Combo Chain - A JRPG Podcast

So a caveman, kung fu master, ninja, cowboy, tournament fighter, esper, robot, and a knight go into a bar and discover...a cosmic evil. We cover this long-obscure cult Super Famicom JRPG that only came to the west this year through a remaster. Both versions are a glimpse into a fascinating concept decades before its time, and the kind of risk-taking and wild experimentation that could be found in 16-bit JRPGS.

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We bust out our flowcharts and get unstuck in time as we cover the time-traveling cult classic Radiant Historia. As a dying world contends with endless war and desertification, three heroes jump between multiple timelines to try and find a way forward. Both a throwback to classic JRPGs and an ambitious reformulation of them, Radiant Historia is a fascinating relic of the Nintendo DS era.

Timeline flowcharts on Fandom

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River-kun comes for us all as we cover Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The collaboration between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli was the subject of a lot of anticipation but has a complicated legacy. We discuss Drippy-gate, collecting the 'mons, and the game's similiarities to Frozen spinoff media.

Allisa James' work on Linktree

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Pick your best boy or girl and join us as we cover Fire Emblem: Three Houses with special guest Six Dettmar! With the help of Koei Tecmo, Intelligent Systems (and Nintendo) turned the franchise around after the questionable Fire Emblem Fates. The result was an ambitious mix of mature themes, meaningful character development, branching narrative paths, dating simulation, and, of course, anime chess.

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Underrated and under-promoted, the absurdly titled 7th Dragon III: Code VFD didn't make much of a splash when it was released on the Nintendo 3DS. But there's plenty to love in the game, a mix of Rieko Kodama's sci-fi/fantasy aesthetic and Etrian Odyssey-esque dungeon crawling, even if you (like most westerners) missed the first two non-localized entries. Allisa and Paul take a deep dive into a mostly forgotten gem and find a game that's shockingly progressive (in its own problematic ways) as well as a engaging sci-fi fantasy epic,

We've restructured our Patreon rewards and are now releasing an extra Patreon-exclusive episode of Combo Chain every month! In this month's exclusive episode, we cover the divisive but fascinating Final Fantasy VIII. $5 patrons get access to the exclusive episodes, and $2 patrons will get our two public monthly episodes a week early.

Please head over to our Patreon page and get extra Combo Chain while helping support us!

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As much of a storytelling experiment as it is a throwback to 16 and 32-bit JRPGs, Octopath Traveler is an ambitious, if flawed, entry in the genre. Journalist Iyane Agossah joins Paul and new full-time co-host Allisa James to discuss this anthology of eight loosely-connected stories, and how successful it is in its attempt to both innovate and call back to classic JRPGs.

We've restructured our Patreon rewards and are now releasing an extra Patreon-exclusive episode of Combo Chain every month! In this month's exclusive episode, we cover the divisive but fascinating Final Fantasy VIII. $5 patrons get access to the exclusive episodes, and $2 patrons will get our two public monthly episodes a week early.

Please head over to our Patreon page and get extra Combo Chain while helping support us!

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In our longest episode to date, we delve deep into the desperation, dualities, and despair of Yoko Taro's brilliant Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139... We cover the ways this remake vastly improves on the original, its themes of miscommunication, body shame, and existential despair, and detail the story and how it diverges in its numerous replays. As a spoiler alert, we also touch on its connections to lore from Nier: Automata (which you should play immediately) and the Drakengard series (which you should probably avoid playing).

We've restructured our Patreon rewards and will be launching a third Patreon-exclusive episode of Combo Chain, released every month, starting in June! $5 patrons get access to the exclusive episodes, and $2 patrons will get our two public monthly episodes a week early.

Please head over to our Patreon page and help support us!

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Take these broken wings and learn to fly again as we cover the underrated MonolithSoft JRPG, Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. Set in a surreal world of disconnected islands, the GameCube classic is a perfect example of the wild and experimental JRPGs that we don't get very often anymore, with a unique deck-building battle system and fourth wall breaking hijinks.

We've restructured our Patreon rewards and will be launching a third Patreon-exclusive episode of Combo Chain, released every month, starting in June! $5 patrons get access to the exclusive episodes, and $2 patrons will get our two public monthly episodes a week early.

Please head over to our Patreon page and help support us!

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We delve into Norse mythology and enter an world-shattering battle in the underrated PS1 classic Valkyrie Profile. The game hearkens back to an era when JRPGs could be as bizarre and experimental as they wanted to be, for better and worse. We unpack the epic saga and the unusual mechanics of this game that got lost in the shuffle of Square's major PS1 games, which has nontheless become highly influential.

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Imagine you're an ultra-hip Shibuya kid who suddenly finds you've been enlisted into a battle for your life—and possibly the fate of the world. The World Ends With You is a stunningly innovative JRPG that's been imitated in style, but rarely in gameplay. We're joined by Allisa James to discuss the Reaper's Game, this fascinating use of the DS hardware, and the rare time that Tetsuya Nomura displayed restraint.

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