Professors Play

FE: Engage takes the more is more approach the storytelling. In this episode, the Professors provide a reductio ad absurdum-style review of the plot and all of its (many, many) twists, and discuss how that impacts our experience with the game.

The Professors are getting pulled into all of the nitty-gritty of Fire Emblem--the unit and weapon customization, battle strategies, and of course, the social sim mechanics (for one of the Professors, at least). Tune in for a discussion on battle tactics, missing mechanics in games, and ring polishing.

In their next series, the Professors will discuss the latest entry in the storied Fire Emblem series, FE: Engage. Coming off the success of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Engage has mechanics meant to cater to the new fans (such as social sim aspects) but also functions as an homage to older FE games through the use of the Emblem system, which lets players summon heroes of other FE games to help in ba...

Episode 22: Tune in to hear the Professors discuss their full review of Super Mario Wonder, including: the best and worst in-game badges and power-ups; our interpretation of why/how Elephant Mario exists; and of course, an examination of the physics behind Hoppos.

In this week, the Professors discuss their first impressions with Super Mario Wonder (spoiler for the first 4 worlds here!). They talk about different mechanics SMW tries, why they work or don't work, whether wonder flowers are gimmicky, and the influence of the Super Mario Bros. Movie on the tonal and narrative shift in SMW.

The Professors are joined this week by a guest Professor: Math wiz and Nintendo super fan, Dr. Cameron Williams. Along with Cam, this episode centers around the Professors' experience with Mario, Mario's importance to video gaming in general, and the lack of accessibility in first-party Nintendo games.

In continuing their quest to navigate the open-world of Harvest Moon, the Professors found themselves mining much more often than harvesting crops--and they discuss why this is problematic in an ostensibly farming simulator, from a design standpoint.

Harvest Moon is a beloved series of farming simulator games that goes back to 1996...or is it? The Professors discuss Harvest Moon the series (its connections to Story of Seasons and Stardew Valley), the ins and outs of the video game business world, and Winds of Anthos' changes to the traditional farming simulator formula.

In this special, one-off episode, the Professors and guest, fellow professor Caroline Koons, discuss the many merits and demerits of Pokémon GO. They discuss their motivations for playing (or not playing!), issues with the current format, and how Pokémon GO perhaps fundamentally misunderstands the essence of Pokémon--but is still fun.

This week, the Professors engage in a full spoilercast of their experiences playing Baldur’s Gate 3, which include: story arcs, character arcs, and the lack of a main character arc; a discussion of the differences between narrative and morality choices in video games and the illusion of agency in video games (and perhaps in the physical world?); gameplay frustrations; and a genuine appreciation fo...

As part of their first impressions of BG3, the Professors discuss the difficulties of playing BG3 without prior Dungeons and Dragons knowledge--one of the Professors is having a hard time--how that relates do cognitive dissonance, and may affect enjoyment with the game. Further, the Professors each relate how they dealt with the same encounters in vastly different ways, which is representative of...

Welcome back and to Season 2 of Professor's Play! We are back from our summer hiatus, and in all our hubris, we decided kick off Season 2 with Baldur's Gate 3--the recently-released CRPG by Larian Studios, heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. In this episode, we discuss D&D, how it is a post-structural game, why that makes it difficult to transmediate into a video game, and much...

In the last (and longest, sorry about that we got excited) episode of Season 1 of Professors Play, the Professors discuss the narrative of P4G, how it made them feel (spoiler: one of them cried), how the characters feel like real people, whether the villain is a worthy one, and all the incredible small details that are layered into the gameworld. The Professors would also like to say thank you to...

In the second episode of the Persona 4 Golden series, the professors discuss playing P4G in their own unique ways. Since the game affords much freedom regarding day-to-day activities, the professors have personalized their playthroughs to fit their own preferences. They then discuss playing a game that is a simulation of high school is fun, some of the clever gameplay mechanics, and a little bit o...

In the newest series of Professors Play, the Professors will play Persona 4 Golden, the 2012 cult hit RPG by Atlus. One of the professors has played other Persona games and loves the series, but the others will be experiencing it for the first time. The discussion in this episode focuses on the depth and breadth of lore of Persona 4 and Persona series in general, including topics like Jungian psyc...

In the final episode of their foray into the Portal series, the Professors discuss both Portal and Portal 2 with full spoilers, focusing the incredible lore and storytelling of the series, the clever writing, and what they would like to see if there was to be a Portal series Director's Cut. Stay tuned to the end for an announcement of the next game the Professors will play, as well as a surpri...

In this episode of Professors Play, the Professors discuss what we worked and what didn't work for them while playing Portal--spoiler alert, for most of the panel, there was a lot more that didn't work than did. However, the Professors still enjoyed the experience, and one of them even came out of the episode reflecting more positively on the game than before! Join us for a discussion on f...

This week, we begin our new series here at Professors Play! Over the next few weeks, we'll be playing our way through the Portal series (both Portal and Portal 2). For this series, we also have a special guest, fellow gamer (as she admits herself, after some coaxing) and professor, Dr. Amelia Chesley! In this first episode, you'll hear more about our experiences with platformers in general...

In a feisty and spoiler-filled episode of Professors Play, the professors discuss their favorite and not-so-favorite moments and mechanics in Hades, as well as discuss and digest the tragic nature of Zagreus' story arc in the game. Also, as is tradition, the professors end this episode with a Rose(lia)-(Ferro)thorn-Bud(ew) moment, and talk about what they would like to see in the sequel. Finally,...

In this week's episode, the Professors provide their first impressions on Hades. Spoiler alert: We did not make it out of Hades yet—but we tried, and we tried a lot. Join us for a discussion on what worked and didn’t work for us, passive storytelling (a feature only possible in video games), our play styles in roguelites, and our preliminary score of Hades!

This week, in the first non-Pokémon episode (finally) of Professors Play, the professors delve into the depths of Hades (the video game) lore. Hades is a roguelite asymetrical beat-em-up, based on Greek mythology. Sounds cool, but what does that even mean? Tune in to find out, via a discussion on video game genres and on Greek mythology--some of which might just make you understand the nuances of...

Welcome back to Professors Play after our winter break hiatus! In the last episode of our Scarlet & Violet series, the professors explore the lore of the Pokémon universe, and try to explain what are Pokémon, how the Pokémon world is set up economically, and why Pokémon and humans cohabitate. We believe we have enough pieced together that we can all join Professors Oak, Birch, Sonia, and other...

We did it—we finished our nuzlocke run and the game! Well, some of us did… In this episode of PP, Phil, Brandon, and Jon provide their thoughts on the entirety of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. This episode has FULL SPOILERS (even Phil and Brandon were spoiled in here, ugh), so again, beware if you want to experience the story for yourself first—definitely come back and listen later though! From co...

For our second episode (overall and in this series--symmetry!), Phil, Jon, and Brandon discuss their first impressions with Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. This episode has some spoilers for the early game (but nothing "major"), so beware if you want to go dive into these as complete unknowns.  Take a listen to hear our thoughts on Pokémon walking in the wild and how that made us feel (and what...

Welcome to the first episode of Professors Play! This episode features Professors Jon, Brandon, and Phil discussing the upcoming Pokémon games, Scarlet & Violet (you may have heard of them), and prepare for their (mostly) masked Nuzlocke Challenge attempt. Turns out, setting up a Nuzlocke Challenge with multiple people takes some negotiating. Listen on to see the rules they settled on, but for...