Madness? This...is...no, no, I'm not going to finish this. Drag me, I deserve it. Just make sure to eviscerate me while listening to our awesome conversation with Robert Boyd, the maker of This Way Madness Lies. Do you like Shakespeare? Do you like PC Engine Magical Girl RPGs? Do you like Little Shop of Horrors references? This Way Madness Lies might just be your digital soulmate.

Also in this episode:

• Jammin' with Noctis and the Boys in Final Fantasy Theatrhythm's demo
• Ike Fights for His Friends™
• No Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft at E3 2023. Soooo...
• Pantheon of the Blood God revisits Final Fantasy 8. Is Squall still cool?
• !*!*!~wElc0mE to Da WAREZ Z0NE~!!!! Gr33ts go to my homies xxx_s0L1d_Sp1K3_xxx and +++CrashhMan_69+++!!!!!!!!!!  

Music used in the ep:

• Do Your Best [Breath of Fire 3]
• Title Screen [This Way Madness Lies]
• Transonic Gravity [Sayonara Wild Hearts]
• Torn from the Heavens [Final Fantasy XIV]
• A Curious Tale [Secret of Mana]
• The Man With the Machine Gun [Final Fantasy VIII]

 

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When you think of the "RPG Golden Age," what comes to mind? The SNES, certainly--who can deny the brilliance of Chrono Trigger? (Except for Eric Van Allen, who has been banished to the Naughty Step to think about what he said.) But what if we're living in the Golden Age of RPGs right here and right now? Between the Switch and PS4, RPG fans are feasting like never before. Special guest and valued Patron The Black Stones joins us this week as we weigh up both eras.

Also in this episode:

• Oh no, BioWare :( Are you OK, bestie?
• Alcryst from Fire Emblem teaches us all to hate ourselves
• Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On brought us right back to the track
• Should Skies of Arcadia remain in the Pantheon?
• With apologies to Sesame Street

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Eric had to shoulder the entirety of the show last week because Kat went skiing and Nadia had the audacity to catch COVID, but the gang is well and truly back together this week! Writer and WaPo editor Alyse Stanley joins the crew to talk about Fire Emblem Engage, a.k.a Aquafresh Teen Dragon Force. Just kidding. The Blood God loves the toothpaste hero, and we love Fire Emblem Engage in general. How much? Plug this week's show into your ears and find out.

Also in this episode:

• Yes, you can get married in Final Fantasy XIV
• Industry layoffs, oh God why
• Kat is playing Crisis Core. GONGAGA
• We re-visit Tales of Vesperia. Is it Pantheon material, or nah?
• That one time Nadia found a naked lady in her Super Nintendo game

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Kat and Nadia are both out this week, so Eric shifts into a different gear to chat about the mech-fantasy RPG Chained Echoes with Friends at the Table's Austin Walker! The pair discuss 2022's late-in-the-year surprise hit and why it's captured their hearts, as well as their Steam Decks. All that, plus:

• A primer on the ongoing Wizards of the Coast / OGL news
• Who would you want making a Hunter x Hunter game?
• A surprise end-of-pod guest appearance

All that and more on this week's episode of Axe of the Blood God. Check it out!

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Put on your Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts because it’s tourist season in Eorzea! In this episode of Sharlayan Dropouts we’re taking you on a guided tour. Either listen as a standalone episode or follow along in-game for the Ultimate Immersive Gameplay X-perience!™ This month we’re looking at the tragic history of The Lost City of Amdapor and the brain fungus, abstract liminal spaces, and fun facts about the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that await us there.

Spoiler Level Green: Assuming you’ve made it the point where you can enter The Lost City of Amdapor (lvl 50) then you have nothing to fear but toxoplasmosis.

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Not a single person is ready for 2023, but guess what! It's happening anyway! Time is kind of a dick like that. So Kat, Nadia, and Eric just steel themselves this week and take the full-bodied plunge back into work. That's why this week's episode is refreshing, but there's also a small chance it'll stop your heart. This week's main topic of discussion comes from one of the Blood God's most devout $50 Patreon tier disciples, Knot Hollow, who wants to know what the next decade of RPGs will look like. Well, the Blood God crew has takes, guesses, and ideas. More games like Disco Elysium? Perhaps. More games like Genshin Impact? Maybe. How about Elden Ring? Almost certainly. Come back in a decade for the opportunity to point and laugh about how wrong Kat, Nadia, and Eric were.

Also in this episode:

• Fire Emblem: Engage isn't out yet, but it's already generating takes (and not just about the heroes' Aquafresh toothpaste hair)
• Pocket Card Jockey lives! It has not been put down like a spent racehorse after all!
• One billion years later, Nadia's finally watching Archer
• It's the birth of a new segment! The Blood God team goes back and re-evaluates former Pantheon entries and candidates! This week: Will Lufia 2 be granted mercy?

Very special thanks to Knot Hollow for their support, and for the support of all the Blood God faithful out there!

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Hello and welcome to Year 3 of the Axe of the Blood God! It's going to be an absolutely massive year for RPGs, and that means big things for the podcast. Here's just some of what we have planned as we move through 2023:

An expansion to Youtube! We had a lot of success with our live show in 2022, and we'd love to expand that video component where possible. Expect more updates on this soon!

Merch! We're working on a new store and a host of merch to go in it! We expect this to go live in February.

The Pantheon Revisit! We'll be revisiting some of our most controversial Pantheon entries (and exclusions) from the first two years of the podcast to start 2023. It'll all culminate in a Pantheon revisit that will potentially see some RPGs make it in while others are removed. It should be chaotic! 

Axe of the Blood God Episode 400! Wow, it's almost here!

PAX East panel! We're going to be at PAX East in March! Stay tuned for more info!

Spring of Korra! We'll be diving into our watch of Legend of Korra just as soon as we finish off Winter of Wick!

March Madness, charity streams, D&D, Sharlayan Dropouts, and more! Naturally you can expect all of our usual content, including a charity stream, another D&D episode, a March Madness bracket centered around western RPGs, and more!

That's on top of all of our usual coverage in what should be a very busy year for RPGs. From Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to Starfield to Baldur's Gate 3, we're going to have tons to discuss in 2023!

Thank you as always for your generous support, and we look forward to another great year of podcasting on Axe of the Blood God!

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Happy New Year! 2023's launch also marks the launch of new RPGs. Like, lots of RPGs. This is going to be a busy, busy year. Kat, Nadia, and Eric go over their most anticipated titles for the upcoming 365 days, and also take a few stabs at industry predictions. Take score while you listen, then throw every wrong prediction back in the team's face when the year comes to a close! It'll be fun! More fun than scrabbling around for edible rat bits, or whatever else waits for us this year. 

Thank you for your continued support of Axe of the Blood God! When it all goes downhill, you'll be the first ones we share our edible rat bits with. 

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The year is coming to a close, and so we're looking back on all the role-playing games 2022 delivered. Kat, Nadia, and Eric are joined by the Sharlayan Dropouts Mike and Victor to help break down all the happenings in the RPG world this year, including:

• Square Enix's fall blunderbuss of RPGs
• The magic of Elden Ring
• Can an RPG truly have it all in Xenoblade Chronicles 3?

All this and more, including one last holiday Nostalgia Nook/Pit. We hope all our listeners and backers are having a wonderful holiday time, and we'll see you soon in the new year for a fresh batch of RPG goodness.

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Kat has returned to the Axe of the Blood God, and all she got was a nasty cough. Well, that and memories that'll last a lifetime, or something like that. She's come back home just in time to enjoy a very chill episode of the show, which delves into reader mail. In other words…it's letter tiiime, it's letter tiiime! Kick back and listen as Kat, Nadia, and Eric answer questions about games they initially loved, then cooled down on (and vice versa), which games they regret not playing in 2022, what they're looking forward to in 2023, and lots more.

Also in this episode:

• The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters are coming to consoles! There's a deluxe box set! Aaaand it's gone
• Chained Echoes is pretty baller
• Dragon Quest Treasures has no idea what it's doing, but that's part of the fun
• If your Christmas party doesn't involve poisoning yourself with homemade bucket wine, don't call it a Christmas party

In the Post Show

The gang continues to chill as they discuss the movies Kat watched on the plane on her way home from Amsterdam. The discussion quickly slides into all-out movie discourse, which means a hot takes about Pixar movies and Christopher Nolan. God bless us, everyone.

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