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[Oni Link 666]

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9116439

The end of 2012 is upon us, and I am joined by Marty Sliva and Bob Mackey to recount a year in RPGs.

To be honest, I wanted to cover more. I'm somewhat unfairly dismissive of MMORPGs, for instance, which obviously constitute a wide swath of this years offerings. Guild Wars 2 deserves better, even if it was a shade (just a shade) overhyped.

Nevertheless, we do cover a lot of ground. Diablo III, Crimson Shroud, Paper Mario, Xenoblade Chronicles (lots of Xenoblade Chronicles), Devil Survivor 2, and Mass Effect 3 all come up. We even find time to talk about Assassin's Creed III for some reason.

For the next episode, we'll be back to talk about the RPGs of 2013, of which there ought to be quite a few. Until then, enjoy your holidays, relax with family, and play your favorite RPG of choice. We'll see you next year.

Episode breakdown

0:00 | Theme & Introduction
2:00 | The Disappointments of 2012
30:00 | The Best RPGs of 2012
40:00 | Our Personal Favorites

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcast.the1upnetwork.com/flat/Retronauts/ATB121912.mp3

 

[miknein]

Is this a good podcast? Is it daily or is the last segment two hours long?

 

[Oni Link 666]

Is this a good podcast?

It's the best podcast.

Is it daily

No. It's more like, monthly or whenever Kat feels like making it-ly.

or is the last segment two hours long?

The whole thing isn't 2 hours long.

 

[meltingparappa]

This IS a good podcast.

It would be great if those markers were hours instead of minutes.

I'm glad that Devil Survivor 2 got a brief mention.

Rough year for RPGs state-side when the best candidates (imo) were Xenoblade and P4 Golden.

There are currently FOUR Dragon Quest games that could come out next year though, so that's certainly something to look forward to.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Is this a good podcast?

Do you like RPGs as RPGs? If "yes" then yes.

 

[miknein]

Thanks for the replies I just cba to listen to a short podcast that is released so infrequently. I'll continue looking for new podcasts

 

[EatChildren]

"Active Time Babble XLI: Farewell to 2012", is this the sequel to Virtue's Last Reward?

 

[edeo]

I don't get the love for Xenoblade. I really wanted to enjoy it, but it was just too ugly. Kat and Bob just gloss over the lame characters and just passable story.

I am kind of on Kat's side where I'd rather just play Pokemon Black 2 because everything else was underwhelming,

Too bad they didn't have much to say about Mass Effect 3 which aside from a bad ending and Chosen One Syndrome was my favorite action rpg of the year.

 

[WrenchNinja]

Listened to this a couple of days ago. Agree with a lot of what they say.

Apart from the devil survivor art comment, I dont think its that bad.

 

[meltingparappa]

I don't get the love for Xenoblade. I really wanted to enjoy it, but it was just too ugly. Kat and Bob just gloss over the lame characters and just passable story.

Xenoblade is pretty neato in terms of taking gameplay staples from an MMO and adapting them fairly successfully into a single-player game.

It's also mechanically fascinating as the mostly autonomous battle system is a different and arguably more successful branch than the route FF13 after FF12. In perhaps an inadvertent way, it's also the complete antithesis to FF13 utterly minimalist approach to level design.

Basically, that game's entirely subjective enjoyment is proportionate to your disappointment with FF13.


Also the story gets NUTS in the last two hours, and the music is fantastic and the landscapes gorgeous.

I do agree that the characters are affectionately garish though. MAN, WHAT A BUNCHA JOH-KAHS.

 

[Nert]

I can't really blame them, because none of them played it for more than an hour or so apparently, but the Mass Effect 3 discussion was lacking. The ending fiasco goes a lot deeper than "high hopes and hype made everyone expect something perfect." Here is one completely non-story related example of what took place: the game originally told you to "continue the legend" by buying their DLC once you completed it. That was its coda.

 

[keeblerdrow]

Is this a good podcast? Is it daily or is the last segment two hours long?

It's good as long as certain guests aren't on. It tends to get crowded with myopic, short-sighted, or uninformed opinions at times. But if you like a certain type of RPG, it's quite well focused.

 

[Ninjimbo]

It's a great podcast at times. I can listen to Kat talk about Pokemon for a lifetime.

FFXIII-2 got piled on, as expected. At least it wasn't too long though. Props to Marty for picking Sticker Star. It was an interesting choice.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Lyrics in FF should be, well, like every other lyrical video game track: actually have good cadence. It's sad how many fuck this up or have people who just can't fucking sing.

And about FFXII: Player abstracts combat heavily using the system, complains about lack of tactile effect on combat.

 

[Ysiadmihi]

I don't get the love for Xenoblade. I really wanted to enjoy it, but it was just too ugly.

I guess it depends on what you played it on. I could barely stand to look at it on Wii but it's great looking on Dolphin.

 

[Necrovex]

The hate for Monolith Soft early games simply made me sad. :-(

 

[Y2Kev]

Two games that stick out from last year are Skyrim and Dark souls

HOW ABOUT WITCHER 2 HMM HOW ABOUT THAT ONE

Kat-- Obsidian. Mask of the Betrayer nao

 

[Katbot]

Witcher 2 was pretty good

 

[Chunky]

I don't get the love for Xenoblade. I really wanted to enjoy it, but it was just too ugly. Kat and Bob just gloss over the lame characters and just passable story.

The others are a little more subjective, but come on- the game is beautiful.

 

[Goldmund]

Am I going crazy or is the recording compromised by weird reverb effects?

 

[meltingparappa]

Am I going crazy or is the recording compromised by weird reverb effects?

Kat phases between dimensional planes a couple times for some reason, yes.

 

[kai3345]

I love how they mention having an entire podcast dedicated to the ME3 ending, despite none of them having played it, proceed to shit on everyone who hated the ending, and then talk about how the extended cut "improved the ending" when it in fact made it worse.

 

[Goldmund]

Kat phases between dimensional planes a couple times for some reason, yes.

I had to turn it off because of that. I'm a stickler when it comes to audio quality in voice recordings.

 

[Katbot]

I'm pretty sure the pod devoted to ME3's ending is Games Dammit actually.

Sorry about the audio quality

 

[jozero]

Been quite a while since the last podcast. Surprised Kat hasn't done a deep dive into Fire Emblem or Ni No Kuni.