Literate Gamer

Nick and Jonathan are joined by returning guest Kevin Mooseles - author of The Resistance is Dead and contributor to the Escapist -to cover Bethesda's post-apocalyptic role-playing franchise, Fallout. They compare and contrast the different games in the franchise and evaluate the shifts and changes the franchise has experienced over the years. They also explore theories surrounding the origin of Fallout 4's protagonist.

Literate Gamer, along with guest Mitchell Olson, explores one of Japan's most iconic cultural exports: Pokemon, and takes a particularly long view at the changes and improvements made in the latest entry in the franchise: Pokemon Sun/Moon.

Find Mitchell at http://thoughtspeakcast.com/ and his books here:

https://www.amazon.com/Mitchell-Olson/e/B00AU6W962/

Literate Gamer delves into Australia's principal dystopian export; Mad Max. From the original movie all the way through until Fury Road and Warner Brothers game Mad Max.

Literate Gamer examines the fan favorite Japanese game series Shin Megami Tensei Persona. They slowly unwind and explore the disparate elements core to the franchise - western esotericism, dharmic religions, and a fair shake of pop culture. Persona 3 and 4 and the primary content discussed, but the Persona Arena is acknowledged. Dancing All Night is not acknowledged or discussed.

This episode is primary concerned with the Persona series of Shin Megami Tensei games. The Shin Megami Tensei series itself will be covered at a later time.

Literate Gamer explores a pastoral, albeit post-apocalyptic, English village in "game" Everybody's Gone to the Rapture by The Chinese Room. When civil discourse between our two hosts breaks down, one host sets fire to the other and uses his ashes to make his beverages more powerful and more fulfilling. Afterward, the emboldened host realizes that no one ever reads the episode summaries after the first sentence and sets out on a narrative quest that rivals the wayfarers of antiquity, and strains the very notion of narrative credulity.

Oh, and they also debate the definition of the term 'game' itself.

Literate Gamer returns to one of its favorite franchises, Dark Souls, and digs deep into the additional Downloadable Content each title has to offer, including the Ashes of Ariandel for Dark Souls 3.

Literate Gamer returns to Skyrim with the recently released Skyrim Special Edition, and this time are joined by author Kevin Mooseles. This time around they wade into much deeper issues of Elder Scrolls lore including the Elder Scrolls, CHIM, and C0DA.

Literate Gamer returns to A Dark Room's Amir Rajan the developer that ported A Dark Room to iOS and Android and who contributed unique touches of his own. Amir discusses the porting process, going viral, and shares some of the more creative criticism he received on A Dark Room.

Nick and Jonathan break down Capcom's legendary Action-RPG Monster Hunter. Without a traditional narrative, the games are driven forwards with meaningful player choice. A considerable amount of time is spent discussing the variety of approaches and builds that are both allowed and competitive. Monster Hunter stands out as one of the best games for meaningful player choice and play-style variety.

Sid Meier's Civilization is one of the gold standards of modern strategy gaming. In this episode Nick and Jonathan evaluate the most recent entry in the series, Civilization VI and discuss it's history to date.