Scanline Talks

The unknown journey ends, and reveals that there wasn't much mystery there at all, really. Jen, Kyrie, and Six slump in their chairs and marvel at how hard this game has flopped, and to what degree it's poisoned what came before, for them. Is Rufus the hero of this game? Do you ever see a dog and decide it must mean you're in a different dimension? Why is Zack on the cover of this game when literally nothing he does matters even slightly? We have answers to some of these, and some we don't. What we know is, we're done.

And thank god for that.

A huge thank you to Jackson (@headfallsoff) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopping points!

The penultimate episode is here, and things just keep turning for the worse for our hosts. We deal with some very contrived plots, ponder over the nature of meta-narratives and it's failings, and gripe about the side missions. It's almost over, so it can't get much worse... right?

A huge thank you to Jackson (@headfallsoff) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopping points!

After a slight upturn in quality at Gongaga, Chapter 10 breaks everyone's spirits as the gang makes their way into Cosmo Canyon. It also happens to be the most racist chapter in the whole game! Fun!!

A huge thank you to Jackson (@headfallsoff) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopping points!

We tackle only one chapter in this episode, but boy is it a DOOZY. We travel to Gongaga, encounter too many bosses, and Tifa finds herself in the belly of the whale. Not like metaphorically like in the Hero's Journey, like a big damn whale monster. This chapter is weird.

Our podcasters finally arrive in chapter 6. Jen and Six call for some time off for some fun in the sun. Kyrie disapproves, but is outvoted. A lot of minigames later, a boss fight happens. Chapter 7 happens. Our podcasters arrive in chapter 8. Jen and Six call for some time fun in the Gold Saucer. Kyrie disapproves, but is outvoted. A lot of minigames later, a bo-

A huge thank you to Jackson (@headfallsoff) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopping points!

After defeating a giant snake, the gang finds themselves deep in some mines, spilling out into the Junon area. We face off with some Turks, explore the world, and get into one big confusing parade. This game is certainly making... choices.

A huge thank you to Jackson (@headfallsoff) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopping points!

Six and Kyrie are back to settle it. One number was never enough, so we have come back to scour the Dragonball Xenoverse 2 cast to try and stump the mighty dragon Shenron. Things get a little silly.

Recorded in honor of Akira Toriyama's 69th birthday.

One of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the year, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth cast a long shadow over the release schedule. Not only that, but our coverage plans, too: with press getting early copies, dropping reviews day-and-date with the launch, what merit was there to us crunching and rushing to release a podcast about it a week later (and making ourselves miserable in the process)? But we definitely wanted to cover it! So what was the solution?

Well, you're looking at it: a seven-part in-depth discussion of the game as we play through it, far more granular than a single spoilercast could hope to be, capturing the ups and downs as we fall in and out of love with this game. Where we're end on it, we still don't know. Just like we still don't know Sephiroth. Join us.

A huge thank you to Jackson (@headfallsoff) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopping points!

Six took some time to go to the movies! Attending the LA Premiere, Six was able to see the US release of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom! Kyrie and Six hash it out about what is, all told, a pretty strange and fascinating movie. We talk about cool robots, bad wars, and the experience of attending the premiere.

This was supported by our patrons over on the Scanline Media Patreon! Be sure to check that out to support our work!

Take a breath, y'all! Dragon's Dogma 2 released a few hours ago, so we're good! No more big video game releases for 2024, we can all go home! And hey, while you're at home, chillin, why don't you listen to what we've been up to? Kyrie has been digging Vanillaware's latest, the strategy RPG Unicorn Overlord. Jen has answered the siren call of prestige TV with Shogun. Six has been nostalgizing with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot after the loss of Akira Toriyama. And though nobody here has touched Skull & Bones, we've still been getting way into pi- hmm maybe I shouldn't finish that joke! But old games sure are cool!

In chronological order, our music is 8bit23 by Koichi Morita, Overworld Day by Mitsuhiro Kaneda from Unicorn Overlord, the opening credits music from Shogun composed by Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Nick Chuba, The Adventure Begins! by Yasushi Asada, Noriko Murakami, Keisuke Ito, and Eisei Kudo from Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, a medley I mixed of the Gameboy, GBA, GameCube, PS1, PS2, PSP, and Sega Saturn console bootup music, and finally the Wii U console bootup music to close the episode.

You can find us on Cohost and Twitter at @jen-and-aster and @jbu3 for Jen respectively, @KyriePage and @KyrieAPage for Kyrie respectively, and @sixdettmar for Six on both.