The game enjoyer, in today’s political climate, is a rare breed of individual indeed. (CONTENT WARNING: This episode features artistic descriptions of gore during Question 9.) Opening and closing theme created by Kurt Feldman.
**Questions this week:**
1. What’s the last game you played for entertainment purposes? (05:44)
2. What makes horror games fail? (13:44)
3. When does video game culture most feel like a cult? (19:28)
4. What are the most out of place songs on a video game soundtrack? (25:14)
5. If you were making a Frankenstein monster out of video game characters, which body parts would you use? (31:13)
6. Question by Patreon Supporter Kiko: Which game narrative would change the most if the protagonist had access to therapy? (38:08)
7. What video games accurately reflect the time and money put into making them? (45:57)
8. What are some fake video game titles you’d use as set dressing in a haunted house? (51:40)
9. How do you do gore right in a video game? (CONTENT WARNING for artistic descriptions of gore) (56:42)
10. What is the Rocky Horror Picture Show of video games? (01:01:55)
**Brandon:**[The Complete 32X Guide](https://castlemaniagames.com/products/the-complete-32x-guide), [Mott's Fruit Flavored Snacks](https://www.motts.com/products/fruit-snacks)
**Frank**: [Video Game Source Project](https://gamehistory.org/video-game-source-project/), [The Secrets of Monkey Island - 30th Anniversary Livestream](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-secrets-of-monkey-island-30th-anniversary-livestream-tickets-124486302883) with Ron Gilbert (tickets only $10!)
**Tim**: Thanks to Dave Brown
**Liz:**[The Important Cinema Club](https://soundcloud.com/the-important-cinema-club), [The Blood Zone](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-blood-zone/id1475437756), [Liz Ryerson Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/ellaguro)
Support on [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/insertcredit)
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I just want to make it clear that I listened to this episode on Patreon while I was at work and drew this when I got home, so it's only slightly weird that I just already have it ready to go.
I had to make a few cuts. You guys picked a LOT of head parts
Feels like Tim was trying to see how long he could go before someone decided to stop him. Took my wife a minute to be like “what’s happening right now?” Fantastic, hahaha
@Squit#7824 there were definitely some portions where I considered, uh, cleaning tim’s monologues up a bit, but I make an effort not to editorialize the edit *too* much. part of his charm.
It's a track that only plays during one fight in one sidequest of one character's campaign which won't go nearly long enough for you to hear the whole song unless you intentionally run away from a pack of naked men to stretch it out. Later on I found out this track is by Hideki Naganuma, it's not on the soundtrack and I don't even think he's officially credited? Again maybe not "out of place" but it's the most recent example I can think of where a videogame track made me pause for a second like "what is this and how did it get here??"
And this is only on my mind because I saw Brandon playing it on Twitter but that SQUELCH sound effect The Ring: Terror's Realm uses on its title screen...and on attacks from monsters has got to take the award for least appropriate sound design decision.
Silent Hill 2 probably wouldn't have happened if James got some therapy!
I recently played through all of Resident Evil 4 in a day while sick and the discussions about gore and why jump scares got me thinking about why that game is so good at what it does. It's the doofiest Resident Evil, it's not "scary" at all but it kept me in a state of dread and feeling threatened so much better than most of the survival horror games I've played including the other REs and Silent Hills. It's so good at consistently throwing you into situations that set the problem solving parts of your brain on fire while reinforcing the idea that your options are limited and the snooze at the wheel could get your head sliced off at any moment. I used to write it off as just a good action game but revisiting it and playing it all the way through for the first time I gained an appreciation for how it's an action game that is elevated via perfection contextualisation through the theme of horror. It works because unlike the point Liz made about Dishonored the violence is striking and appropriate for the tone of the game and the player has a very active relationship with what's happening as opposed to waiting on jump scares and letting anxiety act as a proxy for a real experience.
And I'll say I hope Tim is being coy about his takes on crunch because he's saving it for the Cyberpunk review.
Good points about RE4, at the time we all talked a lot about how there were multiple ways to “solve” a situation, and in a way that replaced the puzzle solving of “bring the statue of the unicorn to the proper statue” (though there's still a bit of that). It was moment to moment problem solving under pressure, but not insurmountable pressure, which gave you these moments of tension followed by a relaxed period of exploration, and it worked real well!
A testament to the "multiple solutions" thing is how the TAS keeps getting updated with new ideas and routes.
The entire soundtrack of Burnout: Paradise felt like it was comprised of a series of different themed playlists all mushed together, with a bunch of older Burnout tracks tacked onto the end of the list. It felt like they were going to do radio stations, but then didn't have time to implement them.
Probably the starkest example was the unprecedented inclusion of Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" - which certainly might seem out of place, but also kind of works great.
quick fact check re: final fantasy designs not having that many belts, Lulu’s dress in final fantasy x is halfway made of belts. there’s definitely some belt heavy designs tim is possibly ignoring.
@Lesmocon#7846 it’s not “scary” at all but it kept me in a state of dread and feeling threatened
I had a similar experience and for me it was I think due to the residual effect of the opening sequence being as intense as it is. You don't have mastery over the kind of odd controls at that point (or a bazooka in you coat pocket) which adds to the nerviness. Plus I think if you played it on release, just what the game was capable of and willing to do in terms of gore/intensity was unknown and a surprise coming off of the earlier games.
Had the same arc with RE7 - getting your footing on new terrain re controls and perspective, and the game feints you into thinking it will go to farther horror/violence extremes than it ultimately does.
I haven't listened to this yet, and am not reading any comments in this thread until after I listen to it, but I just wanted to say the “SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED” has me excited about listening to it.
@yeso#7888 yes that opening sequence is excellent, I‘ve played the first few hours of the game a bunch of times and it took those bunch of times to internalise that the sequence in timed and all you have to do is run around and survive. They rehashed it in RE5 and tried to make it cuter by adding more scripting to how the sequence unravels and it just watered it down, RE4 cements what kind of game it’s going to be within the first 20 minutes and doesn‘t care whether you’re ready yet.
