The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is here! In preparation for diving into a brand-new, Zelda-centric Zelda adventure, join Dan and Aaron—neither of whom had started this new journey at the time of recording—as they return to their roots as Zelda fans and analysts, exploring the range of representations and symbolisms Princess Zelda has borne throughout the years. How can Nintendo's stance toward spin-offs and experimentation inform our approach to Echoes of Wisdom? What do Zelda's transforma...
Oct 11, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 56
What is the value of a PlayStation 5 Pro, and which console technologies beget innovations in video-game storytelling? Especially with the advent of a 30th-anniversary PS5 Pro , the time is right to dive into a conversation surveying some memorable moments in tech-grounded narrative innovations from the PS1 onward. What difference do graphics and load time really make to interactive stories? Where do gimmicks end and innovation begin in inventions like motion-controlled peripherals and VR? How m...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 55
The With a Terrible Fate podcast is back with a vengeance! On the heels of Aaron's relocation to Los Angeles for his PhD, we've settled into a new weekly recording time and are excited to share more regularly scheduled conversations about the storytelling of video games with you, our dear listeners. First on the docket is a follow-up to the conversation of our last episode, which discussed the normative and metanormative content of games that tell rich, spiritually and intellectually rewarding s...
Sep 15, 2024•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 54
On this week's episode of With a Terrible Fate's podcast, join Aaron and Dan in a treacherous, invigorating relitigation of domains of video-game discourse with a reputation for being too messy and inert to matter to the ordinary gamer. The two main bugaboos on the agenda are "morality" and "immersion" in gaming. What does it mean for games to have moral content, and how can this content actually help to illuminate the many reasons we have for playing games rather than leading us into often dist...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 53
***WARNING: THIS EPISODE IS HAUNTED!*** The characters in the first game we discussed were haunting our podcasting software, so please excuse some small technical difficulties throughout the episode and a rather abrupt kickoff on account of a lost introduction. We jump directly into spoilers for Inscryption, a game that ought to be played without spoilers, so we strongly recommend only listening to this episode after playing! (Or, skip ahead to 45:30 to pass over this discussion.) In a belated i...
Jul 04, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 52
On this episode of the With a Terrible Fate podcast, we celebrate Dan's birthday with a conversation ranging from becoming a real boy to becoming a... real old man! We begin with a postgame analysis of Lies of P in which it takes Aaron and Dan a hilariously long time to uncover that, contrary to their first impression based on each other's perspective, they'd actually chosen different endings to the story! This lays the foundation for a discussion of how games' content can prompt philosophical d...
Jun 08, 2024•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 51
This week, With a Terrible Fate's podcast is a romp ranging from adaptation to serialized storytelling to metafiction. We kick off discussing Lies of P in the contexts of Pinocchio, Miyazaki-inspired games, and philosophically-minded stories as Aaron nears the conclusion of his first playthrough. (He's since wrapped this up, so stay tuned for overall first impressions!) Later, Dan presents his latest views on how to read the eras and progress of Final Fantasy as a series, inspired by his latest ...
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 50
This week on With a Terrible Fate's podcast, we celebrate the communities, black sheep, and arduous challenges of gaming! We begin with Aaron breaking down With a Terrible Fate's lecture on bosses at PAX East last month, along with broader reflections on everything from cosplays to upcoming indie games you won't want to miss. All the talk of bosses leads us to Dark Souls II, one of the subjects of the lecture, inviting a broader discussion of why games which you or a fandom didn't initially enjo...
Apr 13, 2024•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 49
This week on With a Terrible Fate's podcast, Aaron and Dan take a deep breath and dive into their very first, unfiltered, spoiler-rich thoughts about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Save this episode until you've finished the main scenario and are ready to dig into its microscopic and macrocosmic implications! We're already eagerly planning new analyses centered on this latest addition to the Final Fantasy VII corpus, consistent with the spirit and approach of The Legacy of Final Fantasy VII Remake ....
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 48
On this special edition of the With a Terrible Fate podcast just ahead of analyst Dan Hughes' wedding, Dan and Aaron wrestle with the marvelously multifaceted problem of how we can best come to understand the nature of characters in our favorite video games. What draws us to specific protagonists in party-based games? How can game-based conflict actually help us to better appreciate the characters that have been cast as bosses? How do game attributes like player choice and ludicrously long playt...
Feb 23, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 47
This week on With a Terrible Fate's podcast on the storytelling of video games, we kick things off with a discussion of Dan's recent journeys through Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, only to discover the game as a surprisingly illuminating throughline for a rich diversity of reflections on the structures of serial video-game stories, the interpretation and analysis of our personal experiences within video games, and the evolving culture of expectations around major upcoming releases! Listen in fo...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 46
On the latest episode of With a Terrible Fate's podcast, Dan Hughes and Aaron Suduiko fire up the mics two weeks after their vacation in Japan to share stories from their journey and reflect on how their latest adventure through the cultural progenitor of so many video games has informed how they think about the medium! From stumbling upon the mythological origin of the Triforce to witnessing the inseparability of politics from religion in temple and shrine tours, this episode has something for ...
Feb 07, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 45
This week on With a Terrible Fate's podcast about the study and culture of video-game storytelling, we take a reflective look at the good, bad, and ugly of what it means to talk about games. Where does lore analysis end and literary interpretation begin, and how can streamed "book clubs" of games help create good-faith homes for a positive mode of analysis among common fans and thinkers? How might a game award show need to look different than film awards by virtue of differences in the medium? H...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 44
With the last month of the year upon us, join the With a Terrible Fate podcast for December-themed game reflections! From the culture developing around the Game Awards, to analyzing what counts as a "holiday gaming experience," to reflecting on evolving standards around game demos, spoilers, and recommendations, this episode is stuffed with plenty of gifts for the literate gamer.
Dec 05, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 43
Do you find yourself bouncing back and forth between multiple games, or running a few different playthroughs at the same time to support different mindsets or moments throughout your day? Take a listen to this latest podcast episode, in which Dan and Aaron explore the many reasons for which we might bounce gymnastically between multiple games, and the many consequences (good and bad!) this might have for our playthroughs. From seres like Persona 5 and Tales of Arise featuring multiple exploratio...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 42
Welcome to the latest incarnation of With a Terrible Fate's podcast: unstructured, organic conversations about current gaming experiences, how they inform our understanding of the world, and how they relate to the broader language of video-game storytelling! In this inaugural episode, Dan Hughes and Aaron Suduiko discuss their recent adventures in the Tales and Pokémon series, and they wrestle with the difference between series that lose touch with their identity through productization and serie...
Nov 14, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 41
On the spookiest day of the year, join With a Terrible Fate in a free-wheeling conversation about the past, present, and future magic of horror storytelling in video games. In a brand-new podcast episode, Dan Hughes and Aaron Suduiko haunt you with reflections on the good, bad, and ugly of scary interactive stories, including: Old and new glitches, from MissingNo. to headless Marvel heroes Dan's six-year-old ire for Five Nights at Freddy's, juxtaposed against his reception of the brand-new Five ...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 40
This Friday the 13th of October on Pokémon Rose: from MissingNo. and a skeletal Kabutops to Drifloon and Gengar, take our hand on the spookiest day of the year and wander with us through the pokégraveyard. Stay on the lookout: if we're unlucky enough, we may just be visited by the origins of ghost stories, Ghost Pokémon, and the spooky folklore that wove its DNA into the Pokémon series and early-2000s internet gaming culture alike.
Oct 13, 2023•20 min•Ep. 39
This week on Pokémon Rose: an exposition of mythopoeia, a study of the Pokémon world's perennial quest for meaning and explanation in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, and how mechanics of exploration, Pokémania, and myth equip players to confront one burning question: "How do we dream in a shapeless void?" Credit to Qumu Music for the music in this episode.
Aug 22, 2023•16 min•Ep. 38
This week on Pokémon Rose: an introduction to Generation 4 of Pokémon (Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum), the value of taking your childhood passions seriously as you grow up, and the surprising perspective of falling in love with a game as an adult only because you chose not to play it in your childhood.
Aug 01, 2023•14 min•Ep. 37
This week on Pokémon Phi Rose: five-time Pokémon world champion Dan Hughes reflects on Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and contemplates what might have been if he'd taken a different path and adopted a different dream.
Jul 14, 2023•11 min•Ep. 36
This week on Pokémon Rose: the story of how Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire turned the series' rivalry paradigm on its head through a new kind of character—and a new kind of role for the player.
Jun 29, 2023•14 min•Ep. 35
This week on Pokémon Rose: studying how the enemy teams of Pokémon developed from mobsters into a trenchant lesson on the limitations of personal dreams.
Jun 21, 2023•10 min•Ep. 34
This week on Pokémon Rose: a deep dive into the game mechanics of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire that gave birth to the modern Pokémon metagame—and a study of how those mechanics unexpectedly enhanced the heart of the series' storytelling.
Jun 14, 2023•13 min•Ep. 33
This week on Pokémon Rose: a study in what it's like as a gamer to feel as though the new entries in a beloved video-game series were no longer being made for you—and foreshadowing of how, and why, you would ultimately return to that series.
May 29, 2023•11 min•Ep. 32
This week on Pokémon Rose: a time-travel episode in more ways than one, exploring the legendary intersection between a unique Pokémon and a real-life Pokéchallenge.
May 22, 2023•11 min•Ep. 31
What happens when a video game's sequel takes you back to a world you'd thought you left behind—a world that's kept moving without you? Find out in this week's episode of Pokémon Rose, studying the return to Kanto in Pokémon Gold and Silver.
May 04, 2023•14 min•Ep. 30
This week on Pokémon Rose: how Game Freak's approach to mythological storytelling created a world that simultaneously felt old and new to players of Pokémon Gold and Silver.
Apr 18, 2023•11 min•Ep. 29
This week on Pokémon Rose: how the explosion of available Pokémon in Pokémon Gold and Silver led to the innovation of a special Trainer/Pokémon bond that continues to this day.
Apr 10, 2023•9 min•Ep. 28
This week on Pokémon Rose: a discussion of how Pokémon Gold and Silver set the standard for a Pokémon sequel.
Apr 03, 2023•10 min•Ep. 27
