740: DLC 2 for Immortals Fenyx Rising and more

Larry Hryb:
Hi, it's Larry Hryb, Xbox's Major Nelson, and it's that time of the week again where I look for the special button here and I hit it and-

Jeff Rubenstein:
Bring me in, Larry. Whoa. What was that?

Larry Hryb:
That was I don't know what.

Jeff Rubenstein:
That was a Price Is Right animation is what that is.

Larry Hryb:
Getting all Grass Valley switcher on us, aren't we? Here we go, Jeff. Another show, another week. Good to see you, good to see you. I haven't seen you all week. Well, we've had a couple of meetings this week.

Jeff Rubenstein:
You don't see me any week, Larry. You don't see me any week. But you know what? I found out I'm finally going to qualify for the vaccine-

Larry Hryb:
Me too! Me too.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... and I'm getting my first shot on Friday. We'll have to meet up, we'll have to do a thing. It's in six weeks or whatever it is.

Larry Hryb:
I was able to get the single-shot vaccine, so I am now vaccinated and on the road to immunization or whatever it's called, so there you go.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Whatever it is.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Then we could theoretically, maybe by July 4th, we can-

Larry Hryb:
Do a show together.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I don't know. Yeah.

Larry Hryb:
You know what? We'll do it. I'll put on my grill master 76 outfit.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I have that apron upstairs.

Larry Hryb:
I know you do.

Jeff Rubenstein:
That's what I got for Father's Day one year, the grill master 76 Overwatch.

Larry Hryb:
I know you did.

Jeff Rubenstein:
That was good. That was a good one.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah. It's been another fun week in gaming. We've got a fun interview coming up later on. Everyone knows I'm a big fan of Immortals Fenyx. I got Jeff playing and I've got a lot of folks listening and watching playing it. The new DLC is out.

Jeff Rubenstein:
You're an Immortals influencer.

Larry Hryb:
Right. Whatever that means. In fact, you can see it up here, kind of a little bit in my vision.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah, it's the big one, most recently played.

Larry Hryb:
It's the big one. Most recently played. You can see it right there.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I see some other things there, Larry.

Larry Hryb:
Well, we'll go over that in a minute. So we're going to talk about the new DLC which is available now for Immortals Fenyx Rising. We have some other things, in fact. Not only are we playing A Way Out, Jeffrey, but we finished it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
We finished! We finished it, finally. It took us a little while. You know what? It's interesting. The game turns into, in the last quarter-

Larry Hryb:
Watch the spoilers, watch the spoilers.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... turns into something like Gears of War, but I will say at the end-

Larry Hryb:
A cover shooter.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... one, and without spoiling, a pretty significant swerve that the story takes that I did not expect.

Larry Hryb:
We did not expect at all.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Then, also, I can't really say anything because, first of all, what I can say it's in the vault, so therefore, it is part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate so you can absolutely play it. You just go into EA, you can download A Way Out and you should. It's really good and it gets better as it goes along. I would say the final act, if you will, went places that I really didn't expect.

Larry Hryb:
We didn't know where... You and I, we had our headsets on, we were talking. We were quiet as everything progressed. It's kind of crazy.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I think we were like, "Wait, is this happening now?" And then the game is finished, the game is completed, and just in time because the new game is coming out. As you hear this, this will be in the past tense, but we'll be streaming It Takes Two which is Hazelight Games, Josef Fares's, cue the beeping, newest game.

Larry Hryb:
There it is.

Jeff Rubenstein:
The reviews came out this week and apparently it's stellar, so we will, by the time you're hearing this, have played it and probably agree. But as it stands right now, we have yet to play it and so we're in that lovely state where apparently an amazing game awaits us.

Larry Hryb:
I played Leo in A Way Out and you played-

Jeff Rubenstein:
I was Vincent.

Larry Hryb:
You were Vincent. Turns out, Jeffrey-

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yes.

Larry Hryb:
... did you know this? I mean, maybe this is a spoiler, so if you're going to finish the game, please fast forward, pause, do whatever you're going to do. There's two endings.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yes. No, I know that. I looked it up. That's enough.

Larry Hryb:
Okay, okay.

Jeff Rubenstein:
That's enough. Two endings-

Larry Hryb:
I would've pounded my ax harder had I known that.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I know, right? You should probably just edit that line out, actually.

Jeff Rubenstein:
The funny thing for us is you used Leo, and yet I'm the one with the schnoz. It took you a second there, right?

Larry Hryb:
Right.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Maybe you got to live in the shoes of someone with a gigantic nose, and it was nice for me to live with someone who didn't for a change. Now I'm back to it. I'm Leo in real life.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, that was a lot of fun. If you have somebody that you play co-op games with, or even if you don't, just go in and play with someone. Here's what I would recommend, if you're going to go on this journey and I highly recommend it, do it with somebody that you're going to continue and finish the game with. Don't pop bunch in different players.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, yeah. I don't know if there's match making. You definitely want to play. You can play, I believe, both couch co-op and online co-op. We of course did online.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, we did. We're excited to play It Takes Two.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I am very excited, especially, again, after reading the reviews today. Game Informer called it one of the best games of the year, so that's great. What else do you got back there?

Larry Hryb:
Let's take a look. Well, this is my other console. You can see what I got here.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, you do have It Takes Two.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, I've got it ready to go. Doom Eternal which is now available on Game Pass. I sent you the lasagna or the Doom level, right? I did send that to you.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yes, yes you did. You sent it to half the meeting we were in.

Larry Hryb:
We got Sea of Thieves. I'm still playing that. Little bit of Outer Worlds. I know that you did that interview last week. If you want to check out the new DLC, you should check that out.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Did you see it running in beautiful 60 frames per second? Just, chef's kiss.

Larry Hryb:
Butter, butter.

Jeff Rubenstein:
It really looks good.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, it looks fantastic. Yeah. That's my week. These weeks are just flying by, Jeffrey. I don't know what is going on, but these weeks are just going on and on.

Jeff Rubenstein:
It's already Spring. We're at the equinox. we're in the part of the year with a lot of sunlight, which is good. We could already feel it here in the far north.

Larry Hryb:
Isn't it like, end of June, the days start getting shorter or something? Remember?

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah, it goes to the 21st of June. The first day of summer is actually the peak, that's the longest day of the year, the equinox. No, the-

Larry Hryb:
Solstice.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... solstice.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
We just had the equinox. Anyway. Anyway. Then you get depressed here, because at some point you hit that point and you're like, "It's just dark." But right now we're in the good part. We're in the good part.

Larry Hryb:
Yay, we made it through the other end. I don't know. You and I played a little bit of Sea of Thieves, but I get rage-y. Anybody that plays with me in Sea of Thieves, and there's quite a few, Ryan [inaudible 00:06:42] and a few others, I get rage-y if it spawns me into the dark part of the maps. I quit and I will rejoin another server because I just hate it. I don't need that color.

Jeff Rubenstein:
You want to be in the sunlight?

Larry Hryb:
I want to be in the sunlight, the crystal clear waters, the colorful fish. I want tropical, I don't want Seattle. Let me put a fine point on it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I kind of like the night. I don't like the night storms, they're scary. I like it when it's the calm night.

Larry Hryb:
Don't get me wrong, I don't like the night. What I don't want is the dark, dreary part of the map because I've scuba dived here in Seattle and your visibility is less than distance to the camera. I mean, it's like that much. Come on.

Jeff Rubenstein:
The water's cold. That doesn't feel like what you would want to do.

Larry Hryb:
It's cold, it's murky.

Jeff Rubenstein:
What do you see, a carp? A salmon? What do you see down there?

Larry Hryb:
I can tell you, I didn't really see any wildlife when I was diving here. When I was diving, for those of you that know Seattle, when you see those shots of Seattle over the water, I dove on the other side. It's called Alki Beach. I went diving over there, on some other places as well, and you're right. You don't see anything. At least, I did not.

Larry Hryb:
Now, there's other parts. I went down near Tacoma and the visibility was beautiful. It was blue, it was clear.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Really?

Larry Hryb:
Yeah. I think my max bottom was 96 feet or something. It was clear, but it was cold.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. No thanks.

Larry Hryb:
And you can't stay down there too long, I'm not willing to stay down there. All right, enough about scuba diving. You don't care.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I mean, I care not to do it ever.

Larry Hryb:
I've invited you so many times and you just waved me off. You're, "No."

Jeff Rubenstein:
If I can't see the bottom, I'm out. That's it. I need to see the bottom. In fact, preferably I can touch the bottom. That's where I want to be.

Larry Hryb:
That's fair. I was actually watching this documentary on this place in the Middle East. It's where most divers die, like scuba divers, because you get disoriented, it's really deep, it slides off into a thousand feet. I can't remember the name of it. I think it's called the Blue Hole. Anyway, it's frightening. I looked at that and I said, "I don't want to go there.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah, why would you? It's called the Blue Hole. Say no more, I'm out.

Larry Hryb:
Anyway, what are you playing?

Jeff Rubenstein:
I finished up-

Larry Hryb:
Dishonored. Dishonored 2.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Dishonored 2.

Larry Hryb:
Right, tell me about that.

Jeff Rubenstein:
What were you going to say? I felt like you were going to say something.

Larry Hryb:
No. I remember you said you were going to finish Dishonored. I was really excited for you. I have not, but tell me about. This is another one that's on Game Pass.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yes. Dishonored 2 I had started when it first came out back in 2016, 2017. The first one is all-timer, it's phenomenal. The first one is part of Xbox Game Pass now, and, in fact, is being boosted to 60 frames per second now.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Dishonored 2, I think I was like, "You know what? I'm going to blow through this and I'm going to be violent and aggressive." You're given amazing tools. If you want to carve your way through Karnaca, you can do it. I wasn't enjoying it. In retrospect, it's because I don't like to play that way. I enjoy being a ghost. If I have to fight, if I'm seen, I will wreck house, but I wanted to finish in low chaos and I did this time.

Jeff Rubenstein:
It takes a couple levels until you get... you have so many different powers and so many different things you could possibly do that it could be overwhelming in a way. The level of depth and detail, you can go into almost every building. You don't know what you're going to experience there. But the level of story building? I've read every document-

Larry Hryb:
Were you a completionist?

Jeff Rubenstein:
I just got absorbed into it. I was not. It was funny, because I would feel like, as I was playing it, I was like, "Oh, that was a completionist run." And then it would give you the end of a level and it was like, "Oh, I missed out on so many things."

Jeff Rubenstein:
So, as many things as I did, it took me 20 hours. Running through that game, you can beat it supposedly in about 12. It took me about 20 hours, so I dove deep but then I was looking through. You played Titanfall 2, right?

Larry Hryb:
Oh, I finished that. That was a great one. That campaign was fantastic.

Jeff Rubenstein:
It was a great one.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
What's the level that you remember from that game if I put you on the spot?

Larry Hryb:
Oh, the vertical one. The vertical one.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, that was a really good one, but there was also the one-

Larry Hryb:
Where you're wall running.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... where you can jump back and forth in time.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, that was cool, too, but I love the wall running and bouncing back and forth.

Jeff Rubenstein:
That one was fun. I should go back and play through that one. Anyway, there's a level of this game where you can go back and forth in time, like three years. So, in the current time, it's all dilapidated, so a doorway may be blocked by debris. You can go back in time, it's open, you walk through, and then you can snap back to the present and you've done it. Or, but in the past it was well guarded, so you can appear behind a troop, take him out, you get seen, you blink back into the future, those people are gone, then you can re-appear behind them because you can actually peer into the other time through a window. It's excellent.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Apparently, there were certain things that you can do in that that completely, positively change the world that I didn't realize. You could help this character avoid a massive trauma which scars him. Now I feel bad I didn't do that. I was like, "Oh, I don't want to mess up the future." Well, you know what? I probably should of.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Anyway, excellent game. Finished it and got, more or less, the ending that I would have liked. But, so good. So good.

Larry Hryb:
Available on Game Pass.

Jeff Rubenstein:
We get to work with that team now! Available on Game Pass. It's Arcane.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Next I want to tackle Prey-

Larry Hryb:
Oh, I finished that one.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... which is the game they made after that.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
See, I had never played that one, and that's also been boosted, FPS boosted, up to, I believe, 60 FPS. I got to play that, but there's so much to play this week, Larry. There's so much to play.

Larry Hryb:
That's right. I forgot that they did Prey as well. Arcane, you're really going to enjoy that one.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Okay, good.

Larry Hryb:
I love that one. By the way, I noticed... let me go to the wide shot here.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yes?

Larry Hryb:
You have your light lit up there, over your left shoulder.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Finally. It's been in the shot for awhile, but I finally lit it up. You see this cable over here and I don't really love having that.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, cable management is-

Jeff Rubenstein:
Turns out, electrical items need to be plugged. It's hard to cable manage that. I'd have to run it through the wall.

Larry Hryb:
I'll come over with a drill.

Jeff Rubenstein:
It's lots of work. That frightens me, Larry.

Larry Hryb:
I'll take care of it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I have a drill. Breaking things is not a problem, it's patching them back up afterwards that I'm not as good at.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, you don't want to deal with... By the way, did your mom reach out to you at all after you threw her under the bus last show?

Jeff Rubenstein:
No, I don't think she listens to this show, so this is a safe space. I can [crosstalk 00:13:32] her cooking.

Larry Hryb:
There were some people in the comments who were like, "Oh."

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah, but my mom does not know her way around a matzah ball [inaudible 00:13:40]. Well, she thinks she can. Happy Passover, by the way, or I think it's coming up, to those who-

Larry Hryb:
It is. It's coming soon. And Easter, happy Easter as well, for those of you that celebrate.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Well, yeah. They're aligned Biblically. Yes.

Larry Hryb:
It's interesting you say that. A couple show notes, we're going to be back next week but then we're going to be off the week of April 5th. I've got something I have to do and I know that you've got... then you're off the following week, right?

Jeff Rubenstein:
I'm off the following week, but you know what? You should bring a guest in. I think it'd be great to keep the show going-

Larry Hryb:
Jason Ronald?

Jeff Rubenstein:
... and bring someone else in. I'll never get it back. I'll never get the show back.

Larry Hryb:
Even if he doesn't have anything to talk about, I've got to bring him back, right? He's the perfect person.

Jeff Rubenstein:
He's always got something to talk about.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah. I've got a couple of guests we can bring in.

Jeff Rubenstein:
All right, that'd be nice.

Larry Hryb:
If you're okay with that.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yes. If I'm okay with it? It's not my show, Larry. It's your show. I'm happy to be here.

Larry Hryb:
You're welcome to do the show when I'm gone. You're welcome to do the show when I'm gone. I'll turn over my desk to you.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. I'm sure your wife would be like, "Why are you in my house?" But let's not worry about that.

Larry Hryb:
Or my daughter will be like, "Jeffrey's here!"

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah, she'll be great. We'll put her on the show.

Larry Hryb:
Every time we're doing a Teams call, because you and I are on a lot of Teams call together, she'll come in and start waving even though you can't see her, she's waving at you. She's like, "I saw Jeffrey. I saw Jeffrey."

Jeff Rubenstein:
She's in this phase, like when you're a kid, and you're like, "Oh, mail. Mail for me," because it's probably a card from grandma and it's got 20 bucks in it. At this point, meetings are exciting for her, but at some point it's going to be like, "Oh, mail? That means bills. And meetings? That means work." So enjoy this phase-

Larry Hryb:
Things take on a different meaning.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... littlest Hryb, because it doesn't last forever.

Larry Hryb:
What else are you playing? I mean, Dishonored, that's a tall order, so I can't even-

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. I'm back now to Dragon Quest 11 which I want to play-

Larry Hryb:
I thought you were going to say Yakuza.

Jeff Rubenstein:
The wave is starting to hit. Well, this week, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life comes out. I was hoping to have finished Yakuza 5 by that time. I didn't, I haven't started it yet. I did do 3 and 4 since the beginning of this year. They're not going anywhere. But, at the same time, I need to play them. I want to play them.

Jeff Rubenstein:
The torrent of Xbox Game Pass games is starting to wash over me. What else do we have this week? We have Octopath Traveler. That was something no one saw coming. People are still talking about it and that's out now. You can go ahead and download that on console and PC, I believe. That's going to be great.

Jeff Rubenstein:
But all these games are really long games, so Dragon Quest is an 80 to 100 hour game. Octopath Travelers is an RPG. Yakuza 5, I think, is one of the longer Yakuza games. So I'm going to get to all of them, but I just need to take a break. I need to take a week off and just focus on that.

Larry Hryb:
While you're gone you can do that. While I maybe have Ronald in here.

Jeff Rubenstein:
You'll look at my status and you'll see that I'm playing.

Larry Hryb:
Can I tell you a funny story?

Jeff Rubenstein:
You may. I exist.

Larry Hryb:
I was in a meeting and Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, said that I guess his bosses figured out how to see statuses on Xbox Live, so, during meetings, he can't play games anymore.

Jeff Rubenstein:
His boss, meaning Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft? That's pretty funny. Hide status.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, exactly.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Everybody's got the struggle. The struggle is real.

Larry Hryb:
By the way, I want to do a quick shoutout to our friends over in the U.K. The Women of Xbox U.K., they've done a special podcast and Charlie Hudson hosts it. The first episode is Louise O'Connor. I want to get Charlie on here. In fact, maybe I'll just have her call us.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Maybe the week I'm not here.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, maybe I'll just have her on here the whole show.

Jeff Rubenstein:
She'd be a great co-host.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I think that'd would be great.

Larry Hryb:
I'll have Charlie on, but she's got a bunch of really great interviews lined up, and that's The Women of Xbox U.K. Just check that out at Xbox U.K. I've got to retweet as well that I handled that. Don't miss that.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. They've got some really great shows coming up. So, they're going to be publishing a show every other week, and we're going to hear from people like Haiyan Zhang, who is the chief of staff at Xbox. She's great. Lydia Winters from the Minecraft Team, from Mojang. Sarah Bond-

Larry Hryb:
Do you know Haiyan used to work in Microsoft research?

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. No, there was a great video of her several years ago. I'd seen the video and then I didn't meet her until much later, and she's awesome.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
But she helped develop a pen that helped somebody with Parkinson's smooth out their writing, that analyzed the hand tremors. I remember seeing the video, it was very touching and I'll see if I can find it. That was her, years before she worked with us on Xbox. We've worked with a lot of really smart people, Larry. Sometimes I'm like, "How the heck did I get in the door?"

Larry Hryb:
I've told you this, I feel the same way. When we used to have Laura on the show or E, I'm like, "Jesus, please, people, don't ask any questions. Don't ask to see my SATs. How did I end up here?" It's big imposter syndrome, right?

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. I totally get it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Anyway, you want to totally subscribe to that podcast. I'll be doing that because I definitely want to hear the stories that they'll be sharing. So a lot of really great women who are leading and transforming the future of Xbox, and so it should be some great listening.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, we had great International Women's Day show a couple weeks ago. I mean, we've got a lot of great stuff planned. You know what? Yeah. I'm going to reach out and say, "Charlie, you're going to be on the show. Jeff's out, going to slide you in."

Jeff Rubenstein:
Charlie's great. She should be on more often. You can watch her stream quite frequently on the Xbox On channels. You'll see her quite a bit.

Larry Hryb:
Yup. Hey, we should take a break here. I've got this great interview that I did with Immortals Fenyx Rising, brand new DLC that's out right now. Let's go ahead and do that. What, Jeff? You want to say something?

Jeff Rubenstein:
No, play it. I want to see it.

Larry Hryb:
Let's take a look and listen about that, and then we'll come back on the other side and do more news.

Larry Hryb:
Anybody who's been listening or watching this show for any time over the last few months knows that I'm a huge Immortals Fenyx Rising fan. And I'm very excited because, joining me on the show today, you can see him right there on the screen, is Julien Galloudec, who is the DLC game director and there's a brand new DLC out. It's the Myths of the Eastern Realm, now available. Julien, thank you for joining me today.

Julien Galloudec:
Thank you. Glad to be here.

Larry Hryb:
Oh, I was telling you a little bit before we got started that I'm a huge fan of the game and I've been so excited. You've got the first DLC of the game, which, frankly, I'm still going through that, and now you come right in, the second one is now available. Tell the audience a little bit about what we can expect in the Immortals Fenyx Rising DLC 2: Myths of the Eastern Realm?

Julien Galloudec:
Yes. So in that second DLC, we're going to explore a new mythology with the Chinese mythology. It's a new mythology, a new world, a new hero, a new story, and you get to meet new challenges, so it's a pretty big expansion of the main game. And compared to the first DLC that was more a challenge mode and an endgame for the main game, it's a whole new country with a new mythology and a lot of new things to discover.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah. I've been talking about this on the show, the main game for many, many months as a huge fan. Your team has done such a great job with capturing all the elements of these great platformer games, puzzle solving games, there's some comedy in there, I mean, it's funny. It doesn't take itself too seriously, which I love.

Larry Hryb:
When you guys were designing the Myths of the Eastern Realm DLC, now available, tell us a little bit about your design strategies. You obviously looked at what fans were really enjoying and the areas that they really liked, and tell us how you addressed that and kind of doubled down on that, if you will?

Julien Galloudec:
Yeah, to do that, we start with the bigger picture that is the full season pass. We started working on that before the release of the game. First it was important to cover as much ground as possible because we are not really sure what player will love about the game. We wanted to spread the offer with a DLC that will be kind of a challenge mode for a player that like challenges and want to push the limit, so that was the first DLC.

Julien Galloudec:
The second one, we wanted to open new horizon for the brand with new mythology and new hero, so that the second DLC, Myths of the Eastern Realm that explore Chinese mythology. And the the last one, we're going to go even further by doing a new type of gameplay experience with a top-down game. That was a [inaudible 00:22:28] for the world season pass, to explore new horizon for the brand. For the second DLC, we really wanted to work with Ubisoft Chengdu. That is one of the Ubisoft studio in China that were already working with us on the main game. For us, it was a perfect opportunity to give them the chance to explore that new brand and that new formula of Immortals Fenyx Rising, but with their own cultural background and with their own mythology so that's a bit how we came to the idea of doing that DLC.

Larry Hryb:
The DLC, as I said, we said earlier, is now available. It's rather extensive. I mean, the game itself is extensive and then you pile this on top of it. How much gameplay do we think is in here? How many hours, if you were to put on the back of a napkin?

Julien Galloudec:
Yeah. If you play organically, doing a bit of everything without trying to complete all the content, it's probably around 10 hours for the adventure, going through the story and doing some of the activities and some of the reading. So probably about 10 hours.

Larry Hryb:
I know that as I've been talking about this game, I've finished the main game, the base game. Tell us how you address that for maybe some of the players who haven't finished the main game or who haven't really progressed as far as some others have? How do you address getting them into the DLC in a way that is still fun, so that they're like, "No, you have to finish this to make it that it's not sequential but it's more parallel?"

Julien Galloudec:
Yeah. For the second DLC, Myths of the Eastern Realm, it was pretty easy because it's a new world and a new hero and a new story. So the goal was to kind of condense the experience on the DLC. We give you the basics, in case you didn't play the first game extensively. You have a reminder of those tutorials for the jump and for the fight. Then we actually introduce some new mechanic that are specific to that DLC. The goal was to have the first island of the main game condensed in a small area as a refresher for player that did the main game, and as an introduction for the one that maybe directly jump into the Myths of the Eastern Realm.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah. One of the areas I loved is, as you level up, are you able to take any gear that you've already acquired with you into the DLC or is it more a separate experience? How do the saves sit next to each other?

Julien Galloudec:
So it's two separate saves, but everything you're going to get in the DLC, in Myths of the Eastern Realm, are the cosmetic, so the new armors, a new [inaudible 00:24:59], and the new wings and the new horses. You will be able to bring them back in the main game when you complete the DLC so you'll have a lot of new skins for your Fenyx to play with in the main game, but you won't be able to get the stuff from the main game in the DLC because we wanted to keep the immersion with the Chinese mythology and the Chinese world. So you can take the Chinese world to your main game when you finish the DLC, but not the other way around.

Larry Hryb:
That's good to know. Now, I got to tell you something. I know you guys had an update. This game looks amazing on Xbox One, but it looks even better on Xbox Series X and S. Tell us a little bit about that. That's more about the broad game, but the game just hums, doesn't it?

Julien Galloudec:
Yeah. For us, it was very good timing because it's the first time we do a game that is a mix of platform and over-the-top fights, so something that is very dynamic and fast. So being able to first having the 60 FPS and then, on top of that, push the limits of the graphics with incredible resistance and detail and that [inaudible 00:26:06] effect we wanted. So being able to push all of that at the same time on this platform was pretty good. I think the result at the end, it looks incredible when you play on a good TV on that setup with the performance mode.

Larry Hryb:
Performance mode, yeah.

Julien Galloudec:
It's very good to play. The 60 FPS on this kind of game, it's really interesting and brings something on the table.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah. I've been playing it on this TV here, my OLED which does 60 frames per second, the whole thing. You're right, it's just butter. It really changes your combat flow. That's one of the beautiful parts about Immortals Fenyx Rising is the combat, and getting into the combat, it just kind of effortlessly flows and it looks great and it feels great. I'm really excited to check out the DLC 2: Myths of the Eastern Realm to see how you've extended that, but also how you brought some of the feeling of Immortals Fenyx Rising, it doesn't take itself too seriously, bring it into the Eastern Realm.

Larry Hryb:
Are the same voiceover actors there or did you have different voiceover actors? Because those are really one of the characters is these two voices that are kind of narrating your main game journey.

Julien Galloudec:
Yeah. We wanted to keep that formula, that concept, the charm of Immortals Fenyx Rising. So we asked Chengdu to take that and see how they will adapt it to a new mythology and a new context. So, for us, it was about how we twist the concept of a narrator and someone that is telling the story and narrating the story, and so they came up with the idea of Nuwa, that is one of the new gods of the DLC, that talk directly to Ku, that is the new hero, as you're playing. So it's another way to look at the narration and at the narrator concept, so this time it's someone telling the story but it's someone helping you live and commenting what you are doing. It's a very interesting twist in that formula while keeping the humor and the funny approach we had on the main game with that new mythology.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, I know a lot of folks are streaming it now on Twitch. You should check that out now. The DLC 2: Myths of the Eastern Realm is now available. It's got a new open world, characters, and a story inspired by Chinese mythology and it looks amazing. Available now with the season pass as a separate purchase or through an Ubisoft+ subscription. I have to tell you, I'm really looking forward to digging in on this.

Larry Hryb:
Julien, thank you so much for your time today. Be sure to check out Immortals Fenyx Rising, DLC 2: Myths of the Eastern Realm. Thank you, my friend.

Julien Galloudec:
Thank you. Bye.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Thank you, Julien. I got to say, Myths of the Eastern Realm is really raising the steaks.

Larry Hryb:
Really? During the break you went out and got that? You really do have it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I do. Buy it, it's just right upstairs. It's my Soldier 76 grill master apron. It's a perfectly normal thing to wear in the house.

Larry Hryb:
You know what else is normal to wear? I don't know socks or slippers, but you don't have those on, do you?

Jeff Rubenstein:
No, but I'm not going to put my feet in the shot because, you know.

Larry Hryb:
That's not what we do, that's not this podcast.

Jeff Rubenstein:
My nails aren't painted.

Larry Hryb:
That's not this podcast.

Jeff Rubenstein:
No, no. That's definitely not this podcast. Anyway, yeah. Definitely looking forward to going back to Immortals, just because that may be the most fun, just pure fun, that I've had in a game in the last year.

Larry Hryb:
That's my thing. It's just one of those things that I was playing and I was like, "Oh, this is fun. This is fun. Oh, this is a lot of fun." I got all the different... oh, I don't want to say anything, no spoilers. You heard all about the DLC 2. I'm going to go check that out and you should, too.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Indeed.

Larry Hryb:
Should we do some news?

Jeff Rubenstein:
You want to talk about news? What do you want to do?

Larry Hryb:
Yeah. Let me see if I can crank up the clicker here. Let me turn the key here. Okay, there's the ticker. Is it working? Oh, I guess it's not working. Oh, there it is!

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh. Here it comes, here it comes.

Larry Hryb:
A little sputter to start and there we go.

Jeff Rubenstein:
So I'm not going to start with Slaughter Aliens and Fix. Anyway. A couple new Xbox wireless controls that came out. So, we've already seen the pulse red and there was a blue one that came out at launch of Xbox Series X [inaudible 00:30:27]. Two more controllers announced today. First we have an Electric Volt.

Larry Hryb:
I don't have... you've got to go to news.xbox.com, because I don't have the pictures of them yet. Sorry, Jeff. Go ahead.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah, they're up there now. So it looks like Volt is a color you see on a lot of Nike shoes. I actually have a pair of Air Max 90s in this color. I'm definitely going to be picking up the Electric Volt, it's a highlighter yellow or a fluorescent yellow-ish green. Anyway, looks really cool. Like it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Then you've seen a number of our previous camo controllers. Well, this is the first one on the Xbox Series X and S, the Xbox wireless controller format with, of course, the capture button and the share button. The Daystrike Camo, special edition, it's sort of gray and red. It would fit in well if you're playing Gears 5 or something like that.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Anyway, couple more controllers. This is the time of year where we tend to put a lot out, you pick the ones that work for you. Yeah. I'm definitely going to be picking up the Electric Bolt. Volt, rather.

Larry Hryb:
It's also important to point out that you can pair these with your android device on Bluetooth and you can play xCloud if you're a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber. So if you're an-

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yes. Oh, forgot the dates. So the Volt one is coming out April 27th and the Daystrike Camo is coming out may 4th in most Xbox markets worldwide.

Larry Hryb:
Ah, well done. Well done. What else you got there?

Jeff Rubenstein:
Got to watch a trailer today or this week that a lot of you all did that started off with saying, "PlayStation Studios," and ending with "Xbox." So, you know we're talking about MLB: The Show 21. We saw the first Xbox gameplay. Highly recommend you go over to Xbox Wire to look for that. Post written by Ramone Russell-

Larry Hryb:
Who's a good friend of yours.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... from Sony City.

Larry Hryb:
Are we going to get him on the show?

Jeff Rubenstein:
He's a really great guy.

Larry Hryb:
Maybe he'll co-host the show.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Actually, I think there's the plan. I did request to get Ramon on the show closer to the launch of the game which is in mid-to-late April. I want to say April 20th. I've got to tell you, watching this trailer, it is an excellent trailer. The game looks phenomenal. I mean, it looks more fun than watching baseball, which, I kind of enjoy playing sports more than watching them, typically. It helps when your team sucks.

Larry Hryb:
What stadiums have you been to in MLB?

Jeff Rubenstein:
That's a great question. So, I'm a Phillies fan, so I've been to the Bank, the Citizen's Bank Park.

Larry Hryb:
I've been to that.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, you get the crab fries. We're going to talk about food now because we're recording this before lunch. Also been to the Vet before that, as a kid, that's where I used to go. It was demolished. There's actually a great book. Were you the one that introduced me to that book? Someone was living-

Larry Hryb:
In the Vet for a year.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... they were carved out a residence. I'm going to buy that book.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Let's see. I lived in Miami when the Marlins first started playing. They played where the Dolphins played. I can't remember. The stadium's changed a lot since then. I've seen a lot of games there.

Larry Hryb:
Was the Superbowl there? Because I think I did a Superbowl there.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Many Super Bowl have been there.

Larry Hryb:
It's in the middle of nowhere.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Joe Robbie Stadium?

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, I think that was it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Right. They play in a different stadium now that's more in South Miami, I want to say. Yeah. I've been there. I've been where the Padres play because it's right next to-

Larry Hryb:
Oh, yeah. San Diego.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... for Comic Con. Petco, I think? It's actually a really nice stadium. There's apartments that you can look into it. Let's see. I've been to where San Francisco Giants play, AT&T Stadium. I think it's changed its name again. That's a beautiful stadium, just a view of the bay.

Larry Hryb:
You ever been to Candlestick?

Jeff Rubenstein:
I've never been to Candlestick.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, no. I did. I watched an Eagles game there. It was terrible, really didn't like it.

Larry Hryb:
It's cold, wasn't it?

Jeff Rubenstein:
They have a new stadium now. It was freezing, absolutely freezing. I've never seen a baseball game there, but going and watching at AT&T Stadium, if you sit on the first base side, that's where you get the sweeping views of the bay and you see the bay bridge. Great food. The garlic fries are just incredible.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I've also gone across the bay and seen games in Oakland, which is not as great a stadium, but I probably prefer the As to the Giants. Anywhere else? I'm trying to think if I've been anywhere else. I think that may be it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
What about you, Larry? I've never been to Fenway and I've never seen the Cubs play.

Larry Hryb:
I've done Fenway, I've done the old Yankees stadium, the old Chase stadium. To your point, the Vet. Wrigley Field.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, Seattle. Have you been here?

Larry Hryb:
Oh, yeah. I've been here. I've been to Seattle.

Jeff Rubenstein:
T-Mobile. It actually has really great food at T-Mobile.

Larry Hryb:
You've been there, too, right?

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah.

Larry Hryb:
Were you with us when we were still doing company meetings there?

Jeff Rubenstein:
No, no, no.

Larry Hryb:
Oh, we used to rent out the whole place and we'd do company meetings. I think it was always in September, and sometimes the top was open. You never knew if it was going to be cold. The wind came through there.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yes, it's got the retractable roof which you have to have in Seattle.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Really good food. It's called T-Mobile Park. If the Phillies come here on occasion, I'll go. Maybe I'll go this year.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, we need to go again. Assuming life will return to normal. I don't know why, I'm sorry.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, I was lucky. Actually, when I worked with the MLB team, when I was at Sony, we got to go to the All-Star game one year in St. Louis and that was amazing.

Larry Hryb:
There is another one that I've been to which is, and I do not recall, but it's the one next to the Messe Center in Tokyo.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, that's where the Chiba Marines play there.

Larry Hryb:
Which is the farm team for Seattle.

Jeff Rubenstein:
You went and saw a game there?

Larry Hryb:
Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. I've always wanted to go-

Larry Hryb:
Chiba Marines, that's right.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... a J League game. Yeah.

Larry Hryb:
It's right behind there.

Jeff Rubenstein:
That's awesome.

Larry Hryb:
It's right behind the Messe Center.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah, it's right there. They have all kinds of merch and stuff there. That's pretty awesome. I would love to see a Japanese baseball game.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, they're fantastic. Anyway. I'm sorry. We were talking news. I completely sidetracked us.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Anyway. MLB The Show 21, watch the trailer. I think you'll be very impressed with the visuals on this one. Now, if you look at this and go, "Wait, April 20th, that's a month away. I want to play baseball now," you do have a choice. RBI Baseball 21 is out now.

Larry Hryb:
Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I will say, this game has come a long way and this is the best looking RBI Baseball game that they've put out, so definitely worth taking a look at. It's also half the price, it's $29.99. It's something if you want to scratch that baseball itch now-

Larry Hryb:
I do.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... you'll be able to do so with RBI Baseball and then MLB The Show.

Larry Hryb:
I just want to play home run derby.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I believe they have that.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, they usually do. They usually do.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Don't quote me on that.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Last week we talked about a lot of games coming out on Game Pass, there was a lot in news. Now games are actually coming out. At least a dozen games came out, some on Game Pass, some not. Some indie games like Rip Them Off, which looks really interesting. This, by the way, sounds like something you'll be interested in, Larry. It is a puzzle game experience, tower defense, the fast thrill of micromanagement, and an original 1950s-inspired jazz music soundtrack with-

Larry Hryb:
I love all these words.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... surrealist, geometric art. So Rip Them Off is what it's called. It's Xbox One X-enhanced. You should see it in the most recently added. It's not in Game Pass. You're looking in Game Pass right now.

Larry Hryb:
Oh, I see, I see. Sorry, Game Pass I'm sorry.

Jeff Rubenstein:
That's just a game that came out on the store. Black Legend, I always like any games that has the word tactics in it. This is a strategy RPG.

Larry Hryb:
You're a sucker for that.

Jeff Rubenstein:
When I see the grid, I'm like, "This game's for me." So Black Legend is out now and that one looks pretty interesting.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Genesis Noir, and this is in Game Pass, and this has a really fascinating look to it.

Larry Hryb:
Let me see if I can pull it up.

Jeff Rubenstein:
If you want to pull it back up. Anyway, I'll read the description.

Jeff Rubenstein:
A noir, an adventure spanning time and space-

Larry Hryb:
Is this a new one that was just added?

Jeff Rubenstein:
This was just added... actually, when we're recording this, this will be in the coming soon section.

Larry Hryb:
Got it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
It may or may not be there yet. Anyway, Genesis Noir definitely looks like it's worth checking out on Xbox Game Pass. Let's see. Octopath Traveler.

Larry Hryb:
Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I cannot wait until I can download that one [crosstalk 00:38:55].

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. From what I'm told, you get to choose from whatever character you want. Apparently, certain of the characters you choose, you'll have an easier time than if you choose others. It might be worth it to take a quick glance at some of the strategy guides, or something like that, to give yourself an easier time or go in blind, which is fine as well.

Larry Hryb:
Have fun.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Actually, a couple. Balan Wonderworld. This looks super interesting, one of the more interesting trailers we had in one of our events last year. This is a 3D action platformer, looks incredibly colorful, and it takes place on a stage in the Balan Theater. It just looks super interesting.

Jeff Rubenstein:
It Takes Two, which we talked about, we're playing. Phenomenal, great reviews.

Larry Hryb:
We streamed it earlier in the week.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Exactly. You know I had to mention, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, now available on Xbox Game Pass, for PC, for the console-

Larry Hryb:
Hashtag ad.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... and of course on the Cloud. I'm a Yakuza influencer, Larry. This is the story that wraps up Kazuma Kiryu's journey. I'll leave it at that. You're going to want to play it.

Larry Hryb:
Do you want to talk about the video you tweeted?

Jeff Rubenstein:
I think you'll be in tears. About the video I tweeted?

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
There was a group of cosplayers in Taiwan who were all dressed up as the whole-

Larry Hryb:
Characters.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... the whole crew from Yakuza, like a dragon, with the exception of Eri and I was a big Eri fan but she was an optional character. We'll leave it at that. So they were all dressed up and were walking through the streets, and they did an amazing job. I am now following that cosplayer because he's done a number, they've done a number of-

Larry Hryb:
Follow Jeff on Twitter, you can see his tweets there.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... very interesting... You should, you should. They also did a really good [inaudible 00:40:55] cosplay that's just amazing.

Larry Hryb:
All right.

Jeff Rubenstein:
You need an eye patch, Larry. If you want to look edgy, an eye patch helps.

Larry Hryb:
I should get one.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Just saying.

Larry Hryb:
Mysterious.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Last little bits of news here. We both enjoy and we've talked about many times on this show Watch Dogs: Legion. If you haven't tried it and you're like, "What's this all about?" you don't want to take a risk, you just want to try before you buy, well you have that option this long weekend. From March 25th through the 29th, there is a free trial of Watch Dogs: Legion. I think if you try it out, you'll be very sucked into it because we certainly were. If you've got Xbox Series X, then you get to experience ray tracing in that game, which adds amazing texture.

Larry Hryb:
That's the first game we had ray tracing in that you and I experienced. Remember? Because I remember calling you like, "You've got to fire it up! All the reflections are amazing."

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah.

Larry Hryb:
I remember that.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. That's right, it happened a little bit after we started playing it because the game came out before the new console did.

Larry Hryb:
Because it shipped before and then... Yeah. Exactly.

Jeff Rubenstein:
If you decide you do want to get. Let's say you play the trial, you're like, "I want to finish this, I want to play more," the standard edition is two-thirds off, 67% off. The ultimate edition is 16% off.

Larry Hryb:
You didn't tell me there was going to be math this show.

Jeff Rubenstein:
What does that mean? I think it means the game will be $20 on sale, give or take, so well worth it. Definitely a really fun game. If you love London, if you loved James Bond movies, if you love stealth-

Larry Hryb:
Spider bots.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... tech. Spider bots? How many spider bots? That was great.

Jeff Rubenstein:
One more sale. The ID@Xbox Farming sale. There's so many farming simulators or games that involve farm, including your favorite, Larry, Shotgun Farmers.

Larry Hryb:
Shotgun Farmer.

Jeff Rubenstein:
We're talking farming simulator games, Stardew Valley, Slime Rancher, Farm Together, a lot of chill games. Well, you can save up to 70% on those.

Larry Hryb:
There you go. Always something going on. You can head over to my blog atmajornelson.com. I've got all the sales, sortable and usable and viewable and clickable.

Jeff Rubenstein:
So we're recording this before... this goes on live on Friday is when you publish these.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein:
And just before this goes live, there will be an ID@Xbox-

Larry Hryb:
Stream.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... Twitch showcase. I haven't seen it yet, but what I do know is there's certain game that are coming that are going to be featured. They're going to talk more about 12 Minutes. That was a game that-

Larry Hryb:
Oh, I remember that game.

Jeff Rubenstein:
... people are very excited about. I don't know if they've talked about the voice actors. Yeah, just go ahead and buzz me out there. If you haven't watched the stream and you're hearing this and you didn't watch it, go watch it on demand. I'll definitely be watching that on Friday.

Jeff Rubenstein:
DrinkBox Studios has a new game coming out. So DrinkBox Studios made Guacamelee! 1 and 2 and some other games.

Larry Hryb:
That was a 2013, 2014 game. Yeah. That was old school.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yeah. And then the sequel is or was available on Game Pass.

Larry Hryb:
Yup.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Very big fan of Guacamelee! This is a team that makes really tight and really beautiful 2D action games. I don't know anything about this game, but I know it's made my DrinkBox which means I'm going to want to be playing it.

Jeff Rubenstein:
There's a couple of other games. Among Us is going to be coming to Xbox. It's currently available on Windows 10, part of Game Pass, but it's coming to Xbox as well, to the console. It'll be coming this year. I don't have the specific date on that. Anyway. You'll want to go and take a look at Xbox Wire and see everything that you need to see, because it's been a really busy week for indies, and a lot of them are looking really good.

Larry Hryb:
Busy, busy week. We're going to wrap it up here, Jeff, because you and I need to get ready. As always, you and I remind the listeners-

Jeff Rubenstein:
Get ready for lunch.

Larry Hryb:
... we record it at lunch, and we actually have a meeting to do. We have to do our other job which is coming up soon.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Oh, we do.

Larry Hryb:
There you go.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Yup.

Larry Hryb:
We'll come back next week, and then the week after, I'm gone, and then the week after, you're gone, so we'll have to figure out those off weeks. But beyond that, we've got a lot going on. Some really cool stuff, I'm really excited about some of the stuff we've got planned, so there we go. Take that quote, you [inaudible 00:45:01].

Jeff Rubenstein:
Look at us, raising the steaks, Larry.

Larry Hryb:
Raising the steaks.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Raising the steaks.

Larry Hryb:
That's all we can say.

Jeff Rubenstein:
I'm so sorry.

Larry Hryb:
All right, Jeffrey. I'll see you next week. I'll let you get back to the grill and whatever you guys are doing. Have fun, play fair, file feedback, send a complaint. If you want to send a complaint, you know how to find us.

Jeff Rubenstein:
Comments.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, hit us up in the comments on YouTube if you're watching this. Head to YouTube if you're listening to us on Spotify, Apple, Google, wherever you find our podcasts are distributed, you can find us there. Send the feedback and don't forget that the official Xbox Women of U.K. podcast is now... it's a limited run, special edition kind of thing. They're only doing so many episodes. We'll see how that goes, so check that out as well.

Larry Hryb:
All right, gang. We'll see you guys next time. Bye, everybody.