Episode 52: 2020 Wrap up - Lost Threads and Tangents

2020 saw Pat and James play through another 23 retro games, ranging from the delightful insanity of Katamari Damacy to the far more lukewarm Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. We played a lot of stealth games, had our fair share of mental breakdowns over what each of us saw as terrible games (Pat and James, respectively), and even got to finally talk about none other than Dark Souls.

Within the margins of our game reviews, however, were many potential conversations ended prematurely, many argumentative tangents unaired. Sometimes an interesting discussion won’t fit in the constraints of a single episode, and sometimes we get too mad in the moment to actually express ourselves coherently. Here then, are the bits and pieces that wouldn’t fit; a revisiting of what we consider the most interesting threads of discussion that we weren’t able to get into during the episode.

On this episode, we discuss:

• Are games enhanced by having the protagonist be fundamentally vulnerable in some way? Can a power fantasy be genuinely enjoyable for very long, or is it unsustainable?
• What does it mean for a game to have its quality of life features improved upon? Is it possible for these things to constitute ‘side-grades’ rather than being all upside?
• Do controllers have basically zero upside over a mouse and keyboard setup? Pat doesn’t think so, and must defend himself using insane reasoning in the face of James’ sound logic.

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 52nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Katamari Damacy OST: Asuka Sakai - Que Sera Sera

Super Mario World OST: Koji Kondo - Athletic

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Celeste Twitter Thread

Day Z or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

Thief Is Just A Stealth Game

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Have a game suggestion for us to play in 2021? Did we give the games this year enough credit for their soundtracks? Are you one of those filthy defenders of removing skill based matchmaking? Whoever you are, and whatever degenerate gaming beliefs you hold, we would be delighted if you stopped by our discord server to continue the discussion in a somewhat civil manner!