Episode 10: Dragon Biannual
Live Genre Chronicles
After a very long intermission, we finally covered Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. We talked a bunch about why it took us so long to play this very short game that overall we feel very positively about, and along the way we talked about a bunch of other games this one might have influenced or been influenced by, and at one point a still-slightly-ill Becky ranted for like five minutes about 60-degree angles in sci-fi visual design.
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Episode 9: Sharp Worlds and Flat Circles
Live Genre Chronicles
We covered Dragon's Dogma, discussing the obvious love and craft that went into designing its world, the intricate but sometimes awkward plotting, and the elaborate character systems. We also talk about comparisons to Dark Souls and Breath of the Wild (sorry). The article of Val's discussed early in this episode can be found .
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Episode 8: Fullmental Arsonist: Motherhood
Live Genre Chronicles
After an appropriately maternal 9-month hiatus (none of us actually had kids, don't worry), we get back together to discuss Mother 3, its cult status, troubled relationship with the twee americana of its predecessor and convoluted development history. Fair warning: we talk at length about racism in this game, and in particular about slurs for Romani people (and the way that these can vary with different national contexts).
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Episode 7: The Ones Who Walk Away From Filgaia
Live Genre Chronicles
We discuss Wild Arms 2! Heroism, tokusatsu, what really makes for a bad localisation, character relationships and much more besides! Follow us on twitter: Join our discord:
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Episode 6: Careful Whispers
Live Genre Chronicles
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. Follow us on twitter: Join our discord:
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Episode 5: Vocaloid Made This World
Live Genre Chronicles
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... Follow us on twitter: Join our discord:
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Episode 4: Where there's Coral, There's Overloaded Metaphors
Live Genre Chronicles
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. Follow us on twitter: Join our discord:
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Episode 3: Agents and Agency
Live Genre Chronicles
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. Follow us on twitter: Join our discord:
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Episode 2: The Internet of Little Guys
Live Genre Chronicles
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. Follow us on twitter: Join our discord:
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Episode 1: Noah's Arc
Live Genre Chronicles
We kick our new show off with a doozy: Xenoblade 3 and all its xenopredecessors! Follow us on twitter: Join our discord:
info_outlineThe DGC crew searches for the Reason behind the chaos as we trudge through Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, an Atlus RPG with a twofold reputation for its difficulty and its philosophizing.
The music tracks used have been commissioned from Fuzzy Proxy.