Episode 78 - Bad For My Tum Tum - Déraciné

Faeries are wondrous creatures who podcast in the place where time stands still,

Welcome back from the viiiiirtual woooooorld, where today, in this humdrum realm we call reality, we’re going to be talking about Déraciné. The first VR title from FROMSOFTWARE, Déraciné is a much different experience than the games that put the developer on the map. With no combat, no bosses and no constantly clanging armor sounds, we’re in for a much more subdued game, though still full of the exploration and obtuse storytelling you’ve come to expect. Playing as a faerie in a world you can only manipulate in limited ways seems like a good fit for VR, but how the hardware jives with the rest of the game is a contentious topic. We strap in to see how this experiment pans out and how one of our favorite developers can turn “interacting with orphans” into an engaging experience. We talk about VR and how it interacts with the human body, morose tone and character writing, and the unique feeling of childlike joy and very sad sadness.

Thanks for joining us today even though this episode is a little exclusionary, given its platform. If you’ve read this far, and haven’t been able to play the game, we do talk for about 20 minutes on just what we think of VR after getting our sea legs without spoiling the game if you’re interested at all in that. Next time we’re reentering the labyrinth that is… well, May. Mystery May is back, baby, and we’re kicking it off with Detective Pikachu!

As promised, the link to our brand new Discord server:
https://discord.gg/tRNNSJ6

We’ll be using this to hopefully stir up some discussion about games, take suggestions and feedback, and maybe even build up a little community. Join us if you’re interested in any of that or just helping us grow.

NCP Deltarune Episode 1 - Rudy's Got the Chalk

This podcast is fueled by EVIL! ...and friendship!

Welcome back to the podcast, where after announcing the series seemingly one million years ago, we’re finally tackling the first release of Deltarune, the episodic followup to Undertale. Set in a world with familiar characters and musical motifs, Deltarune does a lot to change, and dare I say, improve the design set forth in its predecessor. With a party involved, battles are a lot more dynamic and the look and feel of the game overall has been changed significantly. The plot also makes its deviations from the original, putting the mystery of the world at the forefront while still presenting a complete narrative even in this first episode. The question we look to answer here is: how does all this come together? And of course, we can’t help but wonder what the remaining episodes have in store for us. We discuss the narrative potential of having the character arcs of multiple party members play out simultaneously, the mechanical implications of antagonistic friends, and the physical experiences possible once you unslide the Switchies.

Thanks again for joining us today, and be on the lookout for the next entry in this series soon after the next episode releases. On the topic of this series, do you like this format? Would you like to see a dedicated series comparing and contrasting other franchises, either here or on the main podcast? Does anyone actually read the descriptions? Am I trapped typing out a paragraph of notes for every episode in a Sisyphean effort to fill space in a text block that I’m required to populate, but says nothing of value by its own nature to keep the content of the episode itself a surprise? Are we all this lonely? Like, comment…and subscribe?

Episode 77 - Miyamono's Bono - Katamari Damacy

Huh, it's pretty big. We imagine it'll make a pretty podcast. If it were Ours, We'd make it much bigger.

Welcome back to the podcast! We’re finagling the release schedule a little to meet some time sensitive goals (hopefully you’ll be equally shocked and gleeful at the results), but that doesn’t mean we ROLLED out this episode without putting our usual SPIN on it. Eh? What I mean to say is that this week we’re talking about Katamari Damacy, the delightfully weird roll ‘em up from Namco that can spark childhood joy in even the lamest of people. Originally a PS2 title, the series proved itself worth a remake with Katamari REROLL and we figured there was no better time to talk about the game. The logic-defying aesthetic and almost serene mechanic set make this game both unusual and unforgettable and it exemplifies the kind of experience you really need to play to understand. We talk about outlandish music direction, stupid sexy controls, and the alternative religion Katamari clearly intends to propagate through the impressionable youth…of 2004.

Thanks for joining us again this week, and if you’ve got reasonably deep pockets and brand loyalty to Sony (or just happen to want to hear us talk about the game without necessarily playing it) join us next time when we talk about Déraciné! This will be our first examination of a VR title, and it’s FromSoftware, so expect us to enthusiastically reference Dark Souls even more often than usual.

Episode 76 - A Honker of Steak - Kingdom Hearts 3

To strike down Xehanort, we need the podcast Mickey spoke of in his letter!

Welcome back to the podcast! This work has been a long time coming and fans of the series probably never thought it would come out at some points. After delays and issues in making it, it finally released to droves of ravenous fans. I’m talking, of course, about this episode of the NOCLIP Podcast on Kingdom Hearts 3. Kingdom Hearts is one of those franchises that earned a lot of die hards and the third main series game being the conclusion to the story arch that began in the first Kingdom Hearts meant that a lot of people were understandably excited for it. Now that it has released, though, the reception has been decidedly mixed, particularly among those most enthusiastic about the series. We break down the game mechanically and narratively to figure out why that is, as well as to express our own points of interest and disappointment. We’re going to talk about combat flow, the value of visual spectacle, writing consistency, emotional character moments and what definitely is and is not a boat.

Thanks for bearing with us on the not-quite-13-year development cycle of this episode. Given our history with the series and the monumental nature of this release as well as the indecision around it we wanted to make sure what we released was at our standard of quality. We hope you enjoyed the episode, and join us next time when we talk about Katamari Damacy!

NOCLIP Pocket E10 - Find the Game By You - Hidden My Game By Mom

Get Hint! by listen podcast

Surprise! We’ve had some delays in recording the last few weeks, so to compensate we decided to cover a podcast favorite mobile game, Hidden My Game By Mom! This unassuming iOS and Android title hides a massive amount of personality in its design and is a consistently surprising experience. A puzzle game by nature, the real appeal here is in the comedic tone and absolutely wacky logic that is required to solve its levels. Assuming you gel with the game’s offbeat humor, this is a totally free, entertaining and leisurely experience we recommend to everyone. We talk about intentional versus unintentional humor, minimalist visual design and the psychological onslaught that is this series’ soundtrack”

Thanks for being patient with us, and we’re sorry it’s been so long since our last upload, but we should be getting back on track in the coming weeks. Check us out on our next episode of NCP where we’re going to finally discuss Deltarune Episode 1 and our Kingdom Hearts 3 episode will drop in just a couple days.

Bonus Episode - Xehanort's Day Off - The Story of Kingdom Hearts

Got it memorized?

Welcome to a very special bonus episode, where today we’re going to cover the plot of Kingdom Hearts in an attempt to get everyone up to speed before we talk about Kingdom Hearts 3 next week. Sit down with Chad (who knows nothing about anything) and Andy (who has always known he has two hearts inside of him) as they go game by game and give you a recap and summary of the important points and connections of the entire franchise. Whether you’ve only played the numbered games or you’ve been playing each iteration as they’ve released, we help you understand the characters, their amnesia, time travelling escapades and trips to the Realm of Darkness. We talk about key plot points, key blades and χ blades.

Thank you for joining us and listening to us spoil a record number of games in one episode. We’ll be back for the next main episode to talk about Kingdom Hearts 3 and hopefully make Master Yen Sid proud, so stay tuned!

Episode 75 - Chaotic Mild - The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

I suppose a boy like you has much to learn about podcasting,

Welcome back to NOCLIP! Today we’re going tackle one of our oldest requests and talk about The Minish Cap. The Minish Cap is an odd Zelda game that was developed by Capcom for the Game Boy Advanced, but despite this, stays true to the elements of 2D Zelda games that make them work as well as they do. Whether this is a good or bad thing is going to come down pretty strongly to if you are the kind of person who loves Zelda’s tropes and mechanics. Regardless, Minish Cap’s absolutely has its strengths, and whether it’s aesthetic choices or dungeon design, the game surpasses expectations for a non-Nintendo developed entry in the series, and in some elements surpasses some first-party offerings. We’re going to talk about repetition in Zelda games, uses and variability of items, and the weird bed that had the potential to go so wrong.

Thanks for tuning in! Next episode is going to be an exciting one for us, as we celebrate the end of more than a decade of waiting by talking about Kingdom Hearts 3! That episode will release in a few weeks, but in case you’re a little rusty on what Sora and pals have been up to in the interim, keep an eye on the feed for a bonus episode in which Chad gets educated on the story so far. Well, either educated or put into a coma, we’ll find out soon enough.

NCP Deltarune Episode 0 - Twee Wave

Undertale’s real, right?

Welcome to a very special prologue/epilogue episode of NOCLIP Pocket! Today, we’re going to be revisiting Undertale, the indie game that has so completely saturated the Internet, that the sequel/spinoff game needed to be made into an event. While we’re going to be covering each episode of Deltarune as it is released, this episode should serve as a primer to get you familiar with where we stand on the beginning of the series proper. Therefore, this episode will focus on the larger themes of Undertale as well as the impressions the game made on us and on the landscape of games as a whole, so we recommend being somewhat familiar with the game going in. We’re going to talk about how Undertale affects the player and reflects on their choices, the game’s strengths and weaknesses and discuss the upcoming campaign for Game President 2020.

Thank you for listening to NOCLIP Pocket this week. We’re continuing with the special episodes next time as the next episode of NCP will be the first in our Deltarune series talking about Episode 1, so join us then and we hope you enjoy!

The NOCLIP Awards 2018 - Non-Philosophical Content For Gamers

“In the spirit of continually doing new and dumber things…”

Consider this your invitation to the hottest and most exclusive awards show of the new year. Join us at the NOCLIP Awards, where we consider every game we recorded an episode on this year for myriad categories that range from legitimate judgments of quality to asinine judgments of minor features. While other awards shows hit you with nominees and winners, a cool verdict, an unquestioned decision, deliberated behind closed doors for the purpose of knowing what you need to spend two hours watching to hold a shallow conversation about cinematic quality over glasses of 10 dollar wine, the NOCLIP awards present you our arguments, runners up and decision making process as we roast each other over our choice for Smashiest Balls. Now with real envelopes.

We hope you enjoy this exercise as much as we did recording it. We’ll be back with a real episode about a real game (feels like forever, I know) in three weeks and we’re going to be talking about The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap!

For your consideration: Mr. Game.

NOCLIP Pocket E09 - Abstract Poems From Afar - Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion

Three friends talk about a game,
They speak of squids but make no quid.
”Welcome to NOCLIP!” they exclaim.

Welcome back to the pocket podcast this week! Today JJ makes a guest appearance because we’re talking about Splatoon 2, a favorite of the show, and more specifically diving into the Octo Expansion DLC. As an amped up single player campaign, the expansion does a lot to increase the challenge and variety from the base game’s single player and riffs on the mechanics that make Splatoon unique compared to other shooters. Whether this is done by limiting your ink capacity or by sticking you in a hamster ball for an entire level, the differences in kind really shine here and the difficulty lives up to the DLC’s darker, yet vaporwave-y, aesthetic. We’re going to be talking about challenge-based level design, tone and writing in a multiplayer shooter, and T H A N G S.

Thanks for joining us this week, and be sure to check back with us next time as we kick off our multi-part indefinite length-and-quantity series on Deltarune with an episode revisiting Undertale!