Imagine in season 2 we could have gotten a new version of 'this band is back' but this time it's Julie singing it with the boys!!!!

On Jaime Lannister’s Complicated Ending

My thoughts on Jaime Lannister’s ending as I try to make sense of what happened and come to terms with it, for whoever is willing to listen anymore. It’s going to be a long one, sorry for that, but I need to get it all out.

It’s been a few hours since I watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones (plus Jaime’s scenes multiple times). I’m sleep deprived, I have a terrible headache, I’ve been working for 8 hours straight, and this is bound to feel like work as well, but I just have to write my thoughts down now to try to make some sense of what happened.

So, I want to start by saying Jaime Lannister is my second favorite Game of Thrones character (second only to Brienne), and it goes without saying I am a Braime shipper as well. But we’ll get to that later. I loved Jaime’s character because he had one of the most spectacular, relatable, hard-worked character developments in the entire show. He went from someone for whom the phrase “The things I do for love” meant doing the most terrible things to someone for whom it meant doing the most honorable ones. We saw him go from a person who would unscrupulously push a little boy out the window to someone who would save a person he’s just met from getting raped for no apparent reason, jump into a bear pit to save that same person, abandon his sister and long-time lover to join said person in the fight for the living, offer said person the one thing they wished for their entire life, protect her at all costs during the battle, and finally have the most wholesome, truthful, and endearing experience with her. And yes, it’s no coincidence that the deeds I’ve listed here all have to do with Brienne. Because you can’t separate Jaime (the Jaime he has become) from Brienne of Tarth. She is the catalyst for the change that turned Jaime into the man and knight he wanted to be. We’ve not only watched him grow, but we’ve also got to learn more about his past deeds and how things are not always what they seem.

Don’t get me wrong. Jaime Lannister was oftentimes a horrible person whose terrible deeds cannot and should not be forgotten. But he was, for the most part, struggling to become a better man. And since we can’t possibly judge Game of Thrones characters simply for committing despicable acts, what is there left for a man if not the possibility of self-betterment? Since about the moment when he first had to say goodbye to Brienne I got invested in his character and felt like he has the potential to change, to set himself free from the Lannister name and burden, and finally be the man he dreamt of being when he was a young boy. Season 8 gave me renewed hope for Jaime’s character. He finally seemed to have realized he has to break his toxic relationship with Cersei for good, he went North even if he knew he was going to meet his worst enemies because he wanted to fight for the living, he reunited with Brienne, he looked at her the way I’ve never seen him look at anyone before (you can fight me on that), he asked to fight under her command, he knighted her, he saved her during battle, he got jealous of Tormund, he made love to her, and he spent a few weeks of bliss (I assume) with her in Winterfell even if he hated the North. It’s impossible to witness this and not have hope that Jaime is finally on the right path. 

That said, I never actually thought he would make it alive out of season 8. I hoped he would, of course, but I was fully prepared for him to die. My problem is not that he died, my problem is with how he died. When he left Brienne I was shocked and heartbroken. I tried to make excuses for him, I was sure he was going to KL to end it all with Cersei. Not necessarily to kill her, but to maybe try to reason with her. I was sure he said all those cruel things to Brienne because he loved her and he didn’t want her following him to certain death.

I still believe some of those things, but not in the same way I used to. Let me say, first of all, that I do believe that Jaime Lannister loved Brienne of Tarth. Not in a platonic way, not in a friendship way, but in a romantic, pure, soulmate kind of way. Yes, I said soulmate, even if we just witnessed Jaime die in Cersei’s arms. I’m getting there, hold on. So, I do believe he loved her, I do believe he intended to stay with her, I do believe he tried with all his being to forge a new life with her away from Cersei and her pull. God knows Brienne was good for him. She brought the best in him and you could see it in his eyes when he saw the way she looked at him that he was shocked to see anyone could possibly look at him that way. And that’s because I think he never thought he deserved it. While part of what he said to Brienne might have been because he didn’t want her following him (maybe, idk), I do think he actually believed most of what he said. The ghosts of his past were too loud for him to ignore. As much as he tried (and I really think he did), he couldn’t shake the thought that he is not worthy of Brienne’s love. But that’s not the only reason why he left.

He also left because he loves Cersei. Hear me out, I know as a Braime shipper this is hard to shallow, but I promise I’ll explain in a minute. First, I want to talk a little bit about Brienne, what my thoughts are on that last scene between them, and what my hopes are for her - given that she’s my favorite character. It hurt a lot to see her cry, I’m not going to lie. But I’ve given this a lot of thought, and after watching the scene repeatedly and reading interviews with Gwen (who will always do the right thing by Brienne), I reached the conclusion that the reason she was crying is not because she thought Jaime doesn’t love her and she’s leaving her for another woman, but because her heart was breaking knowing she’ll never see him again. She knew how strong him and Cersei’s bond was, she knew he was fighting a lot of demons, and she knew he was extremely damaged (if anyone knew that, Brienne was that person). And I agree with Gwen, I don’t think she expected him to stay with her forever. I think on some level, she always expected him to leave at some point. Of course, she didn’t want him to go. Of course, she did love him as much as he loved her, of that I have no doubt. But if there’s anyone who can understand his reasons for leaving, she is, because she knows him better than anyone at this point, even better than Cersei. So, in that moment of heartbreak, I think Brienne cries not just for the love she knows she is losing but also for the man she wished could have managed to conquer his demons and for the fact that she knows she will never see him again (and I am crying as I’m writing this, because it hurts). And I also choose to believe that she doesn’t regret spending those few weeks with him as they did. I really don’t think she does. It was her choice as much as it was his, and she was aware from the very beginning things might not last. Yet it was a beautiful conclusion to a beautiful hate-turned-friendship-turned-romance connection that they will both cherish forever. The goodbye wasn’t easy for either of them and you can see that. Even if Jaime didn’t cry, you could see the distress on his face, you could see his heart was torn, that he didn’t want to make her suffer, but that he knew that’s what he had to do. All in all, I hope that my girl Brienne doesn’t regret any second that he spent loving and caring for Jaime Lannister, as I’m sure he doesn’t either. Even if we don’t get to hear anything about their relationship in the final episode (and I don’t think we will), I hope she won’t live the rest of her life regretting this and thinking Jaime didn’t love her because that would be too heartbreaking to bear, and completely not true.

To go back to Jaime’s love for Cersei, first of all, it was clear for me from the very beginning that the love will never not be there. It can’t not be there. They’re twins, they’ve been in each other’s lives since the day they were born, they were lovers, they were at times the only thing they had, they did great things together and they did horrible things together. That kind of connection, as toxic as it may be, doesn’t just end because you want it to (and I do think Jaime wanted and hoped that it would). Their relationship was toxic, it’s true, especially from Cersei’s side. I’m not saying he doesn’t share the blame, I’m just saying out of the two of them, you can tell Jaime is the one who loved more. He was always by her side and would have done anything for her, as he so aptly put it to Brienne. Until he didn’t. Until he decided to leave her and go North to join Brienne. The thing is, in my opinion, that was the moment when any semblance of a romantic relationship disappeared between the two of them. If I remember correctly, Nik also said that when Jaime says “I don’t believe you” to her when she wants to have him killed, he read it as “I don’t love you anymore,” and so did I. But not “I don’t love you” at all, just not in the romantic sense. He left in that moment and didn’t look back, and his actions and expressions make me think he didn’t look back while he was at Winterfell with Brienne either. He truly was happy with her and fell in love with her, finally free to accept his feelings and act on them. And that also brings me to the fact that they made love. Jaime Lannister would have never ever in a million years made love 1. with a woman he wasn’t in love with 2. with another woman if he was still in love with Cersei. So I fully believe he didn’t harbor any romantic feelings for Cersei anymore.

That said, he still loved her. And for that, I will never judge him. Of course, I wouldn’t have wanted him to go back to the person who caused him the most harm in this world, and of course, it is messed up and toxic, but this is something that often happens in toxic relationships and I can’t blame nor judge him. People do go back, people are so attached and addicted to that person that they feel like they have to go back. And it’s not just that. I agree that there is some sort of addiction happening here, but it’s also just love. He loves his sister. She is part of his family and always will be. And we know how important family is for Jaime Lannister. So it’s only natural that he wanted to be next to her. Again, I’m not sure he knew exactly what he was going to do once her got there, but he knew he needed to be there, at least to see her for one last time. And maybe yes, some part of him also wanted to die, to just end it all. If he knew she couldn’t escape death, he might have thought that if she is to die for all the sins she committed, he has to die with her as well for the part he played in her rise to power and for his own sins that he never forgave himself for. I remember Olenna telling him he will end up regretting the part he played in her rise to power and I think he did reach that point. I think he reached that point when he left her at the end of season 7 and I think he struggled all throughout season 8 with the knowledge that he helped put her there and he has to pay the price as well.

I want to also look a bit at their final moments together. As much as I didn’t want this to happen, I have to admit I didn’t have a problem with the scene itself. Hear me out. First of all, I think if confirms what I said earlier about their relationship no longer being a romantic one. Maybe I see what I want to see, but what I saw between them was two siblings who despite it all care about each other and know they’re about to die, trying to comfort each other in their last moments. I mean, mostly Jaime, because Cersei, even as she was dying, she was mostly thinking about herself (and the baby), but I don’t want to go into that because my focus here is Jaime. Jaime held her, he comforted her, and he died with her, but he didn’t say “I love you” nor did he kiss her. Now, you’d think if two people who love each other romantically know they’re about to die, they would at least say “I love you” or kiss for the last time. But he didn’t do that, and neither did she, and I think that’s because she knew. She also knew that that part of their relationship was long gone. In that moment they were just brother and sister, two people who still love each other but who caused each other too much harm to ever have a happy ending. Of course, I would have liked Cersei to know that Jaime has found love again in Brienne (maybe she did), if only to show her that even if she damaged him irreparably, another woman could love him and give him what he deserves. But of course we didn’t get that because of D&D (and I’ll get to that in a moment as well). Bottom line is I didn’t dislike their final scene. What I disliked, of course, is that Jaime couldn’t break free from his demons and Cersei’s influence and that he had to die with her. I would have wanted to see him start a happy life with Brienne, be the father he never managed to be (I know he would have been a great one), and learn how it feels to love purely and be loved in return. But as I said in the beginning, I didn’t have much hope for that to happen. I would have even been okay with this ending if it weren’t for the circumstances.

Yes, the circumstances. That being D&D’s laughable writing choices. Jaime’s story, the way it ended now, with the context we have now (just from the TV show) MAKES NO SENSE. I’m sorry but it doesn’t. All of his actions up until the very end of episode 4 pointed to him being on a path to recovery, on a path to becoming the man I know he could have been, on a path to loving again and being truly happy and free for once in his life. To go from that to total character annihilation is just plain stupid. There just wasn’t enough time to build up this sudden departure from his character. If we would have gotten more scenes, more indication that that was about to happen, more of an explanation of why, then I might have been more okay with his ending. Because as I said, in the end, I don’t have a problem with how it all ended, as much as it breaks my heart because I love him so much.

If we would have at least gotten an explanation inserted in his goodbye scene with Brienne, or a mention of Brienne to Tyrion, or some sort of insight into his mind and his motivations, it wouldn’t have been complete character annihilation. But as they’re trying to portray it now, that he just left Brienne because he realized he loves Cersei and he never even mentioned Brienne at all before dying, it doesn’t make any narrative sense, and I think anyone, not just Jaime fans and Braime shippers, can see that. 

But now I also kind of understand why Nik said he was happy with the ending. I think we all wanted to believe that meant he survived and staid with Brienne considering how much of a Braime fan Nik is. But thinking about it now, with everybody wondering how he could lie that way, I don’t think he was lying. Of course, he also kind of had to say he at least liked the ending a little bit, but I also genuinely think he liked some of it, because he says it made sense, and in some twisted way it does. He also said that there wasn’t enough time because they had to fit everything in just a couple of episodes and that this change in Jaime’s character threw him off as well and that he needed to take a second to accept that, and I completely agree and see his point. The problem was that everything was rushed and it didn’t make narrative sense. But if in a perfect world, we would’ve gotten more of an explanation and a cohesive narrative, I can see how he’d be okay with Jaime’s ending. Maybe he thinks, the same way Jaime does, that this was the best way in which he could redeem himself. Maybe he thinks Jaime could have never moved past his demons and live a happy life with Brienne, and it would have killed him to put her through that as well. Maybe he thinks Jaime would have never forgiven himself if he weren’t there when Cersei died, and that would have also affected his relationship with Brienne. All in all, I think both Jaime the character and Nikolaj the man didn’t think Jaime could be saved, I think they thought Brienne doesn’t deserve to be put through this, and I think they thought the world would be a better place without Jaime Lannister. I disagree. I think if there was any character in this show that deserved a second chance that was Jaime Lannister. I think that he was worthy of being saved, worthy of being loved, worthy of being shown there is more to life that what he experienced in the past, and I think Brienne was ready to give that to him. But in the end, it was his decision. It hurts that it had to end this way, but it was his decision.

And don’t get me wrong, I love a tragic love story. The more tragic it is the better. I love unrequited love, suffering, heartbreak. It’s usually what draws me to a story. And that’s why I would have been okay with it all if it weren’t for the poor choice of narrative that just doesn’t allow me to truly believe this is how the Jaime Lannister we’ve seen in season 8 deserved and wanted to end. Ultimately, of course, I have no say in this, but I’m working on accepting what happened.

I know some people still have hope that maybe Jaime isn’t really dead, and I don’t want to make people lose hope, because I know I’ve held onto mine for as long as I could, but I know Jaime’s story is over and I need to accept that now so I can heal.

I also don’t want people to hate on Jaime. I’ve seen so many posts hating on him and calling him a fuckboy and whatnot. I know most of us are not actually angry at Jaime but at the writers who turned him into a different Jaime than the one we all knew and loved, but for the people who really feel like they hate him now, I hope this post (if you’ve read it through) helps alleviate some of that hate. He doesn’t deserve hate. He was a flawed, at times despicable character, but he was also a good man, an honorable knight, a person haunted by his demons who fought them as much and for as long as he could until they overpowered him. He is the person who loved Brienne of Tarth the most (I know he is), who gave her everything she wanted and who shared a couple of weeks of happiness with her before it all ended. He is someone who has been abused, used, mistreated, and often threatened by a person he loved for most of his life, he is a person who did terrible, terrible things, but also a person who did good things for the right reasons. He is a complicated man and I have to think Nikolaj for being the best Jaime Lannister I could have ever imagined. He will never be perfect, far from it, but he will always be one of my favorite characters. I wished for his story to have a good ending until the last moment (crying again as I’m writing this) and I don’t regret it one bit. I don’t regret investing time and energy and tears into loving him and hoping he would become the man he might have managed to become if the circumstances were different.

I am not okay with Jaime Lannister dying. I don’t think I’m going to be okay with it for a long time, but I know some day I will make my peace with that. I’ve cried writing this but I feel much better now, much more at peace. This is so unbelievably long I doubt anyone will read it through, but if you’ve reached this point, feel free to leave me a comment or a PM if you are also mourning Jaime Lannister and need someone to talk to.

And before I go, I wanted to thank the Braime community once again for making all of it more bearable. I know a lot of you are in pain right now and you can’t believe it but it will get better. And for me, Jaime Lannister will always be one of the greatest.

Atelier Totori Plus Opinions

Those who paid attention to my rankings are already aware that, at the end of the day, this is my least-favorite Atelier game in the series.  Which is something that really bothers me, because there are a lot of great elements to this game. The game has a strong alchemy and combat system, and introduces a serious storyline that spans the whole game (sort of).  Totori herself also winds up being my favorite of the Arland alchemists, and characters as a whole are fairly strong, barring a few exceptions.  There are just a lot of things that, I feel, hold it back. The game is still fantastic, and even the lowest-ranked Atelier game is more enjoyable to me than most other games out there, but, well, someone had to be at the bottom of a list.  And unfortunately, that's Totori.

CHARACTERS As a whole, characters are fairly solid, with a few that stand out as among my least-favorites in the entire series.  Those who are good are fantastic, and those who are bad are intolerable.  Thankfully, the good outweighs the bad.

Totori - Totori is adorable.  She's the most serious of the Arland alchemists, and shows a level of competence that we didn't get too often with Rorona, who was portrayed in a more joking fashion despite her talents.  Yes, a lot of characters talk down to her about her abilities, but I think what she accomplishes ultimately shines past Gino being an insufferable little shit all the time.  Totori is incredibly precious and enjoyable, and is a great mix of serious and studious with goofy and somewhat awkward.  I love her to pieces.

Gino - We begin with the bad. Gino is insufferable.  He's just obnoxious.  He is hyper to a fault, and is direct to a very dire fault.  Instead of a fairly endearing portrayal, they went for the option where he has zero social skills, is constantly a rude little shit, and does nothing of value but be a putz and whine about when Totori starts out-performing him.  His entire character story is him being a butthurt baby over Totori being stronger than him now.  Gino is awful.

Melvia - but he was not the worst.  Melvia gets that spot.  She would be generally fine.  She's portrayed as the strongest of the group, and is very direct in her interactions with others.  However, she loses massive points for the same reason that, say, Nozomi from Love Live loses points: the groping other people gag.  I think it only happens with Rorona when you have them explore together, but trust me, once is enough.  In fact, most of her initial interactions with characters when you go exploring are unpleasant.  Melvia is basically just a sexual deviant, and quite frankly, that's an automatic failure in my book.

Mimi - The best girl of this game.  Mimi is basically Cordelia 2.0, but with a bit more of a history.  Mimi's mother died of illness, and she's very focused on making her family name famous.  She's abrasive toward Totori, while at the same time being very clearly attached to her.  It's really cute, to the point it’s honestly one of the few ships I have attachment to at all.  Mimi tries her best, but has the same issues as Cordelia of being unable to honestly express her feelings toward others.  Unless that feeling is anger.  Then she's fine.  Like I said with Cordelia, struggling with their own emotions is a character trait I adore in all its facets, so surprise that I like Mimi best.

Marc - Marc is hysterical.  He's all about robotics, and is a man of science.  Of course, that comes with not always understanding the intricacies of social etiquette (”What, you didn’t know I was joking about using a live cat’s skin to cover the cat robot?”).  He just winds up being funny and engaging, and I generally appreciate his presence.

Rorona - Rorona returns, and she's fantastic.  Seeing Rorona in a teaching role really is something else.  She's still her air-headed self.  Very competent and skilled, but cannot teach for the life of her.  But, she's trying her best, and really wants to be a good teacher. It's sweet to see her interactions with Totori, literally the only one who understands her inane directions.

Cordelia - YEAH, CORDELIA!  Cordelia returns, as head of the adventurer's guild.  She's just as forceful as always, but has calmed down a bit since Rorona. She's more in control of her anger, and seems a bit more honest with herself, which is great.  I love to see that kind of development.

Iksel - Iksel came back!  I'm sure all five of his fans are very happy.

Sterk - The final returning character, and possibly the most involved?   Arland is a republic now, and thus Sterk has lost his standing as a knight.  Sterk is less than thrilled about it, and continues to insist he is a knight and acts accordingly, while hunting down Gio to establish the old monarchy once again.  Sterk's character is one burdened by regrets and the loss of his only perceived calling in life, and this really shines with his interactions with Gino.  While Gino winds up being obnoxious because he's just sad Totori beat him, Sterk presents as someone who is understanding of his position, having lost to Rorona and felt the blow to his pride as a knight who is weaker than the one he's protecting, but also forceful in how to overcome it.  It's a good balance, I feel.

Ceci - Totori's sister can be precious, though she doesn't have a lot of presence, I feel, until you start getting into her own history as an adventurer and why she stepped down. She's good, just not super interesting to me.

Guid - Can I just remark how much his recurring gag of being invisible irks me?   Because it does.  Still, he's alright.  Like Ceci, nothing interesting about him until he starts building the ship and re-kindles that passion he once had.

Gerhard - or whatever his name was.  Bartender man.  He’s okay.

Pamela - the ghost girl returns, but alive this time?  Or something?  We’re not too sure.  She sure continues to be a great source of entertainment though.

Peter - So my housemate Pat has this really hilarious nerd voice he does for characters like Peter, and I wish I could project it through text, but instead, here’s a link to Peter’s actual english voice.  They’re almost the same tone anyway.  Peter’s a nerd loser, and thankfully the game treats him as such.

Tiffani - She’s back.  Same issue as before.  I really don’t care for the drunk Tiffani trophies...

Hagel - Hagel has been promoted to the best shopkeeper of all time for commenting that if Totori is feeling embarrassed about the clothes she wears that she should maybe put on a pair of tights.  While part of me is definitely just happy that someone suggested a more conservative look (which I always appreciate), the specific suggestion for tights is an immediate bonus.  Hagel knows what’s good.

Filly - Esty’s younger sister.  She’s an oddball.  Nothing against her at all, but she doesn’t really stand out beyond the super relatable characteristic of hating her job.

STORY Totori has a real story!  Totori's mother was an adventurer who once went exploring across the ocean, and never returned.  Totori is sure that her mother is alive out there somewhere, and is determined to become an adventurer to search for her mother.  The people in her home village of Alanya are worried, but ultimately Totori persists and becomes an adventurer and begins her search.  It's easy to get sidetracked from this, but after three years and renewing your license, the search begins in earnest as you construct a ship and start to re-trace your mother's footsteps, straight into a village designed to be sacrificed to a demon within the tower nearby.  Your goal then is to fulfill the mission your mother could not and defeat the demon within.  Your path winds up encompassing both your quest to become a proper adventurer, but also to succeed your mother.  It's honestly a really strong element to the game.  I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: you don’t need a super complex plot to be a successful one, and Totori is a good example of that. 

SETTING It's still Arland, only expanded to include Alanya as well.  Both locations do feel highly distinct, with Arland being a clear city compared to the small town of Alanya.  What really makes this world feel open is that you stop at several points along the way, and it has a much more significant feel of adventure.  When the ocean opens up, it really feels like there's a ton of extra metaphorical ground to cover, and seeing only a piece of the other continent opens up the potential for the Totori and Mimi Adventures ending, where they seek to travel beyond the areas already known.  The only drawback is that there still isn't much that's been dug into.  Arland is a republic now.  Nothing has changed.   Gio commented that it wouldn't, but it's still obnoxious to see how literally nothing about this dramatic shift in government structure had an impact on the region.  It's just those kinds of things that could be explored to some degree that would make for interesting story points that just...are never addressed.

SYNTHESIS SYSTEM Unlike Rorona Plus, Totori Plus has a very simple synthesis system, in that there's no combining of traits.  This allows for the perfect traits to show up way earlier than usual, and require little to no chaining of items to obtain what is needed.  In a way, this is kinda nice.  It simplifies the system considerably, and removes unneeded anxiety around getting just the right skills.  On the other, it takes away some of the engagement of trying to find the optimal assortment, and chaining items to achieve a goal.  The Cost system returns, but with no traits to increase cost, so it's all just a matter of having the better ingredients, which is how they get you to chain traits to other items.   It's not bad, necessarily, but it does feel much more simplified and bare-bones than the other games.

BATTLE SYSTEM Totori is like an inverse Rorona.  Equipment matters, but nowhere near as much as items.  In early-game, you are going to use items constantly, because they are hyper-vital.  In late-game, equipment and skills can account for a lot, but ultimately your items are going to determine what's best. A good N/A and Himmelstern combined with a good Dimension Egg is how you beat virtually every major boss, with everything outside of Orthogalaxen going down to this combo without even getting a turn.   When you use Rorona to double up on the fun, basically nothing in the game stands a chance.  This is an element I adore. I really feel like it's appropriate for the items you craft to be the thing that leads to victory.  It just feels right, you know?

OTHER MECHANICS Unfortunately, wholesale will not retain the best traits, which means you cannot register your ultimate bombs and buy them back infinitely.  Instead, you need the Chims!  Rorona creates her own versions of Hom called Chims, and you can get up to five if you find the Water of Lifes. Waters of Life? The Chim-Maker items. Each Chim can then duplicate ingredients or items you have in your inventory. Unlike Hom, Chims are best used to duplicate synthesized items, as they make exact copies without having to use ingredients.  As a result, you can make a few good N/A, and have Chims copy them to maintain your stock.  The only downside is that they're fairly slow.  It can take a tremendous amount of time to copy the good bombs and Elixers, which means your stock is never too high.   So resources need to be used conservatively and only as needed.  Which isn't too tough, considering how quickly you run train on the post-game superbosses with the right trait setup.

There's also the license points.  License points are used...primarily just to increase rank.  Rank increases will open up new areas and new explicit tasks to complete.  Sometimes, this involves making stronger boss enemies appear in previous locations, and other times it's opening up new large areas. It's basically how you determine where you can and cannot go, one step at a time, without opening up the entire map at once.  I really don't know how I feel about it.  It's a little...arbitrary?  But I can't complain.  I do think Meruru had the more interesting way to open up a world map, though.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS I mentioned in Rorona that the Arland trilogy is the trilogy with a few more uncomfortable fan-service moments than I would like.  None are as bad as Totori.  Comments on "sex appeal" are more frequent than I'd like (read: above 0), Melvia is the way she is in most interactions with new female characters, the swimsuit contest is a thing that happens, and oh god the Guardian hunt...  The raw number of times this game made me wish it would stop is unfortunate.

There's also a bigger issue in the events.   Like Rorona, character events occur when they reach certain friendship levels.  Unlike Rorona, Totori has two central areas, and events are exclusive to each location.  Often without any indication that they're happening, and frequently with time-specific activation periods.  So you can miss entire events just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The conditions are also super obtuse. At one point in my playthrough, I tried setting up for the Spring Cup trick, only to realize I didn't have the recipe for the Spring Cup.  Rorona was supposed to give it to me, but hadn't.  Why?  Because I had to synthesize a specific item in the OTHER atelier, to activate a scene with Ceci, before Rorona's scenes would miraculously start occurring.   Then there's the time I completely lost access to Pamela's shop for the rest of the game because I went to one place first before going to her shop, and the scenes played out of order and locked me out of her return.  It's that level of obtuse nonsense that drove me up a wall while playing, and it's honestly this piece that causes it to rank at the bottom.  I can tolerate a lot.  But I cannot tolerate being constantly frustrated by not knowing where or when things will happen. Just a simple indication through an exclamation point over the town things are happening in would ease problems a lot.

There's also no development items, which I guess is fine, but I love those things and think it's nonsense that they didn't add them in the Plus version.  At least let me travel faster on the map, you butts!

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Atelier Totori Plus is still a fun game, but it is, bar none, the most obtuse and frustrating of the games.  There are pieces that I enjoy tremendously, but there are also pieces that are just incredibly irritating to experience.  I still love the game, and I'm at a point where I think I've figured out the obtuse portions of the game and how to get events to activate.  But wow, it's such a frustrating learning curve at times.  Definitely worth playing, but also definitely worthy of the least-favorite spot in the series.

If you enjoyed this (for some reason), consider checking out the write-ups for the other games in the series as well!

Atelier Rorona Plus Atelier Totori Plus Atelier Meruru Plus Atelier Ayesha Plus Atelier Escha and Logy Plus Atelier Shallie Plus Atelier Sophie Atelier Firis

Tldr; I listen to way too many podcasts. Skip to the very bottom of this long-ass post to see my top recommendations. Titles are links (this subreddit's css, doesn't make that obvious)I have loved podcasts for about 10 years, but for the last 3, due to my job, I have become a 40+ hour a week, power-listener. In that time my lists and recommendations have been very well-received on this sub, and since I'm leaving that job next month, I decided it was time to come up with a master list of my top recommendations across all categories.First of all: These are just my opinions. If your favorite show didn't make this list, don't get mad at me, just go ahead and shout it out in the comments. I put a lot of thought into the ranking, but if you ask me next week I'll probably have changed my mind on a lot of it.I have no qualifications to review podcasts except for the fact that I listen to way too many of them. Actually, the real reason I wanted to make this list was because I think the lists I've seen written by qualified reviewers are usually really bad, imo. I always feel like the reviewer has listened to like 60 podcasts, and is listing their top 50. I have no idea how many podcasts I've listened to but it's got to be in the thousands, and there are soooo many great shows out there, so I thought it's my duty to share.100 shows is actually only a subset of the shows I like. At first this list grew to over 200 and I was still thinking of more. So I decided to cut it at my favorite 100 and I added three criteria to help cull it down:It must be active: Some day I'll make a list of my favorite dead podcasts, but none are on this list.It must have at least 10 episodes: I think 10 episodes in is a decent trial period. If I've listened to less than that I don't feel comfortable recommending it. Also there's a trend right now of shows putting out one 8-10 episode season, and then just never renewing to a second season. So, if it has more than 10 episodes, I feel like it has staying power.It must be interesting for general audiences: Podcasts tend to be topical. That makes it a little tough to recommend them if I don't know you, because you might not be into the topic of the show. So I have only included shows that I think you don't need too much specific knowledge to enjoy (either because the topic is general, or because it's fun even for the non-initiated.)I'm sure at some point I screwed up on those rules, but they were the guidelines I was working from.Honorable Mentions: First here are some smaller podcasts that didn't quite make it into my top 100 but I still think you should check out:This is why you're single, Doughboys, Do By Friday, Hopefully We Don't Break-Up, Roundtable of Gentlemen, Mental Illness Happy Hour, Sleepycast, James O'Brien's Mystery Hour, Nocturne Podcast, Quirks and Quarks, Put Your Hands Together, Book Shambles, Sex & Other Human Activities, Singing Bones, A Taste of the Past, We Fact Up, The Bridge, Step By Stapp, Return Home, Movie Sign with the Mads, Save it for the Show, The F Plus, Next Picture Show, Be Here For a While, Code Breaker, GoosebudsOk, with no further ado . . .The List: In reverse order100. I Tell My Husband the News, A news-reporter reads current headlines to her husband, who is a comedian. Not exactly cutting edge satire, but I love this show for the hosts' chemistry. They are super in love and incredibly cute together. They just make me happy. And their banter is usually legitimately funny.99. You Must Remember This, True stories from old hollywood narrated over lush, old-fashioned movie music. The stories are great and give you a window into the crazy world of movies in the black and white era.98. 8-Bit Book Club, Three funny nerds read through old novelizations of video games. The books are ridiculous and the hosts make fun of them mercilessly. Great host chemistry. Tons of fun.97. Lore, Solo podcast exploring the stories and legends all around us. A tightly written and moodily produced show focused on the tall tales woven into our history.96. Longform, Long conversations with writers of non-fiction. Good host and really interesting conversations. A bit slow compared to most of my other podcasts, but satisfying.95. Superego, Very strange, slightly off-putting, free-association improv comedy. When it's bad it's just weird, when it's good it's magical.94. Our Fake History, Single host show exploring misconceptions and pseudo-history. Like a Hardcore History for things that didn't actually happen. Host is great and topics are usually very interesting.93. I Was There Too, Interviews with non-famous people who in some way worked on iconic scenes in famous movies. Fascinating if, like me, you have a love for pop-culture arcana.92. Shut Up and Sit Down, Four British comedians talk about and occasionally play board games. Lot of fun, and a lot of goofballery. I don't play a lot of boardgames, but I've bought several because these guys made them sound fun.91. I Saw That Years Ago, Two witty guys talk about movies they don't quite remember. The concept doesn't actually do much, this show is all about the chemistry between the hosts which is fantastic.90. Duncan Trussel Family Hour, Comedian Duncan Trussel invites guests on for long rambling conversations. Stands out for Duncan's odd choice of guests and the unique, weird nature of the conversations he engages them in.89. The Adventure Zone, Goofy brothers play Dungeons & Dragons. Took me several tries to get into this show (beginning's a little rough and I don't play D&D.) But I kept giving it chances because of some strong recommendations, and it does blossom into some really unique storytelling.88. Planet Money, Very NPR show about money and our world and the interplay between economics and our daily life. Fun and listenable in spite of the dreary subject matter. Has some really great education about dollars and cents that we really should all be listening to.87. Giant Bombcast, The crew of a gaming magazine get together and shoot the shit about games, life and everything in a long and rambling discussion.86. Burnt Toast, Conversations and researched features on food, food culture, and it's relationship to daily life. Lovingly produced and charmingly performed. An absoulte delight.85. Fireside Mystery Theatre, Storytelling and variety show done in front of a live audience. The stories are usually a lot of fun, and the theatre atmosphere adds a fun unique quality to it.84. Opening Arguments, A lawyer and a comedian chat about the law. Sort of like Star Talk, but for legal questions. The hosts perfectly hit the balance of informative and engaging. Law affects all our daily lives and it's something that most people know bupkis about, and I love that this show does a great job of making it accessible.83. Comedy Bang! Bang!, One of the old staples of podcasting. Loose format comedy show usually involving interviews followed by some light improv. Still a great show after all these years.82. The Black Tapes, Ghost stories, but in the form of a "non-fiction" journalistic podcast. Really well-told with a dark and brooding tone. A weaker second season has dropped it in my esteem but still great.81. Never Not Funny, Comedian plus celbrity guest ramble on about nothing in particular. Jimmy Pardo is a great host and has a wonderfully cutting sense of humor. One of the longest running big podcasts. Very rarely not funny.80. Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Comedian Richard Herring does one-on-one interviews with comedians in which he asks them stupid and ridiculous questions. Throws out the formal interview format and just has fun. Having a big live audience elevates it.79. Rocket, A few tech journalists run a show about general geek topics, with an emphasis on tech. Perfect balance of smart informational chat and good host chemistry.78. We're Alive, Audiodrama about a Zombie infestation. Very good writing and acting and probably the best-produced serial scripted story podcast. Great use of tension throughout.77. Greg Proops Film Club, I've always loved Greg Proops' wacky smart-guy comedy, but his main podcast doesn't work for me as well as this one, where the theme of chatting about movies and geekery keeps him more on task. And through all the joking, he has a lot more interesting stuff to say than most of the serious movie podcasts.76. Harmontown, Comedy writer Dan Harmon plus friends talk nonsense and generally have fun. Mostly funny with occasional seriousness. Harmon is a great lovable asshole and the podcast format is perfect for him. Does fun and interesting things with the basic talk-show format.75. Smash Cut, Storytelling via dialogue collage. Wonderfully unique show that ranges from gripping to tragic to avant-guard. May be too weird for some, but hits a sweetspot for me.74. Desert Island Discs, Celebrities are interviewed with the same question: If you were stuck on a desert island, what five albums would you want to have with you. Mostly a conversation about music, but it expands into a bigger conversation about the guest's life and influences.73. No Such Thing As a Fish, The writers of a British trivia show go into depth on the obscure knowledge they've been researching and ramble on about arcane knowledge. Smart people chatting casually about smart things. Usually very interesting to listen to.72. Blank Check, Movie discussion pod that perfectly hits the balance between smart discussion and levity. The premise is talking about director's who get license to do whatever they want (the titular blank check), but it's really a pretty freewheeling conversation. Phenomenal chemistry between the hosts.71. The Future of Everything, Wall Street Journal's interesting impecabbly researched radio-style features on technologies and ideas that are pushing our world into an uncertain future.70. The Memory Palace, Bite sized stories from 18th - 20th century history, told with interest and pathos. Focusing on the human story behind the story of our recent past.69. The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air, Silly absurdist storytelling about a radio show that records in the Eiffel Tower. This show is not for everyone, but if it hooks you it is delightful and charming and always a joy to listen to.68. Imaginary Worlds, Serious discussions exploring the quirky little details of the worlds of popular fantasy and sci-fi franchises. Done as a host monologue, interspersed with interviews of experts and fans. I love the way he parses out interesting aspects of those worlds and tries to envision how they would really work.67. Hello From the Magic Tavern, Improv comedy set in a fantasy world with a diverse cast of funny improvisers playing far-out fantastical characters. Solidly funny and always fun to disappear into their goofy mythical world.66. The Joe Rogan Experience, Interview show with all types of guests. One of the most succesful podcasts in the world. It's a bit love-it-or-hate-it, and while I mostly love it, it can get on my nerves at times. Very hard for me to rank this one for that reason. But I must say Joe Rogan is a great interviewer and everyone should give it a try for themselves and find out which side they fall on.65. In Our Time, Big, heavy intellectual discussions of very serious topics in history, art and culture. This one might be a bit too smart for me, tbh, but I try and when I can hook into a topic it's immensely satisfying.64. Hello Internet, Two internet smart guys chat casually about smart and obscure subjects. There's actually not that much to this show, but the hosts are great and they have a very unique chemistry.63. The Infinite Monkey Cage, British-style panel show where a couple comedians and a couple scientists get together an tackle a difficult science topic and try to find answer. Unlike a lot of science shows, they don't shy away from talking actual science, but the chemistry of the hosts keeps the show always entertaining.62. Wolf 359, Narrative sci-fi podcast. Intriguing space travel story with a quirky sense of humor and good sound design to create a solid sense of atmosphere. Starts simple and blossoms into an awesome story.61. The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Comedians do a parody of an old-fashioned radio play in front of a live audience. So much fun. Best moments are when it breaks down. Was dead for a long time but there have been recent occasional releases so I'm considering it alive and putting it on this list.60. Doug Loves Movies, Comedian Doug Benson has several celebrity guests on each episode to talk movies and play games. The quintessential podcast for me. Slightly too lose and quirky to ever have worked as a radio show. Usually funny and always fun.59. a16z, Science and Tech podcast with interviews of actual scientists doing cutting edge work. Can be a bit dry, but I love how in depth it is, and that it doesn't dumb it down to a grade school level like a lot of similar shows.58. The Football Ramble, Four dudes with amazing chemistry talking bullshit and football (soccer) and just generally mocking each other and having a blast while doing it. I listen to a lot of sports podcasts but few are so good (and general-audience friendly enough) that I would recommend them to all podcast listeners. But this one is just tons of fun.57. Theory of Everything, Loose think-pieceish conversations about life and technology and the connections between things. Really interesting and well thought-out.56. The Truth, Short non-serial audio dramas. Stories range from serious to silly, often strange and off-kilter. Very well produced and performed, but the best part is the writing, which is awesomely creative and interesting.55. Reply All, One of many thinkpiece shows on this list. This one sets itself apart by focusing on internet-related stories. There's a whimsical nature to the hosts which gives the show a unique sort of charm.54. Spontaneanation, Paul F Tompkins has an interview with a famous person and then leads a long-form improv scene. Usually very funny simply because Tompkins is so funny.53. Candidate Confessionals, Interviews with losing candidates (or people who worked on losing campaigns) done as sort-of autobiographies telling the story of how a campaign fails. Fascinating deconstruction of politics from a new angle. Refreshingly honest at times.52. Mouth Time!, Absurdist show that parodies the vapid beauty mag culture but taken to the extreme. Part way between absurdism, improv comedy, and an actual pop cultuer podcast.51. The Black List Table Read, Audio performances of industry movie scripts that haven't gotten made. The concept is fabulous and the actors do a great job. Unique storytelling podcast with wonderful production. Some of the scripts are really great. Held back a bit by the fact that movie scripts aren't always written to be read out loud.50. 2 Dope Queens, Two sassy ladies host a comedy podcast with guests that chat with them or do their stand-up acts. Love the energy of the hosts. Generally great when the guests are good.49. Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Two divinity professors use their techniques of scholarly bibilcal analysis on the Harry Potter books. Silly concept but they take it completely seriously. The result is part deep textual dive into the Potter-verse, and part reflection/conversation on life in general. Wonderfully introspective. Somehow both heavy and light at the same time.48. Monday Morning Podcast, Weekly show of the ramblings of comedian Bill Burr. Zero production or planning, just unfiltered Bill, who delivers the entire show in his trademark angry monologue. Usually funny, but that's not the reason it made this list: What makes this show stand out for me is its personal and honest nature. If you can get past Burr's abrassiveness, definitely worth a listen.47. The Adam Buxton Podcast, Comedian interviews celebrities. It's hard to stand out in this crowded genre, but this show does due to the host's magnetism and energy, and the quirkiness of the show's production, with little songs throughout (including the ads), and lots of silly digressions. And at it's heart, Adam is an excelent interviewer who gets a lot out of his guest.46. Anxious Machine, Introspective think-pieces about the human mind and how it works in human society. Usually done through interview intersperced with host commentary. The stories sit in a sweetspot between the personal and the general in a unique way.45. The Flop House, Three guys watch a bad movie and talk about it. The real joy, though, is in the constant flights of fancy when they say something dumb or misspeak that cascade into jokes that they follow to their logical conclusion. At its best it’s a top 10 podcast, but I feel like its lost some of its fastball lately, so its fallen on my list.44. Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, I think Gottfried is one of the funniest guys in show business. This is his interview show, where he talks mostly to comedians, mostly about comedy. If you can handle his voice, it's a really wonderful show.43. Laser Time, Friends shooting the shit is probably the most common podcast genre, and one that I listen to a lot of, but not a lot of those made this list because while they may be listenable, they are rarely notable. Laser Time is a major exception in that the chemisty of the hosts and the odd specificity of the pop culture arcana they talk about makes the show consistently fun and fascinating.42. How did this get Made?, Three comedians and a guest review bad films. This show might be lost among the sea of decent/good comedy podcasts if not for the work of Jason Mantzoukas, who is imo the funniest man in podcasting.41. This Feels Terrible, Comedienne interviews other comedians about dating and love and relationships. Host has a lovely easy style that is good for getting people talking about really personal stuff. Has great chemistry with most guests.40. Beef and Dairy Network Podcast, Comedy podcast pretending (with a completely straight face) to be an actual beef and dairy specialty pod. The result is very high-quality absurdist comedy.39. Here's The Thing, Alec Baldwin interviews celebrities. The tone is very NPR but Baldwin keeps it a bit tighter than your average radio show. TBH, most of the time when a famous person decides they want a podcast the show ends up sucking hard, but Baldwin is a charming and natural host and consitently gets great guests. I know some people hate this show but I find it consistently great.38. My Favorite Murder, Two entertaining women talk through and dissect the details of a real-life grisly murder and generally try and figure out whodunit. Keep it pretty light considering how serious the subject matter is but it works because of how fun and interesting the hosts are. (Though it is guilty of my biggest podcast pet-peeve: Taking forever to start the show.)37. The Bugle, News and Politics satire with an absurdist twist. Three years ago this was a top-5 podcast for me and then they went on a long hiatus and lost John Oliver. Still great and slowly working its way back up the ranks.36. Guys We Fucked, Filthy comedy show that's secretly a positive look at serious issues relating to sexuality. The hosts have a good time and keep it light. Their chemistry makes the show great.35. Common Sense, Very heady current events discussion from an outside-the-box perspective. The host is a provocateur who tries to challenge your preconceptions about government and society. I don't always agree with him but he always opens my eyes at the gaps in my own thinking.34. Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell's odd little examinations of historical events from a new perspective are fantastic. The first season was very well-thought out, although still finding it's voice. I was very glad that it returned in time to have enough episodes to make itself elligible for this list.33. Love + Radio, Interesting people tell their stories in extended, tightly edited interviews. The people are usually non-famous people who have done remarkable things in their lives. Good production and good stories.32. 99% Invisible, Little think pieces about design and it's role in our everyday life. Impecably researched and always interesting, with a wonderfully charming delivery from its host.31. The Hilarious World of Depression, Comedian interviews comedians about depression and how it shapes their lives. Genius concept that perfectly hits the sweetspot of using humor to enlighten dark subjects. Fairly new and still finding its feet, but already one of my favorite shows.30. Radiolab, Reporters explore fascinating and mysterious stories usually in the realm of science and nature and wind their way to answers in a series of tightly cut together interviews. Really tightly produced (sometimes too much so) and very well researched, this show is one of the most iconic podcasts in the medium.29. Death, Sex & Money, Very personal stories about the big decisions in everyday people's lives, done in interviews in a journalistic style. Very heavy sometimes, but really great. Really digs into the real stuff in people's lives.28. You Made it Weird, Very long in-depth celebrity interviews with comedian Pete Holmes as host. A mirror-universe version of WTF, with a young-happy host rather than an angry older one. This doesn't have the same bite as WTF, but it replaces it with a wonderful sense of joy. Both hosts have mastered the art of the long interview.27. Reveal, Serious journalism, but with a slightly more of a conversational tone and more production to make it a more entertaining version of a news show. Nevertheless, the subject matter is heavy, and often deadly serious.26. Overdue, A couple funny dudes talk through great classic novels while riffing and making jokes. Spot-on chemistry and a perfect combination of high-brow art and low-brow comedy.25. Relic Radio, I love that podcasts are bringing back the audiodrama, an artform basically dead for forty years. But few of the new ones can match the originals, back when there was a big industry of daily and weekly shows and hundreds of professional actors and writers churning them out. Relic Radio lovingly curates from over 30 years of successful but forgotten shows to present them to a modern audience. The stories, while old-fashioned, are amazing, well-performed and fully produced with original music.24. Savage Lovecast, Call-in advice show about love, sex and life. Whet sets it apart is the kind and charismatic host, who has a gift for cutting to the heart of complex questions. Advice shows are a bit overdone, but he manages to elevate the format with his frankness and his ability to connect the problems we have in our loves, to larger questions we have about our selves.23. Crimetown, In depth audio documentary on organized crime in a big city (season 1 was on Providence.) Really well told story that feels tight and informative, while staying entertaining, mostly because the stories themselves are so engaging.22. Modern Love, Essays and stories about love in the modern world, read by famous actors. The pieces themselves are incredible, both joyful and heart-wrending. They often interview the author after, which sometimes makes me wish they would just have the author read it (due to the personal nature of the stories.)21. Wooden Overcoats, Scripted comedic audiodrama about competing funeral homes on a small British island. Very witty. Wonderfully funny and charming. Has probably the best character voice acting in scripted podcasts.20. Invisibilia, This podcast describes itself somewhat grandly as exploring the invisible things that shape everyday life. What it is, is a damn good radio-style interview think-piece show, with an emphasis on the patterns of human behavior. I love the light touch that the hosts give to the show. With a penchant for giving more questions than answers (in a good way).19. The Best Show with Tom Scharpling, Cult show that started in radio over a decade ago and slowly got weirder as it went. It's an ironic impersonation of a radio call-in show. This is definitely not for everyone; many of you will hate this show. But if you like it you will likely end up loving it. The host is a mad genius of twisting the radio format without ever totally breaking it. Best known for insulting and abusing his call-in listeners.18. WTF, An angry old comedian interviews famous people in great depth. Marc Maron's gift is in getting people speaking from the heart, and in breaching personal subjects that don't usually get talked about in interviews. WTF is often funny, usually fascinating and occasionally heartbreaking.17. Alice Isn't Dead, Weird, creepy, wonderfully produced and performed fictional story about a woman on a journey to find someone she lost. Uniquely moody and moving. Poetic to the point that it might be considered self-indulgent, so it might not be for everyone. But if you dive in, it's an incredible journey.16. The Moth, Personal stories told by a wide set of writers in front of a live audience. Usually funny and often touching in a smart-NewYorker-piece sort of way. Curated from a larger set of stories, and it shows: The stories are more consistently good than most of these types of shows.15. The Church of What's Happening Now, Comedian Joey Coco Diaz plus guest (usually comedians) trade life-stories. Diaz is really funny, as are most of his guests, but what stands out is Diaz's unique comedic voice and how he can talk about the really heavy stuff in his life in a funny way. And he is just overflowing with stories. He has had a crazy life.14. Strangers, Tough, beautiful personal stories examined in interviews with leather-voiced Lea Thau (I mean that in a good way: love her voice, it's like a smoked Nina Simone). It's like little audio documentaries about everyday people who have been through extraordinary personal turmoil. Beautiful stories, beautifully told.13. The Mortified Podcast, Grown-ups read their childhood journals to a live audience along with embarassing stories and memories about being kids. On one level it's really funny to hear their skewed childhood perceptions but also there's something amazingly cathartic about sharing in the embarassment. At least for me, being able to laugh at it makes me feel better about my own messed up childhood, and realize that all the stuff I was trying to hide, is the exact same stuff that everyone else was feeling as well.12. Snap Judgment, Great true-stories told by the people who lived through them, over some sick beats and tight riffs, all pulled together by my favorite host in podcasting.11. Here Be Monsters, Wonderful stories about suffering and hate and love and all the crazy things that are going on in the human soul. Told mostly through solo interviews with lightly intersperced music and production. The show is very heavy, but very listenable and very real.10. The Film Reroll, Rotating crew of actors and comedians pick a famous movie and improvise a new version of it with license that anything can happen. Hilarity ensues. The new movies are sublime and ridiculous and often better than the original. They use a dice system to run their stories like a game so they can't decide in advance what will happen. Brilliant concept, perfectly executed. Probably the most pure fun in podcasting.9. This American Life, Pastiche of stories about the American experience, told in a jounalistic style through interviews. Sometimes sad, sometimes joyful, always interesting. Many smarter things have been said about this show than I can say. Many of the podcasts on this list are in response to or immitation of This American Life, but the original continues to be one of the best examples of the format.8. Risk!, Similar to the Moth, people come on to tell their personal stories. I go back and forth between the two of them as to which I like more. Where the Moth has stories that are more cleverly written, this show feels more real and visceral. The storytellers are less likely to be writers, so we get less polished stories. But this show ultimately gets the nod for me with going to dark places of profound personal drama. Varies greatly in tone from episode to episode, but has been consistently great for a long time now.7. My Dad Wrote a Porno, A host and his two friends go chapter-by-chapter through his dad's erotic novel, constantly disecting and laughing about the bizarre and terrible writing. This might honestly be the funniest show in podcasting right now. And while it's mostly light-hearted humor, there's something very compelling about the bizarre view into a man's relationship with his father that comes out from the show's premise.6. Beautiful/Anonymous, Long phone conversations with anonymous callers who tell personal stories about their lives. The host is a comedian, but he doesn't try to be funny most of the time, keeping a balance between respecting the story and injecting levity when needed. Brilliantly simple yet unique concept and executed perfectly.5. Welcome to Nightvale, Bizarre, absurdist poeetry, delivered hypnotically in the form of a local radio bulletin, mixed with wonderful music for ambience and as breaks in the main show. Welcome to Nightvale is honestly pretty hard to describe. It's funny and dark and compelling and weird all at once. It's completely unique, and it's definitely not for everyone, but if it's for you, it's can be transformative.4. Song Exploder, Musicians break down the making of their songs, pulling out and explaining individual tracks and showing you how the song works piece by piece and ultimately how they work. Lovely and unique podcast for music lovers and noobies alike.3. PRI's the World, You could argue this is the best show in podcasting and it's basically a news show, but not your typical cable news fare. Reporters go around the globe and go in depth with local topics and how they affect the world and what they mean to all of us. These are all human stories, with all the pathos and weight of great fiction, but done in interview with real people. Heavy show but very listenable in spite of the seriousness.2. Criminal, Stories at the extremes of the human experience, told through interviews in a semi-journalistic style. Perfect blend of story-telling and introspection. Captures these wonderfully twisted stories with a matter-of-fact style that succeeds in putting you in the shoes of the people in the stories, and make you reconsider your preconceptions about the topic. Love the pacing and music on this show as well. Perfectly produced.1. Hardcore History, Powerful stories from the past, told passionately and intelligently. Dan Carlin has a gift for the dramatic, keeping the narrative human and personal while still showing you the great sweep of history. At its heart it's just great epic storytelling, you could easily forget that it's technically learning. But then he'll make some point that makes you realize these were real people with real feelings, and these stories created the world as we live in it. This show awakened in me a totally new understanding of our world. In spite of how many podcasts I listen to, it was pretty easy to choose which one I feel is the best. Warning: very long episodes.EDIT: Formatting via /r/podcasts