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.  This week we dive into the second half of the show covering the final eleven games.  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:

  • I Was a Teenage Exocoloist

  • Super Mario RPG Remake

  • Boltgun

  • Star Ocrean 2nd Story R

  • Jedi Survivor

  • City of Heroes

  • Everspace 2

  • Alan Wake II

  • Super Mario Wonder

  • Honkai Star Rail

  • Baldur’s Gate III

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-465.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:40am EDT

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:

  • Risk of Rain Returns

  • Risk of Rain 2

  • Celeste: Strawberry Jam

  • Last Epoch

  • Path of Exile

  • System Shock

  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Future Redeemed

  • Hi-Fi Rush

  • Dredge

  • Dave the Diver

  • Armored Core VI

  • New World

  • Fire Emblem Engage

  • Final Fantasy XVI

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-464.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:18am EDT

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:

  • Rogue Trader CRPG

  • Granblue Fantasy Relink

  • City of Heroes

  • Last Epoch and Trade System

  • More Peglin!

  • DDO Giving Content Away

  • Understanding Star Trek Online

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-463.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 11:06am EDT

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:

  • Dave the Diver Dredge Crossover

  • Super Mario RPG Remake

  • Monster Hunter World

  • World of Warcraft after 3 Years Away

    • Influences from Guild Wars 2

  • Path of Exile

    • The line goes up, and financialization of everything in another inflation league

    • Righteous Fire Chieftain

    • Missing Trade League

  • Final Fantasy XIV

    • New Dawntrail News

    • Pictomancer

    • Beastmaster

  • OrcaCon

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-462.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:20am EDT

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

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-461.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:13am EDT

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

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-460.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 9:33am EDT

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:

  • Path of Exile

    • Affliction League

    • Meta Shake-Up

    • Death of Righteous Fire

    • Ultimatum Returns

    • Goodbye Metamorph

  • Guild Wars 2 as ARPG

    • Kodra wants to fight Bel

    • Different points of reference

  • Star Citizen

    • Forcing Interesting Choices

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-459.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:07am EDT

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:

  • In Game Festival Events

    • Star Citizen IAE 2953

    • Final Fantasy events

    • Other Game Holidays

  • Armored Core 6

    • Why is the intro so awful?

  • Sometimes Open World Makes Games Worse

    • Jedi Survivor

    • Muddied Waters

  • Path of Exile

    • Doing Dumb things with Totems

    • Lament of why Multiplayer is needlessly punishing

    • Kodra knocking out achievements

  • Alan Wake II - After Credit Roll

  • Guild Wars 2 Secrets of the Obscure is good

 

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-458.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:01am EDT

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

 

Hey Folks! We start off with a topic that has been bumped for time a few weeks in row as we discuss how complex video games can stick the landing with their denouement. Bel has been playing Alan Wake 2 and talks about how Remedy finally has achieved seamless integration of FMV and rendered gameplay. We talked a bit about Risk of Rain 2 and the buildcraft surrounding the game.  Kodra has officially gone further in Path of Exile than the rest of us and talks about his adventures in bossing. We wrap up the show discussing how Path of Exile does a poor job of telling its story in spite of actually having a very good one compared to other ARPGs.

 

Topics Discussed:

  • The Ending Payoffs for Complex Games

    • How to stick the landing

  • Alan Wake 2 is Great

  • Risk of Rain 2 Buildcraft

  • Kodra Kills Against the Bosses

  • ARPGs attempting to tell stories

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-457.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:04am EDT

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

  •  WoW Pundits and War Within

  • Risk of Rain Returns

  • Path of Exile

    • Blast from the Past League

  • Cities Skylines 2

  • BOKURA

  • Magic the Gathering

    • Death of the Draft Booster

  • Bookshops and Bonedust is Great

Direct download: aggrochat_episode-456.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 9:37am EDT