Oops. I did all of mine like 8 hours ago.

Some people sell their code packs online, though I guess it could be risky.

I’m basically in TCG Live to practice the game and to figure out how a deck is working before sleeving up in paper.

TCG Pocket is just a fun diversion. 2 free packs a day is like little dopamine hits, for better or worse. I can let my nieces and nephews “rip” a pack open as a reward without thinking “that’s $4 gone.”

TCG Live is for people who actually care about Pokemon TCG and the complexities and depth it offers. It’s not that confusing; there are maybe 3 currencies, and one of its features, like it or not, is that you can’t just swipe a credit card and get everything you want. The only money-to-game translation is buying IRL boosters and scanning in the codes. Yes, the app can be fairly buggy, but it’s what we’ve got for now, ever since they closed Pokemon TCG Online. It doesn’t have trading, which is to prevent people from just having a dozen accounts and amassing all the value into one.

The currencies aren’t too bad: Coins are for cosmetics. Crystals are the “premium” currency for unlocking the battle pass or buying the equivalent of IRL sealed products (boosters, display packs, bundles, etc). Credits are like dust from other TCGs. Duplicate cards beyond 4 are “dusted” and you can convert them into the singles you want for deck building.

TCG Pocket is to slowly attract people into collecting actual cards again. After you get into the cadence of opening your 2 free packs a day, people might start to be interested in collecting physical cards, which pulls them into paying for boosters (rather than just buying singles) and trying the actual card game. It’s just a small bonus that TCGPocket might also earn them a bit of money, largely off of old art and minimal playtest work.

You’re right, I guess I wasn’t thinking it all the way through. Guess it’s up to SE to decide if they want to hire more artists and spend their time polishing bits of older content.

Usually when a dev studio says “budget”, it’s primarily a time budget, not just money. Yes, money can be used to hire more staff, but everything we know about software development says that output doesn’t scale linearly with man-hours.

Fixing hats in the way they would like (which isn’t just the modded method of having ears or parts of heads clip through whatever hats/helms exist) would require them to go through every headpiece created so far and rework them for the races’ head shape. Is it possible? Yes. Is it the best use of their time and effort? Probably not. It’s a live game; they’re always pushing on for the next bit of content.

I can build a new PC or whatnot, but one thing that has helped the Deck along is that it’s established a clear standardized set of specs that some developers have chosen to build for. Obviously there have been plenty of games that won’t run on the deck, but sites like ProtonDB basically create a sticker for “this runs well on the Deck.”

I haven’t delved into this game much, and I’m not well-versed in 40K lore, but do you only get to play as the Ultramarines, or do they have other legions/chapters to customize as?

I dislike the Epic Launcher and almost every move they’ve made as a company, but I’m glad that competition exists. People should have choices of where to get games, in ways that make sense for them. Unfortunately, I don’t really see a reason to choose EGS other than exclusives and freebies, but hopefully they actually develop it into a valid candidate.

In general, having more publishers and storefronts and developers in a place of stability is good for the industry. It sucks when studios have to get shut down because the funding isn’t there.

Any big finds in this list?

I’ve personally really enjoyed Sea of Stars. I don’t know if it’s too short or too long, because it did drop out of my attention for a bit, but the good moments are great. One of 2 games where I actually teared up/cried last year.

I like Into the Breach a lot! I’m not much for roguelike/roguelite games because I feel like I’m not improving/learning at the rate that the game expects, but Into the Breach is just so cool and fun, and it’s the tactics-based game that has made me think the most on every individual move. Each team plays so differently, and they do make use of the run-based system in interesting ways.

If you care about story, I’d recommend going 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7 (Like a Dragon), Man Who Erased His Name, and then Infinite Wealth (8).

If you specifically want turn-based combat, you can start on 7 and honestly be pretty OK.

If you just want to have an enjoyable time, you can jump in on any side entry, like Judgment/Lost Judgment, Isshin, or this new Pirate one.

Overall, the mainline Yakuza games have an earnest and serious plot, with moments that take it over the top. But all of it is interspersed with moments of random goofiness and levity. My cousins have spent months on Yakuza 0 because they got really into learning Japanese Mah Jong and enjoyed the slot car racing.

I probably won’t end up playing this, as I’m bad at this kind of game, but man does it have styleeeeee.

For anyone not into PokemonTCG, this looks like PokemonTCG but will play with different cards and different rules. Energy is different (it looks like you have energy in an Energy Zone instead of attaching to individual mons), the battlefield is different (3 bench spots instead of 5), and so far the cards look to be simplified from actual existing cards.

I believe last time they showed it off it was something like 2 free packs a day, and trading is included (unlike the current digital platform, Pokemon TCG Live).

So overall, it’s probably a fairly different game that’s looking to simplify the gameplay and introduce the entire “collect and play” thing to people for free. Hook them in with this, and maybe get some people invested in playing “real” PTCG.

Honestly, Pokemon is one of the games with fewer money issues than other TCGs. A tier 1 deck in Pokemon costs $30-$120 for Standard format, which is what most people play, apparently. JustinBasil has good posts detailing the decks and key cards, as well as strategies and example gameplay videos.

I say this coming from MtG, where that price point is only really something you can do in Pauper (commons only format), and a Standard deck will cost $50-230, a Pioneer deck will cost $120-380, and a Modern deck will cost $270-700. In Magic, the most powerful cards (for competitive 60 card play) is the credit card.

Pretty sure YuGiOh and One Piece and Lorcana and Flesh&Blood and Digimon also have more expensive decks than Pokemon. Obviously, Pokemon can get expensive once you try to bring out your deck with special art and special foil versions, but for just obtaining usable competitive game pieces, it’s basically the cheapest thing around.

Not quite the full history. Poggers was based on PogChamp. PogChamp was a Twitch emote, of Street Fighter player/content creator Gootecks from when he and Mike Ross did a silly video bit playing pogs by dropping a fight stick on it.

PogChamp was used a ton on Twitch (and other creators made their own versions of the face), until Gootecks kinda got problematic with his remarks on Jan 6th (and other stuff like alternative health and COVID disbelief). I think they replaced his face with a number of other reactions that also fit the bill?

I agree completely. Some games and genres really need enough players to ensure queue times aren’t awful, and that there are lobbies/games/matches where players of all levels can enjoy themselves.

Battle Royales need big playerbases. Team-based games (like many shooters and MOBAs) benefit from larger playerbases. Fighting games want large playerbases, because it’s very frustrating to get a game 6 months after release only to find that it’s a Discord fighter, or that the only people playing are absolute killers who destroy you without leaving you any room or time to learn how to improve.

Among 2D fighters, SF6 and MK1 are pretty dang big.

I would recommend GBFV:R and GG Strive. Granblue is very grounded, and if you play Street Fighter you’ll be able to wrap your head around the systems. Strive is a bit more anime, but without being too much (in the way that Xrd Rev 2 and Melty Blood are too much for me to comprehend what’s happening).

I don’t know if you’re into tag-style games, but learning one might help you get ready for when 2XKO comes out. I’m not a Riot fan, but Riot has such a following that whenever it launches, it’ll receive a large playerbase immediately.

Also, regarding the 30th Anniversary collection, I personally think it’s super cool. Awesome for local play and for nostalgia. It even has netplay for Hyper Fighting, Super Turbo, Alpha 3, and Third Strike, though most PC people are probably just playing on Fightcade instead.

I heard the Giant Bomb crew mention this on the podcast, but couldn’t find it. Sounds like a wide blend of a lot of different things! I like it when Capcom is willing to be weird and try something new.

RoA is also a good pickup right now because it’s kind of the biggest platform fighter that actually kept a competitive audience, and RoA 2 is coming out pretty soon. My brothers (Melee dudes) are pumped for it.

That name is still so very uncomfortable.

What sort of fighting games are you interested in? What have you played, and what are you curious to try?