Inferior Gaming

Caitlin and Alan get into some mini games! Some Mini Games are so complete that they have become their own game. But for us, we feel that a Mini Game needs to be separate from the core mechanics of a game. But we also want some rewards! Final Fantasy Resonance Persona 5 Assassin’s Creed 2 Wylde Flowers Gwent in Witcher 3 Playable Games in Loading Screens Triple Triad Final Fantasy 7 Mini Games Fin...

Caitlin and Alan aren’t angry they are just disappointed. Some games not only fail to live up to expectations but they throw us completely out of the experience. Sometimes that is because they are a lazy cash grab but more often the gameplay is beyond us! Final Fantasy Resonance Kingdom Hearts 2 Resonance A Plagues Tale Legacy The Blood of the Dawn Walker Dragon Age The Veilguard Mass Effect Andro...

Caitlin and Alan ride around in our favorite video game vehicles. Fast travel is out and vehicles are in. Especially airships in the Final Fantasy series. But horses, chocobos, and tanks have a place in our hearts too! Kingdom Hearts 2 Resonance A Plague’s Tale Legacy Blue Prince Final Fantasy 1 airship Final Fantasy 9 Hilda Guard Final Fantasy 10-2 Celsius Chrono Trigger Epoch The Legend of Zelda...

Caitlin and Alan get into what it means for a character to be a video game protagonist. Does a Silent Protagonist just lift up the villain as cool? A main character who is relatable can have a stale personality, but anything else might turn people off. Is there a balance? Kingdom Hearts 1 Kingdom Hearts 2 Fields of Mistria Chrono Trigger Kingdom Hearts 4 Marvel TOKON: Fighting Souls Persona 5 Halo...

Caitlin and Alan discuss Kingdom Hearts 1. We both bought this game when it launched on PS2 in 2002. The magic of the game seems too big to fit into an elevator pitch, but the lore claims that is where it all started. Pretend and play are central to what makes the universe of Kingdom Hearts work, but so is design. This is the masterpiece that launched the franchise that continues to keep pulling i...

Caitlin and Alan talk about the end of the PlayStation physical discs for games. Things have been leading to this point for a while- however… that doesn’t mean that we are happy about it. And that things might be more unsafe for consumers and preservation of the Art. No to mention the AI of it all. Persona 5 Marvel TOKON Fighting Souls Moonlight Peaks Assassin’s Creed 2 Mortal Kombat 2 Sony PlaySt...

Caitlin and Alan talk about controllers. Is it best if you never think about the controller, or if the controller is the main draw? When games give us so many ways to customize do we lose the simplicity of controls? Custom controllers were all the rage in the early 2000s but Nintendo has never stopped trying to find new configurations. Adventures of Elliot Nier Automata Denshattack! Mixtape Zone o...

Caitlin and Alan talk about listening to audiobooks and podcast while you play video games. The problem with hobbies is the need for human hands. You can only hold so many things. But in an Open World game you can hold the space to listen to an audiobook and play the game. Persona 5 Scott Pilgrim EX Adventures of Elliot Dungeon Crawler Carl Logitech NetPlay Controller (Model G-X2B6) The Legend of...

Caitlin and Alan get philosophical about if games always have conflict. To be a game there needs to be a failure-state. Maybe a win. Maybe an ending. Maybe even a story. Does the tension of avoiding failure create a conflict that drives us to play? What about causing problems? As, say… a goose? Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales Persona 5 Dark Souls Remastered You can follow the show on bl...

Caitlin and Alan get to the end of all things. What makes for a great video game ending? Tying together the gameplay and the story is a great place to start. No loose ends- and don’t let the sequel undo it! Persona 5 Kingdom Hearts The Adventures of Elliot Kingdom Hearts 2 Simple and Clean Podcast The Legend of Zelda Final Fantasy X Final Fantasy 6 Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 Street Fighter 5 Mas...

Caitlin and Alan discuss our favorite, and least favorite, video game characters. Who is the most interesting Final Fantasy character of all time? The best written character in any Bioware game? We have the answers. Kingdom Hearts Persona 5 MIO Memories In Orbit Micro Overdrive Home Tour HALO Dark Souls Goro Akechi Kain Highwind Garnet AKA Dagger Ken Masters and Ryu Emma from Detective Instinct Fa...

Caitlin and Alan come back from our break and we played a lot of games! We dipped into our backlogs but also went back to our old familiar favorites! Dark Souls, Kingdom Hearts, Persona- you know the good stuff. Did you know that magic materia messes up Cloud’s stats in original Final Fantasy 7? There are SO MANY games coming this year- just not this Summer… Nintendo Direct 2026 Star Wars Squadron...

Caitlin and Alan want to eat videogame foods. Even if they look like Christmas Tree lights! Garbage Pizza! Comfort Stars! And of course… Pancakes! With the Season 2 finale we announce the games we will ask each other to play! Persona 4 Songs of Glimmerwick Persona 5 Sword of the Sea Absolum Castlevania wall-meat theory Stardrop King Stew Baked Apples Pancake Contest Final Fantasy Potion Beef Bowl...

Caitlin and Alan say the word “puzzle” so much it becomes meaningless. Puzzles that secretly tell a story are where it is at for us. Most puzzles in games are filler but a few made us see the world differently. Bot just the game world, but the one we live in too. Chained Echoes Persona 4 Chrono Trigger Persona 5 Expedition 33 Sword of the Sea Marvel LEGO Superheroes Unpacking Strange Horticulture...

Caitlin and Alan talk about video game weapons! We talk about famous Japanese blacksmiths, cursed swords with eyeballs, and Keys that are Swords. Final Fantasy Dissidia Duellum Arranger A Role-Puzzling Adventure Final Fantasy Tactics Persona 5 Persona 4 Pokemon Pokopia Masamune Soul Edge Gunblade Ultima Weapon Keyblade Decisive Pumpkin Witcher’s swords Black Knife Lulu’s Dolls Gravity Hammer Needl...

Caitlin and Alan highlight women in video games. Women were always part of video games so we learn a little history and feature our favorite women characters. Pokemon Pokopia Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Marvel’s Cosmic Invasion Expedition 33 Guardians of the Galaxy cupcakesouls YouTube channel Ranni the Witch Hilda of Goneril Lena Raine Jennifer Svedburg-Yen Kim Swift Felicia Day Morrigan...

Caitlin and Alan debate what is the essence of Role-Playing-Games? If everything could be called a role-playing game, then is there really any such thing as an RPG? We talk about the math behind the fights, character creation, and storytelling. No more time-change in parts of Canada. Rue Valley Persona 5 Fire Emblem Three Houses Pokopia Pokémon Detective Pikachu Role Playing Games Dungeons and Dra...

Caitlin and Alan talk about Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. It’s the only game in the series Caitlin has played, and she reveals how she got into it. It has been a long time since we played the game but we have a lot of memories. We love singing songs in the ships, living Kassandra’s story, and visiting Atlantis. Malaka Fire Emblem: Three Houses Final Fantasy 7 Broken Steam Update to FF7 Stardew Valley...

Caitlin and Alan talk about the difference between beating a game and getting all the trophies. Is trophy chasing its own reward? Or is it only fun when the achievements happen naturally. We talk about the first games we remember getting trophies for and some of our favorites. And of course- the ones we hate. Fire Emblem: Three Houses Final Fantasy Tactics High on Life 2 Finding Paradise Marvel Co...

Caitlin and Alan talk about their favorite influences from gaming culture. The podcasters, YouTubers, and shows that have inspired us. YouTube Lore People are the best gaming channels. We value creators who have a different perspective than we do. Gaming culture is full of smart, funny, and charismatic voices- and also inferior voices like ours! Emio The Smiling Man Shinji Ikari is the saddest boy...

Caitlin and Alan talk about the first time they played Final Fantasy X. Is this the Final Fantasy “for the girls?” It has the best love story in any Final Fantasy. We try to not talk about Final Fantasy X-2… too much. We talk about the game-mechanics, the music, the story, and why this game is the stealth capstone to the series up to that point. 1000xResist Metaphor: ReFantazio “The Problem With M...

Caitlin and Alan talk about existential freak-outs… and Mass Effect 1. Do you make characters who look like you? Do we have a responsibility to use Art to look into our unconscious? Or are video games an escape that takes the pressure off of real life? Metaphor Rephantazio Persona 5 Emio- The Smiling Man: Famicon Detective Club 2XKO League of Legends Bandle Tale Marvel Lego Super Heroes Elden Ring...

Caitlin and Alan drop ten of their favorite video game songs. We listen to a lot of game music to relax. We explain what it is about these songs that speaks to us. Caitlin is into chill slow songs. Alan goes for upbeat and electronic music. Animal Crossing Metaphor: ReFantazio Persona 5 Royal Astro Bot Final Fantasy 4 Pixel Remaster Final Fantasy 15 Final Fantasy 8 Animal Crossing 5AM Rainy Final...

Caitlin and Alan flip through the unplayed games they own. We are making an effort to play though some of The Backlog by the end of this year. Alan’s Backlog is all about emotions. Caitlin has some titles she needs to finish- or just restart. We both have some Gamer Shame on our shelves… but we intend to play them some day? Trails in the Sky Mario Kart World Animal Crossing Marvel Cosmic Invasion...

Caitlin and Alan played games in 2025, but did they come out that same year? We get right to the point and drop the #1 game first, and then start talking about the games no one else is. We’ve got action games, visual novels, cozy delivery sims, and fighting games! There was lots of fun to be had in 2025. Geoff Keighley is a guy G4 was an American Cable Channel dedicated to video game culture Fate...