What happens when the cosmic proportions of a Bandai Namco JRPG collide with the intimate, personal storytelling of deep character study? Join us this week as Aaron begins an analysis of Scarlet Nexus, the "brain punk" video game that's equal parts psychology of the self and psychology of the Other.

In side quests, Stefan continues his Yakuza: Like a Dragon diary, Dan reflects on what the Japanese language illuminates about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Aaron considers the dynamics of gaming in the company of "uninvited onlookers."

(Correction: three characters not mentioned in the conversation can use a Brain Field, but one is unable to maintain his sanity thereafter and the other two can only use one when working in tandem with one another, so the point about the set of characters to which Brain Fields are available stands.)

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• Side Quests

• 00:03:39 Uninvited Onlookers

• "Why Games Matter, and What Jane Austen Has To Do with It" (Aaron Suduiko)

• 00:26:39 Scarlet Nexus

• "The Tragic Irony of Final Fantasy XIII-2" (Aaron Suduiko)

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Iconic musical themes from games such as The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, or Undertale are deeply ingrained into the minds of any avid gamer. This week, With a Terrible Fate video game analyst Laila Carter joins us for an exploration of how these and many other leitmotifs frame, complement, constitute, or even subvert video game stories.

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• Main Story

• 00:05:04 Musical Leitmotifs (with Laila Carter)

• 8-bit Music Theory

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Maps are profoundly practical. They help players find orientation in extensive game worlds, indicate points of interaction, and track progress. Yet by the same token, they complicate a player's relationship to the world of a game's fiction. This week, we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of those complications.

Later: Stefan kicks off his Yakuza: Like a Dragon diary; we discuss the order in which we unlock the final trophies of a game; and Dan recaps his visit to last week's Classic Game Fest in Austin.

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• Main Story

• 00:05:53 Maps: Salvation or Sin?

• Related listening and reading:

• "Why 'Immersion' is a Dirty Word in Gaming Discourse" (Dan Hughes & Aaron Suduiko)

• 00:44:10 Yakuza: Like a Dragon Diary

• "The Language of Trophies in Final Fantasy VII Remake" (Aaron Suduiko)

• Ukiyo-e Heroes

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Diving into the depths of the human psyche is something the progenitors of psychoanalysis could have only dreamed of. Yet, games such as Persona 5, Silent Hill, and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice enable us to do just that—at least within the domain of play and fiction. Join us for a discussion for a ride through various formations of mindscapes.

Further, Aaron addresses reader commentary on his new Returnal analysis and Stefan celebrates the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy X by reminiscing (or trying to) about one of its most romantic scenes.

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• Main Story

• 00:06:18 Into the Mindscape

• "Does Silent Hill Belong in the Video Game Canon?" (Dan Hughes)

• 00:57:55 "Game as Mind: A Psychoanalytic Explanation of Returnal" (Aaron Suduiko)

• Aaron on different levels of narrative analysis (see Section 1, "Preliminaries")

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A new challenger joins the market for hybrid handheld gaming: Valve‘s Steam Deck. This week, we discuss whether the Steam Deck may change where and how the stories PC games will be experienced—and what lessons the Switch can teach us to guide our thinking.

Later, we contemplate recent rumors revolving around Netflix's supposed plans to stream video games, and a copy of Super Mario 64 that is more valuable than most homes.

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• Main Story

• 00:07:11 What to expect from Steam Deck

• "The most gaming power you have ever held," Valve

• 00:58:22 "Netflix To Offer Video Games on Its Streaming Platform," Mark Gurman

• Netflix job announcement: Director of Product Innovation, Interactive, Netflix

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The flavor text of EarthBound tells a story you might have missed. This week, Aaron and Dan chat with fellow video game analyst Max Gorynski about the new article in his ongoing analysis series, A Comprehensive Theory of EarthBound.

Later on, we discuss Nintendo's announcement of the Switch OLED model, the value of hard copies, and the transformative potential of treating video-game-story analysis as a metagame.

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• Main Story

• 00:07:36 EarthBound's Flavor Text (with Max Gorynski)

• "Why EarthBound’s Flavor Text Tastes So Good," Max Gorynski

• 00:38:43 "Nintendo Switch OLED model will go on sale October 8th for $350," Tom Warren

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What is play? What are its functions and why do so merrily do it? One of the most influential books to address these questions is Homo Ludens by the Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga. In our brand new reading circle, we discuss the first section of Huizinga's renowned engagement with the intricacies of play.

Later on, we discuss and analyze one of the most prominent PS5 games at the moment: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

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• Main Story

• 00:02:53 Reading Circle: Johan Huizinga – Homo Ludens

• 00:57:35 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

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Our main story today is about Returnal, one of the few PS5 flagship titles at the moment and part of the recent resurgence of "roguelikes," commonly understood as games that feature mechanics setting avatars back to near the beginning of the game and largely resetting their progress every time they die. We analyze Returnal as a multiply psychological game that boldly meshes genres and ultimately refuses to let us go.

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• Main Story

• 00:03:32 Returnal

• "'Dark Souls of X': What Makes a Successful Souls Successor?"

• 00:55:45 Stop Treating Hideo Kojima Like He’s the Riddler (Imran Khan)

Sounds from zapsplat.com

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Video games return to the topic of pandemics time and time again. The Resident Evil series continues to indulge in close-up outbreak scenarios; The Walking Dead has brought players to tears at the emotional impact of loss; creative twists like Plague Inc. introduced the role of a pathogen on a quest to conquer the world; the infamous Corrupted Blood Incident in World of Warcraft even accidentally simulated a raging pandemic. With our guest, the cultural historian Dr. Arno Görgen, we discuss the constructions of pandemics in video-game stories and how they relate to our current real-world situation.

Later, Dan and Stefan's side quests merge to ponder E3 2021, Take Two‘s diversity panel, and the Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins demo.

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• Main Story

• 00:02:15 Playing the Pandemic (with Dr. Arno Görgen)

• 00:40:08 E3 2021 Overview

• Take-Two’s E3 Panel Was The Right Thing At The Wrong Time (Stacey Henley)

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However one might spin it, video games often require a substantial time commitment, usually much more so than other storytelling media. Eventually, a player might lose interest, feel overwhelmed, or simply get disconnected from her own role in the story. In this week's main story, grounded in the first half of Aaron Suduiko's new "Final Fantasy VII Remake is the Template for 'Grown-Up' JRPGs," we discuss three ways in which long games can alienate players.

In our side quests, Dan reviews Resident Evil Village, Stefan constructively criticizes the PS5's mute button, and Aaron argues that Final Fantasy VII Remake's narrative structure overcomes the problems we discussed in our main story—the second half of his new article.

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• Main Story

• 00:08:18 Too Long to Beat

• Final Fantasy VII Remake is the Template for 'Grown-Up' JRPGs," Aaron Suduiko

• 00:56:47 Resident Evil Village

• "Ethan Winters’ poor hands are the laughingstock of the internet," Michael McWhertor

• "Critical Review: Final Fantasy VII Remake is Completely Incomplete," Aaron Suduiko

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