Sacred Symbols, Episode 98: An Apparition No More

Eh, I get it. We try to do the best we can. I don't think we've ever overtly spoiled anything, ever. (We obviously spoil the shit out of stuff in KnockBack.)

Colin Moriarty

Im gonna expect spoilers if I choose to listen to a gaming podcast, it's actually annoying that you have to have disclaimers everytime you want to talk about something. And the dreaded non spoiler section in spoiler casts. Drives me crazy.

Ryan Murdoch

I'm optimistic it'll be fun, but I'm not expecting to be blown away. Would love to be wrong!

Colin Moriarty

I thought GoT looked pretty underwhelming. Combat looked simplistic and kind of janky actually. Stealth gameplay looked kind of basic too, the typical "crouch to not be seen" shallow bs you get in most open world games. I still think it will be good but those of you hyping it like crazy would probably be calling it "just another Ubi game" if they were the publisher.

Your Boi Nicky V

You could make my day and throw in astrobot and blood & truth. Make it a VR bonanza :D

Pete

A spoilercast for Iron Man VR? I don't know that there's much demand for that...

Colin Moriarty

We can look into it, but it doesn't seem like it'll happen.

Colin Moriarty

Hey Hassan! If this is for the show (like, to be read on an episode), make sure to use the weekly thread If not, thanks for the details. =)

Colin Moriarty

Hey Colin, Great ep and congrats on the house and pup. I agree that there won't be much oxygen for IronMan VR with its current release date. However, assuming it reviews well, would you ever consider doing a spoilercast for it? Or maybe Matty and Dustin? I find your spoilercasts some of my favorite content since it's much more thorough than a typical review. I mean, I can't be your only patreon who loves me some VR :p Cheers, Pete

Pete

Hey Colin. Persona 5 Royal has a promotion that when you pop certain trophies, you'll get an email within 14 days with a code for a pack of persona themes and avatars. Do you think that would be a way to implement a theme for Twin Breaker since Sony said it was too late to add a theme the traditional way?

Matthew von Hassel

Hello blastocystic Chris and fetal Colin. On your last episode, you mentioned why certain food items taste better than others and its all about evolution. People have evolved to have fat and salty items taste better because in times of famine (which happened frequently in the old ages) you would want additional body stores for warmth and energy. This of course comes in easily through consuming fat from a variety of sources. Hope this answers this conundrum. Keep up the great work.

JehutyMD

Thank you for your kind words. <3

Colin Moriarty

I'm just saying, Lost Planet was a Dark Zone Capcom IP, for sure.

Colin Moriarty

I'm sorry to hear that! I don't agree at all with your assessment, but you're certainly entitled to it!

Colin Moriarty

It depends on which company you're talking about. CLS' fiscal year matches the calendar year. For Sony, fiscal year is April 1st to March 31st, yes.

Colin Moriarty

Been listening and watching Colin since ign. Surprised how close you are to me. I moved from Schenectady N.Y. down to Wilmington, NC. Glad you're getting a new house. You've come a long way from sleeping on a couch in California during your beginning ign days.

Matthew von Hassel

I disagree. It's best to be a *tad* skeptical and have your expectations exceeded than to be overly positive and be met with disappointment.

KB

1. Thank you for reading my question! 2. How dare you. Lost Planet was great.

Biv

Wait, I thought the fiscal year ends at the end of March. So we are currently in Q1.

Biv

Yeah, I'm looking forward to playing it, but it definitely doesn't look like anything all that special.

Colin Moriarty

Hangar 13 logo as the splash screen. Interesting.

Colin Moriarty

We read corrections every week, so of course.

Colin Moriarty

G of T looks solid, but I’m worried that it will be too vanilla. Nothing unique or special. The demo showed what other games have already done. Example: Jin whistles and the horse comes over, he gets on, away they go through the woods. There’s shiny bamboo that he collects as he rides past. I literally did this sequence hundreds of times already in AC: Odyssey. I hope we get some of that fun, unique, over the top Sucker Punch flare!

Napoleon in Rags

Here's Mafia 2 PS4 Pro Gameplay if anyone wants to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaJBlfGEVcE&feature=youtu.be

KB

Hey Colin, If I submit a correction - will I still be eligible to have my question read?

KB

I wish we could quantify how much of an effect the pandemic had on this game's sales, in particular. All game sales are up, but... it would be interesting to know more.

Colin Moriarty

Shut up, Tyler!

Colin Moriarty

Why is ACNH selling so well? TikTok and all the memery. The internet tools to make Gen Z level of humour are at their best. Of course, it's also the pandemic, but a huge factor is how this game is being perceived on Twitter and TikTok, how celebrities jump in, how people are now hosting shows and podcasts inside ACNH. It's selling itself.

Mihnea-Petru Rafailescu (RaphaelMichael)

I'm totally in the same camp as the kid don't spoil final fantasy 7! Games being remade should be the exception!

Tyler Bello

I wouldn't call myself indifferent about Ghost of Tsushima. I just think it doesn't look like it's revolutionary in any respect, and I'm wondering if PlayStation Goggles are convincing some people (not you!) otherwise. I'd love to be wrong, though. I think it's gonna be great, I'm excited to play it, and I'm a Sucker Punch fan. I loved Horizon from the second I saw it, and the game was amazing. One of PS4's best. Days Gone, as you may recall, I was incredibly skeptical about, and did sound the alarms rather loudly about its low review scores being attributed to a lack of patching. It was better than I thought it would be, and maybe GoT will be the same!

Colin Moriarty

LOL.

Colin Moriarty

Interesting. I'll look into it.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you. <3

Colin Moriarty

I don’t see the Ghost of Tsushima indifference. I mean Days Gone and Horizon are open world action games, and apart from the big mech battles, Horizon was pretty standard in terms of gameplay. Thats not to say you can’t be indifferent, is just that I never saw this indifference towards those games, especially Days Gone. Regardless, I think it will be a very good game. We’ll see when it releases, but Sucker Punch hasn’t lead me down yet, and I’m looking forward to it, almost as much as The Last of Us 2.

Dick Stillhard

This disrespect for nachos need to end lol. I’m not sure how things are done on Long Island, but in Texas, chips and queso being called nachos is like a cheeseburger with nothing but bread, meat, and cheese.

Chris B

YouTuber Pyrocynical made a deep analysis of Far Cry 3 and it made me appreciate the game a lot and made me think about things I never thought about the game. Far Cry 3 is really deeper than we mostly think in a shoot shoot explosion game. It's on par with Spec Ops. The Line. And some of the story is also in the commercials.

FluffyNeko

Great episode! I enjoy Chris & Colin’s insights, they state the facts and with this being a PlayStation centric podcast. They always tell it how it is. To much misinformation and agenda driven games media coverage out there. Keep up the great work.

Mr. Joanna Dark

As always, I think early-gen will be a slow burn and relatively safe, and then you'll see devs willing to push once some money is made and some stability is gained...

Colin Moriarty

I tried to lend my nephew my Switch yesterday because I literally never play it, and he was like... I already have one. LOL. (I know because I bought it for him, but I figured they'd want another one...)

Colin Moriarty

It's the schizophrenia.

Colin Moriarty

I am not Chris' secretary! =D

Colin Moriarty

I think many gamers, are looking at next-gen through the wrong lens. What gets me excited about these upcoming consoles, is how gameplay will evolve and how more immersive can developers make games. What’s the point of prettier games, if I’m pushing the same box at a higher resolution. I want game innovations and the type of risk we saw during the PS3 and 360 era. Unreal demo, wasn’t a real game and it will run on all platforms. Also, I wasn’t as impressed, but happy to see that Epic is updating its engine to incorporate all the cool things coming to next gen

Mr. Joanna Dark

I don’t get Animal Crossing either. Hell, I have a Switch and I don’t get the hype behind most Nintendo exclusives. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Ghost of Tsushima is going to be the best Assassin’s Creed game out this year. It reminds me of Odyssey but with more style and better visuals. 👍🏼

NeO JD

Colin, what the hell is going on with Chris? A few weeks ago he briefly slipped into a Jon Gruden impression and now this week at 1:03:05 he briefly channeled Bernie Sanders.

Kevin Sullivan

Bro let Chris know we saw dying light 2 gameplay footage for the first time at e3 2019.

Kenneth Oms

I'm optimistic it's going to be good/fun, but I certainly don't understand the outrageous praise the demo is getting.

Colin Moriarty

TMI.

Colin Moriarty

He's a strange young man.

Colin Moriarty

Too mundane for my tastes, but to each his own.

Colin Moriarty

I'm just gonna say that the gameplay doesn't seem insanely inspired.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

Maybe! That seems to very much be an exception, not the rule.

Colin Moriarty

This is a weird question, because if he's shoving the gold bar up his own ass, doesn't that already indicate he intends to keep it?

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for your support.

Colin Moriarty

200 hours is absurd. Just absurd!

Colin Moriarty

It looks cool, but seeing stuff like that makes me ask "does anyone actually use this functionality?" You've answered my question. =)

Colin Moriarty

He's thrown everything into chaos.

Colin Moriarty

Folks were/are desperate for details!

Colin Moriarty

But life does suck, and then you do die.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

We read whatever Sony provides. It wasn't on the list. That said, we actually got codes for it.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for your support!

Colin Moriarty

<3

Colin Moriarty

It was certainly a contrast to THPS.

Colin Moriarty

Trevor, I'm gonna let you in on a secret: Normal people don't poop three times a day. Freak.

Colin Moriarty

Hey, you guys ask the questions. I just read 'em.

Colin Moriarty

Stop being pedantic, JAMES.

Colin Moriarty

I don't feel the need to defend any studio or game. I'm just giving you my opinion. It's the fifth State of Play stream, by my count. You're making it seem like this is a regular thing. I'm pretty sure this is the first one THIS YEAR! Not exactly an established brand with an established way of doing things.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for submitting your inquiry!

Colin Moriarty

Well, like I said, it looks great, but the demo also reinforced in me that it's not going to be this overwhelmingly special, knock-you-out game. I'd love to be wrong.

Colin Moriarty

Everything's coming up Christopher.

Colin Moriarty

That was surely a pleasant surprise.

Colin Moriarty

LOL.

Colin Moriarty

Isn't that sport like totally dead?

Colin Moriarty

I think it looks great. I'm excited to play it. But I don't think it's going to be GotY-worthy.

Colin Moriarty

Colin Was Right.

Colin Moriarty

You need to be more careful next time.

Colin Moriarty

Without a doubt.

Colin Moriarty

i wasn't super impressed by ghosts of tsushima gameplay, i felt alone in that opinion, my timeline was full of people saying: that looked incredible, that it is a GOTY contender, the next evolution in open worlds. i've felt this way for years, the games i'm excited for almost no one is, and the games others are excited for i'm usually lukewarm on.

B00ch

I get a boner every time sunshine is brought up on your shows

GameSimp

Every single time Chris shares his opinion on food I get more angry. I get to each their own but dude wtf

Doro Akechi

Your boy Matty speculating that Ghost was in development hell because an open world game has checklist activities. What open world game doesn’t? Spidermans were terrible. I don’t know what people are expecting

Dom posa

Animal Crossing at its core is Minecraft and miitomo the mobile game in one. It's just a time passing creation game. Plants, flowers, shirts, and home items. You can basically create your own island far enough in to get new neighbors, new items. It's an interesting game.

Nick McWilliams

Congrats on the new living space- your hard work is well OVER-diserved. Thanks again for decades!

Erk-Prime

Poop guy here, ya know I considered the same exact thing. Diarrhea daily. Would we be chronically dehydrated? Would we die? Who knows but papa gonna be $300 richer every week. Would we count every single diarrhea poop? I feel like with the appropriate amount of laxatives I'd knock out at least ten poops in a day. Also one of those fine wire strainers would absolutely catch a $300 rock.

“It has an immense amount of GPU power, but also multi-order bandwidth increase in storage management,” beamed boss Tim Sweeney, as reported by The Verge. “That’s going to be absolutely critical.” The executive added that it’s “one thing to render everything that can fit in memory” but a different proposition entirely to render a world that may be “tens of gigabytes in size” instantaneously. Obviously, it’s that oft-discussed PS5 SSD that’s putting in the work. “We’ve been working super close with Sony for quite a long time on storage,” Sweeney continued. “The storage architecture on the PS5 is far ahead of anything you can buy on anything on PC for any amount of money right now. It’s going to help drive future PCs. [The PC market is] going to see this thing ship and say, ‘Oh wow, SSDs are going to need to catch up with this.’”

Lee Bull

To counter Chris point about the tech demos been amazing for decades, if you look back to Unreal 4 demos from 2013 that ended up not just met in real games but surpassed. If the same is true of this engine demo then the next gen is to be absolutely stunning.

Lee Bull

when the poop question was asked my poor drug riddled brain immediately came up with a solution to my money problems. I would install a strainer that would catch my poop to my toilet and have water pour through it after every poop, and voila, a dirty diamond to the rescue. Also laxatives, i would take laxatives.

Jazz Hynkel

Chris, if you shoved a gold bar up your ass would you keep it?

jacob cunningham

Thanks for picking out my question dude, probs one of my fav episodes so far! Been an active viewer for almost a decade now, & can safely say that my $5/month is well spent since u actually pronounced my last name properly 🤣

Ubisoft said 30fps on series x but we don’t know about ps5. I agree Odyssey was too big it took me almost 200 hours to get the platinum and 100% all the dlc. Valhalla is going to be good

Dom posa

After the trailer and seeing the black and white mode I'm in

jacob cunningham

"I don't respect salads at all." Chris is hopping fences left and right, I don't know what to believe

Matt tamer

I found it interesting that the ghost of tsushima gameplay has more views than the xbox trailer montage.

Jorge Sosa

I'll take Ghost of Tsushima over the vastly overrated Last of Us and its grossly over hyped sequel...at least Ghost of Tsushima looks like it will be fun to explore. I honestly can't wait to get lost in that world. TLOU 2 is looking more and more like "life sucks then you die" (no fun allowed) torture porn. In Sucker Punch I trust.

Love this podcast only decent ps podcast out there ! 👍

Hey, Colin, I think you've missed a game out on your weekly drop, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners released for VR the other day, it's actually amazing.

Liam Mcnulty

Pretty great episode both in quality and quantity. Also I just picked up Twin Breaker!

Real Radec

Did you really say 100 poops is 100 days?! You gotta eat healthier haha. I poop AT LEAST 3 times a day. Give me those $300 diamonds. That's a diamond a month for me.

Trevor Deal

3+ hours of Sacred Symbols oh my, great kickoff to the weekend! Cheers

Captain Canada

Thrasher skate and destroy was an awesome game. Limitation drives creativity.

Frank M

Colin, Love your content. Keep on keeping on, my friend... I just have one small nitpick on your use of the term "luddite." A "luddite" is typically associated with someone who is adverse to technology, not ignorant about it. I feel a more accurate term for you would be "tech laymen" (or layperson). Or perhaps a "tech dilettante", as one who "cultivates an interest in an area, but lacks the expertise. I suspect you, like me, enjoy superfluously complex terminology ;) Given your affection for games as a medium, and excitement for coming advancements, I just dont think "luddite" suits you. Love to you and your growing CLS family, -James

James McGivern

Can we just not ask Chris about food because he's always wrong! lmao (jk nothing but love, boys)

Idk I think you guys are widly downplaying atmosphere and immersion which needs to be experienced to be appreciated. Last of Us 1 is not revolutionary in how your defining the term. The story for Last of Us is basically just The Road. The reason whys is a seminal game is because when you actually play it and your engrossed in the atmosphere and storytelling you fall in love because your sold on the world being real and lived in. I think Sony is highly confident in this game which is why they are making it the last exclusive. Yoshida has said this is his GOTY. They dedicated a full 18 minute deep dive State of Play too it. No other game for playstation has gotten that much shine since State of Play started. Secondly everyone said the same think about the Sekiro combat until you actually play it. The combat is supposed to be accurate Katana combat. Parrying and clean blade strikes for realistic 1-3 hit kills. When you add all that up you get what looks like a very immersive grounded world which people love in open world games. The world is more then half the battle in open world games. Red Dead 2 is so fantastic because the world feels living and breathing. Theres nothing revolutionary about that games linear main mission design and the same combat since GTA 4. This game is going to be a massive hit because after yesterday showing the game was being universally praised big time. Another reason is because this is ACTUALLY GAMEPLAY. People felt letdown by Xbox and then they got a full 18 minute true gameplay showcase of a huge game from Sony. So people were fed the excitement that they missed from Inside Xbox. But its all subjective. Let's actually play it and then render a verdict. Its all moot until then anyway.

Brett Carlson

They just did another round of DMCA strikes on twitter for memes. It's getting damned rediculous. Not to mention they first struck videos with their hired henchmen. And then, once youtube agreed that the strikes were "in error" and put them back up, Sony themselves goes through and strikes the videos AGAIN. Let us be clear, there are videos with ZERO SPOILERS. Any discussion around the spoilers were intentionally kept vague. What will it take for ANYONE mainstream to start calling this out?

Biv

You can’t comprehend how happy I was to hear my question. It genuinely made my day. Thank you so much.

Gabe

Man I'm glad you took the time to tell us every shit game coming to the ps store but 5 mins of research on Sony and naughty dog trying to ruin people's you YouTube channels and now Twitter accounts is too much I guess. I'm sure heel vs baby face and just some guy are happy to know they are owned by Sony

Frank Casamento

Ghost of Tsushima looks visually awesome and fun, but unfortunately, it looks nearly identical to Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey. I would say you’re fortunate you haven’t played those because you will enjoy the game more, but unfortunate in that it inhibits your ability to reference these specific titles, because it doesn’t really look like a mix of a bunch of games you mentioned but rather a version of the 2 new combat-style/more rpg-like AC games with a few more months of development. I got all the achievements in both those AC games, including DLC, so I’m not lying lol. Should still be great though, I was just surprised how much it was directly new-AC. Seems they beat AC to the Japanese setting!

Caleb Greer

First 2 months rent free is more ridiculous than sports being cancelled. That’s the craziest corona related things I’ve heard. Damn what a steal for chris. Things are looking up for our boy! Until the roaches are unpacked...

Caleb Peacock

Wasn't really interested in Ghost of Tsushima, but I just found out you can pet the fox and everything changed!

Lucas Gremista

Max dexter smith needs to be the hero of a new spy game.

Adamthm

Let's reboot/remake/remaster Aggressive Inline.

Gr4vity400

I’m surprised you weren’t more impressed by GoT, it’s exponentially more exciting than TLOU2 for me but to each their own. Polls I’ve seen this week has hype for the two about even.

Dan Parsons

I'm glad you updated the podcast schedule, I think this weeks and last weeks news cycle prove you made the right decision.

TimberWolf0080

Colin, sorry about my initial post about nachos. I've started something that was not intended LOL.

Monterey Jack

I think we can definitively say that changing the news schedule was the right call! 👍🏾👍🏾

Joe West

Yes... it was a weird one. =D

Colin Moriarty

Thank you. <3

Colin Moriarty

I don't know! We'll have to keep an eye on the ratings.

Colin Moriarty

I'm excited to play it.

Colin Moriarty

Enjoy.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, that's kind of how I feel. Honestly, the presentation kind of reinforced what I felt: The game will be fun, but nothing revolutionary.

Colin Moriarty

Awesome, good luck!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! I have no intention of disappearing anytime soon. =)

Colin Moriarty

Thank you very much! <3

Colin Moriarty

It'll be so weird if games continue at 30, unless they're cross-gen.

Colin Moriarty

If you're lucky, I will. =)

Colin Moriarty

Awesome. Be safe!

Colin Moriarty

Well, we don't actively push anything out. It just goes through the RSS feed. But, I'll gladly take the compliment. =)

Colin Moriarty

Gotta mix in a little poop talk every now and again.

Colin Moriarty

Stay safe!

Colin Moriarty

So do we. =)

Colin Moriarty

I know, I'm starting to get carried away.

Colin Moriarty

I hope you like it!

Colin Moriarty

Enjoy!

Colin Moriarty

That 18 minutes of gameplay now has me hyped for Ghosts of Tsushima, I wasn't interested at first, we already had Nioh 1 and 2, and we got Sekiro recently so I was kinda Samurai'd out, but that was rad looking. That question about sifting through your turds for $300 seems like a question he asks his friends at work.

Jessica Gutiérrez

Colin - so happy to hear about the house, the puppy, and more.

Patrick Dougherty

One thing that popped out at me is, is the dismemberment going to be censored in Japan or other territories? I can't remember if it was specifically decapitation but I know other countries have issues with this stuff. Although I did note I didn't see and decapitation specifically.

Ryan Harvey

Oh it will be. Personally I think this one is must play title cause it looks so good damn good in every way. Also samurais is awesome

Saulius Vekteris

Mafia 1 remake will be perfection. Period one of the best games ever made

Saulius Vekteris

One thing I think wasn't touched upon in the Ghost of Tsushima discussion is the heavy influence of Breath of the Wild. In all the right ways, in the world/exploration. If the game keeps pulling players to explore just from the world design and their own curiosity I believe this game can have an incredible playing experience that we can't grasp until were behind the wheel.

Drew Sleezer

3 hour episode! Yesssss. My body is ready!

Quintin Propes

Gotta be honest, Ghost of Tsushima looks good. But I can’t help but get that “style over substance” feeling. The gameplay looked a little stiff. The art looked a little heavy handed (IMO) but very pretty. It all just seemed a little “been done before” aside from the art style.

Robert Graham

Putting up our above ground pool today, but I look forward to listening to 1 of my two favorite podcasts duos, (The other being Colin and Dagan) this weekend!

Anthony J Sanchez

Congratulations on your new home and your dog! You're inspirational. You may be well within your right to "fuck off" to an island or something, one day. I only ask you to promise us one thing: please don't ghost us, bro.

Max Stahl

Congrats on the new house & dog, broski. We’ll all be over soon.

Brandon Soto

My biggest fear for next gen is that games will look way prettier, but will still run at 30 FPS. Exactly what happened this generation.

Brandon Soto

Colin! You better bring the new pup on the next Long Island Viper stream!! We wanna see that handsome little devil!

Tony Rivera

Driving back to Minneapolis from Florida tomorrow so the added time is gonna come in clutch, can’t wait to listen!

Cory Mitts

Hey Colin. I just wanted to say thank you for posting this and pushing the podcast out to all platforms at the same time. While it wasn't a big deal to wait before, I'm thankful that it is in sync now. Thank you good sir!

Jimmy Valentine

Always love the poop talk, you need to start The Kielbasa Plop podcast

Angelo Ponte

Just in time for my run!

Gabe

Love new console talk

Angel M Rivera

5 hours of SS! 3 hour Knockback AND 4 hours of Twitch??? You really are spoiling us!

Teny Kuti

Yes! Can't wait to listen to this one!

Joe Donnelly

3 hours! In for a treat!

beeperbeeper5