Episode 672: Attack & Dethrone God, Book 1:1

Jeremy: Not long ago—six episodes, if my math serves me correctly—we delved into the history of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and its impact on video games and pop culture. This time, we cast our net into the adjacent lake and, uh... actually, I'm not sure where this metaphor is going. Probably somewhere with loaves and fishes. Because this week, I've decided to tackle one of the questions I've had tumbling around my skull for more than a quarter-century: What's up with all those JRPGs where you kill God? And I don't just mean a god, I mean the specific capital-G, Pearly Gates, head of the Holy Trinity power trio God of the Judeo-Christianity tradition.

Yes, it's another Trends & Influences episode that focuses on the real-world history and culture behind the video games we love. This is actually the first part of this two-episode discussion, which primarily concerns the history parts, with the bulk of the game-focused conversation reserved for the upcoming Book 2:1.

As with the recent Bikini Warriors and Satanic Panic episodes, I've called in some legit ringers to lend some actual substance and credibility to the non-game stuff. Specifically, friend of the show Shivam Bhatt returns to team up with Benito Cereno to share their deep, exhaustive knowledge of religious history. (Chris Sims and I don't have quite as much intellectual grounding in this topic, but we did grow up going to church and play a lot of video games.)

Incidentally, the Trends & Influences theme will be showing up a lot less frequently from this point. I've had these topics in the can for a couple of years, so there's been a bit of a rush lately to tackle these pent-up conversations, but now that I've worked it out my system you expect more episodes where we just imitate Wario or whatever.

Art by Nick Wanserski, edits byt Greg Leahy

• 08:12 - Final Fantasy VI: Kefka

• 21:16 - Xenogears: Fangs Bared at God | Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Our Eternal Land

• 35:53 - Theme from The Mission (1986 Motion Picture OST)

• 47:55 - Bayonetta: Graveyard of Remembrance | Gladiator (2000): The Might of Rome

• 59:21 - Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: Ecclesia

• 1:07:37 - Theme from Shōgun (1980 TV OST)

• 1:16:42 - Silence (2016 Motion Picture OST): Unravelling

• 1:29:55 - Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge: Agitated Calm

• 1:42:29 - Dragon Ball FighterZ: Frieza

• Closing - Game of Thrones (TV OST, Season 6): Light of the Seven