Embark with us on a galactic odyssey as we examine the remarkable rise of Helldivers 2, a game that has usurped the thrones of Fortnite and Pal World in our hearts and gaming lineups. You'll be privy to our candid reflections on how this cooperative shooter has redefined our expectations and why its punishing challenges have us hooked. Laugh along with our recounting of meme-worthy moments and delve into the strategic innovations that this gaming community has masterfully crafted. As we navigate the seismic shifts in the gaming landscape, you're in for a treat, with insider perspectives on how Helldivers 2 has managed to captivate a robust community against all odds.
Strap on your armor as we dissect the evolution of online gaming, tipping our helmets to the developers of Helldivers for their transparency and the vibrant community that mirrors the early days of Halo fandom. Anticipate an exhilarating discussion on the recent spike in difficulty level, which has us sharpening our skills and strategies. Our tactical analysis doesn't end there; we share how meticulous ammo management and precise stratagem deployment can make or break your intergalactic missions. And, if you dream of future game expansions, you'll be right at home as we muse over potential new enemies and narratives that could throw Super Earth into disarray.
In our cosmic journey, we don't forget to touch base with the importance of personalization and game balancing, throwing in our two cents on how customization options could further immerse players in this universe. Whether you're a solo ranger or part of a small squadron, we've got insights on how Helldivers 2 caters to every style of play. So, whether you're a seasoned veteran or a curious new recruit, join us for this episode as we share our unfiltered experiences and champion a game that's redefining the cooperative shooter genre.
Want to hear more about how we got into gaming? Listen to the interview we did with Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers!
🔻You can find all important links for the podcast over at https://linktr.ee/waitforitpodcast (which includes our brand new Patreon site!)🔺
🔻BACKGROUND MUSIC PROVIDED BY:
Prod. Riddiman: optimistic
🔺
Embark with us on a galactic odyssey as we examine the remarkable rise of Helldivers 2, a game that has usurped the thrones of Fortnite and Pal World in our hearts and gaming lineups. You'll be privy to our candid reflections on how this cooperative shooter has redefined our expectations and why its punishing challenges have us hooked. Laugh along with our recounting of meme-worthy moments and delve into the strategic innovations that this gaming community has masterfully crafted. As we navigate the seismic shifts in the gaming landscape, you're in for a treat, with insider perspectives on how Helldivers 2 has managed to captivate a robust community against all odds.
Strap on your armor as we dissect the evolution of online gaming, tipping our helmets to the developers of Helldivers for their transparency and the vibrant community that mirrors the early days of Halo fandom. Anticipate an exhilarating discussion on the recent spike in difficulty level, which has us sharpening our skills and strategies. Our tactical analysis doesn't end there; we share how meticulous ammo management and precise stratagem deployment can make or break your intergalactic missions. And, if you dream of future game expansions, you'll be right at home as we muse over potential new enemies and narratives that could throw Super Earth into disarray.
In our cosmic journey, we don't forget to touch base with the importance of personalization and game balancing, throwing in our two cents on how customization options could further immerse players in this universe. Whether you're a solo ranger or part of a small squadron, we've got insights on how Helldivers 2 caters to every style of play. So, whether you're a seasoned veteran or a curious new recruit, join us for this episode as we share our unfiltered experiences and champion a game that's redefining the cooperative shooter genre.
Want to hear more about how we got into gaming? Listen to the interview we did with Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers!
🔻You can find all important links for the podcast over at https://linktr.ee/waitforitpodcast (which includes our brand new Patreon site!)🔺
🔻BACKGROUND MUSIC PROVIDED BY:
Prod. Riddiman: optimistic
🔺
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it Gaming.
Speaker 2:Wait for it. Anime Plus Ultra.
Speaker 1:Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino. Yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is Wait for it.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, welcome back to the Wait for it podcast. I am your co-host, phil Smith, aka Phil the Filipino, and joining us, as always, is your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty. And Eric, we are here with a very, very long-awaited episode of the Game Room. Where it happens, it is so funny how this year has gone. When we did the fantasy draft with friendly neighborhood gamers back in January, we were like man, what are we gonna play this year? Like, is it just gonna be a lot of Fortnite and not a lot else? And then here we are recording this on the evening of March 16th, and we not only have a plethora of games to play, we do not have time to play those games that we have played. And I have also gone back to some other games because I now have a gaming PC that I'm now modding, so that's taking up even more time.
Speaker 2:But, eric, there has been one game that has taken the world by storm, and I think even more so than Pow World, as that has kind of started to fall off a little bit. This game continues to pick up steam, and for good reason, as it continues to attract in and draw in new players by the week, I would probably say, and I am so excited to talk about Hell Divers. This is a game that has really came out of nowhere, literally came out of nowhere, like I know it came up in the fantasy draft, but like we didn't know really anything about it. Not only that, it's a sequel and it's nothing like the original. So, between all that, eric, this is going to be a really fun conversation because we have a lot to talk about and, even though this has been covered by, you know, everybody on the internet as far as content creators, I think we're going to have a lot to add to this conversation because, again, we are just having so much fun with the game.
Speaker 1:It should be noted too, that we had a lot of high hopes that we would be playing Pow World a lot throughout the remainder of the year. Don't know about you have not touched it. Just going to be honest.
Speaker 2:No, I have not either. I got to take the L.
Speaker 1:We like to be transparent here on the show. Sorry about that, but we definitely are going to be playing this fill for the foreseeable future. It's crazy, I haven't even thought about Fortnite. It's not my first go to. I think about Hell Divers too, absolutely the surprise hit of the year, and Phil, I think, unlike with Pow World, we kind of felt we were getting in. By the time we recorded that episode we were getting in towards the end of the hype. Hell Divers, I think, is still strong and steady and continuing to grow the hype. So I don't really feel pun intended late to the party for this game. I don't really feel that way about Hell Divers to this time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as, again, as it continues to make rounds. It is such an easily memeable game as well, and so is Pow World, but obviously this is something totally different between the gameplay loop and the difficulty and how much fun it is to play with your friends. All of that we're going to get into everything here in just a moment, so we want to welcome in any brand new and returning listeners to the Way For A podcast. This is our monthly recurring series, the Game Room where it happens, in which we will discuss games either that are make us very nostalgic or, in this case, games that are taking the world by storm and that we have logged quite a bit of time into. And, of course, as you can see there in the title, we will be talking about Hell Divers 2. And if you want to know where you can find the rest of the Game Room where it happens episodes, make sure you stick around to the very end, and we'll let you know where you can find all the rest of our content, as well as some very important social media information. But, eric, with that being said, let's just jump right into this, because there is so much to discuss here.
Speaker 2:And Hell Divers 2, sequel to a game that is nothing like it. The original game is actually a top down shooter, whereas Hell Divers 2 is a third person shooter. Similar to the first game, players are able to select the stratagems, air drops players can call during missions, which include things such as cluster bombs, sentry guns, shield gens, supply pods containing limited use special weaponry. The story of the game follows the elite forces of the Hell Divers battling to win an intergalactic struggle to rid the galaxy of rising alien threats. And this game was not on our radar.
Speaker 2:I think we started seeing videos for it probably the week of release actually, because all of a sudden this game hit social media like a storm and we were seeing this absolutely insane gameplay. Like one of the things that I really enjoy, even though, like, I don't pay attention to the story. Like playing Far Cry with Jordan was a lot of fun because it had a lot of batshit crazy experiences and Hell Divers knew immediately how to draw people in, and I think a lot of people, I mean. Leading up to this, I know people were kind of concerned about the games as a service model, right, like we've talked about that see if thieves, suicide, squad stuff that just has not gone well, but this game took it a whole different direction.
Speaker 2:So, eric, take us through the beginning days, because I was like I sent us the video. I was like, hey, we might want to check this out. It's only a $40 game, it looks like a lot of fun. How are we feeling? Take us through, like the early days of Hell Divers, when we were just like feeling it out.
Speaker 1:So it was hard to really imagine what was going to happen, because you see all the gameplay clips and, let's be honest, like there's not too too much that's being reinvented here. As far as the combat, we'll talk about the stratogems. I think that's an interesting layer to all of this that we didn't expect. So to just throw that out off the bat, that kind of took me by surprise. But, phil, again, this is such a community driven game. I know my experience has been a little bit different than yours, but I wanted to play this game with Fred and this isn't you know, this isn't an experience that you're used to. I want to play this game with anyone, not just my friends.
Speaker 1:So you know, phil, one of the things that happened early on if there was a night you couldn't get on, I found myself just queuing up and just jumping into a lobby. What was the last game that we played that we were jumping into lobbies? There was games where I jumped on the mic with the randoms and was like, hey, that was fucking great. I just wanted to let y'all know that. And then we played another game together, like what game has done that to us? I can't name it off the top of my head and Phil Early on, you could tell it didn't have to reinvent too too much.
Speaker 1:Again, it's a service model. The combat is not Revolutionary, but everything is so fine-tuned and, at the end of the day, fun and challenging these are all the things you want in a game, and you get to do it with other people. I think immediately that's what it set it apart from other experiences I've had. I'd say in the first Five hours of gameplay I was hooked. I said I'm gonna play this game for the rest of the year, and that doesn't happen often.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know who this person is that is jumping into lobbies with strangers to play a video game. We get 2024 has been very strange, and it's only been three months. I like air. I have no desire to play with other people, so I I just in past that time. The only thing that's comparable, eric, would probably be like our halo 3, halo reach, modern warfare days, and that wasn't to talk to people, that was to shit talk with people.
Speaker 2:But again here, this is a such a community driven thing to steal what you had just said and you know You're working together with people to accomplish a Goal. Now, listen, we've been very fortunate. Well, I don't know if you've come across anybody that you know. There's always the thing where it's like you're not using the meta, you're not using the right load out, the right weapons, all that shit. You know there's gonna be. That, unfortunately, is going to be those types of players with any game, this is not a hell diverse to problem. It is just a gaming problem in terms of trying to police people into playing the right way, right, which is just total bullshit. If you're having a good time, then I don't necessarily think that that should really apply. But, right. You know we send out these games like we sent out suggestions to people that will typically, you know, join us in this game. So we've been playing it with your brother. We've been playing it with another friend of ours when he gets on he'll never listen to this episode, so it doesn't matter, but it is a lot of fun when you're able to jump in there and Again.
Speaker 2:It's just so easy to jump in, run a few missions and then and then hop off and then rinse, wash, repeat. There's enough variety between the different missions as well. You know there's some that take 10 to 15 minutes. There's some that can take you upwards of an hour and that 40 minutes goes by so fast, like. The only thing I could really compare it to is like a probably one full Fortnite game loop takes like half an hour. We don't really realize it, you know, maybe 20, 25 minutes, but like to run through that in like a 40 minute. I mean, very early on, when we played, was the four of us you, me, your brother and then our other friend and we played through that mission we're at. We were like we figure we were totally screwed and then getting out of that situation Successfully is incredibly rewarding.
Speaker 2:It really does bring you back to the time. Even though you're not playing against other people, you are racing against the clock, you're racing against a very, very smart AI. That becomes incredibly rewarding. And it's not necessarily that like I want to get rewards for because there is a free battle pass, but like that stuff is cool, like getting extra weapons is cool. But really, like, what I want to do is like get more stratagems level up. I'm not necessarily focused on getting likes, you know, skins or anything like that. I want to get to a level in which I know that I am helping my team. You know that's the the main, primary focus, whereas other games will be played, you know, whether it be Call of Duty, whether it be Halo, whether it be for tonight, we're just like oh, I want to get this skin, you know. Or I want to get this cosmetic item that really has no bearing on the game whatsoever. And yeah, there are cool armors in Helldivers, but that's not my primary focus and, honestly, it's super refreshing to play that way.
Speaker 1:It is, and there are some advantages to some of those armors, like it's not all just cosmetic, which is again how you want to play it right, and I think you know you mentioned the meta thing I I experienced getting kicked out of some lobbies, but then you easily find another one. This game, at one point and I'm sure this number has grown at one point we're like almost half a million players at a given time. There was definitely those times where that has happened. And, phil, the reason it's so community based and I think that's the reason it is so popular is because there are these objectives that you have to do as an entire community. So, for example, if you haven't played the game and this is your first time hearing it there will be mission orders where you have to go defend a planet or invade a planet.
Speaker 1:And, phil, you know we talk about that early indicator you really feel like you were out there in the galaxy, like there are unexplored planets. There are planets we are nowhere close to. We are in super earth but we are well far away fighting for democracy and you kind of get lost in it. You get lost in all of the worlds that are nearby. What is the liberation percentage? What is the mission order? What are we being told we have to do? And then they Enhanced it with things.
Speaker 1:Phil, like Joel who, if you don't know who Joel is, essentially this game now has a game master that is kind of puppeteering everything and we all it's like the insider thing for hell divers we all hate but love Joel. We want him to continue to do good work. Now we got things like mechs, so like again getting ahead of myself, phil, this game went from just a very great first impression To a month later we're recording this episode. It's enhancing the gameplay, it's making Changes, adjustments and, more importantly, improvements. And I think that's what we were missing from POW world Because ultimately, if I jump back into it, it probably is the same game I started with hell divers. I don't exactly feel that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and remember the early days of hell divers, like we would just sit in a queue and wait to try and get in. We don't have that issue at all anymore. And could that happen down the road? Because that's just the, that's just the life cycle of an always online game. Sure, it could possibly happen, but we haven't seen it since then, you know. So that's been great and, like you said, adding things such as mechs and doing special events like those are things that are going to keep the community coming back and the fact that again, the numbers have I'm sure they've dipped a little bit, but they've stayed relatively steady.
Speaker 2:The reviews are still very solid. There haven't necessarily been anything that have. You know, sometimes something will pop up in a game's life cycle in terms of Development or the you know the people that are in charge, and nothing like that has come up so far. I'd be knock on wood. No, hopefully that still remains the case. But, like again thinking about these couple of games, we're gonna be referencing these two games all year when we talk about skull and bones and and the suicide squad. You know, since then we've took, we've heard about crunch and Just absolute development, hell and all this stuff and hell divers to. You know the, even when the CEO I'm not sure if the CEO or not came out and said hey, don't buy the game until we have these servers fixed. That's unheard of. Like you just do not hear things like that. It also helps.
Speaker 2:That's a very Digestible $40 price point. You know this isn't a $70 game. I think maybe there would have been a little bit more of a backlash in terms of servers. If you know it's a full priced $70 $80 game. Maybe you see that Star Wars Battlefront right, you were excited about that Launched with like lunchbox servers and nobody can play it online like I don't know what the hell is happening.
Speaker 2:So for again, a game that certainly wasn't on our radar and certainly wasn't on a lot of people's radar, for them to come out of the gate, be very forthcoming with their player base and Continuing to improve the game like you love it. Eric, you talked about in a pal world. This is, even though we're not playing pal world right now. You know that's fine. We're seeing a little bit of a Kind of a I don't want to say like revolution is like a really strong word, but like we're seeing a little bit of a turn here, where players are, finally, where developers are listening to players like, hey, this is what we want, not this, and that's good. That's good for all of us.
Speaker 1:This reminds me of very early on in the Halo community. Day and again, halo as a community now Atrocious.
Speaker 2:Atrocious, really mad, and they deserve to be.
Speaker 1:And then is they yeah as they should be right, and it's Unfortunate that Xbox is missing out on this. Halo, like Resurgence, revolution, whatever word you want to call it, right, absolutely sucks that Xbox is missing out on this, right. So this, though, felt a lot like that, and it comes down to little things like the music whenever you drop down.
Speaker 1:As a helldiver, phil, I have dropped Now hundreds of times onto planets, and the music that plays when the pods are coming down to the planet with the different backgrounds in the distance, has not gotten old, will not get old, and I would argue it's gonna be iconic. It's absolutely gonna be iconic. It's iconic enough that people have stitched the Erwin attack on Titan speech music, one of the most motivating, epic things I've ever heard slash watched in my life. So, again, this, this really reminds me for those reasons, right, not just the fun, quick timey gameplay, the community building the music, the meme ability all of those elements just feel very Halo like to me, and again, I think, when we look back on this, phil, to your point, revolution really isn't that strong of a word, because I think it could have that impact.
Speaker 2:I'm very surprised, and maybe because, since the game has only been out for like a month and a half or so, I'm surprised we haven't seen a lot of cosplay for this. I think when it comes to like summer conventions, we're gonna see a lot of hell, diverse cosplay. It's also incredibly funny we haven't even talked about that like the voice acting. I'm pretty sure Yuri loanthal has been involved in this. I believe he told us about that on social media, but it's incredibly funny. I mean, just between the, the little quips, the opening video itself Ropes you in with that humor and it's like God, even the tutorial is funny, like it's good and it's not like trying too hard.
Speaker 2:Funny like again, suicide squad, sorry, but it's effortlessly funny, I mean it. It's again like you said, like we said, as far as like the meme nngos, like there's so many that when I sent you the one yesterday of the JK Simmons, one is like get the fuck away from me before I destroy you I was like I am so mad we didn't think of that before that person did, because that's so, so good. Yeah, and you know, there are definitely some things I think they could do to improve the game and things we want to see. We'll get to that here in just a moment, but I get it is such a simple Gameplay, even though the difficulty like that when it gets really difficult it is Manic. It will kick the crap out of you, and it seems to have maybe gotten harder after a recent update, which I think is hilarious.
Speaker 1:It's funny with like hard out here it's hard.
Speaker 2:It is. It's hard out here in Super Earth man. It's funny because like we play we had four people for back for blood and we couldn't get through that just because like the gameplay was not fun. We did not get, but it was. It was difficult to a point of no longer being enjoyable.
Speaker 2:And listen, like there's no. When you can't call back in your teammates, you know in in back for blood the way that you can. In Hell, diverse, you know we're essentially recycling. Like we haven't even thought about just the thousands of help that's recycled through, never to be seen again. We're like bring in the next one. But again, it's funny, a game in back for blood that was intentionally difficult we did not have fun with with, whereas this you can convince me to play the harder modes because one it's more rewarding and you get more out of it, but to it again it's just so much fun. So I am, with some of these games that have come and gone, with like similar styles, the fact that this one is sticking around. There's certainly the early surprise and barring something crazy like early game of the year Candidate, for sure I'm not sure. Like obviously there's gonna be like the final fantasies in the single-player games, but like for us, for for us that get on multiple times a week, this may be it, man, this may be it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll tell you this. I definitely want to recount in the fantasy critic draft that you mentioned with your friendly neighborhood gamers, because this game scored like an 82 On launch and I think that's crazy. Now, mine.
Speaker 2:It does have a to. I met a critic as I checked that open critic. It doesn't a 90 open critic rating now, so that should have been, I feel.
Speaker 1:I feel like it should be a re-score and I don't know if that had to do with server issues, but fill this game like no one expected it. Even the developers didn't expect it to gain this popularity. So this game I mentioned in that draft was like one I heard about Through the grapevine, like I kind of was hearing some stuff. I heard people like the first one, but this one was gonna be a little different. Man Could not have seen that coming.
Speaker 1:Nobody I was in the circle of was talking about this game and Just a wonderful surprise. You know very much in a very much different game Like Baldur's Gate 3, coming out of nowhere last year, obviously a much bigger, grander and and developing wise, larger game. But this is very similar in that same taste where I think, when we look at the end of the year, absolutely one of the surprise hits. Should it be in game of the year contender? I think so. I definitely do think so, but it has a lot more to do to get there for sure, and you know it's not a perfect game fill, but it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:So I kind of want to talk about the combat when we actually make it down to the planet and I want to get your thoughts about how you feel, kind of navigating through it from the mechanics to the Strategies I'd like to circle back to, because that's definitely an important element. How have you adapted to it? Because, I'm gonna be honest, for at night brain you know just simple tasks. This is a lot more than that. So I'm curious how are you holding up? How did it start? How have you transitioned?
Speaker 2:Well, there, obviously there, there are so many differences when, when you're playing this, there's so many things you need to take into account. You know specifically I mean right off the bat the reload, right, you have to manage your ammo and manage those resupplies when you can. That definitely was a Something we we very much took for granted in the lower difficulties. And then now it's like you can't even Get those stratagems off. To jump a little bit ahead when we're talking about those stratagems, but you really do have to rewire your brain and I think that's what makes it another thing that makes the game incredibly rewarding. Like you can't just jump in, shoot your gun, reload whatever, and there be no consequences, right? I don't know that we've ever played a game where, if you reload too early, like you just lose out on All of that ammo. I can't think of anything that we've ever come across that's like that. So, yeah, you definitely can't treat it as a. You know you can't really go solo. That's a death wish. You can't really do Things without your teammates or without letting your teammates know. You have to be strategic about what stratagems you use.
Speaker 2:I think everybody goes through a turret era, that's okay. Everyone goes through a mortar era. It's alright early on until you get those better stratagems, but you really have to coordinate with your teammates, which is why, like, one of the reasons I don't necessarily want to jump in with random is one I like I don't want to speak to strangers for the most part, but I'm just making sure that you're keeping that line of communication open when you can is so very important. And then, yeah, when we talk about the stratagems, like obvious games have had supply drops and you know secondary weapons and all that, that's not a new thing.
Speaker 2:But like in the heat of the moment, when you're in the shit and you're trying to do, oh that's right, right up, that shit's stressful man, it really puts you in the experience and you know the music is swelling, you're getting overwhelmed. And like one stratagems, like a one Properly play stratagems can completely turn your mission around or it can completely ruin it. You know what I mean. Like it can really go either way and that's such a cool inclusion. Even though it is, it is very stressful, but Picking up the game pollute. It wasn't that difficult, even though it is a difficult game, but like, once you get a few under your belt, I mean you're it, you're in it, man, and you know it's for super earth all the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and fighting for drum. The democracy is not easy. It is not. And then there's the meme ability underneath it all, where, you know, did super earth cause all of this? Are we being sent to our deaths for no reason? Did we put the bugs in the robots?
Speaker 2:Did we? That is that's not treason, is it Eric? I hope that's not treason. I hear no, no.
Speaker 1:Well, only like three people are gonna hear this, and I'm assuming they don't play hell divers. So For super earth, no, but could?
Speaker 2:it be treason.
Speaker 1:Yes, it could be. It's just those little fun elements of the game that Again, it's not a single-player experience, it's not a story-based experience. So this game can have light-hearted fun and it can be community driven in those themes and those discussions. So I just think that element alone makes it so much stronger. Again, it's so community driven, it's so player driven that really the sky is the limit with this game. So film, unless there's anything specifically you wanted to kind of highlight, the enemy Variety, for example, is so vast, so different. We could talk about all of them for hours, right. But unless there's anything specific you'd like to cover Present day, up to this point, I would absolutely love to transition into that conversation of what is to come. What is the ceiling for this game? Where could it go from here? So I'll throw it to you if you have anything else you kind of wanted to touch on from your gaming experience. But otherwise we'll kind of look ahead to the future.
Speaker 2:I think really the only thing. The last thing I want to mention is like the Internal defeat I felt when it we had heard that we had lost malevolent Creek right, like we had been fighting as a community, fighting our asses off in this incredibly difficult space. By the way, like and then hearing, and you know what's since then been reopened and we're, you know we're trying to fight that good fight again, but like in the moment it felt like we had all lost, like we were legitimately in like a war, like we had we had failed super earth, that nothing. I've never come across a game that made me feel that way. We were all just ever. That's never happened. That's insane. The fact that they like, they made us, they make us feel that is crazy. Yeah, I just wanted to point that out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great, great, call out and Phil. It's for that reason that I think this game has a lot of longevity, because we have only scratched the surface of not only enemy type, but planets, scenarios, situations, I mean man, at some point super earth's gonna be in danger, right. So I want to talk to you about the future of this game. Knowing what we know right now, what we've heard and beyond, what do you think this game could potentially achieve, given everything it's achieved so far? What do you expect in the coming year or more?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the way that it's set up. It definitely has set itself up for quite a long run here Again, because the gameplay loop is so addicting and relatively easy to hop into and teach your friends. It helps that there are, you know, so many different difficulty levels. I think they have an opportunity here to do something really, really special. So, again, we've already gotten the mech. That's already brand new. There's the rumor of the flying bugs, although I don't know if anyone has actually seen them outside of those videos I haven't played in a couple days. Eric. Is that something you have experienced yet or seen?
Speaker 1:I have not personally experienced it yet.
Speaker 2:no, Because I know you played more recently than I have. So the fact, though, that there's lore out there, what if they just put one in a singular game, or like a few they sprinkled in like a few, like a random event, like that happens in other games? That would be nuts, and I wouldn't put them in like. I could see them doing that, throwing like things that are like not out in the public yet into a random server and be like what's this? Watch people lose their shit on social media. So if that's happening behind the scenes, I think that's incredible. It's going to come down to a lot with the enemy types, you know. So they are going to have to continue to put out enemy types that are difficult, but also not like cheesy difficult you know what I mean Like not difficult just for the sake of being difficult. So, finding that balance and again, they've done a great job so far I think that's definitely going to be a major, major key.
Speaker 2:One thing that I would like to see them figure out is, you know, because when it's just the two of us, like a lot of nights it is just you and me when you get like overwhelmed I would like to see the balancing be a little bit better, Like, yes, we're on a harder difficulty, but you are a much higher level than I am and I feel like I even us out a little bit.
Speaker 2:But I don't want to. It's hard because we are on a harder difficulty. But, like, I do also want to feel like, yes, we do maybe have some sort of shot, whether that be a new stratagem or a new weapon or what it is, Something that will like even the odds, even when it seems like you know, the odds are stacked against us. So for the people that are playing solo or duos or you know, whatever it may be, I would like them to introduce something like that. But also, you have to balance it. Like leveling and balancing this game is going to be so important and they've done a great job so far. So as long as they able to maintain that, then I think they'll be fine.
Speaker 1:I will tell you, since we last played, I did buy enough credits to have the next two war bonds to start progressing through those, and the reason for that too, was like one of them has a booster that will it will increase time between enemy spawns. That would help. That would help, but I did have to. You can. You can wait till you get enough in-game credits. It is possible, but you could purchase that right and work towards those things. So I think the the multiple different options are great.
Speaker 1:But I do agree with you, phil, there are times where I'll play Helldiver difficulty and even if I go down to like a, a five or a six, doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Sometimes you just get your shit kicked in and you just got to fucking deal with it and it sucks, it absolutely sucks. But then there are also times, like you mentioned earlier, phil, where you get out of it, you almost, or you do accomplish it, and there's no greater feeling than that. So I do think they need to level some things out, but I think it's a great start so far, even with those issues. Definitely nothing that kind of stops me. Do you see this game by any chance passing like a game, like a Fortnite. Eventually, like with this model, you know, all it took was one game doing a battle royale, peak battle royale, and it took over the world. Do you see that type of ceiling for it? And again, we're very far away from that, but is it possible? Do you think that could be in its future?
Speaker 2:Well, what's inevitably going to happen is there's going to be copycats. So that's what happened with, you know, pubg and Fortnite. And Fortnite knows they are very aware that the battle royale is on its way out. That's why they introduced three new game modes, right? That's why they are investing all that, like millions, maybe even billions of dollars, into Disney. You know what I mean. Like they want to be Roblox because they know a game like Roblox has had longevity.
Speaker 2:So what's going to happen is somebody you know there's going to be copycats where there's going to be some sort of game, whatever space it may be, that copies what's happening right now as far as, like a community based, community driven objective. So we're going to see that and we're going to see it varying levels of success. Some of them are going to be very good, some of them are going to be bad. Ubisoft is going to put one out nine years from now, way too late or something like that. There's going to be like Far Cry. They're going to do like a Far Cry Helldivers copycat, like that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:So that's what's next, and I'm not sure that it will, because of the mainstream appeal of Fortnite, I don't think it will reach that level, but it will have a consistent enough fan base to be able to support a DLC, a Helldivers 3, or whatever you know, whatever that next step is. One thing I would like to see is you know there are, you can like customize your ships a little bit, like inside, but it's not really that much, because the ship very much reminds me of Mass Effect and I would like for there to be customization when it comes to those ships. I think that would be really cool. You know, obviously there's customization when it comes to the armor and stuff like that, but like outside, what's the word that I'm looking for?
Speaker 1:You know, aesthetically I would like to see some stuff like that. You want that Hogwarts legacy aesthetic. That's what you want.
Speaker 2:Okay, I don't know. I don't know, you want me to change the indoor.
Speaker 1:put a couple tables down, I get it.
Speaker 2:You know, the only thing I ever did in that stupid room was plant. Was put plants in it? I never did. I didn't decorate my room. Were you decorating your room? What? How much time did you play? How much? How many hours did you put in the Hogwarts, like?
Speaker 1:a, c. Listen, I was in the room of requirement for a little bit, a little bit, a little bit, for me to just drop the game completely once I was done with the story. Yeah, it was unfortunate. But also space animals. Bring them in, you know, like you could capture a bug, bring it back to the ship, just saying Let me colonize a planet.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Like, give us stuff like that, and maybe that's like a spin off or something along those lines. But like, let me, let me do that. Well, although farming bugs is probably why we got into this situation, we just repeat the same.
Speaker 1:I don't think, I don't think we're responsible enough to be able to colonize anything.
Speaker 2:You know, let me, you know, let me bring in some of these robots and teach them our ways. You know, I'm sure that won't go poorly, I'm sure it'll be just fine. But you know, and I don't want to see, like you know, marvel skins in the game. You know, I just want to be able to customize the ship and make it my own. You know so, because it is really cool. You see, like all of them flying next to each other, I don't want like a contrail or like a for our, our pods when we're like heading, heading to the planet.
Speaker 1:We don't need anything like that. My ship comes into orbit. You didn't know I was going to join. It's just confetti.
Speaker 2:Or like we we finish an objective and then we just start gritting, and we don't want any of that.
Speaker 1:I don't, we don't need that, we don't need that at all. You know, I am also thinking like they'll be like gliders, so you'll kind of come in with like your hawk.
Speaker 2:Oh, that'd be great. We do need the hawk. I do need that. Actually, that's the one that I need. So there are certain, you know there's. There are limits to this, you know what I mean. So we don't need that type of thing. So, again, because Epic Games has been, they're very much getting ahead of this and knowing that battle royale is on its way out and even with us, like, we've been playing it much, much, much less and focusing on, obviously, other games, it's nuts that, like our gaming rotation for this year has been a Pokemon clone, my GM mode, which is, which we spend a lot of time just sitting there doing nothing in between and then hell divers. This is not a gameplay loop, this is not a simulation I thought I would be part of in 2024. And it's great three months in, and we have, you know, we've had three games that we have invested quite a bit of time in, that we've been able to play together this year that came out this year, which is wild.
Speaker 2:So, and then you know, whenever it happens, you know you have your Baldur's Gate journey to dive into. I have dove into the modding community now with both Madden and Jurassic World, evolution 2, and it's it has brought new life into my gaming with. These are games that I've already sunk hundreds of hours into, but now, because of you know what's going on and the ability to take advantage of stuff like that, like we're gaming more than ever in a year, that we thought that our gaming was going to go down and we're going to have to, like spend time with each other, so like in person, and now we don't have to do that.
Speaker 1:So that's well, we're going to do that for Dune Day tomorrow we're going to spend a whole day watching, watching. Dune hey move over Andrew and Dylan. I think we're ready to just become a gaming podcast now, because we're going to have so much content to crank out. Phil's going to stream at some point. I feel like the more we say it, the less likely it happens. But you put some stuff together.
Speaker 2:Listen, I asked Andrew about it and he gave me the stuff that I needed. So, you know, jordan and I are trying to figure out what game to play and, oh boy, between all these games and the films that are coming out I mean, obviously we're seeing Dune, we got we got Godzilla coming out in a couple of weeks there's like six different TV shows that we're all trying to catch up on. I don't know how we have time for any of this, honestly, and then we're still in the thick of convention season. So, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Weird life we're living. If you would like to donate a million dollars so we can quit our jobs, that'd be fantastic If just by chance you know Jeff Bezos is listening. We will sell our souls.
Speaker 2:So 100 percent, absolutely. Well, this will be sponsored by Amazon. This will all be Amazon stuff back here Like I don't yeah bring it on, Elon We'll take it, hold on.
Speaker 1:Come on, mr Zuckerberg, we'll do it. We'll do it. Maybe we'll be Facebook exclusive. Nobody's on there, but we'll be there.
Speaker 2:Oh, hell yeah, Absolutely yeah. The last thing I want to do is make Facebook my primary social media site again, Please please don't make me do that in 2024. Some of y'all need to get off of Facebook. I'll just say that.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I've considered deleting it so many times If it wasn't for the fact that I just have it like I just don't want to people don't even give a shit when you post podcast stuff like either one of us, no one cares. No.
Speaker 2:Unless it's like, unless it's something about a kid or a dying animal or something like that, no one gives a shit. So, like, why do we even have it? I don't even know. So finish up in a positive note. I do want to go over the ratings, the reception of the game, as we mentioned Oprah critic. It does have a 90 percent, 82 percent on Metacritic Game Informer, gamespot, ign, all nine out of 10s. If we were to score this, probably we'd be around there.
Speaker 2:A 4.5s, 9s out of 10s, whatever it may be, obviously this game is. You know you don't need us, even though we've been telling you for the last 45 minutes how great this game is. But you know the reception speaks for itself and if you have not jumped into the game, we obviously this whole thing has been us recommending it. And you know, don't let the difficulty spike push you away. That is adjustable. You know you can play it the way that you want to play it, even if you do end up playing it solo. Certainly nothing wrong with that. I think you guys will just be, I think people will just enjoy the gameplay, you know, regardless of how they decide to go about it.
Speaker 2:So I'm really glad that we took the leap and you know, thank goodness that people started posting about it on social media and that we came across it, because it has been truly one of the biggest gaming surprises, probably since Fortnite, and we started playing that in 2017. This is literally the first game that like as far as like a community, like we're playing it together. You know games have come and gone. You know there was the. We played like a dodgeball game, we played split gate, we played the roller derby game. Like all these games have come and gone and, you know, every once in a while, one has the staying power. And yeah, here we are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I second that 100 percent. I would just caution you guys if you are worried about any type of issues with, like matchmaking, getting into lobbies. You know, I know that's really not Phil's thing. He'd prefer us both get absolutely destroyed than play with two randoms. I got to tell you I've had a very positive experience for the most part. Yes, are there times where, like you get matched with people that don't know what they're doing or they're fucking things up. Yeah, that's, that's what a public lobby is.
Speaker 1:But I've been shocked how much fun I've had playing with just just people and again, most of the time I'm not even on my mic. I jump on my mic sometimes when the the group, the vibe seems right, but I usually play off my mic. I have a good time when a couple matches lose a couple sometimes and it's just a mixed bag. But I definitely would just implore you, if you are interested in playing this game and you're like, well, I don't have anybody to play it with, don't let that stop you. This game is a ton of fun. I think you should jump on it now. You've heard us bring up games like Fortnite a lot, halo and other big franchises.
Speaker 2:That's a war. There are a lot of years of war, I think, vibes elements.
Speaker 1:Any big game that you've thought about, this could be it and felt. I think it's really telling that you know. When we looked at the future, you mentioned Helldivers 3. If this isn't the game that takes it to the next level as far as moving gaming forward, I could only imagine what a helldivers 3 would look like. So again, jump into it now, while you can, while the hype is real and alive.
Speaker 2:Watch them revert back to the top down. They just do like every other game they do. And then we're like I don't want to play that.
Speaker 1:We find out. It's like the biggest fumble in history, although, again, I don't know how anything you brought a battlefront earlier. Don't know how anything beats a $35 price point for a game that came out 20 years ago. For you to have three servers open when the game launches. That's crazy to me. Again, helldivers had server issues but nobody expected almost half a million people to be playing this game Star Wars Battlefront. You know, when you release that nostalgia bait, people like me want to go play it and I'm just glad I didn't spend the money in advance. I almost got it in advance, but I was like let me just see what happens and thank God I did that.
Speaker 2:Well, luckily for you guys, Eric, there is a battlefront game that you can play online right now. It's called Battlefront 2. And there are servers available, from what I hear.
Speaker 1:Not going to. Not going to do that. I'd rather stay away from EA content as much as possible.
Speaker 2:I know, yeah, the only reason I've jumped into Madden is because I can fundamentally change the way that the game plays now, and now it is bearable, so yeah but, folks, you have also a lot of problems.
Speaker 2:That's true, yes, that's also, that is also accurate. Shout out to the modding community for for Madden, I just joined that discord and there's a lot in there that I don't understand. But folks, again, the moral of this story is play health divers, and I think we'll, we definitely think you will enjoy it and it has definitely been worth our time and we see ourselves sinking many, many more hours into it. But, eric, anything else you want to mention before we wrap up this episode? This is one of our longer game room episodes because, again, there's just so much to talk about and it's a newer game. We wanted to make sure we covered as much as possible.
Speaker 1:No, I think I should just tell you guys how passionate we are about this game and, again, I know we made the same promise on the last episode and we didn't quite do that. We're going to be playing this game a lot this year. Again, I've just been thinking about getting on to play health divers the entire runtime of this episode, so I desperately want to get on.
Speaker 2:I was on the fence about playing after or after this, and now I want to play, so that's how. That's what's happened.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying give me, give me 10 minutes, I'm on, we're dropping, that's it. But I do want to tell you guys to, because Phil and me, we have people that also get on sometimes that are kind of fickle. Stefan Boogie, get on consistently.
Speaker 2:I literally just told Boogie to uninstall it. So yeah.
Speaker 1:So all that to say. If you're here and you're still listening to us ramble on as we get ready to close the episode, join our discord and let us know. Like what is your tag? We'd love to. What's your username? We'd love to hit you up. I play it a lot more than Phil right now, so, again, I'm always looking for people to play with. If you want to jump on, let me know. And yeah, hopefully I don't get flooded with the thousands of usernames that I'm expecting after that called action.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure that's definitely going to happen. Anyway, if you do want to find that discord and all of our other social media, you can actually find it in the link tree link in the show notes of this episode. You also find a link to all the rest of our content, including all game room, where it happens episodes, as well as our other monthly recurring series, the most important ones to follow as far as social media being Instagram, TikTok and that aforementioned discord page. If you want to support the show, you can do a couple of things. One share the content, tag us, let us know and let other people know that you are listening. It is always very much appreciated. And you can also head on over to Apple Podcast or Spotify. Leave those five star reviews. Why is Eric's petting his microphone? It really threw me off. I was like I was on a roll.
Speaker 1:I was on such a roll, so I went, eric, just starts petting his microphone. So was I like he's doctor fucking evil. I got to explain. I went it looked off because I again I think I had severe OCD so my cord was a little off, so I fixed that. And then I thought this looked odd in the camera so I went to like it and made it worse, so that I went for full, like I would.
Speaker 2:For those of you that are listening, I very much implore you to go to the video version of this episode and just watch Eric. In the midst of my of my run here, in the midst of me wrapping up the episode, just start petting his cat like doctor evil pet, pet his cat in the Austin Powers movies. And it totally, ruined it totally through everything.
Speaker 1:I got to start using that stop camera feature. That's my bad. That's my bad dog.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to see which which meme video I put in here for Eric to find whenever I edit this episode. Anyway, what was I saying? I don't even know. Head over to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Leave us a five star review telling us you like the podcast and or Eric's ASMR whenever he strokes his microphone. But if you want to support the show, maybe a little bit extra, eric will let you know how to do that after he's done giving his microphone a haircut or whatever it is he was doing over there.
Speaker 1:Honestly, thinking back, I think the word stroke is appropriate, and that makes me uncomfortable, so I'm just going to tell you guys now, this is the type of before and after scenes content you might expect from us on Patreon, along with early access to our episodes, where patrons like Stefan and Briar are supporting the show. So, whether you go directly to our bus route page and support us there or you join our Patreon, we would truly appreciate it. We would really love to grow that platform much longer in 2024 or much better, I don't know. Phil fucked me up with the mini mini gojira Godzilla there, so I'm going to go ahead and just simply close the episode. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Go play Hell Divers 2. And, with all that being said, my name is Mr Eric Almighty. That is my co-host, philip Filipino, and please don't forget, we release new episodes for the podcast every Wednesday with bonus content on platforms like TikTok, as long as it's available, and all you got to do is wait for it.
Speaker 2:So I heard you're looking for a go to source for entertainment. Wait for it. Gaming, wait for it. Anime Plus, ultra.
Speaker 1:Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino. Yeah, they've got you covered, and all you got to do is wait for it. This is the wait for it podcast.