doing away with Pocket as a sub-show and incorporating the shorter, weirder titles into the main show instead. So basically we’re making a big deal out of nothing. Pocket held some of our biggest surprises, so let us know, what was your favorite episode of Pocket? Did you try any games you wouldn’t have otherwise? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! There won’t be a next game in this case, so we’ll catch you on the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC episode next time!

I'm weak as a kitten and thick as two planks. I've always been this way. I'm proficient in podcasts. Sorry.

Welcome back to the podcast! As our second episode in our run of DLCs, we’re talking about The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring. And yeah, this is the release that inspired the theme in the first place. Shadow of the Erdtree released over two years after the original game, and the scope of this DLC alone is evidence of that. Advertised as being “about the size of Limgrave,” the map is a sprawling multilayered world with numerous different areas, some of which are pretty well hidden. Being big isn’t necessarily an indication of quality, of course, but it is a good thing to keep in mind when considering this as an expansion to Elden Ring. Being another open world to explore, the challenge in development is making the area interesting to be in and worth exploring. The world looks amazing. Potentially unbound by the setting of the DLC being in a kind of afterlife, each area has such a distinct visual presentation and runs the gamut from somber to chaotic to awe inspiring. The other half of the equation was maybe less successful, with mechanical rewards, like new items, weapons and spells, are spread more thin than in the base game, which makes exploring slightly less rewarding than you might expect. That being said, the novelty of the new items and weapons makes finding them exciting, and they can come in handy engaging in the DLC's many new combat encounters. Designed to be taken on very late game, the fights in Shadow of the Erdtree are difficult, and to combat this, they have introduced a new upgrade system to generally increase damage and defense, and on your first playthrough you’re going to want to search these out for sure. I hesitate to say more, obviously there’s a lot to discuss, and the length of this episode is testament to that. We’re going to be talking about our experiences with most of the major bosses, the design of the world and its visuals, and we give you a great deal on a robe that may or may not contain untold eldritch horrors within.

Thank you for listening this week, and an extra special thanks if you actually listened to the whole thing. This was a DLC that we, and a lot of people, were looking forward to and we wanted to put it on the list as soon as possible after release. Did you have a good time with this one? Did you find the difficulty to be off-putting? Let’s talk about it in the comments or over in our Discord. Next time, we’re going to be talking about Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s expansion Future Redeemed, so hopefully you’ll stop by for that one.

You want me to do some podcasting?

Welcome back! Today, for episode 99 of pocket and for our first episode in our DLC theme, we’re going to be talking about the Rogue-lite addition to Splatoon 3, Side Order. Adding roguelike gameplay to Splatoon’s third person shooter mechanics works pretty well, giving you bonuses upon choosing rooms that are mostly similar to the gear abilities you’d get in game but with a higher potency and having a permanent upgrade system in the form of Marina’s hacks, but is let down slightly by the difficulty. Taking on average only a few runs to complete, the game gets into the territory of grinding out wins kind of early in its runtime. Not to say that just playing the game isn’t still fun, it just lacks the bite that make the genre as compelling as it is. The other aspects of the genre like feeling like an unstoppable monster at the end of a run are still there though, though the game notably lacks complicated build synergies, though that isn’t a hallmark of every roguelike. As for everything else, you can see the care that was put into the visual design like all Splatoon games. An effort was made to make everything still seem cool and presenting a wide amount of visual variety despite the game’s washed out themes. The narrative is pushed very slightly forward, with a focus on the development of Pearl and Marina’s characters, which is welcome but not groundbreaking by any means. We’re going to be talking about builds and progression, the incorporation of characters into the mechanics to help strengthen your bond, and this and other Nintendo games’ DLC and expansion releases and why they’re so weird sometimes.

Thank you for joining us this week! It’s always fun to revisit Splatoon every now and again, and especially with how strong the DLC was for the last game, this was one I was excited to try. If you’re a roguelike fan, I’m mostly sorry this is gated behind a fully different game so you aren’t able to just try this on its own. Let us know your thoughts on this one over in the Discord or in the comment section! We’re hitting a big milestone next time as it will be the 100th episode of Pocket, so we hope you’ll join us for that. We’re pausing the DLC theme to celebrate and talking about Super Mario Land to refer back to our first episode on its sequel, so it’s going to be a special one!

Karffin’ Mofang podcast.

Welcome back to the podcast! Today, as the last episode of Mystery May this year, we’re going to be talking about Obduction. This is a game in the style of Myst by Cyan, the developers of Myst, and boy did they ace the assignment. Obduction is more accessible than the originals, yes, but it does get into that same headspace more and more as it goes on. So the game has complicated puzzles (and some less complicated ones), but while the design mechanically hasn’t evolved too significantly since the 90s, visually, they have been able to create a world that looks very good and shows the imaginative otherworldliness these games are known for while using what are completely different techniques than what were used to create the visual elements of Myst or Riven. The visuals alone would probably have been enough reason to play the game at the time it came out, but it’s still a cool experience now to see some of the environments created for the game and to explore them, very slowly, as you scour for clues. We’re going to be talking about the pace of the game, the challenges presented both in and out of game, and we give some unsolicited advice on filmmaking, despite not being filmmakers ourselves.

Thank you for joining us this week! This game did a surprisingly good job at letting us fulfill our “be people who can make any kind of progress in Myst games” fantasy, but still asked a bit too much of us to complete within the time we had. Are you a fiend for this style of adventure game, or did you pass this one by? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! The last few episodes have tested one of our weaker traits, being at all smart, but next week we are going to try and rally and prove we’re good at something difficult, because we’re playing Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC (as part of a theme with other DLCs)! We hope you’ll join us for that.

Podcast to the shelled ones.

Welcome back to the podcast! Today we’re talking about Ecco the Dolphin, a side scrolling adventure game and a real classic of the Genesis era. Ecco is a weird game in a lot of ways, the most obvious of which is the fact that it’s a game in which you play as a dolphin and all the surprisingly fluid movement that comes with that. Moving around in this game is surprisingly cool for the time, with the ability to swim very quickly around the map and jump out of water. This theme also serves well for other mechanics, including a breath mechanic to add some time pressure to levels and sonar which creates maps on the fly, both of which are really unique and play into the unique aspects of the game. The other reason the game is weird is that, without spoiling it, it does go to places you might not expect from a game about a dolphin. The fact that there is a narrative twist and a bunch of these cool and flavorful mechanics almost makes up for the fact that this game is an extremely unintuitive maze game. Maybe one of the best examples of a game that is fun to play but not fun to beat, completing levels in Ecco requires you to dodge randomly placed phasing-through-walls enemies while moving at high speed and trying to find nooks and/or crannies that contain crystals, which are just keycards. So it’s a bit hit and miss but it is one of those retro games that is definitely worth at least looking into if you’re interested in some of the bigger swings. We’re going to be talking about how and why the difficulty of the game is what it is, how unexpected the twist was, and we fit in a mention of Blackfish because why not.

Thank you for joining us again this week! Ecco got put on the list almost as a joke, but we’re glad to have actually played it. Such is the whim of the dice. Were you aware of what this game actually was? Did you play this when it was a new game? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! This is our last randomly selected game for Pocket, so we’re moving on to our next theme, a thing no one cares about but we have no shortage of anyway. Next time, we’re starting a series of episodes dedicated to DLC and expansions and we’re beginning with Splatoon 3’s Side Order, so we hope you’ll join us for that!