Bookwarm Games

On ch 8-9 of The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman. 

https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2020/02/gamecool-books-amber-spyglass.html 

On ch 5-7 of The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman

The author of the invaluable Xenogears and Xenosaga Study Guide, AC, and I talk once more about the mirroring of Xenosaga and the unfinished large-scale story sketched in Perfect Works. Here's hoping that he, and Takahashi, find time to complete their respective projects!  

Patrick Holleman, author of the Game Design Forum and Reverse Design book series, joins me for a discussion of game studies and Xenogears. See his rockin' collabs with Resonant Arc on Xenogears, Becoming Whole, and FFVII's Deeper Meaning. For a distillation of some of his research, check out the Game Design Extracts. 

On the end of Xenogears. And then... 

Xenogears OST 

Creid arranged album 

20th Anniversary Concert 

On Xenogears final gameplay chapter, First and Last, where I sat (figuratively) for twenty years playing cards, slaying dragons, looking at Christmas trees, and crafting Mermaid Rings, before finally beating the game a few weeks ago in preparation for this podcast :)

The hosts of the brilliant Retrograde Amnesia podcast join me to share some of the highlights of their chapter-by-chapter inspection of Xenogears. We ponder the cast from Citan to Big Joe, muse upon influences from gnosticism to anime--and our discussion here only hints at the super muchacho information to be found in their own comprehensive offerings on patreon. Thanks again, amigos! 

We refer to The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels, and to The Great Mother, by Erich Neumann. For more notes and recommended reading, see the Bookwarm course page. 

On Xenogears' Anima Relics and the counterparts coming together here: the Elements, Ramsus, Hammer, and Cain