Episode 1 - RFGeneration Community Playthrough Wrap-Up

[techwizard]

This is it! The announcement you've all been waiting for...

A new podcast for RFGeneration!

Listen to the four playthrough hosts discuss the games we all played together in a casual group review. Each episode should be released hopefully within about 3-5 weeks after the playthroughs that we're discussing have finished, so expect every episode to lag behind the relevant playthroughs by about a month or so. At the moment this is only available on Youtube and Podomatic (http://rfgenplaythroughs.podomatic.com/) within a few days, it will be on iTunes. We've talked about the idea of bringing on guests out of the playthrough participants for future episodes so keep an eye out for more information about that later on!

Please post any feedback, positive or negative, that you might have so we can make future episodes even better!

THIS PODCAST CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Podomatic - http://rfgenplaythroughs....2014-05-05T05_32_22-07_00
Youtube -
Itunes - https://itunes.apple.com/...ythrough/id874327459?mt=2
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rfgenplaythroughs
Twitter - https://twitter.com/RFGPlaythroughs

Retro: Phantasy Star - Sega Master System
Modern: The Last of Us - Sony Playstation 3

Join the RFGeneration Community Playthrough hosts Rich (Singlebanana), Jamie (techwizard), Floyd (Fleach), and Shawn (GrayGhost81) as we discuss an 8-bit classic and a modern blockbuster from our March playthroughs.

Introduction: 0:11
Phantasy Star discussion: 2:17
The Last of Us discussion: 1:48:21
Conclusion: 3:20:16

Music:
Opening/Closing theme by Atma Weapon - http://atmaweaponnc.bandcamp.com/
Transition themes -

shownotes:
NA/EU and JAP Phantasy Star sound comparison -
The Last of Us soundtrack -

Edited by Jamie (techwizard)

[Crabmaster2000]

Looking forward to checking it out

[singlebanana]

Here's the new Podomatic link for all of you interested in downloading the show. We should be up on iTunes in a few days. Woo Hoo!

http://rfgenplaythroughs.podomatic.com/

[Disposed Hero]

I listened to the whole thing.  I always find it interesting to listen to discussions about games, especially games I've played, so I definitely enjoyed this podcast!

"The Beast"....  Hehehe, I like it! 

[Wempster]

Listened to this last night. Great job guys!

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Would you guys like for these to be a monthly follow-up to the playthroughs? Any feedback on the length or content? I've yet to listen to it, but I suspect that future wrap-up episodes would be shorter due to the massive playthrough that this one discussed.

[singlebanana]

We certainly hope that future podcasts will be a little shorter. The amount of content these games covered made that a little tougher. Glad a few of you have already listened to it and enjoyed it.

[GrayGhost81]

Thank you so much to those who have already taken the time to listen. It means a lot to us.

[SirPsycho]

I listened through the Phantasy Star stuff this weekend and a lot of it reminded me of when I played it back in my emulation days. For those on the podcast that haven't played any of the Genesis/Mega Drive Phantasy Stars the early game is similar, but with a top down view instead of first person.

[Fleach]

Thanks to everyone who listened to our discussion! It was fun to record and do something to give back to the community.

[techwizard]

thanks for all the feedback everyone! glad to see those who listened already have enjoyed it.

like shadow and singlebanana said most episodes "should" be shorter than this one . we were working with two amazing games, both of which were fairly long, so there was a lot to talk about. i imagine the episode about the april playthroughs would be much shorter (less than 2 hours) because there's probably less to say about atari titles, but we'll see.

[Duke.Togo]

What on earth do you people have against long podcasts?!?

[Crabmaster2000]

Great episode 1 gang.

Rich you do a fantastic job of keeping the pace of the conversation flowing.


Last of Us Spoilers to follow:


I was a bit sad that you guys didn't mention my favorite character and landscape in Last of Us. Ish and his sewer shelter were what I felt were the most interesting part of the game for me. That was the only part of the game that I felt was really powerful for me. Coming across the journal entries and abandoned bed/school rooms was making me very anxious and interested to get some closure on their little community. I was both eager and apprehensive to to learn more about their side story.

None of the character you actively interact with in the game had as much impact on me as Ish's sewer group. After each little tidbit of info or deserted (or even occupied in some cases ) room my mind would race thinking about the possibilities or imaging them thriving in their sewer bunker.

Best part of the game I thought and I was sadden to be forced out onto the next area.

[Fleach]

I enjoyed the sewers, but not as much as the other areas of the game (least favourite was the first-person sniping scene... ughh). I find it hard to pick a favourite area/scene since everything was so great.

I can totally understand how that area works in the mythology of the game as it's highly likely that people would retreat to a secluded and secure area to build up forces and some form of community and this carried through very evidently in the game. My reason for not ranking this scene lower on my list is that it felt very video game-y. The whole thing was an escort mission. I got this impression because Sam was rather useless. I had become so accustomed to Ellie being my helper and getting me out of rough situations and to have that taken away changed the way I interacted with the game.

As a character, Ish was interesting and his ambiguous history only made him more intriguing. To be able to assemble a community of people (recall the notes in the town after the sewers about the father contemplating bringing his family to Ish's group) shows that he's a leader and had that will to survive. TLOU examines humanity as it's pushed over the edge where morality can be an asset or a liability, where only the mentally and physically strong can survive. All this is clear during the sewer segment of the game. Ish established a safe haven from the monstrous (and social Darwinian) outside world where people can live somewhat similarly to their lifestyles before the outbreak.

I guess this part didn't make it into the discussion because none of us made notes on it. I can hear Crabby saying, "shame on you guys!" But there was so much to talk about the game. We barely scratched the surface on the topics we wanted to cover. At least we settled the game vs movie debate.

[techwizard]

it was really a time thing, like fleach said there was so much to talk about on this game that we could have done a whole episode on just that. i loved the sewers (on normal difficulty, survivor was hellish in there), really wish there was more about ish. also i think the note about the family moving there that you find in the town after the sewers is actually ish himself before moving there, the town is where all the people living in the sewers came from. i could be wrong about that though.

after we wrapped up recording on TLOU segment myself, Fleach, and GrayGhost81 all kept talking about the game for a good hour or so more. i kind of wish we had included it in the recording but at the same time i think we covered most of the major points about the game and anymore would've just been us getting lost in the details.

thanks for the good word though! glad to hear from the more experienced podcasters about it