Chamberlain and Chance

No, it was not the Crowdstrike debacle that took us down last week. Chalk that up to a simple internet outage. But we did use that time to double down on our efforts of playing new and exciting things. And by that I mean that Alex got all of the Bioware games he cares about running on the Steam deck, Chance hates Overwatch again and Chamberlain is playing a magical bunny girl metroidvania that he...

Chance and Alex admit, with no prodding, that the final boss of the Erdtree expansion is not fun or good. This does not mean that they have stopped playing Elden Ring, only that they are not bothering with that boss again. It did drive Alex back to the original Dark Souls titles and Chance to high level comp success in Overwatch 2, so win/win? And Chamberlain finished Cookie Cutter without underst...

Everyone in the whole world is playing Shadow of the Erdtree. Alex is stuck on the final boss, which he admits is on the less fair side or things, and Chance is taking his sweet time, backstroking through the world, stumbling headlong into areas that he didn't know he needed to do. They love it, but the praise is not without some complaints. Chamberlain hates things that everyone else like she...

It's not Elden Ring time YET. Instead, Alex messed around in the beginning of Kingdom Come before playing a good chunk of Dragon Age Inquisition, remember that, once upon a time, Bioware made good games. Chance messed around in the middle of Kingdom Come, all the while fighting with his old PS4 for character saves for the Erdtree expansion. And Chamberlain sampled Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Her...

It's not E3! This year's not E3 saw a very, very tepid Summer Games Fest and a much better than expected Xbox Games Showcase. Chance would love to tell you about them, and he would if he were not distracted by the several year old Kingdom Come Deliverance, a game that Chamberlain denounced as trash upon its release. Chamberlain has had little time for frivolities, spending his precious few...

Being unapologetically gen-x, Chamberlain was most amused by Shady's return. Chance, having more refined tastes, was bemused. And Alex refused. In other news, Chamberlain played Deliver Us Mars, a depressing hard sci-fi walking sim and enjoyed it. Chance finished his domination of nuka world in Fallout 4. And Alex watched all of the Elden Ring expansion footage he could find, then promptly sta...

Politics warning! We have been avoiding this for weeks but tonight it was just to juicy. If you would like to avoid our righteous schadenfreude, skip forward about ten minutes. There you will find that Chamberlain hated Hellblade 2 so much that he quit playing it, finally settling on Tales of Kenzara. Chance is still on Fallout 4, picking his way through Nuka-World, waiting for the best time to ki...

As has been custom on the Chamberlain Chance and Alex podcast, it is time to through shade at Hellblade. Hellblade 2 is out, and just like last time, everyone is wrong but us. The game is bad and Ninja Theory should feel bad. Also this week, Alex finished what is currently available of Hades 2 before jumping back into Diablo 4 and finding things much nicer than the last time around. And Chance con...

We have reached an end of an era. Microsoft has finally done something so heinous that even Chamberlain refuses to defend it. Pour one out for Tango Gameworks. Also this week, Chance has to buy a new PS5 to remove a Fallout 4 mod (almost). Alex begins the multi-year process of playing early access Hades 2. And Chamberlain finds emotional fulfillment in a AA game that no one else played.

It's all Fallout, all of the time, unless it is still post-revolutionary war America and Chamberlain is still busting ghosts with a surprisingly effective sword and solid Scottish accent. Chance and Alex are both thousands of years past that, just not is the same place, with one in Fallout 4 and the other in New Vegas. You know which is which. Also this week, a frank discussion on the merits o...

Except for Brotherhood of Steel, but we won't talk about that. The Fallout love fest continues, with Chance and Alex making impassioned cases to Chamberlain that he should obtain a Prime subscription. He will not. He will instead continue on with the flawed but affable Banishers. Alex has deserted Dragons Dogma 2 for Fallout New Vegas (along with just about everybody else) and Chance is still...

Alex has fallen victim to Chance's hype over Dragons Dogma 2, purchased it, and proclaimed it 'ok.' Chance is appalled and is taking revenge by continuing to enjoy the game he was already enjoying, only now out of spite, which makes everything better. Alex has also declared the Fallout series worth your time and done so without the spoilers that Chamberlain lives for. And Chamberlain h...

Chance has finished up Dragons Dogma 2 and immediately turned around and starting playing it again, something that not even Spider-Man 2 managed to illicit. It's that good. Alex started playing Citizen Sleeper, remember a better game, and finally finished I Was a Teenage Exocolonist instead. And Chamberlain played a bunch of little games while in recovery from FFVII Rebirth, including the best...

(yes, the title is an HTML joke based on the episode number, nerd) Alex continues to reject all things new in favor of games that run great on the Steam deck. This week it is Days Gone, that other open world zombie game. You know, the one with the bikers. Chamberlain was going to come prepared with a full game breakdown of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth but came up one hit shy on the final boss, trigge...

Despite there being literally too many new games to play Alex has decided to dive way, way back into his backlog and sample a game he missed the first time around: Devil May Cry 2. He makes no promise of finishing it, but he did try to make Dante do things. Chance tries to enjoy Unicorn Overload, fails, and runs back to Elden Ring. And Chamberlain still has not finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth....

While not technically a holiday (at least in the western hemisphere) the release of a new Final Fantasy game is almost always cause for celebration. Or usually. Or sometimes. Okay, once in a while a good Final Fantasy game comes out. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is one of the good ones and Chamberlain is thrilled. Also this week, Alex puts an incredible amount of time into Balatro and Chance has maxe...

You would never guess why, but two thirds of the podcast is playing Elden Ring again. Alex has joined the Balatro card cult, and he is playing Elden Ring. Chance continues to do his part to spread democracy throughout the known universe, and he is playing Elden Ring. And Chamberlain finished up Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, and he has never nor will he ever play Elden Ring.

Important work is done this week. Chamberlain, Chance and Alex each pick their top four games OF ALL TIME. Each brings their own criteria for selection and no one names more than four games. No one at all. Also this week, Chamberlain continues to shill for Ubisoft, swearing up and down that Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is actually good. Alex finishes up Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, understand...

Chance is doing his part, killing giant insects with democracy. He promises that it is exactly as good as you have heard. Alex crowns Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth one of the three best JRPGs he has ever played (without encouraging debate on what the other two are). And Chamberlain looks past the amazing environments of Avatar and finds that there just isn't anything to do.

In an unprecedented turn of events, all three of us play (relatively) new games! Alex in not skipping the cut scenes in Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, loving the good natured Japanese mafia and all the good that they do. Chance is mourning the tragedy that is Suicide Squad, specifically that it is only when you are pushing buttons that it gets boring. And Chamberlain visited Pandora in the new Ava...

It wasn't really a soulslike, but Chamberlain is still proud of himself for finishing The Last Faith. He is less proud of himself for buying Tekken 8, not because it was a bad game, but he is not looking forward to patching the drywall again. Chance finished The Last of Us Part II, and it is just as if not more emotionally draining as the first time, leading to a swift uninstall. And Alex to t...

Chamberlain continues to play new(ish) things, finishing up El Paso, Elsewhere, a game everyone slept and missed out on, and The Last Faith, another overly difficult metroidvania. Chance plays a new version of something old, finding a new appreciation for The Last of Us 2. And Alex plays an older new version of something old, revisiting Persona 4 Golden. Because he still loves Chie.

What's indy as all get out, ugly as your favorite tiktok dog and a blatant homage to Max Payne? El Paso, Elsewhere, and Chamberlain is absolutely in love. Chance refuses to sully his eyes with games built of so few polygons so he is playing Baldur's Gate 3, again, and Cyberpunk 2033, again. And Alex lost his save file for Inscryption, then instead of getting mad about it, played the whole...

It's the first episode of the year! In which Chamberlain meets two games half way and enjoys them in spite of their obvious weaknesses. Chance buys Baldur's Gate III for the second time and starts a new character in Cyberpunk for the 100th and Alex does something absolutely unthinkable: he finishes an Assassin's Creed game.

There is nothing left to do in 2023 but catch up on missed games and worry about how few games are slated for 2024. Chamberlain got into the Skull & Bones closed beta and can confirm that it is indeed a game that can be played. He also enjoyed the free Valhalla expansion to God of War Ragnarök more than expected and Super Mario Wonder about the correct amount. Chance is still grinding away in...