Monster Train

GWJ Conference Call Episode 714

Europa Universalis IV: Dharma expansion, Slay the Spire on iOS, Monster Train, Divinity Original Sin 2, Perfect Media Coctails, Your Emails, and More!

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Julian, Sean, and Cory sit down and talk about their ideal media cocktails of books, movies, music, games, and more.

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Comments

00:03:06 Europa Universalis IV: Dharma
00:07:17 Slay the Spire
00:08:26 Monster Train
00:16:13 Divinity Original Sin 2
00:23:03 Valorant
00:25:25 Gears Tactics
00:27:05 Stellaris
00:28:25 Doom Eternal
00:32:25 Perfect Media Cocktails
00:58:59 Your Emails

I am so glad that Julian took a Stellaris dive and

Spoiler:

complimented *my* topic idea.

Also, these are some FANTASTIC media cocktails and I want to do them all.

I'm going to set up my narrative ambiguity day as follows:

Cocteau Twins Victorialand gets us relaxed and sets up the day. The use of non-verbal lyrics quietly sets us up to be comfortable with ambiguity while the extremely chill music gets us in a zen place to engage with the rest of the content.

A marathon Bloodborne session follows. This is a game that features all sorts of enigmas. The focus is on tone and atmosphere, so it fits our narrative ambiguity day perfectly.

A late night viewing of Inland Empire should be well primed to melt our brains.

Finally, we close out by reading in a bed with a George Saunders novella with some short stories, Civilwarland in Bad Decline. Saunders is great at withholding exposition and creating wildly imaginative worlds. There's also enough traditional narrative structure there that it makes for a gentle toe dip back into structured narrative while also keeping with the spirit of the rest of the day.

Cory, the tavern drunk who makes these wild claims about dungeons and magic and crap that no one believes because he's the tavern drunk but HE'S ALWAYS RIGHT.

This obviously speaks to Slay the Spire's success, but I wonder if we will ever talk about a deckbuilding roguelike without comparing it with Slay the Spire again.

Good to hear from Julian, Sean, and Cory! I've missed hearing their voices on a regular basis.

I'm listening to the Monster Train discussion now and am getting frustrated when people bounce off it because I love it so much.

I think when Sean said his frustration is with him being unable to do an excel sheet for the game, that helps me understand that POV. But that's what I love about it! You typically need to complete the first one or two fights until you really have an idea on the theme of the deck you're going for, that one artifact or card duplication that makes the deck sing. It's hard to plan it out ahead of time because even a single faction has a few mechanics that they can focus on, let alone how the factions meld together.

Corey at one point said out loud what I was thinking: I don't enjoy crafting added into games, yet somehow I really loved Subnautica.

Minotaar wrote:

I'm listening to the Monster Train discussion now and am getting frustrated when people bounce off it because I love it so much.

I think when Sean said his frustration is with him being unable to do an excel sheet for the game, that helps me understand that POV. But that's what I love about it! You typically need to complete the first one or two fights until you really have an idea on the theme of the deck you're going for, that one artifact or card duplication that makes the deck sing. It's hard to plan it out ahead of time because even a single faction has a few mechanics that they can focus on, let alone how the factions meld together.

It's okay that we're not as into it as you and Julian are. Don't be frustrated!

I don't think it's a bad game, it just hasn't grabbed me. At least it doesn't make me craft.

Demiurge wrote:

It's okay that we're not as into it as you and Julian are. Don't be frustrated!

I don't think it's a bad game, it just hasn't grabbed me. At least it doesn't make me craft. :D

You craft....a deck of demonic locomotive amazement.

And frustration happens. It's okay. It's a part of sharing experiences. Not everyone can see things the way you do, and when you want them to relish with you why you find something amazing and they come back and say "nah", it's frustrating. Perfectly okay.