What is the value of a PlayStation 5 Pro, and which console technologies beget innovations in video-game storytelling? Especially with the advent of a 30th-anniversary PS5 Pro, the time is right to dive into a conversation surveying some memorable moments in tech-grounded narrative innovations from the PS1 onward.

What difference do graphics and load time really make to interactive stories? Where do gimmicks end and innovation begin in inventions like motion-controlled peripherals and VR? How might trends in game development reveal ideals like "immersion" and a player's sense of "entitlement to the world" underlying which new technologies make it to market and which don't? As players, what creative ways can we discover to experience new design standards in our favorite series, even in the absence of a new console? Listen in and find out!

Be on the lookout for Kingdom Hearts III spoilers, as well as structural spoilers for the layout of story in Black Myth: Wu Kong. (And please forgive Aaron's Tales-addled mind misnaming the Eikons and Titan in Final Fantasy XVI!)

References

• Cohen, Skylar. "You Only Launch Once: What Game Consoles' First Titles Need to Succeed"


• Hughes, Dan. "Pokémon Rose Episode 17: 'What's That On Your Shoulder?'"


• ———. "Understanding Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II"


• Suduiko, Aaron. A Comprehensive Theory of Majora's Mask.


• ———. "Critical Review: Okami's Lessons on Religion, Video Games, and Storytelling"


• ———. "Final Fantasy VII Remake is the Template for 'Grown-Up' JRPGs"


• ———. "Game as Mind: A Psychoanalytic Explanation of Returnal."


• ———. "The Philosophical Justification for FromSoftware's DLC"


• ———. "Scarlet Nexus: The Pathos of Karen Travers"


• ———. Tales of Praxis


• ———. "Three Core Ways the Nintendo Switch Will Make New Stories Possible"