YIIK: An Inspired, Working-Class, Postmodern RPG

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Classic SNES RPG Earthbound is all over the place, now more than ever… somehow. It’s an awesome game, so you kind of expect it on some level, but why is it seemingly more popular now than it’s ever been, something like 20 years after its release? We discuss in this podcast.

And then Andrew Allanson, co-director and composer of YIIK: A Postmodern RPG shows up. We talk about Earthbound and games it has inspired, including his own. We then, naturally, dig further into YIIK and talk about other connections, its soundtrack, story, and all kinds of stuff.

So get downloading (or streaming with the YouTube link above, if you wanna go that route)

01:40 – Current level of Earthbound fandom still insane
04:57 – Why this continued fandom is unlike Mario, Zelda, etc.
08:02 – Earthbound is emotionally heavy
10:46 – Why its fandom can’t get much higher than it is right now
16:16 – Peak Earthbound
22:40 – Earthbound’s beauty lies in the details
26:33 – From one postmodern RPG to another (Andrew joins)
29:40 – YIIK’s biggest influence never even came out
33:15 – “Why did you do that to yourself?”
39:15 – Andrew shares some dev history
44:21 – “Do whatever you want!”
49:03 – YIIK’s OST is the soundtrack of the characters’ lives
65:15 – Who’s that lady?
68:02 – This story is nuts, but it all makes sense at the end.
70:55 – Inspired events.
79:54 – Vita & PS4 versions of YIIK are cross buy and cross save.

One quick note: at the time we recorded this, the release was expected before the end of March, but was dependent upon “the ESRB and some stuff,” and it looks like the world got in the way. YIIK is now looking at late April for release. It’s set to arrive on PS4 and Vita in cross-buy forms, plus Xbox One, Wii-U, and PC (in Steam form).

So have we truly reached Peak Earthbound, or can it still attain even greater heights of popularity? Have other games reminded you of Earthbound? Do Andrew’s horrific stories of pretty-much-self-torture make you wanna be a game dev when you grow up?

My internet time will be sparse (lucky you!) but I’ll try and post my long-overdue impressions at some point from a cafe where I’m trying not to let anyone see me eat donuts out of the garbage.

You can also hear a mini-cast in which I dish out my opinions of certain tracks from YIIK‘s soundtrack here.

YIIK developer Ackk Studios can be found on Twitter here.