44. The Puzzle Hidden in the Machine

IF YOU PODCAST PLAYER DOESN'T DISPLAY LINKS IN THE NOTES BELOW– Linked show notes available at https://pixelnoise.fm/episodes/44

The Pixel Boys played Dungeons and Dragons, and boy do they have a lot to say! The episode opens with a thought experiment involving latency in sound, then lots of D&D, and follow up on optimization vs. player choice. This leads to thoughts on the New Pokémon Snap, which Tony proposes is the “epitome of collectathons.” Alex relates this to puzzles hidden in “the machine” (meaning, the internet). Finally, Tony and Dan give their impressions of the latest PS5 exclusive, Returnal.

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• 0:00:00 Alex’s Latency) Thought Experiment
  • Celeste
• 0:08:39 Dungeons and Dragons
  • Inception
  • Fantasy High
  • Lost Mines of Phandelver
  • Curse of Strahd
• 0:36:47 Learning to Play Casually
• 0:42:25 Player Choice vs Playing Optimally
  • Stardew Valley
  • Enemy Difficulty Scaling Patent
  • Pokemon
• 1:12:12 New Pokemon Snap
  • Pokemon Legends
  • Collectathons
  • Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom
  • Banjo-Kazooie
  • Donkey Kong 64
  • The Witness
• 1:31:39 The Puzzle Hidden in the Machine
  • Five Nights at Freddy’s
  • Return of the Obra Dinn
  • Hades
  • Papers, Please
  • Easter egg in The Last of Us
• 1:42:49 Returnal
  • Slay the Spire