Podcasts about belghast

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Sometimes a big week happens where there is a collision of events leading us to all want to talk about a game.  We welcome Kodra back from GenCon 2022 and he talks about his experiences namely the LARPs he participated in and this leads to a discussion of Warmachine 4.0.  From there we spend some time talking about the Path of Exile 3.19 Lake of Kalandra league reveal stream and the changes it is ushering in.  Bel and Ammo talk a bit about Tower of Fantasy which seems to be a universally better version of Genshin Impact set in a science fiction borderlands/wildstar-like universe.  Finally, we wrap things up with some talk about Cult of the Lamb where you sacrifice your friends for fun and profit.   Topics Discussed GenCon 2022 LARPs Warmachine 4.0 What is going on? Path of Exile 3.19 Lake of Kalandra Stream Tower of Fantasy Cult of the Lamb

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Tonight we are down a Kodra because he is off enjoying GenCon.  If you see a spot on Fred from Scooby Doo in GenCon photos, that would probably be him.  We start with a topic that was purposefully bumped from last week because the ramifications were not specific yet.  Essentially Star Citizen did a progress wipe and maybe got it wrong with a rounding error causing players to end up with way more money than they had before.  From there we talk about the Festival of the Four Winds in Guild Wars 2 and some purposefully non-spoiler Sandman discussion.  Bel talks a bit about trying out Kingdom Come Deliverance and how their attempt at a clever combat system blows but can largely be fixed with mods.  From there we dive into a weird topic against gatekeeping and the joy of seeing people discovering Kate Bush.  Then we dive into a Blizzard section as we talk about the cancellation of WoW Mobile, grouping issues in Diablo Immortal, and just general issues with Blizzard.  Finally, we wrap things up with a little discussion about Xenoblade 3. Topics Discussed: Star Citizen 3.17.2 Wipes Stipends Content Drop Problems Guild Wars 2  Festival of the Four Winds No Spoiler Sandman Kingdom Come Deliverance Fixing it with Mods A Case Against Gatekeeping The Return of Kate Bush WoW Mobile Cancelled Exploring the potential whys Diablo Immortal Grouping Problems 100k Whale can't get a group Blizzard Woes Xenoblade 3 Rocks

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Tonight we are back and instead of Bel being sick this time we have Kodra who sounds awful.  First up we start with a discussion about Tam's experiences with the Steam Deck and how it is a phenomenal device.  From there we talk about Tam dropping down to 1440p high framerate after spending time running at 4K and how he has been a better experience.  Ash talks about Digimon Survive finally released and his experiences with the game.  Bel gets into Dragonflight Alpha for World of Warcraft and talks about his first few weeks.  From there we talk about some of the early experiences with Multiversus and the high-quality smash bros style gameplay.  Kodra talks about the upcoming Kickstarter for Nara: Facing Fire.  Tam talks about Anno: Mutationem and its interesting take on Cyberpunk and that it is not at all connected to the Anno Series.  Finally, we wrap up with some discussion of the recent Ocarina of Time TAS play for Summer Games Done Quick. Featured Topics Steam Deck Ownership Downgrading to 1440p Digimon Survive Released Dragonflight Alpha Multiversus Nara: Facing Fire Anno: Mutationem SGDQ Ocarina of Time TAS

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   We are back!  Bel was sick last week from an unknown illness that is very likely, not Covid and as such we did not record.  Tonight we had a wealth of topics and in the end, made it through very few of them.  We start off by talking about one of Ash's comfort games Okami and his recent experiences playing through it on the PlayStation 4.  From there we talk about Stray and how Bel and Grace have deeply mixed feelings about it and Tam loved it.  Since it is always fun to dunk on NFT projects, we talk about Microsoft decimating NFTWorld by declaring that there will be no NFT projects associated with Minecraft.  While this is a bit of an old topic we talk about the return of E3 and how Reed Pop will be running the show in 2023.  We also talk about what this might mean for a shift in the show from being largely industry-focused to more fan service.  Finally, a number of us have reached the end game of Path of Exile and we talk about those experiences. Topics Discussed Okami Stray NFTWorld Burns Reed Pop and E3 Path of Exile Endgame

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Tonight we have a show where we are mostly discovering games that have been out for a very long time.  We start off with Rimworld and Tam's adventures in this story generation engine.  From there we talk about Wolfstride and how it is a very 90s anime representation of a video game.  From there Tam talks a bit about the Star Citizen Guide program that links someone needing help with a live person to help them, and how recent changes have made that system work strangely.  Finally, we dive into Path of Exile and how the rabbit hole has widened and captured most of us.  We talk about confronting the passive tree and the weird edge case builds it can support along with some early multiplayer experiences.  We also talk a bit about how important it is for games to support a controller and a mouse and keyboard to meet the players where they are most comfortable.  Finally, we dive a bit into the microtransactions within Path of Exile and their general acceptance. Topics Discussed Rimworld Adventures Wolfstride Very 90s Anime Game Star Citizen's Guide System Echos of Everquest Guide System Path of Exile The rabbit hole widens Multiplayer experiences Controller Support in ARPGs Acceptance of MTX

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen We did not record a show last week because the news of our country was a bit too fresh for most of us to talk about video games.  Now another week has passed and the wound has begun to scab over a bit.  Tonight we start down a Thalen and Grace but eventually pick up a Thalen as we go.  We talk about Summer Games Done Quick and have an aside about Wiley Wars coming to the Switch.  From there folks talk about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and trying to play it six-player on a console that does not support that.  From there Bel talks about falling back into Diablo III and finishing out Season 26…  while also playing a horrible ideas class that is really bad at boosting friends.  From there Bel talks about his recent experience diving down the Path of Exile rabbit hole.  Guild Wars 2 made many changes that were not well received by the most hardcore players, but we largely think they are a good thing and talk about that.  Finally, we wrap up with a quick discussion about Outriders Worldslayer and how it is still a very bleak game, but also a great mechanical experience if you can get past that. Topics Discussed Summer Games Done Quick Wiley Wars on Switch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge Diablo III Season 26 Bad Ideas Build Being a Bad Carry Path of Exile Bel Goes Down this Rabbit Hole Guild Wars 2 Massive Changes Outriders Worldslayer Still a Bleak Game

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen Tonight was a weird show.  Firstly we are recording this show on Belghast's Birthday, which in our almost 400 episodes I am not sure we have actually recorded on one of our Birthdays before.  We set out with the mission of recording a show about the “Not E3” festivities that have been going on but get sidetracked as one does.  Instead, we go down a path of talking about Diablo Immortal once again, but from the standpoint of how exactly one should be funding game development.  Clearly, the NetEase and Blizzard team chose violence, but how exactly does one fund modern game development costs when the market has shown that if the price trickles up from $60…  folks freak out.  From there we do eventually return to talking about Sony, Microsoft, and whatever Geoff Keighly is running that now serves as the replacement for E3. Topics Discussed Bel's Birthday Diablo Immortal Again Funding Games Ethically Gamepass Model Microsoft Show Silksong Valheim Cross Play between Gamepass and Steam Star Citizen, Starfield, and the era of Space Games Redfall The Gamesir X2 controller reprised

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, and Thalen Tonight's show is a bit of a strange one.  We had a bunch of absences and at the start of the show, it was just Ammo, Bel, and Thalen.  Then as we recorded a wild Ash and Kodra appear, but this does have the effect of causing a few topics to be rehashed.  We start talking about the nonsense that Bel is doing where he attempts to fix the episode gap on YouTube and re-releases the original 73 episodes.  We dive into Guild Wars 2 and specifically the Living World Season 1 and the current Dragon Bash event.  Bel reprises the topic of Diablo Immortal this week and talks about having gotten to level 56 and all of the many monetization traps in that game.  Then Thalen talks about his experiences playing Talos Principle and Stanley Parable.  Kodra appears and we reprise the Guild Wars 2 topics a bit before Bel dives into a discussion about the universally good changes coming to New World. Topics Discussed Re-releasing Original AggroChat Episodes Guild Wars 2 Living World Season 1 Chapter 2 Dragon Bash Diablo Immortal The Grind Lootbox Bait and Switch $450 Gem Talos Principle Stanley Parable Guild Wars 2 Revisited New World Upcoming Changes

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen Tonight we go back to our normal format and open up talking about Kodra teaching Eli how to play some Pokemon TCG, and how the last time several of us played that game was during the Wizards of the Coast era.  From there Grace and Bel talk about Gunfire Reborn, a game where you play anthropomorphic animals with guns in a roguelike…  that occasionally features lizards as weapons.  Bel talks about his experiences playing Diablo Immortal and we talk a bit about its very predatory monetization scheme.  Tam talks about his experiences attempting to get into the very obtuse X4 series and obligatory comparisons to Star Citizen.  We talk briefly about Star Trek Strange New Worlds and how it is a pretty good onramp to the Trek franchise.  This also ends up in a bit of a brief discussion about the new Kenobi miniseries of Disney Plus. Topics Discussed Pokemon TCG with Youngsters Gunfire Reborn Diablo Immortal Predatory Monetization X4: Foundations Star Citizen Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Kenobi Miniseries

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Tonight we sit down to record the first “Aggrochat Game Club show”-like experience that we have done in a really long time.  A few weeks back a copy of Citizen Sleeper showed up in our steam libraries courtesy of Tam, and after several played it…  we set forth to eventually have a single show where we talked about it at length.  The major benefit of this is that for the most part, it is a relatively short game, and also has a wide myriad of possible outcomes.  This led to some interestingly varied experiences including one where Bel just played the game wrong entirely and made it out on the other side with a good ending.  This is a full spoiler show about Citizen Sleeper so I highly suggest if you have not played the game…  that you might do so and come back later. Topics Discussed Citizen Sleeper

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Tamrielo, and Thalen Tonight we are down a Grace and a Kodra but carry on with the long list of topics left over from last week.  We start the show with a discussion of Trek to Yomi and how it is the video game form of a samurai movie.  Bel revisits New World and talks about all of the improvements, and how it is very unlikely to change anything population-wise.  Folks played Necromunda in person using the 2018 rules set and share their experiences.  Bel talks a bit about his rabbit hole from last week of looking at just how far off Kickstarter estimated delivery dates are for Video Games.  Finally, we talk some more about Star Citizen and the 3.17 patch, along with some long-time daydreaming about a world where Tam gets to ferry us around the galaxy going on delves through abandoned space hulks. Topics Discussed Trek to Yomi New World Improvements Necromunda Kickstarter Nonsense Estimates Star Citizen 3.17 Always Pay Your Sheep in PVP

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen Last week was mothers day and travel and such led to us not being able to record a show.  As is often the case we ended up with a long list of topics and not enough time to address them all.  First, we talk about the curious intersection of Pachinko and Roguelikes and more specifically Peglin and Roundgaurd…  and its pinball-focused cousin Yoku's Island Express.  Thalen shares with us the joy of the Squirrelgirl Podcast.  We talk a bit about the odd but obvious cross-over event between EVE Online and Microsoft Excel.  We dive a bit into Guild Wars 2 and talk about how apparently Bel is actually doing PVP now, not just WvW.  We also congratulate Kodra on getting his Skyscale mount and talk a bit about the long grinds.  From there Thalen discusses the DIE Pen and Paper system.  From there we talk a bit about the recent streamer bans for running addons and the whole debacle causing rifts in the community.  Lastly, we talk a bit about bringing back the AggroChat Game of the Month…  sorta…  because we are going to all play Citizen Sleeper and then record a show about it. Topics Discussed The intersection of Pachinko and Roguelikes Peglin Roundguard Yoku's Island Express Squirrel Girl Podcast EVE Online and Excel Crossover Guild Wars 2 Someone replaced Bel and is doing PVP Kodra gets a Skyscale DIE the Pen and Paper Game Final Fantasy XIV Addon Debacle AggroChat Game of the Month Returning Sorta Citizen Sleeper Show Soon

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen Tonight we talk about Bel and his dumb luck that seems to follow him from game to game.  More specifically we talk about three exceedingly rare things that took place in short order after he came back to Guild Wars 2.  From there we talk a bit about the community and how awesome they are.  We also talk a bit about wrapping up Path of Fire and Living World Season 4.  From there we talk about Wobbledogs, which comes from of grand tradition of griefing each other with games…  but this time in a good way.  Finally we talk a bit about Kirby and the Forgotten Land and more specifically Ultimate Cup Z. Topics Discussed Bel's Dumb Luck Guild Wars 2 Path of Fire Wrap Up Living World Season 4 Wrap Up Fun with Mounts The Great Community Wobbledogs Kirby and the Forgotten Land Ultimate Cup Z

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen Tonight we have the very first live show in three weeks.  As a result a bunch of stuff happened in the meantime.  We talk about some early experiences with Tunic, and then get into some discussion about Liars Day news turned true.  League of Votann is a thing and represents the return of “Squats” or Space Dwarves to Warhammer 40,000.  We also talk a bit about how the meta is currently collapsing because of the overpowered nature of Harlequins.  From there we talk about the shocking return of Colossal Cave Adventure and Monkey Island.  We talk a bit about the experiences with Kirby and the Forgotten Land, then dive into some discussion about Guild Wars 2 and the return of Super Adventure Box and Living World Season 1. Topics Discussed Tunic Squats are Back League of Votann 40,000 Meta Collapse Harlequin Problem Colossal Cave Adventure Monkey Island Kirby and the Forgotten Land Super Adventure Box Living World Season 1 Gloomhaven Digital

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Hey Friends!  It is finally that time where we record our big full spoiler show for Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker expansion.  It has become tradition to record one of these when all of our crew have played through the expansion and yesterday afternoon Kodra finally finished it.  We also ended up recording for far longer than we have EVER recorded for one of these shows.  We started about an hour early and still finished up two hours late for a grand total of around four hours of podcast to edit.     The end result is that we are chopping this down into three separate shows which is a first for us.  We have a storied history of double episodes but never a triple.  This week we have the final of this sequence.  Hopefully you enjoy the show, and if Final Fantasy XIV is not your jam then I guess we will see you hopefully in a couple weeks for more live shows.Topics Discussed Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen Hey Friends!  It is finally that time where we record our big full spoiler show for Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker expansion.  It has become tradition to record one of these when all of our crew have played through the expansion and yesterday afternoon Kodra finally finished it.  We also ended up recording for far longer than we have EVER recorded for one of these shows.  We started about an hour early and still finished up two hours late for a grand total of around four hours of podcast to edit.   The end result is that we are chopping this down into three separate shows which is a first for us.  We have a storied history of double episodes but never a triple.  This week we have part two of this sequence.  Hopefully you enjoy the show, and if Final Fantasy XIV is not your jam then I guess we will see you hopefully in a couple weeks for more live shows.Topics Discussed Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker

Featuring:  Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Hey Friends!  It is finally that time where we record our big full spoiler show for Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker expansion.  It has become tradition to record one of these when all of our crew have played through the expansion and yesterday afternoon Kodra finally finished it.  We also ended up recording for far longer than we have EVER recorded for one of these shows.  We started about an hour early and still finished up two hours late for a grand total of around four hours of podcast to edit.   The end result is that we are chopping this down into three separate shows which is a first for us.  We have a storied history of double episodes but never a triple.  Hopefully you enjoy the show, and if Final Fantasy XIV is not your jam then I guess we will see you hopefully in four weeks?Topics Discussed Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Tonight we have a bit of an odd show to usher in sleep theft weekend.  First we talk about Bel's descent into madness…  that is getting super engaged in Guild Wars 2.  He spent the last week chain running World Bosses and talks about how freaking fun that is.  From there we talk about some of the long grind systems and how there are multiple paths for different playstyles to reach the same ultimate goal.  From there we dust off a topic that has been sitting on the list for a long while, that was originally inspired by Warhammer 40,000 but applies to a lot of different games.  Largely we discuss how the most hardcore players represent the smallest portion of the community, but also are the ones that set the pace that everyone else is forced to live up to.  This covers a wide swath of topics from Magic the Gathering to MMO Chain Pulling to even the death of New World.  It is one wild ride  of a show. Topics Discussed Bel's further descent into Guild Wars 2 The Joy of Chain Running World Bosses The Good Long Grinds Catering to the minority in games How the most competitive players set the rules of the community Warhammer 40,000 FFXIV and MMO Chain Pulling Magic the Gathering Netdecking Missing Jank Magic Destiny 2 Death of Skill Based Matchmaking New World and how catering to a minority is killing game Missing the innocence of being able to be bad

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen Tonight we start off talking about the weird game Babylon's Fall and how it potentially had the worst launch ever of a big budget looter style game.  With a steam launch of concurrent users in the neighborhood of 350 players…  we talk about what went wrong.  From there we discuss Warhammer 40,000 and the release of new Craftworld army lists.  So in a weird turn of events…  Bel apparently likes Guild Wars 2 now?  He finally lands on a class that feels the way he wanted Warrior to feel…  and it is apparently a caster.  We also talk a bit about End of Dragons expansion and how well Cantha appears to be received.  From there we dive into a topic that is sure to anger many listers about what it means for Open World gaming to be done “Right”.  This mainly involves a discussion of Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring, Horizon series, and even some discussion of things like open world Assassin's Creed games. Topics Discussed Babylon's Fall Worst Looter Start Yet Warhammer 40,000 Craftworlds Aspects are Finally Good Again Bel Apparently likes GW2 Necromancer is Caster Tank End of Dragons Fun in Cantha Open World Done Right Breath of the Wild Elden Ring Horizon Series

One of the things about AggroChat is we very often rarely get into a game when it is new, which leads to us putting several titles on our games of the year list that are several years old.  This week Belghast finally got around to playing Control and is now trying to hook everyone else on it.  From there we talk a bit about the cyberpunk state of Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons and how Cantha is now a high tech kingdom.  Keeping the cyberpunk theme going we talk about Kamigawa Neon Dynasty.  Ash talks a bit about Trials of Mana and their New Game Plus system that allows you to easily see how the OTHER party would have finished the game.  From here we roll into a discussion about the most recent controversy going on with Star Citizen.  Then we wrap things up with a few quick topics like how Elden Ring might have a serious security vulnerability.  Then Kodra talks for a bit about Kaizo Mario and how maybe things aren't as difficult as folks seem to think they are. Topics Discussed Control Jade Cyberpunk Cantha Neon Cyberpunk Kamigawa Trials of Mana New Game Plus Transparency in Game Dev Aka Star Citizen Recent Controversy Elden Ring potential exploits Celeste.smc and Kaizo Mario

Our general policy of just winging it has bit us in the butt several times in a row.  Belghast solved the fading in and fading out thing, but this apparently introduced a whole new issue.  As a result the audio levels are all over the chart for this episode from barely audible to booming loud.  This left us with the challenge of trying to determine if it was even worth releasing at all.  After some cleaning up the show is in a more manageable state but be warned…  It is not good.  As a result we are going to have to reinstitute our previous policy of doing a soundcheck before diving into the show.    Tonight Bel talks a lot about his experiences in the end game of New World.  After that we talk a bit about Sable and a pilgrimage to find which mask represents you in the world.  Thalen shares with us DIE a comic and board game about what would have happened if the Dungeon and Dragons Cartoon kids were sucked back into that world again.  Finally we talk a bit about the emotional rollercoaster that is Unpacking. Topics Discussed New World Being Level 60 Syndicate Losing our PVPers The Priest Camp The Zerg Sable Which Mask Represents You? DIE Zumanji meets D&D Cartoon Board Game Unpacking Emotional and Literal Baggage

Tonight without really meaning to, we recorded an entire show that is nothing but New World topics.  Firstly we talk about Belghast and Eliyon being the first in the company to hit level 60 and some of the realities of doing max level content.  We talk about how Minda is now a famous server because of a dramatic event that took place as the last Covenant guild on the server threw the fight for Mourningdale.  From there we talk a bit about the general economic woes of the game and how everything is either massively valuable or utterly worthless. Topics Discussed Paizo Unionization Recognized Hitting 60 in New World Jade and the Great Territory Throw New World Economy Woes Comparisons with Everquest

Tonight we start off with the travails of Belghast attempting to heal things on Scholar.  Kodra chimes in with his own experiences in the same class.  Bel talks a bit about getting to the bottom of the weird obsession that seems to be taking place with hitting +99/+99 aetherpool as fast as humanly possible in Palace of the Dead.  This leads to some discussions of WoW mindsets showing up in FFXIV players.  Bel and Ammo talk a bit about The Diadem and super chill leveling gatherers.  We talk at length about Wildermyth and how it does an excellent job of replicating the tabletop RPG experience in a digital interface.  Finally, we talk a bit about Art Software and Ash's explorations of what works for him with Ammo and Bel chiming in a bit towards the end. Topics Discussed: Bel Trying to Heal Stuff Gotta get 99/99 Fast WoW Mentalities in FFXIV The Diadem Wildermyth Adventures in Art Software

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

Due to improper planning and the fact that last week was Belghast’s wedding anniversary so we called it for the evening.  Tonight we are back and with a proper show chock full of goodness.  Actually just prior to the show Tam carpet bombed the trello with like two dozen topics, so we will probably be in business for several weeks.  Kodra participated in the very first GenCon Online and has lots of things to talk about regarding it.  During the middle of this discussion we break into a side tangent about how we feel like Shadowrun would work well using the World of Darkness Storyteller system.  Grace and Bel revisit Horizon Zero Dawn on the PC and talk about how much better the game feels with a mouse and keyboard.  Ash talks about playing Gundam EX vs Maxiboost ON and this leads to a side discussion about Gundam Breaker.  Bel talks about finishing Death Stranding and how emotionally connected he was to the characters in the game.  Finally we dive into a discussion about games and companion apps and how a lot of tabletop gaming and the company fear of the internet shoots them in the foot.   Topics Discussed: GenCon Online Shadowrun should be a Storyteller Game Horizon Zero Dawn on PC So much better with mouse Gundam EX vs Maxiboost ON Gundam Breaker Death Stranding Emotional Feels Rise of the Companion App Fear of the Internet

This is the first show of our seventh year of AggroChat, because we are apparently bad at tracking time and said nothing about our anniversary last week.  We start off with another “Bel was dumb” story as he ventured forth to battle the boxpocalpyse. From there we wind around a bit through a few topics and land on another exploration of levels in video games as a concept being a bad idea.  We talk about a bunch of ways that games do this and how some have figured out meaningful horizontal progression. Next up we talk about the effective death of Kotaku with the departure of Jason Schreier and this leads to a larger discussion about the odd place that “video game journalism” finds itself in and the rigors of trying to fill content for the 24 hour news cycle.  We go down the rabbit hole that is Star Wars Galaxies crafting system and contrast it against a few other approaches like that of the original Everquest II system. Finally some brief discussion as Tam finds Beat Saber and the shockingly good work out it ends up being. Topics Discussed Bel and the Boxpocalypse We’ve outgrown the concept of levels WoW’s leveling buff Marking progression horizontally The Death of Kotaku The challenges of gaming content creation The Brilliant Madness of Star Wars Galaxies crafting Beat Saber

This evening we thought we would start the show with a discussion of what life has been like for each of us in the time of Covid19.  We’ve all sorta been juggling trying to maintain a relatively normal life while still remaining safe and sound. As part of this discussion we talk about the various things getting cancelled, like E3 and wondering if this is the end of that show as a whole.  Kodra and Ash talk about their adventures in Ori and the Will of the Wisps and how maybe it is on par with Hollow Knight. Bel talks a bit about his problem with Destiny Seasons and how expiring content keeps him from wanting to engage. Kodra discusses his recent journey into Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Dicey Dungeons.  Finally Bel talks about how he has reached an end with his sojourn into Spiders games with Bound by Flame being the one that he just can’t bring himself to play. Topics Discussed Life in the time of Covid19 What day to day life is like so far Goodbye to E3 Ori and the Will of the Wisps The Destiny Seasonal Problem Kodra and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Dicey Dungeons Mars War Logs Bound by Flame

After having to miss last week we had more topics than realistically could fit into a show and only actually made it through three of them. The first is the launch of Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem and how maybe early access isn’t actually a game launch in certain circumstances. We talk about the myriad problems with the online components of the game and the struggles with an indie trying to buy server capacity for high volume bursty connections. Thankfully there is an offline mode which allows us to talk a bit about why the game is worth the struggle. From there we talk about the impending Final Fantasy XIV 5.2 patch and the most recent live letter previewing features coming up for the game. Lastly we talk about returning to an alternate future where the NGE didn’t kill Star Wars Galaxies as Tam convinces Belghast to play Star Wars Legends. Topics Discussed: Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem High Capacity Launches are Hard for Indies Going from 1000 to 65,000 concurrent users in a day The solid underlying single player experience Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter 5.2 Patch Catching up Free Company Leveling Up Star Wars Galaxies Star Wars Legends Server Piloting Rebel Starships Tam talks Bel into Playing NGE and Combat Update

Tonight we are down several folks including Belghast, so as a result Tamrielo is filling in with the role of leading the festivities.  There is some confusion and this show is announced as 281 only to realize after recording that it is in fact 280. Tonight the AggroChat crew talks about their feelings regarding the final movie in the Star Wars Skywalker Saga.  The opinions run the gambit from enjoyed it quite a bit to absolutely hated the experience and this leads to a pretty balanced discussion about the movie that the future of Star Wars. Topics Discussed: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

After a week off you can effectively blame Belghast for filling the Trello full of partial topics, and the rest of the show for not replacing them with something meaningful.  As a result we have a fairly fragmented show. In importance news however Ammo is joining the team permanently. The most important thing discussed however is the fact that Tam gave us a new term…  that of the noble Melon-Snake. Here is a quick rundown of the varied topics discussed:  Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trailer, Xur coming to Fallout 76, Monster Hunter World Iceborne and Bloodstained Ritual of the Night release dates, Unplayable Magic Decks, The madness of Arcade emulation, The sad state of Anthem. Topics Discussed: Neph’s Wedding Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trailer Bloodstained Ritual of the Night Fallout 76 Purveyor NPC Monster Hunter World Iceborne Capcom Hates PC Gamers Magic the Gathering Arena Kodra has Teferi Problems Madness and Arcade Emulation The joys of finding full mamesets Triggering a bandwidth usage warning Abandoning GameEx Evolution Moving to RetroArch TitanQuest Releasing Expansions 13 Years after its launch Anthem Removing Cosmetic Caches Spaghetti Code Problems Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers

Tonight we talk about a bunch of differing topics… that sorta blend together into a mix of ideas.  We start off with some discussion of Thanksgiving Leftover abominations. From here Belghast talks a bit about his experiences with extremely Hardcore players on mobile phone games.  This sorta leads its way into discussions of MMO Design problems, which itself leads to talking about the FFXIV Shadowbringers expansion announcement. We discuss the problems with the Blue Mage and how the Limited Class construct is probably not the right way to do it.  This leads eventually into a discussion of the shenanigans that Tam and Kodra and crew have been up to in Fallout 76. Topics Discussed: Thanksgiving Leftover Abominations Hardcore Mobile Players MMO Design Problems Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringer Blue Mage Limited Job Fallout 76

Tonight Belghast completely crashes and has to reboot, during the intro.  Additionally Kodra also crashes at some point during the LARP conversation and we sorta have to move on while he comes back online.  It is one of those shows. You have been warned. We talk about GenCon and the convention going experience. We talk a bit about Steambirds Alliance and what a bullet-hell-perma-death-steampunk-bird-mmo is like.  If you have enough dashes you can connect any genres! We talk about Monster Hunter World on the PC and how it isn’t quite the dumpster fire that the internet reports it to be. We talk about questing in 4X games and why everyone but Bel seems to think this is an awesome.  Then we sorta break down into a lengthy diatribe about Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder and which versions were good at what. It's a Show! Topics Discussed Kodra visits GenCon Convention Experiences Here we Go A Larping Steambirds Alliance Ashgar Needs This Game Spryfox Is Awesome Realm of the Mad God Monster Hunter World PC Mostly Fine Quests in 4X Games Bel Thinks it sounds miserable Everyone else loves them Starfinder Thoughts Pathfinder 2.0 Thoughts Devolving into a discussion about D&D Generations 3.5 Thoughts 4e Thoughts Open Gaming License was Awesome Bel says some stuff about Palladium Games The Public Nature of D&D Beginning with 3rd Edition to Now Critical Role Talking D&D on Talk Shows

As part of the 2018 Blaugust Reborn Initiative the blogger Chestnut from Gamer Girl Confessions (gamergirlconfessions.com) has challenged us to create some mini podcasts.  There is a sequence of questions that we were asked to answer, and in my case I sorta gave some pretty big combo answers for most of them.  You can find the full length of questions as part of this blog post (https://gamergirlconfessions.com/2018/07/30/imposter-syndrome-and-your-blog/).  Essentially Belghast talks about how he got his start with Tales of the Aggronaut and some general advice to new bloggers. There is still plenty of time to participate in Blaugust this year so check out http://aggronaut.com/2018/07/09/blaugust-reborn/ for more details.

Tonight we record a normal show... and by normal I mean one that starts off completely derailing Belghast. We have a new way of trying to make sure topics that don't actually make it on a weeks show roll over to the next week... and as a result there are a bunch of topics that have been sitting in limbo for awhile that we dig into. Topics Discussed Evoland 2 Reprised Warhammer Age of Sigmar Idoneth Deepkin Stormcast Nighthaunt Games Workshop New Management Disappointing Sequels New Gundam Breaker Deus Ex Invisible War Master of Orion 3 Mass Effect Andromeda Gloomhaven Premium Board Games Kingdom Death Elder Scrolls Online Current State of Game

Tonight we talk about the May AggroChat Game Club game…  Heroes of Hammerwatch. This was Belghast’s pick who largely though we needed a much more relaxing game after the deep feels that A Night in the Woods gave us.  Additionally the first one was a lot of fun and it was well worth exploring what the indirect sequel had to offer. This leads us down a path where we talk about the differences between Rogue-lite and Rogue-like as well as some discussion about procedural generation versus hand built maps.  We also talk a bit about the June game of the month Evoland 2. Topics Featured: Our New Battle Royale Mode Heroes of Hammerwatch Rogue-lite vs Rogue-like Procedural vs Hand Built Evoland 2 Final Fantasy Four Job Fiesta

Tonight we are extremely happy that Tam is still with us.  Find out how exactly he has managed to be hit five different times by motor vehicles.  With his ability to take a fall he is still with us and healing… but still very sore. We talk a bit about the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general terms and attempt to be as spoiler free as possible.  Largely we discuss what a feat it is to have 19 movies and 11 television series that all more or less interact with each other in the same shared universe. From there Kodra and Belghast talks a bit about Magic the Gathering Arena and the new quick draft mode.  Finally Tam talks a bit about his experiences with Yakuza Zero and what a weird game that ultimately is. Topics Discussed: Marvel Cinematic Universe Magic the Gathering Arena Drafting Yakuza 0

This week the Bards have invited long-time friend and listener Belghast to join them -- and to pick the topic for the show! Bel picked a fun and unusual theme: Rocking out with electric guitars. Do MMOs and rock mix? On this particular episode they do! Follow Battle Bards on iTunes Follow Battle Bards on Stitcher Follow Battle Bards on Player.FM Episode 45 show notes Intro (featuring "Blue Turns to Grey" from Tabula Rasa, "Battle on the Big Bridge Reborn" from FFXIV, and "Prologue" from Castlevania SOTN) "Titan Battle Theme" from FFXIV "Alonewolf" from Rusty Hearts "Toko" from Granado Espada "Character Select/Map Load" from Heroes of the Storm "New Conglomerate Main Theme" from PlanetSide 2 "Malicia's Finale" from DDO "Lucid Dreaming" from Aion What track did we like the best? Mail from Akiranon Outro Email the Battle Bards! Special thanks to Tesh for the Battle Bards logo! Battle Bards is part of The Gaming and Entertainment Network of podcasts