Gamer’s Advocate

Join AMKomnenos, BananaHammockRepublic, and Legiongrey for another episode of the Gamer's Advocate podcast. This episode will be a top 10 list of games we think that all gamers should play with a focus specifically on games that will be approachable. These games will be easy to pick up for new players whether they are new to the genre or new to gaming in general, so if you're looking for new games...

Join AMKomnenos, BananaHammockRepublic, and Legiongrey for another episode of the Gamer's Advocate podcast. This episode will focus on the topic of romance (and all the less accurate synonyms for romance) in video games. We'll take a look at games that included, for better or worse, a romance arc to supplement the gaming experience. Feel free to weigh in with your own takes on video game romance i...

Join AMKomnenos, BananaHammockRepublic, and Legiongrey for another episode of the Gamer's Advocate podcast. This episode will focus on the topic of romance (and all the less accurate synonyms for romance) in video games. We'll take a look at games that included, for better or worse, a romance arc to supplement the gaming experience. Feel free to weigh in with your own takes on video game romance i...

oin AMKomnenos, BananaHammockRepublic, and Legiongrey for another episode of the Gamer's Advocate podcast. This episode will focus on our favorite games throughout our experience. In no particular order, we'll discuss various games that have lingered with us over the years and hold a special place in the pantheon of gaming across consoles and genres. Feel free to weigh in with your favorite games,...

Join BananaHammockRepublic and Legion as they take a quick, thoughtful dive into the personalities, backgrounds, and motivations of three standout companions in Baldur’s Gate 3: Halsin, Jaheira, Minsc, and Minthara. They'll be discussing what makes these characters unique and compelling — and while they’ll do their best to avoid major spoilers, a few light ones may slip through. Whether you're new...

Join AMKomnenos, BananaHammockRepublic, and Legiongrey for another episode of the Gamer's Advocate podcast. This episode will focus on our favorite games throughout our experience. In no particular order, we'll discuss various games that have lingered with us over the years and hold a special place in the pantheon of gaming across consoles and genres. Feel free to weigh in with your favorite games...

In this episode of the podcast, Bananahammockrepublic and Legion dive into the delicious world of cooking and cooking mechanics in video games! From roasting mammoth meat in Survival Skyrim to grilling gourmet meals in Monster Hunter, we explore how different games turn food into a feature — whether for survival, buffs, or sheer style.

In this episode, BananaHammockRepublic, AMKomnenos, and Legion unpack the most chef’s kiss video game endings of all time. From tear-jerking goodbyes to “Wait... what just happened?” finales, our hosts take you on a wild ride through digital heartbreak, closure, and total narrative chaos. Did your favorite ending make the list? Or are we about to ruin it with our very scientific opinions? Starring...

Join BananaHammockRepublic and Legion as they take a quick, thoughtful dive into the personalities, backgrounds, and motivations of three standout companions in Baldur’s Gate 3: Wyll, Karlach, and Gale. They'll be discussing what makes these characters unique and compelling — and while they’ll do their best to avoid major spoilers, a few light ones may slip through. Whether you're new to the game...

Get to know three of Baldur’s Gate 3’s most iconic companions in this quick character spotlight! Discover the fierce determination of Lae'zel, the mysterious faith of Shadowheart, and the dark charm of Astarion. Whether you're new to the game or brushing up before your next playthrough, this short synopsis gives you a glimpse into the complex personalities and backstories that make these character...

Join AMKomnenos, Banana, and Legion as we take a look at a heavily criticized practice within the gaming community: save scumming. If we're being honest with ourselves, we've all done it. Some of us might not want to admit it, others might feel no shame at all, but we've all loaded a save to avoid a consequence before. We discuss why save scumming is sometimes necessary, and why it shouldn't be qu...

Join AMKomnenos, Banana, and Legion as we take a look at the methods available to the gaming community to expand on a game after it has been released. Overwhelmingly, this will come in the form of mods found on various hosting platforms to make changes to anything from minor cosmetic changes to full campaigns that talented people have generated and shared with the community, but we also take a loo...

Join Banana and Legion as we investigate a minigame that has in a very subtle way managed to sneak into many modern games: fishing! We take a look at many adventure games and RPGs that, while not exclusively devoted to fishing, do seem to incorporate fishing as a minigame or sidequest. We discuss games we appreciate for many reasons and the way the inclusion of fishing impacted our enjoyment of th...

Step back into the storied world of the Sword Coast as we delve into the hidden lore scattered throughout Baldur’s Gate 1. In this immersive reading, Legion attempts to bring to life some of the rare, mysterious, and whimsical books found in chests, libraries, and dusty corners of the Forgotten Realms. Whether it’s tales of ancient empires, cryptic prophecies, or humorous local legends, these text...

Join Banana and Legion for a very special "Spring Cleaning" episode of the Gamer's Advocate podcast. Unfortunately, as this is an episode focused on clean things, Kom was unable to participate, but we do our best to push on and dig into the world of cleaning within video games. As fans of the genre, Legion and Banana offer their insight into what makes some of our favorite clean games so appealing...

🚀 Welcome aboard the S.S. Hot Takes where we’re ranking every Mass Effect companion based on vibes, trauma levels, and how likely they are to survive a group project. 💥 Will Garrus calibrate his way to S-tier? Is Jack still the queen of biotic breakdowns? Can anyone out-bro Wrex? We're talking space romances, walking red flags, angsty assassins, and enough existential dread to fuel a Reaper. 👀...

Join AMKomnenos, BananaHammockRepublic, and LegionGrey for the LOOOOOOOONG awaited conclusion to our Mass Effect companions tier list! We've finally released the discussion of the 3 companions that are introduced in the final installment of the trilogy. With only 3 entries in this episode, could there really be an S tier? Could there be an F tier? Could we stay on topic? Of course not! But we stay...

Join AMKomnenos, Banana, and Legion as we tackle the topic of sequels in gaming. We dig into the video games that follow up on a story and build off it, and attempt to identify the games that really delivered with the continuation. Which sequels satisfied and which sequels let us down? How do spiritual successors and prequels fit in? Do we want to see any sequels that were never made? Have we play...

Join AMKomnenos, Banana, and Legion as we discuss memorable audio cues in our experiences with gaming. We attempt to recall those special soundbytes that can instantly take us back to a moment in time when we played some of our favorite games. Join us as we provide a (definitely not complete) list of those video game sounds that can define a game for us, and a handful of those sounds that can ruin...

Join AMKomnenos, Banana, and Legion as we discuss relatable characters in video games. What is it that we find connects us to these characters? Can we relate to characters other than the main character, or even NPCs? Does a character need to be fleshed out for us to find something to identify with? Does the connection to a character even need to be major aspect of their personality? Join us for an...

We're celebrating episode 50 of the podcast with a collection of outtakes, bloopers, and general mishaps that we've encountered along the way. It should come as no surprise that over the course of recording 49 previous episodes, we've had to cut quite a great deal out of our episodes. We're sharing a lot of that cut content with you now! (And we promise it's not because we haven't recorded somethi...

Join AMKomnenos, Banana, and Legion as they discuss the impact that a game's length can have on the gameplay experience. Is there a universal cutoff for game time that qualifies as too long? Can a game be engaging enough that the actual play time doesn't matter? Does pacing affect how a long a game feels? Is game length more important for specific genres? Is your favorite game too long?

Join AMKomnenos, Banana, and Legion as they dig into a very pervasive concept within the video game community especially in regard to the game review process: comparison being the thief of joy. We discuss the trend within the gaming community to anticipate disappointment in new game releases, and the tendency to fall back on the "this isn't as good as the previous game" criticism. Does this same b...

Join AMKomnenos, Banana, and Legion as they dive into a major aspect of most of our favorite games: villains! What makes for a great villain? What makes a villain memorable or compelling? How do video games approach villains in a unique way? Is every villain just a hero with a different perspective? We discuss our most memorable and iconic villains and antagonists from the word of gaming (and a fe...