Sun, 21 January 2024
Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Hey Folks! It is that time again, time for our yearly Games of the Year show. Last year we learned that it was far better to record two weeks in a row instead of creating a marathon three-plus hour long show and cutting it in half. So this week I bring you the first part covering fourteen games and for those who have not listened to one of these before… these are games that were important to us this year and may or may not have actually been released this calendar year. A lot of them were, but I just wanted to set the expectations.
This year we did not have a lot of overlap, which is to be expected given that the seven of us have some wildly different tastes. It was a big year and I am sure there are a lot of games that you think might need to be on this list that we did not choose. Hopefully, you enjoy our thoughts all the same.
Games Discussed:
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Sun, 14 January 2024
Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Hey Folks! Hopefully, everyone is staying warm this week with the big cold snap hitting the center of the country and more specifically impacting Bel and Thalen. This week we start off talking about the Rogue Trader CRPG and how it is doing a pretty solid job of moving the bar forward. From there we talk a bit about the upcoming Granblue Fantasy Action RPG and how we have been waiting for it since 2017. In shocking news, we talk about the City of Heroes Homecoming server and how it is officially licensed and we believe it is the first fan run emulator server project to achieve that status.
Last Epoch is nearing its official 1.0 launch and with it a bunch more information about the Trade system came out this week so we dive into it for a bit and contrast it with our experiences from Path of Exile. Peglin has released a bunch of updates and we talk a bit more about that phenomenal puzzle combat game. Thalen shares some information about how Dungeons and Dragons Online is apparently just giving away a ton of content and selling a bunch of mission packs for cheap on top of it. Tam finishes out the show talking about how it has taken him the better part of a year but he finally understands Star Trek Online.
Topics Discussed:
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Sun, 7 January 2024
Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, and Thalen
Hey Folks! Happy New Year! We are back after the holiday break and are delaying our Games of the Year Show until a bit later in the month. This week we talk about the Dave the Diver Dredge Crossover, Super Mario RPG and Thalen’s child plotting an interesting course through the game, and a return to Monster Hunter World. With Bobby Kotick leaving ActiBlizz, Bel has stepped back into World of Warcraft and talks a bit about his thoughts so far and the inspirations taken from Guild Wars 2. From there we talk a bit about missing trade league despite how much of a capitalist nightmare it is and how it makes the players focus entirely on short-term gains. Bel talks a bit about how he has shifted his Chieftain into Righteous Fire and how it is a reasonable replacement for RF Juggernaut. Finally, some breaking news while we are recording… we talk a bit about the new FFXIV job Pictomancer, and the new limited job Beastmaster.
Topics Discussed:
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Sun, 17 December 2023
Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, and Tamrielo
Hey Folks! This is potentially our last show of the year because the next few weeks and the holidays within them… are going to make it very hard to gather a quorum. This week we are going to be brutally honest and tell you that if you have no interest in Path of Exile, then this might be a show for your to skip. While we have a very brief conversation about Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Kodra saving the day and being the big kid rescuing a stranded party, the show is mostly diving into the “Bel League” private league thusfar. So yeah we talk about Path of Exile for an hour and a half and if that is not your thing, then that is totally cool.
Topics Discussed
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon ---- Making Memories, Saving Wiped Teams
Path of Exile -- Affliction League One Week In -- How Our Builds are Going -- What happens when you follow a bait build ---- How much better the game would be with free respecs |
Sun, 10 December 2023
Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Hey Folks! We are back with everyone and it is weird how long it has been since we have done a full seven-person show! Tonight we discuss the Game Awards and some of the negative reception surrounding it. We talked for a bit about the Monarch television show and the larger Legacy Pictures Monsterverse. Tam talks about The Exit 8 and the liminal weirdness of an ever-shifting train station. Then we dive into the Path of Exile Affliction League and more specifically our private “Bel League” and how that has been going so far.
Topics Discussed – The Game Awards 2023 – Monarch and the Legacy Pictures Monsterverse – The Exit 8 – Path of Exile \-- Bel League \-- Progress so far \-- Affliction League Mechanic |
Sun, 3 December 2023
Featuring: Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Hey Folks! We are down basically the front half of the alphabet for this show, but the remaining four of us end up recording a deceptively long episode. Path of Exile revealed the details of the Affliction League and we had an awful lot to say about that. We talk through one of the biggest meta-shakeups in the game’s history. Bel also picks a fight with Kodra apparently when he called Guild Wars 2 more of an ARPG than an MMO. It all resolves peacefully however as we realize those judgments are based on different points of reference. We close out the show with Tam talking about some of the interesting choices being forced in Star Citizen.
Topics Discussed:
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Sun, 26 November 2023
Hey Folks! This week we start off with a topic about in game events, and how wildly different they can be between various games. Specifically this topic was inspired by the Star Citizen IAE 2953 event but we give into many different game events. Ash gets around to playing Armored Core 6 and talks about how awful the intro to the game is. Bel laments how sometimes maybe being a more Open World experience makes a game worse. Specifically this is inspired by Jedi Survivor and how it is a much less tight game than Fallen Order. Shocking to no one we dive into another Path of Exile topic and more specifically how Kodra and Bel completed some dumb Trial of the Ancestors achievements. Bel has finished Alan Wake II and gives the game another hard plug and then talks a bit about how Guild Wars 2 Secrets of the Obscure is really good.
Topics Discussed:
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Sun, 12 November 2023
Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Hey Folks! We start off the show with a bit of a reprisal from last week. Namely, Grace and Bel thought that all of the announcements at BlizzCon were universally good, but it seems that at least for some WoW Pundits they were a bit disappointed. Ash talks about the remake of Risk of Rain called Risk of Rain Returns and how it improves upon the original. We talk about the Blast from the Past League in Path of Exile and how Lake of Kalandra is getting a bit of a redemption arc. From there we talk some more about Cities Skylines 2 and Bel opines that he just really wants a prettier version of Simcity 2000. Tam talks a bit about BOKURA a multiplayer puzzle game where both players are seemingly wildly different things, but need to solve puzzles together. Bel talks a bit about the death of the Draft Booster and what the changes surrounding the “Play Booster” mean for Magic the Gathering. Finally, we wrap up with a few very short topics, and Bel talks about how good Bookshops & Bonedust the sequel to Legends & Lattes was.
Topics Discussed
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Sun, 5 November 2023
Featuring: Ammosart, Belghast, Grace, and Thalen
Hey Folks! We are down essentially our entire Seattle contingency for assorted reasons that I don’t believe are actually connected. So we carry forward with our Central and Eastern Timezone folks and talk a bit about BlizzCon and how there was a wildly different energy surrounding the event. It feels like a new chapter for Blizzard is opening that may or may not have anything to do with the Microsoft acquisition. From there we talk a bit about the Krangled event and how bizarre it is to play with a randomized passive tree. Bel talks about the situation at Bungie and the general sense of dire straights for the Destiny franchise. Bel also talks a bit about easing back into Final Fantasy XIV and catching up on the post-Endwalker content. He has also been playing New World a bit and going through the expansion content while leveling to 65 and farming some new gear. Finally, we drive off into a discussion about the books that we have been reading and float the idea of a “Books of the Year” show similar to our “Games of the Year” show we often do.
Topics Discussed:
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Sun, 29 October 2023
Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Hey Folks! We are back but still down several members of our crew. This week we start off with some discussion about Diablo IV Season 2 and whether or not the game is good now. From there we talk a lot about the events of the Star Citizen CitizenCon. Super Mario Wonder has come out and we talk about the experiences with the game so far. Tam talks a bit about Endless Dungeon and how it might actually be fun in multiplayer. Kodra shares some news about an upcoming SudokuCon Fundraiser stream he is going to be part of this week. Finally, we talk a bit about Cities: Skylines 2 and the changes it brings to the genre.
Topics Discussed:
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