Exclusive Podcast Questions!

This is a great question! I'll save it for next month, since we've already recorded the podcast for this month.

Resonant Arc

Would you guys say that the intersection between literature and video games is more fertile than that between the latter and film? I would cite the centrality of video games as a plot device in acclaimed novels such as The Three Body Problem and Ready Player One and the glaring example of the Witcher franchise. Contrast these against ill-reputed video game film adaptations such as Prince of Persia and the Resident Evil series. A counter-argument might cite the influence of cinema on titles like Uncharted and the success of the game based on the Ratchet and Clank movie -- although maybe the creative membrane only brooks positive influence on video games when concerning film, not from, assymetric to the symbiosis between games and literature.

How to make what’s old new: Part of the reason I think we all gravitate to stories we experienced in our youth is because they were new at one point. We didn’t know Darth was Luke’s father, we didn’t know Gandalf would come back, we didn’t know Aerith would die etc. But as we grow and read/watch/play more, it becomes harder to surprise us. There are only so many stories to tell, but every now and then one comes along that makes you feel that same sense of childlike wonder because it truly surprised you. What stories have done that for you? NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy was a breath of fresh air into the fantasy/sci-fi genre for me, and I’ve found Sanderson has done a solid job at taking stories that are pretty archetypal but tweaking those archetypes in clever ways that pleasantly surprised.

Biggest What If stories: What are the stories (movies, games, books etc) that almost happened that you find yourself going back to over and over? Some of my examples: The third Nolan Batman movie had Heath Ledger not died, Burton getting to do his third Batman movie, Final Fantasy as a franchise if FF9 had blown up sales.

Odd Couple Moments: The first time I read the play The Odd Couple I remember going “why does everyone say this is a comedic masterwork? I see stuff like this on every sitcom I’ve ever seen.” It wasn’t until I took some time to reflect that I realized every sitcom I watched had taken cues from The Odd Couple. The play felt unoriginal because it was so influential. (I had a similar experience with Citizen Kane). Now that you’re also in your 30s and we are officially no longer of “the youths” what Odd Couple moments have you experienced? How does it feel to be in that “old person” position of having to tell a younger person or child “you have to understand how groundbreaking this was at the time” to try and get them to appreciate something we loved? Pixal art games come to mind, or even just older movies with dated SFX. Or are you just going to make your children play retro games before allowing them to touch new consoles?

I for one believe that shock value, by itself, has always been the cheapest and laziest tactic that an artist can resort to when trying to stimulate an audience. Do you think the more recent trend of "subverting expectations" and writers being fixated on surprise plot twists is just the latest iteration of this tactic? And if so, what would you suggest is a far better (if more challenging) tactic that an artist can use to create something meaningful and resonant without relying on shock value?

Who are your biggest inspirations when it comes to writing stories? Can you elaborate why they inspire you to write and/or analyze stories and the various mediums of storytelling (novels, video games, film, etc.)?

In my experience talking to people about their favorite games, I began to notice a pattern. Their favorite games were almost universally something they played during their teens to early college. Note, the people I am referring to have played games since childhood and are still gaming today. These people are all around late 30s to early 40s. They also generally agree that the gaming medium has gotten better over the last 20 years as it matures. However, only a few of them have had their favorite games come out in the last 15-20 years. That seems odd since they believe the variety and quality of games overall has gotten better. You would think there would be more recent games as their favorites. It seems as though our favorites are more of a product of what we played during our formative years as opposed to newer games we believe to be objectively better. I was wondering if this applies to your favorite games as well and if so, why do you think that is the case? Also, I have noticed the pattern does not seem to be as universal when it comes to other forms of media. Books/comics/movies/tv/etc. seem to have more variability in my experience.

Gigi Gorgeous

with the channel being named 'resonant arc' and having such a strong focus on the art of storytelling, what game do you think has the most unconventional story structure that *works*? and how does it pull it off?

coughsoda

somehow i missed that, that's amazing

coughsoda

Hey guys don't really have a question just wanted to say your work with the podcast and ff8 has been great and have really enjoyed the new layout of the podcast and playing along with you guys I wish more people could get on patreon etc to get this weekly keep up the good work guys. Also one little idea I had was maybe in this patreon podcast you could do much smaller games with that same format games that are generally only a couple hours. Just a thought if you ever run out of questions

With Saga Frontier winning the award for game to least likely get a remake (though I’m excited it happening) which dead franchise or game could benefit from a remake? For me it has to be KOTOR.

Also I feel like this is something else you guys have talked about before but can’t remember how in-depth, what do you guys feel is “canon” To stories? I believe you guys have mentioned a couple of times about the creator of FFX making the comment about how FF7 and FFX are connected because of the character “Shinra” even though that maybe was something created out of thin air hahah so I was wondering do you guys think the word of the creator is the only thing that can be “canon” or are there other degrees that can help determine canonicity in a work?

What r your thoughts on trilogies and what seperates the good ones from a bad one , and if u managed to re watch the War of ape trilogy. If you have what do you think makes it such a good set of movies

Legendary Masamune