Chamberlain And Chance

Alex is the happy owner of a new, non-scalped PS5. Yes, it took nine months, but it's not like a whole lot of games actually came out for it in the meantime. So far he has sampled Returnal and Demons' Souls, finding a bit of joy in both. Chamberlain comes to you with a metroidvania recommendation that comes with a few conditions, one of which being you don't mind dying in three hits. Play Ender Lilies. But he cannot recommend The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, as the stench of waggle is still attached to it. And Chance played some Overwatch, this time in the crossplay queue, and won a whole bunch anyway, because he is cool like that.

The PS5 suspense enters its final stage. Did Alex manage to secure one of these almost fictitious boxes? I am not telling, but he did almost get Chance to buy Wildermyth, a dreaded Steam game. Chance played some Overwatch, and then some Ghost of Tsushima multiplayer, and then watched a bunch of movies, quite possible all at the same time. And Chamberlain had no time to do anything that he said he was going to do, opting for a little game that served as a sort of follow up to another little game that no one really played.

Lost and alone without the shepherding hand of Chamberlain, Alex and Chance go rogue and talk about movies and TV for a half an hour!  How crappy IS The Tomorrow War?  How bingeable is Broad City?  Are we talking about The Bad Batch as in the dreamscape post-apocalyptic commentary on the American penal system, or are we talking about The Bad Batch Star Wars cartoon?  There's only one way to find out... 

Contrary to the intro, this is episode 273, not 263. Chamberlain apologizes (not really). He also did the right thing by giving up on D&D Dark Alliance and moving on to Scarlet Nexus, a game that actually wants to be played. Alex attempts to use the Crash Team Racing remake as a Mario Kart replacement. And Chance agrees to hand over more money to Sony for shinier samurai and a new island on which to kill people. His only demand is a plain straw hat.

Alex is using this lull in releases to replay one of the best games of last year, Ghost of Tsushima. He, and it, are very sweet. Chamberlain plays several half-baked demos before running into the less than half-baked D&D Dark Alliance. Chamberlain is sour. And in a stunning turn of events that simply could never have been predicted, Activision Blizzard has released a questionable patch for Overwatch that enables cross play and screws everything else up. Chance is salty.

It's E3 time! It's not as fun as it used to be, thanks to both the absence of Sony and the general malaise of an online only presentation, but it happened and we should talk about it. Spoiler: only Microsoft and Nintendo had anything to say. But at least there was something to play those lucky enough to own a PS5: Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart. Of course it is good, but Chamberlain and Chance need to fight about it anyway. Alex played a few bad roguelikes before coming back home to Hades, all the while telling himself that getting shut out of Sony's PS5 queue was not the end of the world.

This week, Chance beats the shit out of Chamberlain at VF5 AGAIN, Alex delves into Dungeons of the Darkest variety, and have you seen that Elden Ring trailer? (Note from Chamberlain: screw Elden Ring, there was a new Painkiller game teased that no one in the whole world cares about but me. If they make it exclusively co-op I will quit videogames)

That turkey is Chamberlain and his jive is indeed immaculate, though he did at least show up at the appointed time and play a serious number of embarrassing games of Virtua Fighter 5 with Chance. He also played Biomutant, which no one else should do. Alex has played enough of Mass Effect 3 to remember why he hated and loved it. And Chance watched a whole bunch of movies and posted a YouTube video that you should by no means watch.

People deal with the calm before the storm in many different ways. Chamberlain did something truly against type by watching Castlevania Season 4 after swearing off the series before making an honest, if a bit short, effort to replay a game. It's not his fault that blitzball is terrible. Chance watched several movies that no one else has heard of, then took a bullet for the team by trying out Biomutant. And Alex saved them all, on the second try, by completing the suicide mission at the end of Mass Effect 2. Team Tali for life.

Prepare yourself for Resident Evil 8 and Castlevania Season 4 spoilers! Also this week: Alex revisits old sci-fi friends who look better now than they ever did but play just about the same. Chamberlain literally falls asleep playing Ys Origins and Chance plays a game the he does not like to completion three times just because he has nothing else to do and wants to make very sure that he does not like it.

Returnal gets talked about again this week, and there might be a bit of drama around it, as Chance still loves it and Chamberlain still hates it, but there is a new release to talk about that Alex has played as well: Resident Evil Village. No spoilers this week but it will be open season next time. Also, a movie that Chamberlain doesn't understand, an actual metroidvania that Chance is unimpressed by and a new season of Castlevania that Alex has only watched a few episodes of.

Returnal has come out and, as expected, Chance and Chamberlain disagree vehemently on its quality. Chance is in love with a game that seamlessly blends genres into a science fiction horror metroidvania rogue lite that is exclusive to his console of choice. Chamberlain sees the vile scourge of the rogue like moving in on a previously pure game architype and is none to pleased, to put it lightly. The game's simple existence makes him angry. Firework ensue. Plus, Alex has returned to Cyberpunk, promising that the PC version finally works as advertised.

Desperation has set in. Chamberlain finished up a passable side scrolling action game, a cute, albeit forgettable game about clouds and then forced his way through Crash Bandicoot, a PS1 game that should have remained in the past. Alex was shamed unto a second attempt at Dishonored 2 by Chance. Chance is unable to find solace anywhere, bouncing off of good and bad game alike. At least next week there will be an argument about Returnal.

Alex has finally proved that he cooler than either Chamberlain and Chance by arriving late and leaving early. He has also managed to recap his losses after the foul internet eating his Risk of Rain 2 save. Chance continues his tour of the past, playing through Dishonored 2 in its entirety, managing to not kill anyone. Such restraint is to be applauded. And Chamberlain got to the very end of Outriders before lowering the difficulty to put the game out of its misery.

This week Chamberlain has shirked his sacred responsibility of watching one movie a week, opting for the intellectual slumming of a two night WrestleMania. This means he has to watch two whole movies before next week on top of trying to wrap up Outriders, which is actually getting better. Chance spreads his time out across many games, none of which are from this generation. And Alex has a once in a lifetime run in Risk of Rain 2 before his save is eaten by internet goblins.

Alex has the week off, involuntarily. No, we didn't kick him out, why would you even think that. This week Chamberlain is playing Outriders, a Destiny like game with Gears of War like combat that isn't as good as either of them. Chance plays a whole lot of games, spending the most time with Days Gone. Pretty soon he will be cruising the Canadian countryside on a motorcycle, sans helmet, wondering where all the zombies are. 

This week, Chance struggles to admit that Nintendo is occasionally right while at the same time starting his third play through of Breath of the Wild. He also gets in touch with his inner middle-aged woman. Alex finally beat Hades as the devs intended before revisiting Risk of Rain 2. And Chamberlain is gravely disappointed in Narita Boy but impressed with himself for getting through the second Doom Eternal expansion.  

New this week: Chamberlian catches up! After neglecting all forms of media other than videogames for years Chamberlain has decided that he just might be missing out on a few things. Chance is up first with his recommendation of The Witch and Chamberlian is, as to be expected, a grump about it. He also finished Doom Eternal The Old Gods part 1, which is he rather proud of, and played, then quit, Undertale because it boring. Chance finished Breath of the Wild on the third attempt before watching Zach Snyder's Justice League, so you don't have to, but he thinks you should! Alex treats himself to all of the Outer Worlds expansions, which finally bring it up to the length of a normal RPG, and spends more time with Griftlands.

It took 40 hours, but Chamberlain has finally decided that he doesn't like Bravely Default II and will not be playing any more of it. As penance for all that wasted time he is attempting the Doom Eternal expansion and has tasked Chance and Alex with choosing a movie a week for him to watch. Chance has chosen The Witch. Chamberlain is worried. Chance decided to save money and then ended up spending all the money on Grindstone, a Switch pro controller and Breath of the Wild (again). And Alex tried Hades from scratch, realized that it was hard again, and got succor from abusing Borderlands 3.

Bravely Default 2 is not technically old, but it certainly feels that way. Chamberlain would like to believe that it is intentional, not lazy, but he is still not sure if he is enjoying it or if he has put thirst hours into it just because he is in covid quarantine. Bloodborne is definitely old, but Chance is playing it anyway. It is so old, if fact, that he has forgotten just enough about it for it to be almost new again. Only Alex is actually playing something new. It's week two on Persona 5 Strikers and he has finally figured it out. Min maxing it is in the near future.