RPGFan's Random Encounter

No rest for the wicked this summer. We've got lots of new releases to talk about, including Shin Megami Tensei IV, Dragon's Crown, and Tales of Xillia. Rob and Stephen are lost (again) in Skyrim, and Derek has lots of news to talk about. Featuring: Robert Steinman, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

Beat the summer heat and join the cast for a quality discussion on character classes. How do we decide which class to play in a video game? Why does Stephen always have to choose a magic user? Will John ever get tired of hitting things really hard as a dwarf? Stay tuned after the news for an interview with Jordan Weisman from Harebrained Schemes, makers of the upcoming Shadowrun Returns. Enjoy! Featuring: Robert Steinman, John McCarroll, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Special Guest: Jordan Weisman from Harebrained Schemes Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

Join the cast of Random Encounter for some summer gaming fun! We've got some very positive impressions of Final Fantasy XIV, more love to hand out to Virtue's Last Reward, a little Project X Zone and Muramasa to discuss, and Derek tackles the news (including the now infamous XBox 180). Featuring: Robert Steinman, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

E3 2013 was surely one of the best years in recent memory for our beloved genre(s), and we have an absolute avalanche of things to discuss in our latest and greatest wrap-up show ever. The announcement of Kingdom Hearts III headlines, with some other games, I guess, too. Did our heroes survive the Ifrit challenge? Did Stephen's head explode when they announced KHIII? Tune in and find out! Featuring: Robert Steinman, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

It's the most wonderful time of the year! We've got our special Pre-E3 show and lots to talk about. What are we most excited about? What's going to happen with the new consoles? Do we have any crazy predictions that we'll laugh about later? Tune in and find out! Featuring: Robert Steinman, John McCarroll, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

We decided to take a break from the usual new release talk and focus on something everybody loves in RPGs: character progression! Of course, we have to talk about the XBox One reveal (now forever known as the X-Bone). Finally, we have an interview with some of the wonderful folks at Aksys who localize some of your favorite games! Featuring: Robert Steinman, John McCarroll, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Special Guests: Karen McOscar, Ben Bateman, Editors for Aksys Games Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

Let the hate flow through you. Rob's got LOTS to say about Dragon's Dogma, but we accentuate the positive first when John talks about Dead Island Riptide. After Rob's meds kick in, Derek discusses Pandora's Tower and then we finish things off with a bit of news. Featuring: Robert Steinman, John McCarroll, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

We're fighting through the allergy season to get you the latest information on RPGs. We've got Soul Hackers, Soul Sacrifice and Dark Souls II to talk about (probably should have renamed the podcast, now that we think about it), and then some news which includes a huge amount of Nintendo Direct announcements and a bit of speculation on next-gen consoles. Featuring: Robert Steinman, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

Spoiler Warning! And now for something completely different. The podcast crew decided it was time to take a long hard look at narrative in RPGs and video games as a whole. We pretty much get lost talking about the importance of player choice, strong character interactions, and the interactive nature of the art form. There are some spoilers here and there, but we do our best to bring up the game beforehand so you can skip ahead as needed. Derek brings it home with news, including some pretty disappointing financials from Square-Enix. Featuring: Robert Steinman, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen, Kyle E. Miller, Dave Yeager Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com

We've got a weird one for y'all this week. With John catching a case of the Solid Snake Gravely Voice, the podcast ends of hijacked with tons of side topics and seemingly random discussions. Thankfully, there's some new releases to talk about with Etrian Odyssey IV and Atelier Ayesha. We've also got a little preview of another potential retro episode, so be sure to let us know what you think! Featuring: Robert Steinman, Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen Questions? Comments? Spare Potions? Email us: podcast@rpgfan.com