It may only be about five years old, but The Last of Us: Part II is quite easily one of the greatest games of all-time. Thus, it not only deserves its own episode of KnockBack, but a seven-ish hour one, the longest show in Last Stand history to date. Divisive even before it came out -- but absolutely dripping with style, message, and storytelling -- TLoU2 is a tale about endless violence and cyclical revenge, the kind that you simply can't back away from. The deeper Ellie and Abby fall into their timeless feud, the less they gain and the more they lose. But they just can't help themselves. They refuse to. It's at the heart of what makes this game so incredibly great, and perhaps what makes it so very controversial, too. There's little else to say, other than that the Brothers Moriarty wanted to give love to one of gaming's most phenomenal adventures. Click play for the result...

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In 1992, Final Fantasy V came to Super Famicom in Japan, but in the west, the seminal JRPG would remain a mystery for years. In 1999 (via PS1!) English-speaking audiences would gain access to the game for the first time (unless you played fan translations via emulator, of course), and since then -- whether on GBA, PC, phones, or more recently modern consoles -- FFV has always held an interesting place in the pantheon of great Final Fantasy titles. Is it as monumental as IV, VI, or VII? Not at all. But it's still extremely special in its own right, an adventure predicated on a robust jobs system that would later help inspire the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics, jobs utilized by a small core group of protagonists that stand the test of time (and pull at your heartstrings, too). For KnockBack's triumphant return, we thought we'd get back into the Pixel Remasters where we left off, and needless to say, we've got a lot to go over. So get in your airship, or on your chocobo, or whatever mode of transportation speaks to you most, and join us for another old-school chat.

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When a movie invokes our obscure hometown of Brookhaven, Long Island, you know we have to give that film the proper KnockBack treatment. Dagan's been smitten with Alex Garland's 2015 directorial debut Ex Machina recently, and in a strange twist-of-fate, I (Colin) have actually seen this flick, a relative rarity. Dag and I both sat down to watch it again, though, and deliver this episode of KB to you today on the tail-end. Garland's AI-focused film may be nearing its decade mark. Yet, it's somehow jumped the boundary from sci-fi to reality in the 10 or so years that have elapsed since its release. AI is no longer some future hypothetical what-if; it's happening before our very eyes. And there's no doubt that Ex Machina has a lot to say about the subject: Its creation, its development, and its very essence and nature. Can robots ever be alive? Perhaps it depends on what being alive even means.

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It's been a while since we've covered a game on KnockBack, so we thought we'd return with a bang. Long-requested as a target of our show, The Lost Legacy is a peculiar 2017 release that fits somewhere between an expansion and a full game, and it doesn't star Nate and Sully, but rather Chloe and Nadine, an interesting pairing to be sure. Made quickly by a spin-off Naughty Dog team and received well upon launch on PS4, The Lost Legacy may have represented the most conspicuous gap in my (Colin's) history with PlayStation, but that's no longer the case. Did Dagan and I like the game, though? We did, of course... and we have a ton to say about it. So please join us!

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PJ returns to KnockBack to talk about all things skateboarding. Long Island's favorite skate rats chop it up about Tony Hawk, Supreme, injuries, favorite tricks and the infamous 'vert button'.

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We're settling back in from Sacred Symbols 300 live in New York City, and the experience has us (The Brothers Moriarty) feeling nostalgic, which is a good thing for our retro-and-nostalgia-themed show. We're particularly sentimental about our parents, who both attended the show, and who -- at 73 years old, both -- have always come through for us, even if the path wasn't always linear, or even clear. We love making fun of our mom and dad on KnockBack; it's a staple of Dagan and Colin podcasts. But we thought we'd go in the other direction today, and talk about all the ways we love and appreciate our parents, how we think they helped form us into the people we are today, and add to the deep Moriarty lore that only grows by leaps and bounds here at Last Stand.

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Dagan's best friend and Colin's other older brother finally arrives on the KnockBack scene to discuss skateboarding, video games, and growing up on the sometimes shady streets of Long Island.

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With all of the hullabaloo surrounding Arrowhead's hit PS5 and PC game Helldivers 2, we figured we'd delve into its most obvious inspiration: Starship Troopers. Most people know Starship Troopers as the 1997 Paul Verhoeven sci-fi flick, but it's actually much more than that. It all started as an award-winning novel written back in 1959 by an author named Robert Heinlein, and strangely, the film and book couldn't possibly be more different in many respects. But because the book (which is awesome) is a quick read, and the film (which is good, but not nearly as good as the book) is comparatively short, too, so we figured we'd digest both, take lots of notes, and compare and contrast the two. The result is an interesting conversation, one that asks questions like: Is the book really fascist-aligned, as often claimed? Are the bugs the victims of human aggression, and could we ever come to terms with such a race? Does the idea of earning one's citizenship actually not sound that crazy, after all? Could every human have a deathwish, deep down inside? Clearly, we've much to discuss.

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For this week's KnockBack, we thought we'd do something a little bit different. A major fuel source for the origins of our podcast back in 2018 was our shared love of the NES: The hardware, its games, and the community that's long surrounded it. So we thought we'd delve back into that subject matter by each constructing a Top 10 NES Games list and then trying to fuse them together, a task we almost immediately abandoned when we realized we approached our respective lists quite differently. Thus, what emerges is a robust talk about many of the games from our respective childhoods, and how we still grapple with their undeniable greatness to this day.

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1975's Jaws is a seminal work in the thriller genre, and it was somehow delivered by an overwhelmed, overworked, and over-his-head Steven Spielberg, directing only his second theatrically-released film. With a bloated budget more than twice as high as originally anticipated -- and filmed on-location with great difficulty, sending it more than three months beyond its planned schedule -- Jaws had everything working against it. But in the cauldron, something rather revolutionary cooked. From score to acting performances to an oceanic foe that's rarely seen for technical reasons (greatly benefiting the movie!), everything works serendipitously, making Jaws one of the '70s most iconic and important films, and something we simply had to cover here on KnockBack.

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While we certainly neither condone nor encourage underage drinking, the reality is that both of us did plenty of it in our heyday. Indeed, drinking before you're 21 in the US is basically a rite of passage for generations of young people. (And yes, the drinking age should be 18.) And while we absolutely don't endorse our past behavior, we thought we would have some fun talking about our respective introductions to drinking: Trying our first beer, going to our first party, getting drunk for the first time, and -- god forbid! -- hungover. From Bud Heavies and Mike's Hard Lemonade to tequila and scotch... well... we may have been a little over our heads. Enjoy.

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