Tales from the Backlog

Want more Dark Souls 2 podcasts? Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson

Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2

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Every beloved series has its black sheep- Mario has Sunshine, Zelda has the DS games, and Dark Souls has Dark Souls 2. But to me, the things that make Dark Souls 2 divisive are the things that make it interesting. Not every new decision is a home run, but they're all ripe for discussion. And hey, good thing we have this podcast! And it's episode 200!

Guest info: Ryan Batie (they/them)

Check out the Pitch Drop Network https://pitchdrop.net/

Get bonus Pitch Drop shows via their Patreon https://www.patreon.com/c/pitchdrop

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Title Card

0:15 Introductions

7:18 Our Histories with Dark Souls

11:19 Opening Thoughts about Dark Souls 2

18:51 Story and Themes Setup- Memory, Hollowing, World Design

30:26 More Theme Setup

35:51 Vibes, Atmosphere and Music

43:37 Examining Gameplay Changes

1:22:18 DLCs, Multiplayer and Comedy

1:31:42 Closing Thoughts and Recommendations

1:34:25 Lightning Strikes Thrice Podcast & Pitch Drop Network

1:39:33 Spoiler Wall and Patron Thank-Yous

1:41:18 Spoiler Section- Trouble Areas

1:52:00 Spoiler Section- Vendrick's Story and Connections to Dark Souls

2:11:59 Spoiler Section- Aldia and The First Sin

2:21:56 Lucatiel and the Giants

Music used in the episode is credited to Motoi Sakuraba, unless otherwise noted. Tracks used: Main Menu, Majula, Ruins Sentinel (Yuka Kitamura), Milfanito, Fire Keepers, Fume Knight, Remains

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

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson

Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2

Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson

Very few games have ever had the hype cycle that Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry, 2025) had, so the question remained once the game was finally released- did it live up to the hype? Clown masks and Nintendo Direct comment section explosions quickly gave way to Discourse surrounding Silksong's difficulty and sometimes anti-QoL approach. So was the juice worth the squeeze? Listen in to find out.

Guest info: Jenny Windom (she/her)

Check out Geeks & Grounds podcast https://www.geeksandgrounds.com/

Check out Jenny's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/kimchica

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Title Card

0:13 Introductions

9:06 Our Histories with Hollow Knight and Silksong

12:45 Opening Thoughts about Silksong

18:26 Difficulty and Accessibility

23:19 Story Setup and Visuals

27:31 The Pilgrimage, Characters and Voice Acting

36:25 The Pilgrimage and Anti-QoL Design

48:29 Challenge Ramp-Up and Difficulty Curve

57:53 Silksong- A Good Teacher & Overcoming Challenge

1:05:47 Metroidvania Design, Visuals and Music

1:14:18 Boss Fights, Combat Challenges and Runbacks

1:33:42 Crests, Tools, Customization

1:40:40 Closing Thoughts/Recommendations

1:45:54 Geeks & Grounds and Jenny's Other Work

1:51:22 Spoiler Wall and Patron Thank-Yous

1:53:13 Spoiler Section- Favorite Boss Fights

2:18:22 Spoiler Section- The Citadel and Faith

2:27:46 Spoiler Section- Hornet's Growth, Sherma and Community

2:45:23 Spoiler Section- Motherhood and Endings

Music used in the episode is credited to Christopher Larkin. Tracks used: Silksong, Bone Bottom, Trobbio, Cogwork Dancers, Bilewater, Far Fields, Lost Lace, Fleatopia

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

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson

Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2

Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson

In the midst of so many games and podcasts with heavy story themes, sometimes it's nice to just play a video game-ass video game. And so here we have Crazy Taxi (Sega, 2000), plowing through a bunch of mailboxes on its way to the podcast schedule. This is a seminal game, especially for Dreamcast owners and arcade-goers, that I had somehow never played before. So what was it like playing for the first time in 2025? Listen in to find out!

Guest info: Darren Hupke (he/him)

Find all of Darren's work https://pixelsandpolygons.net/

Follow on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/darrenhupke.bsky.social

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Title Card

0:11 Introductions

4:05 Our Histories with Crazy Taxi

9:56 Opening Thoughts About Crazy Taxi

13:50 Game Setup

23:34 Crazy Box Mode and Advanced Maneuvers

31:26 Sense of Humor, Future Crazy Taxis and Soundtrack

43:39 Real Life Crazy Taxis and Product Placement

49:40 Closing Thoughts and Recommendations

55:00 Darren's Books and Pixels & Polygons

1:00:31 Announcements and Patron Thank-Yous

Music used in the episode: All I Want (The Offspring), Ten in 2010 (Bad Religion), Change the World (The Offspring)

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

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson

Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server and make your own resolutions!- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2

Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson

For the past few years, we've been making "backlog resolutions" each year- choosing a list of games from our libraries that we keep telling ourselves "I'm gonna play that someday" and....playing them! What a concept! Well, we're playing most of them. In what's becoming a yearly tradition, I'm joined by some friends to discuss our experience throughout the year.

Guest info:

CtrlAltNoob (she/her)- find her work at https://ctrlaltnoob.com/ and follow on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/ctrlaltnoob.bsky.social

Taylor/Athunderheart (she/they)- Follow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/athunderheart/ and BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/athunderheart.bsky.social

Soccr (any/all)- Follow on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/soccr.bsky.social

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Title Card

0:11 Introductions

4:45 Stats from 2025's Resolutions

7:11 General Thoughts and Experiences

21:31 Resolutions Success Stories

53:33 Patron Thank-Yous

55:37 Why Didn't We Play Them All?

1:25:57 Lessons & Strategies for 2026

1:40:59 Sneak Peek at Our 2026 Lists

1:59:40 Closing Thoughts

2:10:37 Guest Plugs

Music used in the episode:

Bless My Stars (Akitaka Tohyama - Beautiful Katamari OST)

a forty-six story motel (RJ Lake - El Paso, Elsewhere OST)

Mortol (Gameplay) (Eirik Suhrke - UFO 50 OST)

Bionic Bay (Francisco Javier Pérez - Bionic Bay OST)

Check out Dave talking about NieR: Automata on Pixel Project Radio https://linktr.ee/pixelprojectradio

Check out the King of Games 1999 FINALE on Retro Hangover https://linktr.ee/retrohangover

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

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson

Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2

Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi- https://ko-fi.com/realdavejackson

All paid patrons can listen to a bonus episode about our favorite non-2025 games that we played this year! https://www.patreon.com/posts/our-favorite-non-146887020

It's that time! End of the year time! Games of the year time! This year I polled Discord and Patreon members on their favorites of the year, tallied them up, and here are the results! Then, I close out the show with my own top 10 and some other thoughts as we bring the 2025th year to a close. Please enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Title Card and Introduction

4:50 Community Honorable Mentions

10:10 Community Top 10

28:31 Dave's Honorable Mentions

30:02 Dave's #10

32:14 Dave's #9

35:06 Dave's #8

38:21 Dave's #7

41:43 Dave's #6

46:05 Dave's #5

49:12 Dave's #4

54:18 Dave's #3

57:58 Dave's #2

1:04:27 Dave's #1

1:14:34 Closing Thoughts

1:21:50 Patron Thank-Yous

Music used in the episode:

Your Host for Tonight (Chipzel- Dicey Dungeons OST)

Beginner's Luck (Chipzel- Dicey Dungeons OST)

Polarity (Francisco Javier Pérez- Bionic Bay OST)

Monoco (Lorien Testard- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)

Gestral Beach- Is It a Gestral or a Volleyball (Lorien Testard- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)

Lumiose City (Day) (Shota Kageyama, Carlos Eiene- Pokemon Legends Z-A OST)

Story of All Manor (Trigg & Gusset- Blue Prince OST)

Manor- Our Painted Home (Lorien Testard- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)

Lumiose City (Night) (Shota Kageyama, Carlos Eiene- Pokemon Legends Z-A OST)

The Storm (Olivier Deriviere- South of Midnight OST)

Mysterious Swamps (Olivier Deriviere- South of Midnight OST)

Enter Sektori (Tommy Baynen- Sektori OST)

The Beauty of Nature (Miwako Chinone- Monster Hunter Wilds OST)

Many Nights a Whisper (fingerspit- Many Nights a Whisper OST)

Ten Years Ago You Were Chosen (fingerspit- Many Nights a Whisper OST)

Signalchaser (Amos Roddy- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector OST)

Suncatchers (Amos Roddy- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector OST)

Introduction (C418- Wanderstop OST)

Simon's Theme (Trigg & Gusset- Blue Prince OST)

Bilewater (Christopher Larkin- Hollow Knight: Silksong OST)

Bellhart (Christopher Larkin- Hollow Knight: Silksong OST)

Une vie à t'aimer (Lorien Testard, Alice Duport-Percier, Victor Borba- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)

Gestral Beach- I'd Rather Play Petanque (Lorien Testard, Alice Duport-Percier, Victor Borba- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 OST)

Battle Theme No. 1 (Toma Otowa- Ghost of Yotei OST)

Raise the Sails (Saori Yoshida- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii OST)

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