RPGFan's Retro Encounter

Welcome to the first episode of Retro Encounter’s Adventure Game Month! Throughout October, we’re looking at four adventures across several eras of gaming. First up, the seminal point-and-click classic, The Secret of Monkey Island! SoMI is a foundational game for LucasArts. Under Ron Gilbert’s direction, it brought in many of the conventions that would define the point-and-click genre moving forwa...

Live (A Live) from the Middle Ages, it's Thursday night! Live A Live is an anthology RPG comprised of eight miniature stories that lead to a grand finale, and its 2022 remake gets three thumbs up from today's Retro Encounter panel. They discuss the tragic eighth chapter, as well as the twisted endgame which brings together seven triumphant heroes and one disgraced would-be savior into a clash betw...

Rhymes with "Drive Survive," not "Sieve Forgive"  Live A Live , an influential 1994 RPG developed by Square during their Super Nintendo apex, is an anthology RPG which tells eight short stories that eventually coalesce into a satisfying finale. Live A Live 's 2022 Nintendo Switch remake is the title's only official worldwide release, and several staff at RPGFan were eager to dive and thrive. This...

Never Gonna Give Yeul Up Fabula Nova Crystallis, the high-concept collection of Final Fantasy games dating from 2006, resulted in five games of varying tone and execution. Retro Encounter spent much of August playing and discussing Final Fantasy XIII, and today three panelists break down and lift up the rest of the family, including the former Agito, Final Fantasy Type-0, and the Versus XIII succe...

Finally, we connect Xenoblade Chronicles to Abraham Lincoln.  The 3DS eShop is on its last legs as Nintendo phases out online support for its successful handheld, but Retro Encounter hasn't given up on this 3D-enabled machine yet. Five panelists (including three new ones!) discuss their favorite 3DS games and series in an appreciation-slash-celebration for this titan of the 2010s.  Featuring: Mich...

How clear is Final Fantasy XIII's story? Not exactly Crystal.  Final Fantasy XIII has a wild ride to the finish, and three Retro Encounter panelists cap off their personal experiences playing it by reacting to FF XIII's remarkable design changes, confusing character motivations, and beautiful imagery in its final chapters. So who did we bring to the final battle? Why are there so many metaphors fo...

Thunderbolts and Lightning / Very very frightening Final Fantasy XIII, one of the most divisive games in the world's most popular Japanese RPG series, is certainly old enough to be considered Retro, but its style and tone are anything but. Our panelists are one FF XIII veteran, one FF XIII neophyte, and one lapsed player; they're unkind to the linear corridors and grating personalities of the firs...

What's the story, RPGFan? Do you think it's worth a look? It seems kinda familiar, like a story from a book.  RPGs and adventure games very often have an outsize focus on storytelling, in part because so many of them are about a group of characters growing and changing over the course of their game. Naturally, RPG fans of all stripes would prefer their games have a great story and great gameplay,...

Don't ask me no questions, and I won't tell you no lies.  We here at Retro Encounter love talking about video games, but decided to spend this episode getting to know each other a little better. In a sequel to a 2020 episode, four RPGFan panelists play a game in which they try to tell fact from fiction and share some details about themselves. Does Sollosi own three copies of Kingdom Hearts II, a g...

Hey Jude, don't make it bad / Take a spirit, and make her better / Remember to let her into your heart / Then you can start to save the planet.  Three RPGFan staff played through Tales of Xillia in July 2022, and left Rieze Maxia and Elympios feeling satisfied. By game's end, the panelists were surprised by an invading army, confused by multiple characters changing sides, and outraged that a 15-ye...

We're all doing our best, but there is always room for Progress Tales of Xillia made a big splash on the PS3 in the early 2010s, with beautifully-rendered characters and frenetic combat for RPGs of that era. The usual Tales Of standards are here, from a climate crisis connected to Mana Spirits to one character that seems on the brink of betraying the team at any moment. So how does the panel feel...

Did you know that RPGs, especially more traditional text-based RPGs, are generally considered to be among the more accessible videogame types? And that's a wonderful distinction, because accessibility means that the greatest possible number of players can actually play and enjoy it. Join our intrepid panel, then, in celebrating accessibility in all its forms. We discuss resources for news on the t...

The chase is on in our pointless quiz show! Retro Encounter engages in friently competition for the fifth time, with four RPGFan staff members taking on the quizmaster's queue of questions. This quiz is a slightly different format from previous shows, with the four contestants playing simultaneously and rounds inspired by fan favorite game shows "Ask Me Another," and "I Literally Just Told You." L...

Young master... listen to this episode. That is my first... and last... request. Determined duels! Shocking departures! Sudden but inevitable betrayal! The second half of Suikoden the first is not lacking in drama, and four Retro Encounter panelists relish it, whether they're experiencing it for the first time or the tenth. Who's on our final sixes out of the first one-hundred-eight? Listen and fi...

Odessa told me: “A talkative man who doesn't have a podcast is a coward." One of the very first RPGs on the PlayStation, Suikoden created a legion of new fans in 1995, spawning nearly a dozen sequels and spinoffs over the next decade-plus. Retro Encounter has discussed multiple Suikoden sequels in older episodes, but today goes back to where it all began: a story of civil war, mystical runes, and...

Hundreds of heroes to choose from, but only four squads competing Retro Encounter returns from its 77-day hiatus to deliver three Suikoden episodes in a row! But before we get to our journal through the first Suikoden, we're going to draft Suikoden characters through the lifetime of the entire series, giving 32 of them a thorough discussion. Which main character goes first overall? Who's everyone'...

Three hosts enter. One leaves satisfied, one leaves salty, and the third… is still on the island. For Retro Encounter's third and final game of Metroidvania Month, three panelists took on Ska Studios' Salt & Sanctuary , a 2016 action RPG inspired heavily by both Metroidvania games and From Software's Souls series . The panelists all acknowledge Salt & Sanctuary's strengths and weaknesses,...

Of warrior mice and podcast men. Adaptations! In advance of an RPGFan feature later this month, three Retro Encounter panelists talk about their favorite stories and IP from outside the realm of video game RPGs, and how they each could be adapted into RPGs. 1990s novels aimed at young adults, 2000s superhero shows aimed at elementary school students, and 1960s manga for all ages are only a few of...

A couple weeks ago, we kicked off Metroidvania March with an episode on Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow . Today we turn our attention to what is, in many ways, the true origin of this sub-genre of adventure games, and the first half of its name before "-vania" would be added in subsequent years: Super Metroid . We don't actually cover Metroid here, but it's impossible to understate its influence on ad...

Jay Bilas is on hand to break down Flying-type wingspans. It's time to d-d-d-d-draft! Several RPGFan staff are enjoying Pokemon Legends: Arceus in the early days of 2022, so four Retro Encounter panelists are celebrating good times by drafting teams of their favorite monsters and trainers from the Pokémon universe. And a few draft picks might get a little spicy, or a little… funky. Featuring: Mich...

First of all / I'm the soloist / The soul controller Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was a highlight of the run of handheld Castlevania games of the 2000s, starring the soul-collecting teenager Soma Cruz. Four panelists with varying levels of Castlevania experience played or replayed Aria of Sorrow for Retro Encounter's Metroidvania Month, and the reviews are good (but maybe not Elden Ring good). Feat...

In which we all followed the Light, and read spoilers on the Dark Three Retro Encounter panelists finished runs of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic this month, and discover the truth of the Star Forge, the Sith Academy, and Darth Revan. Droids guarding riddles, Sith guarding crystals, and one of the most famous video game plot twists of the 2000s are contained within this action-packed episo...

A few decades ago, in a BioWare far, far away... Way back in 2003, Knights of the Old Republic was a standout RPG for the original Xbox that helped raise the public profile of BioWare, a sizeable Canadian developer of western-style RPGs. And less than a year before KOTOR is slated for a huge remake, a Retro Encounter panel of KOTOR veterans and neophytes comes together to train as Jedi to defeat t...

Abandon *some* hope, ye who play this game In a semi-sequel to Retro Encounter's 2019 attempt to play the horror adventure sensation Until Dawn, the same two panelists reconvene with the 2020 Dark Pictures Anthology title, Little Hope. 17th-century witch trials, building character traits, and navigating trauma and guilt all take center stage in this entertaining horror romp. Also, this episode was...

Skies of Arcadia has big ambitions in the second half of the game, and the Retro crew are finally allowed to sail beyond the sunset! With a new ship, their own secret base, and their very own crew to hand, these four foolhardy sailors discuss their favourite discoveries, crew members, and superbosses, all while mulling on the maturity of the characters, the beauty of exploration, and just how many...