The Look Back: August 2021

09/10/21 • 16 min

Arrggh! A Video Game Podcast from The Waffling Taylors

This is a new type of shorter episode that we'll be putting out each month, called "THE LOOK BACK!". In these, we'll be looking back at the previous month's episodes and giving you a rundown of them. That way, if you somehow missed one, you can get the low down on what you missed. Pretty handy eh?

We'd still recommend that you check out the podcast proper. And if you haven't already, then look for us on your podcatcher of choice and subscribe. It's 100% free to do so, you know.

Intro

We usually do these Look Back episodes together, but Squidge was quite ill when we were planning to record it and ended up having to bow out in order to get better. So it's just me and RUSSELL this week folks. Anyway, roll the intro music RUSSELL.

Rolling in 3 ... 2 ...
- RUSSELL

One quick note: we ended up putting out fewer episodes than we'd planned last month. We went into the reasons for this in our previous Look Back episode - so definitely give that a listen if you'd like to know why.

We'd still recommend that you check out the podcast proper. And if you haven't already, then look for us on your podcatcher of choice and subscribe. It's 100% free to do so, you know.

Make sure that you check out the show notes which should be showing in your podcatcher. There are a tonne of links in this episode, and they'll all be right there in your podcatcher. You can also read along with the episode if you wish.

We're also going to be doing something a little different with this month's Look Back, so stick around to find out what.

Jay, tell the people what they might have missed.
- RUSSELL

Episode 123 - Ten Minutes of TV Time with Morgan Ritson

This past month - August 2021 - we put out two brand new episodes. The first episode was an interview with a new friend of the show: Morgan Ritson; we called it Ten Minutes of TV Time with Morgan Ritson. Morgan is one heck of a funny guy, and we tried not to edit out too many of his jokes and skits.

We didn't release a teaser for this episode, because it would have been exceptionally difficult to distil all of the humour and deep game narrative analysis (sometimes happening at the same time) into a 2 minutes clip. Squidge actually tried to to this, and it ended up being a copy of the episode - in all its 95 minute glory.

Like I said, Morgan is an exceptionally funny gentleman; but he's also a very deep thinker. We met Morgan on the discord server for [lock-on] - a new gaming journal from the folks over at Lost in Cult. As a side note, if you've not heard of them then you should listen to our interview with them, from February.

Anyway, we talked about Sekiro and the lack of narratives which focus on reluctant footsoldiers, the Final Fantasy series as a whole and the trope of the tragic villain, Dragon Quest and the birth of the JRPG genre, and we dropped him off at the Thunder Plains for a spell.

Morgan is also a talented voice artist, and you should consider hiring him. You can contact Morgan on twitter: @MorganRitson

You'll definitely have to give this episode a listen if you haven't already, because it was so much fun to make and listen back to. Check your podcatcher for a link.

Here comes Jay, again
- RUSSELL

Episode 124 - Mad Max in Bright Colours with The B

🎵Gotta catch 'em all, doo dee doo.🎵

A week after Morgan's episode, we got together with The_B and tackled the fact that Pokémon turned 25 this year.

Are you feeling old yet?
- RUSSELL

We had one heck of a conversation with The_B about the global phenomenon that is butterfly catching... I mean Pokémon. We called this episode Mad Max in Bright Colours with The B. And when I say episode, I really mean it: the final edit of the episode was 2 hours and 12 minutes. But don't let the length of the episode put you off, it's split into easily digestible chunks.

We had Squidge run this episode, because he knows WAY more about Pokémon than I do. At the time of recording the episode, I had only ...

We'd still recommend that you check out the podcast proper. And if you haven't already, then look for us on your podcatcher of choice and subscribe. It's 100% free to do so, you know.

Intro

Rolling in 3 ... 2 ...
- RUSSELL

We'd still recommend that you check out the podcast proper. And if you haven't already, then look for us on your podcatcher of choice and subscribe. It's 100% free to do so, you know.

We're also going to be doing something a little different with this month's Look Back, so stick around to find out what.

Jay, tell the people what they might have missed.
- RUSSELL

Episode 123 - Ten Minutes of TV Time with Morgan Ritson

Morgan is also a talented voice artist, and you should consider hiring him. You can contact Morgan on twitter: @MorganRitson

You'll definitely have to give this episode a listen if you haven't already, because it was so much fun to make and listen back to. Check your podcatcher for a link.

Here comes Jay, again
- RUSSELL

Episode 124 - Mad Max in Bright Colours with The B

🎵Gotta catch 'em all, doo dee doo.🎵

A week after Morgan's episode, we got together with The_B and tackled the fact that Pokémon turned 25 this year.

Are you feeling old yet?
- RUSSELL

We had Squidge run this episode, because he knows WAY more about Pokémon than I do. At the time of recording the episode, I had only ...

Previous Episode

Pokemon Turns 25: Mad Max in Bright Colours with The B

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page. Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

Pokémon turned 25, and it made both Jay and Squidge feel really old. And because misery loves company, we asked The B to talk about it on the show. We also reached out to the Pokémon community for comments and questions.

Here's a sample of the full show notes - make sure to click through and check them out.

Content Warning

There are a couple of bleeped swears in this episode - because bleeped swears are funnier, right?

At 01:15:03 The B says:

it's the crack cocaine of video games
- The B

There's also a potential spoiler for the first Pokémon movie at 01:58:03, check your podcatcher for chapter markings for this.

And there is one mention of a certain type of disease, at the _VERY_ end of the episode - like, within the closing minute of the episode

Please listen responsibly

Show Notes

Welcome back to another episode of our podcast! This episode is all about Pokémon - that's right, the game which took butterfly catching and made it into a video game - and we don't mean that creepy intro bit to Resident Evil: Code Veronica, either

Pokémon turned 25 this year - 2021, in case you're listening from the future - and it made us feel super old. So we got together with The B to talk about just how old it makes us feel.

As a bit of a break from the norm, we handed over the hosting privileges to Squidge for this episode - mainly because he knows WAY more about Pokémon than Jay does.

In fact, the actual cast for this episode was:

Backpacker Squidge
Beautiful Lass Jay
Hex Maniac B

As you can see, it was one heck of a cast.

10,000 ft View of Pokémon

We started the episode by asking everyone to give their own 10,000 ft overview of the Pokémon games. You know, in case someone listening had never heard of it.

And some of our interpretations of the games are... interesting, to say the least. It included theories as to who the main character is, where the human hospitals are, why Professor Oak can't remember his grandson's name - worst grandpa ever - whether Professor Oak and Rick (from Rick & Morty) are the same person, why normal RPG rules don't apply, and whether social services should have been involved.

It's not like The Island of Dr. Monroe. Humans aren't Pokémon. Or are they?
- Squidge

And of course Jay's description of Pokémon was provided via interpretive dance - making it harder for Squidge to edit into the episode

Basically Pokémon covers the full gamut of neglectful and abusive behaviour of other species and children
- TheB

Way to keep up those positive waves, B.

Community Comments #1

We reached out to the wider Pokémon community ahead of recording this episode, and asked for comments on what Pokémon meant to everyone. We had quite a few comments, so we wanted to pepper them throughout the episode, and these were the first set of comments.

First up was Mr. Ray, and he had this to say:

Pokémon to me meant friends. Not just with the pokemon pals I had, but that it forced a shy kid to socialize and trade so I could catch them all. Since, yknow, the game is designed for that
- Mr. Ray of the $2 Creature Feature Podcast

Next up was Sakura, and she had this to say:

To be the best, like no one ever was because it's my destiny.
Seriously though, Pokemon means to me: nostalgia/good memories, friendship, a connection, determination, and something that makes people come together.
You don't realise the power and effect pokemon has given to people universally, until those first few notes of the original theme song play and you see a venue holding a 1000+ attendees, suddenly stop whatever they were doing and all sing the song in unison with such passion in their voices - everyone in that room is rethinking their own adventure together with everyone in that moment. It's beautiful and makes you feel wholesome that your part of such a worldwide phenomena
- Sakura

Both of these comments are wonderfully wholesome, we're sure that you'll agree.

And as B points out, both Tomb Raider and Pokémon have this uncanny ability to bring communities to...

Next Episode

Chief Andrew is Lost in Cult

Here's a sample of the full show notes - make sure to click through and check them out.

Show Notes

His go at hosting the show in our previous episode - Mad Max in Bright Colours with The B - might have gone to his head, as Squidge decided to start this episode off in a confused place.

And we started the conversation off with discussion of Jay's moustache, which looks somewhere between Yosemite Sam and Freddie Mercury. But this episode wasn't just about Jay and Squidge, they were joined by... let's quote Jay, actually

Andrew "Dreamcast years, multiple podcast man, Editor in Chief for Lost in Cult" Dickinson
- Jay

And that might just be his official title. Andrew was most recently on the show in the second part of our discussion on Resident Evil Apocalypse - here's a link to that - but that wasn't the last thing that the three of us were on together. Both Squidge and Jay were invited onto an episode of the Dreamcast Years podcast - it was episode 12 actually - and it was a complete blast. So definitely check that out, if you haven't already.

Catching Up with Andrew

We couldn't have Andrew on the show without talking about the positive things that have happened with him recently. Some of these things include:

Dreamcast Years Volume Two is well on the way
Lost in Cult has started, and Andrew was made Editor-in-Chief
Lost in Cult volume One has shipped
Lost in Cult Volume Two has started production, too

at the time of recording this episode, the kickstarter campaign for volume two was still active. Please bear that in mind as you listen to the episode

CultCast has launched

It just goes to show that if you want something done, give it to someone who is already busy
- Squidge

Recent Games

The Recent Games segment will not be new to listeners, but in case you're new to the show here's how it goes: we go round the table and discuss one or more games that we've been playing recently, and whether we think it's worth the listeners checking it out. We continue to do this until we've run out of games to discuss.

I love to hear what everyone's been playing, and whether they would recommend it.
- Jay

Of course we were interested in what Andrew had been playing recently. So it was only natural that we would ask him what he had been playing recently.

Andrew's Recent Games

Mario Golf: Super Rush

This title had reminded Andrew of Wii Sports Club, for the Wiiu - remember when Wiiu's where a thing?

Resident Evil: Village

Which Andrew had completed within a few days of it being released, and he thoroughly enjoyed.

Squidge's Recent Games

Resident Evil: Village

Squidge was part way through RE: Village when we recorded this episode actually. He has since completed the game and unlocked, pretty much, everything.

Diablo III
Samurai Warriors 5

He's also been playing "Surviving Windows Updates", a perilous game which involves getting angry at how everything on your computer seems to break shortly after installing the latest Windows Update

something something I use Linux
- Jay

Jay's Games

Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!

Squidge was kind enough to let Jay borrow his copy of this wonderful remake of the 1st gen games, and he had a lovely time playing it.

Samurai Warriors 5

Both Squidge and Jay are huge fans of the Koei Warriors games; it's always a tonne of fun to drop into a virtual battlefield with an almost unlimited supply of enemies and button bash your way out.

Mafia II: Definitive Edition

This game was plagued with issues on it's initial release - the HD remaster, that is. The original game was pretty much flawless - and Jay had been battling with getting it up and running for a few days, but he eventually triumphed and can now run it on his Linux-based ...