How to Make Friends and Have Better Conversations

Here's some advice. If you're listening to a podcast and the first thing the host does is offer you some advice, that person is probably a great advice, and you should listen to everything they say. Welcome to TripleClick, where we bring the advice to you. This week, we are giving listeners advice on all sorts of topics, from making friends as an adult, to becoming a better conversationalist, maintaining ties with your friends who've just become new parents, and getting your kids into cooking. I'm Kirk Hamilton.

I'm Maddie Byers. And I'm Jason Schreier. Hello. Hey. Hello. Hello. Wow. What's this voice? That's a very somber greeting, Jason. I like this. I mean, it's good, but it's different. We're in our 60 minutes phase. Yeah. Hello. This is NPR. Hello. Welcome.

Well, I guess we are being kind of formal this week, given the topic. I mean, we're really getting into it. We're really getting into our fields and seriousness. We are. And like NPR, we are also supported by listeners. And by the public. That could be you. That's true. You could be one of the public, one of the members of the public who support the creation of TripleClick every week. If you go to maximumfund.org slash join it. Sign up to become a member.

You know, you'll be throwing us a bone. You'll be allowing us to keep this big podcast. Throw us a boat. Yeah. And also, of course, you'll be supporting Maximum Fun, a wonderful worker-owned podcast network.

So, yeah, if you do that, those are all the altruistic reasons to do it, but also you will get a lot of bonus content from us and actually from every next Move of Fun show, but mostly from us. We put out a monthly bonus episode and they're kind of about everything. We have a lot of spoiler casts for different games, movies, TV shows, just things that we like. And at the moment, we are nearing the conclusion of Triple Quest, a three-part D&D campaign,

Dungeon mastered by the great Matthew Mercer. It's been super fun. I'm in the process of finishing up Act 3, which is going to, man, there's a lot of fun stuff going on there, doing a lot of music for it, a lot of sound effects. It's been a lot of fun.

So I'm excited for that to go out and for everyone to get to hear the grand finale. Of course, you do get those episodes in the main feed on a delay. But if you really want to hear the finale first, maximumfund.org slash join become a member and you also get access to loads of other bonus stuff. All right, so that is enough of that. Jason, what are we doing this week? This week we are.

Doling out advice. Burning advice is this week's topic. So, burning advice. A few weeks ago, we took a call for listeners to send in their greatest advice questions. We put out the call. They took the call. We put out the call. Sure. A few weeks ago, we put out a call for listeners to send. And they defeated it.

The call to advice questions. And we got a lot of them. We got a lot of good ones. A lot of people asked one that we're not going to get to, which is how do you choose what game to play, which we've kind of talked about in the past. We're not going to answer that one. But we are going to answer some other ones. We can't choose that. It's impossible to not. We're going to put on our advice hats and try to help people out today as much as we can. And maybe we'll give them bad advice.

steer them in the wrong direction. Who knows? All bets are off. We can't make any promises. We're not doctors here at TripleClick. We're not therapists. It's something that I thought a lot as I was reading some of these questions was the fact that we're not therapists.

We are just three people who live our lives as best as we can and we'll give advice from those three perspective. Can I just tell you, Maddie, when I interview people a lot for my job and a lot of people tell me their stories and often at the end of it, they're like, you know, this is like going to therapy. That happens to me too. I feel like a therapist. Yeah. And sometimes I do kind of feel that way, especially, but then unlike a therapist, I don't feel like I give them advice at the end. I'm just like, well, thanks for telling me your life story and goodbye.

The key the key difference being that when you tell your life story to your therapist They don't then go like pull good quotes from it and publish it I mean maybe there are some experimental types of therapy that today we will be publishing all of the advice

and our recommendations. So let's get to it. We're gonna do this like we do burning questions or each read one. I will kick us off. This is from Steven. Steven asks, how do you make friends as an adult? Easy one, just a real song.

Okay, well, my advice is going to be a little different than yours. My advice is to have children and then you will just be hit by a deluge of birthday parties and playground dates and school hangouts and you will meet other parents and make friends with them.

What do you do if you don't like the other parents, though? I guess that's a separate advice question, but it's fine. Well, that's not a big deal. I mean, you just don't, you're just kind of casual to them, but then you will eventually, like eventually, hopefully you'll find a couple that you do really click with and then you hang out with them.

Yeah. Other advice includes joining, I don't know, clubs, churches, synagogues, just as the devices have kids. And then, I don't know, join a club or something. We're off to a great start here. Yeah, I don't know. Well, you guys, you guys could talk about the childless experience. I do think the child-free version is significantly more difficult.

No, I mean, I think it's much harder, especially if you're trying to limit it from work. If you're like, how do I make friends outside of just making friends from work, which is probably the main way that you socialize if you're listening? And I certainly have made friends that way. But honestly, it's having hobbies. It's not just joining a club, but having hobbies and then meeting people through having something else that you do outside of work, which could be

anything. It doesn't have to be video games. It could be joining a choir or knitting and meeting people at the yarn store and hanging out with them. Recently, my mom got really into raising monarch butterflies, and she made a friend doing that, which is really cool, by the way. That is a cool hobby. You get really into that. It's actually a cool hobby to get into. There's all kinds of hobbies you can get into and make friends.

By doing that matter one time I took my kids to this nature center near me a few months ago in the summer and they have this butterfly exhibit and what they do apparently is they freeze these butterflies and put them in envelopes and then mail them to this place and so these people these guides of the nature center like took out these envelopes and inside were frozen alive butterflies.

And they took him out. And because of the warmth of their hands, the butterflies woke up. And they had been in a coma, essentially, for two weeks. And then they just staggered out and flew into this habitat. It was crazy. Butterflies are wild.

It's a magical story that doesn't feel real, but I swear to God, it was crazy. My kids thought it was awesome. So this is an example. So if you think that's cool, that's something you could get into. You could start volunteering your little butterfly sanctuary and get into volunteering and meeting people that way.

Yeah, I think like meeting people through an activity can be good because it's sort of, you know, filters for people that have something in common with you. You know, I actually have known plenty of people. This has happened to my sister too, who are parents who make friends with people through their kids and because you do wind up in these social situations. And then at some point have the realization of like, wait a minute,

Do I like these people? Do we have something in common or have we just been thrown in together because our kids are friends? Because you're not, you know, it's that's definitely a distinct way to meet people. And I've definitely found that it can be good, you know, to filter for a shared activity. We made some really good friends of ours in Portland because our dogs have the same name.

Our dogs are both named Opa and it's a reference to the same TV show and someone at the pet store, I think like met them and heard about and like they learned their dog's name and they're like, oh, there's another couple that I know who also named their dog Opa.

and wound up like connecting us. And we just sort of met up with them to get a drink or something. And they're really nice. And then as it turns out, if you name your dog for the same silly animated kids show, you're probably going to have other things in common as well. And so we are now friends with them. They're really great.

Um, I think my advice is rather than give more practical advice. I think that's good advice, you know, have something in common, whether it's kids or a hobby or game night or whatever, a club that you're all a part of or volunteering. I think that my advice would be a little broader, which is

You have to kind of try and you have to be open to the idea of actually having a friend and the idea that the person that you might want to be friends with also wants to be friends with you. And I think a lot of people run into sort of assuming that no one wants to hang out with them, where you kind of like start talking to someone who like, I don't know, maybe you met through a work thing or you

I had something in common, like, you're both at a cafe a lot at the same time, and you end up talking a little bit. And then you're like, ah, well, they probably wouldn't really want to be my friend. So you don't want to feel overly forward, you know, saying like, hey, you want to get a cup of coffee sometime? Like, maybe we could just hang out.

And a lot of times, even if you try that, like you offer to get coffee with someone and they're like, yeah, we totally should. And then it kind of keeps not happening, like keeps not working out. It's easy, I think, to then tell yourself like, okay, well, this is a soft no, like they don't really want to be friends. And that may be the case and you should like pay attention for that. But generally like it just is sort of hard for adults to make the time to actually connect and like build a friendship. Like it's just way harder in your 30s and your 40s.

than it is when you were in school or like when you were a kid. And so I think like give it time and like allow for the possibility that yes this person does want to be your friend rather than just like giving up immediately or not even trying which I think is something that stops a lot of people before they start.

Yeah, and be willing to be the first one. It's funny. I used to, like, I think a lot of people think this way that, like, you don't want to be always the one reaching out first and making plans with someone. You want to wait for them to see, like, make sure they're interested to make sure, like you said, they want to be your friend too.

but i think just kind of putting that inhibition aside and just being like no screw it i'm just going to reach out first to every person i meet otherwise it won't happen i think that can be a healthy way to look at things another piece of advice i'll give i could give a bunch of these i mean other than like join clubs and have hobbies like we've all said i mean i don't know watch football with people play poker with people whatever else you want to do play sports with people

Another piece of advice I'll give is reconnect with people that you use to like and might live near you. I've had some good experiences that way. Just like reaching out to someone on Facebook or texting them or something and be like, hey, it's been a long time. I saw you live like 15 minutes away from me now. You want to grab a coffee and catch up. That can be a good way to do it. And then you can see if you still like them.

Sometimes you'll do that and you'll wind up marrying that person. Well, that could be an added bonus. Unless you're already married. If you're already married, then hopefully you'll make your life kind of stressful. Next question, Maddie, you want to read this one?

Sure, this is from Ellie who writes, love the show, et cetera, et cetera. Great way to start. Perfect, Ellie. et cetera, et cetera. We'll assume that those et cetera's mean. And Kirk is always right about everything I agree with you. This is usually what et cetera means. My advice question. A close friend of mine, my main gaming buddy recently became a father. Since then, I've barely heard from him. I'm not surprised, of course. I've heard babies demand attention, but I miss my friend. So I guess this is a two-part question.

How can I best support my friend without adding to his pressures and how can we game together in a way that works with his new life?

Turns out having kids can both gain you friends and also lose you friends. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's true. That's a real thing. So Jason, do you feel like it's nice when people reach out to you and try to game with you? Like, is this something that works for you? Does it stress you out? Like, especially because you kind of went from being like the fatherless game, childless gamer, not a fatherless gamer, childless gamer to child having gamer who's still sometimes games with friends.

Yeah, very rarely. I think that gaming, multiplayer gaming, I think is not something that is really amenable with that thing. Two small children. Unless you only do it at night after they're asleep, in which case you're sacrificing your time with your significant other. So that can be really tough. I think that that is something I would never, I used to play a ton of Destiny.

And like our raid scheduling, I never, I always would have struggled with that post having a kid. Like I essentially stopped playing Destiny when I had a kid. So that's tough. I mean, you might just want to wait a little while until they get settled into their routine. Cause also the other part of this is that like having being through the first six months to 12 months of having a kid is very different than once you get into a rhythm and they start getting older and sleeping through the night.

you have your routines and patterns, then it can be a little bit easier to be like, oh, well, my wife is going to her bridge club meeting tonight, so I could play games with my friends tonight, as opposed to you all hands on deck, because the baby needs to be fed every two hours, so we need to do this. To answer all these questions, I think that as the baby gets older, I think your friend might have more time to play games with you. It's just that right now, literally,

You have to be up randomly throughout the night. You have to be on call all the time. And things do change. Things do get better. So like your friend who you game with might actually just come back to reality in six months or a year or so. You might just have to give them a little bit of time.

That's a good piece of advice in and of itself. I also think, Ellie, you can just ask your friend exactly what you asked us and the way that I asked Jason too, which is just what do you need in this time? And also just saying to someone, hey, I miss you and I know you're going through it, but for what it's worth, I miss you and I'm excited for a time when we can spend time together again. It's like a nice thing to hear from a friend, even in a non-median, weird way.

I'm sure you can square that circle, Elle. Yeah, sure. Agreed. Yeah, I agree with all of that. And having had friends, I've basically been in Elle's position where I've had friends who have had kids and have sort of faded for a while and then come back. And once you do start being able to do things together, assuming that right when Elle says recently that their friend recently became a father, you're probably referring to in the next

a few months ago, which then very much what Jason said. Those first few months or that first year is pretty different. But once things maybe do settle down and you can start finding time, it's also just helpful to have a little bit more structure, at least the dads that I play games with and have game night with and play video games with. It's definitely helpful for them to schedule a lot more. It's less easy, I think, to be like, all right, let's just hop on and play. Sometimes that works, but usually it's like, OK, it's Monday night and Monday night is game night.

and then maybe their spouse and then can work out a way to always have that time be available to them. And that kind of thing is helpful to you. So being open to a little more structure can definitely be a good thing. Yeah, I think that's even good advice for making friends as an adult. I have sung the praises of my scheduled gamer night many times on this show and it's because as an adult, things come up and you're gonna forget to stay in contact with your friends if you don't make a date of it.

and just have a night where you're like, I'm going to spend time with my friends tonight. And I think that works whether your friends are child free or not. It's just a, you got to make time. You got to actually make the time. Those relationships aren't maintained. It's the same as any other kind of relationship. Social structure. Why? It just becomes more important as you get older. Yeah, I think it really does. Kirk, you want to read this next one?

Yes, this next question comes from Madison who writes, hi, triple click. I have a question that may be suited for a burning advice episode. Sure is. Well, here you are, Madison. Sure is. Madison writes, I've been at my job just over two years and I have run into a lot of issues with my boss.

However, I also have some wonderful co-workers who have become great friends. I'm a young woman in a male-dominated field and anytime a new opportunity comes up, I find myself hesitating to apply out of a fear that I will not find the same supportive and like-minded co-workers at a new job. As three people who have gone through various changes over the course of your careers, how do you overcome the fear of the unknown to pursue new opportunities?

Do you have any decision-making strategies such as making a pro or con list? Thanks for everything you do. I'm a big fan of the show. This is a good one. That's interesting. I feel like we need to give Madison a real pep talk here.

I read this and i was like madison please apply to these other opportunities i mean having a boss that you aren't getting on with. That's probably not going to change to be honest i mean that's like the number one reason why people leave jobs and you can maintain those great co-worker friendships after you leave in fact it's.

Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast. Start a podcast.

Yeah, I got it. But regardless, I really feel like I've had such wonderful experiences working at lots of different publications, and I don't know what Madison's job is, so I can't speak to that. But I do work in a male-dominated sector of journalism.

First of all, you can generally find out what the politics are of a workplace, even if it's not a journalistic outlet that has a front-facing presence. You can just kind of talk to other people who work there and be like, what is it like there? Am I going to get along with people there? That's a great way to find out if you would or wouldn't like a place to work. Just full stop. But also,

you probably will find other supportive and like-minded people at all these other places that you're thinking about, and you might even find other amazing people that you never would have met otherwise, and maybe even a boss who you really get along with. And so it's, I guess, because I'm not a fear of the unknown person, I'm having trouble with this pep talk, I'm just like, but what about the exciting aspects of the unknown? What about all of the wonderful things that you

can't imagine how great they could be because you haven't tried them yet. I'm very I'm clearly this person. I'm just like, but what about how great that job could be that you you haven't tried yet because you're hesitating just like picture that side of it as opposed to the negatives. But I've never tried a pros and cons list. I don't think in my life. I have either of you ever actually done it. And has it worked for you as a way to kind of talk yourself into a tough decision?

Yeah, so I have and have both. I guess the main time I did it was when I almost got, I got a job offer while I was at Kotaku. Right, yes. That was a really good job offer and then wound up really considering it. And I wound up actually not taking it, partly because Kotaku countered. It was in the midst of turmoil and I think the Univision acquisitions that are really trying to retain talent. And it wound up being like, oh, OK, cool. I sort of renegotiated my position.

But I definitely took very seriously the opportunity. And I think that's my first advice to Madison is definitely apply for other jobs. And yeah, everything Maddie just said is true. Like if you don't like your boss and like are thinking about leaving, yeah, then just do it. Especially if you've like made friends with your coworkers, you can still stay friends after you've left. Like that can be a

A great way to have a lifelong friend is like, we work together at this one job and, you know, five jobs later, we're still friends. Like that's, that happens all the time. Like you won't lose them. And even if you do go to a new job where you don't like make best friends with your coworkers, that's okay too. Like not every job has to be like that. It can just be a kind of okay job. So yeah, definitely apply because

Applying for other jobs is just like a good way to even just grow at the job that you're currently doing. Having an outside offer, you won't really know until someone makes you an offer what you're worth, what is even out there, whether it's possible for you to apply to another job. Remember, this is just applying, which is the word Madison used. This isn't leaving necessarily, you're just applying for other jobs and you can get an offer and then

kind of make the pro con list and think it through and then decide that you don't actually want to take it. And that alone can be really empowering to like have gotten a sense of what's out there and then made the decision that no, actually, you know, there are some problems with my job. I don't love my boss, but I do really like working here in this position is really good. The last piece of advice that I'll give for this kind of thing is that I think it's

It's really good to take the opportunity to ask other people for advice, and in particular, people that you're kind of are acquainted with, but maybe you look up to them or they're like a role model in your field. There's someone you've maybe met once at a conference that you'd love to connect with a little bit more. This kind of situation where you're like,

I don't know what should I leave? Should I go? I have this possibility. That's actually a really great time to reach out to someone that you see as a kind of a mentor and ask for their advice because you'd actually be surprised how often people are really happy to hear from people like that. Like sometimes I'll hear from people who are just like, Hey, you know, I kind of know them. I've met them a couple of times and they're and they're thinking about launching a podcast, for example, or like going into business for themselves and they're like, Hey, you know, I just wanted to pick your brain a little bit.

And I really like that. I kind of value the opportunity to just talk to someone for 30 minutes and tell them the ins and outs and have a kind of off the record chat. And so that's kind of my last thought to Madison is this can be a great way to connect with new people and to get new really valuable insights from people that you might not know all that well. And it all starts with applying. It all starts with having the choice that you have to make. And then you get to get into the fun part, which is figuring out what decision you want to make.

One thing I'll add to all of that excellent advice and thoughts is that when I left Kuchaku, I knew that, I mean, for reasons we've discussed in the past, leaving Kuchaku is not a difficult choice. I knew that it was doomed and that we were all going to be out of there.

I was choosing between two job offers for my next thing. One of them was a gaming site where the work would be very similar to Kotaku in a lot of ways, and the other one was Bloomberg. Ultimately, I was going back and forth. I wasn't sure. I was talking over with people. Ultimately, I landed on Bloomberg for the fundamental reason that it was going to be so different that I would inevitably have to learn new things and just imagine

imagining myself a few years from then, I was like, wow, okay, I feel like this one opportunity here would be kind of more of the same. I'm exercising the same muscles versus flexing new muscles and developing new muscles and stuff like that. And that to me was kind of a good way to go. And I'm very glad I did that because just doing more of the same, I don't think would have been as interesting to me.

to continue my career that way. So I think that as scary as change can be, and as hard as it is to go out of your comfort zone, professionally, it can be really worth it. And you'll just learn the things that you never thought you would learn before and work with people that you never thought you would work with before and stuff like that. So a worthwhile thing to do, I think, to jump off the cliff every once in a while. Yeah, for sure. Definitely.

Although I can't speak to, I mean, Maddie, do you want to chime in real quick on the woman in a male-dominated field thing? Because that seems like an important part of this, which we haven't addressed, which is that Madison, it sounds like, feels like she might not have the same support that she does at his current gig.

I mean, this is part of why I sort of alluded to it, but I'll spell it out more clearly. Like when I say like, find out what the culture is like at another place, I think for this is really important, but also it's a situation where people will speak in coded language that you Madison will understand.

Like when you ask people like, what is it really like there? You're going to be able to figure out what they mean, especially in this kind of situation. And also if they don't know what you're talking about, because you are only speaking to men, then that will also tell you something.

And so I feel like this is one of those social situations where also like Kirk's advice about approaching a mentor could be really helpful too, because that person might have a lot of connections in your field and might be like, oh, you never want to work there. That place is terrible in the Total Boys Club, but these other places that you might not think of are actually really cool. So that's another opportunity to just kind of do some networking. And again, like Kirk said before, you can keep all your friends from this job.

like we keep emphasizing that, but like those people aren't going to go anywhere. They're still going to be around. And if you work in a kind of small industry, like we do, you might end up working with them again someday. And hey, that's a perk. When it'd be nice if you went to another job and you were like, Hey, this is actually a really great place to work. And boss is way better over here than you can tell other people that information too. And that might be just a nice thing that you Madison can do for your great coworkers that you like so much.

So there's a lot of potential benefits on that specific score that I'm kind of seeing here for you. And just as somebody who's like worked at a variety of publications with all different kinds of bosses in this arena, it's part of why I'm so emphasizing like, man, isn't it actually could be way better. And you just don't know. You could have a boss who's actually really supportive of you and makes you feel great. And I want that for you.

Yeah. Next question is from Nathan. Nathan says, you all seem to be such wonderful conversationalists. I just love listening to you talk. It's all editing, Nathan. It's all because it's all in post.

I wondered if you had any advice or techniques on how to improve at the art of conversation. I'm pretty socially awkward and I don't often know what questions to ask people or how to respond to their questions in a way they'll find interesting. Any wisdom you can share would be super appreciated.

Yeah. Oh, I think we can, I think we can offer some advice for this. So let's think, how to be a good conversationalist. First of all, I think we've given this advice before, but ask people questions and ask people about themselves. I think like thinking of conversations too much as like, I need to have something to contribute. I need a good joke. I need good stories. I need an interesting job. I can tell people about is like putting a lot on yourself, but really a big part of being a good conversationalist is asking people

you know, just how they're doing and then just listening. And then the key is to ask follow up questions, which these are like journalistic skills. I think that's actually the context in which this has come up before that I am a terrible interviewer because I really like to talk. And so I know I've told this before, but I'll just tell it again, where I'll be transcribing, you know, an interview that I'm doing. And my interview subject will be saying something really interesting. And then I'll like interject and add my own

fucking inane observation about what they just said. And when I'm transcribing, I'm like, shut up. Like, what this interesting person taught God. So I'm always working on this. And I'm sure being a podcast host doesn't always help because

You do a fair amount of listening, but also talking. But in conversation, it is very important to listen. And then I think most people don't get follow up questions. It's like not something that I find, I notice it when I'm talking to someone. Like if they ask me a question, it's very rare that I'll give them an answer and then they'll say, oh, so, you know, this and kind of elaborate, like ask me to elaborate on something that I said, but really like,

That's a really important thing for conversations, not just for making people comfortable, but for actually getting to the interesting part of whatever they were going to say. Like, if you ask someone how their job went and they're like, well, it's going, okay, I'm this and this and this. And you realize like, oh, okay, there's a part of that that seems interesting that I don't know that much about. And you ask about it. Like,

They'll really value that because people like to talk about what they do because it's kind of fun and because it's so unusual to get asked about it. And then also, you'll find yourself kind of being able to relax. Nathan mentions being a little socially awkward. Once you get another person talking, it's actually a little easier to just

kind of listen to them and like just go off whatever they're saying and then eventually maybe you will think of something that you know you have to contribute to that or you know to talk about and you'll kind of like relax into a conversation that way. So that's one starter tip I guess. Yeah and the other thing is that like if you're not just talking about each other and you're talking about other things try to find a commonality there and you can ask a bunch of different kinds of questions about like

what they like, what they're into, what they do for fun. I mean, here in suburbia with children, with parents of children, we have a lot of just kind of easy go-to small talk conversation points. Oh, where's your kid in school? Oh, where did you live before you moved to the suburbs? Oh, I lived in Yorkville too. Oh, you lived on 84th and 1st. Oh, me too. So you can wind up finding points of commonality and working that way or, oh,

Oh, hey, like you're wearing a Jets hat. Oh, are you a fan of the Jets? Oh, they just fire their general manager. Oh my God, same old Jets, terrible team. Once again, can't believe we're going through this. Can't believe we do this to ourselves. So I think the podcast is just Jason listing off some. I'll talk about the Jets for the next like three hours. I mean, look, this is my life. And then you get into like trades that jets could be making.

I can't believe we relied on Aaron Rodgers. He's y'all washed. What a moron. And you're off to the races. And then that's just it's a great party. Then you're off to the races. Unlike the Jets running back and you're standing alone in the in the kitchen monologue and get everyone's left and you didn't even realize because you're having so much fun.

I assume I mean sometimes every once in a while I find someone who's into games and then we can just talk for hours about games and I'll tell them what I do and they'll be like what's you do that for a living and I'll be like yeah it's pretty weird but anyway like I

I think that like yes, you can the go to the easy go to and what you should do first is like ask someone about themselves and try to get them talking about themselves But like at some point you want to find common ground and then you can start getting into it Another thing that I would recommend this is easier said than done is to

is to value brevity, just like you would in writing an email to triple click, which is just keep your try to keep things short, try not to ramble too much, especially look at their face for cues. If they feel like if you feel like their attention is wandering a little bit, you might have lost them.

And you can kind of freak yourself out a little bit that way, so try to be careful about this. But still, if you notice that they're kind of looking for other people, maybe try to keep your sentences shorter, maybe try to then switch to a question like right then and there and try to get them talking rather than just talking at them. Because talking at people, that's really the number one way people kind of lose each other in conversations is when one is talking at the other.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, I feel like that was, it's so obvious. It just asked people questions, but I felt like this was such a life hack when I was in college and I felt really awkward at parties and was like, I don't know how to talk to people. And then I was also reading all these journalism books at the time and that just

I ended up figuring out socially like, oh, these are just all the right ways to get people to talk to you. And now I can just use this as a party. So now my wife makes fun of me when I do it. And she's like, don't let her reporter brain take over because people will just start sharing like increasingly personal piece of information with me and like a public setting. Because the other hack for this is that if you just ask people questions,

they'll be very excited to answer most of the time. So you can get people that you don't know at all to tell you far more information than maybe they even realize. So it can also be kind of dangerous where you're like, well, I'm in a personal conversation about this person's mother-in-law or whatever problems they're having at home and like, how do we get here? But it is a true life hack where it's like, if you just keep asking somebody questions,

They will love it. They will be so excited. Gray for dates too. It's like my number one, like dating advice thing is like, just ask the other person questions. They're going to be so excited. And it's kind of like, and the two things, like what you were saying, Jason, and then what Maddie and I are saying about questions, like those they synergize because if you get someone talking pretty soon, you will probably say something. We were like, oh, cool. Like you're into this or into that. Oh, you're doing a renovation. Oh, I just did a renovation. Like let's talk about rebar and like whatever phase you are into life.

You might find something to talk about. Oh, you have a shoulder problem, so do I. It depends. These are all middle-aged guy things. Late 30-something issues that might be coming up. Let's talk about our kids and our houses and our aches and pains. And our dogs, I suppose. So when was your last colonoscopy? Oh, man, I'm going to do one next year. I hear it's crazy.

Uh, one other thing I'll mention about being a good conversationalist, and this is a little bit more of an advanced tip, but it's something that I tried to do when I met parties, which is often you're not in a one on one conversation. You'll be talking to someone, getting them going, you'll kind of be talking and someone else will come up or maybe their spouse will be there and you're talking to them and like finding a way to fold other people into a conversation.

can feel a little more difficult. Obviously you're just trying to get comfortable, but it can be a really good feeling and can lead to a more relaxed environment. If you're able to see someone is there and like they haven't said anything to just like really like directly be like, Hey, you know, Mary hasn't said anything, but I'm curious if you, you know, have any experience with this, like just like throw it to someone who's standing there. And like often they'll be like, Oh, no, I don't know. But then even letting them in in that way can open up the conversation.

But then it'll turn out that they do have something to say. Yeah. And it's not so true. And that can be really true. Also an excellent way to remember someone's name, if you forgot it, is to be like, oh, have you met so and so? Oh, yes. Very helpful. A very helpful trick. I wish I was better at names, man. I'm so bad at them. Emily is amazing at it. I'm amazing at it. She does all the tricks, the name, memory, and memorization tricks.

Yeah, just say their name after you meet them and just be like, oh, hey, great to meet you, Dave. And yeah, I work on it. I'm good at it. It's a useless skill. But that is a very helpful thing to have on call when you're in that kind of a setting to just be like, yeah, for sure. Your name.

Something I really want to try that I've seen at least one person do is just carry around a notebook and write down things that someone told you. And just so you remember to see how this notebook full of information about people so you remember it because it's very easy to forget. And talk about reporter brain. So this will be something

Don't you think that once we're all wearing our AI-powered AR glasses, that they'll just summarize every single conversation you've had at the party afterward? It'll come up. It'll be like, this is Mary. She did a renovation, and you talked with her about it six months.

Yeah, but that'll be miserable because like, okay, but right now it's like super impressive if someone remembers some obscure thing, you told them about your job like 10 weeks ago, but like with the AI headset, it won't be as impressive anymore. So then it will just be useless. Yeah, I feel like a lot of things that previously seemed impressive will just be run of the mill because AI makes it so easy. That's where we're going. All right, Maddie, take the sex question, please.

Alright, this one's from Valerie who writes, I am a woman who's often the only one in a voice channel full of dudes. I'm also bad at the games we play together as friends. Like, final fantasy, 14 reigns, deep rock galactic, and any battle royales. I love and trust my friends, and yet I feel like I'm single-handedly setting gamer girls back by years with every loss. Matty, have you ever felt this way? If so, how do you handle this?

I'll say right off the bat, yes I have, and then I'll get to her next question, which is Kirk and Jason. Do you think this is actually a gender thing, or are you also afraid of being judged by your gamer friends? Who again, I usually trust. So again, Valerie, I definitely feel this pressure, and I actually feel it regardless of who I'm playing with, even if it's all women, I'll still be like,

I am the worst out of everyone on the call right now and I'm really feeling it. Sometimes I'll tell jokes about it or I'll just be really upfront and I'll keep it to the point and just be like, look, I don't think I'm very good at this, but I'm having a great time just so everybody knows.

you know, if you want advice, Valerie, you can say that you'd like it. And if you don't want it, then you can also be like, don't tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm well aware. Like, I feel like that's the other piece of the social situation that's like, I either do or don't want advice, but.

Also, if they like you, then that's really why you're all playing together. And so you shouldn't really worry so much. But Kirk and Jason, I assume everyone goes through this from time to time in life where you're like, I'm the worst one here. Is everyone noticing this? Is everyone noticing that I'm bad? Sure. Yeah, I don't.

I cannot relate to the feeling of single-handedly feeling related to your gender as you play, and that sucks to have to deal with on top of the pressure. Because you're like, oh god, now they're not going to play with a girl again. Yeah, that kind of sucks. Yeah, I don't.

Man, it's tough because some of these games, like there's some games you can play together and they're very low stress, like low pressure because it doesn't matter how good someone is. And then there are other games where it does and you really are kind of hurting the group when you're sucking at it, like raids or like competitive shooter games, battle royals, et cetera, et cetera. I guess my advice is if you really feel like so conscious about this would be to suggest playing like more casual games.

If you're all playing Mario Party together, it doesn't really matter if someone sucks. Or other games that are either lower skill thresholds, or skill doesn't matter quite as much for whatever. The stakes aren't quite as high. Even something like Splatoon or Mario Kart type game, those games feel like even though they can be competitive,

The stress and the pressure is so much lower, I feel like. But yeah, it's tough because it's like, I've also been in this situation where there is someone who's really holding back the raid and it really sucks. And you're just kind of leaving like, man, I don't want to play with that person again, because they really held us back here. So I do think that it's like, and I don't want to say this to make Valerie be like, oh my God, I never want to play these games again, but it is a real thing.

I'm guessing they don't feel that way. Yeah, but it is a real thing. I mean, since she's like, we're still playing together, I'm guessing they don't feel that way about her. But yeah, I think they're like, okay, yeah, I think that's a really good point. I think if you're like really sending everybody back and they're actually upset about it, like I think you might find your invites kind of drying up. Yeah, like I think you find that they are playing without you. So like if they are continuing to play with you, then like chances are you're fine or like they don't care. Like so.

Don't worry too much if you're still regularly getting together with them. And if it does, if it comes up, or if you really continue to feel that stress, then maybe just suggest like other kinds of games.

Yeah, other kinds of games or other kinds of activities. Valerie mentions Deep Rock Galactic, which is kind of similar to Hell Divers too. And in Hell Divers at least, like I'm not great at that game and definitely my skill was eclipsed by the guys that I was playing with. They were just like way higher level and had been playing a whole ton more and like knew exactly what to do. And they liked playing on really high difficulties. And I did find it was kind of more fun for me to just go at a lower difficulty and play in a kind of more casual way.

like trying 100% the map rather than being like let's put it on the hardest difficulty so we get the most XP and then that just made it easier for me so it could be that like I didn't suggest that at the time I just kind of found that was more fun but I think Valerie maybe you could suggest like if you're playing Deep Rock be like hey you know could we like play on this setting or like play this game mode like something that's a little bit less intense than the hardest most intense one which same for a game like Destiny or FF14 we're like

There is a raid, which is then very demanding and complicated, but you could also just do stuff that's a little bit more low key if you have more fun doing it. And I think you're totally in your rights, especially if you love and trust your friends. Like you say to just say that, like, be like, you know, I feel like I'm letting you guys down. So can we not do this hardest thing? Like let's do something a little bit more low key. Yeah. And also might be in your head. I mean, you're not actually talking to them about it and it'd be like, like, do you guys feel like

Yeah, that's true. And they could just be like, right, we totally don't care. It's fine. Yeah. And if you're succeeding and stuff, like if you're finishing these final fantasy 14 rates, then it's definitely fine. Like it's only, I think what I was talking about earlier was more to the point of like, we are not actually getting this done. We've spent five hours.

Even that is like that can not only that is only happened to me in my life with like destiny raids and even then like usually because we were trying to do unblindly and that was a very specific threshold. I don't I can't find anything for team, but I'm sure they're hard too.

Yeah, but even then like when when people knew the mechanics, it was much much easier and even the low skill players could just kind of get through them pretty easily. Yeah, I definitely got carried through some of those raids once I just hadn't taken the time to learn the mechanics and would be playing with guys who did it like every week multiple times. They would be like, just stand here. Exactly. Shoot whatever you can. You're fine, man. And most of those raids are designed so that maybe everybody has to do something, but it's not like everyone has to be like super pro gamer, like elite mode. Like you can kind of

have a couple people getting carried. And sometimes there's like different roles. Like when I was in a Destiny raid group, I would be like, okay, I've like tried this role in this raid and I'm just really bad at it. But I think I'd be good at that other one. Like I see this other role here that actually I think I'd be pretty good at. So what if we swap and then I think the raid's going to go better. But if I took the standing in the corner and not doing very much role and you did the thing where you have to run through a cold gauntlet of energy.

Yeah, that's exactly what happened and Kirk is presenting it exactly how it went. And it turned out it went way better and we won the raid because of that. I've done that many times myself. All right, let's do one final question real quick. Kirk, if you want to read this.

This comes from Colleen, who writes, I was listening to the Triple Cook episode, and Maddie talked about how she has been making her waffle recipe with her family since she was little. I also like to bake when I was little, and my mom says, it's how I learned fraction. Now I'm a mom of two kids, age three and four. Both my husband and I are cooks. Any advice on how to get the kids interested in cooking or baking? They sometimes help, but they lose interest quickly. It's not surprising, given their ages.

Maddy, how did your family include you and at what age? Jason, any tips that worked in your house? Kirk, when did you get into cooking? My only strategy at this point is to let them help when they want, for as long as they want, and prepare for a mess. So, Maddy, maybe you first, since your waffles started this whole thing. Sure.

So I don't remember, so that means probably at age three or four, because it's so far back that I don't remember when my parents first started letting me cook. But we definitely made a lot of waffles and pancakes, and that's like a pretty child safe despite there being fire involved. But if a parent is there helping, especially pancakes, like the kid getting to pour the pancake and then kind of watching for the bubbles, that was big. And then my dad would be like, oh, when is the time to flip it? And then if you burn a pancake,

It's no big deal. Like that's definitely something where you can kind of try it and also you can flip the pancake and correctly and that's funny and fun classic kid activity. Also, I remember my parents got me a little tiny apron really early on in life and it was like a nice like professional looking apron that was just like my mom's and that made me feel really important and like I was like

of everything and you know there's always an extra rolling pin like there's like ways to kind of make your kid feel included and I don't know how early this started but my mom always genuinely made it seem like I was truly helping her even in situations where I'm sure I wasn't she would feel like oh you know thanks so much for like doing this additional thing or like kind of putting me in charge of a task that didn't really matter that much and then I always felt like I had true ownership of what was happening and then

It just became second nature over time. And I was like making my own pancakes and waffles as I was getting older and then my parents didn't have to help with anything anymore. And I was making other stuff by that point, but those are like really easy things for kids to make. Jason. Jason, you've got kids. Go ahead. Yeah, I have some tips. So first of all, definitely just like let them do if they show interest, let them do it and let them kind of grow a board and do something else. Three and four are super young, but my five year old. So a couple of things that have worked for us.

One is, um, planning things in advance and talking about them often and early. So like for example, I've been talking to my daughter for like at least a week now about Thanksgiving and she's getting very excited to help me cook on Thanksgiving just because I keep talking about it and I keep saying like, Oh, what are you excited to make? Oh, do you want to work on the pie with me? Oh, are you excited to cut the turkey? Et cetera, et cetera.

And then two is to come up with clever activities. So something that she got really, really into is we got this bluey cookbook at the library that has all these recipes. And she had this idea. She was like, I want to do a restaurant where we pretend that we're a restaurant and her brother and her mother would just be the guest. And so they would go out somewhere for a couple hours and she and I would cook. And then they would come back and we would serve them a meal. And she was talking about that for months. She was so excited about it.

And she got really into it and it was more difficult to cook with a five year old who you have to kind of assign activities to and like keep an eye on. But I picked pretty simple recipes and we got a couple of them from that bluey cookbook. And so it worked out pretty well. And we had a plan in place. And so she got really, really into that. That's so cute.

But yes, I mean, Colleen's strategy of letting them help when they want for as long as they want to prepare for a mess that is all 100% true. And I just think if you want to keep them on board, you can kind of go about it, but with some planning and talking about it and getting them really excited for it, especially the four-year-old. Three might be a little too young still, but the four-year-old, you can be like, plan on a menu with them and make it a whole special occasion and be like, this is what we're going to do on Saturday. And there are a lot of kind of fun ways you can play around with that.

strategy. Yeah my younger niece is really into baking like she's a good baker and has really gotten into it she's 11 now and just over the last couple of years so she'll like make just go make a chocolate cake like she's like you know she'll have to get permission because I think she would just eat the whole chocolate cake but she'll just go bake stuff like a dog.

She is capable of doing it. She would probably give the dog some chocolate cake. But I think the only thing I would add that I think that my nieces have enjoyed is they will watch like MasterChef Junior and the Great British Bake Off. They watch those kinds of

Fun cooking baking shows together and especially the ones that feature kids Yeah, I think are a big hit with them with the whole family and with the kids in particular and like watching kids Make often amazing things like on MasterChef Junior. Yeah, that shows is like a really I think a really cool way for the kids to connect to be like Oh, like I could just go do that in our kitchen So that seems like maybe something you might want to try. Yeah, that's that's a great recommendation Did it

God, have you guys, have we talked about the show Kid Nation? That's it. You should have. Oh, yes. We have many times. If they really want to get inspired. We really have to do a like bonus episode about it at some point because it comes up so often. Man, one day. All right, let's take a break. Thank you to everybody who sent in advice questions. Maybe we'll do another one of these someday. So just a reminder, you can always reach us at triple, like at maximumfun.org. In the meantime, let's take a break and then we'll be back for one more thing.

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I could never love you. You. You. Borrowed a book for me and never returned it. Save yourself from this terrible fate by listening to Reading Glasses. We'll help you get those borrowed books back and solve all your other reader problems. Reading Glasses, every Thursday on Maximum Fun. And we are back. It's time for Unos-mas-things. Um, Kirk, why didn't you start us off?

All right, I'll start us off. This is a game I am playing at the advice of friend of the show, Russ Frustick, who I think will probably be talking about it on the besties this week too. So this is going to be a week for people who listen to both of our podcasts to hear about this game. But it's really good. And I do really endorse it. I've loved it so far. It's a game called Echo Point Nova. This is out on Steam. It's a PC game. And it is the subgenre of first person shooters that is known as a movement shooter.

So it's a first person shooter where the whole appeal of the game is how you move through it. I am pretty sure there's a demo for this game. And so you can just go try it out if you want to. So this is a game where you're like a kind of anonymous like mercenary or something in this kind of beautiful looking world of floating islands.

And it's an open-world game, actually. It's a whole big floating archipelago with a ton of islands that a lot of them have different biomes. There's all kinds of secrets and surprises hidden among the islands. But you start out and you're like, OK, it looks a little like it's very simple, like geometry, very clean. There's kind of like drum and bass, like this really nice ambient drum and bass playing. And it just has a kind of like

chill wave kind of a feel. And you're moving around and you get a gun and you're shooting it, and then you get a hoverboard. That's like the first major upgrade that you get. And in this game, instead of running when you hit shift or I guess click the stick or whatever, when you press the run button,

You just hop on your hoverboard immediately and you begin moving at like 5,000 miles an hour. So you're already really fast. Like you move like Doomguy when you're just running and then you pop out the hoverboard and suddenly you're just flying through the air. You have a double jump, you have a grappling hook that you get really early and like the speed and flexibility with which you move is totally wild.

So I've been playing with the mouse and keyboard. It's really good for that. But I was actually playing multiplayer with Russ a little earlier today. He plays on Steam Deck and says it's great on Steam Deck and that there's like a lock on with aiming that makes it totally work with a controller. Because you're doing a lot of like aerial acrobatics while like shooting guys. And so apparently the controller controls are really good as well. So there's almost no story. They're really just kind of isn't a story. Like you'll see these little

dialogue bubbles pop up at various points from like different people that i guess are supposed to be talking to you on your radio but really you're just exploring the world and doing whatever objective is in the corner and i would kind of compare this game to Titanfall 2 it has that same kind of a feeling you'll get to a new area and it's usually some kind of cool complex like

jungle gym, you know, with a bunch of obstacles and walls and barriers and stuff. And then you press a button and you start an encounter and like a bunch of dudes show up. And they're like, guys, all different kinds of dudes. So like armored guys and people in mechs later, like big robots, some of them, there's like huge enemies that show up sometimes. Guys with shields, like little fast moving guys. And they're all just kind of attacking you. And you just have to kill a certain number of them.

to clear the area. But the arena is like this huge open space. You move so fast through it. So it's also kind of like Tony Hawk Pro Skater. It's like first person Tony Hawk meets Titanfall. It's the most fun movement and these encounters like these fights are so thrilling and great. I like watched the trailer and was a little skeptical like I watched some gameplay on Steam. The key art on Steam I think is actually like

It looks really generic. The name Echo Point Nova, like it's all a little bit generic. But man, when I started playing it, it's got a killer vibe. The music is really cool. The energy is great. And just like the feel of playing it, like the movement, the speed is amazing. Like it's like really exhilarating. Like I'm really bold over by it. It's just absolutely fantastic. So anyone out there who likes these kinds of games, you know, I talked about I Am Your Beast a little while ago, you know, this whole lineage of these like fast moving

really intense and demanding shooters, but that also give you lots of tools to do cool shit. If you like that kind of game, you will almost definitely like this game, and it's certainly worth checking out the demo. It's made by a Greylock Studio, which I think it's headed by a guy named Matt Laraby.

who I think is like the designer and maybe like the primary developer. Their previous game was a game called Severed Steel that I think is also fairly beloved and somewhat and pretty similar to this. So I think it's like in more enclosed spaces and you're not flying around quite as much. But really, oh, there's a little crackdown. There's like little orbs that you have to get. So you're like climbing to hard to reach places. Man, it's so good. It's such a wonderful surprise. I really wasn't. I just had no idea it had come out. I hadn't really heard anything about it. And then yeah. Remind everyone the name.

It is called Echo Point Nova. It is on Steam and it is terrific. Cool. Real video game name there. Yeah. I mean, you have to remember that video game, like capital V, capital G. So it's a good one of those, though. Maddie, what's your one more thing?

My one more thing is Scream 2 and 3. We've had a couple movie nights in a row here watching Scream movies in our household, and we're just continuing along. There's so many of these. I don't know how many we're going to get through, but we had a really great time with 2 and 3. I had only ever since Scream 1.

And then I had my wife watch it for the first time and I had never seen two and three. So these were brand new to me. Had an amazing time, really liked both of them. They're really goofy. They're very silly and they're not serious films, but I enjoyed the heck out of both of them.

And I do recommend both of them. And to just say kind of like a couple quick things about them, if you've never seen Scream 1, still just like an unabashed recommendation as like a fun mystery, goes places you wouldn't expect. Good commentary on horror films. You can watch it and stop there, I would say. Two and three are much more commentary on Scream 1, and then also on movies as like a secondary.

layer on top of that and like within the world of scream starting with scream to there's a franchise called stab that all the characters are referring to like a movie series that's like based on the real life murders that took place in scream one sort of unrealistic that they would happen in the way that it does but this takes place in a surrealist world where

Things are wacky and that part I found very entertaining and I liked not knowing who the killers were and trying to guess and failing. And just one more thing I'll say about this, so Courtney Cox is in these movies. She plays Gale Weathers, real stereotypical female reporter who does whatever it takes to get her scoot wildly unethical character.

just absurd character. I feel like this character type, I love and hate it, whereas the hot female reporter who is just completely unethical in every particular way, and it's just like, why is this in every movie? I feel like now that I've pointed it out, people will know what I'm talking about. But anyway, I love and hate Gail Weathers, but I will also say

Courtney Cox apparently designed her hair pieces across each of these movies. And like, thank goodness, because I was like, I hope no costume designer made her wear any of the absurd wigs that this woman is wearing. Like, scream free. She has these baby bangs that are just like deeply upsetting. And I was like, did they make Courtney cut her hair that way? No, it is a hair piece. So I was really fascinated by that. And just like, Courtney Cox being like, no, I'm going to like design specific terrible hair.

for this character to have. And that really like, endeared me to her as like her performer and also kind of made me understand the character more as like just this. You love to hate her. It's Gale Weathers. So yeah, we're continuing the scream of verse and really digging it.

is three the one where they're making the movie and they're like a movie sets. Yes. And it's very fun. Is that the one where there's like where there's like a killer in the soundproof room? Yes. And like the person can hear that that rules. I love that. Yeah. It's great. And they're like beating on the glass. There's also that one where there's that long rack of the ghost face costumes and like somebody's hiding behind the huge rack of costumes. And of course, like one of them is the real ghost face and his like foot steps down from the rack. It's like perfectly framed.

Yeah, it's a great shot. There's just a lot of moments like that where you're like, this is great. Movies. You got to love movies. You have fun with those movies. Nice. All right. My one more thing is a video game called Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D remake. And this is a promise. I was promised last week. Finally. Not to be confused with Dragon Age, The Veil Guard. What do you think is the worst name? Dragon Age, The Veil Guard or Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D remake?

I don't know. They're both the full title hard to say. So Dragon Quest 3 came out in 1988 and it's gotten a few kind of remakes and remasters since then, but this is the most elaborate. So this takes a HD 2D in the title that refers to this graphical style that

Square Enix really kind of innovated with Octavirus Traveler, where you have kind of the pixelated 2D characters. They might not necessarily be 2D, but they have a 2D look. And they're standing on these three-dimensional backgrounds, which gives them this really interesting aesthetic effect. And it's gotten prettier and pretty over the years. Octavirus Traveler 2 especially is gorgeous. And this takes a look at the game.

Yeah, this game also looks incredible. And so it takes the original game and most of the gameplay and mechanics and world design is still intact. There are some changes, a lot of quality of life changes, like in the original NES game, you had pretty limited items and now you do not and stuff like that. But fundamentally, have either of you guys played the Dragon Quest game before?

Yeah, they're very much like the quintessential turn-based JRPG games. There are a lot about resource management. Some of them have pretty elaborate stories. This one doesn't really have a story. The characters are just kind of choose your own adventure, like create your own characters. They don't talk or have personalities or anything.

But it has a really interesting kind of resource management element to it where you really have to plot things out and figure out when you're going to use your character's spells to get through attention because resources are pretty limited as they get through each dungeon. It also has a pretty cool job system. And it has a lot going for it if you're into kind of turn-based systems, heavy JRPGs, which Mattie, this game would drive you crazy because it's like,

It's full of invisible random encounters everywhere. It's got everything that you would eat. It's got its own kind of rhythm. Although, Kirk, I mean, the more recent ones, Dragon Quest 11 hadn't encountered us on the map rather than invisible. That was at least more bearable to me.

This one is much more old school. But the one thing that I will say that I wanted to talk about specifically is that when you get, the game starts out pretty linear and you kind of do a bunch of quests and then at a certain point you get a ship. And then you are set into the open world and you can take your ship in any direction and go wherever you want.

And it's really, it was revolutionary at the time and still feels a little bit revolutionary because the game doesn't give you guidance. And so in this remake, they add quest markers, objective markers, and I would actually recommend turning them off because it's really fun at this point in the game. If you're into this game again, so you have to get into, you have to look past the invisible random encounters. But if you're into the game,

it's actually really fun to go around and sail around and find all these towns on your map and go into them and talk to all the NPCs there and sometimes they'll give you hints, some of which are very straightforward, some of which are obscure about what you should be doing and how you can go around and complete your objective, which is to get all these orbs that are hidden in various places. And it's actually really cool and you kind of view

You have to keep a mental checklist of where you're supposed to be and what items you need to get and it's got a little Metroidvania to it and that you have to get specific types of keys that unlock certain doors and only you can only make progression once you've gotten that key in here or this item that unlocks this thing.

It's pretty cool. It's a it's a cool system and it's a lot more fun with as I mentioned before the objective markers turned off because you actually have to listen to what the NPCs are telling you and follow their the directions or listen to the clues they're giving you and that part is really cool and

I think was revolutionary in 1988. I mean, no game had done anything like this. And this was the game. I think the first two Dragon Quest games were popular in Japan, but this one really took it, turned it into a cultural phenomenon. This is the game where hundreds of people were reportedly arrested in Japan for skipping school to go and play it.

to the point where in Japan, they had to issue like swearing and et cetera make a special arrangement to, or enix at the time, had to make a special arrangement to release games on Saturdays rather than Thursdays in the Dragon Quest series because Dragon Quest would just shut down all of Japan when it would come out.

Dragon Quest's popularity in Japan is crazy. It's unheard of. It's called a duty here or something like that. Probably even worse. But anyway, this game is really cool. It's a really well done remake. It's not going to convert any JRPG naysayers or people who don't like the encounter rate. It's pretty tough. It's one of those games you pretty much have to play it while you're watching TV or something like that.

Which is too bad because the music is cool, but there's sitting few of those invisible encounters can be rough unless you're really feeling the rhythm of it.

Are there any like console commands or fast forward or anything? So this is the thing that's too bad. You can set battle speed to like ultra fast, which makes it pretty speedy, but like you can't. So in like a bunch of other Square Enix JRPGs, I forgot which ones have this exact mechanic, but like in a bunch of them, you can turn off random encounters, a bunch of the kind of old school JRPG styles. And especially like the

the newer versions of some of the Final Fantasy games, you can turn off random encounters with like these built in cheat codes and stuff like that. And that is always a big advantage of those games and not being able to turn them off in this is a little bit unfortunate. Although we would also kind of defeat the purpose of the game if you could turn off random encounters because it's not like a story game. It's a game that is very much about battling and building up a group of characters and finding class permutations.

You can actually, there's this interesting job system where like each character has a job and then once they hit level 20, you can take him to this place and have them switch jobs, but they don't stay at level 20. They actually go all the way back to level one, but they keep all the spells they've learned and their stats are cut in half rather than starting from the beginning.

So you can then max the system to build really, really powerful characters by switching job classes, keeping their old spells, and then you build up a mage, level 20, and then you turn them into a warrior and suddenly you have this built up tank who can cast spells. So there's some cool systems in place, but it's very much a game for people who are into systems rather than into stories.

very much for a specific type of person. But if you're into Dragon Quest, this is a great remake. And just as a remake it performs well, it looks great. It's got all the trappings that you would want from a game like this.

Nice. All right. That is it for this week's episode. Hope everybody enjoyed our advice. But once again, we are not lawyers, so do not take any advice. We don't know anything at all. We don't know anything. Don't listen to us. You can join the advice of three idiots who play video games. Hopefully our advice is three idiots who play video games. We try.

The new name for our podcast. That's going to be the new podcast summary. Triple play. Three idiots who play video games. Yeah. All right. Kirk, come at me. See you both next week. Yeah. See you both next week. Bye.

TripleClick is produced by Jason Shrier, Maddy Myers, and me, Kirk Hamilton. I had it next to show and also wrote our theme music. Our show art is by Tom Geejay. Some of the games and products we talked about on this episode may have been sent to us for free for review consideration. You can find a link to our ethics policy in the show notes.

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