Tonight we are down a Grace and a Thalen but have picked up a special guest.  Ammo is the official unofficial AggroChat Artist given that she has done most of the artwork that you have seen over the last few years associated with both AggroChat and the Aggronaut blog.  First up we talk about when breaking the rules of a game makes for a better experience. From there Bel talks about Marvel Heroes notalgia and quelling it with the Mobile game Marvel Future Fight.  From there Bel talks about his new Mayflash f500 fight stick and some discussion about Mortal Kombat 11. We talk a bit about the release of War of the Spark on Magic the Gathering Arena. Ash talks about the Lancer pen and paper RPG system, and finally some discussion about Persona 5 Royal.

Topics Discussed

  • Breaking Rules for a Better Experience
    • House Rules
    • Cheating to Remove Frustrations
  • Marvel Future Fight
    • Marvel Heroes Nostalgia
    • Very Free to Play
  • Fight Sticks
    • Mayflash F500
    • Square vs Octagonal Gates
    • Mortal Kombat 11
  • War of the Spark
    • Sealed Gameplay
  • Lancer
    • Pen and Paper RPG System
    • Kickstarter
  • Persona 5 Royal
    • 5.5
    • Hoping for Switch Release
Direct download: aggrochat_episode250.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 9:47am EDT

Last week we failed to announce the 5th anniversary of our show so we start off talking a bit about that.  From there Bel goes into a discussion about the BlizzCon Spirit and how he seemingly has caught the Star Wars version and returned to SWTOR after the Star Wars Celebration announcements.  We talk about the game quite a bit and then get into a discussion of Jedi Fallen Order which we missed from last week. From there we talk Magic the Gathering Arena and how Kodra is finally playing Standard.  We also talk about doing some direct Duels and the current Magnificent Momir format. Finally a discussion about Pagan Online that devolves into a discussion about upcoming ARPGs in general.

Topics Discussed:

  • The Blizzcon Spirit
  • The Star Wars Spirit
    • Star Wars the Old Republic
    • Fallen Empire
    • Eternal Throne
    • Overall Tweaks to the Game
    • Jedi Fallen Order
  • Magic the Gathering Arena
    • Standard Format
    • Direct Duels
    • Playing with Jank
    • Magnificent Momir
  • Pagan Online
    • Early Access
    • Potentially Eventually Free to Play
    • Wolcen
    • Last Epoch
    • Torchlight Frontiers
    • Grim Dawn
Direct download: aggrochat_episode249.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:08am EDT

Going into the show we had what seemed like a pretty slim set of show notes… but somehow we actually ended up bumping topics.  We start off with a discussion of Grim Dawn since Bel and Grace have been playing it. This leads into a talk about loot generosity spawned by the loot filters in both Grim Dawn and Path of Exile and that ends up going off in its own direction.  We talk a bit about the Star Wars Episode IX trailer which spawns a discussion about the Star Wars Cinematic Universe… which winds its way to the Marvel Comic Universe… which winds its way to a general discussion about Comic books. Finally a brief topic about a Warframe learning from its mistakes and trying a do-over on the Hildryn event.

Topics Discussed

  • Grim Dawn
  • Loot Filters
    • General Loot Generosity
    • Loot Management in Games
  • Star Wars Episode XI Trailer
    • Star Wars Cinematic Universe
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe
    • Marvel Comics
  • Comic Books in General
  • Warframe Hildryn Event Redo
Direct download: aggrochat_episode248.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:01am EDT

Tonight we delve into the esoteric talking more about concepts than concrete things.  Bel leads off with a discussion of a game he has been playing lately Outward, and how it feels like we remember Everquest feeling even though it is not entirely certain if that was the purpose.  From there we delve into a topic that has been sitting on our list for awhile but kept getting bumped due to time… namely Focus-Consuming Games as in the games that as a lot out of the player. This starts a discussion about the constraints on our time and how occasionally a game is just expecting you to be playing it as a hobby.  From there we delve into a topic spawned from a YouTube video linked below… discussing how a lot of Games as a Service titles are manufacturing discontent among the players to spur them into making purchases. We discuss that there are a lot of lessons to be learned in how to do this well from the Mobile Gaming space and how in many cases Genres don’t matter the way they used to.

Topics Discussed

  • Outward
    • Feeling like we remember Everquest
  • Focus-Consuming Games
    • Games that want more attention than we are able to give at a time
    • Looking for that neutral state in games
    • Limited attention span or ability to focus
  • Manufactured Discontent
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPHPNgIihR0
    • Games as a Service and the psychology that goes into putting us in a position to buy things.
    • Lessons that need learned from Mobile Gaming
    • Genre’s matter less than they used to
Direct download: aggrochat_episode247.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 9:56am EDT

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