Happy fifth Sunday Trophy Hunters! In this special Trophy Talk episode of more fireside chats Kevin gathers a handful of the dads in our Discord to share their experiences of what it's like being a dad who loves video games these days. This includes a variety of guests who all throw in their unique history and perspective as parents and gamers. Kevin also asks each of them to share any special memories they have gaming with their parents as well as what special memories they want their kids have with them as they grow older.

We hope you enjoy hearing from a few of the dads of Trophy Talk about games, kids, life, and growing up gaming.

Hello one and all, and welcome back to another episode of Surviving the Horror!

This month Josh and Colin got the chance to sit down and play a horror franchise that has somehow eluded them for years at this point, that being Fatal Frame. Fatal Frame is a franchise that you hear about in the same breaths as things like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and other staples of the genre. Taking place firmly in the realm of Japan , and touching regularly on things like Japanese folklore and rituals, Fatal Frame aims to try something different in survival horror. The problem is that many of these titles (Fatal Frame 1-3 specifically) are locked on older hardware and not accessible on modern day consoles. As a result, Josh and Colin decided to make their first foray into the franchise with Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. Originally released exclusively in Japan for the Wii in 2008, Mask of the Lunar Eclipse finally received its remaster and port to the West in 2023, selling 120,000 copies in just a few short weeks on the market. While that may not sound like much, when you consider that the franchise as a whole across all five games only has 1.3 million units sold, the success of recent games like Mask of the Lunar Eclipse and Maiden of Blackwater becomes more apparent. Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is also the only game in the franchise to stand alone in its story elements, making it a great jumping in point for newcomers to the series like us.

Mask of the Lunar Eclipse tells the tale of (primarily) three characters in Misaki, Ruka, and Choshiro as they explore the Haibara Infirmary on Rougetsu Isle. Rougetsu Isle is known for its ancient tradition of performing the Rougetsu Kagura, a ritual in which the liminal space between the the souls of the living and dead is opened in conjunction with the phases of the moon. Several years ago, this ritual goes wrong (who could have guessed) and The Day of Tranquility ensues; resulting in the loss of several lives, and the loss of our main characters' memories. It's our job then as Misaki, Ruka, and Choshiro to return to Rougetsu Isle and try to unravel the mystery of what happened, restore our memories, and ultimately free the souls of those trapped between the realm of the living and the dead.

Thank you for listening, and we hope you enjoy! Next month's episode will be on a smaller 2D pixelated horror game called Dead of Darkness. Thanks again!

Colin joins Kevin to talk about Sayonara Wild Hearts. They start off the episode with the usual plat shoutouts and game overview. Then they get into a deeper discussion of what makes this game so special and how it was nothing like what either of them expected it to be. They also try to break down each of their own readings of the story, which shows how this piece of art can be interpreted in many different ways. It’s impossible to talk about this game without discussing the music, so they both highlight some of their favorite tracks in the game. Then they get into a discussion about which stages had the best and most unique gameplay experiences. Finally they wrap up the show with some recommendations for games that are a little like this one, but really this gaming experience is so unique that there is absolutely nothing like it on PlayStation. We hope you enjoy our break down and analysis of this beautiful game.

Warmest of Welcomes everybody and apologies for the delay!

This month on the Mooglecast myself and Zac sit down to spoiler the living hell out of the GOTY contender Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. In this unscripted episode we break down some of the story beats and characters aswell as discuss if final bosses should be a rite of passage. It is highly recommended that you play and complete the main story before listening to the episode as heavy story moments and reveals are discussed as well as some side content.

For the pre show warm up we talk about our team of Final 6 for the old school pokemon games and how Max did the ultimate prep work to take down Pokemon Stadium but never followed through with the execution.

We hope you enjoy this episode of the mooglecast and we will see you in September as we return to a normal run of the show. but until then... Be excellent to eachother.

This week on Trophy Talk, Colin and Josh are joined by a special guest—longtime listener and fellow trophy hunter, Will aka Sqweezy! We kick things off with some fun updates from the Discord, including the ongoing raffle event, and share our favorite piece of media from July.

Sqweezy gives us the rundown on how he got into trophy hunting and takes us back to some Halo 3 memories—shoutout to Guardian and Oddball. We also dive into a couple of solid Patreon questions, including one about our worst nightmare DLC scenarios (thanks, AC Shadows) and another about misleading game trailers that don’t match the final gameplay experience.

We wrap it up with what everyone’s been playing lately, covering Ape Escape, Little Nightmares 2, Dredge, Death Stranding 2, Synapse, Borderlands, & phasmophobia. Good vibes, lots of laughs, no crabs, and of course, plenty of trophy talk.

Hello one and all, and welcome back to another exciting episode of Surviving the Horror!

On this month's episode Colin and Josh are back to examine a perhaps misunderstood and underrated horror game of the Xbox 360 era. In 2008, Konami and Double Helix published Silent Hill: Homecoming. This game, positioned as the fifth main line Silent Hill title, was the first in the franchise to be developed entirely by a Western studio. With a troubled development cycle, various conflicting inputs from Konami producers, and a change in the horror landscape at the time with games like Resident Evil 4, would Silent Hill: Homecoming have what it takes to rise to the occasion and satisfy fans? The answer at the time was a resounding no, with the game garnering mixed critical and user reception. However, in light of what we know today, and the history of its development, perhaps folks were too hard on Homecoming. Homecoming tells the story of Alex Shepherd, a solider returning to his home town of Shepherd's Glen after being wounded in battle. Alex arrives to find the town is in disarray, and most notably his brother and many other children in the town are missing. As Alex delves deeper into the long held traditions and secrets of Shepherd's Glen he too delves deeper into his own psyche and fragmented self. The end result is a horrific journey through hellish landscapes, and the dark recesses of the mind. Is it the best Silent Hill game out there? Undoubtedly no; but is it as bad as people on the internet would have you believe? Absolutely not.

We hope you enjoy this lengthy episode on what is considered the "black sheep" of the Silent Hill franchise. Thank you for listening!

DISCLAIMER: THE MUSIC TRACKS USED IN THIS PODCAST ARE FOR DEMONSTRATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, NONE OF THE TRACKS USED ARE OWNED BY MOOGLECAST OR THE TROPHYTALK NETWORK.

Warmest of Welcomes everybody,

Episode 13 welcomes the return of patron Jordan Vickers in the guest chair as we discuss some of our favourite video game soundtracks that we feel are underrated or forgotten about. with a wide range of tracks from such games as Tomb Raider Anniversary, Inscryption, Legend of Dragoon, Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, Sea of Stars and BlazBlue.

With listener and talker write ins we include clips of the tracks we discuss, to help get our points across and of course it would be a little weird to have an entire episode on music and not include any. Clocking in at under 3hrs we hope you enjoy this meaty episode.

Augusts episode has already been pre-recorded and will be a spoilercast on Clair Obscure Expedition 33. September we will be returning to the normal run of the show including Plat Shout outs and The Record. But until then be excellent to each other!

In this mammoth episode Kevin is joined by fellow “metroidvania” enthusiasts Jordan Vickers and Kade (@TheGreenGorillaGamer) to tackle the critically acclaimed Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Jordan warned Kevin and Kade the game is much bigger and longer than expected, but they had no idea how hard the story goes and the epic turns it takes. They all spend more than two hours gushing about it in great detail, starting with some general thoughts about the game, covering what amulet builds and Athra (magic) surges worked best for each of their play styles. Then they jump into a long discussion about some of the amazing environments, epic boss fights, and story surprises that were genuine shocks for them. Kevin decided to go all-in on the game and gives a brief overview of the DLC and why it is a must-buy if you like the base game at all. This is a massive game and we hope this episode helps convince you to play it if you haven’t already.

Well hello there everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Trophy Talk! I (Colin) have stolen the proverbial keys back from Max and am back reunited with Josh to talk all things trophies and what we've been playing in the month of June. First and foremost a very special thank you goes out to Max and Josh for hosting the show while I was on vacation last month, they did a wonderful job. Second, a big thank you goes out to Kevin Garaventa for hosting and putting together our Network's Fireside chat episode. Not only was this episode really well done, but it also inspired us to start focusing on smaller titles and trophy hunts once again. In discussing that topic on this episode Josh and Colin feel that these smaller titles from indie developers (or retro games) may be the key to rediscovering some of the joys of trophy hunting in the second half of the year. That isn't too say that longer lists like Death Stranding weren't worth the time effort, simply that as life gets busier, it is important to have these smaller pallet cleanser games to keep things fresh. Across this episode, Josh and Colin discuss which shorter experiences have been drawing them in recently, all while addressing Patreon write ins, Platinum Shout Outs, and all the tangents that come along with those topics. Of note is that discussions on Robocop, and Elden Ring Nightreign take up a significant amount of time here as Colin and Josh both try to parse out the things they loved and things they found annoying in Fromsoftware's newest title. Do we recommend Elden Ring: Nightreign to the non-soul's player? Does Josh have any idea what the movie Total Recall is about? All of these answers and more lie just beyond the play button. Thank you for listening, and enjoy!

For this month’s extra Sunday the Trophy Talk crew gathers around the virtual campfire to reminisce about some of their favorite trophy lists they recommended on Zac’s incredible project, The Record. We each picked three to highlight and covered why we suggested that more people should play them.

Zac starts us off with some that really hit close to our hearts. Then Colin, Max, and Kevin each take turns in sharing some of theirs. One of Colin’s picks is an excellent entry point for a series that most trophy hunters would overlook. Max impresses us with a few lists that seem impossible, but with dedication they can be done. Kevin talks about why he used a duplicate stack for a particular game as a way to show his love for it, and then reveals that another game became a regular obsession for the better part of a decade. Finally, Josh joins in to put the spotlight on some of the best games no one played and we discover a mutual love for one of them.

We hope you enjoy this long-form look at some of the games and trophies we recommend people chase. Happy trophy hunting everyone!