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Axe of the Blood God: Diving Deep Into RPG Battle Systems

PODCAST | Kat is joined by a guest to dissect the history and design of RPG battle systems. Plus: NieR Automata and Persona 5!

This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.

Axe of the Blood God is our weekly RPG podcast hosted by Kat Bailey and Nadia Oxford. You can find the previous episodes here.

In this week's episode of Axe of the Blood God (download link here), friend of the podcast Steve Tramer returns to discuss one of our favorite topics: battle systems!

We cover battle systems from multiple angles in this episode, tracing their development from D&D to Ultima 3 to the present day. We also pick our favorite (and least favorite) battle systems. You may be surprised by our choices!

Plus: If you're not already sick of us discussing Persona, Steve take a moment to talk about what he considers to be some of Persona 5's flaws, and also extols the virtues of NieR Automata. So have a listen!

Want to share your thoughts on RPGs? Email us at usgamer@usgamer.net. We may read your letter on the show!

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Show Description

Friend of the podcast Steve Tramer returns to have an honest discussion about Persona 5's flaws and extol the virtues of NieR Automata (12:26). Then the pair dive into this episode's main topic: battle systems! (27:00) Kat and Steve discuss the evolution of RPG battle systems; what defines them; notable systems throughout history, and of course, their favorites!

Music from Axe of the Blood God is courtesy of Lena Chappelle, who has also contributed the themes to Active Time Babble and Roleplayers' Realm. I also use music from the RPG Music Pack over at rpgmaker.net. Check it out!

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