Chamberlain And Chance

There’s a new JRPG in town and it is more than cute enough to garner Alex’s affections. Hopefully the good feelings for Dragon Quest XI last longer than they did for Ni No Kuni 2. Chance has added another Metroid-vania to his list, pushing Chamberlain’s beloved Guacamelee down a notch in favor of The Messenger. Chamberlain has played more We Happy Few than anyone else in the entire world and it hurts.

A rare event: Chamberlain, Chance and Alex have all played Guacamelee 2. Chamberlain loves it more than is healthy, Alex has some reasonable criticisms and Chance simply enjoys pile driving skeletons with a chicken. A spire has been slain, Kratos still has it where it counts and someone is still playing Overwatch (it’s Chance).

Chamberlain comes prepared with a list of changes that would make Dead Cells enjoyable for old, cranky people. Chance counters with cruel facts and some very harsh words about Castlevania: Symphony of the Night being overrated. Feeling may have been hurt. Alex is still in love with Diablo 3 and may or may not have been sober at the time of recording.

Just when you thought the podcast was finally safe Chamberlain comes back. He has played a lot while he was away, including pushing his boundaries with Slay the Spire and Enter the Gungeon. He also started and is not sure how much he is enjoying Octopath Traveler. Chance and Alex are still playing Dead Cells, though Chance is not as in love with it as he was last week. And did you see that Doom trailer? RIP AND TEAR.

Chance and Alex are wallowing in the masochistic dungeons of Dead Cells and loving every minute of it, God of War sold very, very well and Chasm is a seven out of ten at best. 

Alex has fallen in love with that once-pretty-kinda'-bad game No Man's Sky, and Chance isn't sure he can commit to an unhealthy relationship with The Banner Saga.  Also, did you see Rampage?  It's okay! 

Alex is basking in the inner beauty of Slay the Spire, Chance has found a new muse in the form of The Banner Saga and holy crap there are a lot of changes coming to Overwatch right now.  

Abandoned to sail the unforgiving seas of the web without a navigator, Alex and Chance strike out for adventure and end up describing a series of turns in roguelike card battler Slay the Spire, and make history as together they discover a level of podcasting quality heretofore unknown to modern science. Chance has developed a passive, disinterested affection for Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and did you know that Galak-Z: Varient S is a hate crime?  Turns out it is!

Alex’s internet connection was compromised by nazis so he will be unavailable until BJ rescues him, or a new modem arrives, whichever come first. Chance is disappointed in Isle of Dogs, disappointed in the Sombra changes and disappointed in Chamberlain for still not playing any more of Hollow Knight. In his defense, Chamberlain played a game he found fun, Steamwold Dig 2, and a game featuring a predictable but still effective punch in the gut, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. Too bad it was just an add for another game coming out later.

Was the decade plus wait for The Incredibles 2 worth it? No. Did Chamberlain complete his assignment of returning to Hollow Knight? No, he is a coward and played a Lego game instead. Did Chace play some Overwatch? What kind of a question is that. He even came across the rarest of creatures: a quality console Anna player. Is Alex done with Diablo 3? No. He never will be.

The nearly news free void of the week following E3 is filled with one thing: Hollow Knight on the Switch. Alex played some Diablo 3 and Chamberlain sampled a few games but all anyone really wants to talk about is Hollow Knight. It was so good that Chance played it instead of Overwatch and that hasn’t happened in months. Also, never listen to Chamberlain. He is a font of lies and poorly thought out but stubbornly held to opinions.

Welcome to the E3 Spectacular! Sony’s arrogance leads to great games in a poorly paced show. Microsoft’s infinite coffers create a great show full of great games but almost no exclusives. Bethesda wins the day while Square Enix and Nintendo barely came to play. And EA? No expects anything out of EA. And Ubisoft had a dancing panda. Again.

Is it gamer Christmas yet? No? Fine, we’ll talk about something else. Chamberlain had a good weekend. Solo was the right kind of pandering. Batman: The Enemy Within fixed almost all of the problems of the first season. Alex also had a good weekend. He played with puppies and achieved near god-hood in Dead Cells. Chance continues to bang his head into Wizard and Legend but he also played some Overwatch, which means he had a good time pulse bombing Reinhardts and waving to them after.

It’s Agony day! And it’s terrible. Chamberlain is more frightened by the audio bugs than the Dante-esque environs. Chance returns to Wizard of Legend and plays the first twenty minutes over and over before farming plays of the game in his new Tracer skin. Alex finally puts aside Persona 5 for snack sized portion of a game in Steamworld Dig 2. Fair warning, a little politics talk is present and we make fun of Rosanne. So if you liked the series reboot… Who am I kidding, no one watched past the first episode. Good riddance.

Chamberlain, Chance and Alex pass the time as best they can in the days before E3. Leaks are few but there is always Overwatch news. Chance struggles to enjoy the Switch version of Banner Saga, opting instead for Battle Chasers again and the new pixel art rouge-like, Wizard of Legend. Chamberlain bounces hard off of Kingdom Come Deliverance and Wild Guns Reloaded but lands squarely in the camp of What Remains of Edith Finch and The Turing Test, a game no one else has heard of. And Alex is still playing Persona 5. Gotta max out all those social links.

Chamberlain, Chance and Alex go through their E3 2018 wish list. Some of it is reasonable, even probable, but Chamberlain hoping that Konami sells its IPs to Microsoft is just silly. Chance takes the first exit on the Death Road to Canada in favor of the familiar abuse of Darkest Dungeon. Alex returns for a forth play through of Persona 5 and Chamberlain swears up and down that Ni No Kuni 2 made him happy and no, he wasn’t drinking at the time.

Chamberlain and Chance attempt movie talk without their movie guy, managing to not spoil Avengers: Infinity War and not think too hard about A Quiet Place, lest they ruin it.  Chance rags on Nintendo exclusives that he keeps buying and Chamberlain has found just enough in Ni No Kuni II to keep him playing. They also watch the latest Agony trailer together and it is truly unpleasant for all involved.

Be warned, God of War spoilers are present all through this episode! It was a great game, not a perfect game, and there is some real disappointment to talk about. Chance has since started another rogue-like Zelda-like in Swords of Ditto. Chamberlain tries to figure out why Ni No Kuni 2 opens with an unprovoked nuclear attack and Alex is playing Mass Effect Andromeda again. I thought he hated that game.

This is the spoiler free God of War episode. We make no such promises regarding next week! For the first time Chamberlain, Chance and Alex are all playing the same thing at the same time and are all, for the most part, enjoying themselves. There is matter of Chamberlain hating Minit that must be taken care of and there is a certain Tracer nerf that Chance hates. Aside from those everyone is in a pretty good mood.

God of War is only two days away and dominates the conversation. Chamberlain and Chance try to talk about other things, like Overwatch and Minit and getting kicked in the balls by the end of Life Is Strange Before the Store, but it’s no use. The Dad of War demands all of the attention, so much so that Alex is missing this week, working his fingers to the bone so he can afford to both eat and kill Norse monsters in incredibly graphic ways. Sacrifices must be made.