Tales from the Backlog - Episodes Tagged with “Fromsoftware”

143: Shadow Tower: Abyss (with Adelaide Lohkamp)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0500

What was FromSoftware up to before Demon's Souls? Most people know about the King's Field series, and the Armored Core sickos have been around too, but they were even more prolific in the RPG and dungeon crawler space than just King's Field. Shadow Tower: Abyss (2003), the sequel to the Playstation game Shadow Tower, was never officially localized in English, but thanks to FromSoftware's explosion in popularity, the cottage industry of Souls creators, and most importantly a fan translated ROM, we can now go back and see some of the DNA that eventually made it into Demon's Souls and beyond.

Guest info: Adelaide Lohkamp- find her on YouTube.

TIMESTAMPS

Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts 0:26
Story Setup/Presentation/Gameplay 17:42
SPOILER WALL 1:32:13

Music and sound used in the episode is credited to Yukinori Takada, Tsukasa Saitoh, Kota Hoshino, Yūki Ichiki, Yūji Kanda. Tracks used:

Main Menu Theme
Opening Cutscene
End Credits

YouTube walkthrough and lore explainer by ElucidatedByFire.

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (Preview) (with Charlie Young)

Dave Jackson — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 14:00:00 -0400

In this bonus episode, I'm joined by returning guest Charlie Young to discuss FromSoftware's Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. The public feed includes roughly the first half of the episode, and all paid members at [patreon.com/realdavejackson](patreon.com/realdavejackson) will get the entire discussion.

This is a full spoiler discussion, though the spoilers really start flying at about the 22:00 mark.

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Elden Ring Bosses Tier List (with Jim Rodeman)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Wrapping up Elden Ring month, as per tradition, Dave is joined by Jim Rodeman to tier-rank the Elden Ring bosses. TOGETHAAAAA we go through all of the bosses labelled as "Great Enemy" and above!

Do the tier list yourself HERE and [Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon!](patreon.com/realdavejackson) or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi!
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Social Media:
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Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

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Elden Ring for the FromSoftware Newbie (with Aaron Angle and Ryan Arrington)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0400

During the pre-release marketing cycle for Elden Ring, the game's director and FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki made comments to the effect that "Elden Ring will be the most accessible FromSoftware game to date, and that we think that more people will finish Elden Ring than any of the previous games". Dave is joined by Aaron Angle and Ryan Arrington to discuss one simple question- why is Elden Ring the most approachable FromSoftware game for new players? We also read some listener responses from first-time players!

TIMESTAMPS:
Personal Histories with FromSoftware, Why Elden Ring? 0:37
Build Variety and Choice 16:52
Spirit Ashes, Summoning and Invasions 31:57
Go Wherever, Do Whatever 45:28
Moving Forward 55:27

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Social Media:
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Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

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FromSoftware and the Open World (with Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Elden Ring Month continues! FromSoftware certainly didn't invent the open world, and they didn't really invent any of the open world design decisions that helped make Elden Ring a success. So what makes a good open world? In this Break from the Backlog, Dave is joined by Andrew and Dylan from Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers to discuss open-world games as a whole, as well as how FromSoftware learned from the best to make Elden Ring.

TIMESTAMPS:
Intro, Personal Histories, Good Open Worlds 0:33
Checkboxes and Map Markers- Eeevillll(?) 44:17
Demerits 56:20
Elden Ring 1:14:25
Going Forward 1:51:28

Check out Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers on Youtube, your favorite podcast app, and Twitch! Easily found through a simple search, and all links can be found on their website. Highly recommended!

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36: Elden Ring (with Ryan Juengling- List Off!)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Elden Ring Month has begun on Tales from the Backlog! Up first, Dave is joined by Ryan Juengling from List Off! to discuss FromSoftware's game of the generation candidate, Elden Ring. With the elevator pitch of simply "Open-world Dark Souls" and wild expectations from fans, Elden Ring had a higher bar to clear than many new releases. Did it meet or even exceed expectations, or did it fall short? Listen in to find out!

TIMESTAMPS
Intros, Personal Histories, Opening Thoughts 00:46
First Impressions, Approachability 13:20
Open World, Exploration 51:19
Platforming, Crafting 1:19:12
Story, Boss Fights 1:38:41
Music, Final Thoughts 2:09:44
SPOILER WALL 2:29:29

Check out List Off! for more of Ryan (and his awesome co-host Brian) and some great gaming lists and discussions! Find everything List Off! via this link!

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Dark Souls 3 Bosses Tier List (FULL SPOILERS) (with Jake Anderson)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 25 May 2022 00:00:00 -0400

(Full spoilers!) Dave is joined by returning guest Jake Anderson to tier-rank the bosses in Dark Souls 3. This is a game with some boss fights that are among the best in the whole series, and some that are straight up Not Fun. Find out where we're ranking bosses like Abyss Watchers, Dancer of the Boreal Valley, Slave Knight Gael and Sister Friede.

Make your own Dark Souls 3 bosses tier list here
And share it with us in the Discord!

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30: Dark Souls 3 (with Adam Rivera)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Dave is joined once again by Adam Rivera to discuss the finale (for now) in the Dark Souls series. Dark Souls 3 combined the faster gameplay of Bloodborne with the usual Dark Souls gameplay, but was it a happy marriage? And what's going on with all the fan service? Find out how we feel in this episode!

*Both Adam and I had some technical issues in this recording that affected the audio quality, but the conversation is worth it, I promise! Sorry!

TIMESTAMPS:
Story and gameplay changes pt 1 12:52
Gameplay changes pt 2 42:22
Bosses and final thoughts 1:08:36
Spoiler Wall 1:27:24

Follow Adam on Twitter!

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Bloodborne Bosses Tier List (FULL SPOILERS) (with Andrew & Dylan - Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Dave is joined by Andrew Kimball and Dylan Wren from Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers to tier rank the Bloodborne bosses. This episode contains full spoilers for Bloodborne!

Find Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers on your podcast platform of choice, YouTube, Twitch or their website and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

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25: Bloodborne (with Moonborne & Jake Anderson)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Dave is joined by Moonborne and Jake Anderson to take on FromSoftware's incredible gothic/Lovecraftian horror classic, Bloodborne. FromSoftware took a big swing with Bloodborne, a game marketed as a werewolf slaying game but with a decidedly cosmic twist. Did that big swing connect? Check out the episode to find out.

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21: King's Field: The Ancient City (with mysticreferee)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Dave is joined by mysticreferee to discuss part of FromSoftware's past, King's Field IV aka King's Field: The Ancient City. For everybody who has jumped on the FromSoftware train in recent years, whether it was back on the PS3 with Demon's Souls or even Elden Ring, here is a game from an older version of FromSoftware, but it still shows a lot of the world building, atmosphere and even early versions of some of the mechanics that we now strongly associate with From.

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Dark Souls Bosses Tier Rankings (with Jack Allen)

Dave Jackson — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

The Furtive Pygmy Jack Allen returns, as we put every boss in Dark Souls into a tier list. Do the tier list yourself and share it with Dave on the podcast socials! Let's compare!

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17: Dark Souls (with Jack Allen)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Dave is joined by Jack Allen to talk about the perfect Valentine's Day game- Dark Souls. Don't give up, skeleton! Dark Souls is a game that changed the way many people, your host included, look at video games, and specifically the way people look at difficulty in video games. Find out why we think this is truly worthy of that Game of the Decade title.

TIMESTAMPS: Intro 0:00, Dark Souls 10:50, Spoiler Section 2:21:47

Find Jack and his artwork at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

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