Episode Description
It's the longest episode of Leaving the Party yet! Tess and Kerry go in depth on the 2022 Japanese-inspired RPG Chained Echoes by Umami Tiger, talking first about what makes the game tick mechanically before going long for a spoiler-filled discussion of the characters and themes of the sprawling adventure.
The next game we will be playing is Parasite Eve, the 1998 "cinematic RPG" from Square Enix!
Find Tess Scilipoti on her website and Instagram
Find Kerry Lloyd on the Leaving the Party Blog
And finally, find a short blog post about this episode here.
Timestamps:
- 00:00:00 - Intros
- 00:01:42 - "Calling Upon Bravery" - Eddie Marianukroh
- 00:03:19 - Kerry's playing Planescape Torment
- 00:08:45 - Kerry, Tess and friends have been playing Left 4 Dead 2
- 00:11:09 - The Half Life 2 Rant
- 00:15:10 - Tess has been playing the DQ7 demo
- 00:18:14 - Tess has been playing Final Fantasy Tactics
- 00:23:35 - Tess hates Final Fantasy IX and me
- 00:36:34 - Chained Echoes discussion begins
- 00:38:34 - Background developer info
- 00:47:12 - Never Forget Our Promise - Eddie Marianukroh
- 00:48:01 - History around "the JRPG"
- 01:05:09 - Episode structure + What is Chained Echoes?
- 01:11:35 - Pacing + Narrative/Mechanical Structure
- 01:16:52 - Variety of party character perspectives
- 01:20:38 - Filthy Humans! - Eddie Marianukroh
- 01:21:16 - Battle system + Overdrive meter
- 01:32:04 - The crystal situation is insane. The Sienna situation is insane
- 01:41:38 - Thoughts on difficulty and game length fatigue
- 01:49:25 - (minor spoilers) Kerry's True King difficulty snafu
- 01:51:55 - (minor spoilers over)
- 01:59:24 - Sky Armor battles
- 02:02:55 - Confusing UI fumbles
- 02:07:22 - Tess loves puzzles :)
- 02:14:10 - Champions of the Sky - Eddie Marianukroh
- 02:14:26 - MINIGAME BREAK - Is It Woke!?
- 02:25:32 - Himmelskaiser - Eddie Marianukroh
- 02:25:56 - riffin
- 02:29:03 - OFFICIAL spoiler warning!!! Spoilers from here onward
- 02:30:04 - 90 Second Summary
- 02:33:11 - Prologue
- 02:34:46 - Kylian + Berserk
- 02:39:01 - Plot and lore: "A whole bunch of God business"
- 02:46:03 - This game desperately needs a codex
- 02:56:15 - The White Rose Inn
- 03:10:30 - Victor is a good boy
- 03:13:41 - Sienna
- 03:17:26 - Tess says "I wish this woman wasn't gay" out loud
- 03:17:56 - We want more Raphael...
- 03:22:24 - Glenn, Lenne, Victor, Timothy, Van, Bartholomew, the church, echoes. CHAINED ECHOES
- 03:34:00 - Reigns of History - Eddie Marianukroh
- 03:34:48 - Leaving the Party investigates: where is "down east"?
- 03:36:52 - Ba'Thraz and the Lisvan
- 03:45:55 - Amalia and Cres + Raphael is sexy goated
- 03:52:15 - Robb, Taryn's ward + Forgiveness, redemption, and so on
- 04:05:35 - Tomke, Mikah, and The Worm...
- 04:11:41 - Egyl has the weirdest plot in the whole game
- 04:13:34 - Magnolia :)
- 04:17:31 - Dreaming a Dream of Red - Eddie Marianukroh
- 04:18:20 - Prince Frederik became Hitler because he's actually a really good guy
- 04:21:55 - Row, and the place of mecha and war in Chained Echoes
- 04:34:48 - The grimoire and the nuclear metaphor
- 04:42:14 - Kerry's DLC book report
- 04:52:17 - Cody's question: too much inspiration?
- 04:57:08 - Noah's question: how does it compare to other nostalgic RPGs like Sea of Stars?
- 05:01:30 - The End
- 05:08:25 - Next game is PARASITE EVE
- 05:09:01 - Final recommendations + thanks for listening :)
Show Notes
Matthias Linda Talks JRPG Influences, Deck13 Backing, Music, & More
Interview: Chained Echoes Developer
An Interview with ‘Chained Echoes’ Developer Matthias Linda
Why Japanese Fantasy has Dungeons… and sometimes Dragons
The ‘JRPG’ label has always been othering
thanks for listening xoxo