This week on the cast, James and I welcomed game designer Michael Taylor to the cast for a discussion on several interesting topics.
We started with introductions before turning to storytelling. We spent the first part of the cast talking about examples of good and bad storytelling in games. Using my previous post as a guideline, we talked about areas where designers have failed in the past and some common areas of great storytelling. We came to the topic of JRPGs and the Final Fantasy series, where Michael and I gave James a crash course on the Shin Megami Tensei series. We also debated the Souls series and how their style of storytelling can be polarizing for some.
Another great point was talking about the Borderlands series and how Gearbox writes great characters, but has trouble with the big picture when it comes to their plots.
After that, we moved onto our second big topic: Preserving video games. Michael was very interested in this piece as an older gamer and someone who wanted to study older games. We talked about the problems with backwards compatibility and why it seems that very few people are interested in supporting games.
James gave his thoughts on the matter as a console gamer and someone who is just learning about the industry side of things. Both topics were a lot of fun, and there was so much more to talk about with both. We also have a new record for weirdest tangent, as we brought up the Leprechaun series.
If you enjoyed the cast and would like a digital CD with it included, be sure to check out the Patreon campaign.
- Here’s my post on storytelling and where games fail
- My last cast talking about preserving games
- Lastly, my talk with Alex Handy about the MADE and creating a museum of classic games
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