Retro Encounter Archives | Page 3 of 13

Retro Encounter 358 – 2022 Year in Review

Posted by Michael Sollosi on December 29, 2022

Should auld RPGs be forgot, and never brought to mind? No, that’s why this show exists, and auld lang syne. It’s that time of year again, where Retro Encounter lives in the very recent past and goes over several of the present panel’s favorite games of the calendar year. From remasters of 1994 Squar… Read More »

Retro Encounter 357 – Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht Part II

Posted by Michael Sollosi on December 25, 2022

It’s a Xenomas Miracle! Xenosaga is a game about humanity, starring a cast that rangers from an android unable to distinguish empathy from protocol to an artificial human clinging to memories of her human parents to a cyborg trying to reject his own humanity. But regardless of the biology or technol… Read More »

Retro Encounter 356 – Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht

Posted by Michael Sollosi on December 15, 2022

KOS-MOS isn’t a doctor, but she’ll die-a-Gnosis. Retro Encounter recorded episodes on Xenogears, Xenoblade, and Baten Kaitos several years ago, but what about the series that put Monolith Soft on the map? Today one superfan and three newcomers discuss the background, themes, characters, and early st… Read More »

Retro Encounter 355 – Muppets Encounter

Posted by Michael Sollosi on December 8, 2022

It’s in the singing of a street corner choir / It’s going home and getting warm by the fire / It’s true, wherever you find love, it feels like Muppets. It’s the Muppets episode! Three RPGFan podcast hosts are lifelong fans of The Muppets, so in the grand tradition of A Muppet Christmas Carol and Mup… Read More »

Retro Encounter 354 – Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Spoilercast

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on December 1, 2022

And now it’s time to dive into something a bit meatier. Monolithsoft’s latest game, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, finally dropped in July, and we gathered five of our biggest Xeno fans to discuss the gall of Tetsuya Takahashi’s new jam. Listen in as we chat about the delightful British-isms, if there’s fi… Read More »

Retro Encounter 353 – Mass Effect 3

Posted by Michael Sollosi on November 24, 2022

Silversun Strip Apartments. When you’re here, you’re family. Mass Effect 3 was an RPG event when it launched in 2012, and underneath the vitriolic reaction to its ending and multiple waves of DLC both expansive and reconstructive is an excellent shooter RPG. In today’s episode of Retro Encounter, th… Read More »

Retro Encounter 352 – Mass Effect 2

Posted by Michael Sollosi on November 17, 2022

I am the very model of a sci-fi shooter RPG! From Omega to Luna I’m the zenith and the apogee! 2010’s Mass Effect 2 continues the story of Commander Shepard’s quest to save the galaxy, but with new crew members, new benefactors, and way more planet scanning. An RPGFan away team discusses Mass Effect… Read More »

Retro Encounter 351 – Mass Effect Revisited

Posted by Michael Sollosi on November 10, 2022

Back on our BioWare business. Mass Effect was one of the biggest phenomena in video games from the late 2000s through the early 2010s, and all three games in the original trilogy hold up as role-playing games, first-person shooters, and science fiction stories. Through the month of November, Retro E… Read More »

Retro Encounter 350 – You Might Learn Something

Posted by Michael Sollosi on November 3, 2022

Thank you for listening to Retro Encounter for a Quite Interesting seven years! If you know two things about Retro Encounter, they’re probably that the podcast plays through great RPGs from every era and that its host loves game shows. Today, to celebrate 350 episodes of Retro Encounter, that host e… Read More »

Retro Encounter 349 – The Quarry

Posted by Michael Sollosi on October 27, 2022

This game is from 2022, but horny teenagers getting murdered at a summer camp is Retro as can be. Happy Halloween! As far as Retro Encounter is concerned, Halloween begins in early September and lasts three solid months. As such, we are celebrating the horror season and providing a coda to Retro Enc… Read More »

Retro Encounter 348 – Broken Age

Posted by Hilary Andreff on October 20, 2022

Broken Age is a stunningly beautiful coming of age story. Beyond the narrative itself, its Kickstarter-fairytale-turned-cautionary-tale development cycle has been entertainingly and meticulously documented and helped chart the frontier of large-scale crowdfunded videogame projects. Listen to the Au… Read More »

Retro Encounter 347 – The Wolf Among Us

Posted by Michael Sollosi on October 13, 2022

Hey there Little Red Riding Hood / You sure are lookin’ good / You’re everything a Big Bad Wolf could want Retro Encounter continues their Autumn of Adventure with The Wolf Among Us, a narrative adventure game set in the Fables comic book universe and originally released in five parts in 2013 and 20… Read More »

Retro Encounter 346 – The Secret of Monkey Island

Posted by Jonathan Logan on October 6, 2022

Welcome to the first episode of Retro Encounter’s Adventure Game Month! Throughout October, we’re looking at four adventures across several eras of gaming. First up, the seminal point-and-click classic, The Secret of Monkey Island! SoMI is a foundational game for LucasArts. Under Ron Gilbert’s direc… Read More »

Retro Encounter 345 – Live A Live Part II

Posted by Michael Sollosi on September 29, 2022

Live (A Live) from the Middle Ages, it’s Thursday night! Live A Live is an anthology RPG comprised of eight miniature stories that lead to a grand finale, and its 2022 remake gets three thumbs up from today’s Retro Encounter panel. They discuss the tragic eighth chapter, as well as the twisted endga… Read More »

Retro Encounter 344 – Live A Live Part I

Posted by Michael Sollosi on September 22, 2022

Rhymes with “Drive Survive,” not “Sieve Forgive” Live A Live, an influential 1994 RPG developed by Square during their Super Nintendo apex, is an anthology RPG which tells eight short stories that eventually coalesce into a satisfying finale. Live A Live’s 2022 Nintendo Switch remake is the ti… Read More »

Retro Encounter 343 – Fabula Nova Crystallis

Posted by Michael Sollosi on September 15, 2022

Never Gonna Give Yeul Up Fabula Nova Crystallis, the high-concept collection of Final Fantasy games dating from 2006, resulted in five games of varying tone and execution. Retro Encounter spent much of August playing and discussing Final Fantasy XIII, and today three panelists break down and lift up… Read More »

Retro Encounter 342 – Say Yes to the 3DS

Posted by Michael Sollosi on September 10, 2022

Finally, we connect Xenoblade Chronicles to Abraham Lincoln. The 3DS eShop is on its last legs as Nintendo phases out online support for its successful handheld, but Retro Encounter hasn’t given up on this 3D-enabled machine yet. Five panelists (including three new ones!) discuss their favorite 3DS… Read More »

Retro Encounter 341 – Final Fantasy XIII Part II

Posted by Michael Sollosi on September 3, 2022

How clear is Final Fantasy XIII’s story? Not exactly Crystal. Final Fantasy XIII has a wild ride to the finish, and three Retro Encounter panelists cap off their personal experiences playing it by reacting to FF XIII’s remarkable design changes, confusing character motivations, and beautiful i… Read More »

Retro Encounter 340 – Final Fantasy XIII Part I

Posted by Michael Sollosi on August 25, 2022

Thunderbolts and Lightning / Very very frightening Final Fantasy XIII, one of the most divisive games in the world’s most popular Japanese RPG series, is certainly old enough to be considered Retro, but its style and tone are anything but. Our panelists are one FF XIII veteran, one FF XIII neophyte,… Read More »

Retro Encounter 339 – Story vs. Gameplay

Posted by Michael Sollosi on August 18, 2022

What’s the story, RPGFan? Do you think it’s worth a look? It seems kinda familiar, like a story from a book. RPGs and adventure games very often have an outsize focus on storytelling, in part because so many of them are about a group of characters growing and changing over the course of their… Read More »

Retro Encounter 338 – Three Truths and a Lie Part II

Posted by Michael Sollosi on August 11, 2022

Don’t ask me no questions, and I won’t tell you no lies. We here at Retro Encounter love talking about video games, but decided to spend this episode getting to know each other a little better. In a sequel to a 2020 episode, four RPGFan panelists play a game in which they try to tell fact from… Read More »

Retro Encounter 337 – Tales of Xillia Part II

Posted by Michael Sollosi on August 4, 2022

Hey Jude, don’t make it bad / Take a spirit, and make her better / Remember to let her into your heart / Then you can start to save the planet. Three RPGFan staff played through Tales of Xillia in July 2022, and left Rieze Maxia and Elympios feeling satisfied. By game’s end, the panelists were… Read More »

Retro Encounter 336 – Tales of Xillia Part I

Posted by Michael Sollosi on July 21, 2022

We’re all doing our best, but there is always room for Progress Tales of Xillia made a big splash on the PS3 in the early 2010s, with beautifully-rendered characters and frenetic combat. The usual Tales Of standards are here, from a climate crisis connected to Mana Spirits to cumbersomely-named batt… Read More »

Retro Encounter 335 – Gaming Accessibility

Posted by Hilary Andreff on July 15, 2022

Did you know that RPGs, especially more traditional text-based RPGs, are generally considered to be among the more accessible videogame types? And that’s a wonderful distinction, because accessibility means that the greatest possible number of players can actually play and enjoy it. Join our intrepi… Read More »

Retro Encounter 334 – RPGFan Quiz Show: Gaiden

Posted by Michael Sollosi on July 7, 2022

The chase is on in our pointless quiz show! Retro Encounter engages in friently competition for the fifth time, with four RPGFan staff members taking on the quizmaster’s queue of questions. This quiz is a slightly different format from previous shows, with the four contestants playing simultaneously… Read More »

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