Watch Out for Fireballs!

We start the new year with an old classic, covering Super Mario Bros. 3. This was Nintendo's biggest effort on the NES, and it deserves its reputation. This episode concerns itself with comparing and contrasting Mario 3 with the rest of the series, talking about the things it introduces, and hitting the design principles of each of the game's eight worlds.

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Questions get answers, responses get read, games get announced, and Duckstream gets discussed.

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This week's premium episode takes us to the biggest DLC pack for Fallout 4, Far Harbor. A missing person's case brings us to an island torn in three pieces, split among factions who can barely tolerate each other, with a buried secret that might bring the whole place tumbling down. This DLC is the best story content in Fallout 4 by far, and it's go a great horror atmosphere that we couldn't wait to talk about.

It's all over but the crying. And the DLC. And the DLC next week.

We continue our way through the side quests of the wastes before visiting the first couple of story dlcs for this massive game.

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This week, we finish talking about the main quest of Fallout 4 and talk about the various faction side quests. Next week we'll get in-depth on the rest of the side quests and start talking a bit about the DLC.

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Why does the sun go on shining? Why does the sea rush to shore? Don't they know it's the end of the world because you don't love me anymore?

We begin our discussion of Fallout 4 with beefy generalities and discussion of the first act of the game. Fallout 4 is a big beautiful mess that's simultaneously a bad Fallout game and the best Bethesda game. On the balance, we're more into how its crafting, exploration, and settlement management systems tie together than we're turned off by a truly dogshit character build and dialogue system. Join us, as we make our case.

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This month's Dispatch episode features a discussion of mapping systems in games, as part of a broader discussion about friction that used to be charming but is now kind of tedious. We also read your responses about Left 4 Dead 2, Stardew Valley, and Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty.

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You givin' me orders?

Wings of Liberty and Starcraft 2 in general is the last gasp of a certain kind of RTS and a certain kind of Blizzard game. The last expression of their dumb as nails plotting and finely tuned gameplay outside of mmos and cardgames. This game may be stacked to the gills with story cliches, but it dispenses gamertreats with a consistency almost unmatched, which makes it worth your time, if not your money. What with the monsterism at blizzard. 

This week go back to basics by starting up a brutal one-man factory farm in Stardew Valley. This indie successor to Harvest Moon is a phenomenon, with tons of people succumbing to the wide variety of tasks and its charming aesthetic. In fact, the combination of all of the elements is so much greater than the sum of its parts that it manages to make us enjoy certain gameplay elements we wouldn't like in other games. Listen in to hear about life on the farm, or in the mines, or on the docks, or...
Thanks, Zack!

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Everyone has Green Flu Fever, or Green Fever Flu. Something like that. And it's a hard time in the big easy for 4 charismatic goofballs, shootin' and slashin' their way through a horde of zombies and equally charismatic "Special Infected." This incredibly generous game encapsulates the first entry in the series, and proves an excellent example of Valve at their finest, both in terms of design and after launch support. It's the rare competitive game that can get two beta boix like us to sit up and take notice, and it remains extremely playable more than a decade after release.

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This week we answer your questions, read your responses to October's games, and talk about when it's time to let game series die.

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Ethan Winters vs Magneto and a hot topic creepy doll? And it's good? What the heck? This  direct follow up to RE7 is a love letter to the series, featuring an impressive array of bosses and locations that evoke the series high points. While Ethan Winters remains as compelling as some kind of unintelligent wad of white bread, the cast of colorful weirdos around him defines the game. Check it out!

Thank you Adam Bucceri! Check out their game, Enter the Survival Horror, at adam-bucceri.itch.io

A god incubated by pain and hate creates a paradise of blood and rust around it, and that's what Harry Mason must run through to save his daughter. This classic survival horror game didn't just start a series, it influenced the aesthetics of most horror games that came after it. Though the series wouldn't find its legs until Silent Hill 2, this entry is still worth your time, and it's a great deal of fun to talk about.

A special thanks to our executive producer for this episode, Cassie.

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Thank you Jeremy!

This is a weird one! En, a member of a hyper capable cult of child somethings tries to revive her dead friend(?) who is also a cube(!) The story, lore, and world-building in this game are really quite great but the play never comes together. Listen in to hear why!

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This month's Dispatch episode has us talking about our thoughts on doing ten years of Watch Out for Fireballs! We also answer your questions, and read your responses to Katana Zero, Sonic 2, Singularity, and Darkest Dungeon.

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Ruin has come to this podcast network.

You remember your venerable network? The one you're listening to right now?

Big thanks to Jack for throwing this lil number our way. A systems forward strategy game sort of about being the HR guy for a lovecraftian hamlet, but it's so much more. We've rarely been more in The Gary Zone than this, and while K is a lil cooler on it, he can see that there's so much to admire here. Buckle up for roughly 3.5 hours of sugar, minus some talk about that shitty 3rd mission in the darkest dungeon. 

It's time crimes right on down the line as we tackle the forgotten 2010 shooter, Singularity. Created by Raven Software right before they were exiled to the Call of Duty mines, it's a fast-paced shooter with ambitious but under-explored time manipulation mechanics. You play as an American special forces soldier investigating a disturbance at an old Soviet military facility called Katorga-12, and by the end of things you could end up with godlike powers.

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Listen, there's a lot to talk about here. You could talk about how we've been doing this show for a decade, or about how Sonic exemplifies the tension between freeform arcade gameplay and the slower, more exploratory form of platformers that would ultimately win out in the end, but the real story here is that I need you to imagine a screenshot of a notes app post where I apologize for mixing up the seed drill and the cotton gin in this episode.

Big thanks to Gwen Static for this awesome remix of the theme song!

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It's rain-soaked, neon-soaked, and blood-soaked. It's Katana Zero, an action game that takes multiple pages from the Hotline Miami book. You play an unnamed contract killer with the unlikely ability to manipulate time, and you're in the middle of a conspiracy that has a lot to do with your sordid past. The play is great, but does the additional emphasis on story work out?

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In this episode we answer your questions, talk about crafting in games, read your responses to August's games, and announce October's games.

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It's about time!

This week, we set our wayback machines to 1995 to discuss one of the most beloved games of all time. Chrono Trigger was part of a late salvo of 16-bit RPGs that defined a generation of storytelling for people who grew up with it. We have problems with the shallowness of its systems, but its charisma can't be denied.

Thank you Nicholas!

Welcome to the Courtesy Dome where two polite midwesterners sensibly argue whether this game is good or bad. Is it a cool mystery story with a neat aesthetic? Or is it an effectively linear, barely interactive time tax? ONLY YOU CAN DECIDE.

Paradise Killer is an odd duck. Part visual novel, part mystery adventure game, part 3d collectathon platformer? With light dating sim elements. We spoil the whole mystery here, so listener beware!

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It's the heartwarming tale of two psychopaths who save the world from people more dangerous than even them. Sam is a laid back dog, Max is an impulsive rabbit-thing, and they are classic adventure game protagonists. This episodic adventure game came early in Telltale's life as a studio, when they were attempting to reimagine how to make classic adventure games well after the bottom fell out of the industry. While this season shows some growing pains, it's hard to deny the inherent charm of these characters and this world.

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Our mental health meters were running low and we didn't have a topic in us, so we just did a bunch of questions. We also read your responses to July's games before announcing Septembers crop.

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Which you can you trust? Prey is a rare creature: an immersive sim that's more like System Shock 2 than Bioshock. You are Morgan Yu, an amnesiac on a space station overrun with shapeshifting monsters, and you have to use everything at your disposal to fight overwhelming odds to stop the threat from reaching Earth. It's a strange game with an ambitious story and unique retro-future aesthetic, and we think you should play it.

Thank you I See Spiders!

We all know defenestrating is one of the coolest things you can do in video games. But what if you could do that... in space? With a near best in class group of gadgets and weapons, In an immersive proc gen ludic playpen with real time pause? You'd get Heat Signature, quietly one of the coolest games we've done for the show. Check it out!

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The Stanley Parable is a short game with a lot to say about games. You play as Stanley, an office worker with a pointless job who finds himself being ordered around by an omniscient narrator. By deciding whether or not to obey him, you stumble into stories that critique and explore the nature of choice in games, and choice in real life.

Because this is primarily a comedy game, we recommend playing the Stanley Parable before listening to this episode, because we will ruin the jokes for you.

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It's rare to be surprised by a sci fi twist, and this AAA action adventure genuinely surprises. Throw in some engaging combat and not even an electronic T-Rex sized barrel of bloat can hold it back.

Thanks Doug!

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This month's special topic is a discussion about RPG progression. What kinds of character upgrades are satisfying, which ones aren't, and why has there been a broader trend of games getting more bloated with bad RPG systems?

We also answer your questions, and read your responses to June's games: Hotline Miami, The Witness, and Super Mario 3D World.

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This week we play the opinionated magnum opus of an opinionated creator. The Witness, created by Jonathan Blow, attempts to use puzzles and geometry to change the way you see the world, and create an engine for repeating the "a-ha!" moment over and over again. It ties one hand behind its back by communicating its mechanics in an entirely nonverbal fashion. Does it succeed at its lofty goals? Listen in to find out.

Thanks, Simon!

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This delightful nugget of a game is bursting with imagination. Almost no ideas are repeated in this colorful, generous buffet of a game. Also, we talk briefly about the very, very good Bowser's Fury. 

 Thanks Joelle!

Do you like hurting people?
Who is leaving messages on your answering machine?
Where are you right now?
Why are we having this conversation?

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This month we have a little love fest for strategy guides, talking about the roles they've filled for us over the years, and what scratches that itch for us nowadays. We also answer your questions and read your responses to Hitman 3, RollerCoaster Tycoon, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

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We were all teens once. Some of us listen to a lot of mall metal, and some of us end up child soldiers.

MGR Revengance is a goofy bit of juvenilia but despite vestigial stealth elements muddying the waters a bit, it's really fun to play. You mean to tell me this Jack is back?  

Thank you Ethan!

It's a management sim with a touch of whimsy and customers who are dumb as rocks. This week we talk about the classic theme park development game RollerCoaster Tycoon, breaking down its systems and talking about how we learned to meet the goals it set for us. And we talk a little about real amusement parks along the way.

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Do you belieeeeeeve in life after Providence? One of our favorite characters in games gets a proper send off in a game trilogy that would function as a proper send off for the entire stealth genre. Another collection of fun sandboxes to murder in, another collection of funny situations and the like, and a final chance to embody Mr Bathroom, Hitman 3 is great.

Thank you to Adam Bucceri! Be sure to check out their game here: https://adam-bucceri.itch.io/enter-the-survival-horror

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This month, we settle in for a light topic... how food is depicted in games. We talk about how it can convey the story of a location, or augment a game's mechanics. We also answer your questions and read your responses to April's games.

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You know, there's nothing wrong with an above average fastfood sandwich. Sometimes, your body just craves a pretty good game that does everything decently, while not doing anything exceptionally well, and is over in 5 or 6 hours. That game is Ratchet and Clank, which is a total snack game with some unintentionally hilarious pathos and very satisfying weapon upgrades.

Thank you Sean!

The odds are always stacked against a sophomore effort. The original Myst was a gigantic success and had a huge cultural impact, finding fans in unlikely places due to its advanced graphics and leisurely pace. Cyan knocked it out of the park when it came to Riven, though, improving on every aspect of the original Myst, while expanding it and making one of the most challenging puzzle adventure games of all time.

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What a big game! This is part two of our coverage of an expansive and masterful CRPG, Divinity: Original Sin 2. We pick up with Act 2, as we land on the Reaper's Coast and set about learning the ways of the Godwoken. We continue through to the end of the game, covering a frankly unreasonable amount of content in our quest to learn the secrets of the Veil.

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No one listens to more podcasts than the man with many cheeses.

In this crunchy, and charismatic CRPG, you play as the godwoken, someone with the potential to ascend to the divine. Somewhat standard fantasy tropes are enhanced by charming characters, beautiful music, and best in genre tactical gameplay. Listen here as we cover the beefy generalities and Act 1.

Thank you to Jonathan!

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Kole and Gary answer your questions, discuss what makes a good tutorial, read your responses to March's games, and announce May!

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Talion caught a bad break. Not only did Sauron kill his family in front of him, but he was killed too! And then an elf spirit had the nerve to possess him and send him on a rampage of vengeance across Mordor! What a revolting predicament. This open world game's big hook is the Nemesis system, which supercharges the sandbox with an evolving army of captains and rivals for you to hunt and manipulate. The story is pretty bland, but you can't deny that this is one of the most inventive open world games to come out in a long time.

Thank you, I See Spiders!

Thank you Joe!

You're trapped in an incomplete game, and given the power to rewrite your reality. It sounds amazing, and there are plenty of grace notes, but this game is a bit too messy for its own good, making broad points with broad characters in a way that left us both feeling a bit cold. A standout performance from James Urbaniak can't quite save this ambitious but flawed indie.

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The Trauma Center series is one of the more interesting things to come out of Nintendo's love affair with strange control schemes in the DS and Wii era. These "surgery simulators" end up playing more like a cross between a light gun shooter and Rock Band, as you cut into your patients and use a number of surgical tools to solve their problems and keep them alive. Less successful is the wrapping story, about impossibly young doctors and medical terrorists who inject people with lung bugs.

Thanks, Tara, for executive producing this episode!

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This month's Dispatch topic is what we're calling "Retro Peril", or the idea that playing a newer entry in a genre would stop you from enjoying classic entries if you went back to revisit them. Would it be impossible to find joy in Torment if you got used to the quality of life improvements in Disco Elysium?

We also answer your questions, and read your responses to February's games.

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The bad news is you only have 22 minutes. The good news is, you have as many 22 minutes as you need. Outer Wilds is a plucky, optimistic game about horrifying circumstances. You stand alone in the footsteps of an ancient civilization, working hard to figure out why your solar system keeps exploding. To do this, you have to fly from planet to planet and navigate hostile conditions, learning as much as you can on each loop. The mechanics may or may not work for you, but the tone and the ending are best in class.

Thank you Fenreliania for producing this episode! And thank you, everyone, for being patient as we navigate Gary's back injury.

It's about time we did more WOFF Dispatch topic cleanup! This is a collection of some of the listener prompts and topics we were unable to get to in the normal Dispatch episodes. There's some good stuff in here, such as breaking gaming complacency, and whether or not games have gotten better at portraying overweight people.

A Note: This is coming out today in lieu of the Early Release version of the Outer Wilds episode of WOFF. Gary has hurt himself and we were unable to record that episode earlier this week. He'll live, it's just painful to be upright at a desk for hours on end.

This will also affect the release date of our Bonfireside Chat episode about Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind.

Gary is resting and has been to the doctor, so we are waiting for the treatments to take effect so we can make a plan for how to get back into production. This will impact the Early Release feed over the next week for sure, and possibly the public release of shows.

We will make another announcement when we're out of the holding pattern.

We thank you in advance for your patience and grace as we work this out. Please wish Gary well, he's in a lot of pain and it would be good for him to see nice things in the comments below.

When it comes to cordyceps, we want some more-dyceps! Kole and Gary tackle what might be the most acclaimed video game in history. Despite having some issues with story and gameplay integration, this cinematic genre piece is fun and affecting.

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This week continues out accidental theme of covering Roguelites on the show, as we chug-a-lug through Monster Train. It's a deck builder with strong elements of strategy games, as you summon monsters and cast spells to protect a train that's carrying Hell's last hope. That's right, angels are the bad guys. This game is really fun, and another departure from the kinds of things we normally cover on WOFF!

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