Support my work on Patreon (https://patreon.com/realdavejackson) I was admittedly very late to the King's Field and Shadow Tower bandwagons, energized by my love for FromSoftware's modern titles and a desire to dig into their history some more. However, I didn't anticipate loving those games so much that I wanted more like them, and that's where Kira LLC's Lunacid (2023) entered the fray. Lunacid is a fantastic game, leaning more on the exploration and vibes of those FromSoftware dungeon crawlers than the opaque RPG mechanics, capturing the spirit in a modern way. A true indie success- listen in to find out why. Guest info: Dave Cox of Monster Dear Monster * Check out Monster Dear Monster podcast https://www.monsterdear.monster/ * Follow Dave on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/senplus.bsky.social TIMESTAMPS * 0:00 Title Card * 0:27 Intros/Personal Histories/Opening Thoughts * 11:53 Story/World Setup * 28:51 PS2-era Presentation/Controls * 40:53 Soundtrack * 47:52 Gameplay/RPG Mechanics * 1:09:07 World Design/Exploration * 1:13:53 "Breaking the Level Design" * 1:29:49 Closing Thoughts/Recommendations/Guest Plugs * 1:38:57 SPOILER WALL/Patron Thank-Yous * 1:41:13 Spoiler Section- Discoveries and Easter Eggs * 2:04:22 Spoiler Section- Story and Ending Music used in the episode is credited to Kira LLC. Tracks used: * River of Death (Akuma Kira) * The Great Well (Jarren Crist) * Washed Away (Akuma Kira) * Falling To My Death (Jarren Crist) * Serence (Jarren Crist) * The World and You (Akuma Kira) * Serence (Reprise) (Jarren Crist) * Purchase the soundtrack- https://store.steampowered.com/app/2692630/LunacidOriginalSoundtrack/ Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server! (https://discord.gg/bptGyEWbk7) Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson)! Social Media: BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/tftblpod.bsky.social) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/talesfromthebacklog/) Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://linktr.ee/JackAllenCaricatures Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-top-3-podcast/id1555269504), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/2euGp3pWi7Hy1c6fmY526O?si=0ebcb770618c460c) and other podcast platforms (atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!
