Chamberlain and Chance

Chamberlain returns and work has been done, at least work in video games, which totally counts as work. Grid Legends, Kentucky Route Zero, the excellent Young Souls and the Tiny Tina vehicle that really is just Borderlands with the thinnest possible coat of fantasy spread on top. Sorry Alex, it's just Borderlands again. Chance is here, because he is the rock of this podcast, and he is still finding tiny things to love about Elden Ring. He has become a secretive hero in the game, appearing when he is summoned, taking care of business while dual wielding two handed swords, and then slipping off into the night. He is Batman. Or Darkman. Something like that.

The title is a true statement that cannot be refuted. This does not necessarily mean that everyone loves Tiny Tina, but they should. Also this week, Chamberlain is missing (he was in Nashville and avoided the Grand Old Opry for reasons), Chance and Alex play a little more Elden Ring and no one gets slapped. Sorry to dash your hopes on that one. 

Chamberlain returns! In his absence he finished Horizon Forbidden West, which he doesn't spoil anything about, and played Infernax, a nifty little indie that is the perfect after dinner mint to sixty plus hours of machine slaying. Chance and Alex? They are still playing Elden Ring, but they both made time in their schedule to watch Turning Red, so that is some new media to discuss. Chance played some Overwatch and Alex is thinking about playing the new Tiny Tina game, so progress, right?

Chance and Alex love Elden Ring so much that they decide to marry it. Invitations will be sent out. Gifts will be registered for. A hall will be rented. And once the guests arrive and the music begins to play Elden Ring will leave them at the alter, crushing their dreams, with nothing but a 'git gud' as it passes the church doors. They will of course pursue it, but only to get back the deposit on the DJ, which they will spend on gifts to woo Elden Ring to return. And it will.

It will.

ELDEN RING. Elden Ring. ElDeN RiNg. Elden Ring? Elden Ring, Elden Ring. Elden Ring; Elden Ring - Elden Ring. "Elden Ring," Elden Ring.

Horizon Forbidden West.

Elden Ring. The Ring of Elden. The Eldenest of Rings. 

You already know how this episode is going to go. Chamberlain is playing Horizon Forbidden West, is enjoying it, but has a few nit picky complaints. Surprise, he also managed to play 30 minutes of Elden Ring! No surprise, he hated it with ever fiber of his being. Chance and Alex stand in solidarity, naming Elden Ring as a potential game of the year, and have almost nothing bad to say about it. Guess what? It's still a good episode, you should listen.

Chance has declared in Elden Ring Eve, though he is having so much fun with Horizon Forbidden West that he almost feels bad about putting it down. For now. He will come back to it eventually, for sure. Chamberlain does not celebrate Elden Ring Eve for he is of a different faith, one that celebrates mediocrity and jank, meaning that he still hasn't finished Edge of Eternity. And Alex? He had to work. Truly, the darkest timeline.

There is comfort to be found in jank, especially eurojank, an ersatz genre that Chamberlain has an ill advised fondness for. So he is still playing Edge if Eternity. In spite of its terrible crafting, bad voice acting, simple combat and general JRPG bloat he is having a good time and refuses to hear reason. Chance gave up Chamberlain's taste in games years ago, content to enjoy better things, like Sifu and Dying Light 2. And Alex just didn't play much this week. Such is his excitement for Elden Ring. He has gone on a gaming fast to prepare himself.

For the first time in many, many months Chamberlain, Chance and Alex are all playing the same thing at the same time: Dying Light 2. Or at least they were. Chamberlain uninstalled the game in disgust at around the hour and a half mark because of, well, reasons that make sense to him and no one else. He then ran home to a eurojank JRPG. Alex has chewed through two thirds of Dying Light 2 and has mostly good things to say about it. And Chance has played less of it than he planned, but more of Sifu and Ghost of Tsushima than he expected, so it was a win win. 

At time of recording Dying Light 2 was mere hours from launch and our heroes deal with the stress in different ways. Alex, being of sound mind and body, bought his fiancé a Switch so she can play Animal Crossing and then passed the time by looking at free games on the Epic Game Store. Chance, being of sound mind but not as sound a body, continues to play Overwatch, in spite of the player pool getting weaker, and Ghost of Tsushima multiplayer, in spite of having solved the game to the point of running guided multiplayer tours for noobs. And Chamberlain, who is of neither sound mind nor sound body, played through the indie thriller Mundaun before doing the unthinkable: he gave Activision money by purchasing Diablo II Resurrected. Any abuse thrown his way is well deserved.