!FALcast

Ep. 42: Words from Batman

Ep. 41: Weird Rashes

Ep. 40: Consensual Spaghetti

Ep. 39: A Lot of Bird Stuff (is Going On)

Ep. 38: Walking on Time

Ep. 37: The Normal Emotions

Ep. 36: There’s a Dave

Ep. 35: Look at Those Friends

Oops Wonder what Matt thinks of Death’s Gambit? Oh well, suppose we’ll never know Is potato salad a salad? (Or, failing that, a video game?) Skye only got into the podcast game to pad his resume He also maintains to-do lists of games instead of playing them The incomprehensible narrative, anime oversaturation, interminable barks and … Continue reading Ep. 35: Look at Those Friends →

Ep. 34: A Weeping Fridge

RetroAchievements.org offers a great excuse to play old games The 7th Saga is hard to recommend but easy to love (honestly it’s pretty rough going) Jurassic World Evolution and the art of the Ungame Guarding the gate at Silent Hill/pushing the Mushroom Kingdom back down a Brooklyn drain Control: Brilliant with just a hint of … Continue reading Ep. 34: A Weeping Fridge →

Ep. 33: I Hate This Episode

*Note: This episode contains GREAT BIG HUGE GIANT SPOILERS for Dying Light: The Following, Lost, The Dark Tower series, and Dragon Quest: Your Story. The spoiler-y stuff starts 8 minutes in and ends at about 43 minutes.* The frustrations of reaching a destination that negates the journey Chasing diamonds right off a cliff in Dying … Continue reading Ep. 33: I Hate This Episode →

Ep. 32: Mysterious Grandpa

Quick hits! (sort of kind of not really) Dead Cells is great, but is it a Metroidvania? Deck assembly vs. dice rolling in Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons Void Bastards is great, full stop Days Gone was better than people acted (Deacon St. John is a worse name than people acted, and people acted … Continue reading Ep. 32: Mysterious Grandpa →

Ep. 31: My Eagle is a Horse

“What are we gonna talk about?” Is pinball a video game? (No, it very much is not) Holes Farming, comedy clubs and flesh reanimation: the high-stress days and unholy nights of Graveyard Keeper Where does YOUR meat come from? The judgment-free zone of Stardew Valley Making townsfolk your friends/undead ranchhands Who wields the true power … Continue reading Ep. 31: My Eagle is a Horse →

Ep. 30: No Good at Learning

Matt is hungry Musings on a graveyard; butt A rash of Neverland poisonings Will Adam ever get to talk about Persona 5? [PERSONA CONTENT REDACTED] The thought-provoking, generous, occasionally pointless brilliance of NieR: Automata Seriously though, play Binary Domain Celeste shows kindness through challenge (The mountain is a metaphor you guys) Nintendo Switch as perfect … Continue reading Ep. 30: No Good at Learning →

Ep. 29: Video Games Should Stop

Destiny 2: Why is it like that? Matt has recording troubles (and a phone call) An attempted intervention for a Destiny addict The need for variation within repetition The gauntlet is thrown at Eminem, hastily withdrawn, and thrown again Binary Domain vs. Gears of War Destiny 2 vs. Borderlands/Titanfall 2/The Division No, seriously, Skye, your … Continue reading Ep. 29: Video Games Should Stop →

Ep. 28: Flavor Trash

Does Prey spoil its own ending? Mimics and organic jump scares Another interesting crafting system for Adam to hate Inventory management and compulsive leveling Do Bethesda games have a random crap problem? Quest logs and adaptive nonlinearity Dynamic diamond-chasing Pre-order bonus cheat packs

Ep. 27: A Beige Room

The surprising success of Horizon Zero Dawn’s apocalypse Strong world and setting design sets it apart from other open world games Dynamic, tactically improvisational combat But the game should be harder in a few ways We discover a crafting system that Adam can tolerate The implied sense of resource economy fails to come through in … Continue reading Ep. 27: A Beige Room →

Ep. 26: Take Disease to the Next Level

Oxygen Not Included is Spacebase DF-9 but better A required build order stifles creativity Complexity turns us on and turns us off “Who among us does not love infrastructure?” Adam’s PixelJunk bias returns Nom Nom Galaxy and the problem with soup How to identify (and avoid) strategy games Space tomato farming tips for budding soup … Continue reading Ep. 26: Take Disease to the Next Level →

Ep. 25 ½: I Hate Pachinko; Pachinko’s Fun, Though; Pachinko’s Kinda Neat

Balls.

Ep. 25: I Am Something More Now

The Last Guardian: A great and terrible videogame …that we spoil a little Classification of a monster An indirect experience Has development limbo left its mark? Should a remake strive for preservation or improvement?

Ep. 24: That Was Badly Done, Friend

Matt returns to Dark Souls Killing friendly NPCs in Souls games Adam is a dirty FAQ user Is equipment in Dark Souls too complex? Is equipment in Bloodborne too simple? Quest-givers and combat allies Time progression and Insight Mechanically encouraging aggressive play Speculation about Chalice Dungeons Old news: Bloodborne is great

Ep. 23: Stop at the Boat

Kingdom Hearts is still a bunch of nonsense Final Fantasy XV blah blah blah Hunting anachronisms on a road trip with your buddies The unfinished seams are showing What makes a Final Fantasy game? A lot of XV’s story isn’t actually in the game Magic is a mixed bag Final Fantasy XV is a game … Continue reading Ep. 23: Stop at the Boat →

Ep. 22: I Found this Hammer

Death Road to Canada: Good game or mere comedy generator? The necessity and frustration of luck and obfuscation in roguelikes The newest Shiren the Wanderer is surprisingly forgiving —perhaps too forgiving? The disappointing UI of the Darkest Dungeon Vita port Supposedly, I hate roguelikes now or something This episode is too infuriating for me to … Continue reading Ep. 22: I Found this Hammer →

Ep. 21: It’s December 11th

Destiny: it got better! …but it’s still an MMO, so, you know; grind Choice and idiosyncrasy versus balance in competitive multiplayer Immediate satisfaction versus participation awards in Overwatch How Overwatch’s varied roster leads to different forms of play Please support Titanfall 2 and its rad mobility Does DooM’s arena-based structure get boring? Are repetition and … Continue reading Ep. 21: It’s December 11th →

Ep. 20: Maybe Not. Not Really. I Don’t Know. Who Cares.

An entire episode about Lightning Returns for some reason

Ep. 19: Battles With Health

Discovering the joy of sports with Rocket League Matt is a terrible cartographer Etrian Odyssey is NOT grindy, dammit Trauma Center can be a sloppy operation sometimes Yoshi’s Woolly World: harder than you might think Obsession is the dark side of perseverance Battling fatigue in Darkest Dungeon The role of permanence in modern roguelikes

Ep. 18: Did You Waste Your Time?

The Terraria episode Mediumcore server after action report When does the game end? Crafting games: Not for everyone What’s my motivation? Character growth versus equipment growth Adam needs to be told what to do The mundane Where does narrative come from?

Ep. 17: Soft Mode

Dying Light: Dead Island but better …although Adam has a weird tolerance for Dead Island Audio and control feedback for melee combat Parkour! Down with fast travel Time-sensitive tasks in open world games Left 4 Dead special infected are getting tired Why have zombie stories become dull? Seduction continues in The Witcher 2 Creepy, pervy … Continue reading Ep. 17: Soft Mode →

Ep. 16: Spoiler Alert (colon) Her Story

A critical discussion of Sam Barlow’s Her Story Why do gamers feel threatened by new, non-violent genres? Would Her Story work as well without its story’s central conceit? The novelty of letting the player decide when the game is over Tagging, note-taking, and search methodologies Unique thought processes yield unique experiences Does the ending have … Continue reading Ep. 16: Spoiler Alert (colon) Her Story →

Ep. 15 ½: SEW, Batman…

Quilts.

Ep. 15: That’s How Regret Works

Arkham Knight’s PC port: Who’s to blame? Do console peasants read the news? Steam refunds and consumer rights Matt says it’s not really that bad, so whatever Doubling down on the infamous Riddler trophies Lots of Batman in-jokes at Adam’s expense Nier’s multiple endings and save deletion The passing of the cowl What’s my motivation? … Continue reading Ep. 15: That’s How Regret Works →

Ep. 14: That’s How You Move a Sex Unicorn

The monster hunting science of The Witcher E3 demos are a sham Ubisoft’s mission to make open world game design as boring as possible Interesting voyeuristic vignettes in Watch Dogs The historical timeline approach to sequels Padded game lengths and pacing Suikoden is completely delightful Is mobile gaming really just different?

Ep. 13: Up-Up-Down-Down-Down-Down-Down

A very special Konami episode Profit margins versus creative change Time is a cycle, my man Are we still the target demographic for video games? What are Konami’s new business priorities, exactly? When was the last time Castlevania was good? Why Metal Gear matters Dissecting the oft-reanimated corpse of Silent Hill The murdered promise of … Continue reading Ep. 13: Up-Up-Down-Down-Down-Down-Down →

Ep. 12: Strap It to Your Head

The pure logic puzzles of Hexcells Arcade, free-solution, and set puzzle types Digging through piles of puzzles versus getting things done Adam has some kind of problem with PixelJunk It’s okay to not finish games! Time lost as the key component of video game frustration Tower defense round-up How to play Civilization as an utter … Continue reading Ep. 12: Strap It to Your Head →

Ep. 11: Donald Has $0.17

Adventures in cross-linguistic semiotics The containment and storage of paranormal entities Recreational construction and economic theory Privacy concerns in modern retail environments Zoning restrictions in late-20th century Detroit Access to education and social mobility The impact of meteorology upon urban horticulture International missing persons investigations Contemporary travel and cosmopolitanism The citizenship of Testudines Destination desirability … Continue reading Ep. 11: Donald...

Ep. 10: He Was Bones

Freedom Wars gets explicit about unlocking gameplay features Dante’s Inferno: Hell doesn’t have to be this boring Adam grows as a person and faces his responsibilities Shirts and skins What’s up, Nick? Destiny takes off-putting lore encyclopedias to a whole new level Xenogears: Disc 2 Player level imbalances versus asymmetrical multiplayer design Loving the loot … Continue reading Ep. 10: He Was Bones →

Ep. 9: I Have a Sword

PlatinumGames and The Wonderful 101 Hardcore shape drawing action Player grading systems and mastery So, how’s Evolve? Progression systems and balance in competitive FPS games Getting something from your loss DLC, pre-order bonuses, and season passes “Journalists” and their incessant hype engines Matt, change your goddamned smoke detector battery

Ep. 8: The King of Spreadsheets

The War in the North is ended Diablo 2 and replaying games for character development Also, Diablo 1 is better How to shoot someone with a tranq dart Missing the boat with older games Forgiving Silent Hill Namco’s loading screen mini-games Resident Evil 6 is an ambitious mess Where have all the quicktime events gone? … Continue reading Ep. 8: The King of Spreadsheets →

Ep. 7: We’re the Worst

Sony got hacked or something Gaming in social media Middle-Earth: Genocide of Mordor Ubisoft’s radio tower formula Do quest journals ruin open world games? Playing the designer instead of playing the game Wait, no; it’s minimaps that ruin open world games War in the North deserves better than its PC port Payday 2 may or … Continue reading Ep. 7: We’re the Worst →

Ep. 6: Too Many Belts

Papers, Please and the value of the mundane South Park and the psychologically manipulative Freemium business model Don’t Move, DLC Quest, and game satire Costume Quest 2 and overstaying your welcome Repetitive RPG battles and unskippable animations Adam trashes FF XIII and reads Vanille’s wikipedia article aloud Penumbra: Overture, The Evil Within, and the horror … Continue reading Ep. 6: Too Many Belts →

Ep. 5: Hype Deficiency

Can anyone tell us how to introduce a podcast? The difference between Rock Band and Rocksmith Adam reviews Shovel Knight Skye played Hyper Light Drifter Matt loves Ducktales, but it’s starting to feel like work Is Spacebase DF-9 done… or “done”? Early Access and the lure of the unfinished game FTL’s secret crystal crew member … Continue reading Ep. 5: Hype Deficiency →

Ep. 4: Swarly Guescanbers and The Puzzle Boner

Does Transistor end too soon? Matt takes a dump all over Wolfenstein: The New Order Player freedom versus tight game design Ace Attorney catchup turnabout with Dual Destinies If you’re making a visual novel, hire a damned proofreader Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright invites series comparisons Alpha/Beta roundup: Evolve, The Crew, Distance, and Invisible, Inc.

Ep. 3: Geniuses Gathered Under the Sea

There’s nothing like your first Souls game Adam struggles to get past structural repetition in Bravely Default’s story Looking back on Bioshock Rewarding nonlethal play styles The perils of extreme black/white morality systems The Wolf Among Us and highlighting important decisions Matt is a bit of a South Park fan Level design in 1001 Spikes … Continue reading Ep. 3: Geniuses Gathered Under the Sea →

Ep. 2: Get Hype for a Sunrise

Nintendo’s platform differentiation and uses of the Wii U touch screen Antagonistic design shenanigans in Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros. Wii* Matt’s beef with Batman Making the most of open worlds Why can’t gamers just think? Time management in Child of Light’s throwback to Grandia Adam hates people who speak in rhyme Persona … Continue reading Ep. 2: Get Hype for a Sunrise →

Ep. 1: Welcome to the !FALcast

Dark Souls, Chrono Trigger, and how Internet communities kill secrets Game coaches and Nintendo Power counselors Matt dies Skye really loves Fract OSC How maligning “walking simulators” holds video games back from encompassing a broader spectrum of experiences Matt dies What is art, anyway? Do monsters ruin horror games? Matt dies Interpretation and craft in … Continue reading Ep. 1: Welcome to the !FALcast →