AggroChat #525 – Insurance for Cats

Featuring: AmmosArt, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, and Tamrielo
Hey Folks! We are down a Thalen this week, but that is mostly because he was up visiting Bel Town, so Bel talks a bit about that.  Kodra discusses how playing a lot of Blue Prince has ruined his brain for every other game… especially Cyberpunk 2077. It is Path of Exile 3.26 Spoiler Season, and Bel talks about some of the quality of life changes coming.  Tam shares his experiences with Skin Deep and why it may not be the “sandbox stealth” game that it is purported to be. Kodra and Tam talk about their experiences playing Lorelei and the Laser Eyes “Co-Op” without official support for that. The early looter shooter Defiance makes a return, and Bel talks about that, and then Tam shares the realization that given enough time, you massively improve almost anything that you try… in his case, painting miniatures.

Topics Discussed:

  • Blue Prince Rewires Brain
  • Path of Exile 3.26 Spoiler Season
  • Skin Deep
  • Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3
  • Lorelei and the Laser Eyes “Co-Op”
  • Defiance Returns
  • Painting Realization
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AggroChat #524 – Fun To Lose

Featuring: AmmosArt, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Hey Folks! We are down a Grace this week and start off with what seems like a reasonable list of topics…  that we immediately have to bump half of because the night ran long. Thalen starts off with a bit of a rebuttal to our Eurovision topic as he shares his thoughts about Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente. From there, we talk about the death of Marathon and potentially Bungie as things keep getting worse for that game and its studio. Speaking of angry crowds…  we also talk a bit about the self-own of Star Citizen’s recent round of pay-to-win allegations. Steam OS is officially available for devices that are not the Steam Deck, and we share our thoughts about an eventual future where we are running this on desktops. Somewhere in the midst of the show, we have this entire unintended conversation about how making PVP work for non-PVPers would mean needing to make losing feel enjoyable. Finally, Tam shares his thoughts about what he has played of Dune Awakening so far, and it is probably enough to rope several of us into trying the game on release.

Topics Discussed

  • Space Opera
  • The Marathon Debacle
  • The Potential Death of Bungie
  • Star Citizen Self-Own
  • Steam OS Broad Release
  • PVP for Non-PVPers
  • Dune: Awakening 
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AggroChat #523 – Get That Slorm

Featuring: AmmosArt, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, and Kodra
Hey Folks! We are down a few folks, but we had a lot to talk about.  Bel and Grace have been watching Eurovision for several years at this point… and talk about some nonsense that went on during the Saturday show that was amazing. From there, Ash shares his broadening love of Taiko Drum games and tries to figure out a way to play them at home. Bel talks a bit about recent Last Epoch updates that have added quite a bit of quality of life to the game. Enshrouded got the Thralls of Twilight update that has massively improved some of the game visuals as well as added quite a bit more gameplay.  Dwarven Realms is going through Chaos Week right now, and Grace has been playing the brand new Necromancer. Several of us have spent time playing Slormancer, and it is a phenomenal and easy to get into ARPG with a pretty delightful art style.  Right now, Steam is doing Creature Collector Fest, and Ash talks about trying out several demos. Finally, Bel has returned to Guild Wars 2 and drug Ammo along for the nonsense.  He talks about finishing up his fifth Legendary Weapon and setting his sights on the way more daunting Vision Legendary journey.

Topics Discussed:

  • Real Winner of Eurovision
  • Taiko Drum Games
  • Last Epoch Quality of Life Patches
  • Enshrouded – Thralls of Twilight 
  • Dwarven Realms Necromancer
  • Slormancer
  • Creature Collection Demos
    • Voiding Bound
    • Synth Beasts
    • Yaoling Mythical Journey
    • Aethermancer
  • Guild Wars 2
    • Fifth Legendary What Now?
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AggroChat #522 – What Makes a Crossover?

Featuring: AmmosArt, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen
Hey Folks! Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mothers out there who might be listening to our show. We are down an Ash and a Grace and have an under-the-weather Kodra, but push on.  We start off with Bel asking the question: What is the bare minimum required for something to be called a crossover in a game? Kodra shares his thoughts about his playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 and how it gives the impression of time pressure, but that there really is not any.  This branches off into a whole discussion about imaginary time pressure and actual hard clocks in games.  Weirdly, this also then branches off into a discussion about how “sexytime” is handled in games. In a more pure gaming experience, Tam shares his thoughts about the wildly successful Burrows and Badgers.  Bel talks about rolling a Gauntlet character in the Sir Gog led Path of Exile league and hitting a hard stop in Act 8.  Finally, we talk a bit about Dune Awakening and then attempt to explain the Dune universe to Kodra.

Topics Discussed:

  • What Constitutes a Crossover in a Video Game?
    • Diablo IV x Berserk Collaboration
  • Cyberpunk 2077 and the implication of time pressure.
    • Actual Time Pressure vs Imagined
  • Sexytime in Gaming
  • Burrows and Badgers
  • Sir Gog’s Soft Gauntlet in Path of Exile
  • Dune: Awakening Beta Hopes
  • Explaining Dune to Kodra
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