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Lucky Tower Ultimate · Awoken Game Club Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh,
0:03
SPEAKER_01: I lost my countdown.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: Did we start?
0:05
SPEAKER_02: We did.
0:06
SPEAKER_02: We're live.
0:07
SPEAKER_02: I switched tabs.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, what's up Patrick?
0:10
SPEAKER_01: What's going on?
0:12
SPEAKER_01: At what point did it hit you that Lucky Tower Ultimate was not a tower defense game?
0:19
SPEAKER_02: Uh, listen, we screen our games to the utmost, um, Scrutiny.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: And so we know everything about the game when we choose it or propose it.
0:29
SPEAKER_02: So I knew from the get go that this was definitely not a lucky game or a tower game
0:35
SPEAKER_01: or really the ultimate game maybe.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is definitely one of the titles of all time.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: Like I could not remember the title of this game for at least three weeks.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: I just kept telling you like, Tower, Ultimate Tower, Tower, Lucky, Lucky Tower.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Lucky Tower Ultimate is not a tower defense game.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: It was one of the games that you proposed that we play this month.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: Before we jump into it, I'm Ben, this is Patrick.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: Awoken Game Club is a monthly video game book club we do.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: We play indie games to strike our fancy and then we debate,
1:17
SPEAKER_01: celebrate, and debrief on them at the end of the month.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: Follow us on Substack to get notifications, see Patrick's art, and chat with us.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Our game next month is Dench Attack, if I'm pronouncing that right, which looks absolutely wild.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: And then treat this episode,
1:32
SPEAKER_01: which is about Lucky Tower Ultimate,
1:34
SPEAKER_01: our game of the month this month or last month, as full of spoilers.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: So like any monthly book club, all the attendees have had their time with the game.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: If you're worried about spoilers,
1:44
SPEAKER_01: this episode is evergreen, and come back and listen after you've played.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: And with that, I believe Lucky Tower Ultimate was one of your proposed games.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: Patrick, how did you find out about it?
1:56
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think you kind of put me on this routine of looking at the Discovery queue.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: And I, like some of the other games, had just been building a queue of discoveries.
2:13
SPEAKER_02: Keywords there.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: So that's how I kind of came up with it.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: I really like the art style.
2:19
SPEAKER_02: And little did I know there's actually some pretty cool background.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you looked into it about how this game came about.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: But why did you pick it out of what I had offered?
2:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I thought it looked like the art style is striking.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: It looked funny, which I was in the mood for a funny game.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: I feel like Mixtape, Blueprints, Neon, I mean, I guess Neon White is trying to be funny.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: I did not laugh.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: But it looked like a game that was effortlessly funny.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: It's always good to see it overwhelmingly positive on Steam.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: But I, like you, had no nostalgia for Lucky Tower, which was the original Flash game.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Which I guess, were you ever a big Flash game guy?
3:05
SPEAKER_02: So that was also in my notes that this game is rooted in Flash.
3:08
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I loved Flash games.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: Shout out miniclip.com.
3:14
SPEAKER_02: That was one of my OG Flash websites.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: But even beyond Flash games, I think this game was rooted in...
3:23
SPEAKER_02: Newgrounds,
3:24
SPEAKER_02: which is like the hub of just like early animators kind
3:29
SPEAKER_02: of just putting their weird stuff in the world.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: And this game is definitely that energy.
3:34
SPEAKER_02: And I actually even played maybe like 10 minutes of the OG Lucky Tower just to see
3:40
SPEAKER_02: the difference.
3:41
SPEAKER_02: And it was very just like,
3:43
SPEAKER_02: I just love that this game, I just looked at the date, like, yeah, 16 years old.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: 16 years ago, these two people were just like, let's make this weird game.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: I too played the original five minutes before we started recording.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't really know why I didn't...
4:00
SPEAKER_01: I kind of didn't put it together that it would probably still be playable.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: I think when I think of Flash games, I think of older than 2010.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: Like this game, the Flash equivalent came out in 2010, which...
4:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, I definitely was, was not playing flash games at that time.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: I feel like I was playing flash games in middle school computer lab,
4:22
SPEAKER_01: which would have been earlier than 2010.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, the, the, it is a very faithful, um, um,
4:35
SPEAKER_01: I think so.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: I think that has to do with just that
5:01
SPEAKER_02: 2010 and maybe slightly earlier as they were like developing the original Flash game.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: That sense of humor is very apparent.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: It almost is like shitposty.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:14
SPEAKER_02: Just like the way you would die, it would just be like, oh man.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: Or just like each room you would enter and the way you would die would be like a bit.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: Right.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: And I do think like this game tried to capture that bit often with the
5:30
SPEAKER_02: But also tried to make it roguelike.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: And I think where this game is very strong is how those interactions enabled that.
5:40
SPEAKER_02: And I thought that part was very charming.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel like the original...
5:45
SPEAKER_01: So in Lucky Tower,
5:47
SPEAKER_01: you're consistently choosing between three rooms to progress through the tower.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: And I guess...
5:51
SPEAKER_01: In the original, two of the three rooms kill you, right?
5:55
SPEAKER_01: Like, in funny ways.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: But you don't get sent back to the beginning.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: You just get sent back to the choice between the three doors,
6:03
SPEAKER_01: which kind of lets you, like, progress but soak in the laughs.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: This game...
6:11
SPEAKER_01: The Lucky Tower Ultimate,
6:13
SPEAKER_01: same thing where rooms can kind of insta-kill you and you could die
6:18
SPEAKER_01: in very funny ways.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: And it did not, it was fun.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: And I think what happened for me was that after like two hours when I kind of wanted
6:31
SPEAKER_01: to progress,
6:31
SPEAKER_01: then the Gameplay more became the focus than the gags and the characters and
6:39
SPEAKER_01: the world.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: And that's when I started to fall off a little bit.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: It is quite elegant the way that they converted it into
6:49
SPEAKER_01: an actual contemporary Steam game kind of thing.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: I like the word that you used, elegant.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't really think about it,
7:00
SPEAKER_02: but I also agree with you that if you played the original,
7:04
SPEAKER_02: just the way all the character throwbacks are really good.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh, that's where that came from.
7:09
SPEAKER_02: Or, oh, that's like that exact art asset just like made in 2026.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: And I don't want to say it was janky back then,
7:18
SPEAKER_02: but it does feel cool to see It also progressed 16 years later,
7:24
SPEAKER_02: but ever so slightly shaded differently.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: And apparently the original had millions of players, is what I read.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so...
7:35
SPEAKER_01: This game probably feels more like a warm blanket to a beloved...
7:41
SPEAKER_01: It'd be like if we played a Homestar Runner game.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: That's the perfect analogy.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: That is the perfect analogy.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: You would have so much sentimentality towards the IP that we were lacking
7:54
SPEAKER_01: a little bit in our playthrough would be my guess.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: So did you know that when you chose this game that this was based on a Flash game?
8:00
SPEAKER_02: I did, but I didn't know...
8:03
SPEAKER_01: Because I think it's in the Steam description or something.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't...
8:08
SPEAKER_01: Honestly,
8:09
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't even tell you if I knew because I learned at some point
8:14
SPEAKER_01: while I was playing it.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: I...
8:19
SPEAKER_01: Didn't necessarily put it together that the Flash game was a breakout success.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: I didn't really think about nostalgia in terms of how that could help you play it.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: Not nostalgia,
8:33
SPEAKER_01: but I feel like nostalgia is kind of a cheap cop-out word
8:36
SPEAKER_01: for someone appreciating something that they've always appreciated.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: There's got to be a better word for it.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah I can't think of it either because right now like nostalgia I just think
8:49
SPEAKER_02: about how modern like art uses nostalgia to make money
8:55
SPEAKER_02: and I'm like yeah that's not what this is.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah but like a good Star Wars movie you don't like it because you're nostalgic for
9:04
SPEAKER_01: that property you like it because you're There's something additive
9:10
SPEAKER_01: to being familiar and fond of the world that's not just,
9:16
SPEAKER_01: oh, you're nostalgic for it kind of thing.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: Maybe the way it makes you feel?
9:22
SPEAKER_02: It's the fast food.
9:23
SPEAKER_02: It's cozy.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: It's familiar.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: It brings back positive emotions.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Are we just describing nostalgia?
9:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: Literally.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we'll thesaurusit.com later.
9:39
SPEAKER_02: I think you're right.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: I think that the consistent monetization of nostalgia has made the word negative.
9:46
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's my gut instinct.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: When I heard the word, I was like, oh, I'm being pandered to.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: Right.
9:55
SPEAKER_02: Which this game does not feel that way, in my opinion.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: No.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: At least the way...
10:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel like Rogue... Is this game have a meta layer?
10:33
SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like I was researching and I thought I came across something
10:39
SPEAKER_01: and I completely missed it if it hadn't.
10:41
SPEAKER_02: So the...
10:43
SPEAKER_02: Correct me if I'm wrong.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: I think the Steam description calls it a Rogue Light,
10:47
SPEAKER_02: which insinuates progress, but I have not seen an ounce of progress.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: So you didn't see it either.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: So I think that...
10:57
SPEAKER_01: There's like a way to like kit out
11:04
SPEAKER_00: your...
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, how do I like...
11:13
SPEAKER_02: I read there's somewhere you can make your relationships
11:17
SPEAKER_02: with your companions permanently positive.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: But I don't know how that translates.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm reading some review of the game,
11:26
SPEAKER_01: and it says,
11:27
SPEAKER_01: Beyond the tower walls, Lucky Tower Ultimate offers a surprisingly robust metagame.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: Players can engage with a village system,
11:34
SPEAKER_01: unlocking permanent upgrades and new companions that add layers of strategy
11:38
SPEAKER_01: to subsequent runs.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: The sense of progression provides an additive hook that keeps the frustration at bay.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: As even a failed run can contribute to the long-term growth of Von Wan's capabilities.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: Not once.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: Not once did I escape that tower.
11:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, me neither.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: I also played it for two, maybe three hours at most.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's kind of...
12:05
SPEAKER_01: I think that there's a lot of permanent unlockables.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: And the fact that neither of us could scratch that part of the game is kind of fascinating.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: It's definitely...
12:16
SPEAKER_01: Unforgiving, and Steam loves, like, gamers love an unforgiving game, generally.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah,
12:25
SPEAKER_01: but it's just,
12:25
SPEAKER_01: it's very funny, like,
12:26
SPEAKER_01: because you're like, yeah, like,
12:27
SPEAKER_01: roguelike,
12:28
SPEAKER_01: roguelike,
12:28
SPEAKER_01: like, I think this might be a roguelite with permanent progression that I never saw.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: I just never saw.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: I never saw.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: It's also not a genre that I think I play a ton of,
12:40
SPEAKER_01: like, I guess I would call this like an action platformer or something.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, action platformer roguelike.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's not like any of those other ones, like a Dead Cells kind of a game.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: The movement and combat, again,
13:00
SPEAKER_01: went from endearing to as soon as I was like,
13:03
SPEAKER_01: okay, I need to progress or I need to, like, See more.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: Then it went from endearing to a little bit frustrating for me.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: It's just a bit clunky.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: The frustrating part was the controls.
13:17
SPEAKER_02: It took a while for me to really get
13:19
SPEAKER_01: the controls.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Switching hands felt so bad.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: I could never get my head around it.
13:27
SPEAKER_02: I will say, we talked about this during Neon White.
13:29
SPEAKER_02: There was just an appreciation with the game design in Neon White when whenever...
13:33
SPEAKER_02: That guy's awesome, yeah.
13:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was like, here, let's drink this together.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: And I accidentally threw it instead of drinking it.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: And he was like, well, that was just a waste.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: I was like, there's so many good voice lines.
14:11
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, we're jumping around, but yeah.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh, go ahead.
14:15
SPEAKER_02: No, this game just didn't have to go so hard with the voice acting.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: I thought it was really good.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: All the charm is there.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: This game is soup oozes charm.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: Did you ever have the one where he asked you to bring him some food?
14:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: I had it once and I didn't bring any food and then I was like, what's going to happen?
14:36
SPEAKER_01: And then I stumbled into him and then he ate me.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: I was like, is that supposed to happen?
14:42
SPEAKER_01: Like if I had backed up, would I have gotten eaten?
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Like so many times I wish I could just replay a moment and be like,
14:49
SPEAKER_01: how do they predict that or like handle that and have a voice line for that?
14:54
SPEAKER_01: It's so good.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a lot of the... Oh, go ahead.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
14:59
SPEAKER_02: Just like just so many accidental things that would happen and it was coded for it.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: And I was just like, oh, that's cool.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: That's actually super cool.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: A lot of the descriptions of the game referred,
15:09
SPEAKER_01: and I had written down in my notes that it has a real slapstick quality,
15:14
SPEAKER_01: and then I read a bunch of descriptions later,
15:16
SPEAKER_01: and they were like, it's a slapstick game, and I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: I feel like, one,
15:22
SPEAKER_01: it's very funny,
15:23
SPEAKER_01: but it almost feels like games underutilize slapstick, because it seems pretty...
15:34
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: Just like dying and stupid.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I guess that's what all those physics games are about, like the human fall flat.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: So I guess that's not true.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: And gang beasts and stuff.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: There's definitely slapstick games.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: But I never played a game like this.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: I think that's also why
15:50
SPEAKER_01: it's being received so well is that it kind of reminds me of...
15:58
SPEAKER_01: What's the game we played with the Mascot, Promise Mascot
16:02
SPEAKER_02: Agency?
16:04
SPEAKER_02: Promise Mascot Agency wishes it was this funny.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I think that if you can make an indie game that oozes charm,
16:14
SPEAKER_01: has quippy writing, and
16:19
SPEAKER_01: extreme attention to detail, that's going to be awesome.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: And I think that
16:27
SPEAKER_01: I think that Promised Mascot Agency bit off the gameplay loop,
16:33
SPEAKER_01: like trying to be a 20-hour game and having all these side systems.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: And I think this game was a better vessel to deliver the comedy.
16:45
SPEAKER_02: I agree.
16:47
SPEAKER_02: I think the attention to detail, like you mentioned, and the interactions and this super...
16:54
SPEAKER_02: Focused,
16:55
SPEAKER_02: I guess I'm just going to call it like their physics engine where just
16:58
SPEAKER_02: the way things would interact with each other just made
17:02
SPEAKER_02: the slapstick like like there has to be this root in groundedness for the slapstick
17:09
SPEAKER_02: to hit.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: Like it has to make sense why when something funny happens,
17:13
SPEAKER_02: happens that you're like, well, of course, that's going to what's going to happen.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: And that's why it's funny.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: Meanwhile, I feel like games will just.
17:24
SPEAKER_02: Just like move past it for the sake of like, yeah, getting to the next big fancy milestone.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: But if I program in the 10 interactions that any creature can have with
17:35
SPEAKER_02: a banana peel,
17:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, yeah,
17:37
SPEAKER_02: it does make every run fresh,
17:39
SPEAKER_02: which is like why I think this game was designed for the interaction and like
17:45
SPEAKER_02: the funness of how you died.
17:46
SPEAKER_02: Well, I once again, though, I just I don't love roguelikes.
17:50
SPEAKER_02: I need I need a little real progression.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: At some point, it seems like both of us fell off when dying became
17:59
SPEAKER_02: not funny but frustrating.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: I think at some point we hit the same wall where I had plenty of time more
18:08
SPEAKER_01: to play this game, but I was like, I've had my fill.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: I still respected the heck out of it,
18:18
SPEAKER_01: but there's just so much vying for our attention that This game didn't take me more
18:25
SPEAKER_01: than a couple hours to have my fill.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: To get the gist.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: Having his teeth fall out to indicate health is brilliant.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: There's such a lot of very funny, small things.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the potions.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: Those were, again, like a great vessel for slapstick, but I never got like a good potion.
18:51
SPEAKER_02: I was like,
18:52
SPEAKER_01: are these all,
18:52
SPEAKER_01: like basically the first three different potion interactions
18:56
SPEAKER_01: that I had were all very funny, but led to me dying.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, well,
19:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm never going to,
19:01
SPEAKER_01: now that I'm trying to progress, I'm never going to touch a potion again.
19:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: There is,
19:07
SPEAKER_02: because I looked at the achievements,
19:09
SPEAKER_02: like apparently there are ways to,
19:12
SPEAKER_02: there's ways you're supposed to be using the potions and the way I understand it,
19:15
SPEAKER_02: the witch,
19:16
SPEAKER_02: who's like the potion maker, is like the best companion once you befriend her.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just like, there's no world where I got to that point.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: Man, there's so many secrets to this game that we've got to go find and see.
19:29
SPEAKER_02: There's like a hundred achievements and I was scrolling through them and I was like,
19:32
SPEAKER_02: this is insane.
19:33
SPEAKER_02: Like the amount of depth That I'm just never
19:37
SPEAKER_01: going to see.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: I really like that.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Like a game that has a ton of secrets and then builds in a hundred achievements.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: That's sick.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: I see that you had the princess eat ten enemies in one run.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: You got that achievement.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Can you befriend the princess?
19:56
SPEAKER_01: I thought you always had to kill her.
19:58
SPEAKER_02: No, yeah, no, she was, I've only had her as an enemy like once or twice.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh, she can be both, okay.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think if you feed her or she gets fed,
20:08
SPEAKER_02: she turns to an ally and then she will just one hit kill everything,
20:14
SPEAKER_02: all of your enemies.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: That's sick.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: It's actually so funny.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so yeah,
20:21
SPEAKER_01: I think again,
20:22
SPEAKER_01: just a little bit of tension between delivering the gags
20:26
SPEAKER_01: and Having all these crazy things that can kill you to like flipping the switch for,
20:32
SPEAKER_01: okay, I want to progress.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: And I think like all the people that really enjoy,
20:38
SPEAKER_01: the people that are getting the most out of this game have like,
20:42
SPEAKER_01: are really, I think just looking for secrets, right?
20:47
SPEAKER_01: Like just in,
20:48
SPEAKER_01: it's almost like a Fez like quality to it where this game,
20:51
SPEAKER_01: if you're not just playing it like a,
20:54
SPEAKER_01: A mainliner,
20:55
SPEAKER_01: filthy casual, and you just take the time to explore and interact with that stuff.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't handhold you through all that.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think there is...
21:08
SPEAKER_02: So I looked at a Reddit thread about tech.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: What are your tips?
21:15
SPEAKER_02: And there were some really crazy ones.
21:17
SPEAKER_02: Apparently,
21:19
SPEAKER_02: when you would fight enemies with armor,
21:21
SPEAKER_02: you would probably have to break through their armor first, right?
21:24
SPEAKER_02: Like whether it be a hat or a vest.
21:25
SPEAKER_02: But some of the tech is you can pick up a live enemy and shake them.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: I've never tried to do that.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: Then you throw them before they hit you.
21:33
SPEAKER_02: So like after you dodge an attack, you pick them up, shake them.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: So they lose their vest or their hat.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: And like that's how you get early armor or free armor.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
21:46
SPEAKER_02: And that list, as I was reading it, I was like, This is insane.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: The game never tells you that.
21:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the game doesn't tell you anything.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: No.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: There's just a group of people
21:55
SPEAKER_02: out there who are just testing this engine and trying
21:59
SPEAKER_02: to make weird stuff happen.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: And it is cool.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: And now, don't get me wrong, I don't have any urge or desire to try it out.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm the same.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to watch some YouTube videos.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
22:10
SPEAKER_02: That's what I want to do, too.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: Especially with this village outside the tower.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's kind of interesting that there's like,
22:17
SPEAKER_01: My main gripe that kind of made me bounce off of it was the gameplay,
22:21
SPEAKER_01: but that the gameplay is actually so much deeper than I experienced.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: I think Spelunky 2 is a game that I loved.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Very similar kind of limited controls,
22:34
SPEAKER_01: like 2D,
22:35
SPEAKER_01: kind of jumping on things and smacking things, but really, really fun to control.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: I put tens of hours into that one, and I was like, man, if this game...
22:46
SPEAKER_01: Had all of this art and these mechanics and this charm and controlled like Spelunky.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, maybe I would like it a little bit more.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: But then it wouldn't feel like the Flash game.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: And also, I think that keeping it simple, it did make it approachable.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: I feel like if it was a Hollow Knight controlling game,
23:11
SPEAKER_01: I would be like, There's a million of those.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't really like that genre.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't have even picked it.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I really like this game, but it didn't hold my attention for too long.
23:28
SPEAKER_02: I agree.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: There was no long cutscene.
23:31
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the cutscene is like,
23:33
SPEAKER_01: it's an anti-cutscene.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: The man's literally going to go take
23:36
SPEAKER_02: a dump.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:38
SPEAKER_02: One of the achievements that I didn't get was like finish his business
23:41
SPEAKER_02: because there were like some rooms with a toilet.
23:43
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, of course you can finish
23:45
SPEAKER_01: his business.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: What about did you have any like interesting or funny deaths that you recall?
23:54
SPEAKER_02: Like what's you have a favorite of just like or even like the worst one
23:58
SPEAKER_02: where you'd made it so far and then some dumb some dumb shit happened.
24:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I had a lot, but they're not super, like, so, like, unique that I could remember them.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: They're just like, oh, like, of course.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Like, I remember there was, like, going, like,
24:13
SPEAKER_01: getting past these two trolls and, like,
24:16
SPEAKER_01: doing all these, like, dip, duck, and dive, and then, like, a door falls on you.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, literally.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, I definitely had a few, like, I'm a god, and then, like, some...
24:30
SPEAKER_01: Kind of gag thing,
24:31
SPEAKER_01: like a door falling or like a delayed arrow, like Indiana Jones style or a banana.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: That happened to me many times and I was always like, that's really funny.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: And then at some point I got a little bit like...
24:48
SPEAKER_01: But there was definitely ones too where the first time I encountered the yelling guy
24:56
SPEAKER_01: with the hammer...
24:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the first hammer guy killed on my list too.
25:00
SPEAKER_02: I was like, what
25:02
SPEAKER_01: the fuck?
25:02
SPEAKER_01: And then I just got like hammered and I was like, that's hilarious.
25:06
SPEAKER_02: The sound mixing is so good because it is like from a distance at first and you're like, what?
25:13
SPEAKER_02: Same with, and I did peek, you got the same achievement when the tower blowing up.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:21
SPEAKER_02: You enter a room with a bunch of dynamite.
25:22
SPEAKER_02: You're like, well, screw that.
25:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm out of here.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: And then you leave the room.
25:25
SPEAKER_02: And then all of a sudden, 10 seconds later, game over.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: Very funny.
25:33
SPEAKER_02: Mine was, I'd made it pretty far.
25:37
SPEAKER_02: And I was, I guess I was like either trying to heal, but the bees were there.
25:43
SPEAKER_02: And so I like picked up one of the bee hives and I like tried to equip it or shake it.
25:49
SPEAKER_02: And you put it on your head.
25:51
SPEAKER_02: And then you hear him mumble because he's in a beehive.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: So it's like muffled.
25:57
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, there's still bees in here.
25:59
SPEAKER_02: And then I died.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: I was like, what?
26:03
SPEAKER_01: That's really good.
26:05
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, what?
26:06
SPEAKER_02: This is insane.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: This is insane.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: The blue guy eating me after he told me to bring up something yummy.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: I mean, even the first time I tried to save the princess and she ate me was pretty funny.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: Like I was like, what the?
26:22
SPEAKER_02: Also, because you think you can fight her and then she just instant kills you
26:26
SPEAKER_02: and you're like, okay.
26:28
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: I will respect you next time.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: Respect.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Respect.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: There's some of the like,
26:35
SPEAKER_01: The insta-death runes where you have to quickly run and grab the loot,
26:39
SPEAKER_01: keep you on your toes, where I was very confused and stuff like that.
26:44
SPEAKER_02: Did you ever do the guy who hit a ball in three cups and you had to trace it?
26:54
SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: I did that one, and basically you wager something, and then you play the ball game.
27:03
SPEAKER_02: And there's just something very classy about it, too,
27:05
SPEAKER_02: because I just remember when I did this,
27:08
SPEAKER_02: like next to him and you have to win three times
27:12
SPEAKER_01: or he or if
27:13
SPEAKER_02: he wins three times,
27:15
SPEAKER_02: like you lose.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: But it is just like a nice attention to detail, like the the stone wall next to him.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: There's just like a bunch of like Carves, where he's clearly played this game a lot.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, oh cool, this is lore.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: And they were all three,
27:31
SPEAKER_02: and it's like, oh he always wins, and then on your side there's always like twos.
27:35
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, am I gonna lose here?
27:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, is he gonna like cheat?
27:38
SPEAKER_02: And that was like a really fun, just like natural interaction.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: Did you ever get the genie?
27:44
SPEAKER_01: I did get the genie.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: I wished to be reborn.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: And I think I wished for an item.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: The items.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: So, another thing,
27:54
SPEAKER_01: like, Do any of the weapons, I'm surely, do they deal different amounts of damage?
28:02
SPEAKER_02: I don't think we'll ever know.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like,
28:04
SPEAKER_01: I have so much YouTubing to do,
28:06
SPEAKER_01: but I'm like, why, like,
28:08
SPEAKER_01: at first I was like, oh,
28:09
SPEAKER_01: there's so many,
28:10
SPEAKER_01: so many different weapons I can pick up,
28:12
SPEAKER_01: and I'm like,
28:13
SPEAKER_01: these all do the same thing, like,
28:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't,
28:15
SPEAKER_01: clearly there's,
28:16
SPEAKER_01: I felt like there was definitely a range difference on a lot of them,
28:20
SPEAKER_01: but I could not, I had, like,
28:23
SPEAKER_01: daggers and, like,
28:24
SPEAKER_01: swords and,
28:25
SPEAKER_01: like, It
28:31
SPEAKER_01: was
28:33
SPEAKER_02: unclear if they did any more damage and then if they had durability.
28:40
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I would just be like, where did my weapon go after a crazy scrap?
28:44
SPEAKER_02: I did look at one of my achievements was Or at least the progress of
28:49
SPEAKER_02: the achievement was kill enemies with 100 different items.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: And I had 32 out of 100.
28:55
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, that's kind of cool.
28:58
SPEAKER_02: I can imagine there being 70 other items that I could have killed someone with
29:04
SPEAKER_02: that I just either never tried.
29:05
SPEAKER_02: And maybe even 50 to what I had played up to so far.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: That is great.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: There's one that sells 66 different items at the pawn shop.
29:16
SPEAKER_02: I never have zero because I know...
29:18
SPEAKER_02: Boss, I've never been to a pawn shop.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: I can't find the...
29:29
SPEAKER_01: But yeah.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: Very like...
29:32
SPEAKER_01: It was definitely worth my time and I really like...
29:36
SPEAKER_01: I like it in the pantheon of Awoken Game Club games.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: Just the cool variety that we have.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: I get why the name is Lucky Tower Ultimate, because the original game was Lucky Tower.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's kind of all I have.
29:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and those are all my notes as well.
29:57
SPEAKER_02: Just happy games like this exist.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, next month we have Dench Attack.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: Which was kind of fun because when I was suggesting it, I saw it was on your wishlist already.
30:15
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, oh, oh yeah.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: Looks absolutely wild.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking forward to that.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: Very cool.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to it as well.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: All right.
30:26
SPEAKER_01: Take care, Patrick.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: It's always a pleasure.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: See you in the next one.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: See you in the next one.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: Much love.