Scott Sharkey and Travis Williams join Kat for the first segment of this weeks show to discuss the announcement that Cryptic is working on some kind of reboot of Neverwinter. Travis is a big D&D nerd and really enjoyed the Neverwinter Nights game so he’s excited but there’s alot of skepticism about whether Cryptic can make a good game, let alone a non-MMO game.
Ray Barnholt, Jeremy Parish and special guest Christian Nutt join Kat for the rest of the episode, starting with the second segment in which they discuss Ys Seven. The guys...
It’s been a pretty big year for RPGs, heck the existence of this podcast can attest to that, but the year isn’t over quite yet! There are still plenty of RPGs to come over the last few months of this year and that is the subject for this weeks episode of ATB.
First up though is some recent RPG news, starting with the announcement of Double Fine’s next game Costume Quest. After having a go at real time strategy with Brutal Legend the developer is now giving the RPG genre a try and a more old school approach to boot. This is going...
Andrew Fitch and Ray Barnholt join Kat for this weeks episode. RPG news kicks things off, starting with the official announcement of Dragon Age 2. With the news that the console experience will be revamped Kat hopes they may aim for something like Demon’s Souls, although she admits that could be unlikely. The guys seem intrigued by the prospect of a story that take place over 10 years. With Ni no Kuni being confirmed for a western release Fitch thinks it really needs to be better indentified if it is to have the appeal of a Studio Ghibli movie.
The...
It’s just Kat and guest Christian Nutt for the first part of the show, which does not cover larping. While going through the RPG news they both end up reminiscing about the 90s and their experiences with RPGs on the original Playstation.
A somewhat sassy Jeremy Parish returns from a meeting to join Christian and Kat in discussing action RPGs. Just what is an action RPG, is the phrase (which the hosts themselves admit isn’t really used) even relevant anymore in the age of Mass Effect 2 and it’s ilk.
With many games gaining “RPG...
After a brief hiatus ATB is back and it’s an Atlus heavy episode this week with the majority of the games discussed coming from the developer/publisher. RPG news kicks off with the story that Square-Enix has trademarked the name Four Heroes of Light, which one can assume will be the western release of Final Fantasy Gaiden: Four Warriors of Light. The story leads to a discussion of why some games won’t be coming out on the DS, namely R4 cards and the rampant piracy of games that wouldn’t sell big numbers to begin with.
What is meant...
News starts off with Alan talking about his recent iPad purchase and speculating whether it could make a good platform for RPGs. The jury is still out it would seem, there’s potential but whether someone will step up remains to be seen.
The only other news item is the fact Final Fantasy IX is coming to PSN, a fact which excites Jade a good deal. Ray and Kat are also big fans, the style of the game and the throwback nature of it seem to make up alot of the appeal. It was declared that it would be the last FF of it’s kind and that has...
Kat Bailey takes on hosting duties this week, kicking things off with the only bit of RPG news to report. Square-Enix announcing Chaos Rings, an RPG for the iPhone, this leads to a brief discussion about other RPG type games on iPhone such as Wolfenstein RPG and its ilk.
Final Fantasy XIII gets some more time on the show, the guys stay away from any story elements as Bob hasn’t finished it yet. The discussion mostly consists of everyone comparing the party setups they used while playing the game. Which everyone would like to have a mix of...
This weeks show kicks off with Scooter talking about recently announced premium Mass Effect 2 DLC. Aside from saying it looks good there’s not much discussion of the DLC itself rather the reasoning behind Zaeeds integration into the Normandy and whether new party member Kasumi will suffer a similar fate.
Mass Effect 2 continues to be a topic of discussion as the guys move onto talking about RPG related GDC panels. Kat questions whether the Pokewalker, which comes with the Gold/Silver remakes, will appeal to kids or if it’s just the older...
Final Fantasy XIII is the only subject of note in this weeks ATB. Xenoblade is briefly touched on in news but once that’s over it is onto FFXIII.One would expect spoilers during a near 2 hour conversation of a largely story oriented game but somehow this is an entirely spoiler free episode.
With the story only vaguely discussed alot of the chat revolves around where Final Fantasy stands in relation to the current gaming landscape.While the game is not drastically different from what has come before it is enough of a change that it bears some...
This weeks shows starts off briefly looking at the recent RPG news, not alot to talk about and most of the time is spent pondering the Fallout New Vegas trailer. Before moving onto the main topic of the show Kat shares her thoughts on Star Trek Online, which she has been putting alot of time into. While she really likes the space combat she is unsure what Cryptic can do to sustain the game. She speculates that maybe it would have been better had the game been given more development time.
Shiren The Wanderer was recently released for the Wii and...
Recent RPG related news stories are very briefly hit upon at the top of the show this week. The 360 release of Monster Hunter and the American release of Persona 3 Portable being the more notable ones.
Before the bigger RPG release of the month is discussed the crew take some time to talk about Sands of Destruction on the DS. “Odd” seems to be the general feeling Jeremy and Kat get from the game, with an apparently broken battle system that is often based on pure luck.
The bulk of the show is taken up by a surprisingly spoiler free segment...
It may not be out until March but that doesn’t stop Final Fantasy XIII taking up the first segment of the show, Jeremy, Kat and Christian have been playing the Japanese version. Jeremy and Christian soon came to the realisation that the game is so narrative heavy it really should be played in their native language.
The second part of the show is devoted to RPG highlights on 2009 and upcoming RPGs of the year to come. Everyone has trouble thinking of many standout RPGs from last year, although Kat does give Demon’s Souls some more love....
With everyone out of the office for the holidays it’s left to Jeremy Parish to take on hosting duties alone for the last Active Time Babble of 09. He’s joined by Spiderweb Software‘s Jeff Vogel. Spiderweb is an independent developer, run by Jeff, who have been making RPGs for PC and Mac for over ten years.
Jeff discusses the process he goes through when making the game, what influences the stories he tells in his games and various other tales about being a very small developer. The show closes out with some talk and plugging of...
This weeks show starts off with a lengthy discussion of recent RPG news. This weeks announcement of Etrian Odyssey III has Jeremy excited, it sounds like Atlus are putting a lot of effort into the sequel. The crew are pretty universally annoyed at the treatment of the Yakuza series in the west. They feel the fact that the games are story driven RPGs isn’t properly indicated to those who may be interested in the games.
The main topic this week is the semantics of what makes an RPG. Jeremy feels this is something they should come to some sort...
After an unexpected hiatus Active Time Babble is back for it’s fourth episode. Alice Liang and Thierry “Scooter” Nguyen join Kat Bailey for the first segment this week, an interview with a couple the developers of World of Warcraft. While the discussion starts a little more retrospective it soon moves onto the upcoming Cataclysm expansion and the challenges that come from such a huge revamp. The success and longevity of WoW does seem to have taken everyone by surprise but Blizzard has certainly done a good job of expanding the...
