Video games usually place you in the role of the plucky adventurer.  You are the wizard, the warrior, or the rogue, and it's your duty (and often destiny) to save the world.  On your journey, one of the most important things to do is to acquire more powerful gear to make your character stronger.  But who exactly are you buying that gear from?

Enter: Recettear.  First released in 2007 (and later 2010 in a global english localisation), Reccetear places you in the role of an 8 year old girl tasked with running an adventurer’s item shop in order to pay back a very suspicious loan.  You hire adventurers to go on dungeon runs, and you strive to buy low and sell high in an attempt to pay back ever increasing debts.

On release this concept was entirely novel, and that novelty turned it into a smash success.  But how does this game really work under the hood?  Is Reccetear only a good game thanks to its charming presentation and unique concept, or is this actually an enjoyable and engaging video game?

On this episode, we discuss:

Shopkeeping

Recettear’s item stocking and selling revolves around multiple mechanics, some of which are very deviously hidden from the player.  Combo selling chains and customer loyalty has to be balanced against extracting the maximum possible profit from your customers.  How well explained are these mechanics?  Are they balanced?  Does the balancing act become too much to handle as the game progresses?

Dungeoneering

Ask anyone - the dungeon arpg gameplay in Recettear is almost universally despised.  No review is complete without bemoaning this part of the experience.  But are they really that bad?  We dive deep and explore what doesn’t work about these dungeons, and more surprisingly, what does.

Presentation

Reccetear’s presentation is simple.  Items get snapped onto predetermined locations, selling items is a series of fast menus popping off in succession, and moving around town is as simple as selecting a location.  Does this simplicity of UI navigation lead to a crisp and clean experience, or is it ultimately too restrictive and limiting for the player?

We answer these questions and many more on the 129th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Reccetear OST: sarumotto, Araibear, ni_ya, m_box

Are the mechanics behind Reccetear really as exploitable as we described?  Are the dungeons worse than we thought?  What other games in the shopkeeper genre would you recommend?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

If you’d like to support the show, please check out our Buy Me a Coffee page!

In 1998 Bioware changed the gaming landscape with Baldur’s Gate, a Dungeons and Dragons inspired adventure.  Taking cues from second edition D&D and the many stories written about it, Bioware wrote a low level adventure that jammed everything they could find inside it.  They attempted to copy mage spells directly from the manual, and even added in famous characters like Drizzt. 

It was exactly what the fans had been waiting for.  Not only were they able to see everything come to life, the game used the radical real time with pause system, allowing combat to flow far more freely than other turn- based games before it.  Fights were fast and frequently deadly, adding a thrill to RPG combat, even if it came at the cost of precision and control.

But CRPGs are now a dime a dozen.  Not only are there later games in the series, Baldur’s Gate now has to compete against Pathfinder, Warhammer and Divinity, to name a few.  With all the advancements in tech, in UIs, in skill systems, can the original Baldur’s Gate really compete?  Has it stood the test of time, or has it been made obsolete by the wave of modern RPGS that came in its wake?

On this episode, we discuss:

Exploration

• Much of the early-mid game of Baldur’s Gate 1 is spent exploring the environment around the towns and keeps that are dotted around the Sword’s Coast.  Is this exploration enjoyable to engage with intrinsically, and does it provide enough extrinsic rewards to motivate you to continue?

Combat

• Baldur’s Gate’s combat is scrappy, disorganised and messy.  There is a high level of vulnerability on both sides, spells have unclear areas of effect, and high rolls can produce instant-death in many circumstances.  Does this combat system lead to  dynamic and novel encounters that allow for tactical depth, or does it just encourage reloading until you get the outcome that you want?

Character Customisation

• Baldur’s Gate is a very complex game under the hood, but those calculations, and level up decisions are mostly hidden from the player.  Does the game give sufficient options to the player to customise their character with skill choices and gear, or is it all predetermined the moment you first select your character?
   

We answer these questions and many more on the 128th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast?

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Baldurs Gate OST - Michael Hoenig

Are you meant to eventually multiclass everyone to a mage in DND?  Is Sanctuary really as overpowered as it seems?  When will you play Baldur’s Gate 2, you pair of sniveling cowards?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy me a Coffee Page!

The Ace Attorney games were an insane success, far beyond what Capcom could have predicted.  After 4 mainline games in the series though, it was time for something new, and creator Shu Takumi refused to do anything normal.  With a desire to explore characters in a far deeper way than was possible with Ace Attorney, he decided the only way to go about this was to have the main character be a ghost.  

Whether that made sense or not, in 2010 we finally saw the release of Ghost Trick, a game that is so wrapped up in mystery that it's almost impossible to spoil all of its revelations.  The quirky characters, pacing and comedy of Ace Attorney was preserved, but it was replaced with entirely new gameplay mechanics with you manipulating the environment in subtle ways to change the outcome of deadly events.  It was an undeniably unique and beautiful game, and one that had even better critical acclaim than even Ace Attorney.

But with the Indie revolution churning out puzzle games like crazy, does Ghost Trick still stand out as an amazing game today?  Do its characters still thrill and excite?  Or is this style of storytelling and gameplay bloated and obsolete?

On this episode, we discuss:

Presentation

• How does the music, characters and animation come together to create the feeling and atmosphere of Ghost Trick?  Is this just another Ace Attorney game, or is it something fundamentally different?

Story

• Ghost Trick goes to great lengths to ensure the player is following the story, with reiteration and flashbacks being core parts of its narrative.  Is this too much, or is the story so complex that it needs this to keep people engaged?  Is Ghost Trick meant to be played chapter by chapter, or binged for longer sessions?

Gameplay

• Ghost Trick’s objects are all manipulated and affected in unique ways, instead of being reused and acting consistently.  How does this affect the puzzle design?  Is is better to have unique objects that need to be understood, or repeated objects to better understand a broader puzzle solution?

We answer these questions and many more on the 127th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Ghost Trick OST: Masakazu Sugimori

Is Ghost Trick just another Ace Attorney Game?  Is it just another Hitman game?  Or is it truly unique?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me A Coffee Page!

Space Sims used to be a vibrant and well populated genre.  Back in the 90s they command shelf real estate, right next to the latest and greatest RTS and Point and Click Adventure games.  Coming at the tail end of this era was Tachyon: The Fringe, released in 2000 by Novalogic games, well known for their regular flight sims and the Delta Force series. 

You play as Jake Logan, a freelancing mercenary, who quickly gets caught up in the midst of a fight for independence.  A megacorporation has been given the legal rights to mine on the Fringe, and you have to decide whether to help them invade and conquer this space for profits, or defend the native population.  And you do this all by flying your spaceship round and blowing shit up, as freelancers tend to do.  

Do its gameplay and story combine into a compelling experience?  Has Tachyon the Fringe stood the test of time, and is it worth strapping in to play a space sim?  Or did this genre die for a reason?

On this episode, we discuss:

Story

• The initial presentation of the corporation Galspan and the defending natives, the Bora, seems to lack any kind of nuance.  Galspan is fairly obviously evil and the natives are fighting the good fight.  Does the dual split narrative reveal a deeper and more compelling story where both sides have a point, or is this a simple tale of good versus evil?

Level Design

• The level design of Tachyon is a series of arenas connected by fast travel portals, not a big empty space.  This allows you to quickly get to where you need to go, but is there a cost for giving the player such rapid convenience?  How immersive does space feel if you barely move through it?

Combat

• Tachyon spices up the usual space arcade fighter by adding a strafe/slide function and giving you the ability to shift energy around between your systems.  Is this enough to elevate the action combat to brilliant fun, or is it just an endless series of repetitive battles?
   

We answer these questions and many more on the 126th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Tachyon: The Fringe OST: Tom Hays 

How well did Tachyon: The Fringe’s multiplayer work back in its heyday?  Does Freelancer really do what Tachyon was trying to do but better? Are there any other space sims that you think are genuinely better than both?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me a Coffee Page.

With another year done and dusted, Pat and James crack open another batch of listener questions. 
After curveballs like Killer 7 and Deadly Premonition, these should be a breeze.
Right..? 

On this episode, we discuss:

What are the best - and worst - smelling video game levels?

Can you tell us the story of how y’all met and decided to start this podcast? 

Was the fear of Baldur’s Gate 2 something you both developed as children? 
Or did you just become cowards as grown men?

We answer these questions and many more on Mailbag 6 of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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A huge shoutout to everyone who submitted questions this year, this episode wouldn’t have been possible without you. 

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Annihilation - The Alien: Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow

Cosmo Dreamer - Stage 8: DOVA-SYNDROME

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Think we were completely off the mark with some of our questions? 

Or do you have an even better answer of your own?

Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

If you would like to support the show monetarily, you can buy us a coffee here!

But can it run Crysis?  This was the motto that surrounded every single PC build for literal years after the release of the game in 2007.  Crytek were not satisfied with what they had achieved with Far Cry in 2004, and decided to push graphical hardware to its absolute limits with their brand new and shiny game.  And boy, did they succeed, with a poorly optimised but breathtakingly gorgeous game.  Even better, there was an entire video game attached to this graphical showcase, promising open ended tactical engagements over massive levels, far removed from corridor brawling.

You have cool suit powers that switch between modes, on the fly weapon modification, and a wide array of guns (and vehicles) to wreak havoc on those pesky North Koreans.  And if there are aliens, well, the United States of kick ass will just have to murder them as well.  It seems like an incredible game on paper, even today when we have more open world games than you can shake a stick at.

But for all that Crysis is vaunted for its massive leap forward in graphical technology, just how good a game is it to actually play?  Are the suit powers really that interesting in the face of the many RPG systems that tend to overlap FPS games today?  And is fighting those aliens all its cracked up to be?  Is Crysis worth your time to play today, or is it better remembered?

On this episode, we discuss:

The Suit.

Crysis’s key feature is a powerful exoskeleton that lets you switch between 4 modes - Strength, Armor, Speed and Stealth.  Just how well does the game push these suit modes in terms of engaging gameplay?  Are they balanced, and more importantly, are they fun to use?

The Guns.

How fun is the gunplay in Crysis?  The game features a fairly typical roster of assault rifles, submachine guns and shotguns, but has weapon modification on the fly with a simple menu.  Does this do enough to spice up the gunplay and keep things interesting?

The level design.

Crysis features (mostly) semi-open world level design, with bespoke objectives.  Does this give you the freedom to approach them in the way you want, and does it maintain this philosophy for the entire run time of the game?

We answer these questions and many more on the 124th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!
 

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Crysis OST: Inon Zur

The original version of the game, available on GOG, will fail to start on modern operating systems (Windows 10+). 

This can be fixed using the below link, which James used for this 

https://github.com/ccomrade/c1-launcher

Do you know what the gameplay differences are between Crysis 1 and the remastered version?  Do you think that Crysis is better than the Far Cry games that came afterwards?  When are we going to play Far Cry 2?  

Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

If you would like to support the show monetarily, you can buy us a coffee here!

After their magnum opus that was Resident Evil 1, Capcom were not going to sit on their heels.  Coming out just two years after the first in 1998, Resident Evil 2 sought to have everything the original had and much, much more.  It connected its two character’s stories in far more meaningful ways, increased the size of each player's inventory (and their respectives arsenals) and had more cinematic and explosive moments to show the player.

And boy did it do well!  It received universal critical acclaim, with everything from its graphical fidelity to its voice acting considered above and beyond the original.  Many players consider this to be the best Resident Evil game to this day.

But in the wake of the 2019 remake, and a longform view of what eventually became of the franchise - is Resident Evil 2 really all that its cracked up to be?  Do more zombies and more action automatically equal a better game?  Does more inventory slots, disappearing corpses and a more linear cinematic progression bode well from a gameplay sense?  How does Resident Evil 2 compare to its other offerings, and is it worth playing today?

On this episode we discuss:

Story

Resident Evil 2 presents its story in a very interesting way - two overlapping but distinct perspectives in Leon and Claire.  Does this experimental storytelling work, and how invested were we in its fundamentally B grade plot?

Level Design

Resident Evil 2s police station brings back most of what made the mansion so incredible, with its distinct spaces and looping level design. How does it compare to the original, and how enjoyable is it when you move away from the Police Station

Survival

Resident Evil 2 takes away the need to burn corpses, gives you more ammo and gives you more inventory slots.  What impact does this have on the tension of survival, and how different is the focus on tactical exploration?

We answer these questions and many more on the 123rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Resident Evil 2 OST: Masami Ueda, Shusaku Uchiyama, Syun Nishigaki

Which Resident Evil game is truly the best?  What were your experiences like playing the original games back in the day?  Are there any other survival horror games that come close to this franchise?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me a Coffee Page.

The Legend of Zelda is perhaps the most iconic video game series of all time.  Boasting 19 mainline entries, and an endless swathe of critical acclaim and awards, it's hard to find someone who hasn’t at least heard of the action/adventure story of Link and Zelda.  

It all began back in 1986 with the release of the first game for the Famicom in Japan.  The game begins immediately with an open ended structure, giving the player multiple paths to follow, and an open world to explore.  You explore and fight, get stronger and overcome challenges, and discover secrets along the way.  It might sound inconsequential, but on release Zelda was breathtakingly audacious in its design, with its non-linearity and enormous world.

But is it still an impressive title today?  Non-linearity and open worlds are par for the course now.  And while Zelda has been massively influential, that just means there have been thousands of attempts at refining and improving over what the original game offered.  Has The Legend of Zelda truly stood the test of time, or is it simply just a historical landmark?

On this episode, we discuss:

Exploration and Secrets

• Zelda, like many games of its era, boasts a huge manual, complete with a partially filled map to get you started on uncovering its many secrets.  Is the process of exploring and finding secrets enjoyable, or is its reputation as obtuse and frustrating to figure out justified?

Progress and keys

• Zelda is stunningly non-linear, with most of the gameworld immediately accessible if you know what you’re doing.  Does the design of giving the player more utility and power through their progress instead of straight up keys lead to a more engaging open world?  Or does the metroidvania formulae do it better?

Combat

• Just how enjoyable is the moment to moment gameplay of Zelda?  Enemies can be fast and furious, and the game wil often sling a lot of projectiles at you.  Does the game give you the tools to skillfully deal with the obstacles in your way, or is it just about hit trading and tanking through damage?

We answer these questions and many more on the 122nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Zelda OST: Koji Kondo

The full manual can be found here

What other games have been heavily inspired by Zelda that we completely blanked on?  What were your experiences exploring the world for the first time?  What Zelda game should we play next?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy me a Coffee page!

Killer7 is one weird game.  Developed in tandem by Grasshopper Manufacture and Capcom and first released in 2005, its very existence as a game defies description.  Within moments of starting, you’re placed into a world with talking bondage ghosts, a TV channel that drains your blood, and abstract puzzles that would fit right into Resident Evil.  Combine this with a cinematic third person slow rail shooter and you might have just a taste of what Killer7 is all about, but the truth is that you’re just scratching the surface of this enigma of a video game.

Killer7 has a diehard cult following, not just for its presentation and aesthetic, but for its incredibly deep and confusing story.  But for all its fans, what is the experience of playing Killer7 actually like?  Is there an enjoyable game underneath all of its layers?  Or are they merely disguising something that's all flash and no sizzle?

On this episode, we discuss:

Presentation and Style

Killer7 is absolutely dripping in style.  From the broader minimalistic cell shaded environments to something as simple as the way characters reload their weapons, there’s a unique vibe to this game that is hard to describe.  Does the glamour eventually wear off, or does its presentation remain compelling for the full game runtime?

Combat and Pacing

Killer7’s combat is most reminiscent of something like House of the Dead, with zombie-like enemies and a first person static shooting style.  Does it match the frantic pace and tension of a light gun game, or does giving the player total control of the rail movement lead to something more plodding?

Story

What exactly is Killer7 trying to say?  There are layers and layers of story here, from identity issues, to geopolitics, to conspiracy and control.  Is this a compelling and understandable story?  Does it make sense?  Does it even need to make sense?

We answer these questions and many more on the 121st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

We are joined by special guest Dave Jackson of the Tales from the Backlog Podcast!  He reviews interesting games that would otherwise sit on your shelf, with a focus on having spoiler free discussion initially for people who are on the fence.  He also hosts A Top 3 Podcast, where he and friends rank the top 3 of a given thing each episode.  Check it out!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Killer7 OST: Masafumi Takada

Did you find that Killer7 was all that it was cracked up to be?  Do you have any idea what’s going on with the story?  Are there other Suda51 games that are worth playing?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me a Coffee Page.

System Shock 2 is considered by many to be the finest immersive sim ever made.  Released in 1999 in a coventure by Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games, it sought to combine the classic 3D dungeon crawling of the original with pen and paper inspired RPG systems.  While resource management and exploration were still a key part of the experience, you were now restricted in what you could initially do by those RPG stats - and it was only towards the end game that your character would feel truly strong.  Perhaps most obvious were the changes from the more abstract environments to something that felt real - this was a real place that had a disaster befall it, not just a series of rooms and corridors stapled together.

But are those things that were so revolutionary back in 1999 actually that impressive today?  Nowadays we have semi-spiritual successors like Bioshock which mimicked environmental storytelling.  We have Prey and Deus Ex with far more expansive RPG systems.  Has System Shock 2 stood the test of time, or does it even offer something unique, when compared to the games of the present?

On this episode we discuss:

Storytelling

How does System Shock 2 tell its story to the player?  Do its many audio logs combine into a complete and understandable narrative, or is it just a lot of standing still and being bored while a voice actor spouts nonsense at you?

Level Design

Does System Shock 2’s systems complement its level design, or get in its way?  Does the non-linearity of the levels represent the apex of the game, or are they just confusing messes?

RPG Systems

How well designed are the RPG aspects of System Shock 2?  Do they allow the player the creative expression to make a unique character that tackles problems in their own way?  How well do they work over the full runtime of the game?

We answer these questions and many more on the 120th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

System Shock 2 OST: Eric Brosius, Ramin Djawadi 

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RSD Mods for System Shock 2

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Is System Shock 2 still the best and brightest immersive sim, or has it been eclipsed by new games?  Should we finally play Deus Ex?  What other games in the genre are we yet to play and need to?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me a Coffee Page.