Lucas, Henry, Jeff, Andrew and Graham convene to discuss series that tried to be more accessible, and whether that turned out well. Also: Wind Waker HD, Disgaea D2, Rain and Rune Factory 4, plus Steam Machines and the Wii U update!
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Hosts: Jeff deSolla, Andrew Passafiume, Graham Russell, Henry Skey, Lucas White.
Music: Podcast theme by Tom Casper.
Chris Dominowski: While Black Onyx is generally seen as the first real JRPG, Dragon Quest broke new ground in the nascent genre by giving the Eastern flavor of role-playing its own identity, and began distancing itself from series like Wizardry or Ultima. The game sported a manga-esque art direction by Akira Toriyama, a vast world then unseen on home consoles and a greater emphasis on a top-down perspective. With all that in place, and with future entries in the series depending more on story and characters, Dragon Quest became one of the most celebrated franchises among Japanese gamers. 
Jeff deSolla: MMOs have their roots in multi-user dungeons, as an attempt to do a tabletop RPG like Dungeons and Dragons over the Internet. This had varying degrees of success, and they picked up a cult following which remains even now, though the vast majority shut down in the late ’90s as bigger and more expansive games took their place. Despite this, almost every aspect of the modern MMO was likely present in a MUD at some point, from crafting to PvP. 
