M&K #2 - Blood of Elves

We discuss the Final Fantasy VII Remake, part 1, just in time for the release of part 2! This was a real challenge to talk about because of how complicated the remake's relationship to the original is on so many different levels. We dug into the combat, the narrative expansions, the mix of underlying philosophies of the remake, and some of the things that make the original a great, but complex, classic.

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We discuss The Caligula Effect 2, one of the coolest RPGs qua RPG stuff we've played in a good while. Also a game possessed of a fascinating cast of characters that raised all sorts of questions about representation and meaning, which is why it ended up being such a long episode...

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We talked about Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon! We talked mechs, difficulty, the entire intellectual history of the modern western world, 'videogameyness' vs. 'worldiness', how many things can one macguffin be a metaphor for, and more besides.

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We take a deep, long look at Vagrant Story! We talked about Yasumi Matsuno and his journey to (and from) Square Enix, auteur theory and its vices, Shakespeare and cultural legitimacy, and plenty more besides.

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We covered Mega Man Battle Network 2! We talked about genre tropes and shonen anime, the limits of 'turn-based' as a description of combat systems, the history of the internet and digital internationalisation, transpacific racism and the legacy of American empire, and more besides.

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We kick our new show off with a doozy: Xenoblade 3 and all its xenopredecessors!

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We're back with a new podcast, and to celebrate April Fools we recorded a whole extra episode! It's about Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, a Bioware-developed DS game from 2008 (it's actually not, it's mostly about us, our background, and what we do).

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In this potentially final episode of the podcast, Val (@SylvanFlux) and Sam (@SamuelHowitt) discuss the first segment of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, covering the prologue and the Velen part of Act 1.

This episode has a CONTENT WARNING for mentions of violence, suicide, homophobia, sexual assault, the brutalization of women, miscarriage, and abortion.

"I can do you tragedy and women without queerness, and I can do you tragedy and queerness without women, and I can do you all three concurrent or consecutive, but I can't do you queerness and women without tragedy. Tragedy is compulsory - they're all tragedy, you see." - A hypothetical writer at CD Projekt Red

This is a pretty straightforward episode of rpg criticism, where we discuss Ara Fell by Stegosoft Games. Ultimately the game is pretty typical, even shallow at times. It has a lot of heart and stands out among its contemporaries, but what's that good for? 

It's also the start of a new year for this podcast, which is exciting. Expect a new level of dedication, probably! Game on!

Next game is Shadows Over Imdahl https://rpgmaker.net/games/5991/

Music used, from Ara Fell
Louise Heaney - Inyuna's Tower
Louise Heany - Ghost of the Forest

Join Devon (@SylvanFlux) and Sam (@SamuelHowitt) as they traverse the final Witcher game before the legend they sought! This journey isn't over, but The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is! 

This episode has a CONTENT WARNING for sexual assault!

Send us your questions by tweeting us, or via email at witchercast@jrpgsaredead.fyi!

Music used, in order:
Alexander James Adams - Wild Hunt
Yoshino Yuuji - Wakaki Nendaiki Sakka