Podcast Questions

Aside from naming Link Zelda in OoT I can't think of anything good I used to do. This question did remind me of this though. <a href="https://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/gamer-emotionally-connected-with-video-game-story-wishes-he-didnt-jokingly-name-character-assface/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/gamer-emotionally-connected-with-video-game-story-wishes-he-didnt-jokingly-name-character-assface/</a>

Resonant Arc

:) popped up in my news feed haha

Yeah, I've seen similar polls over the years and things shift slightly depending on the preferences of the audience of the publication and so forth. FFX and FFVII being at the top are a given because they're the series' best sellers. Everything below that switches based on what's trendy to like in a given year or the fact that the games are too old for younger readers to have played. I don't know, I don't put too much stock into it. I don't see it as a true consensus.

Resonant Arc

Dang. You beat me to it Dude.

ChocolateRob

Breaking News topic for today's podcast: Henry Cavill has been cast as Geralt of Rivia for Netflix's Witcher series. What do you think about this casting? (It's interesting that just last week you were talking about Hollywood needing every big budget movie to have a "star" to get people to go see it. Could Netfix be following the same formula here? Would you have preferred to see a different or lesser known actor in this role?)

Bonus question: with the above in mind, do you think Nintendo is also making a move to appeal to PC gamers as a whole, or am I thinking too much into this?

Since the release of the Nintendo Switch, we have been seeing an increasing amount of indle titles being released on consoles. Recently, Nintendo offered a slew of indie game releases for the rest of this year & early 2019 at the Nintendo Switch Nindies Showcase Summer 2018 (I linked this on Discord). That said, do you think Nintendo is making a move to appeal to indie gamers, and/or influenced by Steam's business model via the fact a lot of those game (if not all) of them are also on Steam (correct me if I am wrong).

What is your overall take on indle games, and their role in the video gaming industry?

We've had an explosion of fantastic retro-inspired RPGs, that capture the aesthetic or the vibe of the classics in which we love, and in terms of gameplay, I would argue exceed quite a few of the classics.. But none of them come even close in terms of telling a compelling story. Do you think it is that difficult to tell an enjoyable or memorable story, or are developers just prioritizing nostalgia over quality storytelling? Why do you think this is? It's strange, because one of the reasons I hate AAA gaming sometimes, is because they prioritize graphics, or a premise over a story, and yet I find this same philosophy in many of these retro-inspired games. Sure, the aesthetic is beautiful, but often the story is bland and boring (with a few rare exceptions).

Hat

If you could know anything for a fact about a particular game's development history that is currently not-known, or a mystery, what would be most interesting to you to know?

Hat

Last week's podcast when Christopher Guin's question was discussed about an FF4 movie, alongside the discussion of diversity in movies, got me brainstorming... if there was a live action FF4 movie, or if you want to go further in discussion, some of your favourite FFs made into movies, who are some actors you would cast as characters in these FFs? How would real life ethnicity play into this, for example, would Yuna's actress be caucasian, Asian, or perhaps mixed ethnicity?

I just checked again and it looks like it's still progressing. The new numbers are FFX - 21%, FFVII - 19%, FFVI - 15%, FFVIII and FFXV - 9%, FFXII - 7%, FFXIII and FFIX - 4%, others with 1-2%, FFI and FFXIII-2 with 0%.

Gameinformer had a completed poll on their main page earlier this week for "What is your favorite Final Fantasy game". The results were FFX - 31%, FFVI - 15%, FFVII and FFXII - 12%, FFVIII and FFXV - 8%, FFII, FF III, FF XIII, FF XIV - 4%. All others received zero votes. What do you make of these results? I find them fascinating.

If Square-Enix where to release a collection of 15 games in one cartridge for the switch, which games would you want them to put on the collection? (Anything's fair game so long as the switch can handle it.)

For whatever reason, I've been reminiscing a lot recently about transportation methods in RPGs. Whenever trying to think of my favourite examples, I always come back to the some of the golden age final fantasies: IV, VI, VII and IX. In particular, I realize, I can't come up with any recent examples that I even find particularly notable. Do you think I may be blinded by the all powerful nostalgia glasses and if so, can you give some shout outs to transportation systems that make the world seem expansive and like you can explore anywhere you want (even if that may just be an illusion)? [Side note: while I love FFXII, I was horribly dissapointed that a game whose main character's dream was to become a sky pirate, and where two of your party members are actual sky pirates, the player never gets an airship.]

How did you name your video game characters in the old days? Anything humorous?