PODCAST · leisure
!FALcast
by P!FAL
The !FALcast: Wherein the gentlemen of the !FALcast—Matt, Skye, and TV's Adam—play video games and then talk about them. Disparate interests combine and collide in a free-form discussion of topics as diverse as sound design in survival horror, ensemble casts in role-playing games, and emergent vs. crafted narrative. This is not a place for gaming news, although news may be discussed. This is not a place where games are reviewed, although opinions may be given. This is a place where three men you probably don't know talk at great length about video games you probably do.
Episodes
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Ep. 42: Words from Batman
(Note: This episode contains a detailed discussion of Adios, and at points veers into spoiler territory. The Adios talk begins at the 20-minute mark and lasts until 1:17:00, with some direct references to the ending at about 1:15:00.) The need for feed in Jurassic World: Evolution A deep-dive…
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Ep. 41: Weird Rashes
What's the grossest food word? Adam's very real, very intense problem with yogurt Back 4 Blood: it's current, it's gurgly, and we like it! (but we gripe about it anyway) (and first we talk about Evolve for a while, because of course) Weird magical cards, and the guy who helps you with them B4B's...
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Ep. 40: Consensual Spaghetti
oh hey check it out it's the !FALcast again Matt's Pinball Journey Skye wants a good, clean, brisk episode (and does not get it) Matt would have us all Stop Believin' Dwerve: tower defense in motion, with spider flowers The suspicious motives of the chef in Lady and the Tramp Tribes of Midgard =...
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Ep. 39: A Lot of Bird Stuff (is Going On)
-Amorous olds -I rehash the plot of FF4 for some reason -"To be a true paladin, you must not fight now!" *fights* -This episode's hot take: After Years was bad -The merits/demerits of random encounters -Cosmic Star Heroine and its beautiful pacing -Eagle Island: it's bird-themed! -The tragic...
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Ep. 38: Walking on Time
Crunch and the ends (not really) justifying the means Van Goff The delightful million-thing cleanquest of Horace Matt the Save Piggybacker ruined rental games, possibly childhoods Can you walk on time? (Also no) Boy this time-walking thing sure overstays its welcome Skye threatens to quit the...
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Ep. 37: The Normal Emotions
"Woman Stuff" is not the title of this episode We love Overcooked! We hate Operation Raccoon City! (Also Games for Windows Live is haunted or something) Experiencing the joy of failure and yelling at wheelchair-bound raccoons Dumb pretentious nonsense about "speaking the language of video games,"...
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Ep. 36: There’s a Dave
OK *now* we're gonna talk about Warsaw The brevity of Warsaw (see?) vs. the cruelty of Darkest Dungeon But whither base building? Chimera Squad as XCOM Junior What does it mean to be at full health? The ramifications of sternum injuries Gameplay systems: Less is more (except when less is less)...
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Ep. 35: Look at Those Friends
Oops Wonder what Matt thinks of Death’s Gambit? Oh well, suppose we’ll never know Is potato salad a salad? (Or, failing that, a video game?) Skye only got into the podcast game to pad his resume He also maintains to-do lists of games instead of playing them The incomprehensible narrative, anime...
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Ep. 34: A Weeping Fridge
RetroAchievements.org offers a great excuse to play old games The 7th Saga is hard to recommend but easy to love (honestly it’s pretty rough going) Jurassic World Evolution and the art of the Ungame Guarding the gate at Silent Hill/pushing the Mushroom Kingdom back down a Brooklyn drain Control:...
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Ep. 33: I Hate This Episode
*Note: This episode contains GREAT BIG HUGE GIANT SPOILERS for Dying Light: The Following, Lost, The Dark Tower series, and Dragon Quest: Your Story. The spoiler-y stuff starts 8 minutes in and ends at about 43 minutes.* The frustrations of reaching a destination that negates the journey Chasing...
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Ep. 32: Mysterious Grandpa
Quick hits! (sort of kind of not really) Dead Cells is great, but is it a Metroidvania? Deck assembly vs. dice rolling in Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons Void Bastards is great, full stop Days Gone was better than people acted (Deacon St. John is a worse name than people acted, and people acted…
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Ep. 31: My Eagle is a Horse
“What are we gonna talk about?” Is pinball a video game? (No, it very much is not) Holes Farming, comedy clubs and flesh reanimation: the high-stress days and unholy nights of Graveyard Keeper Where does YOUR meat come from? The judgment-free zone of Stardew Valley Making townsfolk your...
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Ep. 30: No Good at Learning
Matt is hungry Musings on a graveyard; butt A rash of Neverland poisonings Will Adam ever get to talk about Persona 5? [PERSONA CONTENT REDACTED] The thought-provoking, generous, occasionally pointless brilliance of NieR: Automata Seriously though, play Binary Domain Celeste shows kindness…
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Ep. 29: Video Games Should Stop
Destiny 2: Why is it like that? Matt has recording troubles (and a phone call) An attempted intervention for a Destiny addict The need for variation within repetition The gauntlet is thrown at Eminem, hastily withdrawn, and thrown again Binary Domain vs. Gears of War Destiny 2 vs....
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Ep. 28: Flavor Trash
Does Prey spoil its own ending? Mimics and organic jump scares Another interesting crafting system for Adam to hate Inventory management and compulsive leveling Do Bethesda games have a random crap problem? Quest logs and adaptive nonlinearity Dynamic diamond-chasing Pre-order bonus cheat packs
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Ep. 27: A Beige Room
The surprising success of Horizon Zero Dawn’s apocalypse Strong world and setting design sets it apart from other open world games Dynamic, tactically improvisational combat But the game should be harder in a few ways We discover a crafting system that Adam can tolerate The implied sense of...
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Ep. 26: Take Disease to the Next Level
Oxygen Not Included is Spacebase DF-9 but better A required build order stifles creativity Complexity turns us on and turns us off “Who among us does not love infrastructure?” Adam’s PixelJunk bias returns Nom Nom Galaxy and the problem with soup How to identify (and avoid) strategy games Space...
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Ep. 25: I Am Something More Now
The Last Guardian: A great and terrible videogame …that we spoil a little Classification of a monster An indirect experience Has development limbo left its mark? Should a remake strive for preservation or improvement?
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Ep. 24: That Was Badly Done, Friend
Matt returns to Dark Souls Killing friendly NPCs in Souls games Adam is a dirty FAQ user Is equipment in Dark Souls too complex? Is equipment in Bloodborne too simple? Quest-givers and combat allies Time progression and Insight Mechanically encouraging aggressive play Speculation about Chalice...
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Ep. 23: Stop at the Boat
Kingdom Hearts is still a bunch of nonsense Final Fantasy XV blah blah blah Hunting anachronisms on a road trip with your buddies The unfinished seams are showing What makes a Final Fantasy game? A lot of XV’s story isn’t actually in the game Magic is a mixed bag Final Fantasy XV is a game …...
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Ep. 22: I Found this Hammer
Death Road to Canada: Good game or mere comedy generator? The necessity and frustration of luck and obfuscation in roguelikes The newest Shiren the Wanderer is surprisingly forgiving —perhaps too forgiving? The disappointing UI of the Darkest Dungeon Vita port Supposedly, I hate roguelikes now or...
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Ep. 21: It’s December 11th
Destiny: it got better! …but it’s still an MMO, so, you know; grind Choice and idiosyncrasy versus balance in competitive multiplayer Immediate satisfaction versus participation awards in Overwatch How Overwatch’s varied roster leads to different forms of play Please support Titanfall 2 and its…
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Ep. 20: Maybe Not. Not Really. I Don’t Know. Who Cares.
An entire episode about Lightning Returns for some reason
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Ep. 19: Battles With Health
Discovering the joy of sports with Rocket League Matt is a terrible cartographer Etrian Odyssey is NOT grindy, dammit Trauma Center can be a sloppy operation sometimes Yoshi’s Woolly World: harder than you might think Obsession is the dark side of perseverance Battling fatigue in Darkest Dungeon...
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Ep. 18: Did You Waste Your Time?
The Terraria episode Mediumcore server after action report When does the game end? Crafting games: Not for everyone What’s my motivation? Character growth versus equipment growth Adam needs to be told what to do The mundane Where does narrative come from?
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Ep. 17: Soft Mode
Dying Light: Dead Island but better …although Adam has a weird tolerance for Dead Island Audio and control feedback for melee combat Parkour! Down with fast travel Time-sensitive tasks in open world games Left 4 Dead special infected are getting tired Why have zombie stories become dull?…
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Ep. 16: Spoiler Alert (colon) Her Story
A critical discussion of Sam Barlow’s Her Story Why do gamers feel threatened by new, non-violent genres? Would Her Story work as well without its story’s central conceit? The novelty of letting the player decide when the game is over Tagging, note-taking, and search methodologies Unique thought...
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Ep. 15 ½: SEW, Batman…
Quilts.
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Ep. 15: That’s How Regret Works
Arkham Knight’s PC port: Who’s to blame? Do console peasants read the news? Steam refunds and consumer rights Matt says it’s not really that bad, so whatever Doubling down on the infamous Riddler trophies Lots of Batman in-jokes at Adam’s expense Nier’s multiple endings and save deletion The...
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Ep. 14: That’s How You Move a Sex Unicorn
The monster hunting science of The Witcher E3 demos are a sham Ubisoft’s mission to make open world game design as boring as possible Interesting voyeuristic vignettes in Watch Dogs The historical timeline approach to sequels Padded game lengths and pacing Suikoden is completely delightful Is...
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Ep. 13: Up-Up-Down-Down-Down-Down-Down
A very special Konami episode Profit margins versus creative change Time is a cycle, my man Are we still the target demographic for video games? What are Konami’s new business priorities, exactly? When was the last time Castlevania was good? Why Metal Gear matters Dissecting the oft-reanimated...
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Ep. 12: Strap It to Your Head
The pure logic puzzles of Hexcells Arcade, free-solution, and set puzzle types Digging through piles of puzzles versus getting things done Adam has some kind of problem with PixelJunk It’s okay to not finish games! Time lost as the key component of video game frustration Tower defense round-up…
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Ep. 11: Donald Has $0.17
Adventures in cross-linguistic semiotics The containment and storage of paranormal entities Recreational construction and economic theory Privacy concerns in modern retail environments Zoning restrictions in late-20th century Detroit Access to education and social mobility The impact of…
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Ep. 10: He Was Bones
Freedom Wars gets explicit about unlocking gameplay features Dante’s Inferno: Hell doesn’t have to be this boring Adam grows as a person and faces his responsibilities Shirts and skins What’s up, Nick? Destiny takes off-putting lore encyclopedias to a whole new level Xenogears: Disc 2 Player…
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Ep. 9: I Have a Sword
PlatinumGames and The Wonderful 101 Hardcore shape drawing action Player grading systems and mastery So, how’s Evolve? Progression systems and balance in competitive FPS games Getting something from your loss DLC, pre-order bonuses, and season passes “Journalists” and their incessant hype engines...
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Ep. 8: The King of Spreadsheets
The War in the North is ended Diablo 2 and replaying games for character development Also, Diablo 1 is better How to shoot someone with a tranq dart Missing the boat with older games Forgiving Silent Hill Namco’s loading screen mini-games Resident Evil 6 is an ambitious mess Where have all the...
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Ep. 7: We’re the Worst
Sony got hacked or something Gaming in social media Middle-Earth: Genocide of Mordor Ubisoft’s radio tower formula Do quest journals ruin open world games? Playing the designer instead of playing the game Wait, no; it’s minimaps that ruin open world games War in the North deserves better than its...
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Ep. 6: Too Many Belts
Papers, Please and the value of the mundane South Park and the psychologically manipulative Freemium business model Don’t Move, DLC Quest, and game satire Costume Quest 2 and overstaying your welcome Repetitive RPG battles and unskippable animations Adam trashes FF XIII and reads Vanille’s...
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Ep. 5: Hype Deficiency
Can anyone tell us how to introduce a podcast? The difference between Rock Band and Rocksmith Adam reviews Shovel Knight Skye played Hyper Light Drifter Matt loves Ducktales, but it’s starting to feel like work Is Spacebase DF-9 done… or “done”? Early Access and the lure of the unfinished game...
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Ep. 4: Swarly Guescanbers and The Puzzle Boner
Does Transistor end too soon? Matt takes a dump all over Wolfenstein: The New Order Player freedom versus tight game design Ace Attorney catchup turnabout with Dual Destinies If you’re making a visual novel, hire a damned proofreader Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright invites series comparisons...
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Ep. 3: Geniuses Gathered Under the Sea
There’s nothing like your first Souls game Adam struggles to get past structural repetition in Bravely Default’s story Looking back on Bioshock Rewarding nonlethal play styles The perils of extreme black/white morality systems The Wolf Among Us and highlighting important decisions Matt is a bit…
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Ep. 2: Get Hype for a Sunrise
Nintendo’s platform differentiation and uses of the Wii U touch screen Antagonistic design shenanigans in Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros. Wii* Matt’s beef with Batman Making the most of open worlds Why can’t gamers just think? Time management in Child of Light’s throwback to Grandia Adam…
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Ep. 1: Welcome to the !FALcast
Dark Souls, Chrono Trigger, and how Internet communities kill secrets Game coaches and Nintendo Power counselors Matt dies Skye really loves Fract OSC How maligning “walking simulators” holds video games back from encompassing a broader spectrum of experiences Matt dies What is art, anyway? Do...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The !FALcast: Wherein the gentlemen of the !FALcast—Matt, Skye, and TV's Adam—play video games and then talk about them.
Disparate interests combine and collide in a free-form discussion of topics as diverse as sound design in survival horror, ensemble casts in role-playing games, and emergent vs. crafted narrative.
This is not a place for gaming news, although news may be discussed. This is not a place where games are reviewed, although opinions may be given. This is a place where three men you probably don't know talk at great length about video games you probably do.
HOSTED BY
P!FAL
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does !FALcast have?
!FALcast currently has 44 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is !FALcast about?
The !FALcast: Wherein the gentlemen of the !FALcast—Matt, Skye, and TV's Adam—play video games and then talk about them. Disparate interests combine and collide in a free-form discussion of topics as diverse as sound design in survival horror, ensemble casts in role-playing games, and emergent vs....
How often does !FALcast release new episodes?
!FALcast has 44 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to !FALcast?
You can listen to !FALcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts !FALcast?
!FALcast is created and hosted by P!FAL.
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