Cartridge Club: The Game of the Month Podcast

Kingdom Hearts is the first game in the Kingdom Hearts series. Revolving around a fourteen-year old boy named Sora, it details his adventures after his homeworld is destroyed by sinister creatures known as the Heartless, and his attempts to restore his world and reunite with his friends. In the process, he meets many characters from classic Disney films and a handful from the Final Fantasy video game series.

Introductions

Panel  

Rusty Lewis

Twitter: @relewis2011

Rob

Twitter: @BonusBarrel

Josh

Twitter: @FranticSociety

Cartridge Club Intro/Outro Music

Ser Flash

Twitter: @Serraxor

Cartridge Club Logo

Will Pruitt

Twitter: @willopruitt

Level 1  

P2(Mark) gives a quick overview of Kingdom Hearts and panel discusses their memories of the game and first impressions.

• Developer: Square Enix

• • Publisher: Square Enix

• Director: Tetsuya Nomura

• Platform(s):

• PS2

• PS3

• PS4

• Release Date:

• • • JP: March 28, 2002

• Genre: Action Role Playing

Level 2

Discuss story of the game: The heartless are attacking and destroying worlds. Sora and his friends are caught up in the mess and Sora, using the keyblade goes on an adventure to find his friends and save the “worlds” from the heartless.

Characters

• Sora

• Riku

• Kairi

• Final Fantasy Characters

• Disney Characters

Discuss gameplay mechanics:

• Controls too floaty?

Discuss sound:

• Voice acting decent

Discuss graphics:

• Fun art style

Level 3

Lasting Impressions, overall rating and final thoughts. Did this make you want to play it again and if not, what would need to be changed? Would you suggest it to friends?

Level 4

3 Word Review #CC3WR from Twitter first followed by panel

Level 5

Outro (thank panel and plug)

Announce the game for next month (Halo)

Curtiss is joined by Mighty Q Dawg to talk all about the blue blur in the palm of your hands. Listen to this one fast before it’s gone! 

The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States.

Introductions

Panel  

Mighty Q Dawg

Twitter: @MightyQDawg

Kathryn

Twitter: @k_song

Ryan

Twitter: @itsrocketsauce

Cartridge Club Intro/Outro Music

Ser Flash

Twitter: @Serraxor

Cartridge Club Logo

Will Pruitt

Twitter: @willopruitt

Level 1  

P2(Mark) gives a quick overview of The Last of Us and panel discusses their memories of the game and first impressions.

• Developer: Naughty Dog

• • Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

• Director: Neil Druckmann, Bruce Straley

• Platform(s):

• PlayStation 3

• PlayStation 4

• Release Date:

• June 14, 2013

• Genre: Third Person Shooter

Level 2

Discuss story of the game: Set in the post-apocalyptic United States, the game tells the story of survivors Joel and Ellie as they work together to survive their westward journey across what remains of the country to find a possible cure for the modern fungal plague that has nearly decimated the entire human race.

Characters:

• Joel (Troy Baker) - The protagonist of the game. Joel is a survivor of the Cordyceps Brain Infection outbreak, taking residence in the Boston Quarantine Zone. Embittered and hardened by the death of his young daughter Sarah, Joel operates as a black market smuggler, dealing in contraband, taking numerous de-humanizing jobs over the years to survive in this new post-pandemic world. He has only few moral boundaries left to cross. Unfortunately for him, he is thrust into the middle of the nightmare that the world has become, when he is asked by the leader of the Fireflies, Marlene, to look after Ellie. Throughout the game, Joel slowly develops an unbreakable bond with Ellie and a desire to once again open up his emotions that he had suppressed for so many years.

• Ellie (Ashley Johnson) - The deuteragonist of the game. Ellie is a brave 14-year-old girl that has grown up in this harsh world and it is all she has ever known. Ellie is immune to the Cordyceps strain and because of this, the Fireflies, an anti-government organization, seek to reverse engineer a vaccine through her. She and Joel travel across the post-pandemic United States to reach the Fireflies. She helps the player through the game in many ways, lending a hand in combat and assisting through areas of the game that would otherwise be inaccessible. She frequently expresses curiosity about the remnants of a world that no longer exists.

• Tess (Annie Wersching) - Tess is Joel's 'partner-in-crime'. They operate in the black market of a city under martial law and have earned a reputation for their ruthless behavior. She and Joel have a trust that runs deeply between them. Tess goes with Joel to drop off Ellie to the Fireflies at the Capitol building in Boston, in exchange for getting back the guns that were stolen from them. Against all odds, the trio make it to the Capitol Building only to find that the Fireflies are dead, and Tess reveals that she was bitten by a Runner an hour before. She holds off some soldiers after she makes Joel promise to bring Ellie to Tommy, Joel's little brother.

• Bill (W. Earl Brown) - Bill is a paranoid survivor who appears early in the game and helps Joel and Ellie. Bill takes refuge in a town that he has completely booby trapped. He seems to be a bit eccentric, perhaps deranged, but offers to aid Joel and Ellie in finding a car. He is excessively bitter towards Ellie due to the fact that she was hostile towards him from the start. Bill possesses gay pornography, and showed heavy emotion for his friend Frank's death, implying that he was romantically involved with Frank.

• Marlene (Merle Dandridge) - The leader of the Fireflies and Ellie's surrogate parent. In exchange for their guns back, Marlene tells Tess and Joel to take Ellie to the Fireflies at the Capitol building in Boston. To Marlene, every unethical action she takes can be justified because of her pursuit to save humanity from the infection. She is absent for most of the game and only appears at the end, where she becomes the final antagonist.

• Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce) - Joel's brother and a former Firefly. The game starts with Tommy helping Joel and Sarah maneuver through the chaotic crowds of both civilians and infected during the initial outbreak. Tommy and Joel reunite later within the game and he reluctantly agrees to help his brother, establishing one of Joel and Ellie's reasons for coming to the University of Eastern Colorado. He is married to Maria.

• David (Nolan North) - A middle-age survivor and leader of a Cannibals group who appears later in the game and asks for help from Ellie. David is a very manipulative person, seeking to win people over with his superficial mild-mannered appearance, and attempts to convince Ellie to join him. Ellie doesn't buy his attitude and eventually breaks his finger. He finally reveals his true nature to Ellie and even attempts to kill her outright, sending a group of his men to capture her several times throughout the winter section of the game. To David, everything that has happened was for a reason; he believes faith brought him and Ellie to together, and that their encounter was meant to be. He has a very profound effect on Ellie throughout the rest of the game.

• Henry (Brandon Scott) - An adept survivor, who, with his brother Sam, helps Joel and Ellie in Pittsburgh. He and Joel are initially hostile towards each other, but in the end begin to warm up to each other. However, he commits suicide after having to kill his infected brother.

• Sam (Nadji Jeter) - Henry's younger brother. Upon meeting, he and Ellie get along almost instantly and continue their easy going relationship throughout the chapter. After he is bitten by an Infected, Ellie is the last person Sam talks to before he turns. He is killed by Henry, who immediately commits suicide out of grief.

• Sarah (Hana Hayes) - Joel's daughter. She is killed in the prologue when a soldier was instructed to open fire on both her and Joel. Her death causes Joel to become cold, cynical, and brutal over the years.

Discuss gameplay mechanics:

• Combat (look at all these shoulder height walls)

Discuss sound:

• BGM - thematic and atmospheric or forgettable?

Discuss graphics:

• Beautiful scenery

• Character design

• The zombies

Level 3

Lasting Impressions, overall rating and final thoughts. Did this make you want to play it again and if not, what would need to be changed? Would you suggest it to friends?

Level 4

3 Word Review #CC3WR from Twitter first followed by panel

Level 5

Outro (thank panel and plug)

Announce the game for next month (Kingdom Hearts)

With an impending deployment P1 can no longer carry on with CCWeekly and after 5 years of podcasting P2 is ready for a break. Thus marks the last episode of CCWeekly with the Bros and it's yours now! Worry not friends, the CC Prime game of the Month will carry on with a new pair of hosts in the form of Musty Hobbit and Its Rocket Sauce and they're ready and able to breathe fresh life into the community.

Curtiss joins forces with his California cohort Chris Roberts to take on March Madness! They discuss everything Nintendo DS/3DS including: the ridiculous amount of system variations, all the games YOU played this month and reviewed on the forums, your MOST DISAPPOINTING games for the DS, and what ever happened to the MEAN GIRLS game??? All this and more in the most jam packed episode yet! 

This week Mark and I discuss our Top 5 games that never received a sequel. Then dive into Sea of Thieves launch day woes and discuss if the game will have the legs to go the distance.

This week Mark couldn’t make it but thankfully my lovely wife Colleen stepped in to fill his shoes. Last of Us and March Madness lead the way for the Prime and Portable games of the month. We talk about Grey’s Anatomy, Jumanji and Kirby’s Star Allies

www.cartridgeclub.org

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Odin Sphere is an action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 2. It was published by Atlus (Japan and North America) in 2007, and by Square Enix (Europe) in 2008. A remake titled Odin Sphere Leifthrasir was released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2016. The story follows five characters on the fantasy continent of Erion during a war between the nations of Ragnanival and Ringford over a weapon called the Crystalization Cauldron, and their roles in the Armageddon, a catastrophe which will destroy Erion.

Introductions

Panel  

Agent Poyo

Twitter: @poyopotpie

Scott

Twitter: @VGCollectaholic

Minotaur Zombie

Twitter: @MinotaurZombie

Cartridge Club Intro/Outro Music

Ser Flash

Twitter: @Serraxor

Cartridge Club Logo

Will Pruitt

Twitter: @willopruitt

Level 1  

P2(Mark) gives a quick overview of Odin Sphere and panel discusses their memories of the game and first impressions.

• Developer: Vanillaware

• • Publisher:
    • JP: Atlus

• NIS America (Leifthrasir)

• Director: George Kamitani

• Platform(s):

• • PlayStation 2

• Release Date:

• May 22, 2007

• June 7, 2016

• Genre: Action Role Playing

Level 2

Discuss story of the game:

Odin Sphere is set on the fictional continent of Erion, which is divided into multiple nations scattered across the land. The two main nations are the warrior land of Ragnanival, and the forest-bound Fairy Kingdom of Ringford, separated by a wasteland that was once the kingdom of Valentine. At the game's opening, Ragnanival is ruled by the Demon Lord Odin, and Ringford is ruled by the Fairy Queen Elfaria with help from her nephew Melvin. The other nations include the neutral land of Titania; the volcano-bound Fire Kingdom ruled by the one male resident King Onyx; and the Netherworld, the land of the dead where natural crystals grow, ruled by the undead Queen Odette. The plot is driven by the tale of Armageddon, a foretold catastrophe in which Erion is destroyed and the survivors reign the new world.

Characters:

Gwyndolyn

Oswald

Cornelius

Mercedes

Velvet

NPC:

Odin

Odette

Onyx

Melvin

Elfaria

Brom

King Gallon

Valentine

Ingway

Brigan

The Wise Ones

Dragons:

Belial

Wagner

Hindel

Leventhan

The Pooka Curse

Multiple endings

Love story

Discuss gameplay mechanics:

Fighting Mechanics

Favourite Character to use

Food

Phozons

Alchemy

POW

PP

Discuss sound:

BGM - memorable or forgettable

Sound Effects

Voice Acting

Discuss graphics:

Holy shit this game is gorgeous

Favourite designs of enemies/characters

Favourite Environments

Level 3

Lasting Impressions, overall rating and final thoughts. Did this make you want to play it again and if not, what would need to be changed? Would you suggest it to friends?

Level 4

3 Word Review #CC3WR from Twitter first followed by panel

Level 5

Outro (thank panel and plug)

Announce the game for next month (The Last of Us)

We talk game OST’s to open the show this week and narrowing it down to our top 5 is way too hard. P2 is frustrated about someone backing into their driveway on a snowy night and the window is open!

We tackle the Nintendo Direct and how it has one of us extremely hyped. Lastly the show rolls into some answers and we realize that our miss had been janked up the whole show, sorry about that.

Top 5: 3:58

Announcements: 17:38

What We’ve Been Up To: 26:57

Nintendo Direct: 28:45

CCAnswers: 1:01:50

www.cartridgeclub.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CartridgeBros

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CartridgeBrosP2 

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We list our top 5 Square JRPG’s to start the show and P2 is surprised by one of the games on P1’s list. Jay snubs P1 at work and sends in his own fantastic top 5 list. The Bros announce the future plan for Cartridge Club Prime and it’s new hosts.

P2 gets credits in a Switch heavy hitter but he isn’t done with it yet. Then we talk I Am Setsuna and we go into spoilers.

Top 5: 2:33

Announcements: 11:40

What We’ve Been Up To: 24:46

I Am Setsuna Spoilers Start: 52:50

I Am Setsuna Spoilers End: 1:03:29

CCAnswers: 1:04:40

www.cartridgeclub.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CartridgeBros

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CartridgeBrosP2 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CartridgeBros/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cartridgebros/

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/cartridgeclub