The Dive Down

On this week's show, we share a couple of our deepest spiritual awakenings, then rant for a while about our weird feelings on AI and LLMs. Then we manage to keep the mood lively with public comments about MTG's Universes Beyond.

We're not glazing AI. Don't be mad at us.

Timestamps:

0:23 — Dudes Rock

4:40 — Space Rocks

7:48 — Intro: We Had a Terrible Idea to Talk About AI

13:40 — A Little Background on Us

20:05 — Stuff We Hear About Every Day

24:17 — The Misgivings Begin

31:42 — New Kinds of Learning

34:42 — The Misgivings Continue

35:02 — Is AI the Source of Existential Enshittification?

42:33 — The Dunning Kruger Machine

48:52 — Thoughts on Future Work

50:05 — Could Some Good Outcomes Make It Worth It?

52:14 — Some Things We Actually Do

59:24 — Dreams of the Apocalypse

1:06:23 — Public Comment from The Stalk

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Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com

On this week's show, Stan wears a sports vest to religitate some of his favorite 2026 movies, Shane arrives with notes, Dave discovers chiral matter, and the boys watch Widow's Bay.

Timestamps:

0:01 - The devil on Shane's shoulder

6:36 - This week's episode, sort of

9:43 - Old business: Shane watched Send Help

18:46 - Shane also watched The Furious

22:50 - Shane ALSO finished Resident Evil 4 Remake

28:46 - Dave plays PS5

33:29 - New business: Widow's Bay

55:54 - Public comment: Our guilty pleasures

1:06:20 - Wrapping up

Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thedivedown

Show the world that you're a proud citizen of The Dive Down Nation with some merch from the store: https://www.thedivedown.com/store

Upgrade your gameplay and your gameday with Heavy Play accessories. Use code THEDIVEDOWN for 10% off your first order at https://www.heavyplay.com

Get 25% Cashback after 3 months of service with ManaTraders! https://www.manatraders.com/?medium=thedivedown and use coupon code THEDIVEDOWN

And now receive 8% off your order of paper cards from Nerd Rage Gaming with code DIVE8 at https://www.nerdragegaming.com/

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com

On this week's show, we're covering another cinema blind spot. Dave has never seen John Wick, so Shane came all the way from Ohio to make him watch it. Stan watched too.

Then we tell Dave what to play on his new PS5. Turns out he's really into some lewd stuff!

Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thedivedown

Show the world that you're a proud citizen of The Dive Down Nation with some merch from the store: https://www.thedivedown.com/store

Upgrade your gameplay and your gameday with Heavy Play accessories. Use code THEDIVEDOWN for 10% off your first order at https://www.heavyplay.com

Get 25% Cashback after 3 months of service with ManaTraders! https://www.manatraders.com/?medium=thedivedown and use coupon code THEDIVEDOWN

And now receive 8% off your order of paper cards from Nerd Rage Gaming with code DIVE8 at https://www.nerdragegaming.com/

Timestamps:

0:01 - Shane's crabby, and there's a bird

8:11 - This week's show - John Wick

10:38 - Our history with the Wick

16:08 - Dave's first watch

26:10 - Getting into Wick

36:40 - Why did this movie hit?

42:35 - Tying a bow on Wick

46:28 - Dave got a PS5 Pro

1:06:35 - Wrapping up

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com

Well you did it. You've made it through another half a year. But... we have some things we need to talk about. Like all this amazing media we've enjoyed in 2026! Tune in for our favorites of our favorites from movies, games, music, TV and a few other things.

Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thedivedown

Show the world that you're a proud citizen of The Dive Down Nation with some merch from the store: https://www.thedivedown.com/store

Upgrade your gameplay and your gameday with Heavy Play accessories. Use code THEDIVEDOWN2025 for 10% off your first order at https://www.heavyplay.com

Get 25% Cashback after 3 months of service with ManaTraders! https://www.manatraders.com/?medium=thedivedown and use coupon code THEDIVEDOWN

And now receive 8% off your order of paper cards from Nerd Rage Gaming with code DIVE8 at https://www.nerdragegaming.com/

Timestamps:

0:01 - Shane gets fired

2:27 - We're Mad Men

7:30 - This weeks episode: a first half review

9:35 - Oldish business: Takes on the Steam Machine

20:54 - New business: The best movies of the first half of the year

36:50 - The best music

54:05 - The best games

1:05:03 - The best TV

1:13:42 - Public comment: Games that surprised us

1:19:00 - Wrapping up

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com

As promised, we welcome Jason, aka Kilgore Trout, to the podcast to spend far too long talking to Shane about one of the best games of 2024: Metaphor: ReFantazio. We get into the mechanics, the gameplay, the writing, the themes, and even spend some time talking about our favorite fast food meals. Contemporary? Kinda. Thorough? Definitely.

Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thedivedown

Show the world that you're a proud citizen of The Dive Down Nation with some merch from the store: https://www.thedivedown.com/store

Upgrade your gameplay and your gameday with Heavy Play accessories. Use code THEDIVEDOWN for 10% off your first order at https://www.heavyplay.com

Get 25% Cashback after 3 months of service with ManaTraders! https://www.manatraders.com/?medium=thedivedown and use coupon code THEDIVEDOWN

And now receive 8% off your order of paper cards from Nerd Rage Gaming with code DIVE8 at https://www.nerdragegaming.com/

Timestamps:

0:01 - CamelStan

4:21 - Who is this guy?

6:10 - This week's episode

13:37 - So what is Metaphor: ReFantazio?

18:04 - How does this compare to Persona?

32:24 - How we played it

35:09 - Plot takes

38:50 - The Archetype system

44:50 - The combat

53:39 - Friendships

1:01:40 - Writing good

1:03:40 - Using guides and managing your calendar

1:11:30 - Politics & religion

1:25:28 - Grief

1:30:31 - What a twist!

1:34:00 - Quick topics

1:43:24 - Where this game ranks in our RPGs, and comparisons to other RPGs

1:50:08 - Public comments: Our favorite fast food meals

1:52:10 - SPOILER ZONE BEGINS

1:59:46 - What's next?

2:01:42 - Wrapping up

Links from this week's episode:

TenSquare3's amazing Metaphor guide: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/xbox-series-x/409958-metaphor-refantazio/faqs/81526/introduction

Buy Metaphor for PS5: https://amzn.to/4g2nQZJ

Buy Metaphor for XBOX: https://amzn.to/4gEacMv

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com