Axe of the Blood God: USgamer's Official RPG Podcast

This week on Axe of the Blood God, Kat has run off to do sailor junk on the high seas, so Nadia and Eric hold the rig together by themselves. Well, that's not entirely true. Kat joins them from SeaPhone™ to tackle this week's main topic: Why some games were picked for our updated Top 25 RPG list, while others were left to die in shallow puddles of rainwater. This discussion involves a lot of self-flagellation and even more furious denial, so look forward to drama and mayhem. Soap operas wish they had this explosive narrative impact.   Also in this episode:  

• June is going to be all decked out in Final Fantasy (XVI? VII Remake pt 2?) news.
• What is even going on with Summer Games Fest? Do we know? Do we care? (Kinda.)
• One time, Nadia had to ask a bookstore clerk for porn manga. It was for work.
• The Luca Goers suck.

It's time at last to share our newly-revised list of the 25 best RPGs of all time! For much of 2022 we've been slowly collecting potential nominees for an update to the list that we made several years ago. Now it's time to share that list for all to see!  To make this list we took the list of nominees plus the original list and made our own Top 25s, with the games that were on all three lists going straight into the Top 25. From there we embraced debate with discussions including:

• Whether or not Mass Effect should be included a trilogy
• Eric calling Skyrim the "McDonald's hamburger of RPGs."
• Multiple RPGs being rescued from the dead 
• Whether it's time to anoint brand-new #1!

For your convenience, we've shared time codes below. Time Codes 4:40: We share our personal Top 25 RPG lists 21:35 - The Initial Cutdown + Wild Card Picks + Listener Poll 36:35: Games That Made At Least Two Lists 140:25: Finalizing the List 2:23:00: Ranking the Games 2:50:20: The Top 25 RPGs Of All Time Thanks again for joining us in this very fun project! We'll probably be circling back and rebuilding given that there always amazing new RPGs being released. But in the meantime, we're excited to hear your thoughts!

As a special thank you to our listeners for helping us reach $6000 two months in a row, we recently hosted a very special D&D 5e session with special guest DM Shivam Bhatt. Now it's available for everyone to listen! Tune in as our heroes embark on a quest for the Axe of the Blood God; bumble into some orcs; have a really hard time climbing a hill, and say hello to a very special badger named Orlando. Here are the characters: Kat plays Kara the Wanderer, a Paladin devoted to Selune the Moonmaiden. Nadia plays Kalfor, a Red Dragonborn Ranger with motivations of their own (and a cool hat, apparently). Eric plays Coronach, a Tiefling Warlock with a real Pixie problem. If you enjoyed the adventure, let us know! It would be fun to do more of these if listeners are interested. Until then, thank you as always for your support and the opportunity to do fun and unique adventures like this one!

This week on the Axe of the Blood God RPG podcast, we're joined by USgamer alumni Mike Williams. Mike tells us all about the adventures he's had with a jolly man named Jack Garland. Jack is the very agreeable protagonist of the very normal, very down to earth Final Fantasy Origins: Stranger of Paradise. Listen to Mike talk about the game; we assure you Jack never uses foul language or flies off into disjointed rants. P.S., today is Opposite Day. Also in this episode:

• Strategy fans are eatin' good with Triangle Strategy
• You should play Babylon's Fall just to remind yourself of how bad video games can get
• Warm memories of Toonami on its 20th anniversary
• Dicktochat

The three co-hosts have been reunited after many weeks apart, and just in time to talk about a whole bunch of news! There's a new generation of Pokémon on the horizon, Triangle Strategy is out, and we're all still talking Elden Ring. It's quite a time for RPGs, even if they're all getting swallowed up by FromSoft's latest.   Also on the show:  - Eric becomes Wolverine Jesus

- Nadia discovers how to work a Nintendo

- Kat gears up for some old-school Pokémon catching

- We take a look at the first round of March Madness voting!

Links mentioned in the show:

- Eric's segment "Piplup Step": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm0nLJuRNbw

- Donate to Ukraine: https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine

- Equality Texas: https://www.equalitytexas.org/

- TENT: https://www.transtexas.org/

Greetings, disciples of the Blood God. Kat is not with us this week; she's going to try her hand at being a pirate on the open seas. There's an excellent chance she'll be back next week, though. Despite what the Peter Pan song tells you, the pirate's life is not for everyone.
Nadia and Eric manage to scrounge together a great show anyway, because it's Elden Ring week! No worries—there are no spoilers on the show, but we did get Isla Hinck from Easy Allies and Jesse Vitelli of PrimaGames to talk about their reviews for this highly anticipated (and critically acclaimed) open world game from FromSoftware. Also on this episode:

• No, seriously, Elden Ring's review scores are truly, truly, truly outrageous
• Nadia gives her impressions of Final Fantasy VI: Pixel Remaster
• Valve God Gabe Newell is confirmed Final Fantasy XIV trash
• The story of Ganon, the golden retriever that humped everything

We're going back to the '90s again here on Axe of the Blood God, but here's a twist: We're going back to '90s Japan. Yes, it's another PC Console Quest, and we've invited our good friend PC98 Audi back to the show for the occasion. We discuss the PC-98's legacy, and how it affected '90s RPG development. Why did the platform have so many visual novels? What's the deal with, ahem, all those hentai games? We have much wisdom contained here, so stay a while and listen. Also in this episode:

• Oh God, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft. Oh God.
• We have new picks for the Top 25 RPG Remake 2022 Intergrade.
• Nadia plays Bloodborne like a dimwit.
• Space Jam DVD.

New year, new Axe of the Blood God! Our new Stars of Destiny tier has kicked off in earnest, and we had our first live taping of the podcast, followed by a special post-show discussion. That's right, for 25 smackeroos you can listen to us flub our lines and then get into a fight about Super Mario World vs Super Mario Bros. 3. Very rated R stuff. See, the R stands for "rad." This week's main show covers a bunch of stuff, including: - The great indie RPG 2022 preview! Some gorgeous retro-style fare is coming up, like Sea of Stars, SacriFire, and Eiyuden Chronicles Rising. - We're revisiting the Top 25 RPGs of All Time, and we want you to help us update our selection! - Square Enix is having NFT FOMO, and the world must suffer for it. - Eric is now a Final Fantasy XIV sicko. Ha ha…yes! Yessss! If you weren't able to pop to the post-show, we've got that for you, too. We talk about Sony's drive to produce only "prestige" games, and how that new philosophy will affect RPGs. Then everything breaks down into Super Mario chaos. Mama mia.

"Live thy life to the fullest, but knowest thou always that the end walks ever closer." Is that an OK Urianger impersonation? Bah, whatever. Point is, Nadia, Mike, and Victor review Final Fantasy 14's Endwalker expansion in this episode. It's epic, it's guaranteed to move you to tears...and like everything else in this flawed universe, it can use some improvements. Tune your linkshell in! Spoiler Level: Red. Major spoilers for most of Endwalker's story. I suppose that goes without saying. However, there's very little discussion about the end area and end boss, since Victor's on the last leg of his journey.

Last week was the Giving of Thanks, and Eric returned to his ancestral home to prepare the necessary sacrifices. That means Kat and Nadia are alone for this episode, just like the good ol' days of... er, maybe a month ago? Point is, this is a very chill episode.  Some of the big topics: - Is a Chrono Cross remake under development?
- Who is an unsung RPG composer?
- How excited are we for a Mass Effect TV show? Also in this episode: Neo The World Ends With You didn't do so hot because Square Enix kind of forgot to market it, and plans for the future of Blood God! A new tier approaches! Command?