On this episode of the podcast, content creators Ray Coffman and Soldier 1stClass crash game night to discuss X-Men 97, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth(Spoiler free), and Ray's upcoming anime series Araura.
[00:00:00] Welcome to Crashing Game Night. My name is Matthew, your host as always. Tonight we got some
[00:00:20] guests, we got one welcoming into the family for the first time and but first I want
[00:00:27] to give this to the man that has been gone for way too long from this podcast who is unofficially
[00:00:35] our fifth member as we've joked around for years. The one, the only makes me proud
[00:00:43] to say this soldier first class. Oh yeah. Hello everyone. And then and then the other
[00:00:52] banyed one there is our guest for the first time. You know, I've wanted to be on here
[00:00:59] for a while. We've been friends on Twitter for ages now at this point but Ray Kaufman.
[00:01:07] Yeah, what's happening everybody? And are our official banyed one thinking he's Ellie
[00:01:13] down there? Gerard Burrera. What is up all my nerds? Yes, that's right soldier first
[00:01:19] class. What is up? Yeah, what's up, dude? It's been it's been a minute. It's been a long
[00:01:24] minute. We've been a while we've been needing to hear that sexy voice for a while baby.
[00:01:29] So it's so nice to have you back and Ray welcome, dude. Can't wait to get to know you
[00:01:34] and welcome. Welcome in. And finally now. Now I'm being forced to change of my intro.
[00:01:44] Why? We have the man with a couch, the architect in the matrix. The lion's the lion's
[00:01:52] cub. Jason Bolitio. Yeah, you are a cub now. How the God God is how's it going? It's still
[00:01:59] the same me just five pounds lighter. Is it just the beard? Yes, just the beard man. He
[00:02:07] is clean, shaving. What is the occasion? It's kind of scary man actually. I know you can
[00:02:13] actually see my face, my jawline. Yeah, my two o'clock shadow. You know, nice chin dude. I don't
[00:02:20] have to. Thank you. People say that I'm like, I don't know maybe I'm not as big of a chin guy,
[00:02:26] you know, but you know it's very strong. Yeah. Thank you. But yeah, welcome back. Welcome back.
[00:02:33] Soldier, it's good having you back. I'm kind of miss you bro. You know, like kind of miss you bro.
[00:02:38] What the hell is this kind of? No, no, no, I feel like me a mat now. I need my boy feel with me.
[00:02:45] You know, he's not here because I'm not gonna make it with us tonight. But you know, like we need to
[00:02:49] even out the beanie and non beanie group technically, this is a hat normally. It's yeah,
[00:02:56] but say normally it's a hat. So I'm like, you know, you can't give me a shot. I'm rocking, rocking
[00:03:02] the
[00:03:03] Oh, cool. I was supposed to have the difference tonight. Yeah. I guess it's Jerry. Jerry's is getting
[00:03:09] infecting everybody. I'm mining. I might start something new come summer.
[00:03:20] Yeah, it's good having you back. I know Ray welcome. Welcome to the couch, the couch and the matrix
[00:03:26] that you said earlier, the architect room. You got to change it up a little bit. No,
[00:03:30] man, I need a lamp or put a carpet or something. No, I think I make sure really times they're
[00:03:37] room together. Is this a new couch since soldiers been on? I maybe. Yeah, I do need a new one.
[00:03:45] It's been a while. It's been a while. I do need to get a new couch soon, but I mean just,
[00:03:49] you know, I don't know. Is it new? I feel like I've seen it because I had this one before,
[00:03:59] you know, like the old couch. And I remember, yeah, I know he was there. He's switching.
[00:04:07] He's got a couple. Yeah, he's got a couple. Yeah, these are all the old cogs we used to have.
[00:04:12] And then I just want to say it has been since episode 228 since soldiers. Yeah,
[00:04:23] and he was at that time. It was a guest formerly known as soldier. It's true. We are now recording
[00:04:30] 268 tonight. 40 weeks. 40 soldier. I should have waited like an extra 12. I could have been like
[00:04:41] the year special. Yeah, and of all things I'm responsible for your podcast naming. It's true.
[00:04:48] It is true. I will give him that. Oh, nice. So, sorry behind this. We talked about this before,
[00:04:57] but soldier and I were trying to talk about names for his podcast. And I suggested
[00:05:03] give me a fact and more along the lines of there's the thing called the Tetris Effect,
[00:05:07] which is actually a real psychological phenomenon where all you do is think of Tetris pieces.
[00:05:15] So, you want to know what's funny about that actually, ironically enough, when we brainstormed and
[00:05:22] came up with that name, I told it to my podcast host and I was like, hey, you know, my buddy Matt
[00:05:31] came up with this idea for the gaming effect. And I told him what it was and what it, you know,
[00:05:35] had translated from. And he's like, uh, my wife does that. And I'm like, no way dude, this is like
[00:05:44] perfect. He's like, yeah, she'll bring home groceries and literally she will pack the refrigerator
[00:05:51] like she's playing Tetris. And I'm like, dude, this was meant to be like this was meant to be.
[00:05:57] So it ended up working out really well. Um, we've done several episodes now and uh,
[00:06:04] I think people like the name and it works and it's just kind of cool.
[00:06:10] So, you started doing that and you said like, because you were like, hey dude,
[00:06:15] I think I'm doing a podcast and uh, Matt came up with this name for it. I was like, oh hell yeah,
[00:06:20] that's really good. Yeah. Leave it to me to come up with gimmicks. I was like, I got no ideas.
[00:06:28] He said that. I was like, oh, it's really good. Yeah. Yeah. I literally was like, Ray,
[00:06:34] what do I do? I have no idea. I was like, I have no idea what I'm going to name it. And then
[00:06:40] Matt was like the gaming effect and I was like, that's pretty good. I'm like, okay. And then
[00:06:46] our message is Ray. I was like, I was like, what about the gaming effect? He's like, I like that.
[00:06:50] And I was like, and then once I explained it to Syltry, he was like, oh yeah, that's just, you know,
[00:06:56] so let's, Ray, let's let the the CGN fam kind of gets to know you a little bit. You are a author,
[00:07:04] a director or producer, a writer. And you have a nice little project you got going called Aurora.
[00:07:12] Yeah. I was uh for years forever. I was, you know, obviously cut my teeth on like being a big
[00:07:21] fantasy nerd, you know, just uh, uh, Final Fantasy Old School 90s anime, you band part 100D,
[00:07:30] you know, for shiggy. My first ever introduction to anime, vampire 100D.
[00:07:36] I'll call it a great bye bye, Kira. I'll be right back here right there. Oh sweet.
[00:07:42] I was like, oh, it was the one of the first illustrations Yoshitaka Amano did was that old
[00:07:48] BHD cover and it's been the center of whatever my art room is, whatever house or apartment or studio
[00:07:54] I mean, it's always the first thing that goes up on my wall. So I always was inspired by like,
[00:08:02] you know, Final Fantasy rings, the huge influence so many other tales. And years ago I started
[00:08:09] writing my own thing. Uh, I wanted to do it as like prose and all my friends were like, oh,
[00:08:14] you should do this like a kind of book. I was like, nah, I'm not, I'm not gonna do that and then
[00:08:19] I started doing that. And then people are like, ah, you should animate it. I'm not gonna do that
[00:08:24] and then during COVID I did that. And so here we are, you know, it's uh in soldier. He's one of my
[00:08:33] best friends. You know, we never even seen face-to-face ball texting like in the middle of the night. But
[00:08:38] yo dude, what if we, what if I did this? What about this? So what about this thing? What would this
[00:08:44] be? He'd be like, yeah, dude. Yeah, that's awesome. I always bounce ideas on him and other people but
[00:08:49] Aurora is a um, it's kind of a love letter to my old school storytelling, you know. I'm a big fan
[00:08:57] of uh 90s anime, old school Lord of the Rings, things like that. And it's a uh,
[00:09:03] tale of the centers around two main characters. The last Aurora named Anaya and Renzia and
[00:09:08] Aloof Bagabond who's just hired to get her to safety. And when the two of them start to travel
[00:09:13] together, all the evil things they're responsible for the things that have happened over the years
[00:09:18] begin to awaken and become active again. So and there's it deals with a lot of like
[00:09:25] depression issues and like a lot of the characters have issues of like I'm not good enough.
[00:09:30] I'm supposed to be this but I'm really here. Why am I not where I'm supposed to be? And dealing
[00:09:36] with those struggles and those mental issues and those spiritual issues, you know, and rising above
[00:09:41] those things or not. I don't get too much weight but you know um but uh and we're in the process of
[00:09:48] developing the animated series right now which has been awesome. And uh we did a panel of the
[00:09:54] countercom in Lexington, Kentucky a few weeks back and one of the people in the crowd during the Q&A
[00:10:01] section was like uh you know what's what what kind of toll this is taking on you. I was like this
[00:10:06] was all brown when I started. So uh but yeah it's wild it's an amazing ride. I'm so fortunate
[00:10:16] things like doors are opening all the time and it's just basically you know put yourself out there
[00:10:23] and say a damn it, I'm gonna do this thing that's supposed to be doing and I'm gonna do it and
[00:10:27] I'm gonna go get it and having that attitude, people respond to that. And we've got so much talent
[00:10:33] on board. We've got Steve Bloom, uh Johnny Young Bosch who plays EACHEGO and Bleach. We got
[00:10:38] Michelle Ruff who's uh our voice director. She's a talent in it. She's Rukia and Bleach. We
[00:10:44] got so many people on board. So many people that do that. So Ray for those people that don't know
[00:10:51] who did Johnny Young Bosch play? He played EACHEGO and Bleach. He played Bash the Stampede. He's
[00:10:58] a man who has an EPLAY. You know what I mean? Adam from Power Rangers. Yeah he's an EPLAY
[00:11:06] Black Ranger. It was it was a couple of years ago, he was in uh he was in License at
[00:11:11] Fracabacon and he was like hey meet me and my buddy over at this bar will have some food
[00:11:18] and we were sitting there just talking and shooting a bowl and eating and uh it was it was surreal
[00:11:23] and it was uh Steve Bloom was really the one that started all this because I approached him at a show
[00:11:28] in 2019. I told my sister in my booth I was like hey yo if uh if he says he'll play this character
[00:11:35] we're gonna make the show and and then of course a few months later COVID happened and then
[00:11:40] all this stuff started happening and then Steve goes, yo man this story is really good
[00:11:46] and I'm not basically I'm not telling you that just telling you because you've already paid me but you
[00:11:51] know it's really really good and he was like who do you want on it? And I was like what
[00:12:00] and that night I heard from everybody who played because the magical thing about it for me was um
[00:12:07] I had a studio apartment years ago in the middle of nowhere Lexington, Kentucky in a bad part of
[00:12:13] downtown and I just sat on my one piece of furniture drawing these characters or writing these stories
[00:12:19] with G4 on it like three in the morning playing anime like you know the G4 movie yeah yeah yeah
[00:12:26] yeah so uh banner of the stars all this old obscure stuff chromarty high school and everything
[00:12:31] and and I'm listening to these keep actors play these characters that are influencing what I'm writing
[00:12:36] in years later I was able to cast them as the characters I had in my head as I was writing them
[00:12:43] back on in the middle of nowhere and now we're here so it's a lost time to each day how lucky I am
[00:12:50] and how special the project is to work out and I just I have to say like as someone who has
[00:12:57] been in pretty much constant contact with Ray over the course of the last few years and
[00:13:02] having read his comic or graphic novel or manga whatever you want to call it
[00:13:09] but it's you can tell that it wears its inspirations on its sleeve but it's so it's unique in the way that
[00:13:19] you see the influences but you don't feel like they are just directly there like it's it's
[00:13:24] Ray's special touch on on his own story and you know the dark themes and and just the way
[00:13:32] the characters interact with each other it's it's a really well written piece of media and I think
[00:13:37] a lot of people are going to be surprised because independent creators I feel like don't get
[00:13:41] there do and when people see what Ray's gotten store for them I think he's going to get his do and I
[00:13:48] think absolutely 100% love what he's doing and I really believe in this project as well
[00:13:57] man you reach out touch but hot
[00:14:02] it's it's wild because like I am an independent creator and one of the goals of doing this on
[00:14:08] the scale that I'm doing it and starting winlands productions my production company which has
[00:14:13] taken me away from doing the YouTube content that I usually do or whatever is to have a place
[00:14:19] where people like me that want to tell their story can have a place to tell it you know
[00:14:26] and if it's not to production quality yet we don't just send you away we say hey let's work let's
[00:14:32] get it there you know you got a great idea you want to tell your story let's get it there you
[00:14:37] know don't just send them out and hey go figure it out and come back in my snow I don't I want to
[00:14:43] place where we can foster people not only foster their ideas and their imagination but their confidence
[00:14:50] as well because as a creator and everybody knows because you're all creators it takes one hard
[00:14:58] gut shot to your confidence and it can take years to recover from that no matter how good you are
[00:15:03] like every day I deal with oh this is a very good but I've got so and so on the line
[00:15:09] want to talk about this thing and I'm like no no it's not good it's like you any it is you know it's so
[00:15:14] you know yeah it's wild it's fun and it's just a wild journey and I'm excited I'm excited
[00:15:22] for people to see it you know and the fact that like you look at the project right and it's not
[00:15:29] to the massive scale yet but Steve Bloom holy just like they'd be like getting no in North
[00:15:38] like or terrorist strong or you know great a lot like Jennifer Hale any one of those because he is
[00:15:46] voice acting royalty he's like up there on Mount Rushmore yeah he's bad yeah I think at this
[00:15:52] point Johnny Young Bosch could be up there too as much as much as he has contributed to voice acting
[00:15:58] over the years and continues to do so like I mean he's some of the most famous characters in the world
[00:16:07] and and that and he's a part of Aurora and I think that I think that alone that just just
[00:16:13] those two alone not even you know the other ones that you've gotten proves that these people
[00:16:21] who have worked in this industry for so long and have done everything there is to do in this
[00:16:26] industry believe enough in this project to sign on it's it's I did not realize he was the voice
[00:16:33] actor for the English dubbing of Akira yeah yeah he was like wow way back before power Rangers
[00:16:42] and all of that that's he was all native uh Lillouche I mean he's been so many characters he was in
[00:16:50] the person like names I think he played the new Broly he's the new Broly yeah so but yeah like
[00:16:58] it's it's so some days I kind of have to pinch myself it's surreal because like I've been able to cast
[00:17:06] each actor who influenced the character that I wrote you know what I mean that's like if
[00:17:13] if like a film director was to go back and be able to cast the actors that inspire the characters
[00:17:19] they wrote into their stuff it's it's been it's very humbling it's never lost on me each day like how
[00:17:25] fortunate I am uh a's all these people are so super cool to work with and be that they just believe
[00:17:32] in the story that much um Steve told me one day he was like dude I think this is the next big thing
[00:17:40] and I was like oh my god I was almost here and up I was like I'm gonna go see if I'm gonna have
[00:17:45] cry real quick so real quick to answer the question in chat um just looking at IMDB
[00:17:56] from a Broly perspective right super well uh sorry dragon ball super super hero in 2022 he was the
[00:18:03] voice of Broly he is the voice of Broly in the the newer video game that's coming out sparking zero
[00:18:11] so yeah he's pretty much taken over so so real quick before we kind of get into
[00:18:19] the one thing that kind of brought our collectiveness together over the years on Twitter right and
[00:18:26] I think that's funny right right you talk about how you've never met soldier like in person right
[00:18:31] same thing I've I've not met like all of us have known each other on Twitter for ages back when
[00:18:38] it was actually the non toxic hellscape that is now um before before before the universe turned
[00:18:48] on soldier and you know that's that's a fair that's a fair assessment yes you know we were all
[00:18:54] connecting we were all just this one group you know and and whatnot but you know um the one thing
[00:19:00] I do want to kind of really touch based on when we're talking anime and stuff like that and you know
[00:19:05] Steve see bloom you know is Wolverine and some of the you know X-Men cartoons and stuff like that
[00:19:12] but we'd be remiss real quick we didn't mention the fact that X-Men's back and yes here's the
[00:19:20] here's the other thing it's a marvel show that Jason watched I actually watch it I actually watch it
[00:19:26] I'm not today baby hell is what new space action like what is going on now this is this is just
[00:19:35] nostalgia man this is just nostalgia and it is your oh that's great that I'm already on board
[00:19:41] I was already on board so Ray you said you're watching it tonight I want to watch it tonight
[00:19:45] yeah and I will say this for any anyone that grew up with X-Men on Saturday mornings
[00:19:55] the second the intro oh man it is bad I was just about to say like the
[00:20:03] I get just get ready the moment the intro like starts just just like I can't wait to hear
[00:20:09] your take out because the moment it hit I was all I was got so hyped I got so excited like
[00:20:16] just like a kid I was so excited when the episode started yeah it is and like the way they way
[00:20:26] it's gotten redone it was like everything I feel hit its mark like I was really happy with
[00:20:36] like the direction the show's going and like the intro I was just I was very happy with it and they
[00:20:42] are paying the comic very much homage yeah with where they're going with it you'll see at the end
[00:20:51] of episode two yeah you'll see at the end of episode two what I'm referencing when I say they're
[00:20:57] following comic yeah on some of this but I will say this one are favorite parts and this isn't
[00:21:02] a spoiler because it was in the trailer and everything is just seeing the full scene where Gambit
[00:21:08] hops on Wolverines back and energizes those claws oh man so I'm happy that you know they've got
[00:21:17] most the original people back that Eric and Julia Leewald who wrote on the original series are
[00:21:24] back in a you know consultant capacity for the show it yeah it's good the it's good that like
[00:21:34] the original people are coming back to you because like sometimes when that happens like the quality
[00:21:39] tends to suffer because they have to get back in the mindset they were in back then and create
[00:21:45] that show the way it it reminds the fans what it was like but also does its own thing and so it's
[00:21:55] always nice when the original creators can come back and actually recapture that lightning in a bottle
[00:22:01] is I really feel like they did um is Cal Dodd still playing Wolverine yes he is okay okay okay
[00:22:11] well we're playing rogue and the only voice that's different is Gene Gray and Scott and Scott
[00:22:17] and Jubilee it's got different right choice but yeah yeah Scott Scott's different Gene Gray
[00:22:26] and Jubilee or Morph and Gambit
[00:22:31] no gamut's back no but it's it's a different voice actor I think the original voice actor for
[00:22:39] Gambit's a different user returning voice but yeah that's true he's a different that is true
[00:22:44] just like Gene she's oh that's right yes different but the one who's playing Gene Gray is also part
[00:22:52] of royalty and that's Jennifer Hill Jennifer Hill yeah super excited that the original beast
[00:23:02] actor didn't come back too because I'm he hits those marks yeah so the apocalypse yet
[00:23:09] it's as a apocalypse been in it at all not yeah not yeah because he was about favor voice from the
[00:23:14] original show that yeah that whole arc was cool how crazy they wrote his lines like his dialogue
[00:23:22] literally just ran over other people's dialogue in the show like show it was almost like the
[00:23:30] actor speaking in like right on the microphone yeah and it was like it just shut everybody else out
[00:23:37] and I was like wow and when they wrote those Fox 90s shows to the dialogue it was like
[00:23:43] yeah it just rolled the dial yes oh yeah oh you know like for some of the best scenes were all
[00:23:51] like Magneto scenes were always so eloquently said like he always had some sort of like
[00:23:57] anecdote but but and for his direction of the brotherhood which yeah that show was so well done
[00:24:03] even back then I mean it's it's like wouldn't be in my wife or watch it we just love that the crispness
[00:24:12] of the of the show of 97 it keeps the old the old sketchiness but it's a lot cleaner lines it's not as
[00:24:22] um pixley that I guess you could say it's not as uh it's just very sharp like all the lines
[00:24:29] are sharp I think that was the one thing that threw me off right is that back in the 90s it was rough
[00:24:36] right because it was all hand-drawn back then yeah yeah how it's all computer you know you're
[00:24:40] animating through computer and stuff so it's it's and now it's filtered like that's that's
[00:24:44] that's that's like a couple filters on the show but yeah it makes it a great look yeah
[00:24:50] makes it look amazing the filters in there to keep the the gritty feel yeah yeah
[00:24:57] like nothing changed the seat now when you're animating it's all drawn on a
[00:25:01] senti into one of the program you're using so it loses that hand-drawn texture like I always say
[00:25:07] I think anime is way too clean now but I miss the grittiness of that 90s I wish they would use
[00:25:13] more filters and anime it reminds me of like how brisert kind of lost its
[00:25:20] it's feeling when it went to like the more CGI animation because they're like to me when it comes
[00:25:27] to anime there's like there's a Mount Rushmore and old school 1997 brisert is on that it's on that
[00:25:38] Mount Rushmore yeah and that gritty like it almost looks like a old painting almost
[00:25:46] with an anime touch to it and I really like that grittiness to it the only one I didn't
[00:25:51] that I that I enjoyed that they cleaned up that was like that was hunter hunter um I liked the
[00:25:58] grittiness of the old version but the way they did the like the 2011 version was really well done too
[00:26:04] hmm there was a shot in brisert 97 and and soldier I think you'll appreciate there were two
[00:26:12] it really brought the gritt and it's like one of the things I've tried to capture some of the
[00:26:16] things I'm working on right now is one of the ones I think up is when Griffith and Gus had to
[00:26:22] confront Zod in the catacombs I literally that that moment was in my head as you said it I was
[00:26:28] like yeah is he gonna pick this one yes and then there was in the first episode when the snake
[00:26:34] bearin like transforms he's like fragile so fragile it is beat or stomped it's crushing everything
[00:26:41] and then shows him in the fire it's got this gritty tone to it yeah it's like you just can't do that
[00:26:48] and for some reason people don't do that and I'm like no this is what made anime hot this is what made
[00:26:52] right it's like it's like in to your point too like the pan shots you know what I mean like we're the
[00:27:00] the camera will pan across right yes and it would pan across the thing and that old school look is
[00:27:08] just it's it's you don't get that anymore and I feel like if an anime were to come out now
[00:27:13] and do that I feel like it would really like I think people would latch onto that and get that
[00:27:21] nostalgic feel like it would it would say like well I know something he's like oh
[00:27:29] this is what I need in my beard back everybody's got a beard you just rub your cheeks
[00:27:36] or you gotta start doing like the eyebrow thing like oh no no no the anime I let me let me
[00:27:42] I mean I mean Matt's barely count so I mean oh I'll join Jay I'll join Jay
[00:27:53] you know this soldier normally wait so let's without spoilers I'm gonna I'm gonna throw
[00:28:03] soldier this one to start us with that was a good sir so as we the notoriously know at this point
[00:28:12] soldiers take on the ending of remake brought out the toxicity that is in honestly any fandom
[00:28:20] right any fandom you you're in you do have that that toxic part but without spoilers now that
[00:28:29] you've played and finished rebirth does does your take on the ending of remake change now
[00:28:39] Ray is ready to jump into
[00:28:43] I'm starting shit I was third the pot uh no honestly honestly no um it kind of sounds like
[00:28:53] you got intensified uh so I want to say this because I feel like this needs to be said uh
[00:29:02] I feel like people need to understand I did not hate remake I hated the ending
[00:29:09] I gave the game a nine out of ten but the ending really drug it down for me and then
[00:29:15] you know putting it under a microscope there were things that I noticed that dropped my score of it
[00:29:19] um rebirth is kind of the same way um oh no I loved a lot of the moments I loved a lot of the
[00:29:28] expansion um the game was a nine out of ten for me um but again the ending dropped it uh some
[00:29:37] creative decisions dropped it in certain scenes uh that I won't really go into um and overall
[00:29:47] I think it's a really well made game I'm actually really proud of this development team
[00:29:52] for how they were able to have such a major turnaround in game design
[00:29:57] and yet still make it feel like it was cohesive with remake in a gameplay perspective um obviously
[00:30:04] you know you're in the open world the exploration and stuff and that is a huge turnaround
[00:30:10] from what we got with remake and I'm actually really proud of them for that um
[00:30:14] and this is a really big upgrade from a company that said you know 10 years ago HD towns are too
[00:30:19] hard to make and you're now in several HD towns that are really well done in this game
[00:30:28] so I have my
[00:30:33] reservations reservations about the way the story is going and obviously I don't want to say
[00:30:38] anything about the ending too much because you know obviously not everybody here has finished it
[00:30:43] I feel like it's another remake situation for me where I may not have enjoyed the narrative
[00:30:49] decision at the end but I enjoyed the journey to get there and that's why it is it is so hard for
[00:30:55] me to discuss things in any kind of negative light because I loved a lot of what was presented
[00:31:02] but obviously there were things that I did not agree with there were things that I felt could have
[00:31:06] been done better um and I'll admit there are things in this game that were done better than the original
[00:31:11] but that comes with the caveat that obviously I finished it and I know what happens and I'll leave
[00:31:20] it at that and I appreciate that because I just started chapter 10 interesting
[00:31:26] Jerry's dickin around in corral uh no next next area I'm in the parade uh getting you
[00:31:37] oh your pinjuno okay you're pin and then rei you're still messed around early game right
[00:31:43] I mean yeah I'm in corral I'm literally in the middle of corral I actually texted soldier earlier
[00:31:49] today I was like yo I was like I wasn't even looking forward to corral it's like just
[00:31:54] told like the way they realized the whole area in the town and the conflict going on with
[00:32:01] the people in town is just like wow okay I wasn't even that wasn't even on my radar and I'm like wow
[00:32:09] I'm totally bought into this right now so I think to your point soldier right you look at
[00:32:19] how in design specifically you look at the amount of detail that went into calm you look at
[00:32:24] corral and box eight gold saucer you know and and whatnot and it you can see why it took a few years
[00:32:34] to kind of make the game hopefully it's not ps6 or 7 by the time we get the third I think they said
[00:32:44] the window is probably about four years I think is what they said but that's because they have a
[00:32:48] lot of the assets already done yeah so I will say this the next one's gonna be sad because we're
[00:32:55] not going to be hearing umatsu scoring it because he didn't announce that he's he's probably scored his
[00:33:03] last full game sound you know score because it's just the work it is but honestly I think deservedly
[00:33:09] so man he needs oh yeah it's he needs to enjoy his life and there's the two guys that he's
[00:33:15] gonna be handing it off to have been part of final fantasy for close what two decades at this point
[00:33:21] almost I think some of them did one of the guys did the score for final fantasy 13
[00:33:29] which that's right hamozu right uh yes he also did 10
[00:33:36] okay so yeah that goes way back so it's more than it's more than that we're almost 25 years at this
[00:33:41] point well umatsu did 10 but there were guest tracks with hummus it's almost like he was kind of
[00:33:48] bringing him along to train him I guess so to speak I will say this I'm still very very happy that
[00:33:55] the end day of 13 is still alive and well in seventh
[00:34:01] and I mean when you think about soldier right is the whole stagger system oh yeah
[00:34:07] it that's 13 right there and you can build your characters just like you built
[00:34:14] lightning fang vanilla snow and you can build monster wrecking crew like Tifa right now I'm in the
[00:34:21] process of building her out like lightning from 13 and she did a monster stagger machine for me
[00:34:27] oh yeah loving it um and I know 13 gets a lot of hate some of it okay deservedly so you know
[00:34:38] um some of us absolutely love 13 it's one of our favorite final fantasies me um and it's just
[00:34:45] but I think what it looks like with final fantasy right is that it's it's the predecessor games
[00:34:52] that have walked so these future games you know namely seven rebirth remake and 16 could run
[00:35:00] um you know 16 you know I saw the issues with 16 like with some of it and what not and I think
[00:35:09] anyone could find things about final fantasy that they don't necessarily enjoy as much especially
[00:35:14] final fantasy fans just yeah but there was there a new game that was announced was there a new
[00:35:24] final fantasy just announced no don't don't trail is coming out so it's the DLC for 14 yeah
[00:35:33] that's probably what I saw which Jason needs to get back on that I do but I didn't even get
[00:35:38] in Walker's so I mean like I'm I'm behind what yes it yeah say soldier no no no no no no see let me
[00:35:46] let me you got a backtrack it up backtrack it up like let's let's rewind the tape like
[00:35:51] I lost I had some uh some personal issues happen and so I couldn't jump back on
[00:35:57] okay 14 and when you lose your raid team when you lose your raid team it's hard to get back into
[00:36:03] get back into it you know like you got to find a new raid team you got to find a new like
[00:36:08] group of people that you mesh with you know like and at the same time
[00:36:13] are you gonna be casual are you gonna be mid core are you gonna be hardcore right right
[00:36:18] and I was like there for a while I was raiding savage and stuff so I totally get that I'm not like
[00:36:24] to into it anymore um I am excited for don trail because I'm obviously excited to see what the
[00:36:30] game is gonna be like after the 10 year arc that they were on is now over yeah um obviously that
[00:36:38] worries me a little bit because the last arc was so good but I I have faith in CBU 3 I think
[00:36:45] they're they're really good at what they do yeah or teen as their baby and I think they're
[00:36:50] gonna treat it with their respect it deserves yeah and then I'm going to just roll it out just
[00:36:54] to roll something out like right they take their time did you see the the news that they wanted
[00:37:01] to come out sooner but they postponed it because it else deals yes because of shadow of the
[00:37:07] urgery Yoshi P was like I've delayed it a week because I want to play the DLC and I respect that
[00:37:13] so much because I have six six playthroughs and 400 hours in Elden Ring yeah I love that game
[00:37:20] so Ray so far with what you've experienced thus far in the game how are you feeling about
[00:37:28] rebirth compared to remake um I uh well well first off I want to say this a lot of people a lot of
[00:37:38] people kind of a channel for theory videos and things like that and some people know this
[00:37:43] to watch my streams I've talked about it openly and we talked about kind of the persecution soldier
[00:37:49] got about remake anything I would be doing YouTube videos if it wasn't for soldier first class
[00:37:56] like I watched his stuff during remake and I was like I want to do this too and I've told him this
[00:38:01] before I wouldn't have a YouTube channel if it wasn't for his content and so when the slings and
[00:38:08] arrows were coming out I told him I was like if these guys I got your back if anybody comes
[00:38:14] in my chat we're gonna smack him back don't worry about it um but yeah I just want to know that
[00:38:19] to real quick there's you know I wouldn't be doing this stuff if it wasn't for soldier first class
[00:38:24] so Alex I love you baby so always I love you too buddy keep doing things your way man don't ever
[00:38:34] brush off you know what I mean so the real ones respect that so I want to say that first
[00:38:41] secondly rebirths I'm blown away by the scale and just how they fully realize like a real world
[00:38:52] like it doesn't feel like when I was playing Tales of Rise I said if this is rebirth we're fine
[00:39:00] like we're good they took that concept of like what was done in uh no not Tales of Rise I'm sorry
[00:39:09] star ocean of the divine I was like if they do this we're fine they they did that times like three
[00:39:19] because for me when you're running around in the world and rebirth it doesn't feel like you're like okay
[00:39:26] this town that I gotta get to this point on the map and then I gotta go through this cave and go
[00:39:31] to this part and then that's the open world no it's like a huge open world like they built a real
[00:39:38] world like Gaia is like real now and I'm so impressed because I didn't think I would ever see
[00:39:45] something like that from Square Enix and when I played the Divine Force I was like oh okay they
[00:39:52] they can't they kind of get it they kind of get what this needs to go but in remake one of my big
[00:39:58] complaints with remake was you go to the end of like a trail and there was no reward for it there's
[00:40:04] nothing there there was no treasure chest there was nothing to fight there's just a big empty spot
[00:40:09] you know it was very linear it was more way more linear yeah it was and you'd go like an out of the
[00:40:15] way spot and I'm a grinder I live for the grind baby that's why I spell up a JRP kind of find
[00:40:20] those secrets yeah start with Loon Arm and 90s how was I I'm a grinder boy let me dungeon down you know
[00:40:27] so when you get to an end of a trail or something like that and there was just nothing there in
[00:40:35] rebirth there's some of that but it's kind of balanced with but yo this is like a big world it's not
[00:40:43] just a couple of trails going to the next sector it's a big open world and there are places to
[00:40:48] fight things so I am just in awe of the parts that they have actually kind of re-invigined for Final
[00:40:57] Fantasy 7 because it does feel like a remake but not in a traditional way it's being remade it feels
[00:41:04] like a reimagining of Final Fantasy 7 and early on I was doing all the theory crafting videos I had
[00:41:10] a couple theories up throughout there I called it you know best guess or award you know it was like
[00:41:17] we're all just who's the best guesser you know what the fans decide you know it's it's like you know
[00:41:22] the race to the bottom you know what I mean we're going all just trying to kill time and entertain you
[00:41:26] know what I mean but about a year ago I was like I really just feel like they're just re-imagining
[00:41:35] Final Fantasy 7 like time loops time portals time line whatever I feel like it's just a reimagining now
[00:41:46] I will say I said this today I got to Coral and there was a cutscene with Zach
[00:41:52] and I said on my stream I was like I don't care about this
[00:41:56] like let me spend time with Barrett and Arith and Tifa and Red Thirteen and Cloud
[00:42:02] let me run with my crew give me more Rufus and the Rogues Gallery at Shinra because that shit is
[00:42:08] awesome like I feel like Jinra they really looked at Metal Gear and every time a new Metal Gear
[00:42:16] game comes out what do they kill it with the Rogues Gallery introduced in every Metal Gear game
[00:42:22] it's like it's always awesome the Shinra lineup from the end of remake when they're all lined up
[00:42:28] in front of Rufus portates the chair it felt like I was going to introduce like a Metal Gear Rogues
[00:42:33] Gallery you know what I mean and they feel like that now like every time they cut in and all the
[00:42:41] Rufus and Shinra stuff is fire dude I especially love like Rufus and Rufus has done really well
[00:42:52] what they've done with that and what they've done with the characterizations of some of the characters
[00:42:57] I bear it oh my god like for me in 2020 nobody had a better vocal performance than John Eric Bentley
[00:43:05] he wasn't even nominated it was a bunch of angry people from like the last of us part two
[00:43:10] I'm like you're showing one or two human emotions he showed every human emotion in this game
[00:43:16] hey Ray just wait that performance gets on steroids
[00:43:26] soldier knows the part I'm talking about there has raised coming up too there is even a part
[00:43:32] even later with with John that is chef's kiss I mean it is I literally so as a background to me
[00:43:45] there's not a lot that gets me in a state where I am like borderline a tier role in omashik and
[00:43:57] there is a part later in the game with John that I was just sitting there holding it back because
[00:44:05] it was so powerful and John did such a good job and I can't wait for you guys to see that scene
[00:44:09] because it is it is powerful I can't wait really powerful it's like late game but it's really really
[00:44:18] powerful I was gonna add oh no god man oh I was gonna say because bully mpix hero in chat was saying
[00:44:27] jb is far and beyond the best actor in this game and for me is let's preface this we know
[00:44:34] quite a few of this cast soldiers been on for our our rogue's gallery of the crew right and
[00:44:43] honestly even Austin's performance as Roche oh really good you know especially later on in
[00:44:52] the later chapters especially when I did what I got I'm just getting to his first like scenes now
[00:44:58] and like first starting to show up it's so exciting even Austin did a fantastic job he really good
[00:45:07] I was so I when I first played remake I was not necessarily sold on Roche like obviously I had met
[00:45:14] Austin and I like Austin at the character himself the voice was great the character himself I wasn't
[00:45:20] necessarily sold on and then I replayed remake again and I saw his scene again and I'm like okay I
[00:45:27] can kind of get on board with this I kind of like the unhingeness I like the energy he brings to it
[00:45:33] and Austin's voice really plays that well and then rebirth comes out and I'm like holy shit Austin
[00:45:42] could play kefka and and I would not I wouldn't not find it believable you know there is I think he
[00:45:50] could pull off kefka and do it well well the crazy thing about john and Austin is that uh
[00:46:00] their range is crazy like so low key some people know this I cast him in a roar so like uh
[00:46:08] when I have probably remake in 2020 I went to john there Bentley and I went to Austin Matthew's
[00:46:14] I was like yo I got this thing I'm doing the only be a part of it and this character on my wall
[00:46:20] behind me reese he's in my store that's who john's playing they're so huge and where they
[00:46:26] can take their voices and not just their acting skills are y'all don't even I mean you will know
[00:46:34] but I mean it's like yeah like can you do this can you do that you know in our recording sessions
[00:46:39] and they just they dug out performances that I was like oh Lee shh
[00:46:45] yeah what do people get along with it and I think guys can do you know if like you don't you
[00:46:51] you don't even really have to direct them they they're such good actors they they just have an
[00:46:56] innate understanding of the characters they're playing and where you want them to go and how to
[00:47:00] get them there and I you can definitely hear that in john's performance of bear it in final bansy
[00:47:06] seven like what sold it for me in remake was after the plate collapses and he's just like god damn
[00:47:14] it like he's a sinner yeah tired of the thing the classic scene you know yeah I was playing
[00:47:19] the first time through I was like okay oh has this gonna come off and I was like I teared up I was
[00:47:24] like whoa felt every bit of them I think everyone was perfect for the roles right you look at
[00:47:31] you know malar from Adam and you've got Vic for song like was she nailed it yeah he's great
[00:47:38] birthday it you get some more that cold calculating song that we like we know as song and it's just
[00:47:46] you know and then you know even Wilkerson you know Wilkerson for Siemens is rude and even Paul Tinto
[00:47:53] as Kate said right we all like Kate said this one of those love hate relationships
[00:48:00] that there is no kind of gray area it's either love them or hate them but
[00:48:05] Paul did an amazing job with it and like when we talked about a couple weeks ago he was talking
[00:48:10] about how the writers want to such great lengths to ensure that when they were using Scottish word
[00:48:17] wording and stuff like that that it was legit that it was on par with what someone from Scotland
[00:48:22] would actually say um and as much as I'm still not quite a fan of the character
[00:48:30] overall right kind of like you were talking about with Roche right soldier is that
[00:48:36] I love Paul's performance as him Kate Sith is still kind of one of those characters I'm like
[00:48:40] eh you're not sold on him and I'm not sold on it and I actually do it's it's funny because
[00:48:47] I've spent almost my entire life hating that character and I walked out of rebirth
[00:48:54] I can't believe I'm saying this uh say it say it say it with pride I will I'll say it with my
[00:49:00] whole chest I actually really liked Kate Sith in this game I felt like Paul Paul did such a good
[00:49:07] job and and then I I got to play as is Kate Sith I got to play the combat at first it was kind of
[00:49:14] like red 13 for me red 13 when I first started in the demo wasn't a big fan of his combat
[00:49:20] got into the game started playing more as that character absolutely loved red 13's combat
[00:49:26] it's the same with Kate Sith at first I was like uh this is kind of rough I don't know if
[00:49:31] I really like it and then I started you know labbing with the character in in the simulator
[00:49:36] and I started playing as him and I I like Kate Sith I'll say it I like Kate Sith
[00:49:43] sir yes sir that's awesome also I wanted to piggyback on on uh Ray well you were saying
[00:49:51] uh with the performances um I don't know if you've gotten any of the like what is the passive
[00:50:00] dialogue when you have your group like if you're just exploring and uh you know the the party members
[00:50:07] are just kind of like telling a story or or just like do it and just saying dialogue while while
[00:50:12] you're part of the game right and and exactly and like when Barrett is telling you like a story
[00:50:20] and just you know depending on the story you can just like you said John's performance you just
[00:50:27] every feeling that he he's trying to convey he does and it's just uh that that's what
[00:50:33] like really added so much more to the game for me because like I'm the say Matt and I are kind of
[00:50:38] the same we're completionists we're always like looking for like enough ingredients to you know
[00:50:45] to create and craft and finish the map like 100% so like uh yeah yeah man I just that's
[00:50:55] that's what really added it for me too is just that passive dialogue when you when you're like
[00:51:00] exploring yeah and on the performances the the last kind of thing I want to say is like
[00:51:06] everybody is great everybody is yeah uh even Hojo bringing the creep factor out oh my god
[00:51:15] and the checker look at what's good but Cody Christian um
[00:51:20] born to play cloud strife like oh man yeah you play that character like
[00:51:26] like like I'm not I'm not saying he's the best performance in the game but as far as like
[00:51:31] an actor matching what you think their character should be coming in wow you would agree with
[00:51:38] that and you know what actually sold me on him like I liked him already as the voice of cloud
[00:51:45] what really sold me on him was when in remake you're in Hojo's lab right and that scene where
[00:51:54] you see Jeanneva in the tank and Sephiroth is there and he cuts the bridge down
[00:52:02] and you hear that just raw yeah that raw like he's going after Sephiroth and he's gonna put
[00:52:10] everything he has behind this swing of his blade and that just that pure rage sound coming out
[00:52:19] of him sold me on this is cloud strife and I think no soldier the way you tell things on Twitter though
[00:52:29] is it Jeanneva or is it eras dude I so that is actually you're starting so much
[00:52:38] shit on twitter lately it's great I know I it's it's it's funny because like there's a theory
[00:52:47] that's going around now that like erath is Jeanneva at certain points in the game or something
[00:52:54] and I'm like I'm like then I saw somebody say just this look like Jeanneva to you and it's literally
[00:52:59] a picture of erath and I'm like so I'm like does this look like erath to you and I just put
[00:53:06] Jeanneva's picture up there and then he turns around and goes he pulls a doctor strange on
[00:53:10] everybody on twitter he's like hey oh god we look through 14,000 universes and it's just like
[00:53:15] yes one oh god that's funny but anyway so god this is every time we have people on and we talk
[00:53:26] it it's already top of the hour yeah you know it it has it has blown by we just we just hang out
[00:53:34] you know get some chips and soul in the next time damn we are gonna throw rand or the bus a little
[00:53:41] bit find a sorta and put the spotlight on him so no put the spotlight on you so soldiers
[00:53:48] already gone through this conlet before yeah he's he's fully aware what this conlet is but
[00:53:54] one thing that we ask of all of our guests for the first time they're on is when you are able to
[00:53:59] get together with friends and family for a game night what is your favorite game to play regardless
[00:54:05] of the video game board game card game whatever it is what is your favorite game to play for game night
[00:54:13] candy land because my my six-year-old son can play and can feasibly beat everybody without
[00:54:21] let him win sweet because he because he knows when you're letting him win and he gets more pissed
[00:54:29] that when he actually gets beat so it's a lose lose you know it's not enjoyable because he can
[00:54:38] he can tell what I'm trying to let him win and he gets pissed and then he gets pissed when he
[00:54:42] loses so candy land he can legit get my ass so it's become candy land and you speak with
[00:54:49] happily but I'm more of a solo gamer guys nice nice like I like to sit down with an i snack
[00:54:55] and nice drink and just enjoy a great story so I've never been like a guy to play his video games
[00:55:01] with other people except for now my kids learning how to play Mario and all that stuff but
[00:55:07] he saw me playing rebirth one day he was daddy can I play that? I was like you can try it's a
[00:55:12] story he is not I'm good he just walked out but no yeah it's usually like a board game for game
[00:55:20] candy land usually because it's all luck you know we are one of our favorites now has become a
[00:55:30] Uno flip and my six year old it's gonna be seven year old we'll just rock everybody because
[00:55:38] he gets the specialty cards and he's like yep I'm just gonna throw this shit down I'm gonna screw
[00:55:42] everybody's world so you know I want to thank everybody who you crashed game night tonight with us
[00:55:49] especially first time chatters new estates and bully and picks hero yeah thank you for joining
[00:55:56] if you enjoyed the content please drop us follow here on twitch also if you want to hear those
[00:56:03] pass episodes with the past voice guess as well as the shenanigans that soldiers been a part of
[00:56:09] over the last couple years head on over to crashing game night dot com you find every platform
[00:56:14] we're carrying on up you know there as well as a contributors and guest page where you can find
[00:56:21] their uh some background information on our guests including their social media handles
[00:56:25] Ray's got to profile up there now as well so you'll be able to go on over there um
[00:56:30] and he'll be tagged to this episode once we get it posted um Ray
[00:56:35] guy it's about bloody time we had john here it's been talking about it's like nothing
[00:56:41] ever has synced up timing wise so um and soldier I can't say this enough it's great to have
[00:56:49] an e-back in in the content thing that you know the content realm and what not and doing your thing
[00:56:56] and not worrying about the haters this time around it's it's really great seeing you back in
[00:57:00] and it's funny it's funny because this is actually the first time me and Ray have worked together as well
[00:57:06] yeah nice yeah newbie so it's good so with that folks uh as i always say especially what's going on
[00:57:14] in the world right now um especially for the folks that are in Baltimore right now they're impacted
[00:57:20] by the bridge collapse um friends got key bridge collapse that happened this morning um as of
[00:57:26] the last update I saw they're still trying to find six people you know that could potentially
[00:57:31] still be in the water or whatnot so um please as everybody is dealing with their own personal issues
[00:57:37] family issues that could be a part of that or just in general just be excellent to each other
[00:57:43] agreed all my nerds uh once again gentlemen thank you so much for for hanging out and coming back
[00:57:51] uh uh you guys are welcome anytime and please come back again um once again we want to spread the
[00:57:59] same message as we always do everyone let's just try and practice a little bit more patience
[00:58:07] a little bit more uh you know spread a little bit more kindness lend a helping hand here and there
[00:58:13] let's just try and be a little bit more courteous and uh let's just try and do and be a little better
[00:58:20] and just help out and uh everyone be safe out there uh J-Rock take it away yeah i mean
[00:58:28] you guys always say a lot of things that I would like to say now be kind be helpful
[00:58:33] be kind rewind yes sir yes sir yes sir as you guys know it's uh we're coming up on April now
[00:58:41] we're a third of the way through 2024 you know it's it's a quite a quite a feat and you know
[00:58:47] we've had a lot of guests on the last couple weeks so you know we want to thank all of our guests but
[00:58:52] you guys especially soldier Ray always welcome this couch anytime you guys want to let us know um
[00:59:02] maybe i'll try to get new couch you know well well well we'll set something up
[00:59:05] do you need to go couch shopping i do i do i do need to go carry on it it's about time
[00:59:09] calm down for having one of these days the matrix like one of these days it's going to be an actual
[00:59:16] couch in the background and we're probably not even going to think about it yeah i mean like one day
[00:59:23] it's gonna be like when uh when the boys come through you know for their yearly trip sometimes
[00:59:30] out here you know well we'll sit on an actual couch yeah you know i'm ready we're ready for that
[00:59:35] but as always you know like be be nice up there be take care of yourselves out there um it is
[00:59:42] gonna be Easter this Sunday as we're recording it so you know hopefully all y'all have a good Easter
[00:59:48] you know enjoy yourselves remember that cost close closed on set uh Easter Sunday
[00:59:53] so i will not be working anyways i guess the chickens are waiting for someone
[00:59:58] oh yeah slow it down relax anyway like i i i i'd like to you know end it out how i normally end it
[01:00:05] out my boy feel wall speed he's not here tonight so a little little sad a little remiss
[01:00:10] yeah miss you brother you know i hope i i i feel that soldier knows the outro and i kind of want to
[01:00:16] give it to him because you know like he's the he's the remember man he has the feeling i know the ending
[01:00:21] of it he is a stiff man so you know we guys send out this way my man deal i miss you bro
[01:00:30] but Alex soldier please send it out like Theo does all right guys thank you for watching crashing
[01:00:36] game night uh these guys have been awesome so uh ttfn talks off for now yes see that's how you do it
[01:00:44] that's how you do it jerry you're so annoying yeah and i get everything i make i just because i make it my own
[01:00:53] it's i just want