Welcome to Episode 287

Poor Skazzz is running on no caffeine and suffering for it

Ram is very much looking forward to Timberborn hitting version 1.0 which is being released the same days as the podcats, Ram has high hopes as think to some changed he should be able to create an accident gulag, he also talks about picking up an adorable Iron Tooth plushie

Moving onto what we've been playing, whilst waiting for Timberborn, Ram has been having fun in Ship Graveyard Simulator 2. Hes talks about the mechanics — buying ships, methodically dismantling them with hammers, circular saws and blowtorches, sorting scrap at the recycling yard, and upgrading your tools. He compares it to Hardspace: Shipbreaker which he played last year, and give his thoughts on which one is better out of the two

Skazz then takes us into a big nostalgic deep-dive. After failing to find his old Warcraft games on Battle.net, he ended up down a rabbit hole of disappointing WoW private servers before rediscovered his love of Final Fantasy XI by playing on the Horizon XI private server. He recalls the emotions as he booted it up on his Steam Deck and hearing the music again for the first time since 2003. We then discuss FFXI's unique mechanics such as job changing instead of starting new characters, the brutal level-down-on-death system and the way the game encouraged forced group play.

We also dicuss VR treadmills and Ram cosplaying as a beaver costume

Notes

Dilbert suffers the horror of no Caffeine

V1 is finally out for Timberborn

Get your own cuddly Iron Tooth

More cute beavers in the Timerborn lore trailerWack big things with hammers in Ship Graveyard Simulator 2

In Ram's opinion the better game, Hardspace: Shipbreaker

You can still play online on official servers with Final Fantasy XI

Or check out a free FFXI private server with Horizon XI

Get into the Timber born spirit in your own Beaver costume

We look forward to seeing you all on the next podcast on March 26th 2026, at 18:30 GMT either on YouTube or Twitch