AggroChat #460 – Spoopy Forest Friends

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
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AggroChat #459 – An Elegy for Pohx

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
The post AggroChat #459 – An Elegy for Pohx appeared first on Tales of the Aggronaut.

AggroChat #458 – Muddied Waters

Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen 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
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AggroChat #457 – Complex Payoffs

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
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