It's time to Fantazio. Again!

Kat, Nadia, and Eric, are joined by IGN's Michael Higham to discuss the biggest RPG release of October, Metaphor: ReFantazio. Take a shot every time someone mentions Persona, or for the full effect take a shot every time someone doesn't mention SMT.

All that plus leaks, anime recommendations, passionate pleas from Nadia to end the console wars, and more on this week's jam-packed episode of Axe of the Blood God!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• The Game Freak hack
• Waypoint's corpse
• Before Your Eyes
• Persona 3 Update!
• Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO

Timestamps:

• 04:16 - Main Topic
• 1:03:28 - Random Encounters
• 1:15:44 - The Tavern - Waypoint
• 1:53:56 - Nadia's Nostalgia Nook

Music Used in this Episode:

• Do Your Best - [Breath of Fire III]
• A Curious Tale - [Secret of Mana]
• Cinematic Tale - [Persona Q2]

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Unionizations, lay-offs, tragic passings! It's been A Year! Eric, Nadia, and special guest Jesse Vitelli discuss the biggest headlines of the year and take a look at the latest Legend of Zelda!

It's an episode of tonal whiplash and fond reminiscence!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games were fun!
• Mrs. Incredible. I'll say she is.
• Subscribe to Jesse's newsletter: Send News
• Dragon Quest at the centre of the culture war
• Cadet Kelly

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Main Topic
• 1:03:56 - Random Encounters
• 1:09:58 - The Tavern - Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
• 1:33:52 - Nadia's Nostalgia Nook

Music Used in this Episode:

• Do Your Best - [Breath of Fire III]
• A Curious Tale - [Secret of Mana]
• Skull Pirates - [Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]

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On today's extra beefy episode of Axe of the Blood God, we welcome special guest Jason Schreier and talk about his upcoming book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. Tune in for a preview that brings context to some of Blizzard's biggest successes, mishaps, and controversies, including its campus culture, the sexual harassment lawsuit leveled against it, and the infamous Cosby Suite. 

Also in this episode:

• First impressions of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
• Gosh, the PS5 Pro sure exists
• Nintendo! Put a GBA game slot on Switch 2, you cowards!
• See a horse? Download a horse
• How Nadia lost her pocket money to rigged potato chip giveaways

Time Stamps

• 0:00 - Intro/Main topic [Blizzard]
• 52:34 - Random Encounters
• 1:18:50 - The Tavern
• 1:29:07 - Further Blizzard Discussion: The Cosby Suite
• 1:54:24 - Nadia's Nostalgia Nook

Music used in this episode: 

• Do your Best! [Breath of Fire III]
• Patty's Pub [Dragon Quest XI]
• A Curious Tale [Secret of Mana]
• Battle Theme [Metaphor: ReFantazio]

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No, you see these are uh... Pocket Buddies! And we don't catch'em. We seal'em! In uh, Pocket Orbs!

Kat, Nadia, and Eric discuss Nintendo's suit against the creators of Palworld and what this means for patents and Pokemon-esque projects going forward. Plus, the crew has been playing some Dragon Age Veilguard!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• The appeal of fine Pokemon china
• You'll never guess where these Pirate Yakuza are!
• UFO50
• Final Fantasy VII Orchestra

Timestamps:

• 03:12 - Main Topic
• 36:36 - Random Encounters
• 44:18 - The Tavern - Dragon Age
• 1:31:07 - Nadia's Nostalgia Nook

Music Used in this Episode:

• Do Your Best - [Breath of Fire III]
• A Curious Tale - [Secret of Mana]
• Virbank City - [Pokemon Black and White 2]

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And it doesn't even have a new Ridge Racer.

Kat, Nadia, and Eric discuss the PS5 Pro, it's fascinating price point, Astrobot, Sony's future, and more on this week's episode of Axe of the Blood God!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• Emio: The Smiling Man
• Where are there squirrels?
• Praise Bahamut! A Baldur's Gate III Co-op update!
• When did YOUR eyesight start going, listener?

Timestamps:

• 04:56 - Main Topic - PS5 Pro
• 40:32 - Random Encounters
• 44:32 - The Tavern
• 1:17:04 - Nadia's Nostalgia Nook

Music Used in this Episode:

• Do Your Best - [Breath of Fire III]
• A Curious Tale - [Secret of Mana]
• Jungle - [PlayOnline Viewer]

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For the first time since 2006's Dawn of Mana (a totally fun game, don't let anyone tell you otherwise) we have a new mainline entry in the storied Seiken Densetsu series. Does Visions of Mana prove that the mana tree still has plenty of good years left in'er, or is the vision getting blurry? Kat, Nadia, and Eric discuss this colourful action RPG and more on this episode of Axe of the Blood God!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• Witch Hat Atelier
• Bring back Slayers!
• More Final Fantasy VI discussion
• Everyone definitely agrees Legend of Mana is the best

Timestamps:

• 03:12 - Main Topic - Visions of Mana
• 39:08 - Random Encounters
• 43:12 - The Tavern
• 1:16:32 - Nadia's Nostalgia Nook - CONTENT WARNING
• 1:22:24 - End of Content Warning

Music Used in this Episode:

• Do Your Best - [Breath of Fire III]
• A Curious Tale - [Secret of Mana]
• Cliff Town Gato - [Legend of Mana]

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Brr. Can you feel the chill in the air? Maybe you can, maybe you can't. The weather's been really screwy this summer. This week, the Blood God crew wades hip-deep into 2024's fall RPG season to evaluate what's coming, and to take a guess at which games look likeliest to bogart all their attention through September and October. Will it be the mystical Metaphor ReFantazio? The utterly charming Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom? Or perhaps the beleaguered Dragon Age Veilguard will dominate the autumn season. Listen in and shout your own choices at your audio output device. Or tune into the show live next time at twitch.tv/bloodgodpod. We show up every Saturday at 9:30 PT /12:30 ET.

Also in this episode:

• Nadia is back, but RIP to her luggage
• Visions of Mana early impressions
• Our "canon event" games
• This is Tenchiverse and that "cabbit" did indeed turn into a spaceship

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Main topic: Fall RPG Preview
• 55:28 - Random Encounters
• 1:12:13 - The Tavern
• 1:30:27 - Nostalgia Nook

Music used in this episode

• Do Your Best! [Breath of Fire 3]
• Patty's Pub [Dragon Quest IX]
• A Curious Tale [Secret of Mana]
• Scream [Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker]

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On this week's episode Kat, Eric, and special guest Brian Shea discuss all the news out of Gamescom! Does Xbox still need a Mario? What is happening with Blizzard? All these questions and more will be answered in this week's episode of Axe of the Blood God!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• Kat is invaded by turkeys
• Role-playing with sports games
• More Game Informer memories!

Timestamps:

• 05:52 - Gamescom Announcements
• 52:48 - Random Encounters + Wukong
• 1:10:48 - The Tavern

Music Used in this Episode:

• Do Your Best - [Breath of Fire III]
• A Curious Tale - [Secret of Mana]
• Mog Resort - [Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin]

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On this week's episode Kat, Eric, Nadia and special guest Matt McMuscles discuss the history of beat'em ups, RPGs, and where the twain shall meet! What is the first RPG beat'em up crossover? What even IS Yakuza? How does George Kamitani tie it all together? All these questions and more will be answered in this week's very special Trans Lifeline Charity Livestream episode of Axe of the Blood God!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• Tales of!
• The Bouncer!
• Legend of Mana!
• Shenmue!
• All of Victor's favs are here!

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Main Topic
• 50:28 - Random Encounters
• 52:16 - The Tavern
• 1:26:08 - Nadia's Nostalgia Pit

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On this week's episode Kat, Eric, and special guest Alex Van Aken discuss the current landscape of soulsbornes, the future of soulsbornes, what makes a soulsborne a soulsborne, and please can we call it something else so I can stop saying soulsborne. And no one talks about Code Vein and Stranger of Paradise enough.

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• Black Myth: Wukong
• Kaiju No 8
• D23
• 2XKO

Timestamps:

• 14:23 - State of Soulsbornes
• 59:56 - Random Encounters
• 103:49 - The Tavern
• 1:36:38 - Alex's Game Informer Nostalgia Nook

Music Used in this Episode:

• Do Your Best - [Breath of Fire III]
• A Curious Tale - [Secret of Mana]
• Pirates of Pravoka - [Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin]

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On this week's episode Kat, Eric, and special guests Saniya Ahmed and Nicole Carpenter discuss recent layoffs in both journalism and development. How will Bungie's layoffs change the future of Destiny? Does Destiny HAVE a future? Should it? All these question and more will be answered in this week's Axe of the Blood God!

Tune in to live recordings of the show every Saturday morning at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodgodpod and subscribe for bonus episodes and discord access at https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod

Also in this episode:

• Kat has nice things to say about Final Fantasy XIV
• Fast AND Furious? In this economy?
• Gathering the Magic
• Arranger

Timestamps:

• 05:04 - Game Informer Layoffs
• 20:00 - Bungie Layoffs
• 50:56 - Random Encounters
• 58:40 - The Tavern
• 1:19:28 - Eric's Nostalgia Pit

Music Used in this Episode:

• Do Your Best - [Breath of Fire III]
• A Curious Tale - [Secret of Mana]
• rtown0 (Δ Server Aqua Capital Mac Anu) - [.hack//INFECTION]

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