WEEK IN GEEK: This week, our hosts dive deep into the video game pool as Andrew gets his caveman farming on with Soda Den’s Roots of Pacha while D. Bethel finds a lot of adventure and fun in the deeply Lovecraftian adventure puzzle game, Call of the Sea by Out of the Blue.
RELEVANT EPISODES:
“Your Cursor is My Prisoner” (19 February 2016): Where D. Bethel talks about another fun walking simulator, Firewatch.
“Love the Stank” (30 December 2016): Where Andrew begins his long love affair with Stardew Valley.
“Starting By Starting” (3 January 2020): Where D. Bethel plays a different––in many ways––Lovecraftian adventure game, The Sinking City.
INFO:
Visit our website at forallintents.net and leave your thoughts as comments on the page for this episode.
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew finds the second season of Amazon Prime’s Undone pleasant and interesting, despite it being two years since he watched the first season. D. Bethel finally plays Metroid Prime with the recently released Metroid Prime Remastered and can’t believe that Retro Studios actually made a 3D Metroid game that feels and plays like a 2D Metroid game.
“Eloquent as Ever” (5 November 2021): Where D. Bethel shares his thoughts on Metroid Dread.
“Vectors of Bad Decisions” (17 February 2023): Where our hosts discuss the end of season 1, and the beginning of season 2, of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
INFO:
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BLOOMING WILLOW: D. Bethel takes a minute to share his excitement for the new Willow show on Disney+
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew gets surprised by the dark remake/sequel of Kamen Rider Black Sun while D. Bethel rides the ups and owns of Netflix’s Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.
IN REMEMBRANCE: Our hosts take a moment to honor the sad and surprising deaths of Kevin Conroy––the inimitable voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman in Batman: The Animated Series and many works afterwards––and Jason David Frank, most well known as Tommy the Green Ranger in Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.
RELEVANT EPISODES:
“Films in Quarries” (18 June 2021): Where Andrew dips his toe into the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers pool.
“Doctor Ennui” (27 August 2021): Where Andrew goes waist-deep into the Zyuranger pool.
RELEVANT LINKS:
Though not (legally) freely available, you can find the Batman comic written by Kevin Conroy (with art by J. Bone) in the DC Pride 2022 anthology published by DC Comics.
INFO:
Visit our website at forallintents.net and leave your thoughts as comments on the page for this episode.
HEALING FACTOR: This week, our hosts talk about the surprising news dropped by Ryan Reynolds about Deadpool 3.
BAD BUSINESS: Our hosts then dive into the strange and unfortunate decisions made by the corporate bigwigs at the newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery and how its CEO is making a lot of artistic decisions based on economic benefits…it’s strange, but mostly sad.
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew continues to get excited by recent Star Trek offerings, specifically the conclusion of season 2 of Star Trek: The Lower Decks and the premiere of the Paramount+/Nickelodeon joint, Star Trek: Prodigy. D. Bethel finally offers his thoughts on Metroid: Dread (aka Metroid 5) after completing it, uh, three times.
RELEVANT EPISODES:
“I Am the State” (26 February 2021): Where D. Bethel rants about Nintendo not respecting Metroid on its 35th anniversary.
“Butt Magic” (16 October 2021): Where Andrew discusses the first season of the animated comedy, Star Trek: The Lower Decks.
“Con Artists #7: Return of the Con” (29 October 2021): The most recent episode of Con Artists where D. Bethel and Kyrun Silva of Taurus Comics talk about making and selling comics amidst a global pandemic.
INFO:
Visit our website at forallintents.net and leave your thoughts as comments on the page for this episode.
HAPPY STAR TREK DAY: This week, 8 September to be specific, the world celebrated Star Trek Day. With one of our hosts being an avowed and public Star Trek fan, our hosts discuss the ways they decided to celebrate: Andrew watched all the exciting announcements and trailers from the Paramount+ Star Trek Day Celebration event while D. Bethel coincidentally started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation not more than a week ago and is enjoying every minute of it so far.
Where Andrew covered the strange legal journey of fan films of the beloved franchise.
RELEVANT EPISODES:
“Crow Hat” (31 July 2015): Where Andrew and D. Bethel watch and discuss the pilot episode(s) for Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Encounter at Farpoint.”
“Butt Magic” (16 October 2020): Where Andrew discussed his joy having watched the first season of the hit adult animated series, Star Trek: The Lower Decks.
INFO:
Visit our website at forallintents.net and leave your thoughts as comments on the page for this episode.
A BAD BLIZZARD: Our hosts take a quick look at the controversy (and lawsuits!) that came out of an investigation led by the state of California into the toxic and dangerous company culture of Activision Blizzard.
I HAVE THE POWER: Having watched the first five episodes released for Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Andrew and D. Bethel look at this playful and creative reimagining of the classic ’80s toy commercial, er I mean, cartoon series.
RELEVANT EPISODES:
“All-New, All-Same” (29 June 2018): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the angry internet’s attempt to “destroy” Lucasfilm following the release of The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
“Empty Justice” (01 March 2019): Where our hosts talk about internet trolls trying to review bomb Captain Marvel ahead of its release.
WEEKIN GEEK: It’s a week all about television as Andrew watches the first few episodes of the CW reboot of Kung Fu while D. Bethel compares his experience watching the first few episodes of Amazon’s Invincible and Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy.
WEEK IN GEEK: It’s an animated kind of week this week as Andrew gets his specific Star Wars fandom ignited with the premiere of the new Disney+ animated series, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and D. Bethel nerds out on all the ingenious choices and animation tech found in the new Sony/Netflix film, The Mitchells vs. The Machines.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines director, Michael Rianda, tells the story of getting the billboard for the classic Michigan restaurant, Redamak’s, into the movie via this Twitter thread:
The story behind Redamaks in our movie: @Roweyourboatz loved it and it was a Michigan staple- where the Mitchells are from. We wanted to use real places so the world would feel more authentic.
2020 was a year that upended all expectations. Though the threats that 2020 brought affected people in a variety of ways, for most it became a year of simple survival. For nerds, of course, we turn to the things that occupy our attention, inspire our imagination, or generate conversation. This year, we are looking at the things that helped us survive 2020. Today, co-host D. Bethel shares what kept him inspired throughout the year.
2020 became a year of self-reflection for most people; for creatives, it became a challenge to find inspiration in new places and ways. Working from home proved to be incredibly difficult when, all of a sudden, my creative, personal space became my classroom. Teaching, planning, and grading at my computer all day made it difficult to walk the two feet to my drawing table and work for another handful of hours on a Long John page. To that end, of all the things to provide inspiration, the sweet and sentimental video game, Spiritfarer, hit hard and unexpectedly.
On its own, Thunder Lotus’ newest game, Spiritfarer isn’t particularly notable. Yes, it looks very nice and the systems and loops are fun to juggle and the writing is top-notch. But it’s not revolutionary, at least not on its own. It’s just a good game. Honestly, that’s enough.
Spiritfarer is a management sim; playing as Stella, you takes over the role of spiritfarer––shepherding souls from death to the afterlife––from a retiring Charon. The majority of the game takes place on your boat that houses the spirits found along the way. During their tenancy, you talk to them, learn their stories, and help them get past whatever psychology holds them back from accepting their deaths. Once they have a moment of clarity, you take them to the “Everdoor” which sends them to their eternal home. For each spirit you recruit––taking the form of a different anthropomorphized animal––you do small quests to help brighten their moods. To do that, you grow crops, cook food, take them to specific locations, or harvest materials they want. With so many different spirits on your boat, your job is to keep all of these plates spinning while also maintaining your boat.
The thing about this game is not what it is, specifically, although––as I said––it’s very good. Instead, it’s about what it represents and what came before. Spiritfarer‘s Canadian developer, Thunder Lotus, is renowned for their amazing art and animation; what they can’t be accused of, however, is being stuck in a rut. Their previous game, Sundered, is a procedurally-generated Metroidvania. Before that, their first game, Jøtun, is an isometric 2D-Zelda-like that had you battling giant bosses to get into Valhalla (I played bothgames on the Dan & Rusty Video Game Power Hour years ago).
Every game differs wildly from the last, with the quality of art and music being the only link between them. This also makes them unpredictable, but not in a worrying, nervous way. There is no doubt that their next game will be beautiful and good, even if I have no idea what kind of game it will be, and that’s what I found so comforting about this game in a year like 2020.
This is not a cinematic sequence; this is just something you can do in the game. Screencap taken by the author (click for a larger version).
While Spiritfarer is wonderful, I find its success validating for the mercurial ethos of Thunder Lotus Games, and for me. Though I’m slow with the output for my western webcomic, Long John, I also know it’s not the only story I want to tell. Seeing Thunder Lotus not only bounce between genres and styles without a care but to also be successful (in terms of execution) with every game they make shows me that a similar desire to bounce around with my own creative endeavors is not only possible but can absolutely work when done with integrity, thoughtful intent, and earnest excitement. Those qualities seep through Spiritfarer on every level (pardon the pun), and they were more than welcome in a year like 2020.