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Vanillaware has put out another stellar title. Gone are the grid lines and take turns mechanics that held units and boredom in place. While the story is nothing spectacular it certainly wasn't sitting on my nerves or poorly written at any point. Tactical difficulty was an okay challenge right under gear cataloging. Easy to say by the end of the game you need to become really familiar with what items do otherwise, you're in for a scroll.

Double excited to see more about Metaphor: Refantazio when it launches in October.

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It seems South Park might be best experienced in the paper on 3D world. I know they likely didn't want a blockbuster budget game and in interviews Matt Stone mentioned Trey Parker likes RPGs and D&D, and Stone likes... mindless button mashers. I won't say that's the reason the game sucks but it's a complete deviation from previous quality. It's clunky, it's slow, it's repetitive, and I felt a real lack of compulsion to try anything new when I was face rolling through the game with the first thing I tried. It goes beyond being a "casual" game and all I can call it is lacking. Lacking in content, lacking in fulfilling end game. But obviously not lacking in Day 0 announced 6 DLC packs. It's tough not to just blatantly say I miss Obsidian's Stick of Truth and even Ubisoft Osaka, Montreal, uh Kathmandu? Greece? South Pole? Fractured But Whole. And division games actually. I hope Ubisoft gets well soon if this was South Park's break up game. But it feels like THQ is a bad influence ever since they went bankrupt while making the 1st game.

I messed up on the sound settings on this one so apologies that I dropped XXXL bass on this one. I marginally adjusted for last episode in my recording settings and I lack the talent to fix it in post edits without it sounding like calling from a phone booth.

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Helldivers 2 has exploded in popularity and rightfully so. While I've limited most of my experience to one coop night a week with friends, it is definitely worth the praise and I can see the appeal grinding to level 50. It will be interesting to see how the devs at Arrowhead handle season 2 but it seems they are reactive and receptive enough to not screw up a good thing.

Balatro on the other hand feels like something I should be able to replicate with a couple card decks and a sharpie. The math to support it though make it $10 well spent. It's going to be one of those ultra lightweight handheld friendly games that has as much replay value as slay the spire or phone games like slice & dice.

Hope you enjoy and I'll see you in April for the next episode.

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It's tough to not just reminisce this game is the true spiritual successor to Diablo 2. It borrows a lot but uses it as a foundation for the depth of the game it provides. I feel the replay value isn't watered down through effortless respecing or uniques that dictate your build. A lot of this jives with my mindset but it will also be a test how well the monolith, echos, and dungeons feel to grind endlessly.

It is a lot more stable now so take a lot of those reviews with just pinch of their cup of salt.

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It's a solid game. I have 91 in game hours at this point on my premium save, realizing I said 65 hours instead of 85 at the point of recording (tired, lol). It was absolutely a joy to play from start to finish. Playing as Kasuga and Kiryu at the same time was the ultimate tropical bromance. Even though it felt like Kiryu was more of the main character and Kasuga was Like a Dragon: Infinite Puppy Energy. It didn't disappoint and always had times that kept you smiling, engaged, confused, extremely confused, and learning plant trivia.

I am kind of debating the point why I bought the deluxe edition at launch, I am not burnt out just not sure I want to skip story for 40 hours of regrind. You wouldn't need to buy the DLC right away, you can get fairly high to at least satisfy Hard right off the bat. Levels, items, money, gear, poundmates, furniture, and more all come with you. NG+ Hard is recommended to start at 55+ Legend is 70+, plus it sounds like bosses are revamped. So for everyone upset that it's gated behind a deluxe upgrade, play on vanilla then buy it when it's on sale.

Cheers Everyone!

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For the final 4 months of 2023, BG3 almost all my free time. Although I admit that it may have some flaws, such as the third act being a PC resource hog and less fulfilling compared to the first two acts, that's the end of the list of my complaints. It's an extravagant Dungeons & Dragons experience and Larian Studios truly went all out with it.

Now playing Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and it's been a great way to kickstart 2024. Fingers crossed the fun train keeps going despite the gaming industry being gutted. Might be a good time to fall back on indie games judging by Suicide squad getting DRM and looking really uh... not like anything the studio was known for.

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Jokes aside, limiting lists to top 5 in 2023 should mean I need 6 lists alone just to mention games I really enjoyed this year. But I narrow my choices down for the best showings. Hopefully this should help anyone with a burning hole in their wallet looking for the best value for your steam wallet. Or even those big EGS sales that get scoured at by the religious cult of Steam. And their followers who believe it is the one true platform lord and cloud saviour of games.

2023 was above average for titles that should easily fall in the "no brainer recommendation" shopping cart. But for every new heights of gaming we reached, somehow, someone, keeps us anchored to the sea floor. Remakes of RE4, Super Mario RPG, Star Ocean, and more, are showing the Konami's that emulating an old HD collection is a pitiful cash grab for people who want to experience Metal Gear Solid. D&D related games get's a 1st place victory lap before Hasbro (or I guess Don'tHasBrosAnymore) laying off everyone before Christmas. New heights of charity for the game awards allowing brief game celebrations to interrupt their ad placement show.

This is my last podcast for this year, it's time to unwind and get some quality time with that backlog you neglect so much. You can replace all that unnecessary information in your brain with game titles. Happy gaming everyone.

Edit: just noticed I said Days Gone in my final list, Days Gone is obviously a cut above anything wading in the garbage tier.

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