Chamberlain And Chance

Prepare for the most disjointed episode ever. Not only is Alex not present due to technical difficulties but Chance and Chamberlain are attempting to record while watching the first hour of the Game Awards. Watch along while they deal with a 3 second difference between their streams!  Chamberlain has finished up Far Cry 6 and moved on to the scifi version, Halo Infinite, to mostly good results. Chance tries a few new games before settling back into the low resolution wonder that is Breath of the Wild. And Alex is probably hitting up Amazon right about now.

It's December and there are no new games. There is only the anticipation for new games and the nostalgia for old games. Unless you are Chamberlain. He didn't get enough of the UbiGame with Assassin's Creed Valhalla so his is submitting himself to Far Cry 6, in spite of his own admission of not liking it very much. Chance is still playing Metal Gear Solid 5. The game is still good, Quiet is still bad, we have grown ever so slightly as a society. And Alex has gone all the way back to Darksiders II, pretending, like the rest of us, that it was the last game in the series.

Happy Thanksgiving (if you are in the US), and if you are Canadian, a general congratulations is in order. No Alex this week, he is busy doing important family (and future family) related things. Chamberlain is here, fighting the good fight in the hostile retail environs of the fourth quarter, so all he has to offer is some tiny progress in Far Cry 6 and the knowledge that Halo Infinite is going to be okay, at best. Chance continues to consume all forms of media at a super human rate. After turning his nose up to Death's Door he still had time to watch Snatchers, a B grade horror movie, and play more of Metal Gear Solid 5, an example of what not to do with female characters. Ever. For God's sake, Quiet can't even talk!

Chamberlain is back and all he wants to do is go fast in shiny cars. Forza Horizon 5 is there is fill that need and Far Cry 6 is not quite up to the task. Chance, in a fit of bored desperation, repurchased Metal Gear Solid 5 and has suffered no ill effects, though overdosing on Kojima word salad is a constant danger. And Alex gave the League of Legends RPG a try. Hopefully he can resist the source materials toxicity.

This is where Chamberlain writes a humorous blurb summarizing this week's episode. Alas, today, he cannot. Because he has not listened to it yet. He is certain it is excellent, so you should listen to it and then tell him all about it.

This week, Alex admits he has a problem. It's a true, deep seeded addiction that can only be sated with loot based dungeon crawlers of the highest quality. He bought the Diablo II remake and has not stopped regretting it. Chance has stayed busy with Darkest Dungeon II, getting so good at it that the developers had to make the game harder for everyone else. Thanks Chance. And Chamberlain finishes his tour of mediocre spooky walking simulators with Apsulov before stumbling on to Dusk, a retro shooter that runs well - on the Switch.

Chamberlain was late to recording and so, rudderless, Chance and Alex talked about Darkest Dungeon II. And then they talked about Darkest Dungeon II some more. And then they talked about how good Chance was at the game and how bad Chamberlain was at the first one. Chamberlain played a little bit of Inscryption and disagrees with Alex, and the rest of the world, on it being a good game. Remember, don't listen to Chamberlain. Ever.

Fresh off of a mediocre time with Metroid Dread, Chamberlain returned to Tales of Arise and finished it. He now has blue, two different color eyes, wields mismatched long swords and has a tortured back story in which he was influenced by the will of the planet, therefore nothing he does is his fault. It is the Aether's fault he didn't love Dread. Alex has found a new spooky card game called Inscryption that he wants everyone to buy but can't say that much about. And Chance admits that he is playing Far Cry 6 the same way Chamberlain would, and he feels not shame whatsoever. 

Last week Chance bemoaned Metroid Dread's full price when compared to its run length. This week Chamberlain puts that to the test (Chance was right). Alex spent his whole week playing Diablo 3 and listening to move podcasts. The killing of demons can be a mantra of sorts (Chance was right). And Chance, without warning, bought, and has had the temerity to enjoy, Far Cry 6, in spite of its total lack of Italian localization. We will see if he can go three for three.

Neither Alex nor Chamberlain have anything nice to say about Tales of Arise, but only one of them was smart enough to stop playing it. And you know who that was. Instead of wading through bad writing and boring characters Alex has been wading through defeated hell minions, hip deep at times, as he has thoroughly and completely broken Diablo III. He even took Chance along for the ride, but Chance decided that a walk through a beautiful but forbidding wasteland running errands for wordy survivors was more fun.

Prepare yourself for uncharted podcast territory. Chamberlain cannot make the normal recording time, but he has things to say, so he is recording a bit all by his lonesome. More importantly, Chance and Alex are here for you, together, ready to comfort your ears with tales of Diablo 3, Death Stranding and Midnight Mass. Also, someone out there on the internet hates Chance for his videogame prowess, something that simply cannot comprehend. 

Alex has returned, happy and well fed following his birthday celebrations. He has also begun his loops through Deathloop, finding it more palatable than Dishonored 2. Chance continues his strange trek through 'new game land' with a trek of perfect length through Kena Bridge of Spirits. And Chamberlain? He IS NOT still killing the English in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. He is killing Picts, now, too.

No, you are not stuck in a time loop. This is a new episode and Chamberlain is still playing Assassins' Creed Valhalla. He is still killing the English in droves but now he is playing matchmaker and fending off the unwelcome advances of his brother's wife. Chance is also not stuck in a loop, he is just really enjoying Deathloop. It's not quite Dishonored but it is still a very good time. Good enough to be played again. And again. And Alex is not here because he simply had a better offer, one that no one in a sane mind would pass up.

Sony decided to show of a few games today, none of which were a Bloodborne remake. Chamberlain couldn't care less as he is still knee deep in Valhalla with no sign of the end. Alex is at most bemused. He got everything he wanted in life when Psychonauts 2 came out and was pretty good. Every day from here on out is gravy. Chance, though, is heartbroken, as he can no longer play anything that runs at less than 40K 60FPS. At least Deathloop comes out next week.

Last week Chamberlain promised Alex that he would play Psychonauts 2, since it was on GamePass. He didn't. At all. He lives in Valhalla now, killing the English at every opportunity. Alex finished Psychonauts 2 and then started it again, which is always a good sign. And Chance is a shark. A big nuclear shark that shoots laser beams at helicopters. This is not as cool as a being a samurai but that is was Chance was last week.

It was Christmas morning for Alex this week. Tim Schafer showed up at his house, ate all the cookies, drank all the beer, and left behind Psychonauts 2. On the other extreme, Chamberlain played a depressing metroidvania, a pretentious 2D physics-based platformer and them ran back to an ex for comfort, the ex being the only Assassin's Creed game he didn't finish, Valhalla.  Chance watched No One Lives, which is not a prequal to No One Lives Forever (who own that game's rights, anyway?) and then settled in to the Ghost of Tsushima expansion. In case you were worried, it is more Ghost of Tsushima.

This is where Chamberlain would normally put a humorous synopsis of this week's episode. Unfortunately he was not there to record, and he hasn't even listened to the episode yet, so for all he knows Chance and Alex complain about his arrogance and his hatred of Hades for a solid sixty minutes. Or they talk about movies and Overwatch. Either way, Chamberlain is terrified, but you shouldn't be.

Alex returns and in his return he has finished Returnal. Please note that this does not mean he understands everything that has happened. No one does. Chance watched a whole bunch of movies, including one about Nicholas Cage and his missing pig, which he swears is one of the best movies he has seen this year. Perhaps the pig flies. And Chamberlain found the undying crows of Death's Door too adorable to ignore, a purchase that he does not regret in the least but that comes with some hefty, isometric downsides. 

Alex is busy meeting a brand new, mint condition first edition person so you have to deal with the old men. Chamberlain marveled at the 4K bits of garbage in The Ascent but stopped short of calling it anything more than okay. He also almost found his house in Microsoft Flight Sim but it not quite sure it was with the 100 gig download. Chance happened about an incredibly 'Nicholas Cage' Nicholas Cage performance in Willy's Wonderland. He also decided that Ghost of Tsushima Legends is his tai chi, which I suppose makes him a multi-form master as flying across the point in a giant hamster ball is not exactly calming or soothing.

Only one thing can contain this podcast: no games coming out. Chance can always fall back on Overwatch, as the tears of wiped teams sustain him. Alex had the audacity to leave his house and do thing outside, where the sun can get to him. Someday he will come back to us. Chamberlain remained indoors and braved the blandest RPG of recent memory, CrisTales. It's just slightly better than playing nothing.