Remember us. Remember that we once podcasted. Emet-Selch, the principal antagonist of Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, is a unique blend of a foppish eccentric, a world-erasing psychopath, and a grieving survivor. He's a complicated, entertaining foil to the Warrior of Light, and Retro Encounter is going to examine him under the RPG Villains microscope as a last hurrah for Shadowbringers before Endwalker captivates the Final Fantasy XIV community (and around 40% of RPGFan staff). Featuring: Mi...
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 10 min
Hiya, Hugo! Hiya, stupid! Whatcha wanna go get demon energy for? Our two panelists navigate through Ys Origin's three protagonists in our second episode on the 2006 prequel! Up for discussion is the Ys Origin endgame story, midgame boss battles, and family dynamic of the cursed Fact bloodline. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Audra Bowling; Edited by Michael Sollosi Opening and ending music by Miles Morkri Get in Touch: RPGFan.com Email us: retro@rpgfan.com Twitter: @rpgfancom Instagram: @rpgfancom F...
Nov 25, 2021•50 min
Retro Encounter travels between 1989 and 2006 in playing Ys Origin, the prequel to the original Ancient Ys Vanished, Nihon Falcom's influential action RPG. In today's Retro Encounter the panelists discuss co-protagonists Yunica Tovah and Hugo Fact, the layout of the mysterious tower they're climbing, and how Ys Origin references Ys titles past and future. It rhymes with "Geese." Not with "Wise." Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Audra Bowling; Edited by Michael Sollosi Opening and ending music by Mile...
Nov 19, 2021•42 min
It wouldn't be Star Trek without an inevitable sequel! The crew of the USS Retro Encounter is back after last week's Star Trek-focused episode. This time, we're taking a look at the follow-up to 25th Anniversary, the 1993 point-and-click adventure game, Star Trek: Judgment Rites. With the cast of the original series again returning to voice their characters, Judgment Rites looks to deliver an authentic Star Trek experience. Will this sequel be the "The Wrath of Kahn" to 25th Anniversary's "The M...
Nov 11, 2021•1 hr 29 min
It's time to explore strange old worlds with the crew of the USS Retro Encounter! In this episode, our landing party of Trekkies beam into the 1992 point-and-click adventure game, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary. Featuring the vocal talents of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and the rest of the Enterprise crew, will this adventure game live up to the quality of the first two seasons of TOS? Or will it descend into the murky depths of the third? Featuring: Jonathan Logan, Quinton O'Connor, John Tucke...
Nov 04, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Retro Encounter finished their star-studded journey across the cosmos this month, but does Cosmic Star Heroine live up to to Zeboyd's influences and fan expectations? The panel loves the visual design and battle designs of the game, but has issues in other places. But which boss was designed by the podcast host? Listen and learn! Brought to you by the founding members of the Psybe Appreciation Station. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Audra Bowling, Jonathan Logan; Edited by Michael Sollosi Opening a...
Oct 31, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Retro Encounter is blasting off again with two episodes on Cosmic Star Heroine, a 2010s crowdfunding success heavily inspired by specific 16-bit RPGs. The panel loves the visual style and battle system of Cosmic Star Heroine, but isn't 100% sold on the story, characters, or soundtrack. How exactly do they feel about this science fiction Japanese-style RPG? Listen and find out! So is CSH a worthy trek through the stars? Does it burn bright like fireflies? Listen to the episode! Featuring: Michael...
Oct 22, 2021•55 min
The Church of Retro opens its confessional booth again, and three RPGFan panelists discuss the games and series for which they are the most embarrassed not to have played. So which RPGFan staffperson has never played a Suikoden title? Which Mega Man fan has never played Battle Network? Listen and find out! Retro Encounter encourages confession, but unlike Catholicism there is no shame in this podcast space. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Cory Tischbein, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Michael Sollosi Ope...
Oct 14, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is about a teenager assuming a world of responsibility, adults confronting their worst selves, and stopping a demon from the Cthulhu Mythos from swapping the magnetic poles of Planet Earth. Four Retro Encounter panelists reject their own adult responsibilities to talk about this cult hit RPG from 2000, from the highs of Persona 2's themes to the lows of the Undersea Ruins. Being a man means... taking on the burden of a new podcast. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Alana ...
Oct 09, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Retro Encounter brings the band back together in a brand new timeline, reuniting most of the team that podcasted on Persona 2: Innocent Sin in September 2020 to discuss its sequel, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment one year later. Converging timelines, video game grownups struggling to find their place, and comedians named after eggplants all enter the Velvet Room in today's episode of Retro Encounter. Let's do podcasting! Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Alana Hagues, Leona McCallum, Zach Wilkerson; Edi...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 21 min
Our fourth RPGFan Quiz Show in three years comes with changes to the quiz show landscape. Jeopardy!'s longtime host Alex Trebek has passed, and RPGFan's audio quiz show inspiration, Ask Me Another, announced that its final episodes will air later this year. But Retro Encounter is still here, and another quiz show arrives to challenge four contestants and crown a fourth Retro Encounter Quiz Show Champion. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Wes Iliff, Jonathan Logan, Mike Salbato, Zach Wilkerson; Edited ...
Sep 16, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Football season has seized North America, and four Persona-loving RPGFan staff decided to reject the sports-industrial complex to draft their own teams of teenagers battling their inner demons by confronting actual demons. Which protagonist is drafted first overall? Which participant picks not one, but TWO motorcycle-riding student council presidents? Listen and find out! ARE YOU READY FOR SOME TENTARAFOOTBALL!? Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Hilary Andreff, Neal Chandran, Peter Triezenberg; Edited...
Sep 09, 2021•1 hr 30 min
Two recent entries in Capcom's Ace Attorney saga of part-visual novel, part-adventure game, and all-courtroom drama video games were in localization purgatory for a few years before finally releasing worldwide as The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles in July 2021. Three of RPGFan's preeminent anime lawyer enthusiasts discuss the story, characters, themes, puzzles, and handsome boys and dads of this pair of modern classics. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Niki Fakhoori, Jonathan Logan; Edited by Jonathan...
Sep 02, 2021•1 hr 19 min
Three Retro Encounter panelists played Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne in August 2021, and each came out with different opinions and Reasons for those feelings. So which Reason is The Matrix and which Reason is The LEGO Movie ? Listen and find out. You'll have plenty of time, climbing those massive tower dungeons Is Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne one of the PS2's best, or lacking compared to its successors? We don't quite agree on today's Retro Encounter! Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Wes Iliff...
Aug 27, 2021•1 hr 8 min
300 episodes! Retro Encounter always celebrates 50-episode milestones with new podcast gimmicks and a public vote on a future Retro Encounter game, and in 2021 we deliver with a Retro Encounter elimination tournament! We took sixteen suggested games for a future Retro Encounter episode, then voted them down to a final four. Now it's time to rely on listener votes for an overall winner. The winning RPG (or puzzle adventure game) will appear on Retro Encounter as a game journal game in (probably) ...
Aug 19, 2021•2 hr 3 min
Podcasting is a harsh, unforgiving world that struggles between freedom of expression and survival of the fittest, but it's nothing compared to post-apocalyptic Tokyo. Three Retro Encounter Demi-Fiends survive The Conception with two friends, two strangers, and their favorite teacher (with an oddly close relationship to her students); but how do they find this recently-remade PS2 Atlus classic? We're very well acquainted, too, with matters philosophical, and understand conundrums, both demonic a...
Aug 12, 2021•1 hr 6 min
The samurai and demon boys are back in town, as are our panelists as we finish our discussion of Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi for Ladies Otome Month here on Retro Encounter. This time, discussion centers around two more specific routes: one where Shinsengumi antagonist and demon Kazama helps you out (wow, so historically accurate), and the titular route where you get to know the tragic figure Hijikata in depth during his ill-fated mission to preserve the Shinsengumi during modernization ...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 4 min
It's Ladies Otome Month on Retro, so our panel is kicking back and getting lost in historical Japan with a bunch of deadly samurai. Some of us are otome experts, some of us only know the genre from second-hand accounts, but we've all made our choices and been throughout at least one route. Many of us had a surprising amount to say about this intersection of otome, horror, and historical fiction. How many different routes did we cover? Did we agree on who's the best out of the Shinsengumi? Enjoy ...
Jul 30, 2021•1 hr 14 min
A 2021 Retro Encounter sequel podcast drops its sequel episode, establishing a new Essential Ten for a new decade. Five panelists argue a list of twenty RPGs and visual novels down to an esteemed list of ten newly enshrined Retro Encounter Hall of Fame RPGs. By the end, the five RPGFan staff show a mix of accomplishment, fatigue, and sulky dissatisfaction, but we got there, doggone it. Which Final Fantasy game gets dumped? Do one, two, or zero Lunar games make the cut? Listen and find out! Featu...
Jul 22, 2021•2 hr 10 min
Retro Encounter's most notorious two-part episode, a 2016 structured argument that resulted in a top ten RPGs deemed "essential" by Retro Encounter, is getting a sequel five years later. It's a new decade, and five Retro Encounter regulars will spend two podcasts and over four hours arguing a list of 35 RPGs to 10, and this is the first. Friendships are challenged and feelings are hurt (but not really) in the latest Retro Encounter! Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Alana Hagues, Eva Padilla, Peter Tr...
Jul 16, 2021•2 hr 34 min
Retro Encounter did two episodes on NieR: Gestalt in 2016, but the recent Replicant remaster gives us new occasion to discuss the Square-Enix cult classic. We have Teen Nier, Automata context, and deeply personal narratives all up for discussion in a mostly-happy podcast about a sad, angry RPG. How far would you go for a podcast you love? Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Alana Hagues, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Brian Ingemanson Get in Touch: RPGFan.com Email us: retro@rpgfan.com Twitter: @rpgfancom In...
Jul 03, 2021•1 hr 39 min
The stunning conclusion to Knights in the Nightmare is here, and holy plot Batman, that was a doozy! And with a remaster just announced for Japan this week, we cannot wait for more folks to dig in to this fascinating experience! (no relation to NiGHTS into Dreams for Sega Saturn) Featuring: Eva Padilla, Pete Leavitt; Edited by Micah Coates Get in Touch: RPGFan.com Email us: retro@rpgfan.com Twitter: @rpgfancom Instagram: @rpgfancom Facebook: rpgfancom Twitch: rpgfancom Related Links: Knights in ...
Jun 25, 2021•1 hr 8 min
What is dead may never die! On this Game Journal, two panelists dive into Sting's weirdo-bullet heck SRPG Knights in the Nightmare! Can this duo find the strength to make it out of this deep slumber in one piece? Find out on this week's episode of Retro Encounter! Dust off your late-2000s handheld, folks! Featuring: Eva Padilla, Pete Leavitt; Edited by Micah Coates Get in Touch: RPGFan.com Email us: retro@rpgfan.com Twitter: @rpgfancom Instagram: @rpgfancom Facebook: rpgfancom Twitch: rpgfancom ...
Jun 19, 2021•58 min
Retro Encounter's miniseries on Final Fantasy XIV concludes this week with an episode all about Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy XIV"s most recent and most fantastical expansion. Three panelists discuss the changes Shadowbringers made to the FFXIV job system, how Shadowbringers subverts a few central tenets of Final Fantasy, and the unmatched passion and dedication of the FFXIV team, only a few short months away from Endwalker. Listen, and remember us. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Caitlin Argyros, M...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 45 min
Monster Hunter: World has peaked and Monster Hunter Rise has risen, and with several RPGFan staff hunting Rathalos recently it was high time we recorded a Monster Hunter podcast for the first time in more than three years. Three panelists talk about the peaks and valleys of the fifth generation of Monster Hunter, which is stronger than ever sixteen games in. Sharpen your weapons, eat a hearty meal, then let's get to hunting. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Dom Kim, Peter Triezenberg; Edited by Brian...
Jun 03, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Psaro, the very motivated main antagonist of Dragon Quest IV, is the best video game villain of the NES era and is definitely worth a podcast. But what's the most awful thing Psaro attempts in DQ4? Is he the true villain of the game? These and more addressed in today's Retro Encounter! For the first time in many months, this... is RPG Villains. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Alana Hagues, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Michael Sollosi Get in Touch: RPGFan.com Email us: retro@rpgfan.com Twitter: @rpgfanc...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Five Retro Encounter panelists rolled credits on Dragon Quest IV, and the feeling on the 1990 classic are unanimous: Dragon Quest IV is ahead of its time. From the villain's motivations to the quest design to Akira Toriyama's badass women, Dragon Quest IV is a treat. Listen to us gush about it. Does Alena love Kiryl, or just hate doors? Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Audra Bowling, Alana Hagues, Wes Iliff, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Michael Sollosi Get in Touch: RPGFan.com Email us: retro@rpgfan.com...
May 20, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Five chosen panelists meet a chosen hero (or heroine) and his (or her) seven companions in today's podcast on 1990's Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, making today's Retro Encounter one of the most retro we've ever done. Scottish accents, kickass princesses, and talented business wives all enter the discussion. Which chapter was our favorite? We don't say, but listen anyway! Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Audra Bowling, Alana Hagues, Wes Iliff, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Michael Sollosi Get i...
May 14, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Four Dragon Quest aficionados who haven't attended live sporting events in over a year celebrate their love of the seminal Japanese RPG by pretending it's fake sports! Retro Encounter is doing another fantasy draft, and this time it's to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the slimy and sagacious series. Which Hero is the number one overall pick? Whose draft board gets undercut repeatedly? Listen in and find out! Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Wes Iliff, Rob Steinman, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Michae...
May 11, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Four panelists recruited twenty-seven times as many heroes in playing Suikoden III over April 2021, and have plenty to say about it! Suikoden III's complex politics, different motivations between its multiple protagonists, and surprise turns from series mainstay characters are all up for discussion. Is your father figure an immortal barbarian? Or literally another species? Maybe you're his clone? No judgments here. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Alana Hagues, Leona McCallum, Zach Wilkerson; Edited ...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 32 min
