Retro Encounter Final Thoughts(s) Archive
2025-03-20
Michael Sollosi Tales titles are typically reliable RPG comfort food. You go on a journey for a few dozen hours, get to know a group of quirky anime teenagers, and save the world while navigating a world full of color and made-up nonsense words that explain the setting’s unification of technology and magic. Tales of… Read More »
2025-02-06
Rob White Final Fantasy IX is definitely up there as one of the entries of the series I’ve played the most. Everything about this game says comfort, nostalgia and adventure to me, and I can’t see myself ever tiring of it. Gaia (and Terra) is a land unlike any other in Final Fantasy, an aesthetic… Read More »
2024-12-29
Aleks Franiczek The original NES/Famicom version of Dragon Quest III is such a legendary game that I decided it’s the version I would spin for this podcast. To ground myself in historical context, I also dabbled in the original versions of its two predecessors beforehand. This turned out to be a good move for appreciating… Read More »
2024-12-22
Jono Logan Do you remember the experience that solidified your love of video games? For me, it was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo. When released in the early days of the SNES, it exemplified everything this new generation of 16-bit gaming could be. Building on everything found… Read More »
2024-10-29
Michael Sollosi This is awkward. I’ve been a vocal disdainer of Kingdom Hearts video games for over 20 years, and my feelings on the series didn’t change much when I finally finished the first one in early 2019. But now I’ve played a second Kingdom Hearts game, and it’s good. I approached Kingdom Hearts II… Read More »
2024-09-06
Audra Bowling I still have fond memories of my first Dragon Age: Inquisition playthrough, so I was thrilled when the opportunity to revisit the game right before the looming release date for Dragon Age: The Veilguard presented itself. I’ll always have a nostalgic soft spot for BioWare games, and I am pleasantly surprised to find… Read More »
2024-07-31
Dom Kim I must confess that I feared how this playthrough for Retro Encounter would turn out. It had been years since I last booted up Dark Souls, and having recently gone on a month-long Elden Ring spree both preparing for and playing through the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC I couldn’t help but wonder… Read More »
2024-07-03
Claton Stevenson My first impressions of Grandia II was initially to cringe, particularly at the abrasive and often misogynistic sass coming out of main protagonist Ryudo’s mouth. Thankfully, though, Ryudo is quickly given opportunities to soften and grow, as the narrative reveals more about his life and relationship to the conflict between Valmar and Granas.… Read More »
2024-06-12
Michael Sollosi Before starting Omori, I knew it by reputation. This is an RPG about trauma and depression, and it handles those two topics earnestly in the form of a retro-styled RPG. But Omori is also considerably more. Sadness, joy, and anger are status effects-slash-status buffs that are employed both positively and negatively. The world… Read More »
2024-05-08
Audra Bowling The first Arc the Lad game was a brief, enjoyable foray into an interesting video game world that could only do so much with its limitations. While playing it, I felt both enjoyment and underwhelmed in equal measure. But then I tried its sequel, and I fell in love with another SRPG series… Read More »
2024-04-03
Michael Sollosi Final Fantasy IV was my first RPG; I played at a sleepover with two other friends in 1993 or 1994. It was my gateway into all RPGs, and as a result feels like a genre staple. But Final Fantasy IV is so obviously influential to Square(soft)’s future output and to RPGs in general, that those feelings… Read More »
2024-03-03
Michael Sollosi When I played Dragon Quest XI in 2018 I was awestruck. Everything from the game’s expressive monster animations to the snappy turn-based combat to the fairy tale story was pure, distilled Dragon Quest, but in a modern presentation so gorgeous I could scarcely believe it. But would my favorite RPG of the 2010s… Read More »
2024-01-28
Aleks Franiczek As someone who loves to play videogames that try something different narratively, mechanically, and thematically, my exposure to Love-de-Lic and their oddball development legacy across multiple studios has been long overdue. I’m glad I finally got around moon: Remix RPG Adventure, the game that started it all, and was able to have such a thoughtful discussion about it… Read More »
2023-12-24
Michael Sollosi Why do nearly all RPGs, even the ones with elaborate character creation systems, always start the same way? There are many sensible reasons for this, but I appreciate how Dragon Age: Origins rejects that idea outright. Just after character creation, the player chooses one of six different Chapter 1’s to begin the story,… Read More »
2023-12-05
Michael Sollosi Bloodborne is a revelation. An intense action RPG with incredible freedom and drama, draped in a blood-soaked Gothic aesthetic that’s brutal and beautiful, Bloodborne‘s environments, boss fights, and hidden secrets get more fascinating by the minute. Bloodborne is the game that gave us the term “Soulsbourne,” as it has all the hallmarks of… Read More »
2023-10-24
Michael Sollosi This is my first time playing Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, and, well, the highest compliment I can give is that it goes down smoothly. Rhapsody is fast-paced, easy to understand, and so breezy that I wonder if it was a little too easy? Rhapsody has a cute premise (a village girl falls in… Read More »
2023-10-01
Aleks Franiczek Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is a rare RPGs that dares to look outside of its genre for inspiration and hammers it down with a distinct vision. From that standpoint, it’s really the opposite of the rest of the Breath of Fire series, which was content to play within the common JRPG standards of the 1990s—with… Read More »
2023-08-27
Hilary Andreff Disco Elysium is a game you play when you feel like reading a book. I’ve been reflecting on this comment significantly since we convened and podcasted, and it’s true in many ways. This game requires attention, patience, reflection and promises a range of responses and feelings that match even well-written fiction. Disco Elysium… Read More »
2023-07-16
Aleks Franiczek Final Fantasy VI has long been my default answer when asked what my “Favorite Game of All Time” is. I hadn’t played through it in over a decade leading up to this podcast, and I was honestly concerned that the experience wouldn’t live up to this legendary status I’ve assigned it. Childhood memories and… Read More »
2023-06-06
Peter Triezenberg Lost Odyssey is a special game. While it doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the table, it’s an exemplary RPG made by experienced developers and talented artists. Much praise has been given to the Thousands Years of Dreams, and they’re indeed beautiful, but I’m in love with the rest of the package as… Read More »
2022-12-28
Peter Triezenberg Xenosaga Episode I is not a good video game. I feel like I need to get that out of the way: it’s slow, clunky, and needlessly obtuse, with a cumbersome battle system that wears out its welcome even before you realize that there’s only one battle theme for 99% of the experience. And… Read More »
2022-10-02
Wes Iliff I knew going in what a special game LIVE A LIVE is. After playing it decades ago through a fan translation, getting into an official western release was something to get excited for. What I didn’t expect was how well it would hold up, or how well a few small quality of life… Read More »
2022-09-04
Michael Sollosi Final Fantasy XIII was a victim of its own hype. When Square Enix outlined the Fabula Nova Crystallis project in 2006, they committed themselves to (at least) four games of great ambition and promise, but unfortunately none of their development cycles went quite as planned. Final Fantasy XIII is startlingly beautiful, especially for… Read More »
2022-08-10
Michael Sollosi Tales of Xillia has a few things going against it. Its PS3-only release somewhat limits its audience, especially since the PS3 has a weaker overall library of games than the PS2, further scaring players away. But PS3 owners who seek out JRPGs and are at least Tales of-curious series are in for a… Read More »
2022-07-03
Cory Tischbein Playing Suikoden for the first time today is a little strange. Few series can boast a fanbase as devoted, with many claiming that some series entries surpass the heights of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Yet the series is dead — and has been for decades now in the U.S. The excitement I… Read More »
