Final Fantasy VII Remake started this epic remake project off with a bang, and it left us with a few questions, namely "what will they do with Aerith?" and "how will they handle the more open world nature of the game post-Midgar?". Both of those answers came in somewhat messy and/or convoluted forms, which I won't spoil here in the podcast description, but it's a good thing we have nearly 3 hours of podcast here to discuss it all!

Guest info: Aaron Angle of [A Top 3 Podcast](atop3podcast.fireside.fm) & Ryan Arrington.

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 0:24
Story Setup 13:39
Story, continued 32:51
Presentation 49:24
Combat/Open World 1:03:07
Minigames 1:25:03
Closing Thoughts/Recommendations 1:32:02
SPOILER WALL/Patreon Thank-Yous 1:38:31

Music used in the episode:
Main Theme of FFVII - Battle Edit (Nobuo Uematsu)
Nibelheim Train Graveyard Theme (Nobuo Uematsu)
Eager SOLDIER (Nobuo Uematsu, Shotaro Shima)
The Gold Saucer - Night Out with Tifa (Nobuo Uematsu)
Midgardsormr (Nobuo Uematsu, Yoshitaka Suzuki)
Queen's Blood (Mitsuto Suzuki, Junnosuke Usui)
Fiddle de Chocobo (Nobuo Uematsu)
Cosmo Canyon - Sanctum of Planetology (Nobuo Uematsu)
Aerith's Theme - The White Materia (Nobuo Uematsu)
J-E-N-O-V-A - Tenacity (Nobuo Uematsu)
Aerith's Theme - Return to the Planet (Nobuo Uematsu)

You can purchase the soundtrack via Square Enix.

Check out Dave talking about Final Fantasy and modern RPGs on Fine Time and Crossplay Conversations podcasts this week!

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Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

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To celebrate 3 years of Tales from the Backlog, I figured it was time to talk about the namesake of the show- The Backlog. Do we get FOMO as dozens of great games release every year? Do we feel pressure to complete the games we buy? What's the best approach to keep our habits healthy? All this and much more in this discussion episode!

Guest info:

• Matt aka Stormageddon of "Fun" and Games and Reignite podcasts.
• Marcus Stewart of The Indie Informer. Find Marcus on Twitter and Twitch.

Music used in the episode:

• Pandora's Place (Yakuza 0)- SEGA Sound Team
• Frozen Soul (Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere)- Tetsukazu Nakanishi
• Yoga (Wii Fit)- Toru Minegishi, Manaka Tominaga

Check out Dave's guest appearance on Retro Hangover discussing System Shock 2!

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Here are the games I played at GDEX 2024 gaming convention in Columbus, Ohio! Games mentioned in the episode:
Skate Fish
Tales of Thisrea
Zakumba: Astraia
Dark Sky
Derelict
Mole Maiden
Quiet On Set
RA RA BOOM

Intro/Outro music composed by Bert Cole- check them out at bitbybitsound.com

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Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Have you ever thought to yourself, "how scary could this pixel art horror game be? It's just pixels!". If so, you and I are the same. And granted, Decarnation (Atelier QDB, 2023) isn't an in-your-face type of horror. It's more of a psychological, empathetic horror and dread for what your character is going through. And it's very, very effective! This is a really unique horror game with fantastic pixel art, sound design and music- highly recommended!

Guest info: Jala Prendes of Jala-chan's Place and The Level podcasts & Dave Cox of Monster Dear Monster podcast.

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 0:23
Story Setup/Theme Introductions 13:35
Presentation 31:32
Gameplay 42:05
SPOILER WALL/Patron Thank-Yous 1:08:06

Music used in the episode is credited to fleur et bleue, Akira Yamaoka, ALT 236 & AL 9000. You can support the artists by buying the soundtrack, part 1 and part 2.Tracks used: fleur et bleue - Tout Depend de Toi, Decarnation, Grolia, Orfevre De La Nuit, The Cell, Cracks in the Mask, Lizzy et Marco

Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi!
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Stop me if you've heard this story before. A game that I once thought would be too scary for me to play, so I spoiled the entire story for myself only to realize that it sounded too good to not experience for myself. Add Devotion (Red Candle Games, 2019) to that list. Despite the controversy surrounding the game and subsequent delisting from all major storefronts, this one is worth seeking you. You can purchase and download it directly from the Red Candle Games website.

Guest Info: Jill Grodt, editor-in-chief of The Indie Informer and podcaster on The Indie Council podcast. Find more from Jill on YouTube and Twitch.

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 0:26
Story Setup/Gameplay 14:32
Horror/Presentation 37:02
SPOILER WALL 53:15

Content warnings for Devotion

Music used in the episode is credited to Vincent Yang. You can support them by purchasing the album directly from the Red Candle Games website. Tracks used: Devotion, Lady of the Pier (Gong Li Fang), Come on! Have a Bite, A Way of No Return, Lady of the Pier (Du Mei Shin)

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As a fan of Silent Hill 2 (episode 10 of Tales from the Backlog, by the way), I figured at some point I would need to go back and play the original. Silent Hill (Team Silent, Konami, 1999) was really interesting to go back and play, for a couple of reasons, most notably that I thought I knew what the game and town's whole deal was, but that was apparently not the case in the first game. The other surprise was that I found this pretty breezy from a mechanical perspective, which was welcome after really struggling through Resident Evil 1. It was an interesting trip back through history, and led to a great conversation!

Guest Info: Stephanie Klimov, podcaster and editor for Boss Rush Network

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories with Silent Hill/Opening Thoughts 0:21
Story Setup 12:58
Presentation 26:48
Gameplay 43:48
Closing Thoughts/Plugs/Housekeeping 59:42
SPOILER WALL 1:08:12

Music used in the episode is credited to Akira Yamaoka. Tracks used: Silent Hill, Led Into Madness, Meeting Cybil, No Dream, Tears of Blood, Dr. Kaufmann, Killing Time

Content Warnings for Silent Hill

Catch Dave on the Gaming Memories Podcast!

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Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

There has been a lot of talk about the cult classic "7/10 game" lately, and no game better exemplifies this than Deadly Premonition (Access Games, 2010). It's one of those games where the average might land on 7/10 because there will be a lot of 10's and a lot of 3's in the review score distribution. Memorable characters, poor graphics, lifelike town, terrible combat, fun mystery and rough performance combine to create a very interesting game, to say the least.

Guest info: James Tuerlings and Patrick Arthur of Retro Spectives podcast.

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 0:32
Story Setup/Twin Peaks Influence 14:40
Gameplay 42:03
Music/Presentation 1:15:51
Closing Thoughts/Recommendations/Plugs 1:28:18
SPOILER WALL 1:46:39

Polygon interview with Deadly Premonition director Swery65.

Music used in the episode is credited to Riyou Kinugasa, Takuya Kobayashi and Hiromi Mizutani. Tracks used: Greenvale, FBI Special Agent, Found You!, Underground, The Woods and the Goddess, Raincoat Killer, Red Tree, The Goddess

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Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Sometimes a game has such striking and memorable art that one screenshot will implant that game into your head, even if you never play it. Omori (Omocat, 2020) was almost one of those games for me. A combination of thinking the game would be too scary and having tons of other games available kept Omori on the periphery for a long time, until today's guest, Aaron, played it and kept (lovingly) pestering me to play it. And while I can't say that I loved every aspect of the experience, the story and presentation of mental health struggles were good enough to see me through to its emotional conclusion. I'm very glad I took Aaron's recommendation seriously, for once.

Guest info: Aaron Angle of A Top 3 Podcast

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 0:23
Story Setup/Themes 11:36
Presentation/Music 30:35
Gameplay/Combat 41:12
SPOILER WALL 59:52

Music used in the episode is credited to Bo En, Jami Lynn and Pedro Silva. You can support them by purchasing the album on Steam or Bandcamp! Tracks used: Title, WHITE SPACE, By Your Side, Tussle Among Trees, Trees..., World's End Valentine, OMORI, DUET

Content warnings for Omori

Check out Dave's guest appearance on Pages of Play podcast!

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Lost Odyssey, by Mistwalker and feelplus, is almost legendary at this point. A darker, sadder RPG by Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, with a moody yet eclectic soundtrack by Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu and short stories interspersed throughout by famed Japanese author Kiyoshi Shigematsu, there is pedigree and talent behind the game, and perhaps most crucially- you probably can't buy it, unless you own an Xbox console. Situations like this tend to lead to inflation of a game's merits, not to mention all of the "this is the real Final Fantasy 13" memes out there. So does Lost Odyssey live up to its mythical reputation? Tune in to find out!

Guest Info: Ryan Batie (they/them) of Lightning Strikes Thrice, a JRPG play along podcast. Check them out at their website or on your favorite podcast app, and support them via Patreon for bonus shows including Icons & Eikons, a Final Fantasy XIV play along podcast.

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 0:35
Story Setup 16:48
Pacing/Game Length 42:06
Presentation/Music 53:24
Combat/Gameplay 1:05:46
SPOILER WALL 1:45:40

Music used in the episode is credited to Nobuo Uematsu. Tracks used: Prologue, Battlefield, Neverending Journey, A Formidable Enemy Appears!, The Gun Barrel Battle, Main Theme, Howl of the Departed, An Immortal Life

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Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Friends of the show probably know that I love games (especially indie games) set in "uncommon" real world settings- those outside of the US, Japan and Western Europe. Mojiken Studio's 2023 title A Space for the Unbound is one of those, set in Indonesia. That was the draw for me- an emotional story set in a place that I've been in real life. I didn't quite know what kind of emotional story lay in wait for me though, and despite a bumpy road, the way this story pays off and executes on its promise was truly remarkable. In the podcast we discuss the highs and lows, how gameplay affects the pacing, and much more!

Guest info: CGDannyB (he/him)- streamer on Twitch, YouTube creator and host of Playlog Podcast!

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 0:35
Story Setup/Pacing 11:41
Presentation 33:19
Gameplay 41:53
SPOILER WALL 1:02:13

Music used in the episode is credited to Masdito "Ittou" Bachtiar, Christabel Annora and Bambang Iswanto. You can support them by purchasing the OST on Steam. Tracks used: A Tales from Far Away, School Life, Inner World, Don't Have Much Choice, Tip of the Knife, The Girl on the Bridge, An Ode to Life

Check out Dave's guest appearance on the King of Games 1996 semifinal match between Super Mario 64 and Quake!

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Final Fantasy is one of the most well-represented series on this podcast, and its anthology structure means you can pick and choose which games you want to play without fear of playing out of order. So this year, I wanted to make sure I played a foundational one- Final Fantasy IV. I expected this to be the turning point where Square and the Final Fantasy team started to prioritize story and characters, and you can really see their attempts here, including some cool marriages of gameplay and narrative that later games no longer do. I really enjoyed my time with this one and was happy to bring together an all-star group of guests to chat about it!

Joining me for the discussion are Chris Coplien of Retro Hangover podcast, which you should [check out](linktr.ee/retrohangover) for retro gaming podcasts as well as the yearly King of Games tournament, and Jenny E., who is a writer and podcaster. You can find her Final Fantasy IV fan fiction and other writing HERE, and check out her Wordlessly podcast as well!

TIMESTAMPS
Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 2:05
Story Setup/Themes/Characters 17:09
Visuals/Music 40:11
Combat 52:18
Closing Thoughts/Recommendations/Guest Plugs 1:07:57
SPOILER WALL 1:18:00

Music used in the episode is credited to Nobuo Uematsu and Square. Tracks used: The Prelude, Main Theme of Final Fantasy IV, Red Wings, Theme of Love, Mystic Mysidia, Fight 1, Chocobo-Chocobo, Prologue, Mt. Ordeals, The Final Battle, Fanfare

Check out Dave's guest appearance on Pixel Project Radio's series about 1000xRESIST!

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Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!