Thanks again for having me be apart of this podcast series. You guys rock. Don't ever stop what you're doing.

I just wanted to say Max Derrat was a fantastic guest. Apologies if you've already done this but would love for you guys to do a poll on us viewers asking us what are favorite guests were as I wouldn't mind seeing them in future shows. My personal favs are Max Derrat, David Garcia Abril, and Retrograde Amnesia.

Nitpick: the factoid about the entire body replacing itself every seven years comes from an estimated overall average cell replacement rate. Different cell types have very different turnover rates, with your stomach lining lasting less than a week, while neurons mostly live as long as you do (and would live longer if you didn't die out from under them). Of course, if you look at an individual cell, it's not entirely composed of the same atoms for its entire lifespan, but some of them stick around indefinitely. So a lot of the atoms in your body will have been replaced over the last seven years, but a lot of them will have been with you since before you were born, and will still be with you when you die.

I didn't know resonant arc viewers were so blessed 🍑! Appreciate this whole ride, Max Derrat got me in here and glad I found another channel I can sink my ears too. I look forward to the eventual Disco Elysium, might encourage me to continue/finish my playthrough of that amazing game!

Thank you so much for this one, can't help but wish you'd covered it during the "Xenogears length" era for a more detailed breakdown of the best game writing maybe of all time, but what we got was still so incredibly good I can't complain outside of that wistful wishing. Really great series guys, can't wait to see you get back on the Xenosaga train as well! And the idea you might cover the Legacy of Kain series of games and Disco Elysium is very, VERY enticing!

The idea of believing something into existence is a very central theme of Umineko as well. Umineko picks apart what truth is, what fiction is and how they both overlap. You guys should play it, you would love it.

This has been a masterclass of a conversation -- Loved every moment that I listened to this podcast series. Thank you guys so so much!

Re: Xenosaga You'll want to play/cover A Missing Year between Episodes II and III. It takes place between the two and directly ties into things from the third episode that reference back to it. Pied Piper is a prequel taking place earlier than any other Xenosaga content so it could be covered either between Episodes I and II or II and III. It's events most directly tie into III so my suggestion is playing/covering it between those two, but its no big deal if its done before II. And by play I mean watch a KZfaq video of it and have a translation up because unless you have an obscure old Japanese cell phone, its not playable...

This series was so great man. This will probably like how your Xenogear series is for me, a series what I kept coming back to and having new thoughts on. Looking forward to Xenosaga!

Great series as always. The writing in both Torment and Legacy of Kain series are my go to sources of inspiration for ttrpg campaigns.

Probably the best story I ever played in a videogame.

A personal shout out, thanks guys. And thanks to Max for such a high recommendation for the Legacy of Kain series, hopefully it will turn up again on the next poll after Xenosaga is finished. I wouldn't say Soul Reaver 1 was where I particularly wanted to focus, it is merely where I began. Different entries have variable quality in different areas but each is vital to the overall story.

This was so awesome to follow, and very interesting food for thought overall. So SO excited for the rest of Xenosaga!!! My absolute favorite series.

My first exposure to synchronicity was my best friend explaining it to me as "cosmic unconsciousness", from the movie Repo Man. Learned about it just as I started exploring the world of psychedelics. They make a lovely pairing. Regarding the beliefs never being challenged and the presumption that you would be stuck with nursery rhyme morals reminds me of a line from a Beach Boys song: "A child is the father of the man A children's song Have you listened as they played Their song is love And the children know the way That's why the child is the father to the man" I do believe there to be an innocent beauty and truth to the childlike perspective of life as well as the more conceptual and transcendent facets of life. I think it's a balancing act, to build upon that foundation without destroying it. I do think it's possible though, perhaps even necessary, in order to really know thyself--to become more wise whilst retaining one's pure character.

(2) With regards to the Nameless One, the Practical Incarnation, the Paranoid Incarnation, and the Transcendent One are all part of the Nameless One. In Chris Avellone's mind, the original Nameless One was mistaken because "I always felt that this was the proper way to handle this because I always felt that the 'immortality fix' he tried to achieve was a quick fix, when in fact, he should have just owed up and paid the piper in the first place." This will be an idea that games such as Xenosaga will discuss in greater detail. The game asks the player: "What can change the nature of a man?" But that's also a question with a mistaken premise in some sense. Instead of attempting to change human nature as a way to escape the problem of the human condition, how do we accept our humanity? Being fallible creatures, how do we better reckon with our guilt and responsibility for our mistakes, and move from "torment" towards "atonement"? I think it's really interesting that by the end, the Nameless One has precisely done that shift, and his perpetual afterlife in the Blood War is a sign that, indeed, he has come to accept responsibility for his actions, instead of living in evasion and bad faith.

After hell knows how many years (at least 10), I've been replaying Xenosaga trilogy while waiting for you guys and now I am excited. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on both games. For me this trilogy is the closest we can get to Xenogears remake in terms of vibes the game gives me. There is so much good in the series, like mechanics that eventually core of Xenoblade Chronicles combat system, music (Mitsuda is my favourite composer of all, but Kajiura also delivers amazing soundscapes in both episodes), all the references to other media. Damn, this is gonna be a treat to dive with you guys again into this universe. See you at the Mobius Hotel! PS. also want to mention that PS2 visual fidelity (especially in EP3) is just amazing - not due to amounts of polygons, but due to art direction which is stellar in some places.

44:38 Tagging this point so I can rewatch this discussion about the Paranoid Incarnation if I ever need to remind myself of compassion. You almost never know what other people are going through, or what they could've been under better circumstances.

Loved this whole conversation. Thanks, guys, for yet another engaging series!

re: Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon ~18:00 -- I wish I had been replaying this alongside you all, but this was one of my favorite things in the game. I never thought that the 'Unbroken Circle' was fully forged in the sense that everything was made up. I don't believe that was necessary by the Practical Incarnation. (And outside of the game, the 'lore' within it holds pretty true to how Githzerai/Githyanki/Illithids still is presented). I think it's a forgery in the sense that Practical made the actual item and it's not an 'official' relic made by the hands of a Gith. The Gith we meet in Sigil recognize the Circle, don't they? Dak'kon's original may have been taken or he gave it up when his crisis of faith happened, I think, and so he was without one. Practical just made a new one. And going back to the actual texts, Practical doesn't really need to change the texts at all, only present logical arguments using them to cultivate exactly what he needed within Dak'kon. He's already proven to be a master of manipulation just speaking. Thus, my belief was always that the knowledge within the Circle was all fully real, and Practical used it exactly as to shape Dak'kon how he needed him.

Another fantastic series! I love the new format!!

That freaking Blair Thumb reference killed me! I was literally just talking about those movies with a friend last night. JISH!!! You guys are awesome! 😂

I had a really weird moment of synchronicity the other week. At work, there are a few nooks and crannies around the office where people can tuck in to have an informal meeting or get some focus time. Whenever I'd leave my team's usual row to go focus on some more difficult work, I started telling people that I'm going to my "hidey hole." I'd never heard of the term before that. I genuinely thought I was a bit clever for coming up with it. But the SECOND I started doing that, the term "Hidey Hole" started creeping up literally everywhere. I'd hear it in games, movies, podcasts, meetings, unrelated conversations. It was bizarre, because it's such a specific and cutesy turn of phrase.

I wonder of the guys will ever tackle Grimm Fandango or any other by Tim Shafer. Those might not be as deep as Planescape, but they do have some fun themes to explore (also Grimm Fandango is my faforite game of all time)

Great episode it makes me want to watch this game played through

Gotta be honest, I expected at least one of you guys to catch the Dark Tower reference 8:45

Weirdly enough the practical incarnation is one of my favorite characters in any video game that I've played. It's so conflicting and strange how such a villainous character at the end of the day shares the same goals as you the protagonist, and you even benefit from all the damage that he has caused in the end.

Great series, much thanks. If you do cover disco elysium i can totally see mike integrating “my ancient reptilian brain” to his daily speech mannerisms 😂

24:20 I have recently discovered poetry tome named A Tower Built Downwards by Lian, Yang. Great title for the process of re-gaining structure :)

Xenosaga, HOLY SMOKES HAVE I BEEN WAITING FOR THAT. I just rewatched the trilogy with my gf to expose her to it.

Excellent series. I'd love them to cover Disco Elysium at some point in the future. Feel there's plenty thee for them to delve into.

Finished this game yesterday, absolutely loved it. Echoing the other comments to recommend Disco Elysium and Umineko: When they Cry. There's a ton to cover but it's right up everyone's alley. Thank you for the podcast!

Thank you for the podcast guys, great to hear your takes.

Sung to the tune of "Iron Man": o/ "He was turned to flame By a man without a name" o/

I agree with Max about legacy of kain having the best dialogue in all of the gaming.

Will finish this series of the podcast eventually. Perhaps consider the game: Soul Reaver. The game oozes with atmosphere and perhaps with great storytelling! :)

tony jay: elder god, transcendent one, judge frolo, megabyte, same voice for all but damn was it a nice voice.

I interpreted Dakkon's crisis of faith over Zerthimon and TNO decieving him into restoring his faith as a critique of organized religion. Isn't what the nameless one did with the unbroken circle or Zerthimon similar to what the church has done to religious texts over the centuries? Wouldn't mind listening to you guys discuss this game for 100 more episodes. This game is great for this type of deep thematic dive and you guys do that well.

There is a phenomenon about registering an item or event in your mind (ie: you buy a green backpack with a certain brand) and having that thing suddenly appear everywhere. 'Now that I have one suddenly everyone has one'. No, it's not like everyone got a green backpack now that you do, rather they always did have it and you never noticed because it wasn't important enough before. There is a name for this phenomenon but I can't recall.

For the Journey episode, the music composer of the game Austin Wintory is very present on YT so if you haven't recorded it yet maybe you could invite him. Just a suggestion, love what you guys do.

Xenosaga bros… We won

Disco and Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver series... you would not see the light of day for an entire year... but if I could I would pay you cash money to do those two games. Soul Reaver is just as masterfully written and better still as those dialogs in PT. It is mind blowing how SR voice acting was able to be so good. Mike wwill be quoting LoK for the rest of his life, as we do :) Vagrant, PT, Lok, and modern challenger Disco, master class in writing for sure. A nod to Hades as well :)

Definitely pushing for Disco Elysium at some point.

Me as a Cloud-Aerith shipper: Guess I'll Blood War.

I love you guys

If you're looking for a game that is interesting but not necessarily fun, please try _Pathologic 2._ It also features some of the best writing I've seen in a game.

On the subject of talent you got into a bit towards the middle of this video, I consider myself an artist and one of the things that I've learned over the years both in my own studying of art and talking to other artists is that talent in the way we typically think of it (being born with a certain inate ability in a thing) is not real. I do think there are people who have a different "eye" for things or are able to articulate things through visuals or text or whatever but I'm a firm believe that anyone can learn to do anything so long as they want to and have the drive to pursue it. In the context of the game I think that actually makes the decision to create something for the purpose of controlling another people (the religious text that Dak'kon has in this case) even more vile and disturbing. You have spent your time and energy to attain a level of expertise that you can create something and create it with ease in this case, and you CHOOSE to use it to harm another for your own personal agenda. And that is just so terrible.

One of the funny things about faith is that the road to finding it involves losing it. Or as a githzerai may say in order to KNOW understanding one must first KNOW his lack of understanding. "Education is the progressive discovery of one's own ignorance." Even Christ struggled with faith, in his time tempted in the wilderness, and on the cross.

Just gotta add, were still missing a top 10 waifu list for all media, not just PS1.

If you really think about it, the practical one is kind of those figures that do motivational grifting.

. . . did y'all skip over Nordom? o__o

I do not like this new format. The slower playthrough was better, I have little time to play on a weekly basis and will never be able to keep up unless you announced a few games ahead. But whatever works for you two, it's your channel.

Disco elysium does NOT surpass this game at all. You can instantly tell someone's politics by that absurd statement, because disco elysium is has communism/socialism as the "correct" path as chosen by the devs, and the other paths are presented in comically dishonest ways. Basically you can only choose straw men of the non-far left options. Even libertarians were presented in a comically dishonest way.

Not my favorite of your guys' podcasts by any means. In 10 hours of content you talk about the game for, at most, a quarter of that time. Really was hoping to see more gameplay and listen to less tangents. The only saving grace was max who would often try to steer you guys back from oblivion into the topic at hand. Significantly lower quality than usual in terms of 'storytelling'. Not to mention, at the start of the 'last' episode (which you later broke up into 2 parts) you tease us with the ending of the game (your typical 'set it up now and pay off later' thing) and don't even duplicate that same footage in the later part of the episode like you always did in the past. Maybe stick to games you like so you don't spend so much time avoiding talking about the game you didn't like.

Audio is waaaay too low.