Into the Aether - A Low Key Video Game Podcast · Stephen Hilger + Brendon Bigley

Time to Slime (feat. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, Blue Prince, Unbeatable, and Mario Tennis Power Tour)

·1 hr 33 min·5 clips

"Seven ninety nine is five bucks, right?" frames the Peak pricing argument.

Brendan Bigley opens the episode by explaining that Stephen Hilger is out because of scheduling conflicts. AJ Flaherty joins him in the chair, and the two ease into the low-key, conversational pace the show is known for. Brendan also gives a recap of the apartment overhaul he and his wife have been doing, including turning the biggest room in the apartment into a new office and recording space. That domestic reset sits under the start of the episode and gives the conversation a practical backdrop. From there, the episode turns toward Dragon Quest VII. Brendan and AJ focus on the way Dragon Quest VII moves from home base to a new island, then back again, making each chapter feel self-contained and easy to pick up for a night or two. They describe that structure as episodic and book-adjacent, with each island carrying its own little self-contained story. The result is a remake discussion that is less about nostalgia than about how the original game is put together. The conversation keeps returning to the question of why this specific Dragon Quest got remade again instead of another entry. Brendan treats that choice as interesting in its own right, especially because there are other games in the series that could also plausibly have been first in line. Dragon Quest V comes up as the one many people most want remade, which makes the restraint around that title feel meaningful rather than random. The remake decision becomes a way to talk about caution, expectation, and what counts as the biggest move in a long-running RPG series. AJ and Brendan also connect that choice to the broader history of the series’ remakes and to Team Asano’s earlier work on Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy. Brendan suggests that if Square is using Dragon Quest III as a kind of testing ground for a visual style, that may be a deliberate way of building toward the harder task of remaking Dragon Quest V. The comparison gives the episode a layer of industry context without turning it into a dry development-history lecture. Even when the conversation wanders, it keeps circling back to how old games get reintroduced. The tone stays warm and conversational throughout. Brendan and AJ talk like people who are following the thought as it forms, not reciting a prepared thesis, and that gives the episode an easy fit for listeners who enjoy criticism with a bit of motion in it. The discussion is affectionate without being evasive, and curious without pretending every question has a neat answer. By the end, the episode has moved from apartment furniture to remake philosophy without losing its thread. The back half of the episode also includes a production-life update from Brendan about what comes next for the show. He mentions that a 2016 Game of the Year episode is on deck, and that it is being edited for patrons at the Full Aether tier. That closing stretch gives the episode a practical shape: this is not only a conversation about games, but also a snapshot of a podcast in motion. What matters most here is the way the hosts use one remake as a doorway into the larger logic of the series. They are interested in Dragon Quest VII as a game that can be revisited, parceled out, and reconsidered, and they treat that interest seriously enough to let it ramble. The episode never turns stern, but it does keep sharpening its own argument as it goes. That is the sweet spot for this show.

As heard by us

A calm remake talk that turns one Dragon Quest into a bigger series question.

The episode pairs Brendan with AJ while Stephen is away, and the conversation settles into a relaxed, unforced rhythm. It moves from Dragon Quest VII's island-by-island structure to why Square picked this remake now, with the speakers bringing a lived-in sense of real apartment…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a relaxed Dragon Quest detour with real series-history texture?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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