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Our resident Pokemon expert Will, (the only one of us that consistently plays all the pokemon games) weighs in on the controversial new entry into the mainline Pokemon series.  You've no doubt seem some of the memes, screencaps and videos from it, but is that really representative of the game as a whole?

Will and Corey played the updated tactical RPG Tactics Ogre Reborn for this week's episode....a game that sits right in the wheelhouse of the Thumbstick Athletes podcast, who hold Final Fantasy Tactics in such high esteem. During nibblebits we cover the nominees for the 2022 Game Awards, and it seems like there's 4 or 5 games that were nominated for everything, so if you're a fan of Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, or A Plague Tale: Requiem, you're probably going to have a good awards season.

Will takes the reigns this episode in talking about God of War Ragnarok, being the only one of us that purchased it....being that he's the only one of us with a PS5.  A legitimate GOTY contender and solid experience, find out what Will thinks about the latest PS5 blockbuster.  Later on in the episode we discuss some VR, remaining competitive as aging gamers, and A Plague Tale: Innocence.

Will, Corey and Dan record a new episode on a weekday morning?  Times are a changin...but we discuss the pros and cons of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.  Mostly cons it seems, but a few pros too.  Later on in the episode Corey gives his early impressions of Persona 5 Royal, and Will has been playing a ton of Overwatch 2.  

Apologies for the large amount of time between episodes, but we get you caught up on what we've been doing and playing over the past several months.  Corey has a new Gamepass/Indie gem in Hardspace Shipbreaker, and shares his experiences so far with the Steam Deck.

We don't have a formal topic for this week's episode so we use it as an opportunity to talk about some of the games we've been playing.  Covered this episode are games like Triangle Strategy, Fortnite, Elden Ring, and Deathloop.

For this week's episode, Will discusses a game that kind of came out of nowhere for us in Ghostwire: Tokyo.  He describes it as an open world, supernatural action adventure game with some horror elements.  It checks a lot of boxes certainly, but what is it?   In our Nibblebits segment we cover the cancellation of E3 among a few other topics, and during "What We Played" we get you caught up on the new Zero Build Fortnite, some Elden Ring, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

One of our show's favorite games Final Fantasy Tactics gets a spiritual successor in Triangle Strategy, find out if it meets our high standards for the tactical RPG genre.  We also talk a little bit more about Elden Ring during "What We Played."

Will takes the lead for the main segment this episode, talking about yet another superb 2022 release in Horizon Forbidden West.  It's a sequel that both lives up to and surpasses its predecessor in every way.   During "What We Played" there is some more Elden Ring discussion as well some a tiny bit more of Triangle Strategy.  Stay tuned for our next episode that will cover Triangle Strategy in much more depth!

Dan and Corey, (and later Will) sit down to talk about what everyone is calling FromSoftware's Magnum Opus in Elden Ring.  What do veterans of the Soulsborne series think of the newest, open world entry? We tried to get a Pokemon Legends: Arceus episode scheduled but just couldn't get a time that worked, so we talked about it this episode, along with very brief first impressions of Triangle Strategy.   For next week's episode Will is going to cover Horizon Forbidden West....episode to be available next Saturday afternoon.

Part two of the gaming awards show you don't want to miss, with a few more of our ever popular awards like the "Steamy Turd" award, "Game We Wish We Played" and our yearly console wars award..."Most Valuable Console." Be sure to catch our next regular episode on Pokemon Legends: Arceus!

It's well past time for our annual awards episode, being well into January....so here it is, Part 1 of the 2021 Thumbies awards.  We cover memorable categories such as "Best Rainy Day Game", "The One That Got Away" and the ever popular "Please Stop" award.   On a side note, apologies for Dan's audio quality....his mic decided to up and not work as we were sitting down to record so he had to improvise and go with the lower quality microphone on his headset.

This week we welcome Will back into regular hosting duties, for the first time since probably the Summer.  We take the opportunity to find out what he's been playing and his thoughts said games.  Some of the titles discussed were Halo: Infinite (of course) Deathloop, Far Cry 6, and Call of Duty Vanguard.  Other topics of discussion include the end of Fortnite Chapter 2, nominees for the Game Awards, and a top 10 list from a listener.

It's been a hot minute since Dan or Corey have sunk any time into a Halo game, especially multiplayer...yet here we are.  The surprise release of the Halo Infinite Multiplayer has the TSA Pod taking up arms against their fellow gaming community and sticking noobs with plasma grenades.  Later on in the episode Dan talks a little about the Animal Crossing's Happy Home Academy expansion and Corey played an indie gem in Moonglow Bay.

We have everyone back on for the big 5-0-0!  In usual fashion we revisit our top 10 games lists, as well a re-live some of the many moments and conversations we've had on the show!

Corey carries the episode this week, relating his experiences with the new and trending game The Riftbreaker...available now on Steam and PC Gamepass.  In nibblebits we cover some exciting PlayStation exclusives coming to PC and in "What We Played" some brief first impressions of Age of Empires 4. Also I wanted to note that I know my audio is cutting out a bit, I'm still working out the kinks in my new setup which should be ironed out soon!

So yeah, the Metroid series is one that we collectively as a podcast don't have a ton of experience with.  Will played the Metroid Prime games many years ago, but that pretty much sums up our experiences with it.  So it was a good opportunity to play a metroidvania style game, coming from the OG devs!  For Nibblebits we talk about the Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct, and the new additions to Nintendo Switch online.

Our topic for this week is the first (successful) game from Amazon Game Studios New World...and is the $40, no subscription fee MMORPG set in a fantasy style Age of Exploration type world worth it?   For the other segments we discuss the Twitch hack and two new games in Astria Ascending and (very briefly) Metroid Dread.

Recording at their new Saturday morning podcast time, Dan and Corey relate their experiences with new indie action-RPG Eastward.....a spiritual successor of sorts to the fabled Earthbound.  Then during "What We Played" Dan gets a little further in depth with his experience with New World.

For realsies this time!  After a super busy summer, things are have slowed down a little for Dan and Corey and we can get into a normal recording schedule again...likely on the weekend mornings.  But for now we get ya'll up to date on what we played over the summer, today's Nintendo Direct, and what the heck we did all summer.