Sun, 13 September 2020
Tonight we had some technical difficulties and as a result got to a bit of a late start… which caused us to lose track of the timing. As a result we recorded a pretty long show, but I think it was one of our better discussions. We start with Kodra explaining why he is the fiercest four year old you know and talking about Crusader Kings III some more. From there Bel talks about effectively being done with Avengers and why it has driven him to deep dive into the Ms Marvel comic series. From there we discuss the Sportscardification of Magic the Gathering and the crashes of Comic Books and Sports Cards and why it feels real similar to the state of premium collector focused products. Thalen talks about breaking down ships for fun and profit in Hardspace: Shipbreaker. We talk about when Quick Time Events feel good rather than something to be avoided, and then dive into the cognitive overhead of trying to return to a game after a long absence. Finally we talk about the Games as a Subscription model and how it may or may not change the game industry. Specifically we talk about the dueling business models of the Xbox Series S/X and the PlayStation 5. Topics Discussed
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Sun, 6 September 2020
Tonight we start the show off with a bit of a retraction. Bel has found out that a lot of the weird mouse and camera interactions seem to have been caused by running RTX Voice while playing Avengers. As a result Bel talks about his experiences playing Avengers and how the story really shines but the gameplay is adequate but not as smooth as it could be. From there we talk about using things for alternate purposes, primarily how good cosmetic items work for hobbies. We talk a little bit about the phenomena that is Fall Guys and both how charming it is and how bizarrely it has lit the streaming world on fire. Finally we wrap up with a long discussion about Crusader Kings III and the story generator that it is.
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Sun, 30 August 2020
Tonight we are back after having a week off due to scheduling. Bel is super excited to talk about Amazon’s New World, which finally leaves NDA. He goes into a deep dive of his experiences so far with the assorted systems of the game. From there we have a reasonable segue into a discussion about Guild Wars 2 and getting used to the WvW pvp system. We also talk a bit about other games like Final Fantasy XIV and how it handles PVP. We have a random aside where Bel talks about how he tends to avoid using mounts in Open World games, and finally Ash talks about how he has come to peace with the Blue Mage in FFXIV.
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Sun, 16 August 2020
Bel spent a few hours playing the Avengers Beta and has some things to say about it. There are what he feels to be fundamental problems with the game that are not likely fixable before the September 4th launch. Kodra gives some recommendations for a few Sudoku games that allow you to play some of those interesting edge case games. We pick up a conversation from last week and talked about Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition and more directly the update cycle for physical games and how it doesn’t exactly work. Warframe announced a major change at Virtual TennoCon and we talk about the Helminth and how it is going to shake up the meta. Finally Bel talks quickly about the Tony Hawk Pro Skater Warehouse Demo and how the game feels exceptionally good.
Topics Discussed
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Sun, 9 August 2020
Due to improper planning and the fact that last week was Belghast’s wedding anniversary so we called it for the evening. Tonight we are back and with a proper show chock full of goodness. Actually just prior to the show Tam carpet bombed the trello with like two dozen topics, so we will probably be in business for several weeks. Kodra participated in the very first GenCon Online and has lots of things to talk about regarding it. During the middle of this discussion we break into a side tangent about how we feel like Shadowrun would work well using the World of Darkness Storyteller system. Grace and Bel revisit Horizon Zero Dawn on the PC and talk about how much better the game feels with a mouse and keyboard. Ash talks about playing Gundam EX vs Maxiboost ON and this leads to a side discussion about Gundam Breaker. Bel talks about finishing Death Stranding and how emotionally connected he was to the characters in the game. Finally we dive into a discussion about games and companion apps and how a lot of tabletop gaming and the company fear of the internet shoots them in the foot.
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Sun, 26 July 2020
Bel starts the show off with a discussion about the challenges of playing classic games on modern televisions and how his journey has led him down a rabbit hole that ended up with the Retro Freak. From there we talk about what happens when the expectations of gamers leads to toxic expectations. Namely this came into scope over the last few weeks with the reaction to two recent Nintendo Directs. From there we drive into a discussion about making your own goals in a game and how Tam has found that effective in Guild Wars 2. This leads to a discussion about when games bribe you to behave a certain way. Finally we close the show out with Kodra talking about making meta events happen, and oftentimes folks are willing to flock to a zone if you manage to do all the early phases. Topics Discussed
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Sun, 19 July 2020
This evening we record an entire show where we basically talk about three games. The first of these is Ooblets which came out this week in early access and how it is a blending of Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Pokemon and a Card Battler. From there we talk about Ghosts of Tsushima and how it presents Samurai gameplay in a new high fidelity light. Additionally we talk a bit about Kurosawa mode which offers you a unique black and white/film grain way of playing the game. Finally Bel talks about his adventures being a post apocalyptic fedex driver in a world seemingly run on twitter likes… aka Death Stranding. He talks a bit about the odd social aspect of the game where other players can only have a possible positive impact without ever causing any negatives.
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Sun, 12 July 2020
Tonight Belghast completely botches the intro to the show and has to record a second one, and it is absolutely not like the rest of the crew let this slide calmly. We start the show talking about Cross Code and how it is now available on consoles, and was quite possibly the best roleplaying game of 2018. Bel dives into a discussion about how connection based matchmaking is destroying any joy that can be found in crucible. This leads into a whole discussion about the best sorts of matchmaking we have played under and also a long discussion about how peer to peer connections are problematic. We talk about the concept of what if we could choose the length of a game before starting it. This also leads to a discussion of how more games need clearly identified difficulty settings and allow players to understand the ramifications of that choice. From there we dive into a discussion about how it is oftentimes hard to find information that is more or less considered to be common knowledge in a given community. Topics Discussed
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Sun, 5 July 2020
This is one of those shows when we had a long list of things to talk about, but we just sorta started on one topic and it developed a mind of its own. First up we talk about Bel and his insane grinding nature when it comes to the Four Job Fiesta. From there we reprise a topic that got bumped last night and talk about the unique nature of Guild Wars 1 almost trading card game like skill based system. From there we dive into a discussion about the changes that were made with Guild Wars 2, and how they may have taken some wrong advice from the data at the time. This dives into a discussion of what makes up a role in a game and how exactly games tend to message that. We go through a whole series of leaps and wind up in a discussion about how freedom to change your build feels really good in games like Guild Wars 2 and Diablo 3. It even descends into a discussion about what exactly makes up the nature of a “Character” in a game, and if it should just be a cosmetic choice and everything of importance be account bound. Topics Discussed
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Sun, 28 June 2020
Tonight we have an assorted topic type show, but the main discussion ends up centering around games and game value. What makes one game feel like a valuable experience and another game just seems like a waste of time. We talk a bit about the Phantasy Star Online 2 America Day holiday and how they have a really strange impression of our country. Kodra talks about his adventures in the deeply edge case Sudoku. We also have a discussion about when the right time to group is in a game versus largely solo play. In the middle of all of this there are several references to Guild Wars 2 and Destiny 2 for reasons.
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