Editor's note: This podcast was recorded in November 2024. Don't @ us about how weird some of it reads in hindsight.
The first stage that gets some "okay, this concept rocks" out of everyone, and also inspires more rants than any other so far. You know you're in for a good time when the hosts begin to turn on each other, and we haven't even made it halfway through the game.
Editor's note: This podcast was recorded in November 2024. Don't @ us about how weird some of it reads in hindsight.
You have hired a contractor to create ten different mad traps for the immortal wizard in your basement. A few suggested mazes. Some went to real Halaster Blackcloak territory with their suggestions for "paths through Hell" and "time upon space" and the ilk. In the end, one of the pitches you heard sounded incredibly plausible and pretty final: "What about land mines? Just all the land mines in the world. A big, unmarked field of 99% land mines."
The contractor was awarded a duchy and many, many soon-to-be-gibbed servants got to work...
Editor's note: This podcast was recorded in November 2024. Don't @ us about how weird some of it reads in hindsight.
Did you know that they buried Werdna about half a mile under a portal to Hell? And somehow this is also where they bury a lot of the honored dead of the castle town? You can't think about this dungeon too long, it'll drive you mad in a "how does any of this come together" sense. Roe Adams III was a king for this, though.
Editor's note: This podcast was recorded in August 2024. Don't @ us about how weird some of it reads in hindsight.
This time out, the game explicitly begins, with one of the most infamous puzzles in the genre, and then... okay, next time. This one's not too bad. Also, dungeon ecologies, and what to do with a Dink! Next time we'll have the full cast as the chaos begins.
Editor's note: This podcast was recorded in August 2024. Don't @ us about how weird some of it reads in hindsight.
So it's come to this. We're going to look at one of the granddaddies of the RPG genre worldwide... through the lens of the most controversial and dismissed title in the entire franchise. Welcome to Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna, a game that eschews party creation and stat rolling for brutal puzzles and series mechanical mastery. Sibyl is back at the helm for a strange season start to finish. See who makes it all the way through one of the hardest games in the entire genre!
Editor's note: This podcast was recorded in July 2024. Don't @ us about how weird some of it reads in hindsight.
Here, at last, we come to the end of all things underground, and then we decide "what if we actually turned away from the sun and went deeper for a week?" to explore the bonus dungeon. Welcome to the climax of Dragon Quarter.
We've made it to the final dungeon! Hope you like running it four times.
We fight tiny skeletons and discuss the ethics of collecting sneakers as we push our way closer to the Center.
We explore the steamy, hot, throbbing Lifeline, and confront our old frenemy Bosch who has upgraded his hater game.
Our team finally reach the resistance group Trinity's headquarters. Surely, they are going to be happy to help us, right?...Right?
We all playing with our worm men at the mall.
We run into some Certified Freaks(TM) in the Industrial Area and talk a lot about worm men (not covered in this episode)
This week, have another bonus episode of our patreon series Radio Manga (in which Matt and Sibyl alternate deep-dives on single works with shotgun spreads of what each has been reading), but this time with a guest! Grant (of various podcasts across the years) joins the crew to take a look at Masamune Shirow's The Ghost in the Shell manga, a brief look at his career's English reflection, and a slightly horrified trip down the rabbit-hole of his modern output.
Grant showed up because he's part of a new project their team is trying to launch, and a fresh Kickstarter launching alongside this special episode. Give it a listen and a look if you want to hear a shady uncle go after what they deserve in a cyberpunk landscape... or other actors. There are other actors too.
We decide to smash Zeno and her paradox with a dragon boy
We learn the horrific tradegy that is Nina's backstory--not that she's a sentient air filter, but that she is not AHAM Verified©
We learn that Nina puffs, but does not pass.
We chat with the Director/Writer Ota Imon and Lead Animator Paulo Imon of OTA IMON Studios about the development of Wolfstride. We learn the lore on mecha influences, animation challenges, deep-cut references to the band WEEN, and the team's upcoming rougelike deck-builder Zet Zillions. You better listen, trash!
We do not heed the age-old wisdom to protect ya neck.
We begin our coverage of the controversial fifth entry in the Breath of Fire series. Hold on to your D-Ratios
We decide to take out the trash. Well, really just Shade, who is trash.
Next week, we will begin our coverage of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. See you then!
