RPGFan's Retro Encounter

The only podcast here is ours. And you can be its early witness! Final Fantasy XVI, one of the most-anticipated Square-Enix games of the 2020s, finally launched worldwide in June. And now, almost three months later, at least four RPGFan staff have finished playing and want to start talking. From favorite characters and fights to the future of Final Fantasy XVI DLC, this podcast delves deep into this Eikonic game. Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Gio Castillo, Tin Manuel, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Zach WilkersonOpening and ending music by Miles Morkri. Get in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomZach's Final Fantasy XVI Review

She'll take you for a ride on a wagon train to ZoombinivilleIt's back to school week here at Retro Encounter, where we stay retro but mostly avoid RPGs in a discussion of classic edutainment games, from The Oregon Trail to Sim City 2000. Who among our illustrious panel dreamed of being on the Carmen Sandiego PBS show? Which educational game most deserves a Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio adaptation? Listen and learn! Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Niki Fakhoori, Jonathan Logan, Jimmy Turner; Edited by Michael SollosiOpening and ending music by Miles Morkri Get in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancom

Time to go work on Retro Encounter!We're back with our discussion of the second half of Disco Elysium. This week we dive into some of our favorite late-game side quests, go over our favorite conversations with our neckties, and discuss the fabulously strange ending.Did we get Kim to like us? Do we continue to be a disaster cop? Are Phasmids real? Listen in to find out!Featuring: Zach Wilkerson, Aleks Franiczek, Ben Love, Hilary Andreff; Edited by Zach WilkersonOpening and ending music by Miles MorkriGet in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomRelated Links:RPGFan - Disco Elysium ReviewRPGFan - Disco Elysium: The Final Cut Review

This is the face of a late-stage Retro Encounter enthusiast.This week we get together to discuss a game inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, despite a complete lack of any dungeons or dragons: Disco Elysium. Listen in as we discuss the wild humor and politics of this strange, amazing video game, and find out just how many bad choices we can make while still solving a murder case.Featuring: Zach Wilkerson, Aleks Franiczek, Ben Love, Hilary Andreff; Edited by Zach WilkersonOpening and ending music by Miles MorkriGet in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomRelated Links:RPGFan - Disco Elysium ReviewRPGFan - Disco Elysium: The Final Cut Review

Off my podcast, jester. The commissioner sits there.It's fantasy draft season! And, well, it's been a while since our last draft episode, and even longer since we've drafted characters from the biggest RPG series around. So, we decided to pull a new panel together to engage in some Retro Encounter rules-based discussion nonsense with a supersized episode where we draft all our Final Fantasy characters.Is Celes is main character or a supporting one? Where does Kefka fall on our big board? Just how long can we make one episode? Listen in to find out!Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Alana Hagues, Aleks Franiczek, Lucas Greene, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Zach WilkersonOpening and ending music by Miles MorkriGet in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomRelated Links:Retro Encounter 210 - Final Fantasy Fantasy Draft

Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from? A new episode of Retro Encounter of course, that's where!We're back this week to dive into the second, more ruinous half of Final Fantasy VI. After the relatively structured and straightforward pacing of the first half, the latter portions of Final Fantasy VI are certainly much more open, and quite a revelation when the game released.Is the second half still as interesting as it was all those years ago? Did we recruit everyone? Who makes the right choice and turns off encounters while climbing Cultists' Tower? Listen in to find out!Featuring: Zach Wilkerson, Aleks Franiczek, Ben Love, Lucas Greene, Lucy Gray; Edited by Jono LoganOpening and ending music by Miles MorkriGet in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomRelated Links:Audra's Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster Review on RPGFanBob's Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster Review on RPGFan

Think a "podcast" like ours could help you out in your quest?In honor of the recent release of Final Fantasy XVI, we got a few of our panelists together to play through the SNES classic Final Fantasy VI. Some of us have played it a million times, some of us are just running through it for the first, and we chat about everything from the story to the combat to that music.Who is the best character? How does the combat hold up? Did we all suplex the train? Listen in to find out!Featuring: Zach Wilkerson, Aleks Franiczek, Ben Love, Lucas Greene, Lucy Gray; Edited by Zach WilkersonOpening and ending music by Miles MorkriGet in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomRelated Links:Audra's Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster Review on RPGFanBob's Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster Review on RPGFan

What the hell, Yoko Taro?After our recently published "25 Years, 25 RPG Moments" feature, we decided to get the crew at Retro Encounter together to talk about some of the moments that made us laugh, made us happy, and most importantly, the ones that wrecked us.What moments did we choose? Which ones did we miss? Who got too emotional to talk for a little while? Listen in to find out!(Note: there are heavy spoilers for a number of the games we discuss here, notably Breath of Fire IV, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Dragon Quest XI, Monster Rancher 2, Mother 3, Suikoden II, Final Fantasy X, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, and NieR: Automata. Listen with caution.)Featuring: Zach Wilkerson, Gio Castillo, Tin Manuel, Michael Sollosi, Stephanie Sybydlo; Edited by Zach WilkersonOpening and ending music by Miles MorkriGet in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomRelated Links:25 Years, 25 RPG Moment Feature

Its gifts were mixed with good and evil both.This week we bring our panelists back together to discuss to discuss the second half of Lost Odyssey. While were were all pretty positive on the first half, some of us really like the latter portions, and some of us really don't.Did we do all the sidequests? Do the excellent short stories make up for the middling narrative? Are the environments still so very brown? Listen in to find out!(Editor's Note - While the host indicates this is Episode 374, the correct number is 375)Featuring: Peter Triezenberg, Aleks Franiczek, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Zach WilkersonOpening and ending music by Miles MorkriGet in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomRelated Links:Lost Odyssey on RPGFanLost Odyssey Review on RPGFan

Okay it might not be called Final Fantasy XIII, but...This week on Retro Encounter, three first-timers get together to discuss Mistwalker's Xbox 360 cult classic Lost Odyssey. It certainly has some big names behind it, and we want to find out if it lives up to the previous works of the masters.How does it hold up? How brown can one game get? Does the turn-based combat work this time around? Listen to find out!Featuring: Peter Triezenberg, Aleks Franiczek, Zach Wilkerson; Edited by Zach WilkersonOpening and ending music by Miles MorkriGet in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: retro@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancomRelated Links:Lost Odyssey on RPGFanLost Odyssey Review on RPGFan