Podcast Topic Suggestions?

A thought that occurred to me while replaying older games: In a fantasy world where we trusted that Square knew what they were doing story-wise, would you prefer they remade some of the older games? Many of the older classics, like FF6 have great story ideas, but by today’s standards character arcs and the like are quite rushed, due to the constraints of the technology of the time. Games like those would benefit the most from a remake IMO, and the potential of fleshing out the already great framework would be incredibly intriguing to me. (Again, in the fantasy world where we trusted Square). We all know why they remade 7, money talks, and it’s still probably the most popular title, but I think it could be really cool to flesh out some of the older titles. Thoughts?

your xenogears review is my favorite youtube review of all time, as it's one of only two pieces of criticism that's ever helped me to understand exactly what kind of impression a game left on me as a child (and why). i think your review is beautifully structured, paced, and reasoned, but in the end i disagreed with your conclusion: i do think xenogears' brokenness only adds to its appeal. i've never seen a more interesting or productive interaction between intention and accident in the construction of a piece of art. i've always wanted to ask – are there any pieces of art, in any medium, that you think actually benefit from obvious structural flaws? after binging much of your channel following the xenogears review, my sense is that mike has pretty classical sensibilities and places a lot of value on formal accomplishment, but i'd be curious to hear your thoughts. in the end, xenogears is a game about brokenness that is itself so fascinatingly, movingly broken, and i think that's a rarer and more special thing than even the few classic films or games that just about everyone considers a masterpiece.

coughsoda

thanks! and thanks for going out of your way just for the bonus ep, much appreciated

coughsoda

You still have time! We ended up only having time to record the public podcast, and will be recording the patreon exclusive podcast on Tuesday night.

Resonant Arc

in no ways a complete but, fwiw would love some extra head's up next time 😆 looking forward to the pod!

coughsoda

Crud. I missed the questions. :( Next time!

How much weight does a developers comments about a games story really carry? Can (or should) they be gospel or cannon or does the game carry a life of its own? For example, the ff7 developers (I forgot which ones) said that sephiroth isn't being controlled by jenova, despite the fact that it makes the most sense and provides the most satisfying analsyis of ff7s story. At the same time they confirmed a whacko fan fiction concept that ff7 and ff10 are set in the same world just set apart by thousands of years. Is it fair game to just throw out these creators comments on a story when they are said years after the game comes out and it can't be verified that these ideas were (or weren't) in the story when the game was actually written. There are many other examples but I like this one in particular because they rejected a really good theory and instead confirmed a wild non sensical one that brings no meaning at all. What other examples can you think of where developers either reject a good story idea or confirm one that's more "out there"?

Edrees Hatef

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the importance of exclusive games in forming the identity of a platform, and how well you feel each of the big three have handled this or how it's changed over time, and what some of your favorite exclusives are.

ClankStarr

In your opinion, is quality relative or absolute?

Hat

More of a fun aside: Gamer attention span. Replaying 9 and it was crazy to me how I had absolutely zero patience for grinding (I was getting annoyed at it even with 3x speed), and I couldn’t bring myself to do side quests like the choco graphs that were just time consuming and required little skill. You think this is a result of our 2020 tech heavy lives killing attention spans, or have we become accustomed to more deftly designed mini games over the past 20 years?

Said this a while back: Movie/Tv fights you think tell the best stories. What are those fight scenes that have the perfect mix of action finesse and characters advancement?

I just wanted to add, this topic was sparked after reading this article (https://www.wired.com/story/theres-something-super-weird-about-netflix-anime/) on how globalization, driven in part by Netflix, is changing anime across multiple parameters (what is anime, who is producing anime, how is it being distributed, what subjects and stories are told, etc.). I spoke with some friends about it and tried to relate it to video games and how corporate entities drive globalization which is seemingly diffusing a certain type of video game (mainly action-adventure-y games that appeal to the broadest audience). Again, this is mostly coming from a subjective perspective, but I'm curious if there's potentially a topic there that is worth delving into.

Erik

I'm not sure if there's a specific question, but there might be an interesting discussion on the relationship between money (or corporatist structures) and art (especially in this case video games). Does money and the pursuit of profit inherently taint the production of art? Is there an inherent trajectory for indie developers where success will lead to being purchased by a larger company? Can indie developers exist and thrive on their own terms? I.e., can there be a Dischord records equivalent in the video game industry? Is it perhaps Supergiant Games? Anyway -- just some general questions I have on a huge and messy topic that I'm curious what you two would say.

Erik

One of the things that I've realized about storytelling lately is that WHAT happens in a story is not as interesting as HOW it happens. So for instance, plot twists, in and of themselves, are not interesting. What IS interesting is HOW the story builds up to the twist. Likewise, whether a character is going to die or not is not interesting. What IS interesting is HOW they die, and how much they contribute to the overall conflict before (or even after, if we get supernatural, here) their death happens. The latter is the reason why I still like Alien 3 (the "Assembly Cut," specifically), despite all its shortcomings.

As I'm currently re playing ff8 along side you fellas (haven't replayed it for perhaps over a decade), I found upon coming back to it I'm absolutely loving all the systems they have in place and how (in my experience so far) all the systems synergize with each other. For example in ff8 I enjoy the triple triad minigame and obtained the gf ability card>> item, within just these 2 systems I could obtain a wide variety of cool new items I didn't know even existed and it could actually have impact on the main game as well with said items. - I could get amazing battle items - I could get items to improve compatibility with my GFS etc My question therefore is in your experience have you ever not quite understood something in your youth and then returned to it years later and be immensely impressed or engrossed with something you thought wasn't very good and what were some of those things, like I really love the junction system but thought it was so confusing when younger. Thanks for your time keep up the good work