Episode 8 - Stay A While And Listen
Friday, April 16, 2010 at 1:36PM How do two grown men bring up the topic of story in videogames without it ballooning
out to a 3 and a half hour episode? You've got us stumped!
Pull up a chair and listen as a PhD and his sidekick tackle what's right and what's wrong about videogame stories from every possible angle imaginable whilst constantly bringing up Final Fantasy XIII (spoiler free!).
DocBrown kicks things off by opening the floodgates of crazy with a story of his old DND campaign with a DM who shall heretofor be known for the sake of privacy as Geoff with a 'J'. WillyBeans wants to know why so many people are playing FFXIII if they hate it so much, and why no one seems to want to play GTA IV if they love it so much.
Game Stories and Topics this episode include:
- Is the Bitmob's Jason Wilson crazy?
- Plot vs narrative
- Story vs 'feel'
- Do/did hardware limitations make for good stories?
- Garnett Lee's need for a pre-defined character with a backstory
- Dungeon Master
- Morrowind
- Oblivion
- Fallout 3
- Heavy Rain
- Yakuza
- Soul Reaver
- God of War
- Final Fantasy IX
- Final Fantasy XIII
- Cheers (Yep, the TV show)
- Gabriel Knight 2
- Anime
- DND novels as brought to us by RA Salvatore
- George RR Martin
- Orson Scott Card
- Persona 3
- Betrayal at Krondor
- Betrayal at Antara
- Return to Krondor
- Mass Effect
- Dragon Age
- Baldur's Gate II
- Planescape: Torment
- Bioshock
- And, somehow, still more
And finally the guys tackle Podtoid with particular emphasis on Samit Sarkar, before finishing up their discussion of their playthrough of Mother 3.
You know, it's possible we may be long-winded...
Check out: 'Why Games Need More Than One Simple Word'
http://ca.kotaku.com/5514188/why-games-need-more-than-one-simple-word
Music This Episode:
Final Fantasy XIII - Prelude
Mortal Kombat (Movie) - Theme Song
Mega Man 2 - Bubble Man Theme
The Elder Scrolls: III Morrowind - Main Theme
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - Kain's Theme
Final Fantasy - Battle 1
Persona 3 - Memories of You/Kimi no Kioku
Heavy Rain - Nick Ingman & Terry Devine-King - Mars (Theme from Heavy Rain)
Mega Man 2 - Flash Man Theme
Baldur's Gate II - Main Theme
Mega Man 2 - Air Man Theme
Bully - Main Theme
Betrayal at Krondor - Opening Theme
Bioshock - The Ocean on His Shoulders
Resident Evil 5 - Pray
Devil May Cry 4 - Shall Never Surrender (Main Theme)
Mega Man 2 - Dr. Wily Stage 1 / 2
Email us at podcast@gamingthemedia.com
Intro music for this podcast provided with permission by Xavier Dang at www.xavierdang.com