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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 236 | The Return of the Dukes

If you've not yet noticed, we've been trying to bring our comrades from Defining Duke onto Sacred Symbols+ each and every month. After all, you said you wanted us to collaborate more, and we're glad to make that happen. Today, we gather to discuss five topics in particular: Our up-to-date feelings on the Activision/Microsoft drama, the raging 30 frames-versus-60 frames debate, various philosophies surrounding a game's length (or lack thereof), last-minute gut-checks for God of War: Ragnarok, and finally outlining our prospective games of the year. You don't want to miss any of our podcasts, but you really don't want to miss this one.

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 236 | The Return of the Dukes

Comments

Glad to hear it.

Colin Moriarty

Fellas. I started playing Gotham Knights on my PC last night on a 6800 XT upscaled to 4K with FSR 2 and ray tracing on. In some areas I’m hovering at 100 fps. Not sure if there was an update or something but I’m not seeing any performance issues. I guess it helps that I went into it with Arkham games completely out of my mind because it just should not have any association with this game. So far I like the gameplay and think that visually it is good. All the hate for it is baffling. As for the dialogue, this is based on comic books, not the ultra-grounded Nolan movies. I can let it pass. It isn’t Arkham, but, really what is? It isn’t supposed to be anyway. That’s my two cents.

Nikitas Gagas

12-15 hours is a great length for a game.

TheMuff1nMon

I'm glad you like it.

Colin Moriarty

I look forward to a solid 10-12 hours. Sounds awesome.

Colin Moriarty

Like we said: We had significant issues even recording at all.

Colin Moriarty

It feels absurd.

Colin Moriarty

I like Gotham knights lol. I liked anthem too 🤔 I think there’s something wrong with me.

Mason Kent

Calisto Protocol is too short. That’s Miles Morales territory right there

Brandon Soto

Oh nvm I just saw that Colin brings this up right after I commented this haha. Good job Colin

Jack Sibert

I think another aspect of the Activision deal that hasn't been spoken about from what I've seen is the future of the CoD marketing efforts. To play armchair psychologist - it seems to me that Sony has REALLY been enjoying the benefits of their consoles and their ecosystem being prominently associated with PlayStation in all CoD marketing materials. In a couple of years when the marketing deal will expire, I think Sony is less genuinely concerned about their consoles not getting new CoD games (I think Sony is confident that Microsoft will continue to release CoD on PS), and MORE concerned about their ecosystem NOT being prominently associated with the premiere FPS. Just a thought.

Jack Sibert

Very disappointing technical quality this episode. First time I’ve had to comment that in all these years. But still great convo.

Robbie Agnew

Man these episodes are cool! I like the collaboration between the whole crew.

BirdMan

It's also horribly optimized for PC. I think it's not a toggle, but a real issue with the way the game was built.

Zachary Abell

I just feel like they straight up lied about gotham knights not being able to run at 60fps since the game runs at 4k with ray tracing. Did they even try to turn rt off or turn down the resolution? Then again it's not even a locked 30 on any console. As far as game length. I don't care. Make a great game. If it's horizon and it's 40 hours awesome. If it's resident evil and it's 8 hours first playthrough awesome. As far as goty so far it's ghostwire tokyo for me but this year isn't that great. I enjoyed the game a lot but it's not a masterpiece.

thefury4815

I liked most of them also. I just feel different ones could be chosen instead of Activision/Microsoft and upcoming games. But that’s just IMO I’m excited for continued crossovers regardless!

David Moran

I liked the topics.

Colin Moriarty

I really enjoy these episodes and I’m happy they are happening monthly! Though I do think there could be more interesting topics. For instance I know that matty has really strong opinions on PlayStations recent remake likes TLOU1 and how we should be fighting against them. That would’ve been a really interesting topic for discussion rather than what game are you most interested in which was covered last time (and I doubt would change much month to month).

David Moran

Totally. There's nothing more subjective than Game of the Year.

Colin Moriarty

Sorry! We're doing one a month.

Colin Moriarty

I suppose, but controlling something sub-optimally is going to be annoying regardless of genre. Precedents change.

Colin Moriarty

In hindsight, it's a memorable game for sure.

Colin Moriarty

=)

Colin Moriarty

We shall see.

Colin Moriarty

=)

Colin Moriarty

Rat physics.

Colin Moriarty

I find it fascinating.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you.

Colin Moriarty

Heh heh.

Colin Moriarty

Indeed.

Colin Moriarty

Yes.

Colin Moriarty

<3

Colin Moriarty

Persona 6 Sorrow

Colin Moriarty

Thank you.

Colin Moriarty

Sacred Dukes sounds cool too

TheSilverLabGuy

I agree, certain games need 60 FPS much less than others. And some even might benefit visually if it’s going for a ‘cinematic’ look. This makes some people upset and is a personal preference, but the effect is a real thing. It’s why the Hobbit movies looked so weird and quite frankly, video gamey. They used 48 FPS when most movies use 24 FPS.

Rich Price

I can respect COG’s view on Elden Ring (I haven’t got round to playing it myself). Games are so varied these days that certain titles, or even whole genre’s, just aren’t *for* some people, which is fine. I still Iove the Assassin’s Creed series, and so many people hate it! That’s why publication ‘game of the year’ awards are so subjective. Personalised games of the year from the LSM crew are much more insightful, because you know where each person is coming from. I agree Nobody Save’s the World is amazing btw.

Rich Price

Not a fan of these shows. They just repeat what's already been said individually on the respective shows. Wish Duke would be it's own thing so I could opt out.

Greg Mocha

If a game is extremely cinematic I think that's the one exception to the 30fps argument. The Senua's Saga: Hellblade II looked unreal. Like I was watching a movie. That game can run at 30 and it'll probably be fine. If a game is shooting for a "playable movie" vibe then it is probably okay. Stuff like Gotham Knights certainly doesn't look like a movie so therefore should run smooth.

Jason Olmstead

Thank you Matty, I'm in agreement with you about God of war 3. The bombastic angry Kratos is fun!

Peter Pham

Oh, something's raging, comrades. Raging, indeed!

Max Stahl

Haven't listened yet but I kind of feel if these eps are gonna be a regular thing each month then maybe these special eps should have a new name. Maybe something combing the two? Defining symbols perhaps? I mean these eps bring together the Defining symbols of the brand.

Trapgunner

Really enjoyed this episode, but one argument I still have never heard presented regarding the Activision Purchase is the revenue Activision earns from Call of Duty specifically from Microtransactions. In a 2020 fiscal report, Activision reported Year or Year spending on in game content was $536m from Call of Duty alone. Blizzard accounted for a further $19m and Candy Crush was a further $41m. Consider Sony's "rip" on this either at 30% or some other exclusive number behind the scenes, and you can see why they'd be so eager to hold onto it. You can also see why Microsoft could front the game on Game Pass, earning new subscriptions and continued MTX revenue, easily keeping the game extremely profitable while growing their own install base both on PC and Console. I know Colin doesn't play MP games (neither do I) and just learned about how much a skin is in Fortnite, but consider this; a BattlePass is something you pay for, and if you don't play the game enough to unlock its content, its gone forever. You can pay $30 for a COD battlepass and in theory get nothing for it.

WhatDarrenPlays

Call me piper perri because I’m stoked to see the boys.

sam croese

Plague Tale is fine at 30 fps. The problem is it isn't consistent. They'd probably have to drastically reduce the amount of rats on screen to get it to run at 60 and one of their goals with this game was to include more. They may have overshot, but many of the rat fluid dynamic set pieces are magnificent. It's your prerogative to never buy a game if it isn't 60fps, but I think it's as absurd as saying you won't watch a movie if it's not 60fps, especially if the game is cinematic in nature.

Jake Z

I know you've brought up the question about "are we stuck with COD?" before, and for the most part I think we are. I think it's painted differently because of the genre, but ultimately I don't think it's that different than Madden.

Bambi_Cobblestone

Love these crossover episodes. Bless you, Last Stand dudes. Bless you.

yosh_wah

Sweet!!! Knew this was what it was going to be when it wasn’t an 11:00am CST publish

Jeff in NOLA

Lord Cog and Mr. Matty in the house 💪🏻💪🏾

Erik D. Serpenti

Return of the Dukes, once again Return of the Dukes, pump up the world Return of the Dukes, watch that flow You know they'll be back, here we go! 🎶🎶🎶

KendrickLuck

Yes thank you!! This is why I subscribed in the 1st place!!

SolidEvolution

Persona 6 All out Attack just leaked

Conor Wilson

Dukes are awesome, SS boys are awesome. So it’s doubly awesome.

Max Davis


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