Tag Archives: !FALcast

!FALcast

Ep. 42: Words from Batman

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(Note: This episode contains a detailed discussion of Adios, and at points veers into spoiler territory. The Adios talk begins at the 20-minute mark and lasts until 1:17:00, with some direct references to the ending at about 1:15:00.)

  • The need for feed in Jurassic World: Evolution
  • A deep-dive into Adios: is there enough game in this game?
  • Skye wants to do chores harder
  • Skye also wants to milk a goat
  • Adam talks himself into liking Adios even more than he already did
  • Tearin’ stuff up with Turnip Boy, who is a dick
  • Sometimes the curtains are blue
  • Trading minigames and their acceptability
  • Scarlet Nexus, cosmetics, and anime (*so much anime*)
  • Trails ‘n Tales
  • The !FALcast game of 2021 (which was timely when we recorded this)
  • (Look time just got away from me, OK)
  • (I’ve been playing a lot of Trails of Cold Steel)
  • (It’s really good btw)

!FALcast

Ep. 41: Weird Rashes

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  • What’s the grossest food word?
  • Adam’s very real, very intense problem with yogurt
  • Back 4 Blood: it’s current, it’s gurgly, and we like it!
  • (but we gripe about it anyway)
  • (and first we talk about Evolve for a while, because of course)
  • Weird magical cards, and the guy who helps you with them
  • B4B’s lonely, arbitrary hub area
  • And just when you think it’s over, BAM: 30 minutes on Metroid
  • Samus Returns crams too much Metroid into Metroid
  • But how about that cutting-edge 3DS tech?
  • The one (and only one) not-so-great thing about Hollow Knight
  • Skye, of all people, refuses to let the podcast die

!FALcast

Ep. 40: Consensual Spaghetti

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  • oh hey check it out it’s the !FALcast again
  • Matt’s Pinball Journey
  • Skye wants a good, clean, brisk episode (and does not get it)
  • Matt would have us all Stop Believin’
  • Dwerve: tower defense in motion, with spider flowers
  • The suspicious motives of the chef in Lady and the Tramp
  • Tribes of Midgard = Don’t Starve Diablo (with microtransactions)
  • The tutorial that refuses to teach
  • Fortnite to Fall Guys: when every game expects you to play forever
  • We played No Man’s Sky (aka The Space Game) alone, together
  • YOU’LL PLAY DRAGON QUEST V AND LIKE IT
  • Everyone look at this fun picture my kid drew
  • Finding the game you want to play in the game you’re playing
  • Wait, Graveyard Keeper Dude is *married*?
  • Enjoyment vs. engagement
  • Fishing (Ridiculous and otherwise)
  • Seriously though, why won’t they let me talk about Ys 9, it’s *so good*

!FALcast

Ep. 39: A Lot of Bird Stuff (is Going On)

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  • Amorous olds
  • I rehash the plot of FF4 for some reason
  • “To be a true paladin, you must not fight now!” *fights*
  • This episode’s hot take: After Years was bad
  • The merits/demerits of random encounters
  • Cosmic Star Heroine and its beautiful pacing
  • Eagle Island: it’s bird-themed!
  • The tragic servitude of Pokemon (with a brief detour into monkey personhood)
  • Matt really likes Mega Man 11
  • Air Man, Crash Man, Metal Man, Bubble Man, Wood Man, Heat Man, Flash Man, Quick Man
  • Skye continues to not like roguelikes/play video games
  • Hardspace: Shipbreaker and watching people perform manual labor
  • Darren P. vs. Darren C.
  • The mundane joys of House Flipper
  • Surprisingly, ASMR doesn’t work on Skye
  • ok then there’s a weird little ASMR cul-de-sac for a while
  • Left 4 Dead is basically Destiny (?)
  • Matt assuages my palpable fear that he wouldn’t like The Outer Wilds
  • You guys I *love* The Outer Wilds (AND SO DOES MY KID!)
  • Skye worries it might actually be *too* good

!FALcast

Ep. 38: Walking on Time

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  • Crunch and the ends (not really) justifying the means
  • Van Goff
  • The delightful million-thing cleanquest of Horace
  • Matt the Save Piggybacker ruined rental games, possibly childhoods
  • Can you walk on time? (Also no)
  • Boy this time-walking thing sure overstays its welcome
  • Skye threatens to quit the podcast because of the time-walking thing because literally of course he does
  • Reference as game design in Evoland
  • The perfect medley of Retro Game Challenge
  • Do you know the KACHO?
  • Check out Skye’s Last of Us 2 video and a bunch of other stuff at his YouTube channel, you see Skye this is what friends do they support each other

!FALcast

Ep. 37: The Normal Emotions

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  • “Woman Stuff” is not the title of this episode
  • We love Overcooked!
  • We hate Operation Raccoon City!
  • (Also Games for Windows Live is haunted or something)
  • Experiencing the joy of failure and yelling at wheelchair-bound raccoons
  • Dumb pretentious nonsense about “speaking the language of video games,” and it’s not even Skye saying it!
  • Steam remote play worked! …at the TIME
  • I LOVE SAYONARA WILD HEARTS
  • …no seriously though I really really love Sayonara Wild Hearts
  • Gris’ beautiful representation of grief, and us forgetting how many stages of grief exist
  • (Also you trundle around as a stone block with a little head on top)
  • Let’s throw a Swery game in here for good measure because why not
  • The open beta of West of Dead that no longer exists is cool
  • (West of Dead is cool)

!FALcast

Ep. 36: There’s a Dave

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  • OK *now* we’re gonna talk about Warsaw
  • The brevity of Warsaw (see?) vs. the cruelty of Darkest Dungeon
  • But whither base building?
  • Chimera Squad as XCOM Junior
  • What does it mean to be at full health?
  • The ramifications of sternum injuries
  • Gameplay systems: Less is more (except when less is less)
  • XCOM’s fake accuracy percentages continue to remain fake
  • No seriously though get a load of these two gaslighting bastards acting like probability isn’t a thing
  • PROBABILITY IS A THING

!FALcast

Ep. 35: Look at Those Friends

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  • Oops
  • Wonder what Matt thinks of Death’s Gambit?
  • Oh well, suppose we’ll never know
  • Is potato salad a salad? (Or, failing that, a video game?)
  • Skye only got into the podcast game to pad his resume
  • He also maintains to-do lists of games instead of playing them
  • The incomprehensible narrative, anime oversaturation, interminable barks and overall Easy-Soulsiness of Code Vein
  • The Surge, on the other hand, is a Soulslike that is very much not messing around
  • The frictionless experience of New Game +
  • We ALMOST talk about Warsaw, but tune in next time, we’ll try real hard not to lose the audio

!FALcast

Ep. 34: A Weeping Fridge

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  • RetroAchievements.org offers a great excuse to play old games
  • The 7th Saga is hard to recommend but easy to love (honestly it’s pretty rough going)
  • Jurassic World Evolution and the art of the Ungame
  • Guarding the gate at Silent Hill/pushing the Mushroom Kingdom back down a Brooklyn drain
  • Control: Brilliant with just a hint of jank
  • But the Threshold Kids are straight-up awesome
  • Returning to Black Mesa with…Black Mesa look shut up ok I’m doing my best over here it’s been a long day and I’ve got a lot going on
  • Xen is new and improved and also thoroughly overstays its welcome
  • On the origins of Half-Life Alyx and the future (?) of the series
  • The economics of periphery
  • [ANCIENT CYCLICAL ARGUMENT REDACTED]

!FALcast

Ep. 33: I Hate This Episode

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*Note: This episode contains GREAT BIG HUGE GIANT SPOILERS for Dying Light: The Following, Lost, The Dark Tower series, and Dragon Quest: Your Story. The spoiler-y stuff starts 8 minutes in and ends at about 43 minutes.*

  • The frustrations of reaching a destination that negates the journey
  • Chasing diamonds right off a cliff in Dying Light: The Following
  • A brief rehash of an ancient Shadow of the Colossus argument that Skye continues to be very wrong about
  • Why get hype in the face of inevitability?
  • The Epic Games Store: A bad service getting better
  • (But swiping Kickstarter games remains an absolute dirtbag move)
  • (And for real though how is there still not even a shopping cart)
  • “What’s in it for me?”
  • The underrated generosity of backward compatibility
  • Xbox Game Pass: A bad service offering a good deal (for now)