Abnormal Mapping – Details, episodes & analysis

Jackson is joined today by official Final Fantasy Correspondant Austin Walker to talk about Final Fantasy XI - specifically the base game and Rise of the Zilart. It’s been a busy MMO summer and we simply needed to get it out of our systems and into microphones somewhere. Please enjoy this three hour tribute to a game that’s still around and still good as hell.

Thank you so much as always for listening, please rate and review the podcast, and tell all your friends on whatever social media you call home that they should check us out. See you next month!

Send us questions about our game clubs, other games, or gaming in general to abnormalmappingpodcast@gmail.com!

If you would like to support us please visit patreon.com/abnormalmapping for exclusive podcasts!

Things Discussed: Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, all the other Final Fantasies a little too, World of Warcraft and MMOs. It’s mostly just FF11 though.

This Month’s Second Game Club: Mister Mosquito

Music this Episode
One Last Time by Nobuo Uematsu
The Grand Duchy of Jueno by Naoshi Mizuta
Voyager by Naoshi Mizuta

Em is back from the month off to talk about the joy of a kind of cheesy mystery with a great sci-fi premise as we get to live out our Star Trek: The Original Series dreams by lecturing ancient peoples about how our modern world view is clearly the best one. This sounds like it’s selling The Forgotten City short, but I promise it isn’t, we really liked this game. Sometimes good things are also kind of silly things, is all, and we delight in the silliness in this episode.

Thank you so much as always for listening, please rate and review the podcast, and tell all your friends on whatever social media you call home that they should check us out. See you next month!

Send us questions about our game clubs, other games, or gaming in general to abnormalmappingpodcast@gmail.com!

If you would like to support us please visit patreon.com/abnormalmapping for exclusive podcasts!

Things Discussed: Dwarf Fortress, Neon White, Jackson's MMO Summer, The Forgotten City, Immortals of Aveum

Next Month’s Game Club: A Bonus Final Fantasy XI episode, and then Mister Mosquito at the end of the month!

Music this Episode
The Forgotten City by Michael Allen
The Die is Cast by Michael Allen
The Voice of the People by Michael Allen
Life's Greatest Blessings by Michael Allen

We close out the year with a podcast years in the making, as Molly joins us and we take a road trip with the king to be and his homies and play the much maligned but beloved by us Final Fantasy XV! This podcast will cover the main game and the first three episode DLCs (Gladio, Prompto, Ignis), and there’ll be a follow up podcast on the patreon (free for everyone) in about a week covering the movie, the anime, Episode Ardyn, and the Awful Book. Please look forward to it!

Thank you so much as always for listening, please rate and review the podcast, and tell all your friends on whatever social media you call home that they should check us out. See you next month!

Send us questions about our game clubs, other games, or gaming in general to abnormalmappingpodcast@gmail.com!

If you would like to support us please visit patreon.com/abnormalmapping for exclusive podcasts!

Things Discussed: Coral Island, Granblue Fantasy Versus, The 3rd Birthday, Oboeshoesgames video on The 3rd Birthday, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, Air Combat, The Binding of Isaac, Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy broadly

Next Month’s Game Club: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

Music this Episode
APOCALYPSIS NOCTIS by Yoko Shimomura
Valse di Fantastica by Yoko Shimomura
Somnus by Yoko Shimomura
Main Theme from FINAL FANTASY by Yoko Shimomura

Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Segment 1: Games Played
(00:29:10) - Segment 2: Final Fantasy XV
(01:58:10) - Segment 3: Questions

Legends tell of a man, a quiet man, a man who jumps and a man who spins, a man who one day—this day—must rise and save us all. But that man was not available, and so it falls upon this paper plumber to embark upon a journey to the stars to save a princess oft and once more kidnapped. The Mappers embark upon this man’s journey through a twisted land of pun-laden characters and self-aware deconstruction, and arrive finally at the end of their quest with only the corpses of penguins to show for it*.

(*No penguins were harmed in the making of this podcast.)

As a companion piece to this episode, Em produced an zine for Paper Mario, featuring cool and cute paintings and sketches of the characters and the world of this month’s game! You can (and totally should, it’s really good!) pick it up on gumroad.

This episode was brought to you by our patrons. To support our shows, suggest topics, and vote on games, please check out our Patreon. Any amount of support helps a ton!

You can find this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play! We're on all the things!

This Month’s Game Club: Paper Mario

Things Discussed: Papa’s Donuteria, Racially Diverse Kitchen 3, Metal Gear Solid, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Roger Ebert’s Great Movies, Player 2, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl, The Minesweeper Wall, Paper Mario, Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars, Iwata Asks for Paper Mario Sticker Star, Upon Reflection, Retro Game Challenge, NES Remix, Shovel Knight, Attack of the Friday Monsters, Yakuza 3, Gone Home, Her Story

Music This Episode
Blown Away by Kevin MacLeod
Attack of the Koopa Bros. by Yuka Tsujiyoko & Taishi Senda
March Ahead by Yuka Tsujiyoko & Taishi Senda
Nice To Meet You by Yuka Tsujiyoko & Taishi Senda
Detective Mario by Yuka Tsujiyoko & Taishi Senda

This month we bookend our newest episode with our oldest episode and cover the first Devil May Cry! Inspired by our very first Meta Mapping and voted on by our Patrons, we dig into the past of character action games and Dante, son of Mundus for a trip into all thing stylish and stupid. Come for the combos, stay for the angst. We even touch a bit on old standbys Ninja Gaiden and Bayonetta!

This episode was brought to you by our patrons. To support our shows, suggest topics, and vote on games, please check out our Patreon. Any amount of support helps a ton!

You can find this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play! We're on all the things!

Things Discussed: England's world cup win in 1966, the Paris level of Twisted Metal 2, the Neo Paris of Remember Me, Yoshi's Island, RetroArch, Crash Bandicoot 1 & 2, Abnormal Mapping episode 6 covering Crash Bandicoot, So You're Saying There's A Chance, Devil May Cry

This Month's Game Club: Devil May Cry

Next Month's Game Club: Max Payne (and the movie!)

Music This Episode
Blown Away by Kevin MacLeod
Public Enemy by Masami Ueda
The Theme of Sparda by Masami Ueda
Love Peace and Happiness by Kazumi Totaka

Welcome to Meta Mapping, our journey through old episodes complete with new reflections on our current day thoughts on the episode! Today we're revisiting The King And W, an episode idea that our friend Michaela Joffe came to us with where we would do a little improv and interview Bowser, the King Koopa.

It turned out extremely well, and we're very excited to bring it to you again! It was recorded only a couple years ago, and yet it feels like a whole different world. A lot can change in a short two years.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Consider supporting us on Patreon to make future shows possible and receive cool extra gifts.

Music This Episode
Saturday Night Live Theme 1985-1994 by Howard Shore
Blown Away by Kevin MacLeod
Wario Dance Company by Naoko Mitome, Masanobu Matsunaga, Yasuhisa Baba
Gamecube Boot Music by Toru Minegishi
Ignorance is Bliss by Jellyfish

Hello friends, we're here again at the nearly-midpoint of the year for a celebration of music and magic and wonder. Everyone liked our December music episodes so much and they took so long to make we decided to split them into twice-yearly installments, so enjoy this long list of summer tunes based on what we've been playing since we last checked in.

As always, check us out on iTunes, or watch this episode on YouTube if that's your speed. And be sure to support us on Patreon, to keep the good times rolling.

With that, here's the full list of music. Enjoy!

Music This Episode

Dance Through the Danger by Christina Vee from Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

I Made It All Up by Mike Morasky from Portal 2
Influence of the Deep by Yoko Shimomura from Parasite Eve
Cara Mia Addio by Mike Morasky from Portal 2

Route 1 by Junichi Masuda and Go Ichinose from Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen
Pewter City by Junichi Masuda and Go Ichinose from Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen
Vs Champion by Junichi Masuda and Go Ichinose from Pokemon Sun and Moon

Saferoom by Miwako Chinone from Resident Evil 7
On A Pale Horse by Martin O'Donnell from Halo: Combat Evolved
Truth and Reconciliation by Martin O'Donnel from Halo: Combat Evolved 1:50-4:28

Linkle's Theme by Masato Koike and Yuki Matsumura from Hyrule Warriors Legends
Price Sidon by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, and Hajime Wakai from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Attack on Vah Medoh by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, and Hajime Wakai from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Hyrule Castle by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, and Hajime Wakai from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Athletic Theme by Asuka Ota, Hajime Wakai, and Koji Kondo from New Super Mario Bros
Beach Overworld by Asuka Ota, Hajime Wakai, and Koji Kondo from New Super Mario Bros
Lonely Rolling Star by Yohihito Yano and Saki Kabata from Katamari Damacy
Everlasting Love by Akitaka Tohyama from We Love Katamari

Old Town by Kohei Tanaka from Gravity Rush
Lei Colmosna by Kohei Tanaka from Gravity Rush 2
A Red Apple Fell From the Sky by Kohei Tanaka from Gravity Rush 2

War to War by Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi from Nier: Automata
Memories of Dust by Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi from Nier: Automata
Machine Village by Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi from Nier: Automata

Prologue (A New Act) by Justin Bell from Pillars of Eternity
Dyrwood by Justin Bell from Pillars of Eternity
Falling Bridge by Takeshi Furukawa from The Last Guardian
Delphinus Delphis by Austin Wintory from Abzu

Theme of Tara by Konami Kukeiha Club from Metal Gear
Red Alert by Konami Kukeiha Club from Metal Gear
Zanzibarland National Anthem by Konami Kukeiha Club from Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Zanzibar Breeze by Konami Kukeiha Club from Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Enclosure by TAPPY and Konami Kukeiha Club from Metal Gear Solid
Infiltration by Norihiko Hibino from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Battle by Norihiko Hibino from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Battle in the Base by Norihiko Hibino from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Showtime by Norihiko Hibino from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
No Place To Hide by Nobuko Toda, Shuichi Kobori, and Kazuma Jinnouchi from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Uninterrupted Signal by Nobuko Toda from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Zero Allies! by Kazuma Jinnouchi and Akihiro Honda from Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker

Departures/End Credits by Lyndon Holland from Virginia

A year ago this month we played Knights of the Old Republic, and today we complete the saga by taking on Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Jump in for a journey of discovery, as we experience one of the most heavily recommended subversions of all the aspects of Star Wars that we thought we didn't like, only to realize that without them our hearts feel empty and we feel lost. Maybe the Star Wars we loved was in our hearts all along.

No, we will never do the MMO.

We are joined by friend of the show Heather Alexandra for segment 2, you can find her work over at Kotaku and follow her on twitter here! You can get our podcast on iTunes, on Stitcher, or you can download directly from the player above.

Things Discussed: our Patreon! which is doing well, Driver: San Francisco, Hollow Knight, Mega Man 6, Life is Strange, Star Wars (the movies), Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Traitor (A New Jedi Order Novel), Episode 50: Jump Cut Genocide covering KotOR 1, our episode about Planescape: Torment, Persona 4

Game Club This Month: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Game Club Next Month: Devil May Cry

Music This Episode
Star Wars: Kotor March by Mark Griskey
Star Wars Theme by John Williams
Throne Room by John Williams
I'm Han Solo by Kevin Afflack

Welcome to Meta Mapping, our first in a series of re-released episodes from the Abnormal Mapping archives with new content made possible by our Patreon subscribers.

We figured it would be best to start with our very first episode, back when all our mics were bad and M used a different name. We didn't want to change any of that, so you get the raw reality of us four years ago for your listening ... pleasure? Pleasure seems like a strong word. We've come a long way, baby! And you can see those humble beginnings here.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Consider supporting us on Patreon to make future shows possible and receive cool extra gifts.

Games Discussed This Episode
Gunpoint
DmC: Devil May Cry

Music Used This Episode
Blown Away by Kevin MacLeod
Melancholia by John Robert Matz, Ryan Ike and Francisco Cerda
What the Fuck Is Wrong With You by Combichrist

The Mappers delve into the past for an examination of two pillars of 90s PC gaming, as we all tackle the mysteries of Myst together (with returning third chair Destiny), and then I take a moment to talk about Full Throttle Remastered with Kotaku's Heather Alexandra. It's a lot of clicking and a lot of puzzle solving in this wave of computer nostalgia.

Note: we have a Patreon! Support us by going to patreon.com/abnormalmapping!

You can get our podcast on iTunes, on Stitcher, or you can download directly from the player above.

Things Discussed: Persona 5: Jungian Inception, Forza Horizon 3, Injustice, The Patreon Letters, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Heather's review for Full Throttle Remastered, Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition, LOOM, 90s PC games versus console games, Myst, Jeff Gerstmann in the RealMyst Quick Look, Rock Paper Shotgun's Myst Opinions, Life is Strange, The Eternal Quest To Defend Pop Punk

This Month's Game Clubs: Full Throttle Remastered, Myst

Next Month's Game Club: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

Music This Episode
Blown Away by Kevin MacLeod
Get Outta Town by The Gone Jackals
Myst Theme by Robyn Miller
The Temple of Achenar by Robyn Miller
The Last Message by Robyn Miller