Berries & Blades

Making Time to Play More Games

To make a podcast about video games, you have to play them. Lol. Join us for a conversation about the future of Berries & Blades and the new types of content we want to explore. In this episode, we announce a change to our release schedule. For 18 months, we've published a new episode every two weeks without skipping a beat. However, in that process, we also missed out on a lot of time for gaming, so we're looking for ways to balance the time spent podcasting vs. the time we spend gaming. Another big reason for a change is to explore new kinds of content creation, and since the beginning of the podcast (actually, since before), we've wanted to create video content. So, in the future, we're hoping to make videos for YouTube, stream games together on Twitch, and hopefully increase the quality of our podcast episodes along the way! Thanks for tuning in, and we hope you stick around to see what happens. Oh, we also talk about a few games in the episode! Here's the full transcript [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/episodes/041/transcript] for this episode. If you like what you hear, the best way to support us is to tell people about the show. Please consider subscribing wherever you find your favorite podcasts. You can also keep us going with coffee refills on Ko-Fi [https://ko-fi.com/berriesandblades]. Follow @BerriesAndBlades [https://www.instagram.com/berriesandblades/] on IG for in-game photography, video clips, and behind-the-scenes content. Follow BerriesAndBlades [https://www.twitch.tv/berriesandblades] on Twitch for D&D and video game streams.  The music you hear on the podcast is by ELFL [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/elfl/?tab=tracks], Lexica, [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/lexica/?tab=tracks] and Christian Nanzell [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/christian-nanzell/?tab=tracks]. berriesandblades.simplecast.com [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/]

Outtakes & Hijinks - Part 4

311's Tiny Desk Concert, fake Deadpool & Wolverine trailers, and Steve Goggins? Join us for another mashup of outtakes, hijinks, and other shenanigans. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes for a collection of audio clips that didn't make it into episodes 31–39. Mostly, these clips are a little too off-topic to include in regular conversations, so we're featuring them in this episode to celebrate our foolishness. Taylor nails his impersonation of Doug "SA" Martinez from 311, Willie admits to playing Creed cover songs in high school, and Joseph emphasizes that he doesn't pay $60 for a game to send a bunch of emails in it. Also, Taylor's a copper, traffic stopper, a pill popper. "I did it by myself!"  Here's the full transcript [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/episodes/040/transcript] for this episode. If you like what you hear, the best way to support us is to tell people about the show. Please consider subscribing wherever you find your favorite podcasts. You can also keep us going with coffee refills on Ko-Fi [https://ko-fi.com/berriesandblades]. Follow @BerriesAndBlades [https://www.instagram.com/berriesandblades/] on IG for in-game photography, video clips, and behind-the-scenes content. Follow BerriesAndBlades [https://www.twitch.tv/berriesandblades] on Twitch for D&D and video game streams.  The music you hear on the podcast is by ELFL [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/elfl/?tab=tracks], Lexica, [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/lexica/?tab=tracks] and Christian Nanzell [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/christian-nanzell/?tab=tracks]. berriesandblades.simplecast.com [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/]

First to the Key. First to the Egg!

Ninjas don't hug. BO55man69 is one of the worst passwords ever, and how do people sit down in the OASIS? Join us for a conversation about Ready Player One, a Sci-Fi Action film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Ernest Cline's best-selling novel. In this episode, we explore some of the pop culture references and nostalgia of Ready Player One. They crammed a lot of fan favorites into this film—everything from Battletoads, Mortal Kombat, and Halo—to Back to the Future, The Iron Giant, and The Shining. In 2045, the world is harsh, and most of humanity spends their days in an immersive virtual universe. In short, there's a competition to find three keys that lead to a golden egg. Find the egg and win complete control of the OASIS. Naturally, we got a little side-tracked by some of the details, like the omnidirectional treadmill Wade uses as a part of his gaming rig. Taylor treads a little too close to our reality with the thought of "big corpo" enslaving us to pay off our debts, and Willie thinks this film gets lost somewhere in the middle of the pack. Joseph thinks—is it more enjoyable than GAMER? Yes. Is it more fun than the original Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter? Nope, lol. (Enter 80s rock music)   Here's the full transcript [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/episodes/039/transcript] for this episode. If you like what you hear, the best way to support us is to tell people about the show. Please consider subscribing wherever you find your favorite podcasts. You can also keep us going with coffee refills on Ko-Fi [https://ko-fi.com/berriesandblades]. Follow @BerriesAndBlades [https://www.instagram.com/berriesandblades/] on IG for in-game photography, video clips, and behind-the-scenes content. Follow BerriesAndBlades [https://www.twitch.tv/berriesandblades] on Twitch for D&D and video game streams.  The music you hear on the podcast is by ELFL [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/elfl/?tab=tracks], Lexica, [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/lexica/?tab=tracks] and Christian Nanzell [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/christian-nanzell/?tab=tracks]. berriesandblades.simplecast.com [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/]

Our Mid-Year Recap for 2024

Outlaws, Dragons, and finally—there's an Assassin's Creed game that looks exciting to us. A lot is happening in 2024, so join us to recap some of the games we've played this year and discuss other games we're still looking forward to.  In this episode, we follow up on everything we mentioned in episode 26—Games We Want to Play in 2024. A lot happened in the first half of the year, and we were excited to see showcases by Microsoft, Playstation, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Summer Games Fest. Willie gives his thoughts on Tales of Kenzera: Zau, Taylor reveals which game he's looking forward to more between Star Wars: Outlaws and Black Myth: Wukong, and Joseph makes a case for why he thinks we should run across Mandalorians in Star Wars: Outlaws. But, before all of this, we get side-tracked by an article on The Verge about how difficult ELDEN RING: Shadow of the Erdtree is. Also, console gaming is > than PC gaming...WHAT, FOO! Here's the full transcript [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/episodes/038/transcript] for this episode. If you like what you hear, the best way to support us is to tell people about the show. Please consider subscribing wherever you find your favorite podcasts. You can also keep us going with coffee refills on Ko-Fi [https://ko-fi.com/berriesandblades]. Follow @BerriesAndBlades [https://www.instagram.com/berriesandblades/] on IG for in-game photography, video clips, and behind-the-scenes content. Follow BerriesAndBlades [https://www.twitch.tv/berriesandblades] on Twitch for D&D and video game streams.  The music you hear on the podcast is by ELFL [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/elfl/?tab=tracks], Lexica, [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/lexica/?tab=tracks] and Christian Nanzell [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/christian-nanzell/?tab=tracks]. berriesandblades.simplecast.com [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/]

Hip Fire: Lords of the Fallen

What would happen if Bethesda made a Soulslike? Taylor thinks this game would be the outcome. Join us for a conversation about a dark fantasy action RPG called Lords of the Fallen. Welcome back to Hip Fire, a mini-series where we share our first impressions about a game after 5–10 hours of gameplay. In this episode, we cross into the realm of the dead (Umbral) to talk about a third-person action RPG called Lords of the Fallen. We didn't play long enough to become immersed in the main story, but your mission as fabled Dark Crusaders is to embark on an epic quest to overthrow Adyr, the demon god. Joseph thought the combat was decent, and Willie had trouble enjoying this game so close to the release of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and Taylor was impressed by some of the enemy designs. Overall, we thought the Umbral Lamp mechanic was the most original concept in the game, but the game still has a lot of bugs to iron out—even  EIGHT MONTHS after its release. If you enjoy playing soulslike games and have a subscription to Game Pass, it might be for you. But be careful around that asshole red-colored grim reaper because he'll steal your lunch, call you a dork, and shove it down the back of your pants. Here's the full transcript [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/episodes/037/transcript] for this episode. If you like what you hear, the best way to support us is to tell people about the show. Please consider subscribing wherever you find your favorite podcasts. You can also keep us going with coffee refills on Ko-Fi [https://ko-fi.com/berriesandblades]. Follow @BerriesAndBlades [https://www.instagram.com/berriesandblades/] on IG for in-game photography, video clips, and behind-the-scenes content. Follow BerriesAndBlades [https://www.twitch.tv/berriesandblades] on Twitch for D&D and video game streams.  The music you hear on the podcast is by ELFL [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/elfl/?tab=tracks], Lexica, [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/lexica/?tab=tracks] and Christian Nanzell [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/christian-nanzell/?tab=tracks]. berriesandblades.simplecast.com [https://berriesandblades.simplecast.com/]