Menu Combat

This weeks episode I have Ziad on. We follow up on last years episode unpacking the nature of leveling up across gaming. Given that Final Fantasy Revelation has an autolevel feature, it should make us the value the mechanic of the leveling up and in general progression systems across the board.

In todays episode I talk about the brilliance of Chapter 3 of Dragon Quest 4 as well as the ways JRPGs use time skips and time travel.

Today Oscar of Halcyon Games and I talk about how much we love Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Halcyon Games: https://www.instagram.com/halcyon_videogames/?hl=en

On this week of Menu Combat TheWolvesDen talks about his enjoyment of FFVII Rebirth and the ways JRPGs create a sense of scale!

On this week's episode of Menu Combat TheWolvesDen talks about his experience with Kingdom Hearts 1 and reflections how it and Tales approach progression compared to turnbased JRPGs

On this episode of Menu Combat TheWolvesDen gets into the shadows and the greatness of Persona 4 Golden. He also thinks about the IRL monster recruitment experiences. Pokemon and Monster Rancher do this greatly!

Jeremiah returns for us to dive deep into our Fire Emblem origin stories and do a trailer analysis for Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave. It's an exciting time to be a Tactical RPG fan!

Last episode I mentioned my item hoarding tendencies. On todays episode Jeremiah gets to correct my narrow casting of items! We talk about potions, buff items, law cards etc. Coverings the categories and functions of items

On this week’s episode of Menu Combat I recount my time with Yukiko’s dungeon in Persona 4 Golden . Remarking on how thoughtful the boss design is, as well getting into the humor of the game. In addition, I talk about what it means to play within the spirit of a videogame.

I talk about the opening hours of Person 4, how sometimes expectations affect the way I consume or think about a game. I end with debating the openings of Shadow World and Pursuing My True Self. 

On this week’s episode I have the Sephiroth of JRPGs on : Ziad. We unpack whether or not JRPG combat bad. We discuss if encounters are repetitive and dull. We discuss his background with character action and arcade games and how that affects how he perceives combat design.  Ziad’s Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ziaddd.bsky.social Ziad’s Twitter:  https://x.com/wondermagenta Ziad’s Youtube: http...

Welcome to Season 3 of Menu Combat! On this week's episode I have both Actual Lizard and Halcyon Games to talk about Fire Emblem Three Houses. We talk about support design and the shock of the reveal of the Flame Emperor. Follow Actual Lizard Here Twitter: https://x.com/ActualLizard Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@actuallizard Follow Halycon Games Here Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halcyo...

TheWolvesDen talks about Disc 1 & 2 for Final Fantasy 7. He explores trusting the world design and gets obsessed with materia!

This week is the official conclusion of Season 2 of Menu Combat. We go out with a bang ! I have a full Xenoblade 3 spoiler talk with Jiikae ! We spend over a half an hour just talking world and mechanics! Listen to us appreciate the density of the game design!

On today’s episode of Menu Combat I have GuhreenTi on!  We discuss Jobs & Classes. We unpack the difference between Class & Role and discuss some of our fave classes. We make reference to games such as Xenoblade, Final Fantasy 14 & Bravely Default. Follow GuhreenTi Twitter: https://x.com/GuhreenTi Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/guhreenti TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@guhreentitv

This week of Menu Combatis spoiler filled gushing about Chapter 5 ending & Chapter 6 beginning for Xenoblade 3. In addition I muse on Nintendo legitimizing HD-2D & it's impact on the current JRPG landscape

On this weeks episode I interview Jonathan Cloud on! He puts me on to the Saga series. It’s a series I only know lightly through the grapevine. He tells us about his fave game in the series and things to keep in mind as the remake of Romancing Saga 2 drops this fall. Come get schooled with me. You can find Johnathan Cloud Twitter : https://x.com/JohnCloudThe1st

On this weeks episode of Menu Combat, I have Brainrot Veil on! We begin to think of what it takes to have a cool monster design. He really digs into one of the SMTV designs and I do my Pokemon love!  Where you can find brainrot Veil Main Twitter: https://x.com/brainrotVeil Writing Twitter : https://x.com/UndernethTheRot Website here: https://vincentrlondon.wixsite.com/brainrot He just released Lib...

This weeks episode talks about the 4 types of dungeons that JRPGs tend to have. I provide some quick examples of what they might me. I suggest that Persona technically falls into 2. I talk about how bad the dungeon experience in Tales of Berseria has been and how the saving grace for me has been how Velvet is learning to be human interacting with Number 2/Laphicet.

This weeks episode covers ranking JRPGs in tiers of their larger reputation. In addition because of a series of unfortunate events, I start Tales of Berseria. I talk about my impressions of Velvet in the opening hours and how she seems to remind me a bit of Yuri.

This episode talks about what you have to do when coming back to a JRPG after a long break. I talk about remembering plot points, story jargon and combat mechanics just so you can continue your playthrough. I also jump into talking about the end of Chapter 4 of Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

TheWolvesDen records his thoughts of Persona 5 before his experience with the Royal content (expect a follow up shortly). It is his first Persona game and second SMT game... and you can hear how much adjustment it took to understand the rhythm of the game.

Inspired by Robert Boyd's tweet about recommending ancient jrpgs to newcomers, TheWolvesDen tries to go into detail about why we do this as a community!

On this weeks episode of Menu Combat, THeWolvesDen gets thoroughly impressed by Tales of Vesperia combat. He talks about what makes Yuri Lowell special and asks for Tales of fans to recommend other games. He reflects on the act of backtracking and how exploring and just traversing are to two different mental experiences along the same path. 

On this weeks episode of Menu Combat, TheWolvesDen continues his experience with Triangle Strategy, detailing the heart wrenching decision at Chapter 17. He also talks about embarrassing moments as a youth misunderstanding game mechanics. Which leads into an aside about how opaque the skill and crafting system is in Star Ocean the First Departure R.