Top news of the week, 7.1 is incoming for Final Fantasy 14, but that’s not all! The final Halloween is here. Garrett watched the big movie of the year and Kyle has played Silent Hill 2. There’s a lot of Magic the Gathering on the brain and even some Monster Hunter Wilds viewed from afar. Emails and more!…

As we look forward to 7.1, we also look back at the MSQ that was Dawntrail with our friends Preach, Okaymage, and Jesse Cox.By Garrett Weinzierl, Kyle Fergusson, okaymage, Preach, & Jesse Cox

Can it be? 100 episodes of Grinding Gear! Has experienced 100th episodes makers we know whats best for this kind of event, a normal show. There are some big topics around the gaming space this week. MTG art, after a track record, is under fire for using Ai art. A Final Fantasy 14 article on PC gamer is pointing out the Midcore problems with end gam…

When last we left out intrepid Florida boys, they were hunkering down for Hurricane Milton on its way to Florida. We have come out the otherside safe but with many stories to tell. Two hosts, two different paths. Video games? We’ll get to em next time.By Garrett Weinzierl & Kyle Fergusson

On the eve of Hurricane Milton, we are boarded up and locked in. Florida is bringing out all the stops for Kyle’s first season and Garrett is an experienced storm rider. Even with weather on the horizon, it has been a while since we’ve had an event-free-guest-free episode. Garrett has been getting into Spooky Season and continuing Star Wars Outlaws…

We just had our first IRL GG Meet in Orlando, Florida! The podcast this week is the full live show we put on in front of a live crowd. Thanks again to everyone who came out to the show and all of you supporting us through Patreon and YouTube memberships. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to put on events like these.…

It's a big week here at Grinding Gear! Our first non-conference meetup is this weekend! YouTube metrics are wild. Spooky season begins. And much more!By Garrett Weinzierl & Kyle Fergusson

Endy is back! Space Marine 2 is out! And MMOs are cooking!By Garrett Weinzierl, Kyle Fergusson, & Endy

Final Fantasy 1 has been completed. Discuss.By Garrett Weinzierl & Kyle Fergusson

Okaymage makes her triumphant return to give us the inside scoop on World of Warcrafts newest expansion, The War Within. The perfect guest does indeed exist. Okaymage started playing WoW in Legion, well after the rose-tinted glasses of us olds. Jordan got deep into Mythic plus and raid content before taking their first break at the end of Shadowlan…

We are joined by Huskybythegeek, the video game guitar cover youtube artist, best known for the insanely huge FFXIV medley projects. In this musically focused gaming episode, we break down Husky’s staggering workflow to bring together 200 musicians as well as his history with gaming. For Garrett, there are Punk Rock conversations and Kyle is remind…

Every MMO is having a 2024 release? More on that later. Patreon is up to some biz. Under Apple pressure, they might be getting rid of our weekly-per-content-post format in favor of only supporting monthly posts. For now, do nothing, but we wanted you to hear about it from us. A slightly shaken Garrett and Kyle continue from there. Kyle has been on …

Frosty, host of FF14 esports, World First and the Mogtalk podcast joins the episode. Should we call him a community pillar? Is that still a phrase? The Community Pillar discusses what let down this wild road of content creation. What it was like being embraced by Square Enix for events and how that journey brought him to produce last week's World F…

Our AFK journey has concluded. Garrett and Kyle return from two weeks of touching grass, or more likely sandy beaches. Kyle has been completely Dadding off the grid, while Garrett in classic fashion stayed in tune with on goings. Speaking of ongoings, we got the official War Within Cinematic Trailer? Is this the trailer? Robert Downey Jr is coming …

We may be off on our family vacations, but that won’t stop us from releasing a podcast! Join us as we answer questions about tacos preferences, traveling, where we want to travel, our bucket lists, and much more!By Garrett Weinzierl & Kyle Fergusson

MrHappy visits the podcast. This episode is part history FFXIV lesson, part journey of content creation and part raid therapy. After meeting on the Dawntrail Media Tour, Garrett and Kyle sit down with the prolific guide and video maker for a peek behind the curtain of the FFXIV raid scene and its many innerworkings. A truly joyous and wild chat.…

By Garrett Weinzierl & Kyle Fergusson

Dawntrail approaches. The table assembles.By Garrett Weinzierl, Kyle Fergusson, okaymage, Preach, & Jesse Cox

Games! So many games. Three presentations worth of games to be exact. Sony State of Play, Xbox Showcase and Summer Games Fest have all cruised by and it’s time to review. Stand outs? The dregs? The ups the downs. Listen to find out. Will there be hat eating? Could be.By Garrett Weinzierl & Kyle Fergusson

The classic offline episode, with that classic vibe. We bring you limited stories from our absence, along with a helping of video game and movie news. Is war coming to the republic? Did you read that in a Clone Wars intro voice? Rumors circulate of a Total War Star Wars in production. Value won’t let you inherit a Steam account. Beetlejuice 2 makes…

Our guest today is an actor on stage, screen, and games. You may know him from Doctor Who, Leonardo, the brand new Hades 2, but if you’re watching this stream or listening to this podcast we would bet you know him as Alphinaud from Final Fantasy 14. Today we’re joined by Colin Ryan!By Garrett Weinzierl, Kyle Fergusson, & Colin Ryan

Stellar Blade may have been the jumping off point, but sexiness in games goes far beyond and much further back than the latest entry in skin-tight clad protagonists. On today's show we dive into our likes and dislikes about sex in games, the Helldivers 2 Sony PSN debacle, and take your questions live! Well, not live if you're listening to it now. B…

After welcoming his third child into this world, Kyle has returned! Garrett catches up with Kyle and helps Kyle catch up on all of the things that he missed during his paternity leave. The new Fallout show, FFXIV Dawntrail drama, lots of baby sitting and birth stories, and of course… where babies come from? This episode goes places.…

Marco returns to talk more than just music! Well of course music is also discussed. But Garrett and Marco talk shop about creating content for streams and Youtube, Honkai: Star Rail, Warframe, Helldiver 2, Final Fantasy 7, and the most underrated game soundtracks of all time.By Garrett Weinzierl & Marcomeatball

Dawntrail is on its way! A release date has been announced for the upcoming Final Fantasy darling MMO. Garrett and Kyle give you the scoop to grind through your week. But first, Larian parts ways with the Hasbro juggernaut Dungeons and Dragons, to much celebration. Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't make the best first impression, but true fans are too busy …

Garrett returns from the Mountains of Wrestling. Kyle was here but survived his venture to buy Warhammer paints. Helldivers Devs lash back at players on Discord causing a comment drama. Garrett and Kyle discuss the huge influence Toriyama had on the anime medium as a whole and their exposure to Dragon Ball Z growing up. Are crossovers going too far…

Beau Schwartz returns to the Podcast. Now having long completed his Diablo 4 quest for statue fandom, we play a little game we like to call Hot TAKES with the help of the live chat. We also discuss Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (spoiler free), Helldivers, State of MMOs and streaming life.By Kyle Fergusson & Beau Schwartz

Garrett and Kyle both return from a Florida Disney weekend, no relation, with a pile of hot Monday news. After a thorough park review lacking of expert opinion, Garrett feels a great pull towards the water cooler of FF7 Rebirth. Elden Ring DLC is about to plow every release in the summer out of its way. Larian’s good deeds lead to Kyle's paranoia. …

The Ministry of Truth has declared, Helldivers 2 is good y'all. You may have heard about the newest internet darling. Garrett and Kyle share the sentiment even if it did rain on their parade. And rain it did all over the renaissance fair. X-Men 97 is coming back in its Fox Kids glory. All the consoles are dead?!…

Jesse Cox returns for the final grilling before the end of Endwalker. The test is stacked, the questions are hard and our memories are shit. Better than most? Maybe. Are there dragons in the Crystal Tower? Who has cloud hair? What characters are missing? What happens in patch content given the meta knowledge of the launcher? Jesse leaves no stone u…

We’re cross-aisle, breaking down barriers, and having a lovely time doing it. On this week’s episode, Taliesin, half of Taliesin and Evitel, joins the show to discuss content creation, Final Fantasy 14 story, and WoW’s pursuits of that story. Taliesin streamed FF14 at the height of the “exodus” and had quite the journey. There’s no stopping this st…

2024 is feeling a whole lot like 2023 with layoffs continuing in the games industry. We take some time to talk about how the continuing cascade of lost jobs have now reached Riot and Blizzard, the Pokemon Company looking at getting legal with Palword, a cancelled Final Fantasy XIV live-action television adaptation, and which one of us is the best v…

On this Monday episode of Grinding Gear, the new time btw: Palworld has taken the steam by storm, but is plagiarism afoot? Is Ai the villain in this tale? Is it really hard not to call them Pokemon. We are the judge! Garrett and Kyle also tell the tales of their many watchings and playings over the holiday break. Garrett is smitten by Freiren. Kyle…

Kyle and Garrett are in the house! Together! Join us for our first post-move podcast from Garrett’s redesigned studio space. Hear all about what happened during our break as Kyle moved and Garrett moved things out and into his studio. Also, is Indiana Jones shaping up to be an exciting game? The Xbox Developer Showcase gave everyone their first pea…

The Grindys, The Golden Gears, Best of 2023. This is the final official podcast record for the year 2023, and we have our own LEGALLY DISTINCT accolades to hand out. An absolute banger of a year for video games comes to a close. Who will win “Best I Think It’s an Indie game” and who will walk away with Brightest Dumpster Fire. While there may be so…

Technically the podcast never left but we're back! Kyle has returned from his Jury Duty exile. The internet has continued to do what it does and Garrett’s got all the goods lined up. Twitch has set new rules regarding what has become known as the “Topless Meta”. The Video Game Awards continue to make dramatic waves as views argue over format and sp…

What a week! The bromance content has been upended due to jury duty. But we’re not going to let that stop us from getting up very early (EXTREMELY early for Kyle) and having a chat about this year’s Game Awards! Later in the show we also get into how jury duty has impacted our end-of-year schedule and how we’ve surpassed every goal we’ve set thanks…

The Holidays are incoming. Garrett and Kyle return from Thanksgiving festivities to bring you all the important happenings from the dinner table! Bungie is messing it up again, but we don’t have time for that. Fallout has a tv show incoming and it’s canonical. See the return of HOT TAKES as we collect your HOTTEST TAKES from the internet, we call i…

It’s a Grinding Gear Thanksgiving! The podcast records early this week as we’ll both be out the rest of the week for the holiday! Join us as we give a Bromance Studio update, talk Scott Pilgrim, WoW Classic Hardcore, FFXIV Endwalker, and share our holiday traditions.By Garrett Weinzierl & Kyle Fergusson

We have gathered an ELITE team of current, former, and cautious World of Warcraft content creators for our post-BlizzCon round-table. Previous GG guests Preach, Okaymage and Jesse Cox all make a triumphant return to talk WoW’s announcement for an upcoming and ongoing 5 year story. Blizzard has planted a flag, a beginning, middle, and end. A total r…

A packed week means a packed show. A Zelda Movie? Grand Theft Auto 6? Transparent MMO Design? What do all these things have in common? They all happened this week. Garrett is back in the World of Warcraft and for Retail no less with the Season of Discovery around the corner. If there is a fence, Kyle is behind it, maybe even still purchasing the wo…

Immediately following the BlizzCon Opening ceremony live watch, Garrett and Kyle take a seat to talk about the hits, misfires and mysteries. It should be no secret that you won't be hearing much about the Overwatch news. Diablo was also limited. The biggest hitter was the Warcraft section which features a Co-op Hearthstone Battlegrounds Mode, and a…

We may be cross-country again, but we are ever so close to our goals! This is the Grinding Gear Podcast. Travel meant movie time for Kyle and he was delighted by a certain reference in Mutant Mayhem. Garrett turns back the clock to talk about the ABK Acquisition. Speaking of that clock, Heroes of the Storm received a sizable PTR patch. Mostly bug f…

What a week! We have announced The Bromance Studio. The big drive is underway. Podcast will soon be recorded TOGETHER and oh so much more. In this episode you will learn all about the Studio plans, how long we’ve had to keep this secret and so much more. Kyle had trouble picking a publicly played plane game. Garrett has continued his Cyberpunk jour…

Okaymage, WoW caster and FF14 streamer, joins the episode! Okaymage has been on quite the content creation trajectory and is here to tell her story. With no RPG experience, coming straight from League of Legend to World of Warcraft, and making Frost Mage guides, she has developed a massive following due to her MSQ streams. Join in for the takes, th…

A guest filled episode of Halloween gaming and Hot Takes! Grinding Gears own moderator, Dirty 30’s Reviewer (more incoming) and CEO of the House Kristen Ashton joins the episode, along side the MSQurator Jon Jagger. After hearing the previous Unpopular Opinions game, both were eager to take the stage and face their own pile of HOT TAKES!…

Endy_D20, FFXIV streamer, previous WoW player, forever Dungeon Master and surprise Heroes of the Storm fan, joins the podcast today! A much requested guest who just wrapped his playthrough of the MSQ, Endy is the perfect guest for a thoughtful week in the MMO sphere. Chris Metzen returns to the WoW team, sparking a whirlwind of conversation across …

The bountiful riches of video games and adjacent content as we GRIND through the end of your week. Cyberpunk 2.0 is out and they want you to start a new game. Onimusha is getting a Netflix adaptation, with mixed reactions. Lies of P has a special sauce, and we’ve got a review from the Fromsoft expert in these parts. Lastly, Final Fantasy 14 is putt…

Nintendo’s Direct, Ahsoka, Starfield and Baldurs Gate 3 all make an appearance on this episode, but we know you’re really here for the HOT TAKES! We enjoy a new segment, based on our recent stream, where we judge your HOTTEST TAKES from games to movies, to music. Naturally we address the Unity situation, but we are not lawyers so we will leave that…

We field your questions and field the STARS! Starfield is out for the wide public and you won’t believe it, but Garrett is in love. In fact, Kyle is on the back foot for this adventure. From bugs, ship building, IMMERSION and gunplay, we give you the big Starfield review. Supportourbromance.com or we’ll keep the planets PNG images.…