Axe of the Blood God Explores Battle for Azeroth and Remembers Deus Ex

Axe of the Blood God is our weekly RPG podcast hosted by Kat Bailey and Nadia Oxford. You can find the previous episodes here.

In this week's episode of Axe of the Blood God, Mike talks about writing his expansive World of WarCraft history, and Nadia and I add Deus Ex to our list of the Top 25 RPGs! [download link here].

It seems only appropriate that we should add Deus Ex to the Top 25 RPG list on the day that CD Projekt releases the gameplay footage for Cyberpunk 2077. They are very similar games, after all. But Deus Ex set the bar in many ways, and it's a standard that not even its well-regarded sequels haven't quite been able to reach. We explore why in this episode.

Also in this episode, Mike talks about writing his massive World of WarCraft history and what he learned. Plus, we delve into the new Battle for Azeroth expansion and why the community is up in arms about the treatment of the Horde storyline.

Where to find us (Subscribe, rate, and review!)

Show Description

Mike Williams returns to talk about his massive history of World of WarCraft on USgamer, as well as to share his thoughts on the latest expansion. Then Nadia and Kat go over number 17 on their ongoing countdown of the Top 25 RPGs: Deus Ex! Find out why this groundbreaking PC RPG deserves to be counted among the greatest ever.

Music from Axe of the Blood God is courtesy of Lena Chappelle, who has also contributed the themes to Active Time Babble and Roleplayers' Realm. I also use music from the RPG Music Pack over at rpgmaker.net. Check it out!

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#1 SatelliteOfLove 25 days ago

Mike goes back to the BEs due to the voice acting of one CAM CLARKE.

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#2 pdubb 25 days ago

Ah, the original Deus Ex.

Remember back before 9/11 when devs could make level locations like the Statue of Liberty Park without ending up on a watch list?

Those were the days.

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#3 Stevegasm 25 days ago

Being such a busy summer, I wanted to reply to the episode with WoW in the top 25, but never got around to it, so I figured this would be a good time to catch up on that. It was mostly to do with the "best moment" thing. I thought it was a huge miss when the best moment for the guests on that episode had nothing to do with finally beating that difficult raid boss after many wipes with guild members who you've been playing with for a long time. People who you bonded with, leveling, running dungeons, and so on. It was akin to winning a championship game. Nothing will probably top my guild's first Ragnoros kill, but every major boss kill after always felt awesome.

On a topic in this current episode regarding Mists of Panderia. My feel for it was that a lot of those who criticized it never actually played it. They saw "kung fu panda" and stayed away (which is stupid), or they just weren't fans of the Chinese aesthetic (which is fair). Cataclysm was also pretty disappointing, so it had an uphill battle from the start. Pandas didn't bother me, but I lost interest after Cata, like many people I knew. I only got back into the game because I was bored. I was sick with pneumonia, and was sidelined for a year recovering from the complications that arose from it, so I figured, why not, and I wasn't disappointed.

During that xpac I was primarily a solo and LFR player (my server was dead, and barely anybody I knew played the game at the time). And from that POV, it probably had more worthwhile content than any other version of the game ever. Tons of dailies (maybe too much), and three islands along with The Barrens with sandbox-like grinds that you could tackle at your leisure kept me pretty busy. People joke about LFR, but in MOP, it was actually a reasonable challenge with mechanics that could not be ignored, but weren't overly punishing either (Since then, LFR difficulty has been tuned down to the point of being overly trivial). Crafting seemed well balanced, in that there was nothing like the overpowered stuff in TBC, but what you could make was decent enough, and kept close pace with each new raid tier.

Oh, and the leveling experience, I don't think, has been surpassed. In particular, the way Blizzard used their phasing tech to tell the story, and having the conflict transform the land as you worked your way through each zone. I really wish there was more of that. The transformation of the Karasang Wilds beachfronts into an all out warzone between Horde and Alliance was really cool. And I thought the dailies in that zone in how each faction had opposing objectives was a genius idea (when alliance had dailies on the offence, horde would have them on the defense).

When Mike said that WODs design was a reaction to MOP, I can see where he's coming from. In MOP, there was so much to do, but in WOD, there was almost nothing to do outside of raiding. Dailies were pretty much gone, crafting was gutted, and world had very little reason to even explore it. It honestly feels like Blizzard didn't properly analyze the problems MOP had, or they overcorrected.

I wish I had something to say about Deus Ex. I was 20 when it came out, and heard nothing but great things about it from my friends, but I couldn't make enough time for video games around the time in my life. This post is long as hell anyway.

#4 funktron 24 days ago

Apparently I bought Deus Ex on Steam back in 2010 (?!) and never touched it. I'll have to install it and give it a shot sometime and see what the fuss is.

Thanks for yet another good episode, and cheers. :D

#5 Drachmalius 24 days ago

Yeah, time for me to finish Deus Ex. I love how diverse this list is becoming, a lot of different spokes of the RPG mega-genre are being explored and its great :)

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#6 NiceGuyNeon 24 days ago

I love Deus Ex. It is a defining game of the medium. But if any game needs an enhanced version or remaster it's Deus Ex. I'm not calling for a remake or anything crazy but if you try to play Deus Ex today it's controls are very VERY keyboard focused. Like I think you'll use every key including backspace.

It just needs some tweaking to be a friendlier experience for first time players today is all because it really is a very special experience.

#7 Deplivars1994 23 days ago

OMFG! I closed my suomikasino kokemuksia because of BfA. Honestly, the only thing i can tell is how good this story is already. Have you guys seen burning of Teldrassil? Sylvanas finally revealed herself as a character! People are hating on her but i think it brings soooo much into her. Like, I don't think she's that much of a villain, don't get me wrong. I don't really care about Alliance's part of the deal at this point, but the Horde civil war would be cool (if it's going to happen in near future). Horde members already hating on her as it's shown in "The Old Soldier". OMG i actually can't keep calm! This is one of the best expansions in terms of story. Absolutely love it!!

#8 bobbywatson 22 days ago

One thing I notice each time Ion Storm comes up: most people remember its biggest flop (Daikatana) and its biggest success (Deus Ex), but forget the RPG in the middle: Anachronox. In all fairness, it's probably best to forget it exists, as it's not very playable today, despite having some funny moments and an interesting story that ends in a cliffhanger that will probably never be resolved.Edited 4 weeks ago by bobbywatson

#9 mybtechlife Yesterday

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