Gaming Couch

Episode 73 of Gaming Couch! And just in time for the holidays! Balancing a game is very difficult. There are so many variables to consider to ensure that all 'builds' are viable and will be enjoyable to play. With that, there are times that one play style will be better than another. I feel that Dark Souls isn't too bad if you just dump things into Health and Strength, allowing you to mow down enemies and bosses with ease. There is no real answer to 'How do you balance a game?' Which can be annoying, since many games suffer from some bad balancing even in a small area. With the holidays around the corner I hope you enjoy them with whatever it is you do. So take care and a merry or happy whatever it is you celebrate! Smartboy

Episode 72 of Gaming Couch! Giving an in depth look a Phoenix Point today! It is a good game. It really is. I am happy I bought it. There is better combat when compared to XCOM. There are factions and global relations. There is more management with your troops and equipment. It's all a big thumbs up from me. The negatives are really just nitpicks...which is upsetting... Lastly, I am doing a small give away on Steam. A game to give away. Details at the end of the episode. Thanks again for listening, Smartboy P.S, I didn't mention it in the episode so I will here. Hot DAMN fighting human units can be much harder than fighting Pandorians in this game.

Episode 71 of Gaming Couch and, hell why not, a new season! I'm honestly saying its a new season because I haven't done that in a while...maybe one day I'll had some structure to it......anyway. What is your take on DLC? Is it a good thing? Or some horrible cash grab? We have seen DLC used in many, many ways over the years. Some of it good and some of it bad. I want to try and get to the bottom of it. I want to answer the question, "Is DLC actually good for us?" It is a tough question no doubt about it. As always, tweet at me on Twitter with any thoughts you have on the subject. @G_C_Podcast Take care, Smartboy P.S. Streaming services are like DLC for T.V. aren't they? Hey, you want the net game or episode in this story? Fork over the money. Just a funny observation, nothing more.

Wooo Episode 70 of Gaming Couch! Just wanted to say 'woooo' because 70 is a big number. ANYWAY. I got Pokemone Sword so today's episode gets to stay pretty relevant! Go me! Overall......I'm split on the game. It feels like two different games at the same time. There are some REALLY, like REALLY, strong parts of the game that I love. And then there are many smaller not so good parts of the game. Luckily those REALLY strong points are keeping me going through it as I want to see the end of the Gym Challenge (yes, it actually has a name in this game, not just 'Go get the shineys'). Have a listen and enjoy! Smartboy P.S. some of the new Pokemon designs are awesome Golisopod is my main boi now. Loving him.

Episode 69 (nice) of Gaming Couch! I got to say. I'm VERY slow on some of the best games out there. I recently was blessed by finding the game Battle Chef Brigade made by Tinker Studios and published by Adult Swim Games. It does so many things well. You like puzzle match 3 games? Got it. You like Beat 'em ups? Got it. You like lite RPG elements with choosing a loadout? Got it. You like cooking? Got it. You like crazy over the top and slightly anime? Got it. Seriously, this game is addicting. The characters are funny and charming. The way the matches are balanced between finding ingredinents, fighting monsters, cooking, and the clock is done perfectly. Seriously this is a game you need to buy. Here is the Steam page for it. Give it a go. It's 20 bucks and well worth it. ---> https://store.steampowered.com/app/452570/Battle_Chef_Brigade_Deluxe/ Take care, Smartboy P.S. I have nothing more to say. This game is amazing. 

Episode 68 of Gaming Couch! Here was an impromptu episode idea thanks to discord chats. When should a consumer be allowed to to refund/return a game they bought? Should it always be allowed? Or should there be a standard beyond 'I didn't like it'? As the consumer it is important we understand the game we are purchasing and as a developer it is important to release a polished game with some standard of quality, not a buggy mess. I have some thoughts. It's what I do. Share thoughts. Let me know what you think of twitter @G_C_Podcast! Smartboy P.S, Know what's great about providing a free service? No buyer's remorse! You can enjoy or hate it without spending a penny!

Episode 67 of Gaming Couch! I must admit I had a bit of a funk these last two weeks. Very busy and stressful with work and traveling over the weekends. Last week I just didn't want to make an episode. I didn't have it in me and it wouldn't have been good quality. So I disappeared for a bit. Now I'm back and on schedule. This week I wanted to make a different kind of list. I hang around facebook and joined the All Things D&D group and really enjoy. One day I saw a post asking 'Any advice for a new DM?'. Well, that got me thinking. I got what ended up being 9 tips for new DMs. It was 7 but I thought of 2 on the spot. Improving is the best you know? Sit back and enjoy! I'm glad to have you back for another listen. Smartboy P.S, one day I will think of something witty to put in the P.S section.

Episode 66 of Gaming Couch. I got into a weird funk this past week. It's nothing bad. This week I just want to take some to reflect, that's all. We all have a limited time we can spend on games. Sometimes the time spent isn't about getting the newest hit game. Sometimes its about dusting off the old consoles and going back to old reliable. Back to a game you know will engage you or challenge you in some way. Something that you will always enjoy playing. That's why I enjoyed the Remasters of Crash and Spryo. I might not have ginded through all three games on both trilogies yet but I know, when I get the time over the summer, I can burn through them and have a good time with it. This is a shorter funkier episode but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. I'll see you all next week, Smartboy P.S. Remember, you matter. Do something that you love every now and then. You deserve it.

Episode 65 of Gaming Couch! My god....Wendy's you mad lads....what the hell is this? For those of you who don't know Wendy's, the fast food chain, decided to jump on the RPG wagon and released their own RPG game and adventure called Feast of Legends. No, it isn't a module or anything for DnD. It is it's own thing, with its own classes, rules, and character creation. When I first came across it I read through it and I was cringing so hard and hating it. The puns and references are just so bad. However, this rule set, 100%, is good. Anyone who has played RPGs before will look at this and be able to understand it and respect the time put into it. Is it advertising for Wendy's? Of course. Was there love and care put into making it? Yes, yes there was. There are maps made for the adventure, NPCs, dungeons, custom monsters, unique magic items, custom art work for some classes and monsters, and a bunch of unique classes to play as. Yeah, it only goes to level 5 so it isn't that long but to be able to play it all th eway through one weekend? I'd be down. Honestly, I may cringe at what I am saying with the names and puns but I would have a good and fun time playing it. I may not like your food Wendy's but I respect your RPG. Give it a read and try it out. It's totally free: https://www.feastoflegends.com/ Enjoy your week everyone, see you next time. Smartboy P.S. Seriously, after going through this rulebook for this episode, I do want to play it.

Episode 64 of Gaming Couch! OH BOY! I love me a game where I can control a gaint mech and blow everything up. It is so satisfying. This is why I am so happy that my friend showed me Lancer by Massif Press. A RPG that focuses on those big, wonderful machines that carry big guns and makes even bigger carnage. Though I haven't played it YET, I have had plenty of time to look over all the mechs and figure out how I want to play. It's very flexible with how you build a mech. With all of these choices there are some mechs and licenses that stick out. I figured this week we'd take a crack and that long list of mechs and look at the best five of them, at least from where I'm sitting. Have a listen and check out the game for yourself. Massif Press website: https://massif-press.itch.io/ Take care everyone, Smartboy P.S, Mech combat is some of the best. If you know a good mech fighting game hit me upon twitter. I want to check it out.

Episode 63 of Gaming Couch! And not exaclty a happy one. Playing Phoenix Point and getting into Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 recently got me thinking a bit. Games are a greatway to answer some really tough, hypothetical questions. What if a virus broke out that could kill all humans? What if I was forced to choose who to rescue during a zombie attack? We can ask these questions and give answers. However, what if we had to actually act out these answers, even if it is in a game and not real? I think games give us a chance to be immersed enough in things that have really happened, or could really happen, and find out how we would handle it. This is certainly a conversation we should be having. Quick little link. The opening talks about WoW's Corrupted Blood outbreak and how it turned into a real life case study. Here is one article about it. If you want more, simply google 'WoW Corrupted Blood' to get plenty of information. https://allthatsinteresting.com/corrupted-blood As always, take care. See you next time. Smartboy P.S. This suden outbreak of heat has me feeling a shower is in order. You know, a nice relaxing shower.

Episode 62 of Gaming Couch! This first week of school hit me hard. I'm a little sleepy with this recording so bare with me. We at going to look at Phoenix Point, a game from some of the team behind XCOM. I got to say, it's like XCOM+. It takes some good stuff from XCOM and develops it further. I believe there are some things that need to be balanced, especially with the troops you get becoming very powerful at higher levels. Some quality of life things need polishing before the main release. Otherwise, the game is there and it feels so good to play. Smartboy P.S......I have nothing creative to add in this time....have a smiley face :)

Episode 60 of Gaming Couch! And time for another list. Because lists are nice and organized. It's awhile since we've talked about Dungeons and Dragons. Recently I have been able to play a few more sessions, start up a new campaign, and even get Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 in there also. I figured, at this point, why not talking about D&D again?  A game about fantasy and adventure, part of the adventure is slaying great terrible beasts. The world of D&D has so many great and unique monsters already made to be dropped into your world for players to fight. I thought it was high time to come up with a quick list, a top 5, of the best monster I feel the offical published works have to offer. No homebrew stuff here. I'm not knocking homebrew, I've done plenty of it myself. I just want to focus on what the mad lads at Dungeons&Dragons Inc. have to offer us. Smartboy P.S. Summer is on its way out and I might cry. Soon it will be back to teaching. Oh, how my life will have structure anda solid schedule again!

Episode 59 of Gaming Couch! Satisfactory is the name of the game and I could not think of a better pun. 10/10 would pun again. Satisfactory is a factory building sim from the team over at Coffee Stain Studios, who have worked on Goat Simulator, Sanctum 1 and 2, and Deep Rock Galactic. The game is currently in Early Access and can be picked up on Epic Games for 30 bucks. All in all, it's a good deal so far. In this game you are dropped on an alien with nothing but a crate, a buidling tool, and your wit to create the most efficient factories possible. Now, you aren't graded on it at all. You simple build better factories to improve your production rate so you can reach higher tiers in the game quicker. It uses a simple reward system. You find a new mineral to use and used it to better your factories? Well, now you have access to Oil to better your power grid. You found enough oil to complete a milestone? Now you get trains to transport materials access long distances quicker. You Don't NEED to make all these things to complete the game. It just helps reach the end goal faster and it feels so satisfying to make better and better factories. The same says it all. 'Satisfactory'. Correction: I said Coal Generators give 150 for power. I meant a FUEL Generator does that. Coal is only 50. Smartboy P.S. This is a game that has me staying up until 3am once again. To me, that's a good sign.

The long awaited (really 24 hours) part 2 of the Play NYC event this year! This is the recap and time is spent talking about all the different games I had a chance to play and interact with the devs. It was an amazing time. All the details are in the episode. Below will be links to websites/social medias to the various games/studios if I found them online: Deckfighters:  https://pandahawkgames.com/ Zero Inbox:  https://www.zer0inbox.com/ Techlandia:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danackerman/techlandia Run and Gun (Halo + Mirror's Edge):  http://mharrisgames.com/ Galactose Pastries in Space:  http://zeroedengames.com/ Dogfight:  http://dogfight.petricoregames.com/ Totem (Found them!):  https://www.othermoongames.com/ Steel Assault (Kickstarter is closed and funded!):  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/43113410/steel-assault Antipole DX:  https://saturninegames.com/site/antipoledx Outpost Delta:  http://outpost-delta.hiddenachievement.com/ Kristala:  https://www.astralclocktowerstudios.com/home/projects/ Disjunction:  http://www.disjunction-game.com/ And finally, Playcrafting continues to do a great job with these events. Check them out:  https://playcrafting.com/  And with that, I'm signing off for now. Probably going to take a long nap. It was a long week followed by a great weekend. Take care all! Smartboy P.S. I have nothing clever to add this time.... sad face :(

Episode 56 of Gaming Couch! Despite what I said in episode 55 I actually spelled 'episode' currently the first time here! Progress and improvement! So here's the thing. In real life, people have different skill sets. Some are really good with computers others are excellent public speakers while some are really good with money and finances. However, many games fail to capture that. Video games at least. Within the past few years that have been many board games and card games being released that welcome co-op play where players pick different characters with different stats/abilities. What about video games though? Most 'co-ops' have player 2 being a carbon copy of player 1. That's why I want to take time and look over the games Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and Clandestine. These co-op games make players work together to achieve a goal yet each player must complete different tasks and fulfill widely different roles to succeed. I highly, highly recommand both these games. It can be hard explaining them since the real fun and experience from them comes from playing with others so I will do what I can to descirbe it to you lovely people. BTWs, link to a round of Keep Talking Nobody Explodes with two actual bomb squad guys. There's two parts, heres part 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYunaBkn9Ng  Smartboy P.S: Next weekend is Play NYC and there will be a re-cap each day but late at night. I will post on Twitter and FB when each episode goes up!

Episode 55 of Gaming Couch! I swear everytime I go to write 'epsiode' at the start of the description I end up spelling it wrong somehow. The human mind is an amazing thing isn't it? We all love music. Whether it's just a few songs or a whole library of various genres everyone has their taste in those sweet beats and rythms. As video games have become a major piece of media with millions of people into the hobby game music has become it's own genre.  Many games that get a lot of praise give some credit to their soundtrack. You can set the scene for the game or movie all you want. Without the music and sounds to accompy it the real emotion you want people to feel will be missed. So here is my first attempt at my own internet guilty pleasure and making a 'Top 5' list. There will probably be more to come so enjoy this first one about the greatest, and most impactful, pieces of music in video games. Smartboy P.S. This is the episode that I had planned to got up last Sunday, but gave the slot to the Game Devs of Color re-cap. So this weekend you will get this episode today, Saturday, and a regularly scheduled episode on Sunday 5pm, as always.

Episode 54 of Caming Couch! (Heads up, the walls in my apartment are a bit thin. So when my neighbor decided to take a shower when I was already deep in recording...yeah. If you hear a slight hiss/hum while I am talking that was it. I tried to talk a little louder to keep myself clear during that time). I am tired and going completely unscripted today, even though I made the change after episode 50. Remember, the rules don't matter, and this is something important I want to talk about while it is still 100% fresh in my mind. Anyway....you know how I had this idea and plan to do this list episode today? You also know how there are no rules for the podcast? Yeah...we aren't doing that today. I had a chance to go to the Game Devs of Color Expo and there was a great message I get there that just needed to be shared. So that's today's episode. Talking about being the creator you want to be. If there is a game you want to have and story you want to tell just do it. We'll talk about some games that I had to chance to play and also share some stories from the developers about them. If you like anything you hear in the games check out their socail media and websites: Super Space Club:  https://grahamoflegend.com/superspaceclub/ Portal Tamers: @portaltamers and  https://www.facebook.com/PortalTamers/ she dreams elsewhere: @studiozevere and  https://www.studiozevere.com/ Fiction Sphere: @einherjarteam and  https://www.facebook.com/TeamEinherjar Chrono Ghost: @NITETIMEStudios and  http://nitetimestudios.com/  (Seriously, 10 bucks on Steam. Let's go) As always some love for Team Decoy Games and Swimsanity! They are the ones who put this expo on my radar and are always friendly to everyone who comes by and says high. Give them a shout at  https://www.facebook.com/decoygames and @DecoyGames Lastly, Playcrafting heads many of these events that go on in NYC and other areas. Check them out online. The next Play NYC is coming up August 10th-11th and I highly recommend going. The experience is great.   https://playcrafting.com/  This is Smartboy signing off for now. And seriously, in case I managed to horribly ruin the message in the episode, I want to make it clear. Don't be afraid to make something. If you want to create something, do it. Make it. Be ready to change it, tweak, even fail at it the first time just to do a second take. Just make and know that you can always continue it and make it better. Smartboy

Episode 53 of Gaming Couch! I got nothing else to say. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and OneShot are both amazing games and I just want my verbal words to take charge here and express everything. So no real description this week. Give a listen! Hope you are doing alright with this heat wave. My new best friend is my tower fan. Take care, Smartboy P.S. Do something memorable this week. It's a great week for it.

Episode 52 of Gaming Couch! This past week I got to experience I number of AWESOME games. Yes, I have had my fair share of CTR NItro Fueled and Super Mario Maker 2 but there was more. Some awesome board games have been added to my library. I already looked at Dice Forge and House of Danger last week but after that episode went up I got Stuffed Fables and oh man....It's a REALLY good game. Huge shout out to Plaid Hat Games for this one. Join me today with an indepth review of the game and some first time experiences playing the game. Because it is an adventure game that is big on a story narrative I want to warn people of spoilers for the first story of the game. When you hear me call out the warning hop to 59:20 to avoid hearing about the results of the first tale and jump straight to my final thoughts. Check out Plaid Hat Games website:  https://www.plaidhatgames.com/  Don't forget I am now on Twitter (@G_C_Podcast) for daily updates and random tidbits as well as reviving the Facebook page for weekly updates. You'll see the red couch and know its me. Take care, Smartboy P.S: I hope you like the summer heat. It isn't my thing...but it is really beautiful out.