We were on one this episode, so please, take multiple seats and listen to us ramble about nothing and be excessively catty. February, if you could hurry up and deliver some games to play, that would be great.

I suppose some highlights include us discussing the joys of playing old Pokemon games using Nuzlocke rules, some lighthearted dunking on the Nintendo Switch, and tutorials for how to be extra chatty in Marvel Rivals.

For legal reasons:

This is a parody podcast featuring a parody episode that is itself a parody special. All statements are nonsensical and are not based in reality. Statements and commentary found in this recording should not be taken as fact or as realistic or truthful reflections of reality. Furthermore, the statements made in this episode are completely bombastic, purposefully hyperbolic, and not at all a reflection of our thoughts, opinions, or affiliations, nor are they meant to be taken as serious conjecture or scrutiny of any persons, organizations, companies, conglomerations, or any other parties therein. All references to individuals and events in this episode are entirely fictional, and due to the content of this episode, it should not be viewed by anyone. Any viewpoints expressed in this episode are purely conjecture and should be treated as unfounded allegations with no basis in reality and are therefore squarely within the theater of the mind's personal opinion. Moreover, no thoughts, jokes, bits, scams, segments, interactions, discussions, ovations, movements, brain storms, or conspiracies from this program should influence the thoughts, behaviors, actions, or purchasing decisions of anyone in any shape or form. Additionally, if there are any concerns over the content found within this episode, it is in some ways protected under "fair use" or some variant of "free speech" or more likely, a nuanced combination therein. Consulting the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide will likely not be helpful in this scenario. The Player's Handbook (2024) may be more helpful, but that is on a per reader basis and individual interactions with that subject matter are subject to change overtime. As an aside, I hope old dusty Musty was joking when he said he would buy Hasbro and therefore own Dungeons and Dragons. If he had seen the film Richie Rich (1994 Warner Bros. Pictures) starring Macauley Culkin, then he would be well aware that no matter how much capital you throw at a situation, it won't garner you real friends, which is ironically, the lifeblood of D&D. It makes one wonder if someone had invited him to play D&D, if we wouldn't be seeing a different timeline altogether? Speaking of D&D, that film adaptation starring the nice Chris actor was good, wasn't it? I think they finally captured the nuances of playing D&D with your friends, in that the stakes are totally high but also goofy. Sort of like The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008 Dead Gentlemen Productions) film, but with more production value and the budget to hire Hugh Grant as the bad guy. He makes a believable bad guy, but what was his class supposed to be when he was an adventurer before turning on his party? TV Tropes says he's a rogue, and I guess the shoe fits. Speaking of rogues, I still think Astarion is the best character from BG3, but this is largely due to his voice actor Neil Newbon doing that funny "Goosestarion!" ditty. If you go to Esty right now and type Goosestarion into the search bar, you would be amazed at how much product is returned in that search. It's just mind-blowing how much a 30 second song from a stream can impact the world at large. Although, I bet if you walked around a train station shouting "Goosestarion!" a lot of people wouldn't have a clue what you were doing. You'd probably be asked to leave. Anyway, don't stop, never give up, hold your head high and reach the top. Bring it all back to you. Weird we didn't talk about Sonic right?

It's a cruel, cruel summer.

It's time for us to put out our definitive and empirically curated list of the top ten best games of the year 2024. It's absolutely mental how original we are, because I have never seen any other show, regardless of medium, utilize this easy to generate content format.

Buzz and Porter played the most games this year (lol, get a life nerds), so they were chosen to craft their top ten lists in complete secrecy from one another. Oddly enough, there is just as much crossover as not, which leads to normal healthy discussion and not pouting about an invitation to play Helldivers 2 that never came.

Last episode of the year on the last day of the year, feels natural, cyclical even. We'll be back in 2025 with season 3. Until then, have a safe New Year's Eve!

The Dunce (Dunce) Dungeon team is back to roll investigation on the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, an updated core rule-book for Dungeons and Dragons 5e.

Yes, we think it's weird that it's coming out this much later than the PHB. Yes, we think it's weird that the 2024 MM won't come out until 2025. Yes, we think it's weird that they did it in this order when the MM is arguably the most mechanically critical book for encounters.

We also meander through a variety of side-topics, as is our way, including THACO, Magic: the Gathering being the lifeblood that seems to sustain game shops, other ways to spend a point of inspiration, the cultural impact of Stranger Things normalizing TTRPGs, and the love and hate relationship we all have with Roll20.

Please pardon us, as we also reminisce about scenes from our latest campaign, we are just very excitable. Rest assured, you are not being sold on some Live Play scheme. We leave that work to the people who actually know how to make money off of this media.

Well, we meant it when we said we gotta go fast, because we saw Sonic the Hedgehog 3 opening day/night (depending on how you frame it) and it was pretty, pretty, pretty good! (And apparently audience meta scores, critic aggregate scores, and the box office would all agree with that take.)

We play the Hero story first on this episode by avoiding all spoilers right until about the 20 minute mark, after that, it's all systems go on spoilers. You've been warned.

Anyway, have a happy, safe, and restorative holiday(s).

(Live and learn!) Hanging on the edge of tomorrow
(Live and learn!) From the works of yesterday
(Live and learn!) If you beg or if you borrow
(Live and learn!) You may never find your way

We are starting to really drag on at the end of the year, but at least we collectively survived the blast zone of the Geoff Keighley's the Game Awards.

While some people felt salty about who won what (like calm down Black Myth Wukong dev, you still won awards...), we thoroughly enjoyed the sweet music on offer and not so secretly wish it were the Game Concert instead. Plus those Muppets made fun of the host like people on the internet have been doing for a literal decade now, and I guess that is the true definition of dramatic catharsis.

And we have a special treat, as Sarah joins Buzz to discuss their first week of playing Papergames' Infinity Nikki, a dress-up adventure platformer that seeks to do gatcha games better. I think you could say the segment is entirely full of whimsy.

Also, Buzz gripes about the Shadow Movie DLC. Stay tuned for griping about the film next week.

Breaking news!

Marvel Rivals isn't a completely fee-to-pay microtransaction-laden mess at launch, and is instead mildly consumer conscious and fairly stable despite a large player base on opening weekend!?

All right, pick that jaw back up off the floor. In all seriousness, it turns out Marvel Rivals is actually a competently made hero team-based pvp shooter that manages to capture the spirit of other entries in the genre without being weighed down by greed. That's honestly saying a lot in current year argument. So, yeah, we shower a lot of praise on it and are probably playing it right now as you read this very text.

Also, Buzz briefly reviews Amazon Prime's Like a Dragon: Yakuza television streaming series. It stinks worse than the public toilet that that guy who always needs pocket tissues in every game is stuck in. Maybe next time production should play the game series they are adapting?

Spider-Man! Spider-Man!
Constantly screws up my plans.
Hard to hit, slows me down
Has an ult that makes me frown
Look out!
Leave me alone Spider-Man!

It was Thanksgiving this past week in the US of A, and that means we spent time avoiding forming meaningful relationships with people in our immediate vicinity to instead hang out online in video games. And boy do we have something special for you, because we managed to play not just one, but two multiplayer Steam games this week. I'll take my prize now please.

We kick things off with Sons of the Forest, an engaging but maybe too demanding game for two newbies to drop into it the way we did. And yes, if you're thinking this is a skill issue, well, you're right. Hot on the heels of that good time, we also reminisce about our very efficient factory in Satisfactory. This is the one Porter liked.

And because we are contractually obligated to (not really, but SEGA cut us a deal already), we chat about Sonic and the latest, greatest, and almost assuredly final movie trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Jim Carrey playing two members of the Robotnik family!? Look out The Klumps starring Eddie Murphy!

"
Then Eggman, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Gerald?" Sonic answered, "Yes, it is you."
"

It's absolutely mental how many awards Sonic X Shadow Generations was nominated for at Geoff Keighley's the Game Awards, which is of course something we take really seriously. Like, and this is not an exaggeration at all, our personal self-esteem rests on whether or not this upcoming three hour streaming event agrees exactly with our opinions. So, please, say a little prayer for us.

Also, we have a big milestone accomplishment to share: Buzz sat through the Wade Whipple mini-series (with special limited guest appearances by Knuckles the Echidna) and he kind of liked it. Could have used more Muppets though.

Now, we leave you with some homemade Sonic "fan-fiction":

"Damn! I cannot believe we weren't nominated at Geoff Keighley's the Game Awards!" said Shadow as he struck just a really sick pose.
"Aw, it's okay Shadow. At least Knuckles got a nomination. Right Knucks?" said Sonic as he polished his iconic SA2 Soap shoes.
A strange grin suddenly came over Knuckles' face.
"Knuckles, are you all right?" asked Shadow as he prepared to do a Chaos Control with specifically the yellow chaos emerald.
"Do you know the way?" was all Knuckles replied...