Episode
Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross take Oregon Trail and Typing of the Dead to school.
Watch Out for Fireballs episode 128 was released on May 19th, 2016. It is about the edutainment games Oregon Trail and Typing of the Dead. They were released on the Apple II and the Sega Dreamcast, respectively.
Skit
(0:33-2:31) Kole writes a letter as if he was part of the Oregon Trail game who is mixed in with Typing of the Dead.
Summary
(3:08-7:31) Intro and generalities about the episode. They explain what an Edutainment Game is. They talk about Birthday Chex and Birthday Check. Discussion about how Oregon Trail was many peoples first video game.
(7:40-41:17) They start on about the specifics about Oregon Trail. They talk about how the game itself teaches and what it teaches. Gary teaches you how to pronounce Oregon. They discuss how the game came about and why. They also mention the different versions of Oregon Trail, as well as the knockoffs, such as Gameloft's mobile game. Kole also brings up Organ Trail, the zombie version. They breezily talk about the gameplay and systems. Closing thoughts on Oregon Trail.
(41:43-55:01) They start on Typing of the Dead. Generalities on the game. They talk about the arcade version a bit. They mention how Typing of the Dead is more skill based than light gun games, specifically its light gun counterpart its based on, "House of the Dead II". They talk about the humor of the game and how the game increases in challenge. A brief mention on Typing of the Dead: Overkill, which is a turn off to Gary due to it trying a bit too hard.
(55:14-1:09:43) They start to talk about Chapter 1. They talk about the story and the difficulty curve (how the zombies start with two letters, then go on to a full word, etc.) Minot branching paths are introduced. Gary tells a story about his typing teacher, Mrs. Fuchs (fooks). Kole jokes about how he also does "The accent grand tour". They begin on Chapter 2. They comment on the boss being named the Hierophant and how words mean nothing. Gary mentions how you can no doubt get better at typing by playing this game, which Kole thinks its funny considering the kind of game it is. They start talking about Chapter 3. Gary says that the boss in Chapter 3 is his favorite boss and Kole agrees. They tlak about how the boss's gimmick is answering a question, rther than simply spelling out a word.
(1:09:52-1:21:03) They begin talking about Chapter 4: Despair. Gary jokes about the chapter titles, making fun of Chapter 2's name "Muddy". The boss in this chapter requires you to write out short stories, sentence by sentence. They start talking about Chapter 5: Dawn. Gary calls this chapter a difficulty spike, adding in hyphen and exclamations and such. There's a boss rush in this chapter. They talk about how The Magician in this game looks similar to the Resident Evil Tyrant. Both of them call this boss real tough. Afterwards, they begin talking about Chapter 6: Original Sin. This is another tough chapter. Gary talks about unlocking new things in a rouge-like fashion, such as being able to start with 9 continues. They mention how this boss has a portion that determines the ending, with a quiz that has no wrong answers. They discuss the different, silly endings and the Easter egg during the credits.
(1:21:04-1:28:24) Gary says it doesn't overstay its welcome and recommends everybody play it, due to it being abandonware. Kole thinks the game is Great. Both talk a bit more about Edutainment games and closing thoughts on the genre. Gary mentions Carmen Sandiego and how that was a bit too hard for him, due to not knowing geography well. Kole loved it. Kole talks about his experience working in a place where he was trying to get more technology in to schools. They talk about different ways of learning and how visual and/or interaction seem to be a better way, overall, to learn things, rather than reading.
(1:28:39-1:37:04) What they're doing next and other admin stuff. They talk sugar about Fallout: New Vegas.
(1:37:56-1:38:20) Outtake of Gary and Kole talking about why dysentery is funny.
Show Notes
Chex Quest
Birthday Sex
Birthday Checks
Institute of Play Article
Dumb Dumbs
Music
Big Blue River Crossing
Title Screen
Prelude
Introduction Part 2
Despair
Magician Intro