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Active Topical Banter Show

43 Episodes
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BioWare was on top of the world in the late 2000s. Then it got the bright idea to make a portable game with a certain blue hedgehog, and the internet rejoiced... or did it? Join us along with guests David McBurney and Mike Moehnke as we take a deep dive into Sonic's first (and last) RPG adventure! Spoiler alert: Sonic's first RPG didn't go well.
The post RPG Backtrack 228: Hedgehog Age appeared first on RPGamer.
The roundtable returns where they left off, with a recording from last year. The team tackles the question of mature subject matter in RPG, with some skirting around troubling content.
Talking Points:
Prelude - RIP Mac
Excrement occurs
Serious business
Murder is compulsory
Mental illness as a crutch/sanity meters
By what measure is a non-human
Stakes
Pacifism is cheap
Racism
Sexuality
Addiction
Loss
Next time: Friendship.
This show is sponsored by Gamefly
The post The Active Topical Banter Show: Episode 41 – Mature Subject Matter appeared first on RPGamer.
We get back into the action with a slew of listener-submitted questions, learn about our gameplay habits, soundtrack preferences, kickstarter regrets, and some other secrets.
The post Episode 40: Answers and Questions appeared first on RPGamer.
Scott is supremely suspicious of nostalgia, Mac is losing his voice, Sam and Trent had it easy as kids all come up in on retrospective on retrospection. And also clones, pirates and clone pirates in this episode.
The post Episode 39: Nostalgia and Cloning appeared first on RPGamer.
Game difficulty is a lot like whiskey, in that most people are going about them wrong. Our panel examines what and how RPGs are hard where the critical value in difficulty.
The post Episode 38: Hard Mode appeared first on RPGamer.
Dialogue in games is a bit like the Jazz music in a few ways, mostly in that Scott is way more interested in it than the kids these days, but also in that improvisation is key but also doesn't matter.
The post Episode 37: Meaningless Dialogue and Role Play appeared first on RPGamer.
We examine our personal experiences with the Final Fantasy franchise, how a major anniversary is half gone without publisher support and some E3 stuff.
The post Episode 36: Retrospective on Final Fantasy appeared first on RPGamer.
The panel goes behind the curtain to explain the RPGamer review process in detail, from solicitation through to comment section. Inside baseball and anecdotes abound.
The post Episode 35: Transparency in Game Critique appeared first on RPGamer.
Our discussion this month is entirely self directed. Scott tries to throw down a glowing trail for questors to follow but it gets off tangents more than normal.
The post Episode 34: Nonlinearity appeared first on RPGamer.
Nintendo has always done it's own thing, and for that we've always seen that less than successful. Apple Computers analogies, Swiitch predictions, and yelling at Scott ensue.
The post Episode 33: Nintendo Has Always Been Doomed appeared first on RPGamer.
We stand at the cusp of having to buy new consoles (maybe) to get the most of "core gamer lifestyle." But is that worth anything?
The post Episode 32: Upgrade This appeared first on RPGamer.
No year-end navel gazing here. Just coasting the through the season on some user-submitted content.
The post Episode 31: As for the Qs appeared first on RPGamer.
We yell about class systems, job boards and mid-game specializations. Scott sneaks two tabletop rants in.
The post Episode 30: Get a Job appeared first on RPGamer.
The Game of the Book of the Movie is finally out. We examine the peculiarities of confronting tie-in rpgs.
The post Episode 29: Adopting Adaptation appeared first on RPGamer.
Sometimes the only winning move is not play, and then try to eke some trade-in value out it. The panel delves into what makes us walk away from a game.
The post Episode 28: I Quit appeared first on RPGamer.
The word 'grind' gets thrown around too often with a clear meaning. We spend an episode trying to unpack the term for our own benefit, maybe yours too.
The post Episode 27: The Zen and the Art of RPG Grind appeared first on RPGamer.
Does spending money on games before they are out even make sense anymore? We delve into the business and cultural factors of the pre-order problem.
The post Episode 26: Don’t Buy Day One appeared first on RPGamer.
The panel tackles the nature of localization and the methods behind it.
The post Episode 25: Localization Woes appeared first on RPGamer.
When we look at a game, how much of what is not the game proper do we take into account. Or "I came to play, not to read."
The post Episode 24: What is the Corpus of a Game appeared first on RPGamer.
Looking at the 2016 release calendar we find ourselves faced with an unprecedented market saturation. We share our concerns about that fact.
The post Episode 23: JRPG Ouroboros appeared first on RPGamer.