Tonight we start off with a brief reprise of last week's Diablo 3 Season 23 topic.  Because of the changes to followers this is pretty much the easiest season yet to complete in full.  We talk briefly about the Diablo 2 technical alpha going on and how it is mostly just D2 but prettier.  Grace talks about her experiences with Cozy Grove which is effectively Animal Crossing but Ghost Bears.  Tam and Thalen talk about their experiences with Super Adventure Box in Guild Was 2.  Bel talks a bit about Games Preservation and more specifically the release of a demo copy of the long rumored Castlevania Resurrection.  Finally we go down a topic path that has been sitting on our list for awhile and talk about directed gameplay versus guided gameplay.

Topics Discussed

  • Easiest Diablo 3 Season Ever
    • Overpowered Followers
    • Diablo 2 Technical Alpha
  • Cozy Grove
    • Animal Crossing but Ghost Bears
  • Super Adventure Box
    • A Platformer Kodra Doesn’t Love
  • Games Preservation
    • Castlevania Resurrection
    • Nintendo PlayStation
    • Missing Content from different industries
  • Freeform versus Guided Gameplay
    • Bel Wants out of the Car
    • Directed Gameplay in Sandboxes
Direct download: aggrochat_episode341.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:50am EDT

Tonight once again a discussion happened off air and we sorta reprise this a bit at the beginning of the show as we talk streaming services.  From there we talk about Dorf Romantik and how it doesn’t include any Dwarves at all but is still awesome.  From there we talk about Deep Rock Galactic which we are pretty sure is a Dwarf game.  Kodra and Bel talk about Magic the Gathering Arena on the Phone with the recent launch of the iOS version. Tam talks about his experiences with the Outriders launch.  Bel and Grace talk about the launch of Diablo 3 Season 23 and the joy of emanate with follower equipment.  Finally we wrap with some discussion about Warhammer Fantasy and the High Elves army.

Topics Discussed:

  • Streaming Services
  • Dorf Romantik
  • Deep Rock Galactic
  • Magic the Gathering Arena
    • Iphone Launch
    • Android Experience
  • Outriders
    • Rough Launch
    • Good Game
  • Diablo 3 Season 23
    • Fully Equippable Followers
  • Warhammer Fantasy
    • High Elves
Direct download: aggrochat_episode340.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:04am EDT

Hey Folks!  We missed last week because Bel was knocked a little bit down after his second Covid-19 Vaccination, but all is well and we are back this week.  We end up running quite a little bit over on this show.  We start talking about the unrealistic expectations of gamers and the nonsensical $10,000 MMO Kickstarter.  We talk about what the Disney Plus Marvel One Shot series are doing and how we have never quite seen this sort of thing before.  We talk relatively spoiler free about Falcon and Winter Soldier, and then say goodbye to Duck Tales.  From there we talk about Elder Scrolls Online and the semi-spontaneous return to the game and all of the content we have been playing.

Topics Discussed:

  • The $10,000 MMO
    • DreamWorld
    • Discussion about unrealistic expectations in gaming
  • Disney Plus Marvel Shows
    • Television version of a “Event Book”
    • Falcon and the Winter Soldier
    • Expectations for Star Wars Oneshots
  • Goodbye Duck Tales
  • Elder Scrolls
    • Returning to the Game
    • Jesters Festival
    • Extreme Amount of Content
    • Oddities of Guild Traders
    • Dark Anchor Leveling Nonsense
Direct download: aggrochat_episode339.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:04am EDT

Tonight we recorded a relatively short show since we knew Sunday we would be losing an hour of time as we “spring forward”.  Tonight we have a handful of topics that have been floating around our list for a while.  Firstly we talk about folks being shocked that Roblox is apparently valued at 38 billion dollars during the initial public offering.  We talk about the concept of invisible games, or the games that media and gamers just aren’t talking about but are massive.  From there we talk about the importance of judgement free difficulty settings.  Tam talks a bit about exploring No Man’s Sky in Virtual Reality and how the game has changed over time.  Finally as we wrap up we talk about just how phenomenal WandaVision was and how all of you should go out and watch it.

 

Topics Discussed:

  • Games that Games Media Don’t Talk About
    • Why Roblox is worth 38 billion dollars
    • Dungeon Fighter Online
    • Mobile Games
  • Games Need Difficulty Settings
    • Challenges playing with Kids
    • Judgement Free Difficulty Settings
    • Accessibility Needs
  • No Man’s Sky in VR
    • Valheim in Space?
  • Watch WandaVision
    • No spoilers just talking about it being good
Direct download: aggrochat_episode338.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:21am EDT

Tonight we have a bit of an odd show at the end of a painfully long week.  We talk about Outriders some more and how odd it is that they are patching the demo and being completely transparent about it.  Since more folks have played it there are some fresh impressions to go along with that. This breaks out into a broader discussion of live service games and the looter shooter genre.  From here we sorta make a trip down into comfort gaming and revisiting old familiar stories as a way of regulating mood.  Tam and Kodra talk about how they are wired a little differently and their version of this is playing some sort of game where they can enter a flow state and find peace and calm in the challenge.

Topics Discussed

  • Outriders Patching the Demo
    • More thoughts about the game
    • Concerns about the setting
  • Broad Discussion about Live Service Games
    • What makes success
    • Are regular story drops achievable?
  • Comfort Gaming
    • Revisiting a story in a time of need
    • Tam and Kodra wired differently
      • Flow state games
    • Using media to regulate moods
Direct download: aggrochat_episode337.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:01am EDT

Tonight we start off with one of those discussions that almost happened before we started recording.  Tam has reached the point where he was ready to tangle with the fourth boss in Valheim, which disturbingly spawns right above where most of us have made our home.  Tam tells the tale of this battle and the heavy losses that were incurred.  From there we talk about Haven which is a co-op JRP style game featuring the relationships and interactions of an established couple.  Finally we wrap things up with some discussion of the Outriders demo and how Bel is excited about it and Ash is tentatively excited as well due to is similarities to Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer.

Topics Discussed

  • More Fun in Valheim
    • Tam vs Moder vs Kodra vs Sol
  • Haven
    • Charming game with realistic coupling
  • Outriders Demo
    • Cover Mechanics are a Lie
    • Fun Aggressive Gameplay
    • Unintentionally Racist Character Creator
    • Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Comparisons 
Direct download: aggrochat_episode336.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:46am EDT

Tonight we start off some discussion about the unseasonable weather that has caused a few of us to experience negative 15 fahrenheit days.  From there we discuss BlizzConline and how we went into it with extremely lowered expectations.  We discuss the things that were announced namely Diablo 4 new class and Burning Crusade Classic.  From there we venture forth into a discussion about Valheim a game that Bel has played for awhile but failed to recruit other players into until Tam and Kodra did this thing.  The entire AggroChat crew seems to have reached a critical mass and is exploring this norse land of mystery.  Finally we briefly talk about WandaVision and how weird the show must be if you don’t at least have a summary understanding of the characters.

Topics Discussed

  • Thawing Out from Hell Freezing Over
  • BlizzConline
    • Anduin is the Arthas?
    • Diablo 4 Rogue
    • Diablo 2 Remastered
    • Burning Crusade Classic
    • Lost Vikings Returns
    • Diablo Immortal
      • Mobile Game Woes
  • Valheim
    • Survival Done Better
    • Low Fidelity but Gorgeous
    • Building a City
    • Adventures and Shenanigans
    • Bel Ruins Everything
  • WandaVision
    • Zero Spoilers - What is this like if you don’t already know the characters?
Direct download: aggrochat_episode335.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:47am EDT

We assure you that we are in fact not a cat…  but maybe some of us are cats.  Tonight we start the show off with a discussion that probably should have happened last week but completely missed the list.  Final Fantasy XIV announced its next expansion and in Endwalker we are going to the Moon.  We talk about this.  This sorta leads its way into a discussion about Guild Wars 2 and drop in drop out grouping.  We also talk a bit about how Google seems to slowly be killing Stadia but shuttering the studio that was supposed to be making first party games.  Last we talk about Eli and hitting his first 12 sads out of 10 RPG ending….  which is fitting given Kodra’s propensity for finding those games.

Topics Discussed

  • FFXIV Endwalker
    • Sage healers
    • Possibly a Scythe melee class
    • Issues attaching to game
  • Guild Wars 2
    • Drop in Drop Out Group Play
  • The Death of Stadia
    • Google kills first party studio
    • Leaning into selling service to Game Studios
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
    • Eli’s first 12 sads out of 10 ending
    • Harrowing tale of Cookie and Bookworm
Direct download: aggrochat_episode334.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:36am EDT

Tonight we are down an Ashgar but start off the show with some discussion about Bel’s adventures in Hardcore Minecraft.  Grace also had never played Minecraft prior to this week and she shares her initial thoughts and just how much cultural knowledge about the game had seeped in from other sources.  A topic that didn’t happen last week but we talk about how Gabe Newell and Elon Musk want to put computers in our brains.  Tam shares his experiences with that Death based Puzzle game Hitman 3.  Kodra talks about his son and Let’s Go Pikachu and this leads to some discussion about Pokemon Snap.  Finally we have a lightning round of quick topics including that the Dark Angels are good, a preface for next week's discussion about Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker, Diablo 4 not releasing in 2021 and Doctor Snuggles a Nickelodeon show we deleted from our memory banks.

Topics Discussed

  • Hardcore Minecraft
    • Life After Death
    • Grace plays Minecraft for First Time
    • Horrific Machines
  • Gabe Newell and Elon Musk want Computers in our Heads
    • Addiction to the cutting edge
    • The cost of technology adoption
  • Hitman 3
    • A puzzle but someone dies
  • Let’s Go Pikachu
    • Pokemon Snap
  • Quick Topics
    • Dark Angels Surprisingly Good
    • Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker
    • No Diablo 4 in 2021
    • Doctor Snuggles
Direct download: aggrochat_episode333.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:34am EDT

This evening's show is a bit of an odd one, but we are living in very interesting times within other interesting times.  We start off with some discussion about choosing a game controller with a good D-Pad and how most just use 4 independent microswitches these days.  This leads into a discussion about Celeste and Kodra attempting B-Sides.  From there we talk about Crying Suns which effectively feels like a more mature version of FTL.  Then we deep dive into why Games are extremely important and what happens when “Players” start applying the same system breaking logic to the real world.  What we witnessed with the GameStop stock is precisely what gamers do best, evaluating a system, findings its weaknesses, and then exploiting the hell out of them for fun and profit.  This leads to one of the stranger conversations we have had but one that is nonetheless interesting.

Topics Discussed

  • Controllers with good D-Pads
    • Missing Retail for Testing Controllers
  • Celeste 3rd Anniversary
    • B-Sides
    • Classic 2
  • Crying Suns
    • FTL 2.0ish
  • Why Games are Important
    • GameStop Stock
    • Applying Game Breaking Principles to Real Life
    • Trolling the Stock Market
  • Changing Demands and Goals
    • The Fall of industries like Diamonds
    • The Rise of Electric Cars
Direct download: aggrochat_episode332.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:02am EDT