AggroChat #247 – Limited Ability to Focus

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

aggrochat247

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

AggroChat #246 – Pax meet Mox

Featuring:  Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra and Thalen

aggrochat246

Tonight we are down a Tam and also down having a constructed list of topics to go from.  The only roll forward topic left on the list is decidedly a “Tam” topic so we end up more or less winging it.  There is a decidedly Pax East flair to the show given that a number of topics we discussed circle things announced at or going on during Pax.  However none of the crew actually attended this year. Related to this we talk about The Outer Worlds, Magic the Gathering Mythic Invitational, Wolfenstein Youngblood Trailer, Borderlands 3 Trailer.  There is a brief interlude about returning to Final Fantasy XIV which Grace has done this week, and another oddball topic as Bel discusses getting Cemu the Wii U Emulator up and running and playing Breath of the Wild rendered in native 4k.

Topics Discussed

  • Pax East
    • The Outer Worlds Gameplay Stream
      • Questions about it actually releasing in 2019
    • Magic the Gathering
      • Mythic Invitational
      • Current State of Standard
      • War of the Spark Rumors
    • Wolfenstein Youngblood Trailer
      • Juxtaposition of Teens and Ultra-Violence
    • Borderlands 3 Trailer
      • Weird reveal live stream
      • Can Borderlands happen with none of the original writers?
      • Lessons learned from Pre-Sequel
      • Appearance of Tell Tale Characters
    • Cemu – Wii U Emulator
      • The Breath of the Wild Emulator
      • Rendered in Native 4k

AggroChat #245 – Podcast Is Win

Featuring:  Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra and Tamrielo

aggrochat245

Tonight we talk about Baba Is You, a game that has sort of come from out of nowhere but dominated large chunks of our time recently.  From there Bel talks about how Division 2 has improved upon the original, which leads is way to a discussion about the political ramifications of the game and how UbiSoft claims there are not any.  From there we discuss Sekiro and how it is in many ways a brand new Tenchu game. Finally we discuss the Final Fantasy XIV Fanfest Tokyo reveals.

Topics Discussed:

  • Baba Is You and Fun
  • Division 2
    • Improving Upon the First
    • UbiSoft Claiming not to make a Political Statement
    • The ramifications of the Statement Made
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
    • Tenchu Remastered
    • Soulsian Skills Don’t Apply
  • Final Fantasy XIV Fanfest Tokyo Reveals
    • Dancer
    • Ronso
    • Dwarves are just weird Lalafell

AggroChat #244 – Loot and Item Scaling

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

aggrochat244

Tonight signals the triumphant return of Doctor Grace!  I cannot adequately express how happy we are to have her back among our number.  As far as topics go… we once again punt forward the only topic that we had planned and replace them with a few discussions gathered up moments before we started recording.  Tonight we talk about Anthem and get Grace’s impressions so far… as well as dig into some of the frustrations around high end loot and weird item scaling. Thalen tells us how to learn to love Eureka in Final Fantasy XIV and get past the fact that it is so grindy.  Finally we wrap things up with a discussion about the Super Mario World Rom Hack scene and the differences between Vanilla and Chocolate.

Topics Discussed

  • The Return of Doctor Grace
  • Anthem
    • Grace and Thalen Impressions
    • High End Loot Woes
    • Item Scaling Weirdness
  • Final Fantasy XIV
    • Eureka Grinding
    • Relic Weapons
  • Super Mario World
    • Rom Hacks
    • Kaizo Mario
    • Terminus
    • Assembly Editing