Latest / Boss Rush Podcast - A Podcast about Video Games / Voice Acting, Playing Games, Coffee, and Nerding Out with Ben Starr

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Voice Acting, Playing Games, Coffee, and Nerding Out with Ben Starr · Boss Rush Podcast - A Podcast about Video Games

0:21
Hi everybody, and welcome to a very special episode of the Boss
0:26
Rush Network, your video game podcast.
0:30
Today we are here at PAX West. We just opened up Friday day or
0:34
Friday and we have a very special guest here with us
0:38
today. Taylor.
0:40
Exactly just. Just Taylor.
0:43
Just Taylor. No, Everyone knows me.
0:48
I am Patrick Klein. PK Power and everyone also knows
0:52
my Co host who I know as a girl with a machine gun.
0:55
Otherwise known as just Taylor. How you doing Taylor?
0:58
I'm doing fantastic, Pat. I'm so excited to be here at PAX
1:01
W. It's my first time at PAX W.
1:02
I've only done E before, so I am super stoked and I'm
1:05
representing Kirby. I'm very excited for the air
1:08
writer. Hell yeah.
1:10
No, we we're going to be checking that one out a little
1:12
bit later after all this, but we also have a guest that I'm super
1:18
excited for. He's probably one of my greatest
1:22
heroes. He's the best looking person in
1:24
this room, but I will allow him to introduce himself because
1:27
he's just so good at it. That's that's a lot of pressure
1:30
you placed on me. But yeah, I like to think of
1:32
myself as the best looking guy in the room.
1:34
No, you had one chance then to not make an idiot yourself.
1:39
I just, I, I think I've backed myself into kind of like
1:43
conversational black holes where I'm just, I like when, you know,
1:46
think of like call of the void. You shouldn't say that thing.
1:49
I allow all of my intrusive thoughts just to come
1:51
immediately out. It's, I think it's the, the
1:54
symptom of being like a youngest child and just like give me
1:57
attention. I'm just going to say weird
1:58
stuff and I hope that someone looks at me.
2:01
So it's been I'm not media trained as you can tell, I'm
2:04
just having a nice time. Well, you're in a, you're in a
2:07
good company because we are, you know, I, I feel there's a little
2:10
bit of imposter syndrome because we aren't like true.
2:13
Like we work for the boss W network, but we're completely
2:16
voluntary group. So like our jobs are actually
2:19
like corporate offices. I'm an accountant.
2:22
She's HR, but we have a passion for video games and we love to
2:25
talk about them. And we have an awesome group of
2:28
people that, you know, collaborate with us with written
2:32
articles as well as podcasts. And you know, it's, it's just a
2:35
wonderful community that we built up.
2:37
And you know, we appreciate you taking the time with us and to
2:42
talk about yourself and to talk about video.
2:44
Games it was interesting, wasn't it?
2:46
Like you, you, you approached me and said, you want to talk about
2:48
stuff. And I said, not now because I,
2:53
I, I, I find myself talking about things with people on
2:56
various podcasts, but I always want to have something to say.
2:59
So when I said not now, but let's talk at some point in the
3:01
future. And this is the perfect time,
3:03
right? The perfect confluence of us
3:04
being here and having a nice time and having the
3:06
opportunities to kind of like share our passion for video
3:08
games. You talk about imposter
3:10
syndrome. I think I have insane imposter
3:13
syndrome. I shouldn't be here.
3:14
The fact that you say nice things about me is a really
3:16
surreal thing because I'm like you right where I I'm an actor
3:22
who happens to like video games. The fact that those two things
3:25
collide is strange to me. And an accountant who likes
3:30
video games, these two things are colliding.
3:31
It's exactly the same thing. I just happen to be in games.
3:34
And I really can't believe that I'm continuing to do more and
3:36
more of it. And when people say when I get
3:38
recognised for doing that work, I, I feel a bit like, Oh no, I'm
3:43
a piece of shit because love to be here because it's just, I'd
3:50
kind of, I would do it for the love of it anyway, you know, I
3:53
would do it for free. Don't tell my employers that.
3:56
Yeah. Well, Ben, Dad, I want us to
4:01
kind of get to know you just a little bit, you know?
4:04
Yeah, little personal questions, but you know, it's, I think it
4:07
would be fun to know. Like do you prefer coffee or
4:10
tea? Coffee.
4:11
I am AUT people. No, Taylor is coffee.
4:16
Well, I love both. I'm a huge, I'm a OK bougie
4:19
person when it comes to coffee and very picky.
4:21
But I also love matcha. I heard you don't like matcha.
4:25
Where have I is this? Have I said this before?
4:27
Well. It's on that Take Your Shot
4:28
interview you. You looked at the green thing.
4:31
Why is it green? That thing I did with Neil
4:33
Newman, that was I like, I don't, I'm, I'm pretty
4:36
controlled by the things I put in my body, not in like a health
4:38
way. I just, I'm a really picky kid.
4:40
So when I have to when we have to do that, I was just putting
4:44
mystery stuff in my mouth was not that experience.
4:47
I I'm a you probably know this coffee, espresso, that's it.
4:53
I'm really boring. I don't, but I think there is
4:56
fun to be hat. This is what you expect when you
4:59
have me on. Let me go in depth about the
5:00
things I like about coffee. I I found out I was lactose
5:05
intolerant maybe when I was about about 10 years ago.
5:09
But before then, I'd really only start having espresso because I
5:11
was poor. It was the cheapest coffee, so I
5:14
didn't have any money. I was a student and I wanted to
5:16
have coffee. I wanted to have the full
5:17
effects. I didn't want to have bloated
5:20
body or whatever. So I just went, yeah, I'm going
5:22
to just start drinking espresso. And I've drunk espresso ever
5:25
since. And it means that I'm a boring
5:28
coffee guest because when I sit down with you to have a coffee,
5:32
you're going to have a beautiful match of latte or whatever, and
5:34
I'm gonna have a tiny coffee and I'm going to be done in like 30
5:36
seconds. I'll go, OK, I guess, but I love
5:40
it. And also I like being able to
5:41
taste the coffee, like the pure coffee and the different styles
5:44
of it. So I can, you know, I like a
5:45
dark roast. I don't like anything that has
5:47
kind of like too much of A Berry flavour.
5:50
Did you think when you listen to the Boss Rush Network, you'd
5:53
hear me talk about the types of coffee that I like?
5:55
But one of the great pleasures, one of the great pleasures of my
5:58
day is sitting down and having my first coffee of the day.
6:04
And it has to be good. I really, really, really
6:06
appreciate it because in a in in my line of work, there are very
6:10
few pleasures that you have. Your life is very chaotic.
6:14
A lot of things are out of your control.
6:16
But being able to have the first coffee of the day that kind of
6:18
gives you that energy to say, I'm ready and I'm ready to
6:20
attack the day. It's almost like putting on a
6:22
mask right where you where you're really tired and then you
6:25
have that coffee and you go off. I'm ready.
6:26
I've got my armor on at least for the first couple of hours.
6:29
So having a really nice espresso is like one of my favorite.
6:31
Things I mean, it saves your body from sugar and.
6:34
Yeah, I used to have, I used to have, I used to have so much
6:38
sugar in my espresso. I used to be like, I'm going to
6:40
have this sugar in there. And then I realized again, this
6:42
is like 5-6 years ago how much sugar I was having with every
6:47
single espresso. And if you pile it up in a day,
6:49
if I'm having three espresso's a day, that's three teaspoons of
6:52
sugar a day, which is not good for you.
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So now I just have it completely plain and completely black and I
6:57
love it. Very cool, yeah.
7:00
Unfortunately it's not cool, but I appreciate.
7:04
That she she loves. She actually really loves
7:07
espressos too. So unfortunately I'm not the
7:10
biggest coffee drinker, but I do occasionally drink when
7:12
Taylor's. Around Are you?
7:13
Are you a tea person? I prefer tea over coffee, but
7:16
I'm I wouldn't know exactly what I drink and.
7:19
Tea. What's your like?
7:20
What's your poison if it were? My poison's Diet Coke, that was.
7:25
That's what wakes me up in the morning, and it really is.
7:28
Do you have like gallons of it a day?
7:29
Do you like I love ADC I. Have maybe like 32 ounces in the
7:34
morning. Yeah, I don't.
7:36
I'm English. I have no idea what 32 ounces
7:38
is. I I sounds.
7:39
Like, a lot. Yeah, it's McDonald's large.
7:43
Nice, nice. My some of my colleagues I do
7:48
this show called Natural 6. It's the and the actual play and
7:52
the amount of people in Natural 6.
7:54
I think Holly Bennett and Eva love a Diet Coke.
7:58
Like Holly will just have vats of Diet Coke whilst we're doing
8:01
like a 5 hour session. She'll just be drinking, doesn't
8:03
drink coffee, always has what she calls ADC.
8:06
Awesome. No, it's it's strange.
8:09
Like it's really the only thing that kind of keeps me up at.
8:11
Also it like makes me mellow. Yeah.
8:14
I feel like I don't like coke has this effect I have.
8:17
ADHD. We're talking about cocaine
8:18
right now. Yes, very much so.
8:20
You know we're. Talking about the Class A drug,
8:22
cocaine. We at The Boss Rest do not
8:25
condone drug use. Me at the Ben Star do condone
8:28
Class A drug abuse. No please cover.
8:33
Don't kinda keep it in, keep it in.
8:35
I said what I said, intrusive thoughts and all.
8:38
All right, do. You have, I know I'm, I'm feel
8:40
like I'm interviewing you right now with this.
8:42
Do you? I think that people have their
8:46
thing right? The thing that keeps them.
8:48
We're talking about masks and the things that kind of keep us
8:50
together. And for me, if I haven't had my
8:54
coffee, I feel like really, I feel like I am a massive
8:56
imposter. I feel like I'm not prepared.
8:58
Before today that came to this interview, I wasn't feeling
9:01
particularly great. And I was trying to figure out
9:03
how much time I had before I came here and I made time to
9:05
have a coffee so I could come in and be whatever the version of
9:09
them that you would want to see. It's the thing that I that I
9:11
feel like it completes me in that way.
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And I think a lot of people have that.
9:14
Some people it's alcohol, some people it's sweet, some people
9:16
it's chocolate or whatever. But it's that thing that kind of
9:18
like keeps them together. And I'm always interested with
9:21
different people what it is. You know, you say you've got to
9:23
have your 32 ounces of Diet Coke because it mellows you out.
9:26
It's almost like we conditioned ourselves to have that.
9:29
Yeah, yeah, you get better. I'm just addicted to it.
9:33
Yeah, me too, all. Right.
9:37
What has been your favorite game in 2025 so far?
9:43
That is a fantastic question. Let me run through the games
9:46
that I've played. If you want to see something I
9:49
have a list of literally every game I've played.
9:51
It's well over you. Tell me what you've played and
9:52
I'll I'll. Well, let's see if I can pull up
9:55
the list, yeah? Let's take our time.
10:00
But honestly though, my I'm not saying it's because you're here,
10:03
but my favorite game so far has been Expedition 33.
10:07
The game has been absolutely phenomenal.
10:10
I love the themes. I love how human the characters
10:15
are. The conversations between you
10:17
and Manoko, the conversations with Myel and, you know, just
10:21
her experiencing the outside world for the first time and
10:24
realizing just how scary and what she got herself into.
10:28
And then the overarching themes, which I'm not going to fully get
10:31
into because some of us have not played it yet.
10:34
It's OK, don't worry, Sir. Like that's great more people to
10:37
play the game good. I, I, I think that's an
10:40
interesting thing when people apologize because they haven't
10:42
played the game yet and I, you know, you have people don't have
10:45
to play game. I'm, I'm, I'm one of these
10:47
people that I, I, there are certain games I haven't played
10:51
that I'm looking forward to be able to play.
10:52
There's something really satisfying about playing a game
10:54
two years after it comes out and comes, guys, this game does you
10:56
really good. I'm going to get my phone out
10:59
and figure out and and find out what games I've played this year
11:02
because I've gone completely blank.
11:04
Like sorry. I'm.
11:07
Just getting my PlayStation. Just get my PlayStation.
11:09
You carry on. You carry on.
11:10
What's so other than Expedition 33?
11:12
You like that game? Yeah, I loved Expedition.
11:14
I think my second favorite game has been Death Stranding 2.
11:18
Yeah, I love that game. And then this is all you played
11:22
this year. This is literally everything I
11:24
played this year. It's pretty good going.
11:25
Yeah. I'm with Death Stranding. 2A bit
11:31
like Death Stranding. I was a huge, not that it needed
11:33
an apologist. I was a huge Death Stranding
11:34
apologist. I went to that game.
11:37
I platinum the hell out of Death Stranding.
11:40
I built every Rd. and I did that in DS2 as well.
11:44
I the narrative is the narrative and it's and it's, you know,
11:48
beautifully done, beautifully performed, all of that.
11:50
Yeah. For me, the joy of death
11:51
surrounding is entirely in the gameplay loop and I play it
11:55
almost like a like a Zen it. Is you get like a trail going on
12:00
with like your deliveries. It's like, OK, I'm going to pick
12:02
up here, I'm going to deliver here, grab something here and
12:04
try and. Like I'm obsessed with like
12:05
anyone, like real ones know ceramics are hard to come by,
12:08
man. You got to, you got to make sure
12:09
you, and that, the moment where I found my first, I'm like mine,
12:12
I was like, well, I'm just spending like 5 hours doing
12:15
this. Like I, I, I, I think that it's,
12:18
it's a really, really wonderful game.
12:20
And you know, I've been playing Hideo Kojima games since MGS 1
12:24
and it's just cool as hell. Oh yeah, my, my, I know exactly
12:28
what my game of the year is. That isn't Expedition 33.
12:31
It's blueprints. You told me about that and I
12:34
actually tried it too. It's not to everyone's taste.
12:37
I became so absorbed by that video game, and in 2025 we have
12:45
extraordinary games that have come out, and there are even
12:47
more extraordinary games to come that I'm really excited to play.
12:51
But Blueprints just completely took me by surprise.
12:54
And there are some games that I knew were going to be great.
12:56
I knew I was going to fall in love with Destrani 2.
12:59
I know that I'm going to love Ghost of the Otay.
13:02
I know because I they are sequels to games that I I have
13:05
that knowable relationship with. But Blueprints was just complete
13:09
discovery and going from kind of like nought to something is a
13:12
really is an interesting thing that I think the same with
13:14
Expedition 33. A lot of the joy of that game is
13:17
people didn't expect it. Some people thought it was going
13:21
to be a great game, but they didn't know that it was going to
13:24
be as affecting as it was. And I, I think that's a lot of
13:27
the joy in the Sandfall have got off to a great start because
13:30
they made a, a beautiful game that they wanted to make and
13:33
that's been the joy of it. You know, it's, it's great
13:35
because what the Astrobot director literally said that the
13:40
game that's going to win game of the year this year was be
13:42
developed by passionate developers who want to, you
13:46
know, have fun with the game that they made.
13:49
Like isn't going to be something super corporate.
13:50
And I think it was like a very fulfilling prophecy.
13:53
I could see Expedition winning game of the year.
13:56
Like it's a very strong contender.
13:58
Maybe I I I am an actor who has been a part of the video game
14:06
industry now for just under three years.
14:09
I've been and I've been a part of, I've been very engaged in
14:14
the community and I'm always interested about the
14:16
conversation of Game of the Year.
14:18
And I don't think Expedition 33 needs to win Game of the Year at
14:24
all. I think it's done its job.
14:27
The expectation was to sell a good amount of copies.
14:31
It's sold a huge amount of copies.
14:32
But most importantly, the number of people who've played the game
14:35
who have been affected by it is, I think the, the attach ratio is
14:39
pretty high on that game. And it's one of those games that
14:42
people are going to remember for the rest of their lives.
14:44
Whether it wins game of the year or not, it doesn't matter.
14:45
This is a game that's going to stick with people 5-6 years down
14:49
the line. People are going to play it
14:51
after the, you know, the game awards are done or whatever
14:53
awards you, you worship or appreciate.
14:58
You know, I, I've been very fortunate to be the weird
15:01
balatro guy, right? And that for many people,
15:04
they're still playing it. I'm still playing it on my Steam
15:06
Deck. I was playing it over on the on
15:08
the plane. Games don't last for a year.
15:11
They last for a lifetime. And that's why we're here.
15:14
So it doesn't matter whether it was game of the year this year,
15:16
it's going to be someone's game of the year in three years time
15:18
when they discover it for the first time.
15:19
So that's great. That's, that's awesome.
15:25
Well, what are you currently playing other than Bilatro?
15:31
I am currently playing nothing. I have I finished Destrani 2.
15:41
I have two games that I'm super excited to jump into.
15:44
Three games. I'm super excited to jump into
15:48
Kronos, The Last Dawn. Yes.
15:51
I am. I think it comes out.
15:53
I don't know when this is going to go out.
15:54
Yeah, I know, I know. But when this when this episode
15:57
comes out, I know, I know when it comes out.
16:00
Believe me it. Is pre downloaded in September
16:03
waiting for me? I am so excited about that game.
16:07
I think what Bloomberg did with Silent Hill 2 is extraordinary.
16:11
And I'm a massive Dead Space fan, so I'm also a huge 12
16:16
Monkeys fan. So I feel like a dead like the
16:18
dead the Dead Space, the Dead Space 12 monkeys aesthetic with
16:23
a lot of the learnings that they took from Silent Hill two.
16:25
I'm just super excited to to play that game.
16:27
Then also a huge, I've said it before, Kajima fan.
16:31
I know he's not a part of this, but I think Metal Gear Solid 3
16:33
is the best Metal Gear Solid. My favorite Metal Gear Solid.
16:38
I think it's a complete story. I think it's a really wonderful
16:41
expression of everything that Kajima wants to achieve.
16:43
I know he's not a part of the remake, but I'm excited to see
16:46
that when maybe some of the technical things are dealt with.
16:49
I hear that it's not, doesn't run great on PlayStation.
16:53
And then also Mafia, the Old Country, all three of those
16:57
games are relative, I believe are relatively short games
17:00
because I've played some big chunky boys and I'm looking to
17:03
play a tight narrative experience, maybe between 10 and
17:06
20 hours that I can play, I can put down and just appreciate,
17:10
you know. Yeah.
17:11
So those are the three. No, those are those are some
17:13
good choices. I I have played Mafia.
17:15
I will say the story is good. Yeah, I'm I've I think the
17:18
performances look great and I'm a I'm a big mafia, the
17:21
Definitive Edition fan. I think it's one of the best day
17:25
out tank video games you can play, whatever that means.
17:29
I just think I just think the performances are great.
17:32
I really like what that team do with that game and it doesn't
17:35
need to be open world. I'm going to go with the
17:37
expectations that I have for it and I can't wait to see kind of
17:40
what it does. Awesome, awesome.
17:44
All right, you know what we were going to ask you I.
17:48
Said this was going to go off the rails.
17:50
Yeah, no, we, we had like a lot of questions just prepared, so
17:53
we kept. Me with them.
17:55
How do you find the time to a game?
17:57
How do I find the time? I don't, I really don't.
17:59
And I, I found I substituted that by getting a, a Steam Deck
18:03
because I, when I'm doing the ten hour, 11 hour flight to, you
18:08
know, this coast every every other day, like I was in, I was
18:12
in summer game fest and then I was doing other things and I'm
18:16
travelling here and then I'm going to go to New York soon,
18:18
then I'm going to go back to LA. There's a lot of travelling and,
18:21
and that takes time. It also means that I have a lot
18:24
of jet lag and I don't get to play my PlayStation as much as I
18:28
want to. Like I racked up and like the, I
18:31
think 2023 I racked up, I don't know, a couple of thousand 1500
18:36
hours I think on my PlayStation playing games.
18:41
And from then I think it's kind of plummeted really, because I
18:44
don't have the time to get absorbed in it because I'm just
18:46
working so much or travelling. And so I'm trying more to play.
18:53
The way I play games has changed.
18:54
I used to play one game and I used to get the platinum trophy
18:57
on that game and then move on. Now I play a bit of everything
19:01
really. So there are lots of games I've
19:03
got on the go that I haven't finished that I'd like to.
19:07
And as you can tell, when you said, what's your favorite game
19:09
of the year, I was like, oh, I don't know, I've played quite a
19:10
few. So it's just trying to get
19:12
through it because I want to give it a fair shake.
19:14
Do you still try to get platinum trophies even though you don't
19:17
have a lot of time? To Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do.
19:22
I actually. Here we go, you know Power picks
19:26
the website I. Love that website.
19:28
It's the best because I'll Google, I'll I'll go, I'll go
19:32
the trophy list or like on power picks, it'll tell you out of 10
19:37
how easy the trophy, the platinum trophy is to get, how
19:40
long it'll take because you can go on how long to be, which you
19:43
know, a game will be like 15 hours, but the completionist
19:45
trophy will be whatever. And power picks kind of breaks
19:48
down that. And because I have a limited
19:50
amount of time, I will then judge what my next game is based
19:52
on how long the platinum trophy will be to get.
19:55
I have a cadence. It used to not as much now, but
19:58
my my, my gaming cadence used to be big game, big 50 to 100 hour
20:04
video game follow up. Pardon.
20:09
Yeah, let's say that. Sure, sure.
20:11
A game. A game that's going to take a
20:13
huge amount of time and investment, followed by probably
20:17
like 2 indie games. And I kind of see those as
20:19
palate cleansers, not that they're lesser than, but they
20:22
I'm allowed to enjoy them because I'm not immediately
20:24
comparing them to the previous game.
20:26
If I'm going from one big open world game to another, I would
20:28
just get fatigue. So I found some of the best
20:31
gaming experiences that I've had because they are they are
20:35
directly related to the game that I've just played.
20:37
I remember playing Uncharted 4 and then going to Rise of the
20:40
Tomb Raider and thinking I dislike Rise of the Tomb Raider
20:43
because I'm directly comparing it to Uncharted 4.
20:45
So I stopped playing it and I went, I'm going to come back in
20:49
two months time once I played some other stuff.
20:51
And I love Rise. I think it's my favorite of the
20:53
modern Tomb Raider remix now because I wasn't directly
20:56
comparing it to a game that I just played.
20:59
And that meant that I was judging it fairly.
21:02
I was judging on its own merits, not on what I wanted wanted it
21:05
to be. And so going to an indie game
21:09
like, I don't know, shaking it up and playing inscription or
21:12
desk door or, you know, something that I can, although
21:15
is a pretty substantial experience, is fundamentally
21:18
different. It allows me to assess the game
21:20
and appreciate the game on its own merits as opposed to
21:23
directly comparing it to stuff. And that's kind of how I tend to
21:26
to do stuff now. How long to be is one of my best
21:30
friends because it's, I know how much time I have or don't have.
21:34
So I'm, I'm, I feel like I'm, I'm slacking in many ways.
21:39
I will make time for Ghosts of the OTA because Sushima is, I
21:42
think an incredible experience. I'm excited to see what that
21:46
team do next. I have a podcast with Erica
21:49
Ishi. So I'm excited to see yeah, I
21:52
mean, I have a podcast. Alana Pierce does a podcast of
21:54
Mia Bo and Erica and I'm excited to see what Erica does there.
21:58
And I'm super excited. So yeah, I, I'm, I'm looking
22:03
forward to making time, but I'm just finding it hard at the
22:07
moment, you know? Yeah.
22:10
What are your what would you say your favorite genrezar for video
22:12
games? My favorite top tier list I the
22:22
games that have surprised me. This is probably not the
22:25
question you asked. I love I love an RPG Right.
22:27
RPGs are like that. That's the obvious answer.
22:29
Ben loves an RPG. Great, cool.
22:31
There you go. There's literature out there.
22:34
I love them. I love them.
22:35
I think they're cool. The my favorite games of
22:38
Alzheimer's RPGs. I can't believe I get to be a
22:41
part of it. That's absolutely standard.
22:43
But then also, I have a massive appreciation for puzzle games.
22:49
My favorite, what would be in my top five games of all time would
22:52
be The Witness. I think The Witness is a yeah.
22:57
I just think it's just a cool game.
22:58
And I became obsessed with it. And am I, am I saying it's the
23:02
best game? But it's no, it's just a game
23:05
that affected me at that time. It I was able to hyperfixate on
23:09
that video game. And anyone who's got the
23:11
platinum trophy on the witness knows that you have to
23:13
hyperfixate on that video game in order to achieve it.
23:16
It asks a lot of you and it asks for your undivided attention,
23:19
especially if you're going for the platinum trophy.
23:22
That's a a crazy old beast, but you know, like Manifold Garden,
23:28
I think is a is a game that's come out recently that hasn't
23:31
got enough attention, which is a really great video game, you
23:34
know, in the vein of kind of like Portal ish.
23:38
It's it's really, really, really fun.
23:40
So you know, it's why Balatro isn't a puzzle game, but it's
23:44
one of those games that has a real kind of a particular focus
23:46
on mechanical intricacies that you can play with and designed
23:49
to break it. It's really, really cool.
23:52
Inscription is one of my favorite games of recent memory.
23:56
And then also I'm just a sucker for survival horror.
23:58
So I, I remember the pandemic. I, I think I'm a recent survival
24:05
horror fan because I told myself for years that I didn't like
24:09
being scared. I just kept, but you don't like
24:13
being scared because I was scared.
24:15
And then the pandemic happened and I had lots of time to kill
24:18
and I would I was I was teased. I was teased with Resident Evil
24:25
2 remake saying Ben, you can do this.
24:28
And then Resident Evil became my my thing.
24:32
And I went and I played all of them.
24:34
I played the remake. I played three.
24:38
I played I'd already played 4/4 is I don't really count like
24:41
survival horror 4 is one of my favorite games the original and
24:45
then 5-6. I went and played six.
24:48
I played Revelations, I played seven, I played eight.
24:51
I got the platinum on 8I became this kind of real Resident Evil
24:54
fan. And in doing so you go, what
24:56
else is there? And then there's Dead Space and
24:57
then there's Silent Hill and there's all of and last year I
25:02
was a huge, huge fan of Crow Country, which is this really
25:05
fantastic indie game that has these like PS1 sensibilities.
25:12
It's almost like block characters in Final Fantasy 7 as
25:14
through the lens of Resident Evil.
25:18
I think again, one of the great modern survival horrors is a
25:20
game called Signalis, which has almost MGS style graphics.
25:26
There's because I think that survival horror, survival horror
25:31
as we know it, as laid down by the kind of identifiable tenets
25:34
of what a Resident Evil game is, is actually a puzzle game.
25:38
Really. They're puzzle games.
25:39
They're Metroid vein is they're like you're in an area, you've
25:41
got to go here, get the key, do this little puzzle.
25:43
They're escape rooms. They just happen to have
25:46
zombies. It's, they are, I mean, like
25:48
Resident Evil games are other than four, like those original
25:51
games where you are stuck in, you know, Raccoon City Police
25:53
Department or you're stuck in the in the Manor.
25:55
It's you are, you have to escape a place, but you had to create a
26:00
threat. So it's like, OK, slow, slow
26:02
things that could eat you, right.
26:03
And that's the the joy of those games.
26:05
And I the most pleasure I get is from solving the puzzle, getting
26:09
the key and like practically who designed these places?
26:13
It's just like I, I wouldn't want to work at the Raccoon City
26:15
Police Department, the one they got trashed.
26:18
So yeah, I love, I love a puzzle game.
26:20
I think they're really cool. That's awesome.
26:22
Yeah, I like survival horror, but I scare easily so some of
26:25
them, like Resident Evil 7 was too scary for me.
26:28
Did you, Did you, Where did you get to before you went?
26:31
Oh, I didn't. Go very far.
26:32
I didn't like being trapped in the house and stuff popping out
26:35
and being worried I'm going to get murdered everywhere.
26:37
I just didn't like it. It was too.
26:38
Freaky do you? What other Resident Evil games
26:40
have you played? I've played 4-5 and eight.
26:45
So 4-5 and eight are they start where most Resident Evil games
26:50
finish, which is high camp. Like Resident Evil games start
26:54
for the first 3 hours to be really intense experiences and
26:57
then they're the campus thing you've ever seen.
27:01
Yeah, crazy camp like 4-4 is wild.
27:05
And obviously where it goes to because it goes to insane
27:07
lengths because they always get more and more camp.
27:09
And I I love the I love kind of the beauty.
27:12
Hello past It's it's they they they can be joyful experiences
27:18
and seven gets really 7 gets crazy camp it gets silly and it
27:23
but those first couple of hours I don't blame you.
27:25
I tried to do it in VR once Oh, I could never and I'm doing it.
27:30
I am so I'm so excited for seven for 9 sorry or requiem.
27:35
I went over to that. But yeah, he got the play.
27:37
Have you have you played it? I.
27:38
Just played it before you and. Jealous face.
27:43
Ben, if you get a chance to get to try that demo, why?
27:47
Are you being like that? Why are you being like that?
27:50
Don't be like that. I know I want to play it.
27:53
It it sucks, it don't. Worry it's good, it's so good.
27:58
You know, when people, one of the great pleasures of, of
28:03
working in the video games industry has been getting to
28:06
meet the cast of the Resident Evil games.
28:09
I love the way that like Nick and Nicole and like, they're so
28:17
engaged with the community and they bring the community so much
28:20
joy. And I, I, I, I watched them when
28:23
I was making Final Fantasy 16 to see how you can engage healthily
28:29
with your community in a way that is playful and exciting
28:32
and, and allows the community to feel seen.
28:35
And I think they're, they're fantastic ambassadors for those
28:37
video games. Maggie is an incredible
28:39
ambassador for, for those video games, as is Neil.
28:42
Like they all have learnt. And I like, I think Neil took a
28:46
lot of his learnings from Resident Evil and put them into
28:48
Boulders gate and kind of obviously led the way with the
28:50
way the cast have engaged with the community in that way.
28:52
They are a really, really lovely group of people who who are very
28:57
inspiring in, in, in caring for the community that they are
29:01
ambassadors for well. I mean, a lot of people could
29:04
say the same about you, too. Like, I've seen you now in a
29:07
couple different conferences, and you, like, even last at
29:10
East. You.
29:12
I ran into you at the very end of PAX East, and I could tell
29:16
you were dead tired. Always done.
29:18
Yeah. That you were at your panel.
29:20
You just like. OK, I want to go home now.
29:23
Yeah. But at the same time you came
29:25
out and, you know, greeted me for like the three minutes and I
29:29
like it was something that I super appreciated.
29:32
You're very welcome. Well, here we are now.
29:34
Yeah. I like to engage with fans in
29:40
the way that I would want to be engaged with, which is quite
29:44
tiring actually, and is is draining on my body.
29:49
But at the time it doesn't feel draining.
29:51
It's very I like the energy that people give afterwards.
29:56
I go home and I pass out. But I've become a lot better at
30:00
maybe managing my time. I think I've become a lot better
30:03
at managing my time. But yeah, I mean, PAX East, I
30:07
ran myself into the ground. I shouldn't have done that much
30:08
stuff. Panel every single day.
30:11
At least one panel every. Day.
30:12
Well, I I had a day where I was hosting the Final Fantasy Magic
30:16
the Gathering panel, which was a huge undertaking.
30:19
That was a lot of fun though, like I was right there at that
30:21
panel and just like even all the reveals that the guest stars
30:27
you, you had great energy about you and of course the your card
30:30
revealed that the Clive card which.
30:32
Is my idea. Do you still have that shirt?
30:35
Yeah, I do. I do.
30:36
I do have that shirt. Yeah, yeah.
30:37
It's got all my sweat still on it.
30:40
I got a good picture of you like.
30:42
Doing that I didn't know how I was going to do it either.
30:44
I didn't I just the stupid. I didn't think it through
30:47
because that room got insanely hot over 3 hours or however long
30:50
that panel was and I was wearing a cardigan the whole time.
30:53
Thinking of quite a cover up this thing.
30:56
So yeah, it was that. And then I had then I ran
30:58
downstairs, did a signing for an hour, met as many people as I
31:02
possibly could and then I ran back up and I did AI did a
31:05
really stupid thing for Warframe because I play Arthur
31:09
Nightingale in Warframe, who's a very cool Excalibur proto frame.
31:14
And I, and I and I went and did that and that was all in the
31:17
space of like, you know, an afternoon and then I had to go
31:19
and do a panel afterwards. So it just, it was a lot, but I
31:24
wanted to do as much stuff as possible because I'm here,
31:26
right? We have three days, it's done
31:27
and dusted and then we're then we're over.
31:29
So I'll wear myself out because I think ultimately it's worth it
31:33
and I can rest when I'm dead. Yeah, no, I mean you, you made a
31:36
lot of memories that day. So like, not, yeah, I was tiring
31:39
for you, but all the fans that you were able to like.
31:43
I do. I I love, I love meeting fans.
31:46
I find it weird that people want to see me and meet me.
31:50
Yeah. I feel, I think it's a very
31:52
strange thing that people want to actually engage with me in
31:55
any meaningful capacity because I feel, as you mentioned the
31:58
beginning, like a massive imposter because I'm just doing
32:01
stuff that I love. That's it, you know?
32:03
Yeah. Well, speaking about things that
32:06
you loved and your extremely busy schedule, you have done a
32:10
lot of things this year like you have been in so many games.
32:15
Let's let's see we got the clear obscure expedition 33.
32:19
We have date everything. We have Dead Take, Hades 2,
32:25
Final Fantasy Tactics coming out here, like what would like?
32:30
And not only were they just different like games that you
32:33
did, it's also what you did in them.
32:36
You did full motion video for Dead Take.
32:38
So it wasn't just the voice acting you had to do.
32:41
Like you had to have body language with your character
32:45
because what I loved about your character was he came off
32:48
confident, but you could see immediately in his body language
32:52
how uncomfortable the director made.
32:54
Him. Yeah.
32:56
I mean that, that game, it is about a number of things, but my
32:59
contribution to it, playing the character of Vinny was we wanted
33:05
to kind of like examine the cycle of abuse, essentially.
33:10
Like he, Vinny's not a nice guy. He's not a nice guy.
33:13
He's just an ambitious guy and he is Succession's a good
33:18
example of that if it's in that TV show, you know, just like the
33:20
ways in which like if you are abusive to someone, they will be
33:23
abusive to other people and so on and so forth.
33:25
And that was what we wanted to give was kind of like glimpses
33:27
of that. The first thing time you see
33:29
Vinny is him being verbally abused and then.
33:32
The first time you see him, you see him.
33:34
Yeah, he gets. Abused.
33:35
Yeah, he gets abused. He's being verbally abused by a
33:37
director and then you see him again.
33:40
There's a scene that we did, which I improvised actually,
33:43
where he's doing a self tape and he basically attacks the person
33:46
who's doing the the tape with him because of the pressure that
33:48
he's feeling. And he feels like it's OK
33:50
because it's, it's learned behaviour doesn't make it, it
33:54
doesn't make it OK. But it was a, it was a fun thing
33:58
to examine and it was only a few vignettes.
33:59
But, you know, that vacant space in between all that stuff allows
34:03
you to, you know, infer whatever you want.
34:05
And I really thank Abu for giving me the opportunity to do
34:07
it. Yeah.
34:09
Well, not just that. And Claire Obscure, you actually
34:12
sang in the. Game, Yeah.
34:15
Like. So hit soundtrack too.
34:17
You're welcome. Have you ever done anything like
34:19
singing before? I've done loads.
34:20
I I don't like to sing. I did musicals when I was a kid.
34:27
I, my first ever job was, I was the, I played Gavroche in the
34:30
national touring company of Les Miserables.
34:34
I, I did musicals at university. I was a member of the Durham
34:39
Improvised Musical Society. So we, we'd do that, but I
34:42
wouldn't count myself as a singer.
34:43
I'm not West End standard. I can hold a tune.
34:46
It's not, it's not my best foot forward and it is very much out
34:50
of my comfort zone. So when Lorianne just sidled up
34:54
to me, Jen and I were in Montpellier for Christmas
34:56
visiting the team and Lorianne just said, Ben, would you like
34:59
to sing on this? I as you can tell from the
35:02
amount of things that I'll do at any one moment, I'll just say
35:04
yes, OK, if I can make it work. And I the night before I
35:09
introduced a large portion of the sand full team to tequila
35:12
shots. I was so pleased because I said
35:17
I'm going to do tequila shots. And a lot of them looked at me
35:19
as if I said I was going to sacrifice their first born
35:22
because they, I, I, I think it kind of baffled them.
35:26
And then I said, no, we're going to do some tequila shots.
35:28
So I got a round of tequila shots for everyone.
35:30
And the, the great thing was that they then came back for
35:34
more. They then bought more tequila
35:35
shots. And so we had in this kind of a
35:37
crazy circle and we were all making very bad choices.
35:40
And then the next day I had to go into the office and record
35:43
with Laurie Anne, very hungover on the tequila shots that I'd
35:45
instigated. There were some photos from that
35:47
party of me doing awful things to a Christmas tree.
35:52
Bad, bad night, bad night. Not on the Internet yet.
35:55
No, I mean, because I mean, there is a lot of things on the
35:57
Internet. There's a thing I said recently
35:58
for my D&D group that I think I'm 15% holes and that has, I
36:03
think I'm 15% holes here, here, here, here.
36:07
And and like, it's just now, you know, that happens.
36:11
I'm just a walking meme. I'll say what I think and allow
36:13
the intrusive thoughts to come out and see what happens.
36:16
So what would you say was like your hardest thing to do to do
36:20
this year for that all that? That's a really good question.
36:28
I don't think any of them are hard.
36:30
I think it's really easy. No, what's hard, what's hard, I
36:34
think is staying sane when it comes to roles.
36:41
I think they all have their individual challenges and to
36:43
compare them side by side. It's, you know, I've been lucky
36:46
enough to be doing this, being an active for a long time.
36:50
So I think I have the toolkit to be able to do stuff.
36:53
The reason I got the part in these games is because I'm good
36:55
enough to do them and I don't know, Hades is hard, man.
37:02
Then people don't talk about like Greg's writing in Hades is
37:07
incredible. It's so it's so well thought out
37:11
and they one thing that I'll get direction from today, it'll I'll
37:15
be usually directed by Darren, Darren Corp or, and Greg will be
37:20
on the call sometimes. And Greg gave me these very
37:22
specific notes in our first recording sessions, which were
37:25
ignore the punctuation because there'll be commas and there'll
37:28
be, you know, all this sort of stuff.
37:30
He said, ignore it. Don't, don't play those
37:32
punctuation. Push all the way through.
37:34
Because when you think about Hades, you think about the, the
37:37
speed at which they speak. And he really, you have to have
37:41
a huge intense muscularity to get through that and articulate
37:45
Greg's words at speed while still maintaining meaning.
37:50
And it's really tough. I, I, it took a lot in me.
37:53
If I hadn't done, if I'd done this a lot and been a fan of
37:57
Restoration Theatre, it would have been a really tough ask.
38:01
And I, I, it exposed me, it exposed a lot of the weaknesses
38:03
that I have as an actor, as a performer, because it's, it's
38:06
tough to be fast, be efficient, let the lines do the work.
38:12
Don't, don't add anything to it. The lines are good.
38:15
The, the, the lines are there. A lot of people want to act over
38:18
words as opposed to actually just saying the words and allow
38:21
the words to reveal the truth of the character.
38:23
And I think that's something really great about that.
38:24
So, yeah, I'd say 80s two is probably one of the most
38:28
revealing, revealing work jobs that I've ever done.
38:34
It exposed, it exposed a lot of things that I didn't like about
38:38
myself. I think I did a great job in
38:42
that. I was really happy with the
38:43
work, but it was it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going
38:47
to be. I thought I was going to rock
38:48
and be like, oh, this is perfect.
38:49
But actually it I had to be switched on.
38:51
I really had to engage with it because I wanted to be good
38:55
because Super Giant are my heroes.
38:58
I couldn't believe that I was in it again alongside The Witness
39:03
and Final Fantasy 8. Hades is up there as my favorite
39:08
games of all time. One of my all time favorite.
39:09
Have you played headies too yet or are you waiting for 1.0?
39:11
I didn't want to play the demo because I'm waiting for the
39:13
whole game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't.
39:15
Want to be spoiled but I saw you were in it.
39:17
Though, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I play a character in it.
39:19
Yes, that's it. But he's.
39:24
It's so cool. It's so cool.
39:27
The music's cool. I was at GDC this year and I was
39:31
able to listen to Darren play the music of my character.
39:36
What the music that my character is a part of the Olympus update
39:42
and it's very it's very, very cool.
39:44
I was also got to go to Abbey Road and watch Austin, Austin
39:47
Wintree perform it get get get like a full orchestra and have
39:52
like a full choir do it. So I got to get to Abbey Road
39:55
and watch that, which was super, super neat.
39:57
I loved it. It was it's a it's a game that
40:00
that I've lucked into. There's another another game I
40:04
did this year. That I've been a part of.
40:07
It's not as well documented, but there's a video game that's
40:10
going to be released soon called Marathon for Bungie, and I got
40:15
to do something really unconventional with them.
40:17
I play our character in the game.
40:19
It hasn't been, haven't officially revealed it, but I
40:22
think some people have figured it.
40:24
Some people have figured it out. I there's a, an incredible
40:29
director called Alberto Mielgo who has worked on Into the
40:32
Spider verse and Love Death and Robots.
40:35
He's won Oscars, he's won Emmys, I think Golden Globes.
40:40
He's won lots of things. Correct me on the awards that
40:42
he's won, but he's very well decorated and they made, they
40:45
commissioned an 8 minute short by him for marathon.
40:50
It's been watched like nearly 2,000,000 times on YouTube and
40:53
it is this stunning artistic expression of what the world of
40:56
Marathon can be. And I got to voice the narrator
41:00
of that. And that was just a kind of a
41:03
pinch me moment, seeing what I was contributing to working with
41:06
a talent that I was working with.
41:07
And that was that really, that really pushed me quite a lot.
41:10
You know, Alberta came in with these incredible, incredibly
41:13
specific ideas. I want you to do it like this.
41:17
And I think I was able to kind of like carve out a little, a
41:20
little pocket where I was able to give him what he wanted, but
41:23
also kind of maybe add my own flavour to it as well.
41:25
And that was super, super rewarding.
41:27
So that was fun. Awesome.
41:30
So out of all the characters you've played, are there any
41:33
that you can relate to in a personal way?
41:35
Did you have any characters you had like a hard time letting go
41:38
of, like when the project ended? But you know what, I think in
41:44
video games, you can never let a character go because you can you
41:47
can perform it and then it becomes something else.
41:50
So it's not like it's not like a play.
41:54
Whereas once you've kind of done it, it kind of the that that
41:58
ethereal moment disappears. It's it's all but a memory with
42:02
the people who experienced it at that one time.
42:05
Video games take on a life of their own.
42:08
They take on they inspire people to do artwork, to do
42:11
impressions, to do music. All of this stuff we're seeing
42:13
with Claire Obscure Expedition 33, a game whose popularity is
42:17
only increasing by the day because the community want to
42:19
continually engage with it, reinvent stuff.
42:22
I saw this amazing artwork today of a re a reinterpreted version
42:27
of Verso had aspects of his life gone differently.
42:31
And I just thought, wow, the fact that you've come up with
42:33
that and then been able to picture that in your head and
42:35
then draw it. These characters live on and my
42:40
relationship with those characters also develops with
42:44
the community. Clive will always be my first.
42:48
He will always be my boy. He will be the person who has
42:51
I'm here. I will always be thankful to him
42:53
and I will never leave him behind.
42:56
He is, he is the, the, the rock on where I built my house,
43:01
right? And I will always be thankful to
43:03
him and I'll never leave him behind because he is the
43:07
character who allowed people to give me a chance.
43:11
I shouldn't have played this character.
43:12
I had no right to play this character.
43:14
But I but someone saw something in me and I ran with it.
43:19
And we've hopefully, you know, created something that's really
43:23
memorable for a lot of people. And I thank all the people that
43:25
continue to play Final Fantasy 16 and who allow Clive and
43:28
Clive's journey to kind of resonate with them.
43:30
It's incredible. But it means that I'm able to
43:32
then go off and do Prometheus or versa, or Dorian.
43:37
Like Dorian happened because of Final Fantasy 16.
43:40
I play a fuckable door because I play Clive Rossfield.
43:43
They're completely different characters.
43:45
But like, that's because Ray Chase was like, I was speaking
43:48
to Ray and Ray said, do you want to be a part of this game?
43:49
We're going to make you be a door.
43:50
I was like, great. Not just a door.
43:53
We're going to have you be 17. 17 doors and one of them's going
43:55
to be half naked. And he's going to be the trap.
43:59
The trap. What a thirst trap.
44:01
I didn't. I had no expectations for date
44:05
everything, and that wasn't that.
44:06
I didn't believe in the project. I thought the writing was
44:09
sensational and it was incredible to be a part of that.
44:12
I just didn't expect the Feral beautiful community to.
44:21
That is a game that is that brings me so much joy because
44:28
lots of people have played it. I think they announced the
44:30
500,000 copies, which for an indie game and for a visual
44:32
novel is insane. But go on TikTok and you will
44:36
see people who live these characters, who see themselves
44:39
in these characters, who are inspired to dress up as these
44:43
characters and feel completely empowered.
44:45
And it can be a Candelabra or it can be a hamper or it can be,
44:48
you know, some trash, but it makes people feel good and it
44:51
brings joy. And that is the power of why
44:54
we're like, all here is that is, is a, is a game that makes
44:59
people feel seen. And you go, I see myself in this
45:02
light switch. I'm going to, I'm going to dress
45:05
up as them and they're going to walk around packs and they're
45:07
going to feel like $1,000,000. And I'm like, yes, you fucking
45:10
are. Yes, you fucking are.
45:12
And I love, that's why I love seeing cosplay.
45:16
I love seeing in I, I love seeing kind of crazy different
45:20
versions of cosplays. I love seeing, I love seeing
45:23
women dressing up as Clive. I love seeing like whatever
45:29
height, whatever shape or size or age or whatever you are,
45:33
allow that character or your interpretation of that character
45:36
to to be an expression that makes you happy and makes you
45:39
feel powerful. So yeah, I, I love it and day
45:42
everything is is I, I fucking love date everything.
45:48
Fans are the coolest. They're so I think I like in my
45:51
career, I'm always there's always going to be.
45:54
I'm always just going to meet a little date everything, a little
45:56
date everything. Dorian will never leave me.
45:59
Well, maybe we'll get a date everything too, and we'll get
46:01
more versions of Dorian. I think there is so much
46:05
material for a date, for a date, everything too.
46:07
Yeah. Maybe Dorian will make a hey,
46:10
there's loads of different versions of him.
46:11
You know, everyone needs a door in their life speaking.
46:13
Of different versions and cosplay.
46:15
This is a picture that some of my friends took and I thought
46:17
you would really appreciate it. The firstly to your friends,
46:23
they look great. This makes me super happy
46:27
because this this is not the official Expedition 33 cosplay
46:33
at all, right? It's not the official, it's not
46:35
the what the expeditionist did, but it's become the official
46:37
Expedition 33. Yeah, it is the most
46:39
identifiable look of the game and it's become it's become part
46:44
of the iconography of it. And also it's really fucking
46:46
cheap. It's a cheap cosplay.
46:50
And and you know that my friends, like they say they love
46:52
it because it like invokes. Chaos, you know and that it's
46:55
silly it's subversive and everyone looks incredible
46:58
everyone looks so incredible and you walk around you know exactly
47:01
what it is and and that's what why we all dressed up when we
47:04
did IGN live in the summer that. Was awesome by the way.
47:07
Yeah, I said let's dress up in the in the baguette, Cosby.
47:10
Let's engage with the chaos and let's have a good time.
47:12
So it was. Yeah, it was really, really cool
47:14
and I love it. Awesome.
47:17
Let's talk about your DND here real quick because you know it.
47:20
It has recently like exploded big time.
47:23
Yeah, I feel like you have merchandise literally sell out
47:26
within minutes of it being 10. Minutes was the last time we.
47:29
Yeah, I know. It was like super incredible.
47:31
My friends were huge Natural 6 fans and introduced me and I got
47:34
my first Natural 6 experience at PAX East and I thought it was
47:37
just fun. And I've honestly, I've started
47:40
doing the podcast a little bit. Yeah, but like, what are the
47:45
what is the future hold for this show?
47:47
Like, do you plan on seeing yourselves becoming like the
47:49
British Critical Role? And no.
47:52
No, we, we don't like we don't. All we want to do is service the
47:59
community who that we have. We have this amazing dedicated
48:02
audience who are so engaged. We want to grow our fan base,
48:07
but we have no intentions of taking over the world.
48:10
We do it because we love it. Yeah.
48:11
And we've built this thing and this story that you get to
48:16
experience and we get to experience.
48:20
It's not just like doing a show. Every single time we perform it,
48:23
we're discovering something new about the world.
48:25
This is an entirely home brewed world by Harry.
48:27
Some revelations came out recently when we were recording,
48:29
which is just mind blowing. And I'm sitting there as a
48:32
player, but also a fan of this world and getting to play.
48:38
I don't get to play. My entire life has been me kind
48:42
of waiting for opportunities to have fun.
48:45
This is one right? Wait.
48:47
We just created it. It's entirely created by us.
48:50
It's me and my friends sitting around a table and, and, and
48:54
playing and exploring and Holly calls it millennial therapy.
49:00
You know, it's it's we're all self inserts of our characters
49:03
in some way. And there's so much more of this
49:06
story to go. We're like about 3738 episodes
49:09
in. And like, each episode is
49:12
several, several hours long, so it's. 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 hours
49:17
usually. So it's incredible that the
49:19
campaign has just been going on for this.
49:21
Long and we get and we have a really kind of a consistent fan
49:24
base and and they're really, really wonderful.
49:26
And we're hoping to, you know, like you say, people who people
49:29
who love it, they're invested and they will come back every
49:31
single week. And I thank every single person
49:33
who's kind of stuck with it and will continue to stick with it.
49:35
We don't want to be critical, critical, critical role.
49:39
We wanted to be our own, be our own thing.
49:41
And I think we discovered that and we want to do interesting
49:44
things that make us individual. And that's why we have a stupid
49:49
show. Whenever we go to a convention,
49:51
we have we have two shows. We do a live show and then we do
49:53
a show which is called Smash a Pass Without Trace, which is
49:56
incredibly unhealthy and dangerous, where we go through
49:58
the Monster Manual Roller Big D20 and we go through the
50:00
Monster Manual. Then we ask the audience, or we
50:01
decide whether or not we would be in a consensual relationship
50:04
with that monster and whether you smash a Pass Without Trace.
50:07
And I love like all the arguments I'm about like, well,
50:10
what about this? And well, technically, you know,
50:12
it's all hand, so how could it be bad?
50:14
It comes down. To teeth, it comes down to
50:16
holes, it comes down to demeanour.
50:19
You know there was one that came up which was on a gnat 1 Is it?
50:22
Would you smash your pass without trace commoners?
50:27
Would you? And the person was like, no.
50:29
No, yeah. Like it's like you'd, you'd he's
50:33
like an absolutely fucking mind flare, but the poor.
50:35
No, but ultimately we we know what it is, which is absolutely
50:43
a bit of fun. It's always 18 rated.
50:45
But as with all things, we're looking to find common ground.
50:49
And it's a fun and playful way of all of us engaging around a
50:52
central idea of what, why? Let's argue, let's have fun.
50:55
Let's like debate and it's it's just debating and being fun for
50:59
the sake of. It no it it definitely is fun.
51:02
I love just seeing like, obviously it's like impromptu
51:06
and you guys probably make Harry like just OK, I got to go with
51:09
this now. Yeah, I mean, we the the cast
51:12
is, is kind of crazy. Like Harry is a phenomenal stage
51:15
actor, but also, you know, some people know him from the Lost
51:17
Kingdom, some people know him from Zeta Blade 3.
51:20
Or Noah and Zoom. Yeah, Zen Blade three.
51:22
Yeah, he's that's his an amazing, amazing performer and
51:26
has built this world from the ground up and plays all the
51:29
characters other than us. He's super, super gifted.
51:34
And then you know, we've got Doug Cockle, who's Geralt of
51:36
Rivier. We've got me.
51:37
We've got Alex Jordan, who if you haven't played the altars,
51:40
go and play the altars. It's an amazing video game that
51:42
came out this year. I think he plays 11 different
51:45
versions of the same character. We actually did a one shot for
51:48
the altars in which we play different versions of Jan Alex
51:51
is an amazing, amazing actor. Then we've got Holly and Ether
51:56
and like Ethan now works for Larry and previously Eurogamer,
52:00
Holly works for Final Fantasy 14, previously PlayStation
52:03
Access, and everyone brings their own experiences and we
52:06
just have fun. And we are, we're not the same
52:08
person. We're all very different people
52:11
and those different textures of personality really kind of gel
52:14
together to create our own little brand of of chaos, and
52:17
it's super, super fun. Yeah, very fun.
52:21
Well, what's what's go on for your future here like?
52:26
Let me let everything in the share 1000 Ndas for you.
52:31
Please do. Preview here.
52:33
What's my future? I genuinely don't know.
52:38
You know what? I'm doing some more stuff with
52:40
Balatro which is fun. OK, that's awesome.
52:43
I I love Playstack. They've been very good to me.
52:49
I've got some other collaborations coming out soon
52:51
that will surprise people. I want to surprise people.
52:53
Yeah, I have a lot of people approach me and say, Ben, would
52:56
you like to do this? And 90% of the time it will be a
52:59
no, not because I don't want to do it, just because I don't have
53:02
time. So the stuff that I do want to
53:04
do is always going to be, is it weird?
53:07
Is it different? Is it unexpected?
53:08
The moment that someone can predict that you're going to do
53:10
something, it kind of becomes boring.
53:12
And that's not to say that I won't do similar things.
53:16
Hey, I've come back for Final Fantasy Tactics, right?
53:19
But again, I haven't come back as a hero.
53:21
I've come back as dice dog. And anyone who's played Final
53:23
Fantasy Tactics knows that guy's a prick.
53:26
Yes, he is. So I want to be surprising.
53:31
I want people to see me go. Well, of course Ben's being
53:35
weird, but I'm excited to see he's being weird in this
53:38
different key. And that's why where Balatro is
53:42
so wonderful because it's such a subversive video game.
53:49
And they are. And local Funk is such a
53:50
subversive person and play stack embrace that.
53:55
And I'm excited to see what we do next.
53:57
And. And I just want to do cool, do
54:00
cool shit. You know, I say this repeatedly.
54:04
Very serious actor, not a serious person.
54:06
Yeah, so and let me break your heart in a video game and then
54:11
you'll see me in real life and go fuck, that guy's not serious.
54:16
I have said this before on a podcast, but the day that I got
54:21
a comment under one of my videos, which was Ben, you're
54:24
ruining the character of Clive for me is one of my favorite
54:27
comments I've ever got. Just might be just by me being a
54:29
person is great. You're ruining the character of
54:32
Clive. Fucking no, I made that
54:35
character. But I I, I like it because
54:38
people want, you know, they're very they're very protective
54:41
over their characters and they don't want necessarily there to
54:43
be an actor behind it. And I'm just going, let's
54:46
engage. We can engage in both.
54:48
We can be both respectful of the character, but also playful with
54:51
the way that we approach it. And that's what I love.
54:53
I love creating scenarios where the audience feel free to be to
54:57
be crazy. It was so cool when I was
55:00
announced as Prometheus, the amount of artwork that I saw,
55:02
which was insane of Prometheus and Clive combined because
55:06
they're both kind of like fire characters and so people would
55:09
would doing that. Or the amount of times I've seen
55:13
Verso Balatro crossovers or I've seen Arthur and Balatro
55:17
crossovers. Me being involved in that video
55:21
game is entirely down to Rebecca Ford, the creative director of
55:23
Warframe, who was having a conversation with WOWT, who
55:27
works for Playstack and and Wow just said, do you think Ben Star
55:30
would be interested in being the live action version of Jimbo
55:32
from Malatro? And Reb messaged me going, do
55:35
you want to do it? And I said yeah.
55:37
And that's how it came about. So it's Rebecca Ford, who I
55:39
think is one of the great creative forces in this
55:42
industry. If you haven't worked with her
55:43
or met her, she's the best. She's so wonderful to her
55:49
employees, to her cast, to her video game.
55:51
And I think she's a testament to like hard work and quality and
55:55
just being good at what you do and nice.
55:58
And we Rebecca also doesn't have an, you know, doesn't Rebecca
56:02
allows intrusive thoughts to just be said out loud.
56:04
And Harry and I together are a chaotic combination of should we
56:07
do this? Yes.
56:09
Does it sound like a bad idea? Yes.
56:11
Then let's do it. Let's do.
56:12
It let's do it because what's the worst?
56:14
What's the worst that can happen?
56:15
You know, quite a lot of things are bad, but we we egg each
56:19
other on to do stuff and it's always been it's always yielded
56:23
fun and interesting results. Even if it's bad, at least it'll
56:26
be interesting. I wasn't able to go to 10 Ocon
56:29
this year, which is the convention that they have
56:31
dedicated to Warframe and they said, well, we'd love to have
56:36
you anyway, what can we do? And they suggested that I, I
56:40
stream in live, but they had a, a Samsung smart fridge.
56:45
So I called in live from the Samsung smart fridge.
56:51
So there was a whole joke that I was an AI trapped inside of the
56:53
fridge. So there is footage from telecon
56:56
of me just like close up being like, hi, I'm stuck inside this
56:58
fridge. Sorry guys, I can't be there
57:00
because it's just so stupid. But really, really fun.
57:04
And they they engage in that kind of lunacy with me.
57:08
Awesome. Well, we're kind of coming up to
57:11
the the end here and we are super grateful that you did take
57:16
the time here to, you know, talk to us.
57:18
There's so many more questions. I would.
57:19
Love what other ones? What other ones you got?
57:21
OK if you could, if any video game could be remade and you
57:26
were casted in it, what game and character would you be?
57:30
I know and answer that question. My official answer is always I
57:34
want to see new games. I want to see new games.
57:36
Always I want to, I want to be the person that lays the
57:38
blueprint for those characters and for that question to be
57:41
asked about me. You know, I'd love to play this
57:43
character because of XY and Z, because Ben's performance was
57:46
really, really great. You know, there's a reason why I
57:48
want to be those characters because like David Haye was
57:50
incredible as Snake or you know, Jennifer Hale was incredible as
57:55
as Shepherd or whatever that that's what you want.
57:59
I've been very vocal about Legacy of Kane.
58:03
Good game that needs to come back.
58:04
Yeah, it does. It needs to come back in
58:05
whatever capacity it comes back and needs to come back, whether
58:08
it's a new game, whether it's an old game where it's a revisiting
58:10
of. I could see you as Kane.
58:13
I've been, I've been. I said ages ago that I wanted to
58:16
play Raziel. But a lot of people have said,
58:17
actually, I think you'd be better as Kane.
58:19
And to be honest, I really don't mind.
58:21
I can be an entirely. I'll be I'll be Yannis Audrin.
58:24
I don't mind like put me, I'd love to be a part of that game
58:28
because it's full of so many interesting, complex characters
58:31
and it's a world Nosgoth has thousands of years of history to
58:33
explore in it. It doesn't just have to be what
58:35
you know, Kane and Raziel experienced.
58:37
There is this rich, rich world. So I'd love to see, you know,
58:42
Crystal Dynamics or whoever has the rights to it explore that.
58:45
And I, I've contributed a bit to, to this literature out there
58:50
of I did a voice over for a lost in Colts kind of Kickstarter, I
58:57
think, or whatever they do back a kit to get the TTRPG up and
59:01
running. I they're really nice and
59:03
supportive over there, but I'd love to see whatever it is they
59:05
do next with that. But yeah, new games, let's play,
59:08
let's make new stuff. Yeah, I think, I think 2025, we
59:12
are too reliant on nostalgia to satisfy our new That said, I am
59:19
super excited about MGS 3D, right?
59:23
But I can say in the same breath that the the hypocrisy is there.
59:26
I want that nostalgia because I know it and it's comforting, but
59:29
at the same time I want to be surprised.
59:31
It's why it's why you like Expedition 33, because it
59:33
surprised you. It's why blueprints, I like
59:36
blueprints because it surprised me.
59:37
Let's let's take away the comfort of knowing that
59:41
something's going to be good, and let's embrace the surprising
59:44
chaos of whether something might be good.
59:47
Like let's find out our future nostalgia.
59:49
To quote Dua Lipa, you know, let's create future nostalgia
59:53
with new cool games. And I want to contribute to new
59:56
cool games. Well, I would say one final
59:59
question. Do you see yourself continuing
1:00:02
video game voice acting, or do you see yourself branching out
1:00:05
back into TV? This is it.
1:00:06
I'm done now. You're done.
1:00:07
No, I you. I'm done.
1:00:09
This is it. This is my farewell.
1:00:12
Royalties. Do I?
1:00:13
Fuck I I'm not leaving here. This is an amazing community,
1:00:21
the video game community to be a part of.
1:00:23
There are so many other cool things to do here.
1:00:26
I love it both, you know, in games, outside of games, talking
1:00:30
about games, engaging with games.
1:00:32
It's it's untrod snow and I can't wait to shove some of my
1:00:35
footprints in it. So yeah, I'm I'm staying here
1:00:38
and as long as it feels fun and creative, I don't really mind.
1:00:41
So. Well, everyone, thank you so
1:00:43
much for staying tuned with us here with this wonderful
1:00:46
interview with Ben Starr. Also, I want to thank Taylor.
1:00:50
This is her last episode with me, and you know, I'm going to
1:00:54
miss her. She's gonna focus on other
1:00:56
things here, but you know, it's this.
1:01:00
Is your last episode. Yeah.
1:01:03
I don't know, I'm debating now. Don't leave us, Taylor.
1:01:07
I Taylor, what are you doing? Yeah, I've I've, I've tried to
1:01:11
convince her to stay, but. You, Taylor, What the fuck you?
1:01:19
Know I'm going to stay you know that's a.
1:01:20
Guilt trip. Well, that's fun.
1:01:23
That's really fun. Congratulations on going on to
1:01:25
whatever it is you go on to. Oh, thank you.
1:01:27
Yeah. I hope that you have a nice time
1:01:29
doing it. Yeah.
1:01:30
And thanks for letting me be your last.
1:01:33
It's a phrase I'd never thought I'd say.
1:01:36
Is that OK? Then let me let me tell you a
1:01:38
story, OK? I'm a tailor.
1:01:41
Literally one day before I met you.
1:01:43
No way. Yeah, I met like we we, we
1:01:47
communicated through through Twitter.
1:01:50
But like, we officially met at PAX.
1:01:53
And you know what? I actually used you to meet her
1:01:56
because I was like, hey, there is going to be a panel.
1:01:59
Ben Star is going to be on it. It was your future game show.
1:02:03
But then we realized it was a video.
1:02:04
So yeah, I never got to, you know, bring her to you.
1:02:10
But. Look at it.
1:02:14
That was that I loved in the future game show was fun.
1:02:17
And then the I got to do the golden joysticks that same year,
1:02:22
which was really fun. Yeah, they're nice.
1:02:24
The future team are really, really fun.
1:02:26
I'm glad that I'm you're welcome on behalf of me.
1:02:29
You're welcome for being friends.
1:02:32
But yeah, thanks for letting me complete the complete square,
1:02:36
the circle, as it says. But no, don't leave.
1:02:40
If you leave, I'll be very sad, Taylor.
1:02:42
You don't, Taylor, You don't want to.
1:02:44
You don't want to make me sad. You don't want to be sad.
1:02:48
OK, we've this. Is a good?
1:02:52
This is my sad face. As, as Ben would say in a
1:02:55
different game, it's not the life he wanted.
1:02:58
Yeah, I don't want this life and I can't say what game that's
1:03:03
from, but yeah, yeah. I would love to say, I would
1:03:08
love to talk to you off Mike, just just to tell you my
1:03:11
thoughts on that. But lovely, we will do that
1:03:13
right now. Anyways.
1:03:14
Thank you again. Thank you.
1:03:16
Have yourselves a great day. Bye bye.
1:03:24
If you want to see how you can become a Patreon producer, head
1:03:27
on over to patreon.com/boss Rush Network.
1:03:31
The Patreon producers for this month are Adriel Munger, Austin
1:03:36
Campbell, Celeste Roberts, Sana Dyrig, Francisco Santilin,
1:03:42
Matthew Keel, and Christian S Thanks for your continued
1:03:47
support of the Boss Rush Network.