The Chompcast

You arrive at your camp, having traveled through forest and plains to reach it.  You are exhausted, but the thrill of a new adventure reinvigorates you, encouraging you. In the clearing, you see a creature with its back turned to you.  It seems to be busy, but with what, you do not know.  You stroll over to it, ever curious.  A yelp in fright greets you as the creature turns to face you.  A dog!
The dog, having realized who you are, begins to wag its tail.  This dog is peculiar, as it is standing on its two hind legs.  It walks over to you, very human-like, and says hello.  You are initially taken aback, having never met a talking animal before.  It extends its paw, offering a shake of friendship.  You grasp the paw in your own hand, shake it, and offer a warm hello in return.
The dog seems very happy to see you.  It begins to show you around the campsite, as your excitement is building and building.  It offers to help you with the formation of your camp, which you readily accept.  The dog recommends that you build couches.  Lots and lots of couches.  You think to yourself, why?  Why couches?  You decide to go with the dog’s advice, and you build 10 different couches.  The dog, ecstatic, lowers himself to all fours, and begins to run across the couches, hopping from one to another in frantic disarray.  You watch in confusion and amazement as the dog runs and jumps for 5 minutes.  Finally, it begins to settle down, as it falls asleep on a couch.  You chuckle to yourself, and  you set down your pack.
This week on the Chompcast, we have a fun and slightly contentious episode packed with talk of Animal Crossing mobile, Pyre, and Legend of Zelda: BotW.  Our topic of the week is the recent controversy and the aftermath of EA, and how it affects the gaming medium as a whole.  Lastly, we tie it off with a Bio Break of a fish that lives deep in the Mariana Trench.

Two of our heroes have taken on a mission of their own.  After consulting a town’s mission board, Fish and Shea decide to go forward in time to save some unfortunate souls from the one and only, the Devil himself.

Donning VR helmets, they venture into the 1930s United States, a time ravaged by drought and the Great Depression.  History was made during this era: the Empire State Building and Hoover Dam were constructed, the first World Cup occurred, multiple record-breaking flights were recorded by Amelia Earhart and Wiley Post, Donald Duck was introduced as a Disney character, and the beginning of World War 2.  Fish spots two anthropomorphic cups frolicking through the streets, discussing strategy to defeat some unknown assailant.

The two heroes dart off into a back alley, opening up to a field littered with farms.  They start to walk through the field, sensing something slightly nefarious.  Suddenly, the Root Pack pops out of the earth.  Moe Tato laughs, Weepy begins to sob uncontrollably in fear, and Psycarrot holds his orange head as he begins to concentrate with his eyes closed.  Our heroes look to each other and pull out their finger guns.

While Shea and Fish are out fighting for souls, Josh and Morgan decide to hit a lake rumored to be loaded with massive fish.  After looting some sturdy fishing poles from some fiends nearby (what?), they bait their hooks and cast them into the water.  Almost instantly, both Morgan and Josh look some beastly aquatic animals.  Morgan manages to yank his out first, hoisting it into the air with glee.  “Finally, what I’ve always wanted!”  Josh, mere seconds later, pulls with all of his might, nearly snapping the rod. A fish twice the size of both of them flops up onto shore.  Josh gives a sideways glance over to Morgan and snickers. “Mine’s bigger.”

This week on the Chompcast, we have plenty to discuss, such as Fish getting a Switch, Shea playing Cuphead as well as Fish finishing the game, Shea’s brief experience with PS VR in a video game bar in Japan, Morgan’s and Fish’s time with Star Wars: Battlefront 2, and Morgan’s Holy Grail of a game; Final Fantasy 15 Monsters of the Deep.  We also present the question of expectations versus reality in video gaming.

An alligator snapping turtle hops onto his fast, speeding motorcycle, grabbing Wumpa fruit as he passes them.  He sees a ramp, and increases his speed as he aims towards it.  He flies off through six rings floating in mid air.  Below him the coastline stretches out into the distance, a single lonely house piercing the horizon.  As he lands, his pockets feel a bit heavier; the rings have shrunk and magically transported there.  The turtle revs his engine and... well... we wouldn’t want to spoil the ending for you, now would we?

Hello lasses and chums!  Come join the chatter this week, as we discuss spoilers in gaming and our media.  We end up all over the spectrum with this challenging question.  From there, we discuss What Remains of Edith Finch, Shea finally manages to have his way with the Crash Bandicoot trilogy, we bait ourselves into a Sonic argument, and we have a Bio Break article about... you guessed it: an alligator snapping turtle!  So if you are a fan of fictitious fruit, gleaming rings, gun fights, and divisive conversations, you’ve come to the right place.

This week we talk about how shooters are the worst.  And also Wolfenstein 2.

We also discuss Super Mario Odyssey.

And we listen to Fish explain how he plays Golf Clash because he loves it and not because he's trapped, and they really love each other, and those bruises are because he's just clumsy and falls down sometimes.

Sit back.  Relax.  Get yourself a nice cold glass of hot cocoa.  And enjoy the show!