Last week was the Giving of Thanks, and Eric returned to his ancestral home to prepare the necessary sacrifices. That means Kat and Nadia are alone for this episode, just like the good ol' days of... er, maybe a month ago? Point is, this is a very chill episode.  Some of the big topics: - Is a Chrono Cross remake under development? - Who is an unsung RPG composer? - How excited are we for a Mass Effect TV show? Also in this episode: Neo The World Ends With You didn't do so hot because Square Enix kind of forgot to market it, and plans for the future of Blood God! A new tier approaches! Command? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we last met our Warriors of Light, they were confident they'd be Thal's balls-deep in Endwalker by this point. Fate had other plans in mind, as Endwalker won't be accessible until December 3. Hey, Final Fantasy XIV is a Square Enix RPG. It's never a surprise when the heroes' plans go awry in an RPG. Besides, the delay freed up some time to let us talk about a topic that kept eluding us: Endwalker story predictions! Hope you're sitting down, because Victor brought notes. What kind of dropout brings notes?! Spoiler Level: Red. Major spoilers for Shadowbringers and Endwalker. We bust out all biggest story twists and smallest plot tweaks for pretty much the entire episode.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What, you wanna listen to Axe of the Blood God's very special Shin Megami Tensei 5 episode, guest starring Game Informer's Kim Wallace? Hmmm... gimme one life stone. I'll also take 300 macca and a shitload of your health! Just kidding -- your friendship is more than enough to get access to our SMT V review. How does it play? What are its strengths? Its weakness? Is it a good entry point for SMT V virgins? Kat, Nadia, Eric, and Kim will fill you in on all the haunting deets. Also in this episode: We're trying out a brand-new format that (hopefully) makes the show easier to listen to and enjoy! Come for Kat's Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl critique, stay for Nadia's disjointed rant about Simon Belmont from Captain N. Something about a bomber jacket? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part 3 of our complete Cowboy Bebop series ranking, we tackle the Top 10 alongside What a Cartoon's Henry Gilbert! In so doing we tackle some of the following topics: - What's the deal with Julia? - Who had the best arc? - Why does Toys in the Attic rule so much? - What happens when Final Fantasy and John Woo have a delightful anime baby? (It's Ballad of Fallen Angels). This episode is available immediately to our Patrons, and will be available through the free feed next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Axe of the Blood God, Kat, Nadia, and Eric discuss how Atlus would really love it if the west got the hang of making demonic pacts. We know Shin Megami Tensei V is out, and we know it's a great game -- but why hasn't the series made much headway into the western market compared to [looks around nervously, bend over and whispers] Persona? Can anything be done to make SMT more appealing to this market? Also in this episode: Early hands-on impressions of Elden Ring are great, FFXIV: Endwalker is delayed, and Todd Howard laughs himself to sleep on a pile of money flanked by two beautiful ladies because people can't stop buying Skyrim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part 2 of our complete Cowboy Bebop series ranking, we tackle episodes 16 through 10! In so doing, we hit some of the following topics: - Our personal favorite episodes - How Cowboy Bebop pays tributes to movies from the 60s and 70s - The wildness of Mushroom Samba - Why Gateway Shuffle is one of our sneaky favorites This episode is available immediately to our Patrons, and will be available through the free feed next week. Stay tuned for Part 3 as we jump into the Top 10 next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well I'll tell you what, that daggum Kat recently got herself in a whole heap of Twitter trouble when she sassed Legend of Dragoon. On this week's episode of Axe of the Blood God, Kat apologizes for her sharp words -- but she also struggles to understand why half the internet is still nostalgic for this underachieving Sony RPG. To that end, Kat, Eric, and Nadia invited YouTuber (and Legend of Dragoon fan) SuperDerekRPG to the show. They have a grand ol' time talking about this (misunderstood?) game, and about retro RPGs in general. Also in this episode: Shin Megami Tensei V is very good, and open wide because here comes a deluge of Elden Ring information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cowboy Bebop is one of the greatest anime ever made, and with a live-action series headed to Netflix, now is the perfect time to revisit this animated classic! We're joined by What a Cartoon and Talking Simpsons Host Henry Gilbert to rank episodes 24 - 17, where we hit some of the following topics: - How did we get into Cowboy Bebop? - Is Sympathy for the Devil underrated? - How great is VT's cat? - And how do we feel about Gren in the year 2021? This episode is Part 1 of our big ranking of Cowboy Bebop, and it's available to both our Patrons and free listeners right now! Part 2 will be available next week , but paid subscribers can access it immediately! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Axe of the Blood God, Kat, Nadia, and Eric board the Magic School Bus and travel back to the very beginnings of JRPG development. PC98 Audi from Digital Foundry makes a guest appearance to delve deep into the machine that arguably started it all: The humble PC-88. Audi also has tons of history to share about the MSX, and other high-tech '80s stuff that was vital to the early evolution of JRPGs. Frankly, he's the proverbial Miss Frizzle on this trip. Without him, Kat, Nadia, and Eric would probably fall out of the bus and get eaten by a microprocessor. Also in this episode: Kat's in Super Robot War heaven, we have a trailer for Netflix's adaptation of The Witcher 2, and Square Enix is gonna make you wet with a new Star Ocean game. ["Hey Hey 16k" is by MJ Hibbett and the Validators. Enjoy your earworm] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Axe of the Blood God, Nadia, Kat, and Eric battle ogres with the help of a very special guest, Waah! Yes, our generous $100 Patron finally gets to shine on-stage, and he's picked a very cool topic: Square Enix's half-forgotten Ogre Battle series. This still-beloved string of strategy games was the precursor to Final Fantasy Tactics, and it's a darn shame it doesn't garner the acknowledgement it deserves. We'll fix that, though. Oh, we will definitely fix that. Also in this episode: Stardew Valley's creator is taking us to the Land of Chocolate, CD Projekt Red has some more delays for us, and the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy has reared its ugly, exhausting head once again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices