Leaving the Party

It's the longest episode of Leaving the Party yet! Tess and Kerry go in depth on the 2022 Japanese-inspired RPG Chained Echoes by Umami Tiger, talking first about what makes the game tick mechanically before going long for a spoiler-filled discussion of the characters and themes of the sprawling adventure. The next game we will be playing is Parasite Eve, the 1998 "cinematic RPG" from Square Enix!Find Tess Scilipoti on ⁠⁠her website⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Find Kerry Lloyd on the ⁠⁠Leaving the Party Blog⁠And finally, find ⁠a short blog post about this episode here⁠.Timestamps:00:00:00 - Intros00:01:42 - "Calling Upon Bravery" - Eddie Marianukroh00:03:19 - Kerry's playing Planescape Torment00:08:45 - Kerry, Tess and friends have been playing Left 4 Dead 200:11:09 - The Half Life 2 Rant00:15:10 - Tess has been playing the DQ7 demo00:18:14 - Tess has been playing Final Fantasy Tactics00:23:35 - Tess hates Final Fantasy IX and me00:36:34 - Chained Echoes discussion begins00:38:34 - Background developer info00:47:12 - Never Forget Our Promise - Eddie Marianukroh00:48:01 - History around "the JRPG"01:05:09 - Episode structure + What is Chained Echoes?01:11:35 - Pacing + Narrative/Mechanical Structure01:16:52 - Variety of party character perspectives01:20:38 - Filthy Humans! - Eddie Marianukroh01:21:16 - Battle system + Overdrive meter01:32:04 - The crystal situation is insane. The Sienna situation is insane01:41:38 - Thoughts on difficulty and game length fatigue01:49:25 - (minor spoilers) Kerry's True King difficulty snafu01:51:55 - (minor spoilers over)01:59:24 - Sky Armor battles02:02:55 - Confusing UI fumbles02:07:22 - Tess loves puzzles :)02:14:10 - Champions of the Sky - Eddie Marianukroh02:14:26 - MINIGAME BREAK - Is It Woke!?02:25:32 - Himmelskaiser - Eddie Marianukroh02:25:56 - riffin02:29:03 - OFFICIAL spoiler warning!!! Spoilers from here onward02:30:04 - 90 Second Summary02:33:11 - Prologue02:34:46 - Kylian + Berserk02:39:01 - Plot and lore: "A whole bunch of God business"02:46:03 - This game desperately needs a codex02:56:15 - The White Rose Inn03:10:30 - Victor is a good boy03:13:41 - Sienna03:17:26 - Tess says "I wish this woman wasn't gay" out loud03:17:56 - We want more Raphael...03:22:24 - Glenn, Lenne, Victor, Timothy, Van, Bartholomew, the church, echoes. CHAINED ECHOES03:34:00 - Reigns of History - Eddie Marianukroh03:34:48 - Leaving the Party investigates: where is "down east"?03:36:52 - Ba'Thraz and the Lisvan03:45:55 - Amalia and Cres + Raphael is sexy goated03:52:15 - Robb, Taryn's ward + Forgiveness, redemption, and so on04:05:35 - Tomke, Mikah, and The Worm...04:11:41 - Egyl has the weirdest plot in the whole game04:13:34 - Magnolia :)04:17:31 - Dreaming a Dream of Red - Eddie Marianukroh04:18:20 - Prince Frederik became Hitler because he's actually a really good guy04:21:55 - Row, and the place of mecha and war in Chained Echoes04:34:48 - The grimoire and the nuclear metaphor04:42:14 - Kerry's DLC book report04:52:17 - Cody's question: too much inspiration?04:57:08 - Noah's question: how does it compare to other nostalgic RPGs like Sea of Stars?05:01:30 - The End05:08:25 - Next game is PARASITE EVE05:09:01 - Final recommendations + thanks for listening :)Show NotesMatthias Linda Talks JRPG Influences, Deck13 Backing, Music, & MoreInterview: Chained Echoes DeveloperAn Interview with ‘Chained Echoes’ Developer Matthias LindaWhy Japanese Fantasy has Dungeons… and sometimes DragonsThe ‘JRPG’ label has always been otheringTSTV podcastdotzip podcastthanks for listening xoxo

What a pleasant surprise! Leaving the Party, everybody's favorite transgender podcast blog website, has returned... Today, Tess and Kerry are joined by their lovely friend Yvonne to talk about Pokémon Lazarus, a romhack of Pokémon Emerald by Nemo622 with many contributions from the romhacking community. But not before they talk extensively about Pokémon as a franchise, a business, and a series of games while they seek to answer: why are they like that?Find Tess Scilipoti on ⁠her website⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠Find Kerry Lloyd on the ⁠Leaving the Party BlogAnd finally, find a short blog post about this episode here.Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro00:01:35 "Pokémart" by Tom Sanborn00:02:14 Special guest Yvonne!00:03:26 Next episode is still CHAINED ECHOES00:06:01 Kerry's Skateboarding Video Game Corner00:29:38 Kirby Air Riders00:33:48 Introducing Pokémon, Lazarus, romhacks00:40:35 Emulator handhelds00:43:40 Tess's wires boy-servant sabotages the internet00:44:45 What is Pokémon Lazarus? + Other thoughts00:49:11 Our relationship to Pokémon01:01:55 The economic necessity of a Pokémon game: do these games lowkey suck?01:06:04 Wikipedia Corner #1: The Complicated Corporate Structure of Pokémon and How They Make Their Damn Money01:14:04 Why the new gimmick every game?01:18:05 The Legends games01:27:50 Leaving the Party solves Pokémon01:32:22 Tess's minigame: Who's That Category of Pokémon?01:41:22 "Team Chimera Battle" by Tom Sanborn01:41:58 Wikipedia Corner #2: Lazarus Taxa01:47:54 Romhacks and our experience with them01:53:58 Emerald Seaglass01:58:04 Do you guys wanna share our teams?02:03:49 Stupid and gay02:04:17 "Acrisia City" by Tom Sanborn02:04:49 More teams + Being attached to Pokémon02:08:26 Themes and simplicity in Lazarus02:25:52 Difficulty and hard mode02:35:18 Gym and route design02:40:23 Piraeus + World map02:46:56 Our favorite locations02:50:36 We all live in a Pokémon World02:52:11 Isn't Rotom funny? Isn't it weird how Pokémon don't fuck? Things of this nature02:55:24 Quality of life stuff03:00:58 Kerry's new favorite Pokémon03:04:33 Shoutout wildlife conservation03:07:05 Our shiny Pokémon :)03:08:17 Music thoughts03:09:13 Closing Lazarus thoughts03:13:22 "Ilios Gym Leader" by Tom Sanborn03:13:49 Back from break03:15:48 Annual Leaving the Party Awards Ceremony Awards 2025: Huge Panic at the Heart Throbbing School Trip! ("It's TV Time!" by Toby Fox)03:16:30 Yvonne's ALPACAs03:20:05 Kerry's ALPACAs03:26:04 Tess's ALPACAs03:36:31 Final recommendations03:37:38 Outros and plugs. Thanks for listening! Next episode is CHAINED ECHOES :)Show notes:Nemo622's KofiRib Removal SurgeryEA Saudi Arabia buyoutTess's review of Pokemon EmeraldThis crazy diagram of the largest known coelacanth next to a human for scale LmaoThe New York Times is a games company with a newspaper side hustleTama Hiroka's Ruby and Sapphire retrospectivePokemon UnboundCecilily's interview with NemoWikipedia Corner:Lazarus TaxonTakahēCoelacanthThe Pokémon CompanyPokémon

Kerry and Tess check out Felvidek, a 2024 historical fantasy game made in RPG Maker by Jozef Pavelka and Vlado Ganaj. Find Tess Scilipoti on her website and InstagramFind Kerry Lloyd on the Leaving the Party BlogAnd finally, find a short blog post about this episode here.Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro + "Raubiri"00:04:25 Chatting00:17:00 Felvidek00:19:42 90 Second Summary + Cowbells00:25:38 Wikipedia Corner #100:40:56 The game + Spoilers onward from here!00:59:50 Actual vocal spoiler warning lol01:01:53 Battle system blues01:12:35 Break + "Dedina"01:13:47 Returning + Fun facts01:21:18 Pavol01:27:54 Paula01:34:20 A character named "The Jew" AKA Wikipedia Corner #201:53:57 Ida + Some stuff we missed02:06:35 Adam02:13:47 Character arcs02:17:17 Break + "Bestie"02:18:55 Crash Team Racing + Fun facts02:25:15 Wikipedia Corner #3 + Ahriman02:35:25 The JRPG third act02:40:10 Pavol's religious visions + Swords02:43:42 Our ending + Thoughts02:47:48 Our next game is CHAINED ECHOES02:49:21 Final recommendations + Thanks for listening :)Show NotesDemons and cultists in 15th-century Slovakia: Interview with Jozef Pavelka, the creator of FelvidekProbably other stuff. Forgot to do show notes while editing this episode to be honest because I was thinking about the timestamps. Oops -KerryWikipedia Cornerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hunyadihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussiteshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_European_Jews_in_the_Middle_Ageshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahriman

Kerry and Tess talk in great detail this episode about Lovely Lady RPG, a game which, in line with the ethos of this show, is about walking around and making women smile. Next episode we will be playing Felvidek, an RPG maker game about an alcoholic knight in 15th century Slovakia. Thanks for listening!Find Tess Scilipoti on her website and InstagramFind Kerry Lloyd on the Leaving the Party BlogAnd finally, find a short blog post about this episode here.Show notes:Narrat EngineDisco Elysium (kerry brings this up several times lol)Will This Bitter Night Bring Change? Two Women in TroubleChristmas Hound MiaThe Crisis of German Social DemocracyRevolutions PodcastLovely LadyverseMia Cain dot itch dot ioDigital Poppy dot itch dot io

Kerry and Tess introduce you to their brand new fun show about role playing games. Remember: August 15th will be the release date for our first episode on Lovely Lady RPG! Remember: this is all about making Tess smile.Show notes:https://leavingtheparty.blog/https://www.tessscilipoti.com/Blog post for today's episodeThanks for listening! I'm very excited to start this podcast. Don't forget to bee yourself!