With a Terrible Fate

Scarlet Nexus

What happens when the cosmic proportions of a Bandai Namco JRPG collide with the intimate, personal storytelling of deep character study? Join us this week as Aaron begins an analysis of Scarlet Nexus, the "brain punk" video game that's equal parts psychology of the self and psychology of the Other.

In side quests, Stefan continues his Yakuza: Like a Dragon diary, Dan reflects on what the Japanese language illuminates about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Aaron considers the dynamics of gaming in the company of "uninvited onlookers."

(Correction: three characters not mentioned in the conversation can use a Brain Field, but one is unable to maintain his sanity thereafter and the other two can only use one when working in tandem with one another, so the point about the set of characters to which Brain Fields are available stands.)

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• Side Quests
  • 00:03:39 Uninvited Onlookers
    • "Why Games Matter, and What Jane Austen Has To Do with It" (Aaron Suduiko)
  • 00:13:50 Ocarina of Time – Japanese Original vs. English Translation
  • 00:21:50 Yakuza: Like a Dragon Diary
• Main Story
  • 00:26:39 Scarlet Nexus
    • "The Tragic Irony of Final Fantasy XIII-2" (Aaron Suduiko)
    • "Understanding Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II" (Dan Hughes)
    • "The Horror of Code Vein is You" (Aaron Suduiko)

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Playable Leitmotifs (with Laila Carter)

Iconic musical themes from games such as The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, or Undertale are deeply ingrained into the minds of any avid gamer. This week, With a Terrible Fate video game analyst Laila Carter joins us for an exploration of how these and many other leitmotifs frame, complement, constitute, or even subvert video game stories.

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• Main Story
  • 00:05:04 Musical Leitmotifs (with Laila Carter)
    • 8-bit Music Theory
    • The Legend of Zelda Theme, Kōji Kondō
    • Zelda's Lullaby, Kōji Kondō
    • Ballad of the Goddess, Hajime Wakai & Takeshi Hama
    • Temple of Time Theme, Kōji Kondō
    • Hyrule Castle, Manaka Kataoka & Yasuaki Iwata
    • Ballad of the Wind Fish, Ryo Nagamatsu
    • Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, Motoi Sakuraba
    • Hollow Knight Title Theme, Christopher Larkin
    • Sealed Vessel, Christopher Larkin
    • Karma (Tales of the Abyss Opening), BUMP OF CHICKEN
    • Meaning of Birth, Motoi Sakuraba, Shinji Tamura, & Motoo Fujiwara
    • Unbreakable Chains, Yoko Shimomura
    • Octopath Traveler Theme, Yasunori Nishiki
    • Super Metroid Soundtrack, Kenji Yamamoto & Minako Hamano
    • Magmoor Caverns Theme, Kenji Yamamoto & Kouichi Kyuma
    • Angel Island Zone Act 1, Brad Buxer, Michael Jackson, Cirocco Jones, Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby, Sachio Ogawa, Tatsuyuki Maeda, & Jun Senoue
    • Angel Island Zone Act 2, Brad Buxer, Michael Jackson, Cirocco Jones, Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby, Sachio Ogawa, Tatsuyuki Maeda, & Jun Senoue
    • Hydrocity Zone Act 1, Brad Buxer, Michael Jackson, Cirocco Jones, Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby, Sachio Ogawa, Tatsuyuki Maeda, & Jun Senoue
    • Hydrocity Zone Act 2, Brad Buxer, Michael Jackson, Cirocco Jones, Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby, Sachio Ogawa, Tatsuyuki Maeda, & Jun Senoue
    • UNDERTALE Soundtrack, Toby Fox

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Maps: Salvation or Sin?

Maps are profoundly practical. They help players find orientation in extensive game worlds, indicate points of interaction, and track progress. Yet by the same token, they complicate a player's relationship to the world of a game's fiction. This week, we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of those complications.

Later: Stefan kicks off his Yakuza: Like a Dragon diary; we discuss the order in which we unlock the final trophies of a game; and Dan recaps his visit to last week's Classic Game Fest in Austin.

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• Main Story
  • 00:05:53 Maps: Salvation or Sin?
    • Related listening and reading:
      • "Why 'Immersion' is a Dirty Word in Gaming Discourse" (Dan Hughes & Aaron Suduiko)
      • "The Aesthetics of User Interfaces" (Aaron Suduiko)
      • "Beacon Received: The Satisfaction of Discovery in the Metroid Series" (Laila Carter)
• Side Quests
  • 00:44:10 Yakuza: Like a Dragon Diary
  • 00:48:25 The Art of Unlocking Platinum Trophies
    • "The Language of Trophies in Final Fantasy VII Remake" (Aaron Suduiko)
  • 00:59:37 Classic Game Fest Austin
    • Ukiyo-e Heroes

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Into the Mindscape

Diving into the depths of the human psyche is something the progenitors of psychoanalysis could have only dreamed of. Yet, games such as Persona 5, Silent Hill, and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice enable us to do just that—at least within the domain of play and fiction. Join us for a discussion for a ride through various formations of mindscapes.

Further, Aaron addresses reader commentary on his new Returnal analysis and Stefan celebrates the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy X by reminiscing (or trying to) about one of its most romantic scenes.

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• Main Story
  • 00:06:18 Into the Mindscape
    • "Does Silent Hill Belong in the Video Game Canon?" (Dan Hughes)
    • "Does Silent Hill 2 Belong in the Video Game Canon?" (Dan Hughes)
    • "Does Silent Hill 3 Belong in the Video Game Canon?" (Dan Hughes)
    • "Does Silent Hill 4 Belong in the Video Game Canon?" (Dan Hughes)
    • "Guilt and Inequity in Silent Hill 2" (Aaron Suduiko)
    • "Bloodborne, Lovecraft, and the Dangerous Idea" (Aaron Suduiko)
    • Horror Storytelling in Prey (begins at 28:15) (With a Terrible Fate)
    • "PAX East 2018: How Video Games are Changing Serialized Storytelling" (With a Terrible Fate)
• Side Quests
  • 00:57:55 "Game as Mind: A Psychoanalytic Explanation of Returnal" (Aaron Suduiko)
    • Aaron on different levels of narrative analysis (see Section 1, "Preliminaries")
    • "More Cowbell" (Saturday Night Live)
  • 01:15:20 "A Look At Final Fantasy's First Sex Scene, 20 Years Later" (Ash Parrish)

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What to expect from Steam Deck

A new challenger joins the market for hybrid handheld gaming: Valve‘s Steam Deck. This week, we discuss whether the Steam Deck may change where and how the stories PC games will be experienced—and what lessons the Switch can teach us to guide our thinking.

Later, we contemplate recent rumors revolving around Netflix's supposed plans to stream video games, and a copy of Super Mario 64 that is more valuable than most homes.

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• Main Story
  • 00:07:11 What to expect from Steam Deck
    • "The most gaming power you have ever held," Valve
    • "Valve’s gaming handheld is called the Steam Deck and it’s shipping in December," Jay Peters, Chaim Gartenberg, Richard Lawler, and Sean Hollister
    • "Three Core Ways the Nintendo Switch Will Make New Stories Possible," Aaron Suduiko
    • "Console Analysis: What a portable Termina means for Majora’s Mask,” (Aaron Suduiko)
    • "Breath of the Wild: The Hero Who Never Was," Aaron Suduiko
• Side Quests
  • 00:58:22 "Netflix To Offer Video Games on Its Streaming Platform," Mark Gurman
    • Netflix job announcement: Director of Product Innovation, Interactive, Netflix
    • Data mining tweet, Steve Moser
  • 01:11:39 "It’s-a Me, a $1.56 Million Copy of Super Mario 64!", Aaron Mak

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EarthBound’s Flavor Text (with Max Gorynski)

The flavor text of EarthBound tells a story you might have missed. This week, Aaron and Dan chat with fellow video game analyst Max Gorynski about the new article in his ongoing analysis series, A Comprehensive Theory of EarthBound.

Later on, we discuss Nintendo's announcement of the Switch OLED model, the value of hard copies, and the transformative potential of treating video-game-story analysis as a metagame.

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• Main Story
  • 00:07:36 EarthBound's Flavor Text (with Max Gorynski)
    • "Why EarthBound’s Flavor Text Tastes So Good," Max Gorynski
    • "Understanding Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II," Dan Hughes
    • "What Can Magic: The Gathering and JRPGs Learn from Each Other? [PAX Online 2020 presentation]," Aaron Suduiko, Dan Hughes, and Max Gorynski
    • "Want to Learn How to Design Sidequests? Play Majora's Mask," Aaron Suduiko
• Side Quests
  • 00:38:43 "Nintendo Switch OLED model will go on sale October 8th for $350," Tom Warren
  • 00:49:31 "A copy of the original Legend of Zelda video game sold at auction for almost a million dollars,"Kelly McLaughlin
  • 00:56:23 Video-game-story analysis as a metagame

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Reading Circle: Johan Huizinga – Homo Ludens

What is play? What are its functions and why do so merrily do it? One of the most influential books to address these questions is Homo Ludens by the Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga. In our brand new reading circle, we discuss the first section of Huizinga's renowned engagement with the intricacies of play.

Later on, we discuss and analyze one of the most prominent PS5 games at the moment: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

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• Main Story
  • 00:02:53 Reading Circle: Johan Huizinga – Homo Ludens
• Side Quests
  • 00:57:35 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

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Returnal

Our main story today is about Returnal, one of the few PS5 flagship titles at the moment and part of the recent resurgence of "roguelikes," commonly understood as games that feature mechanics setting avatars back to near the beginning of the game and largely resetting their progress every time they die. We analyze Returnal as a multiply psychological game that boldly meshes genres and ultimately refuses to let us go.

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• Main Story
  • 00:03:32 Returnal
    • "'Dark Souls of X': What Makes a Successful Souls Successor?"
• Side Quests
  • 00:55:45 Stop Treating Hideo Kojima Like He’s the Riddler (Imran Khan)
  • 01:01:49 Multiple Avatars in Scarlet Nexus

Sounds from zapsplat.com

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Playing the Pandemic (with Dr. Arno Görgen)

Video games return to the topic of pandemics time and time again. The Resident Evil series continues to indulge in close-up outbreak scenarios; The Walking Dead has brought players to tears at the emotional impact of loss; creative twists like Plague Inc. introduced the role of a pathogen on a quest to conquer the world; the infamous Corrupted Blood Incident in World of Warcraft even accidentally simulated a raging pandemic. With our guest, the cultural historian Dr. Arno Görgen, we discuss the constructions of pandemics in video-game stories and how they relate to our current real-world situation.

Later, Dan and Stefan's side quests merge to ponder E3 2021, Take Two‘s diversity panel, and the Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins demo.

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• Main Story
  • 00:02:15 Playing the Pandemic (with Dr. Arno Görgen)
• Side Quests
  • 00:40:08 E3 2021 Overview
  • 00:44:01 Take Two's "Play for All" panel
    • Take-Two’s E3 Panel Was The Right Thing At The Wrong Time (Stacey Henley)
  • 00:49:35 Strangers of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins
  • 00:54:32 Rocksmith+
  • 00:58:05 Aragami 2
  • 00:59:19 Vertigo
  • 01:00:05 Xbox/Bethesda
  • 01:01:50 Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
  • 01:03:33 Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda
  • 01:07:02 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
  • 01:09:00 Where to go from here?

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Too Long to Beat

However one might spin it, video games often require a substantial time commitment, usually much more so than other storytelling media. Eventually, a player might lose interest, feel overwhelmed, or simply get disconnected from her own role in the story. In this week's main story, grounded in the first half of Aaron Suduiko's new "Final Fantasy VII Remake is the Template for 'Grown-Up' JRPGs," we discuss three ways in which long games can alienate players.

In our side quests, Dan reviews Resident Evil Village, Stefan constructively criticizes the PS5's mute button, and Aaron argues that Final Fantasy VII Remake's narrative structure overcomes the problems we discussed in our main story—the second half of his new article.

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• Main Story
  • 00:08:18 Too Long to Beat
    • Final Fantasy VII Remake is the Template for 'Grown-Up' JRPGs," Aaron Suduiko
    • The role of the player in Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Aaron Suduiko
    • The role of the player in Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Aaron Suduiko
    • The storytelling role of multiple outcomes in Dishonored, Aaron Suduiko
• Side Quests
  • 00:56:47 Resident Evil Village
    • "Ethan Winters’ poor hands are the laughingstock of the internet," Michael McWhertor
  • 01:06:34 PS5 Mute Button Design
  • 01:12:32 "Final Fantasy VII Remake is the Template for “Grown-Up” JRPGs," Aaron Suduiko
    • "Critical Review: Final Fantasy VII Remake is Completely Incomplete," Aaron Suduiko

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