Tales from the Backlog

How do you remake one of the most beloved games of all time? How do you fend off the masses who want to hold you to every decision made over 20 years ago? Well, in our opinion, Square Enix figured out the way with Final Fantasy VII Remake. This is a shining example of how a remake can update the graphics, completely revamp the gameplay, add voice acting, re-orchestrate the music....and still keep the heart and soul of the original game intact. It's a masterful game, and I was joined by returning guests Aaron Angle (A Top 3 Podcast) and Ryan Arrington to discuss it! TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 2:08 Story Setup 18:00 This Game as a Remake 37:40 Visuals/Voice Acting/Music 49:06 Combat 1:17:29 SPOILER WALL 1:43:16 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

This War of Mine, by 11 Bit Studios is often labeled not only as a good game, but also as an important game, especially as countries are invaded and lives are turned upside down in the same ways, over and over again. Because of how forever relevant this game is, and with a little pushing from friend of the show Randall on our "Games in Real-World Settings" episode a few months back, I was eager to give this a try- and it ended up winning a poll on Patreon! I was also lucky enough to be joined by Alex, host of the First Five YouTube channel. You should check out his channel for wonderful gaming content, including The Time-Strapped Gamer's Guide to Life Sims, and helping you find what games you should try from that giant itch.io bundle you bought. TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 1:25 Story Setup/Setting/Bleak Tone 14:36 Gameplay Mechanics 39:29 Closing Thoughts/Recommendations/Housekeeping 1:16:45 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

Boy am I glad that I disregarded all of the "Metal Gear Solid 2 is the worst one, just skip it" chatter out there. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, by Hideo Kojima and Konami, is a step up in almost every way from the first Metal Gear Solid game, and does a ton of interesting things in the process. Its biggest issue is that it takes a long time setting up, and then the payoff hits you with too much all at once. But once I've had time to sit and process everything it's doing, I gain more and more appreciation for it. Joining me for this discussion is The Profit of Gaming Memories! He runs a podcast interviewing people about their gaming memories, as well as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube pages dedicated to retro gaming and emulation. Max Derrat's YouTube video as mentioned in the podcast TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 1:37 Story Setup/Visuals 12:29 Gameplay/Music 39:09 Closing Thoughts/Recommendations/Housekeeping 57:53 SPOILER WALL 1:12:00 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

If you grew up alongside South Park like I did, and you loved video games, then you were probably let down by the licensed South Park games in the early years. All of that changed with 2013's South Park: The Stick of Truth by Obsidian Entertainment and South Park Studios. It looked like an episode of the show, it sounded like an episode of the show, the story was fun, and it introduced turn-based combat into the mix. It was a slam dunk back then, and I'm joined once again by Adam Rivera to discuss how it holds up today! TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 1:15 Story Setup/South Park Tone/Humor 16:52 Visuals/Music/Voice Acting/"Playable South Park Episode" 29:12 Gameplay 43:40 SPOILER WALL 1:13:10 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

From a better era of licensed games comes The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (PS2, GameCube, Xbox version). No live service nonsense, no microtransactions, just good arcadey fun reliving the best action scenes from the movie, along with tons of little goodies for fans of the movies. This was a blast, and I hope you enjoy reliving this game with us. Joining me for this episode is Chris Dominguez, one of the hosts of A Novel Console, a weekly podcast about gaming, books and food that he does with his wife Karradyne. You can listen to A Novel Console by following this link! TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 1:46 Story Setup/Characters/Favorite Levels 18:11 Visuals/Music 43:51 Gameplay/Closing Thoughts/Plugs 49:26 NO SPOILER SECTION- This is literally the story of the movie. Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord community! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

The day a new Yakuza / Like a Dragon game drops is like a holiday for me. Imagine my surprise and delight when I realized that we don't have to wait years for new games in the series anymore, as we got the Like a Dragon Ishin! remaster earlier in 2023, and then the connecting game, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name to set up the upcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name didn't need to exist, but I think it does a lot of interesting character work with Kiryu, as well as just being plain old fun to play. I'm joined in this episode by Matt aka Stormageddon ("Fun" and Games, Screen Snark, Reignite podcasts) and Flora Merigold (Left Behind Game Club podcast) to discuss it all! You can check out Flora's writing on Epilogue Gaming, including this article about Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and you can check out Matt's writing over on the "Fun" and Games Patreon (free for all!) TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 1:25 Story Setup 20:00 Visuals/Voice Acting 55:23 Gameplay 1:11:50 Closing Thoughts/Recommendations/Plugs 1:42:06 SPOILER WALL 2:01:10 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

Rain World, developed by Videocult, is the true definition of a cult hit. If you look on review aggregator websites, you'll see extremely mixed reviews. However, if you ask in Discord servers, subreddits, etc you'll find so many people with feverish praise. It was only a matter of time before I had to try it out for myself, and this was the winner of a Patreon poll! Shoutout to everyone who voted for it, and shoutout to my wonderful guest soccr for joining me to discuss! TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 2:00 Story Setup/Game World 13:00 Gameplay 23:12 Overcoming the Challenge 36:27 Visuals/Music 57:30 SPOILER WALL 1:11:54 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

GAME NUMBER 100 ON THE PODCAST! And what a unique game to talk about for #100! Killer7, by Suda51's Grasshopper Manufacture and Capcom, is a game unlike any other. An unholy mashup of rail shooter, adventure game, crime fantasy and political drama, you'll never play another game quite like this. Joining me for this episode is Andre from Fine Time podcast, which you can check out HERE or on your favorite podcast app. I highly recommend starting with their great two part series on the Capcom Five (Killer7, Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, P.N.03 and Dead Phoenix)! TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 2:11 Story Setup/Characters 13:16 Visuals/Music 44:33 Gameplay 1:01:22 SPOILER WALL 1:40:21 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

2023 has been absolutely packed with great games, and now is the time to reflect on the new games I played over the past year. Despite missing a lot of popular releases like Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Wonder, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Armored Core VI, Lies of P and many more, I still played so many good games that it was tough to make a top 10! But alas, this is the podcaster's curse, so I present to you- 2023 in Review. From anticipated megahits like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Resident Evil 4 Remake and Baldur's Gate 3, to indie gems like Blasphemous 2, Jusant and Bleak Sword DX, here are the best games that I played this year. Also touched on are games like Coffee Golf, Final Fantasy 16, Sea of Stars, Redfall and more! Enjoy! You can also find the Top Non-2023 Games episode over on Patreon! TIMESTAMPS Intros/Games on the Outside Looking In 0:09 Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical) 12:55 Game #5 32:35 Game #4 37:06 Game #3 41:28 Game #2 46:13 Game #1 52:05 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog

This is an important one for me. Final Fantasy X has been one of my favorite games ever since I played it for the first time almost 20 years ago. Square really made a complete game here- story setup, characters, combat, music...total package. Joining me to discuss it are Ryan Batie and Chris Taylor from JRPG games club podcast Lightning Strikes Thrice. You can find them and all of the other things on the Pitch Drop network by following this link! TIMESTAMPS Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 1:48 Story Setup/Characters/Voice Acting 14:25 Music/Visuals 38:50 Combat 52:31 More Combat/Sphere Grid 1:08:24 Other Gameplay/Blitzball 1:22:45 Final Thoughts/Housekeeping 1:36:35 SPOILER WALL 1:46:01 Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! Social Media: Instagram Twitter Facebook Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)! Support Tales from the Backlog