Because otherwise we wouldn’t have Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven”.

The series with the magic item home shopping network is amazing.

Shadow Madness on PS1. Unlikable characters, incoherent story, bad graphics, and boring gameplay. It was like someone drew a better JRPG from memory.

Comrade! There are DOZENS of us!

I have a thing for anthology movies. A few small stories with connected themes or settings rather than one long story.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Sin City, History of the World Part 1, Creepshow, and Heavy Metal are all great examples.

I’ve seen that one in my podcast app, but my backlog is still so long. Might be good for nights that I just want to zonk right out though.

The thing I like most about LeVar Burton Reads is that it’s basically Reading Rainbow with the occasional “fuck” thrown in there.

And yeah, Tim Harford’s smooth voice is a much-needed balance to the anxiety inducing content of Cautionary Tales.

If you liked Norsemen, I’d say give Plebs a try. It’s another historical sitcom, about a group of losers in ancient Rome.

I prefer single voice, storytelling podcasts. I listen to them as bedtime stories a lot.

• Lore (the older episodes are better, IMO)
• Myths & Legends (snarky modern retelling of old folk stories)
• Fictional (when he actually updates it… same guy as above, but these are classic literature)
• LeVar Burton Reads (all over the board. It’s whatever stories LeVar liked. Leans a bit toward speculative fiction)
• Drabblecast, sometimes good if you like “weird fiction”
• Cautionary Tales (nonfiction)
• Just started getting into The Program. Clear Black Mirror influences here.

I could be down for small beer being the main thing we drink.

Gathering materials does suck, yeah. Rarely an activity I enjoy in any game.

I can respect the opinion of wanting to skip the social parts, that’s definitely not for everyone.

Some of them I really like though, like Nico’s always doing these side-eyed references to movies without actually naming them (Pulp Fiction, The Room, etc.)

I’m hooked on Marvel’s Midnight Suns right now. It’s a little bit XCOM, a little bit Persona, and some deckbuilding on top. Some exploration and light puzzles in the hub area between missions if you like, mostly for the friendship/lore/cosmetic stuff. Got it free from Epic last month, but I’d say it’s at least worth $25 or so if you find a sale.

Edit: Also Nico Minoru is a possible party member, and I fucking love Runaways.

Just picked up Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins. Maybe 6 hours in… Never heard of it when it came out. It seems like a pretty great fusion of Nioh minus the stances, and one of the more actiony FFs so far. The story is… there. It seems to be heavily based on FF1 so far, so I’m not expecting much. The rest of the game is fun and batshit crazy enough to make up for it.

Jim Butcher. He sits firmly and unapologetically in his fantasy niche, so if that’s not your thing you may be disappointed, but the man writes good dialogue and he can turn a phrase.

Breath of Fire was a great turn-based RPG series that I don’t think ever got enough recognition. 1-4 are all fairly solid (we don’t talk about Dragon Quarter), but 2 and especially 3 are my favorites.

Yakuza 0. Sorry, emotional and compelling main story, you’re gonna have to wait. I need to make Majima’s hostess club the top in Sotenbori.

A reverse microwave. I can heat a cup of coffee in 30 seconds, I want to chill a beer in 30 seconds.

Patton Oswalt. I love that nerdy little hobbit man when he really gets on a rant.

All I’ve wanted Square Enix to do for 10 years is remake Parasite Eve 2 and Vagrant Story.

Was that the one with Google Ultron?