Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, and Tamrielo

Hey Folks! We have a bit of a short show, maybe the shortest we have recorded in a long time.  We start off with our recurring topic of Elon Musk and the Corporate Collapse Speedrun of Twitter. From there we dive into some preliminary discussion of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.  Last week during the show Kodra and Ash spent the entire time playing with a Hollow Knight Randomizer and we talk a bit about that process.  From there we dive into the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo of 2952 in Star Citizen.  Tam shares a few hardware topics about his new Flight Stick setup and migrating over to an Ultrawide display.  Finally, Bel talks a little bit about his adventures in New World and hitting 200 in Armorsmithing.

Topics Discussed

  • Corporate Collapse Speedrun Week 4
    • Vox Populi, Vox Dei
    • Twitter is down to a few hundred employees
  • Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
  • Hollow Knight Randomizer Shenanigans
  • Star Citizen
    • Intergalactic Aerospace Expo 2952
    • Big Events in Games
  • Fun with Flight Sticks
  • Ultrawide vs 4k
    • Continuing to enjoy 1440p
  • New World Leveling Updates
Direct download: aggrochat_episode413.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:24am EDT

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, and Tamrielo

 

In this show, we start off as we have the last several weeks with a discussion about the Corporate Collapse Speedrun that is Muskrat and Twitter.  We don’t want to talk about it… but each week brand new levels of stupid nonsense keep happening.  Bel talks about his mission to document “camps” and gear drops in New World and how he is having to unlearn some of his “Roleplaying Server” biases.  Tam talks a bit about Battletech, Mechwarrior, and the mods that are currently available for both.  Kodra talks a bit about being “Sudoku Famous” and having a puzzle featured on Cracking the Cryptic.  Ash talks about revisiting Tactics Ogre Reborn now that it is actually on a platform he currently can play on.  Tam talks about the Star Citizen Intergalactic Aerospace Expo coming up this week and some of the progress made for open worlds and race tracks.  Finally, Bel makes a plea that if you are not watching Andor…  you should get on that because it might be the best Star Wars to date.

 

Topics Discussed

  • Corporate Collapse Speedrun Week 3
    • Fun with Corporate Account Impersonation
    • Real-World Stock Price Consequences
  • New World Loot Drop Camps
    • Documenting Easy 590 Weapons
    • Unlearning Roleplaying Server Bias
  • Battletech, Mechwarrior, and Mod Support
  • Sudoku with Bases
    • Kodra was featured on Cracking the Cryptic
  • Tactics Ogre Reborn
  • Star Citizen: IAE
  • Watch Andor Please
Direct download: aggrochat_episode412.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:58am EDT

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, and Tamrielo

 

This week was one of those shows when I was not entirely certain we had enough material.  Yet in spite of that…  we once again ran over our intended hour-long recording time.  We start off the show with Ash engaging in some Bel-like mechanical nonsense and attempting to repurpose a dedicated dance pad into something more universal.  From there we dive into some discussion about what is going on at Twitter this week and how it feels like somewhere between a guild falling apart and the closing of an MMORPG.  Kodra talks about Overhaul…  which is a roguelike Sudoku.  He completely lost Bel when he got to the Sudoku part.  From there we dive into a discussion about how weird and frustrating it can be to come back to a game after being gone for a very long time, and how none of them really do a great job of re-onboarding you.

Topics Discussed

  • Beethoven Virus
    • Adapting a dedicated dance pad to general purposes
  • Twitter and the Thanos Snap
    • Speedrunning the Death of a Company
    • Feels like playing a dying MMORPG
    • Mastodon doesn’t want to be the next Twitter
  • Overhaul
    • The Roguelike Sudoku
  • Returning to Games
    • Games Do a Bad Job of Re-Onboarding Returners
Direct download: aggrochat_episode411.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:27am EDT

Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen

Tonight we have a bit of a weird show, where we start off talking about the nonsense happening over on Twitter with the Muskrat purchase of the company going through.  Bel talks a bit about social media alternatives and how the administrators on the Fediverse/Mastodon instances are straining a bit under the load.  From there we talk a bit about the community being angry at Magic, and Bel’s adventures in buying the cheapest Wish dot com proxies he could find.  We continue to talk about New World and how Themiscyra is now open for business again.  There are a number of interesting changes on the PTR and we talk through those.  Finally, we land on Fallout 76, the game the other half of the show has been enjoying.  The crew playing makes their way into The Pitt expedition and talks a bit about that experience.

Topics Discussed

  • Twitter Nonsense
    • Muskrat Buys Dumpster Fire
    • Fediverse Admins are Tired
  • Magic Debacle Continued
    • Bel’s Adventures in Cheap Proxies
    • Secret Lair Frustrations
    • Magic Vegas Frustrations
  • New World
    • Themiscyra Open for Business
    • Gathering still the best
    • Weird level-band problems
    • Upcoming changes
  • Fallout 76
    • Entering The Pitt
Direct download: aggrochat_episode410.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:19am EDT

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen

 

We start with a topic we did not get to last week and talk about the modern Digimon Card game.  From there we talk about Fallout 76 and Thalen beginning the game, along with the various improvements that have happened over the years.  We talk very briefly and very spoiler free about how good She-Hulk was.  Kodra talks a bit about Taiji and its more approachable and less pretentious version of The Witness.  Bel talks a bit about the Torchlight Infinite Open Beta and how you can actually use keybinds now.  Ash talks about the card game roguelike Roguebook, and while Richard Garfield was involved it is nothing like Magic.  Tam talks about how good the Leagues of Votann are and then dives into a topic about finding his white whale and how dumb limited availability items are.

Topics Discussed

  • Digimon Card Game
  • Fallout 76
  • She-Hulk was Phenomenal
  • Taiji
  • Torchlight Infinite is Playable
  • Roguebook
  • Squats are Back
  • Limited-Availability is Dumb
Direct download: aggrochat_episode408.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 1:01pm EDT

Featuring:  Ammosart, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, and Thalen

 

We talk about the controversy burning through the Magic the Gathering community of Wizards selling random boosters of unplayable proxies for $250 a pop.  We talk a bit about how this has triggered condemnation from players and the finance community.  From there Grace talks a bit about the Halloween event going on in Ooblets and the costumes you can earn by playing.  Kodra talks about how maybe Mario Odyssey is a bridge too far regarding control scheme complexity for speed run tactics.  We finally have a date for the New World Brimstone Sands patch release and we talk a bit about our plans, and how Amazon is seemingly bungling things again by not having the “Fresh Start” servers ready until November.  We talk a little bit about video game redemption stories and how the tales of FFXIV and No Man’s Sky are seemingly way more common than they used to be.  Finally, we dive into a discussion about Horror Films brought on by Bel’s recent series of top ten lists by sub-genre.

Topics Discussed

  • Magic the Gathering Money Grab
    • 30th Anniversary Proxy Set
    • $1000 for 60 cards
  • Ooblets Halloween Event
  • Mario Odyssey Control Scheme Complexity
  • New World Brimstone Sands on 10/18
    • Our reroll plans
    • Bungling Fresh Start Servers
  • Video Game Redemption Stories
  • An Ode to Horror Films
    • Bel’s Top Ten Lists
    • Science Fiction and Horror
Direct download: aggrochat_episode407.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:04am EDT

Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, and Thalen

 

We have one of our smallest shows in a really long time as we are down an Ammosart, Grace, Tamirleo, and lose Kodra about halfway through the show.  This leads to a bit of an odd feeling show.  Tonight we burn through a bunch of small topics starting with congrats to ChainChompBraden who beat a Mario Maker 1 map they built seven years ago…  and have been grinding away on for thousands of hours.  From there we talk about the Donkey Kong Adventures DLC for Mario and Rabbids.  We talk about what appears to be the endless spoiler season of magic these days as Warhammer 40k, Dominaria United, Unfinity, and Brothers War fade into each other.  We talk a bit about Rhythm games and while not inspired by Trombone Champ we talk a bit about that game as well.  Bel talks about the early woes with Torchlight Infinite and how they appear to be buying legitimacy by hiring David Brevik as a consultant.  Finally, we talk about what appears to be the second death of G4 Television.

Topics Discussed

  • Congratz to ChainChompBraden
  • Goodbye Stadia
    • The Future of Cloud Gaming
  • Mario and Rabbids Donkey Kong Adventures
  • Endless Magic the Gathering Spoiler Season
  • Rhythm Games
    • Trombone Champ
  • Torchlight Infinite
    • Buying Legitimacy
    • David Brevik Consultancy
  • The Second Death of G4
Direct download: aggrochat_episode406.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:14am EDT

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen

Hey Folks!  We were expecting to be down both a Grace and a Tam but at the very last minute, Tam was available.  We talked a bit about the new Return to Monkey Island game and how it is educating us on important anchor facts.  From there we talk about one of the longest-to-deliver Kickstarter called Two Guys Spaceventure, which styles itself as a new Space Quest game but largely fails at delivering.  From there we talk about the card games of Richard Garfield and what his initial design intent was versus how the games actually play.  From there we talk a bit about Star Ocean: The Divine Force which has released a demo this week.  We talked a bit about the announcement of the 4000 Series Nvidia cards and the 70% price increase that comes with them.  We talked about how Twitch seems to be eating itself and the onslaught of folks shifting to YouTube after changes in revenue splits.  Finally, Bel talks about getting a Steam Deck and how he has already caused his device to get into a boot loop.  We talk a bit about how the hardware works so well for being a completely hands-off console for Tam but also allowing Bel to tinker endlessly with his setup.

Topics Discussed

  • Return to Monkey Island
  • Two Guys Spaceventure
  • As Garfield Intended
    • Pokemon
    • Magic the Gathering
    • Richard Garfield’s Intent
  • Star Ocean: The Divine Force Demo
  • Nvidia Price Hike
    • Don’t buy a 4000 Series Card
    • AMD Price Drops
  • Twitch Eats Itself
    • The migration to YouTube
  • Bricking the Steam Deck
    • Bel gets a Deck and Fiddles with it
    • Logitech G Cloud doesn’t make sense
Direct download: aggrochat_episode405.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:54am EDT

We start off the show with a hearty congratulations to Tam who will likely be out for a few weeks because he is in dad mode with a very “smol hume”.  From there we talk a bit about the Fall of Babylon…  or at least Babylon’s Fall and the game we never understood why it was a thing officially shuttering in February.  It has been a very Not-E3 week as all major players had a significant presence at the Tokyo Game Show.  More specifically we talk a lot about everything that came out of the Nintendo Direct.  It is time for the Nightmare Tower in Guild Wars 2 as Season 1 Episode 4 drops, leaving we believe only one more episode to go before the story hole has officially been patched.  Bel talks at length about his adventures on the New World PTR and more specifically some of the massive changes to how crafting works.  From there we dive into a discussion about Path of Exile and how it isn’t really a “chill” game.  When the game is good it is great, but when it is bad it is atrocious.  As always though when we complain about games it comes from a place of love, because if we don’t really care…  we just don’t talk about it.

Topics Discussed

  • Babylon’s Fall Shutdown
  • Tokyo Game Show
  • Nintendo Direct
  • New World PTR
  • Path of Exile Frustrations
Direct download: aggrochat_episode404.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:31am EDT

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, and Thalen

 

Tonight we attempt to record a show that is only an hour in length but fail again overshooting by about fifteen minutes.  We are down a Tam because life happens, and Kodra had to travel to Ash’s house to get internet…  but we get a shot out the door regardless.  We start off with a quick recap on the experience of starting Ooblets from scratch, then dive into a discussion about the next Shovel Knight game from a different studio.  Ash talks a bit about his experiences with PAX West and we discuss games that evoke the style of a specific era in console games.  This dives into a whole discussion about our console gaming experiences throughout the years.  Bel talks a bit about the upcoming patch to New World and how it is completely changing the starting game experience for the better.  

 

From there we dive into a discussion about Path of Exile and how spending some in-game currency on a build can make a massive difference.  We talk about narrowing down the hunt for Atlas completion as Grace and Bel get close to wrapping that up.  Then we dive into a side topic about how easy it is just to write off bad performance when maybe it is something you did to cause it.  Essentially running Path of Exile on a mechanical drive makes a massive difference, and you really should use a high-quality SSD.

Topics Discussed

  • Ooblets
  • Shovel Knight Dig
  • PAX West
  • Retro Styled Games
  • New World Revitalization
  • Path of Exile
    • Spending lots of currency on a build
    • Closing in on Atlas Completion
  • Dealing with Bad Performance
Direct download: aggrochat_episode403.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:09am EDT