Post "Submit Your Question For The MinnMax Show Podcast" by "minnmax" from patreon

MyNameIsDan

This is the level of detail in a response I'm looking for!!

Andy Weas

Benny & the Jorts! It's so fun to see everyone's take on beauty in games, but for me, one of the most beautiful games ever made has to be Limbo. The art style lends a haunting aesthetic to a world that I haven't felt has been captured in 2D since.

Dusty Beaman

Negative in all aspects: taste of current bite, taste of the rest of the slice, and the awkwardness of trying to get the cheese all in your mouth and/or disconnected

Fred Dinovo

Howdy might be late to submit but any game by Vanillaware is in the running for most beautiful games. Odin Sphere Muramasa The Demon Blade 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim Unicorn Overlord Plus that freaky RTS game I can't remember All bangers

Ari Torbin

Hi Minnmax, When thinking of “most beautiful games” to me there’s something about the 3D rendered backgrounds found in PS1 games. They still make an impact on me today. It somehow allowed my imagination to really dive into those worlds has kid. Legend of Dragoon is a personal favorite of mine, man that water still looks so good.

CptCobblePot

Hey Crew, Panic studios send a really cool gift if you beat “Thank Goodness Your Here”. It was nice to see the passion of the team in your recent video (which you can find on the Minnmax YouTube channel, become a Patreon at the $10 tier to get 8 hours of this). Should more studios give out prizes for beating their game? What would you get for: Red Dead 2, All 3 FF7 remakes, Astro Bot. Feel free to add more titles.

Beau Bakken

What Remains of Edith Finch as most beautiful. My question for this week is this: Is there a funnier line in any song than this gem by Weird Al Yankovic: "You think your Commodore 64 is really neato, · What kinda chip you got in there, a Dorito?"

Blunkers

How many potatoes do you think you've eaten in your lifetime?

HaulingGas

I nominate Red Dead Redemption 2 as the most beautiful game ever made. Surprisingly I only saw one other comment mention it, so I had to jump in. The game is both artistically and technically breathtaking and it's one of the few examples of the setting and the landscapes feeling inseparable from the themes and the story (we all remember Arthur staring at the sunset). I think the cherry on top is that most of the cutscenes can happen at any time of day and somehow, no matter the time, they all look absolutely stunning. I honestly think Rockstar will have a hard time topping this game's beauty in any of their future work.

Felix davin

Hey Minnmax, simple question here : is game music heard by the characters ? Is Link so brave because he's constantly hearing a heroic tune outside and is slowly going mad from it and takes it out on monsters ? Are Castlevania characters so jumpy and agile because of the cool upbeat music they keep hearing throughout the castle ? Baldur's Gate 3's Raphael fight has diegetic music, but then maybe so is the rest of the game music! ! ! ! Bonne journée les amis. Félix

mantaguy

As tempting as it would be to say "Okami!" and end the discussion right now, I'm actually going to go to bat for both Breath Of The Wild and Tears of The Kingdom. The watercolor aesthetics combine with the music to create a really tangible sense of mournfulness that is going to stick with me for the rest of my life.

MyNameIsDan

Okay friends, we've all had it happen to us before and it's nothing to feel embarrassed about, but we need to have an open discussion about it - have you ever taken a bite of pizza and had all of the cheese come off at once? You know you've been here, and you know what it's like. My question to you is, is this a net positive, negative, or neutral experience? You may now have a nice honkin' piece of cheese to devour, but you also have a sad cheeseless pizza. Discuss.

DubZe27

Hey all, Just got done with watching PsychOdyssey and I can't emphasize enough how great it was. Anyone who is interested in videos games or the creative process should give it a watch. I really appreciate all the love you gave it. It was great to watch all the content immediately after to gain even more insight. Ben, my wife thinks you are handsome, should I be concerned. Thanks, DubZe27

Brad Beyer

Hey crew! Is it really unreasonable to consider Silksong to be in development Hell at this point? It’s become the big joke now at every gaming presentation to spam chat with the title 3 million times, but the discussion I hear often surrounding it every time it doesn’t show up is “Don’t worry about it. There’s nothing wrong. Give them time and it will be great.” It wouldn’t be an issue of course if the game hadn’t been featured in that Xbox show some years ago where they advertised Silksong and all the other games as coming out in the next 12 months, but Team Cherry knew that was the pitch going in, so in my mind it’s fair to say that either they knew they were never going to hit that date and just lied to get the Xbox spotlight, or there genuinely have been some major problems in development that have yet to be resolved years and years later. Would love to know your thoughts. Thanks! Brad Beyer Alpena, MI

alexok37

You have my attention. Many thanks friend

Kendra

I've not played that one but I hate it when that happens.

Bon Jon Bovi

The most beautiful visuals I have ever seen are in the original Xenoblade Chronicles. Nearly every area is uniquely gorgeous, but Eryth Sea in particular had my jaw on the floor: an archipelago of floating islands are lit from below by a glowing lake, as shooting stars fall above a sleek futuristic castle. Truly otherworldly (and fully explorable!) Here's a picture: https://images.app.goo.gl/duW9kpbKW7MtYS1A6

Galexzzz

Yeah that’s the point of my question. I’d probably include something like Nintendo EPD which is several teams all with top tier projects and also at least one or two indie level teams like Supergiant. And if I wanted to rebuild gaming culture to be super weird I’d include Daniel Mullins too

Ben with one N

If you ever see the Kind Ice Cream bars, I consider those to be the perfected form of the Snickers Ice Cream bar. The chocolate is insane.

Ben with one N

Hey friends! A while back on the podcast there was a conversation about whether or not our reality is simulated. I wanted to throw out a thought experiment. In a hypothetical universe where intelligent life eventually comes to exist, it stands to reason that this intelligent lifeform would try to understand its universe's own origin event (in our case, what we call the big bang). As part of this learning process, it might try to recreate their Big Bang in a computer. However, in doing so, it may (intentionally or unintentionally) create child universes that are less complex but resemble the parent universe. What if our universe is just the result of a graduate student's thesis project in a parent universe?

Sheena Woodfield

I got a kick out of the promo code “pashingsmumpkins” in last weeks episode, because “pashing” is Aussie slang for kissing. Dunno what a smumpkin is, but sounds like you’re having a good time with it. What’s your favourite slang word?

MrButtons

Hey MinnMax! Having replayed the game last month, I think Journey has to at least be in the top five for most beautiful games ever made. The sunset surfing sequence is an obvious standout, but I also love the use of blue tones during the temple chapter that makes you feel like you’re suddenly in an ocean. There’s some surprisingly varied color and environment choices throughout the Journey that make it stand out as more than just “the pretty desert game.”

Crazydude

Candycorn is basically the American equivalent of Marzipan on birthday cakes. Awful stuff.

Kenny Long - Delusional Madman

Most beautiful game ever made? Call me biased (i mean look at my profile picture), but no game that I’ve played besides Persona 3 can capture so much about the nature of inevitable death and yet, even in acknowledging that fact, can turn around and tell us to not be paralyzed by that realization but instead leads us to internalize that as a reason in and of itself that should motivate us and gives life its most precious meaning. In spite of life seeming cruel and fleeting at its shallowest level, there is limitless depth that makes life worth living.

Onlinesquid

Is FF 7 rebirth just a podcast game in disguise?

Kelsey Sims

There's some recency bias since I just finished it last week, but I think Elden Ring - specifically Shadow of the Erdtree - is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. There's a lot of grotesque enemies and locations throughout FromSoftware's library, but there's also a lot of beauty, and I was in awe of what this DLC had in store. From the vibrant sea of flowers on the Cerulean Coast to the storm-addled Jagged Peak, even the Abyssal Woods had its own haunting charm.

Dixon Denham

My nightly ritual for the past week has been to play a couple hours of Silent Hill 2 followed by a couple levels of Astro Bot and by god has it ever been the perfect pairing. Pure tension and terror followed by an amuse-bouche of joy before bed. And look Mom! No nightmares! Do the cohorts have any game combos that have been perfect pairings them?

alexok37

Guilty pleasure snack of choice and whose is the objective 100% factuallly correct choice?. If it's not Snickers Ice Cream you guys are wrong sorry.

Poofydoo

Do you ever refuse to play a certain song so that your streaming service doesn’t think you actually wanted to hear that song? Recently a friend wanted me to play a song. I reluctantly played it since he was with me and I stopped it finished so that Apple Music wouldn’t categorize it as recently played.

Poofydoo

It’s not good. Even if you didn’t play other RPGs at the time you still knew it wasn’t good 🤣

Dusty Beaman

How big does a game development have to be to be considered a "studio"? Like some of these indie developers are like a 1 man/woman show ya know....

Dusty Beaman

Well, I sure wouldn't pick EA....

Dusty Beaman

Elden Ring would be the one I recommend actually because you can go get better around the world before you take on the big bosses. Guides can help too

Dusty Beaman

The ending of Outriders was so dumb. I hated it. The DLC is currently on sale for like $12 (started at $40 I think) and I still refuse to buy it and jump back in

Dusty Beaman

Yeah, that's tough. I'd try to have a palette cleanser game in between. Even if it's only a demo or for a week and then you never finish the palette cleanser game. That might help?

BEEFCAKE

That's a good idea

Dusty Beaman

I would try to pin a few games to the default home screen so he doesn't have to find them

Dusty Beaman

Pennsylvania has nice rest stops and many are very beautiful in the fall

Dusty Beaman

Frey in Forspoken. The movement is awesome.

Dusty Beaman

This is a really helpful explanation, thank you!

Dusty Beaman

Both Octopath Traveler games made me feel this way

Jason Wojnar

I recently made a reel on Instagram that is going viral In a small way. Not millions but its showing up in other people's feeds and getting lots of comments. Unfortunately, it's also getting A LOT of negativity and hate lol (but also a lot of laughs and agreement, it's about a divisive issue) What advice do you have to keep your head above the water of hatred we all risk drowning under?

Kenjamin

Most beautiful game ever made: Inside. There’s such minimal, yet provocative imagery throughout the whole game, often feeling beautiful in a way that only a game ever could, yet hadn’t in the past.

Joshua H.

What’s up MinnMax! With all the talk about Halo moving to Unreal Engine I’ve been thinking. How do you all feel about the main stream shift to a more universal engine? What do we lose and gain and do you think the gain outweighs the loss? Thanks for everything and hope all is well!

Dusty Beaman

kettle corn is MVP here

Dusty Beaman

Kingdom Hearts 3

Dusty Beaman

Do you really hoard like a pharaoh or a pariah? Either way, I get it (I think)

Braulio Martinez

No Dragon Ball Sparking Zero???!! If Ben/Kyle/anyone played it, what did you think of the story mode? Basically, it is separated by characters and rushed through to the point Goku transforms into Super Saiyan for the first time OFFSCREEN. If you played it, what did you think?

Dusty Beaman

Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, Elden Ring, Horizon Zero Dawn, A Link to the Past

Dusty Beaman

yes, i don't want to smell myself

Dusty Beaman

at least one pizza with no veggies for me. ya'll can do w/e you want but I want cheese or pepperoni or sausage or some combo of those

Dusty Beaman

Yes

Dusty Beaman

Forspoken

Dusty Beaman

Chrono Trigger or A Link to the Past....maybe some other SNES game

Dusty Beaman

Persona: Metaphor; Unicorn Overlord

Dusty Beaman

Coaching my son's baseball team

Dusty Beaman

WoW

Dusty Beaman

Nintendo vacuum. "Nintendo knows how to suck"

Dusty Beaman

I believe if you turn off the "Auto-advance" thing (triangle on PS5), then the game will not advance, thereby pausing it

Dusty Beaman

Same. Our parents didn't let us watch it as young kids and by the time I could have chosen to watch it, I wasn't interested. Still not interested

Dusty Beaman

Like what?

CaffeineDad

Hey y’all! This week, The Pokémon Company experienced a huge leak involving source code and general Pokémon world building and lore, with some Pokémon getting cancelled for unearthed potential lore about them. First, why do gamers keep on hacking and leaking info from game companies like this when it just seems like it hurts the companies and the games that we love? And, more importantly, if Pokémon were real, which Pokémon do you feel would be cancelled the quickest and why?

John Connor

With spooky season coming up, I have a spine tingling question for you. As someone that doesn't handle horror well, last year I played Alan Wake the way the devs intended, all lights on with a video podcast on the second monitor, I was wondering though are there any non-horror games or game sections you were disproportionately afraid of or had spooky experiences with? As a kid if I got stuck in Hyrule field at night, I would just swim in circles in Hyrule Village moat to avoid the monsters until sunrise, I also had a used copy with the previous owners save file on it, and the first time I loaded into their save, I was in the Temple of time as adult link, walked outside, met redeads for the first time and instantly turned the game off terrified I had done something wrong.

Tess

Hey all! I was wondering Leo and/or Jacob could talk a bit about how their experience being on Nebula is, if they think Nebula should expand more into gaming content, and if they have any other creators they'd want to shout out.

Tom Bowen

We're a few months away from game of the year season. With that in mind I'm making an effort to complete games that are bound to come up so I don't have to skip spoiler sections like I do most years. Some games are obvious, but what games do you think are non-obvious picks that will come up in discussions, especially for stuff like "best moment".

Kevin Meisinger

I've been playing Metaphor: Refantazio and the boss designs are wild. As a first time Atlus player I'm not sure if this is a normal thing in their titles, but I can't figure out how they come up with this stuff. Frogs, an egg, a heart and little soldiers are all part of one boss encounter and that's not even every element. . One theory I have is the creature designer finds random things in their room and puts them together in wild ways. Look around your room now. What random things are you putting together to make your wild boss encounter for Metaphor 2?

Galexzzz

Hey MinnMax crew, I got a silly hypothetical for you guys. Imagine if every single game studio was wiped out in some catastrophic event but we were given the chance to save five of them to rebuild the entire gaming landscape with. Which five studios would you choose to keep to reimagine how humanity would rebuild the culture of gaming? Some things to consider keeping in mind: How would you balance the number of AAA, AA, and indie studios? Would you keep studios known for creating multiple genres or one genre really well? Would you save a spot (or multiple) for the studio behind your favourite game(s)?

Christian Jimenez

Currently playing Death Stranding (for the first time) and I find it gorgeous! Not just from a pure technical perspective but traversing those landscapes when a Low Roar song hits, hits differently.

Roman Goossens

I have a question to the community, and maybe for the podcast 😃. I have tried and tried to enjoy Elden Ring, which came out on my birthday February 25th. But for some reason the game never clicked for me. I find the combat too brutal and the vibe too dark. I guess I'm bad as Souls games. Question: what game would you recommend for a newbie in the Souls genre which is relatively easy and which I can learn the mechanics with? I love open worlds like breath of the wild or narrative games like last of us. Thanks !!

Kendra

Has there ever been a moment in a game where you felt utterly betrayed? I had one where I had to Old Yeller a pet and it wrecked me. I cried like a baby and almost stopped playing. I was so close to the end that my husband managed to convince me to see it through but it was rough.

Rikimaru

Hey, MinnMax! How do you handle back-to-back games (or movies/tv) that are in a very similar genre you're interested in? I am loving Metaphor and really want to try Dragon Quest 3, Romancing Saga 2, and Fantasian for the first time. They all come out within the next 2 months and I am worried about genre fatigue or subconsciously comparing them all with eachother. Curious how you handle something like this. Thanks for all you do!

Luca Alberti

I know I'm pandering but I don't care: I'm submitting IMMORTALITY as the most beautiful game ever made: some of the most beautiful musical sequences in all of gaming. It's VERY gimicky, you have fun learning the rules and how the game progresses just like a board game. The story is deep and touching. And it's wonderful to look at of course.

Matthew W

One of the most beautiful games ever - Wind Waker HD. The bold cel shading and lighting, the great character expressions, Link's fluid, balletic movement, and the Great Sea merging with the horizon.

Julie Miner

Pick for (aesthetically) beautiful game: Sea of Thieves, specifically for the water! Pick for narritively beautiful game: Celeste

Julie Miner

Concurrent players is a better indicator for how active a game is, which affects how likely you are for actually getting into a match. Like, if a 1 v 1 game had 1 million total players over time, but only had 2 concurrent players right now, you'll only be able to play when one of those 2 players stops playing, so you could be waiting a while

Parker Aden

Hello!!!!!!!!! How many of the cohorts have played the Sly Cooper games? Can Leo rank them along with anyone else who has played them?

Gerry McCray

I’ve had GameFly since 2010 and it’s great. I will say that in general they have pretty good price discounts if you want to keep the games you rent. I probably keep 90% of the games I rent because I hoard physical games like a pharaoh and it’s probably saved me a large amount of money.

Seth Filbin

In the spirit of Red Dead 2 being (objectively) the most beautiful game ever made, will Leo and Haley ever get the Troupe back together? I need me some Pilon antics!

Joshua

Hi Everyone, Whenever I hear someone talk about Neva, the song from The Greatest Showman, "Never Enough" pops into my head "never enough, never never" sounds more like Neva But anyway, is there a random song that pops into your head from a game title (not from the game)

Graham Gilmore

Pick for beautiful game: you might hate the gameplay, but I don’t think anything has come close to replicating a 1930’s cartoon like the way Cuphead does.

Travis in Fargo

What’s the most low effort halloween costume you’ve worn? One year I wrapped my arms in foil and called myself Burrito Arms.

Vilis

In a very Jerry Seinfeld voice: "What's the deal with Quest 64?" It was 7th on the MinnMax list of what people were playing over the weekend, and I feel this needs to be addressed: has anyone on the podcast played Quest 64? Have they even seen it? Does it sound like a fake game? I played it back in the '90's, and it was not good, but was curious how others felt.

BEEFCAKE

My dad will be recovering from neck surgery for awhile, and he requested to borrow a game console. He hasn't played video games really since Hot Shots golf Fore! On ps2. Do you have any recommendations for Olds who are easily overwhelmed complicated newer games? I'm giving him a series S and downloaded a bunch of gamepass games. But honestly I could see the console itself being too overwhelming to navigate

Nyx

I’m late on this but Metaphor has been a very strange game to play for me. I’m coming off very fresh from soul hackers 2 and smt vv so metaphor was very strange at first. You’ve got the press turn system from mainline smt (in my opinion its one of the best turn based battle mechanic ever), I’m noticing some move animations that look like they were pulled from sh2 and smtvv, especially the biting based skills, that animation is near identical to soul hackers. Surprisingly the move names are what have me the most off kilter, they changed all the elemental spells, except light for some reason, buffs are still the usual -kaja -kunda suffix system, some healing spells have the same name, some don’t, its very strange.

Mike Lynch

What's the best Rest Stop you've ever been to? It can be fancy, or have a great view. But it could also just be a nice, clean place. ( mine is the Pennsylvania Welcome Center on I-81

Graham Gilmore

What’s more important: the thing being dipped (e.g. chip, cracker, vegetable etc.) or the actual dip itself?

Chree McGee

Hey Minnmax! Over the Summer I replayed "Mario Odyssey", which in my humble opinion is a game with the most fun-to-control character in all of video games. What would be your pick for the most fun-to-control?

AnAttackCorgi

Despite the ruthless nature of the games journalism industry, you all are still kicking butt (“slaying”, even). What motivates you to get up every day and be a games journalist? ‘Cause it sure ain’t the job security or just about the money.

Snoozy

I commented last week on youtube about getting an Alarmo and Janet told me to follow up with my thoughts. After using it for one night: it's a nice clock, but the alarms suck. I thought that if I turned off motion sensing it would basically just play Nintendo music, but instead it just pretends that you're moving a bunch constantly and the sounds drown out the music entirely. I actually do like the clock, when my cat wakes me up at night and I check the time I see a little sleeping Oatchi from Pikmin, the sleepy sounds and hourly chimes are cute, and there's a funky novelty to having it on my bedside table. But I'm considering turning the alarm off entirely. The problem is that using an Alarmo with no alarm would force me to take a good long look inside myself to ask what I have become.

JHerb

I'm also a candy corn hater. Give me some good caramel corn or kettle corn any day.

Shimmy Neutron

Gross 😆

Graham Jones

I may just be a dumby but why do concurrent players matter in multiplayer games? Should it not be about the total number of players over time that matters?

Graham Jones

Hello cohorts, I've been listening to the comedy bang bang podcast recently and I feel like the host Scott Aukerman has a lot of similarities to Ben in that he way he has the right balance of asking questions, being goofy and cracking jokes. But that had me thinking... What do you need from the host as a guest for the podcast to run smoothly? Can a podcast still be a good listen even if the hosting isn't top notch?

Aging_Poorly

Other than any charity stream or the like, what is the longest gaming session you’ve had with a single game as an adult? What was the game and how long was it?

Crazydude

I was playing the first DKC, and there was this weird feeling of nostalgia while playing it. The thing is, I was 1 when it came out and I didn’t grow up with it. Something about the game just brings out the nostalgia in me. Are there any games that you didn’t grow up with, that upon playing it as an adult made you feel nostalgic?

Josh LaBaw

Can Kelsey come on & wax poetic about the NY Mets this year?

Travis in Fargo

A great sequel obviously builds on the mechanics and gameplay of the previous game(s), but what sequel do you think learned the most WRONG lessons from its predecessor(s)?

JHerb

The season of candy corn is upon us. What is the MinnMax corn tier list? Does candy corn reign supreme over the likes of popped corn, kettle corn, corn on the cob, grilled corn, cornbread?

Stevo

I like this approach to beautiful, and I'll second To The Moon. Add beautiful music to the list too :)

Phelix Diaz

Should picking up currency in games be considered an old game design idea? I have been playing Tiny Tina"s Wonderlands and it feels like such a chore. Then seeing how the new Mario and Luigi: Brothership has a mechanic, where Luigi becomes your personal assistant and picks up items for you, makes it feel like agony by comparison.

Muffyn Crumbs

It's finally happening!! They're making a sequel to Alien Isolation!! What sequel came out that you thought would never happen?

Patrick G

Hello I wanted to add to the Gamefly comment someone wrote in about last week. I started using the service this January and so far have been able to play 13 games. Prince of Persia Wario Ware Advance wars FF7 Rebirth Mario Vs Donkey Kong Blashphamous 2 thousand year door Dragons Dogma 2 Deadspace Remake Luigi's Mansion 2 Star Wars Outlaws Astro Bot Emio - The Smiling Man Cost of games (when rented) - cost of Gamefly so far = ($677.88 - 190.71) = $487.17 in total savings this year. I plan to get Metaphor, Silent Hill 2 and Brothership this year too. There are some frustrations with the service like slow shipping sometimes and new games not arriving on release date or being a few days late. But if you play a lot of Nintendo and new PS games it's a great service. -Patrick G

Owen S

Where’s JeffM? Anyways, it’s a Sunday and you want a comfort meal, what are you looking to have? Mine would be a simple home made spaghetti! What say you all?

Travis in Fargo

What food and drink combo sums up your whole deal?

Patrick Hynes

This week’s bonus pod was about video game consulting. What are y’all’s dream franchises to consult on? Would Ben want to consult on the FF7 remake series, or save the surprises for when the game drops?

Alex Swaim

PC Gamer recently published their annual 'Top 100 PC Games' list! It's a fun read as always! Out of curiosity, I scrolled through their list to see how many 2024 games made the cut. Maybe you can make a little game out of it! Guess the games and their placements on the top 100 list! The games are ranked on a weighted system - 60% weight for the overall quality of the game. 15% weight for the importance, 'noteworthiness' of the game. 15% weight for the 'hotness'. And 10% weight for playability on modern systems. There are 3 games from 2024 on this list. From lowest scoring to highest, they are: 43. Animal Well 14. Helldivers 2 8. Balatro Some other fun facts about the list: Valve has the most games on this list of any single developer! 5! Those being: 93. Left 4 Dead 2 61 . Team Fortress 2 35. Counter Strike 2 24. Portal (1) 7. Half-Life 2 And in the honorable mentions, they included The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask emulated at 4k60 on PC!

jacob cummings

Good Morning MinnMaxers, When will we as a gamer society stop glazing Ocarina of Time? I'm always seeing it winning best game of all time in rankings such as the last one Game Informer (rest in peace) put out. While it may have been the best game of ITS time (and I still disagree with that) should we consider it's time when we are talking about the greatest games of ALL time????? I could probably name 100 games better than Ocarina of Time, and if you can't name at least 5, you're lying. So what are 5 games you think are better than Ocarina of Time?

RickyWinterborn

Minnmax fades away back to the future style, and instead Hanson and all the cohorts started a diner called The Upper Crust Bubbler. Guy Fieri is coming to do a triple D episode, what signature meals do you cook for him to get him to say "ooh thats gangster!"

Duderado

Do you wear deodorant if you're not planning on leaving the house?

Stevo

I highly recommend the app renshuu for app based study. Good luck to you!

Austin Hellings

Do any of you have a specific example of something in video games that gives you a weird amount of sudden anxiety? May be more of a product of a bygone era, but entering a prolonged cutscene always did this for me specifically because if I needed to run and do something real fast I could never tell if pressing start would pause it or if it would skip it. How is this not a standardized feature in the industry already?!

Quimbles

In the bonus pod on video game consulting, it seemed like everyone agreed that there isn't really an easy way to get into game consulting since it's so secretive. As someone who's freelanced as an essayist but has been wanting to do consulting for a while now, is there no pathway for future consultants? Is it really just happening to know the right people?

Jerry Young

Based on this their whole business seems to be the best kept secret

Sean Rubin

So now that Nintendo has decided to try to help us sleep, brush our teeth, and wake up in the morning, what's the most ridiculous thing Nintendo could come up with to improve our daily lives next?

Travis in Fargo

What are your non-negotiables when it comes to a group pizza order?

TheMightyEthan

Hey all, I'm writing in with a better quest goal: learn Japanese! I've always wanted to, and I finally had the realization that I ain't getting any younger, so if I'm gonna do it I need to do it. I've started with DuoLingo and my more concrete/immediate goal is to do 30 minutes a day. I'm 14 days in and so far so good! Hopefully in a few years I'll be able to play Japanese games untranslated. Wish me luck!

aed13of14

Hey Maximum Minutiae, what game has the best laser weapon and why is it Wolfenstein 2?

Travis in Fargo

Missed joke opportunity: when Ben was speaking about the Silent Hill 2 remake, he posed that, “Bloober didn’t ‘bloob’ it up.” Someone could have said, “they ‘bloobed’ it out of the park!”

Travis in Fargo

Would you ever buy a house that people were convinced is haunted? Like, it’s a murder house or built on a burial ground?

Travis in Fargo

If your local news station asked you to produce a weekly 2-minute segment related to video games, would you accept? If so, what would you cover and how would you negotiate that deal? $$$ (They want 50 videos per year, and the station manager is a know hardass)

Joe Kafchinski

Their used game sales are the best secret in the business. I've never had a problem with one of the disks and the case/inserts/etc are essentially brand new.

McGreevy

Do we think the switch 2 will just be called "switch 2"? Can you come up with a classic Nintendo bad console name that will join the likes of "Wii U" and "New Nintendo 2DS XL"?

Kenjamin

In celebration of Metaphor, and Atlus continuing to have the snazziest interfaces in the biz. What game has the ugliest UI?

Jonathan Thomassen

On mouthwash: Growing up and living in Scandiniavia - Denmark, specifically - I feel like mouthwashing just isn't really a thing here. I was never told to use mouthwash at the dentist. FWIW my dentist says my teeth are in great shape 😁 I also just realized Mouthwashing is a game, and it wasn't the act of mouthwashing you are really interested in. Oh well.

Chandler

Can I get a follow up from Ben on his wardrobe opinions? It's been a while since you went shopping with Sarah and you've worn the clothes a lot by now. Have you started to appreciate this new look or do you still prefer your gaming T-shirts? Also third strike is the best looking game. Peak pixel art and animations. There are 0 flaws in its visual presentation

SuperCerberus

If you made a big list of your all time favorite games (like a top 25 or 50), what would be the oldest game on the list? And what would be the most recent?

James Heimbegner

With games taking longer to make, if a game is in development for ten or more years would it be considered retro when it is released?

GBC

Probably somewhat intentional but Subnautica takes the cake personally

Dylan Caudill

Do yall have any costume plans for Halloween this year?

GBC

Minnmax Marketing Team! We have a certified hit in the form of Metaphor Refantazio, for those of you who've played, how would you rename this game? Can you think of another exceptional game with a terrible title?

DCFatCat

Underrated best looking game: Astral Chain. Play it on the Switch OLED and those neon colors just sing.

Jason Roseberry

Back on the Feb. 22nd episode, during the FF7 Rebirth review, Janet made an off-hand comment/recommendation about how the FF7 Rebirth demo helped her better understand the story of FF7 Remake since she didn't play/remember the original. I followed that advice and it made a big difference in my understanding and enjoyment of the story, specifically the relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth. When has a comment or recommendation from someone you followed or knew, increased your enjoyment of a game?

Joshua Ayers

Lil thought experiment: If you were all Power Rangers/Super Sentai villains of the week, what would your themes be? Decide for each other! Then rate how accurate you think your co-hosts' estimation of your villain-abilities would be! Also, you can decide if you think Ben would a villain of the week or the big boss.

Lanthian

What are some hobbies you all have outside of gaming that you don't normally get the chance to share or talk about?

Trevor Lewis

I also wanted to shout out gamefly. I've used it since 2008. I buy the 6 month gift certificates for less than the price of two new games. So far this year I've rented 20 games including Zelda and Metaphor as my current two rentals. If the company went away or consoles went digital only I wouldn't be able to afford to play so many games right at release.

Chris Pelley

To The Moon, very little interaction but damn it's got a beautiful story, characters and setting. I wish it came up more often in discussions like the other indies around that era. (Most Beautiful Games Ever Made)

Adam Hood

"Fable", "Doom", "Uncharted", "Dredge", "Stray" and even "Concord". At one point these were purely words. But now they're names of games with varying success! What's your favourite game name that's "just a word". And what is a word that you think has the gravitas to become it's own game? Thanks for everything you do! PlatinAdam (pronounced like Platin(um) Adam)

Tyler Sticka

GRIS might be the most beautiful game. Every frame feels ready for a gallery wall. I think Lizardcube's games (Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap and Streets of Rage 4) are underrated. The character animation is just tremendous. In terms of graphical fidelity, though, it has to be Ghost of Tsushima for me. So many breathtaking landscapes.

Jonathan Anderson

Pick for Beautiful Game: I played Scorn over the weekend (it was expiring off of Game Pass) and PLAYING it was a pain in the ass, LOOKING at it was a fantastic experience.

Qax

What's the best amount of pizza slices? I like 12 for family size or 6 for personal 🍕

Matthew Porter

Is there anything better than the late-game acceleration of a good Metroidvania? That moment when you've gotten most of the movement abilities and power-ups, and the game becomes a dopamine rush of clearing map markers, finding secret areas, and drowning in collectibles. Shout-out to getting the double-jump in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which blows the doors of that map wide open.

Garrett Kidney

Missed joke opportunity: Last week when you realized nobody had tried UFO 50 multiplayer yet, Ben said "That's alarming." Somebody could have then responded "No, it's Alarmo."

Matt Smith

With the announcement of the Nintendo Alarmo, what other household objects or tech should Nintendo make a new expensive version of? The weirder the better.

Snoozy

Didn't know Nikoderiko was coming out soon! Excited to check that out, and hear people's thoughts on Neva. My pick for most beautiful game, if we're counting both sight and sound, might be Celeste? Or Pikmin 3.

Daniel Doran

Describe how you cried during a video game in vivid detail…if you don’t mind. Out of the games I’ve played over the past few years, Inscryption keeps coming to mind as the most beautiful.

Varr

Haley's not here so I can totally ask this. Is Metaphor: ReFantazio the epitome of "great game, bad title"?

Floof Queen Emily

The most beautiful game ever is Outer Wilds, and I don't think there's a game I've played that's even come close to what that game achieves. Naturally I can't say why, but if you know you know.

Eli Medina

Minecraft for me

David Dubs

Hey Folks, what are some of the most baffling control decisions in otherwise great games? I am playing through Metaphor Refantazio and the pause button is the skip button during dialogue. I’ve skipped so many lines because I tried to pause during a dialogue!

resnet

Hey MinnMax! How important are puns in your daily life?

Tommy Ostrenga

What is the scariest non-horror game you played growing up? Mine was The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Sleepy MailMan

Hey, MinnMax! I just found out that my girlfriend somehow never saw The Simpsons! What episodes should I watch with her to show off the best it has to offer?

SlyCut

Hello all, I just finished the game Cobalt Core and it was a delight! Have any of you played it? What did you think?

Jerry Young

Wanted to follow up on the GameFly comments from last week! I have used the service since 2012, it’s still incredible. Compared to the price of games, as long as I finish one 70 dollar game every three months im saving money! Keep games as long as you want and if you don’t like it, just send it back. It’s saved me tons of money over buying games and never finishing them then. Strongly recommend the service!

Michael Rohrssen

How do you guys handle recommending problematic media to people without seeming like a massive freak?

Neal McMahon

If there is only one game you could play for the rest of your lives, what would it be? Assume that any live service game would also be supported with its normal context.