Episode 92 :: Demon’s Souls, Astro Bot Rescue Mission

Blog link: http://videogamegrooves.com/2022/02/28/episode-92-demons-souls-astro-bot-rescue-mission

We have returned, just in the nick of February, with a wildly schizophrenic show that his the boundaries of human emotional response. Ryan Huff from One Run Records joins us again but we’re not sure he knew what he was getting into this time… We decided February was a fine time to look back at Demon’s Souls from Milan Records, and work our way through the trauma. This game may have launched not one but two genres of media: “souls-like” games and “souls-like” music! Composer Shunsuke Kida gets way out of his regular discography to bring us intense-Latin-choir-ala-Dante-Alighieri, and quiet understated themes of quiet and dark reflection. Some of what we discuss is hearsay (because we’re bad at the game) and some of it is grammatical. (No, we do not finally solve the apostrophe thing.) Next, we swing to the far opposite side of the mood spectrum with Astro Bot Rescue Mission from Fangamer. Kenneth CM Young brings forward his experience with completely joyful games like LittleBigPlanet to make even the darkest moments of Astro Bot colorful and adorned with blinky digital eyes. We discuss Sony’s relative success of using pack-in games to demonstrate new tech functions in a way that rivals or even surpasses Nintendo. We stop short of singing the praises of Astro’s Playroom, which is not yet on vinyl… but we will bide our time.

New releases and news bring up the middle section, with a quick solo dash through the newest vinyl your money can buy (links below), and we all reflect on the relative benefits and drawbacks of the now-biannual Record Store Day. Questions have arisen whether it helps or harms independent record store owners. We also observe that it doesn’t tend to touch video game releases, and whether that’s a good or a bad thing. We also discuss whether it might be better for RSD to take a break for a year, so the world might be mended (So the world might be mended). What do you think?

Outro: “Follow Me (Into The Storm)” – Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Kenneth CM Young

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello, @onerunrecords

Links:
Russian Subway Dogs (Very Ok Vinyl)
https://www.veryokvinyl.com/products/russian-subway-dogs
Guild Wars 2: End Of Dragons (iam8bit)
https://www.iam8bit.com/products/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-vinyl-soundtrack
GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon (Ship To Shore PhonoCo.)
https://shiptoshoremedia.com/collections/featured/products/getsufuma-den-undying-moon
Wallachia: Reign Of Dracula (PixelHeart)
https://www.pixelheart.eu/produit/wallachia-reign-of-dracula-ost-vinyle-2lp/
Samorost 2 (Amanita Design)
https://merch.amanita-design.net/collections/frontpage/products/samorost-2-soundtrack-by-floex-double-vinyl
Martha Is Dead (Wired Productions)
https://shop.wiredproductions.com/products/martha-is-dead-official-soundtrack-vinyl
Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles (Wired Productions)
https://shop.wiredproductions.com/collections/lumote-the-mastermote-chronicles/products/lumote-the-mastermote-chronicles-vinyl-soundtrack
Evil Dead: The Game (Boss Team Games)
https://boss-team-games-store.myshopify.com/products/test-evil-dead-the-video-game-collectors
Call Of The Sea (Raw Fury)
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/MER-CALLJOURNEYPS5/dp/B09NCMXT3B/
Neo (Friday Night Funkin’ mod) (Turtle Pals Tapes)
https://www.turtlepalstapes.com/product/neo-vinyl-pre-order
$ S.E.B. (Diggers Factory)
https://www.diggersfactory.com/vinyl/244694/bastien-agussol-seb-original-game-soundtrack
Affinity Sorrow (Second Dimension)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seconddimension/affinity-sorrow-a-true-16-bit-turn-based-rpg-adventure/description