Ask Us Your Exclusive Podcast Questions!

Perfect- thanks for the recommendation!

This is a really good question. Be sure to share it again for next month! We didn't have time to get to it on this one.

Resonant Arc

I was really considering this one for the podcast, but to be honest, every time I go back to a video I was once proud of I end up feeling embarrassed by it. However self-deprecating or unreasonable that is, I'm not all that proud of anything I've done. There are always big problems that make me want to redo everything.

Resonant Arc

Secret of Mana! Not only was a ton of content cut due to time restraints, but it was originally meant to be a SNES CD game. When Nintendo axed that adapter, Square really had to scramble to make Secret of Mana work on a traditional cartridge.

Resonant Arc

This video from Casen should give you a great head start! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4TchPa3c58

Resonant Arc

Casen, what method and/or resources do you use for learning languages?

When hearing about Square's two year game development model back in the day and so many other companies releasing games under tough time restraints, what's the number one game you would want to play the most if it was allowed all the time and resources needed to be developed as intended at the time of its original development. (Besides Xenogears)

To someone who is just starting out learning music (and how to play an instrument) on their own through self-study and online means, what would be your best suggestion to go about doing it?

I think it's a good approach because voting with your wallet is pretty much the only thing you can do that the studio executives will actually pay attention to.

I was wondering if you can discuss how or if the art style and graphical choices of FF games affects the story and characters. For example – to me Amano’s art style is very much grown-up and mature while maintaining fantasy elements, but when translated to 8-bit or 16-bit graphics it gets more ‘childish’ (which is understandable). Regardless, since its so pixelated you can kind of create your own realistic version in your head, like when your read a novel and you imagine the characters based on the descriptions. However, starting with FF8 (at least for me), the art style on the one hand got more realistic, leaving less to the imagination but on the other hand it also became very over-the-top and cute; very K-pop/J-pop-ish. I understand the context with Japan and Korea for this look and there is an argument to be made that these character drawings always had these over-the-top designs. But I feel that this look gets too 80’s hair metal for me and it just takes me out if it. With FF8, based on your 5-part analysis video, I can get it because the characters are teenagers and it makes sense with that game and also, the art style is not that whacky (even though teens shouldn’t be fighting wars). However, with FF9 and onwards its too much, I just can’t get with this polished, clean cut, boy-band look of some of these main characters. FF15 being the worst of this – like the main party literally looks like a goth J-Pop boy-band. This is a long-winded way of asking… do you think that some of the serious deeper, philosophical, and sometimes social and political themes that we see in these games get hindered by the fact that the characters are too cute and beautiful? Like they must have spent at least 2 hours in the morning in their tent, cottage or “Inn” just working on hair and make-up before going out to continue with the story.

what are the videos each of you is most proud of on the channel, and why? and while i'm sure you have plenty of opinions that have evolved over time, are there any particular ones you don't stand by anymore, out of all your reviews?

coughsoda

Right now, the traditional structure of overworld-dungeon/town- battle doesn't leave a whole lot of room for the individual battles telling a story (and the sheer volume of fights tends not to help) I know some titles have had a couple of fights that had some amount of narrative intergration to them, like nier/ff15 with the field banter and ff6 with some of the in battle conversations(terra's first spell where others could see it). I've also seen SRPG's do this a fair bit out of necessity(Final fantasy Tactics did this a lot, but really most SRPGS of the era did). Do you guys have any other ideas about how gameplay and story could be more tightly integrated in the context of JRPGS (especially turn based ones)?

I don't have any at the moment, unfortunately! I know there's a demo coming out, but I'm not a fan of the series and haven't made it a priority to try it out.

Resonant Arc

We do own PS1 consoles, but only after we grew up and had jobs and could buy them ourselves, haha. We both grew up on Nintendo consoles exclusively while living at home through high school. I own the physical discs and digital copies on PS3 when available, but I emulate for the convenience of capturing clean footage.

Resonant Arc

Thoughts on the upcoming tales of arise?

What your thoughts are on The Last Story, and how does it compares to Sakaguchi's other work in the Final Fantasy series and and Lost Odyssey? What would you say are the reasons why it's been largely forgotten compared to the long-lasting impact of Xenoblade, despite both being Wii JRPGs brought to the west as part of Operation Rainfall?

How important are physical media and/or other gaming-related artifacts to you? Personally, I am almost as invested in box art, manuals, physical cartridges and discs, etc, as I am the games themselves. Memories of needing to blow into NES and SNES cartridges to get the games to work and other similar memories are cultural artifacts that are as important to me the content of games I love. This is one of the reasons I fell out of PC gaming when Steam took over and made everything digital. Is this something that you relate to, or are you more so just interested in the content of games themselves?

ClankStarr

You cover a lot of PS1 games on your channel, but I believe that in the past you and Casen have said that you didn't have a PS1 growing up. Do you own a PS1 console and if so do you play games off of the original discs? Or do you play these games through emulation and/or PC ports?

ClankStarr

How to you feel about not engaging with sequel media? I decided a while back that I wouldn't play The Last of Us Part 2 because the first one was perfect and nothing they do in the sequel would make for a good experience for me and would most likely tarnish my thoughts on the series. I also did the same thing for Rise of Skywalker and FF7 Intergrade because Remake and the new Star Wars movies left a bad taste in my mouth and I don't want to engage with those any further. What do you think of this and do you do this with anything?

In the first 3 games you've covered on the new podcast format, you've already been familiar with the story/game beforehand. However Casen hasn't played Xenogears up until now, so we are getting a first timer perspective to go along with the analysis, which has been a fun aspect watching him try to predict and piece together all the hints and foreshadowing. So... Do you think you would ever cover a game on the podcast that neither of you have played prior? And if you did, do you think you would feel compelled to use a guide on a first playthrough so you don't miss any important gameplay or story secrets? Would you feel tempted to even spoil yourself on plot twists for the purpose of analyzing the set ups leading up to the reveals?