Terranigma: Story and Game, Setting and Structure, Podcast and Podcast

Terranigma was released on the SNES in 1996

Remember all those times we LP'd Terranigma? and how we only got like halfway through Chapter 2? The sequel is finally here! This time it's a podcast.

Also good news: this time there's serious video-game-related discussion. One of my personal favorite topics (after melee combat, of course!) is the interplay between narrative and form - i.e. how a game tells its story through gameplay, and how story colors, characterizes, and assists gameplay. As much hemming and hawing as there is about what constitutes a "video game" and when it's just "interactive art", for me the answer is quite simple. A video game should have a meaningful video* component, a meaningful game component, and continuous interplay between the two. A video game that can't do both well is only half a work, and a video game in which they don't work together is just as incomplete. A couple posts on the subject: on Cybernator, ActRaiser 2, and the Genesis Sonic trilogy.

*where "video" generalizes to mean presentation as a whole, i.e. video, audio, and script. It's not perfect but hey we call cinema "movies", "film", or "video", all terms that technically refer to imagery recording. 

As usual for the Commune, we start at a core level to try to build things up. No one ever got an A on a paper for writing "Charles Dickens has a good story, and this is how". For Terranigma I thought it would be interesting to look at setting and its interplay with structure (the abstract gameplay manifestation of setting), since Terranigma is mostly an exploration (adventure) game and setting is one of the easier story elements to define and establish. 

So sit down, grab a mug of graham crackers, and enjoy the Commune Podcast 26, starring Golem (Greg L.), Adrian, Wariofan63, and Myself. We really gotta work on the mixture of real names with handles though. Link:

http://www.vgthought.com/commune/podcast/26

LPGA Terranigma: Star Power

Yes it's finally that final episode where Paul (aka Ezio) guest stars. This is, for all in tents and porpoises, "the good video". We each had our own mic, we added game audio in post, and we had a nice balance of game commentary and chatter. Plus you can actually tell what our voices sound like! We also summarize a lot of the earlier aspects of the LP, so this is a great jumping on point.

SO JUMP ON.

LPGA Terranigma: Pushing through Chapter 2

This one's actually pretty good, I recommend it. Especially if you've ever been in a Tom Hanks movie.

LPGA Terranigma: If you like kitties, you'll love these videos!

Alright we got two crazy videos for you crazy guys and gallons out there. Time to get wild and crazy in here. Oh and these ones aren't so good is why there are two. But don't worry - it'll get better next time! And Terranigma's still good, so keep on keepin' on!

Sorry about the stupid Mexican Yelping Cat in the background who ruins all the comedic timing and good jokes. I can't even imagine the masterpiece this video would be without it. My girlfriend at the time lived with me at the time and had a cat at the time who had a broken leg at the time. As you know, cats are the worst animal on the planet, so it felt the need to yell and scream whenever anyone tried to have a conversation in the same room as it. And don't you dare feel pity, the damn thing lived like a king and was rolling on painkillers 24/7. It was just whining for the attention that it constantly got. So I apologize that even our patented hellishly bad Let's Play sound quality couldn't drown it out. It's another Christmas miracle that the thing made it out of my house alive.

LPGA Terranigma: The Phantom Menace

The next half hour of Terranigma takes us through most of the remainder of Act 1, which I think means the fourth and fifth tower. I dunno, I'm not watching a half hour video. You should though, because you haven't played Terranigma or experienced such delightful [sic] commentary. Crank up the volume so you can make out the laughs and tears, the triumphs and failures, the dungeons and dragons. 

LPGA Terranigma Strikes Back

If anyone would care to explain why Blogger's piece of shit youtube-search function refuses to find videos made by SuperGolemio - even when I search by the exact title or URL - feel free to fill me in. It bonus pisses me off because it used to work. Google has developed an unfortunate tinker-tendency, by which they seem a little too happy to remove features on a daily basis. So, despite Google's relentless efforts to keep LPGA down, here are another 30 beautiful minutes of Terra: Nigma.

LPGA Terranigma, at great length

The origins of the Terranigma Let's Play actually predate this blog (is that even possible? survey says: maybe?), which is why it's so special to my heart. Not really. It's just more terribility in line with our other videos. The true specialty of LPGA Terranigma is that it's now spanned the course of a year, becoming our longest running and most popular video series. Over 15 views! Over 5 videos! Ten months of zero activity! That's a success story if I ever heard one. So rejoin us here, about halfway through the game's prologue, for an LPGA you'll never remember to forget.