AggroChat #352 – Partial Vindication

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

Hey Friends, it is time for a bit of real talk before I get into the podcast show notes.  We had a discussion last night about whether or not we should talk about the horrific Blizzard situation on the show.  I’ve made my comments pretty clear on my blog, but it also sorta felt gross and weird to engage in a conversation without anyone other than cisgender men.  Real-world emergencies deprived us of both Ammo and Grace last night, and I hope both of those situations got better.  It might come up again in the coming weeks but only if everyone on the show is up for talking about it.

As far as the topics we did discuss we talked a bit about Monster Hunter Stories 2 on the Nintendo Switch and how I apparently completely misunderstand the genre of that game.  Tam talks a bit about returning to Star Trek Online years later and the pattern of play that the game has fallen into.  We also go down a list of games that have quietly been holding on with a steady player base but get very little fanfare.  Kodra talks about his experience streaming Celeste and invites everyone to participate in those streams.  We close out the show with a discussion about Cyberpunk 2077 because Tam decided to give it a shot and Bel feels at least partially vindicated.  It is a mixed bag of a game but an extremely interesting one.

Topics Discussed:

  • Monster Hunter Stories 2
  • Star Trek Online
  • Quietly Successful MMORPGs
  • More FFXIV Discussion
  • Kodra Streams Celeste
    • Speed runs
  • Cyberpunk 2077
    • Horrible Representation and Great Representation
    • Easy to bounce early
    • Extremely detailed and interesting game

AggroChat #351 – Greysky is Active Again

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

This year has probably had more missing shows than pretty much any to date.  Last week storms blew through and Belghast lost internet for a good chunk of the night so we did not record.  This week however we recorded a slightly longer than average show as a result.  We start with Bel and Grace exploring Rune II and how it is a flawed game but also enjoyable.  Tam shares his experience of playing Final Fantasy 7 Intergrade and the adventures of Yuffie.  This bleeds into a discussion about Yakuza Like a Dragon and how Final Fantasy is going realtime and Yakuza is seemingly going to menu-driven combat.  Kodra and Thalen share their experiences playing the new Forgotten Realms-themed Magic the Gathering set.  Then we dive into a discussion about Final Fantasy XIV since a large number of us are active once again.

Topics Discussed

  • Rune II
  • Final Fantasy VII Intergrade
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon
  • Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
  • Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter
    • Returning to the game
    • Systems within Systems
    • Bel Breaking his Tanking Block
  • Final Fantasy XI Nonsense

AggroChat #350 – Super Dungeon Friends

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

Hey Friends! We made it to 350 episodes!  Which seems like a big number but as Thalen puts it… it is a new record over last week’s new record.  We break into a brief discussion about the era of big box games which brings us into a discussion of the era of pack in “feelies”  From there Bel talks about his return to Final Fantasy XIV and the forming of the Super Dungeon Friends community.  We also talk about the weird events this weekend happening on Cactuar the server we all play on.  We talk about the Co-Op game It Takes Two and the platformer Iconoclasts.  We also talk a bit about D&D Dark Alliance and Mario Golf Super Rush.

Topics Discussed

  • Big Box PC Game Era
    • We Miss Feelies
  • Returning to FFXIV
    • Super Dungeon Friends
    • Weird Weekend on Cactuar
  • It Takes Two
  • Iconoclasts
  • D&D Dark Alliance
  • Mario Golf Super Rush

AggroChat #249 – A Subnautical Tale

Tonight we start the show missing several people and then Kodra sneaks in while recording and claims to have been there all along.  We start out with a discussion of the Windows 11 announcement and the odd requirements it seems are going to be required to upgrade into it.  From there we talk about Grace’s adventures with Subnautica: Below Zero which I legitimately thought was an expansion pack and not a whole new game.  Bel talks about the trend of WoW personalities switching to Final Fantasy XIV and the videos associated with them.  We talk a bit about MMORPG Tycoon 2 and Lum’s delightful tweet thread making us want to play it.  Bel talks about his nonsense setup and how Sony Remote Play is so much better with a PS5…  and how TMACDev REPL4Y is even better than that.  Finally we close out the show with some talk about Ratchet and Clank and Kodra’s observations given this is his first game in that series.

Topics Discussed

  • Windows 11 Announcement
    • Leaked Build
    • Scalping TPM Modules
  • Subnautica: Below Zero
    • What a difference a story makes
  • WoW personalities playing FFXIV
    • The “quitting wow for ffxiv” video trend
    • What has lead to this point
    • Medieval Marty
  • Lum plays MMORPG Tycoon 2
    • Make bad MMOs for fun and profit
  • Sony Remote Play
    • Better on PS5
    • TMACDev REPL4Y
  • Ratchet and Clank Observations