WhoDatJedi Podcast: ‘The Bad Batch,’ the military, and what we can learn from both

After a few episodes of “The Bad Batch,” the new animated Star Wars series on Disney+, it’s pretty obvious that themes of the military are going to be a big part of the show.

But just HOW big, and moreover … are they going to get it right?

We talked about that this week on the WhoDatJedi podcast.

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 13)

I couldn’t begin to tell you why The Legend of Zelda just wasn’t a bigger thing for me as a kid. I don’t know if it was basic indifference to the marketing (none of those gold boxes really spoke to me), a counter-culture “Why is everyone telling me to like this game?” backlash response, or just a general lack of exposure to the games themselves (I played the original at a friend’s house for about 10 minutes and “The Adventure of Link” at a different friend’s house for another 10 minutes … and that was it for me until the 2000s). But for whatever reason, I just sort of missed Zelda’s beginnings and really didn’t feel I was worse for that.

That all changed for me when I was able to play my brother’s copy of Ocarina of Time for the first time.

Within an hour or two, I was hooked, and it was because of the emotional connection to the material. It kind of sounds nuts to type it out, but yeah, so at the beginning of this game, a tree dies, and it’s a pretty big deal. From there, it’s a near constant stream of gutting reveals and little emotional experiences that add up to provide one of the most affecting games in existence.

This game makes you feel.

A fairly linear progression in the early going quickly gave way to an expansive, immersive experience. And yeah, I think as these games go, a lot of people would put Ocarina more in the “on rails” sort of play, as it does have a pretty point-A to point-B methodology to its story-telling. But the sheer scope of this story, and one’s ability to get lost in this world map (playing mini-games, riding your horse around, and even just exploring every nook and cranny one can find) exceeded basically every game that had come before (and certainly within the Zelda franchise itself).

I think this is a main reason the emotional beats hit as hard as they do — you really get pulled into the whole experience. And once you’re in, you’re susceptible to getting led down that emotional path.

Hook, line and sinker.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Genre: Adventure
Released: 1998
Platform: N64
Metacritic’s Greatest Game of All Time
Continue reading The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 13)

WhoDatJedi Podcast: Live movie discussion: ‘Attack of the Clones’

With the ongoing release of new episodes of “The Bad Batch,” it seems a good time to go back to the roots of the clones in Star Wars cinema. With that in mind, the WhoDatJedi crew sat down to record a commentary track of “Attack of the Clones,” the much maligned middle chapter of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

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WhoDatJedi Podcast: A review of ‘The Battle for Endor’ (yes, we did that), critique for a lack of Star Wars marketing, and some ‘Bad Batch’ impressions

May the Fourth came and went and … not much happened.

Is that a problem? We discussed that, “The Battle for Endor,” and more!

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Final Fantasy VII — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 12)

We all have to be honest with ourselves.

I thought it might be a good idea to slot a Final Fantasy game in this general area (somewhere in my first 15 games listed), because although the first game I dropped in this entire series is a Squaresoft classic and my favorite game of all time, it’s not especially relevant to the medium at large (apart from its impeccable soundtrack, which literally everyone should listen to at some point). Final Fantasy, as a series, is a different animal. It’s perhaps the most recognizable RPG brand on the planet, probably the most successful RPG brand on the planet, and arguably the most important RPG brand on the planet. It’s absolutely massively critical when it comes to understanding video game history, let alone that of the genre of the JRPG.

You can’t tell a complete story of gaming without Final Fantasy.

But…

Which of the Final Fantasy games is most essential?

Ah, that’s the fun part of it. For many gamers of a certain age, this debate typically boils down to two choices: The “taken as far as they could take it” 16-bit excellence of Final Fantasy VI (perhaps the best possible example of why the Super Nintendo continues to be held in high esteem for its RPG library), OR the “let’s get wacky with something slightly different” new direction boldness of Final Fantasy VII (which itself makes the case for the Playstation being the golden era of RPG gaming).

Since I’ve already got Chrono Cross on my list, I should go with Final Fantasy VI here to represent that different era of gaming, right?

Right?

Well, there’s just one small problem with that:

I like Final Fantasy VII a little bit more.

Final Fantasy VII

Genre: RPG
Released: 1997
Platform: Playstation
GameSpot’s 2nd Most Influential Game Ever Made
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WhoDatJedi Podcast: Why is the ‘Clone Wars’ micro-series worth watching?

Did you know there are actually two “Clone Wars” animated series? There’s that other one that we’ve covered in this space before (here’s a handy viewing guide!). But there’s also a really good (and much shorter) series that has been harder for fans to access … until recently.

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College football road trip: 13 college towns that should be on your bucket list

(Originally published on The Southern Weekend)

Check out my book on this topic, Eyeblack Odyssey

If you’re anything like us, you have a passion for college football. Prep and pro have their place, but college is No. 1 in our hearts. And appropriately, that means we have a bucket list of places we want to go: our own ultimate college football road trip.

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