On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: KlaytonCalix joins us for a special Palworld episode as we have each played it for more than 50 hours. There must be something great about this game to hold our attention this long. What did we love about this game and what itches did it scratch for us as gamers. If you take the good, you take the bad. Those are the facts of life. Palworld is not without issues. Some of them are technical, but others are by design. Others still are trappings of the genr...
Jan 30, 2024•2 hr 25 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We have reached 500 videos on YouTube! Well, 506 or so, but we’re late to the party. It sure feels like we should do something to celebrate, so let’s look at a mathematically constructed list of the 500 greatest games of all time. What were the best of all time? More importantly, what were the least best of all time? A very official list of the best games - The Mathematically Derived 500 Best Video Games of All Time - an IGN Playlist by RuFiOoo - IGN Al...
Jan 23, 2024•1 hr 22 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: It’s that time of year again when we do Save, Bury, Reboot. What games do we keep, which do we throw away and which ones need a makeover? Better listen to find out. The Steam Awards happened and we smell some shenanigans. Trolls apparently got into the mix and voted for some unlikely choices for nominees in these game categories. So, let’s talk about Labor of Love and Most Innovative Game. Although it was a fantastic year to play games, it was a dismal ...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Some games deserve a second chance. Nathan talks about some of the games he plans on giving this chance in 2024 and what he hopes to get out of the experience. We are not a news program. However, we are hoping to revisit old news stories that fell by the wayside. What ever happened with the OpenGL or Unity stories? What happened to the bad games that got apology jpegs? Probably subjects worth exploring. It’s the beginning of the year and so we should do...
Jan 09, 2024•59 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nothing gets Nathan in the holiday spirit like Die Hard. On this episode, we become John McClane and create a quest to stop an assault on a wizard’s tower. Is it part of a campaign or a one shot? How does our party get there? How do they stop the fantasy terrorists? Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? All that and more on this festive episode. When Frank Capra made It’s a Wonderful Life, he could only imagine that one day we would use the premise to create a...
Dec 19, 2023•1 hr 7 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Sometimes you need an expert to teach you the basics. So, we looked at Will Wright’s Masterclass on writing game mechanics to see if his 5 tips are worth taking into consideration. Then, we try to parse numbers 3 and 4 to make it make sense. The Masterclass article - Will Wright’s 5 Tips for Writing Game Mechanics So, what is the difference between linear and emergent gameplay? Can a chatbot give us half-way decent examples of games that use them? Do we...
Dec 12, 2023•1 hr 15 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: There are many gaming mysteries, from glitchy pokemon to unattainable chests to questions about who kicked off a nuclear war. However, we have avoided discussing these things on the show. And now we explain the reason why. We were once told we were bad at reviewing games. This is particularly weird since we do not review games. So, let’s discuss what we are apparently very bad at doing. Drama alert? Not here. While we talk about industry news that might...
Dec 05, 2023•53 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: The Game Awards announced nominees for 2023. Now, we here at TPK care so deeply for award shows that we almost forgot it was even happening. However, eagle-eyed viewers asked us about it, so we are going to look through some of the categories and see if we even know what these games are. What will win? You can vote for yourself here - The Game Awards | Streaming Live December 7, 2023 Every time a game asks you to build your own base, a variety of proble...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 28 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Big things are happening at The Escapist. Or I should say, big things used to happen at The Escapist before the staff left. We are talking about what happened with Nick Calandro and all the staff that followed him out the door. We also discuss what the future holds for Escapist ex-pats, most notably Yahtzee Croshaw from Zero Punctuation. The Second Wind intro - An Introduction to Second Wind with Nick and Yahtzee - YouTube ) Blizzcon happened and Alex w...
Nov 14, 2023•1 hr 5 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Midnight Acres promises a unique combination of farming sim and tower defense game that seemed like a good idea when Nathan originally picked it up. Oh, how innocent we were… Perhaps there are genres that were never meant to go together and we are going to talk about it on this episode. The act of playing tabletop games can be represented in video games, both through games that emulate the systems themselves and the ones who theme adventures around them...
Nov 07, 2023•58 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: So, you’re adventure party is outnumbered and outgunned. Now they have to choose to fight or surrender. Can you explain the statistically small odds of them succeeding? Can you save them from near-certain death? We look at a Reddit question to offer some unsolicited advise. The Reddit post for those who wish to see the discourse - Potential TPK for level Level 13 party : DMAcademy (reddit.com) Breathedge is what happens when you try doing survival craft...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 7 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Steam Next Fest hit us with tons of game demos and trials to play, but not many piqued our interest. However, we have four titles to discuss today, as well as our overall impressions of the offerings we saw. Have you ever gotten the urge to tattoo Van Gogh’s Starry Night on your forehead, but were too afraid to do it because all your co-workers are Klimpt stans? Well, that’s what video games are for. But Alex has a question as to why there are so many g...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 14 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Have you ever tried a game that you thought you’d hate, only to heartily enjoy it? Well, Dadam asked this question of us a couple months back and Nathan had a couple games that fit that bill. Which ones? Are they the ones you’re thinking about right now? Probably not, but watch to find out. Redfall hit a low of 3 concurrent players in October. Before the recent update, there had been a 4 month period of having no fixes for the poor state it was in at la...
Oct 17, 2023•1 hr 6 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Palia is an interesting MMO that takes place in a world similar to Stardew Valley. Can a cozy game work as a multi-player online experience? Does it make sense to apply the trapping of such an online experience to a cozy game? Well, do we have stuff to say about that. If you want to check out Palia yourself, it is free to sign up at - Palia – Welcome Home Seasons change and so do we, but should they go through changes in your game? We often overlook the...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 2 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Epic has laid off nearly 900 members of it’s staff, 16% of it’s entire workforce. We’re going to talk about that and also do a little math on how much Tim Sweeney makes. Fun times. Epic Games is reportedly laying off around 900 employees | Eurogamer.net There’s an island full of kings and tyrants. Will you free them? Nathan ran across an interesting mission in Starfield called Operation Starseed and imagined a little adventure hook based on it. Let’s se...
Oct 02, 2023•57 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: What is happening with Embracer Group? First they buy up a bunch of game companies, then they lose 40% of their stock value, now they are selling off or shuttering the same game studios they bought. Let’s go over a timeline of unfortunate events and a cautionary tale of what large corporate investments could entail. Embracer Group Stock Drops 40% After $2 Billion Mystery Deal Self-Destructs (forbes.com) Embracer Group's Partner Who Walked From $2 Billio...
Sep 26, 2023•45 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We got a request to react to a video about creating a World of Warcraft expansion using AI, so that’s what we’re doing. Echoes of Azeroth is not actually an expansion to WoW, but how close to a real one does it get? I Made a World of Warcraft Expansion with AI - YouTube Nathan has been playing a little indie game by the name Starfield. The latest in Bethesda’s line of epic RPGs, it shares many similarities with previous games from BGS, but there are som...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 30 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: What if I told you there was a multi-player horror game that you could pick up for the low low price of a million dollars? Great deal, right!? Developer Bloody Bear tried the strangest marketing strategy for their game Spooky Men and now we have to talk about it. New Steam Game Costs $1 Million (gamerant.com) Well, it took months, but after all the procrastination, Nathan finished the Mass Effect trilogy. What was his take away? Is it as good as he reme...
Sep 04, 2023•50 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: It’s time to talk about Baldur’s Gate 3. Alex has been playing Larian’s new CRPG and has some thoughts on what the game does right in addressing central problems that have plagued the genre. So, we will be discussing pacing, combat and inventory management. Recently, a Polygon article suggested that we should accept save-scumming as the best way to play RPGs after playing Baldur’s Gate 3. Josh Sawyer had an interesting response to it. Now, we’ll discuss...
Aug 29, 2023•1 hr 8 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Dadam inquired into games that we should have liked but really did not. We discuss some of the games that work for us IN THEORY but do not IN PRACTICE. Get ready to hear about some Souls-likes, Metroidvanias and Cozy Games. Alex is very excited to discuss the first support spec for World of Warcraft and how it has affected the game. So much so that he brought charts. Does this fundamentally change the 20-year-old game and will it open the door to other ...
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 18 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: There has been more UnEarthed Arcana from Wizards of the Coast looking at updates to the One D&D character classes. We picked three we liked and get to discuss them on this episode as Wizards will be looking for feedback later in August. The UnEarthed Arcana for One D&D - Unearthed Arcana Playtest - Unearthed Arcana - Sources - D&D Beyond (dndbeyond.com) We were a little unsure about the changes One D&D was proposing for Druids, mostly a...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 48 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nathan used ChatGPT and now his soul is trapped in limbo. But before that happened, he asked the AI to come up with the best adventure hook and… it gave him something. Let’s see how GPT did and give some useful notes on “The Lost Relic of Ages Past”. Patrick H. Willem’s breakdown of AI filmmaking - A.I. Filmmaking Is Not The Future. It's a Grift. - YouTube JamesTheDabbler gave us a topic on our Discord. It involves using skills and stats to reinforce th...
Aug 02, 2023•1 hr 12 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nathan went back to play the Mass Effect Trilogy thanks to the recent Legendary Edition release. However, now facing the ending of ME3, he has gotten a sudden reluctance to finish the last leg of his journey. Why is that happening? What prevents us from finishing a game even when we really like it? You wander into town and your party goes directly to the tavern or the shops or the castle… or maybe to the notice board? We rarely use the good old-fashione...
Jul 25, 2023•58 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Photorealism is coming to games near you with the advancements in engine technology. But, perhaps it’s a good time to ask if realistic graphics are what we really want in our gaming experience. We talk about where we are going and what genres will benefit the most of photorealism. Also, which ones would be foolish to adopt it? Virtual Bamboo Grove | UE5 [4K] - YouTube Titanic: Honor & Glory The weather affects our day-to-day life, but why doesn’t it...
Jul 18, 2023•52 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Imagine coming back from your epic adventure to find that you were a legend that existed 1,000 years ago. Now what do you do? Are your parents still there? Does anyone recognize you? What was the last quest you went on? We explore another adventure hook as Nathan leads Alex down a time trippy rabbit hole. What if you took Stardew Valley and smashed it together with Dark Souls? Think about it. Now you don’t have to, because we spent time working out the ...
Jul 11, 2023•49 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We now move away from limes you can plug into a computer and try looking at tabletop hacks that might be useful. How good are they? Can we come up with some better alternatives? Which ones have Alex already done? What if your party wanders into a town and no one is there? No people, no monsters, no animals. Just a recently abandoned town. Alex ponders this adventure hook to see what Nathan would do in this situation. Also, what would Nathan do to make i...
Jul 04, 2023•1 hr 7 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Life hacks are everywhere these days. But have you ever heard of gaming hacks? Well, Nathan ran across a video from 5 Minute Crafts claiming to give us “13 Gaming Hacks You Should Know” and has tasked Alex with rating them from “Must Have” to “Kill it with Fire”. 13 GAMING HACKS YOU SHOULD KNOW - YouTube Sometimes we have adventure hooks that needed more time in the oven. On this episode, we look at an old Reddit post asking to flesh out some of these t...
Jun 27, 2023•1 hr 14 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: The Xbox Showcase was surprisingly good and made some big announcements. What Nathan really wanted to discuss, though, was the amount of new IPs presented from established developers. So, let’s talk about those, including the one that made him VERY excited. [4K] Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct - YouTube Space is very vast and so goes the games based in space that try to emulate that. However, Alex sees this as a big problem because space is also ...
Jun 20, 2023•58 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Cyan recently released their new VR game, Firmament, and it was met with less than stellar reviews compared to their previous efforts. It has now come out that they used AI-assistance to develop the game. How far did that assistance go? Did voice actors get credit for their work? What role should AI even play in art moving forward? Also, did you see this stupid expanded Abbey Road album cover!? The Kotaku article on Firmament - Myst Creator's New Game S...
Jun 13, 2023•1 hr 3 min
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: So… Five Nights at Freddy’s is getting a major motion picture. This is happening and you can’t stop it. The question remains: Who is this made for and will it make children cry? Five Nights At Freddy's | Official Teaser - YouTube Nathan and Alex saw the Tetris movie, which we quickly have to clarify is NOT a documentary but a docu-drama. Sorry Alex was misled on that point. What did we think about it? Also, Nathan saw Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among...
May 23, 2023•49 min
