Don't Give Up Skeleton: A Dark Souls And Bloodborne Podcast

Don't worry folks, that song you're hearing doesn't mean you accidentally downloaded the wrong podcast. It's just this week's guest, Jake Lionheart! Jake is an indie rapper that likes to rap about something he loves: video games! Here's a twist though: his songs are actually good! Honestly, most people rapping about video games are pretty terrible, but Jake's songs walk the fine line between taking something seriously and also having fun with it. We talk about his experience with the Souls games, and the songs he's written based on them. Jake's new Bloodborne album comes out TODAY, so go check it out the full version. It's FREE. Warning folks: Jake and I are both hip hop heads, so we spend some time talking about music we like. WE CAN'T HELP IT. Also, I put a bunch of Jake's music in this episode because I really like it. Enjoy! https://www.dontgiveupskeleton.comLinks:Jake Lionheart (@Jake_Lionheart) | TwitterThe Salt Reportdon't give up, skelethon (Dark Souls

I'm very excited to say that this week's guest is Open Mike Eagle. I've been a fan of his for a few years now, and was (as you'll hear in the episode) completely surprised when he followed me on twitter. I was floored when he said he was a Dark Souls fan, so of course I had to get him on the podcast. We talk about his journey through the Souls series, touching on all the games one way or another. It's a very fun episode! If you aren't familiar with him, go check out his music, it's GREAT.Links:Open Mike Eagle - SpotifyOpen Mike Eagle - Qualifiers (Official Music Video) - YouTubeOpen Mike Eagle (@Mike_Eagle) | Twitteropen mike eagle face (@artrapmike) • Instagram photos and videos

You know what you shouldn't be when you play Dark Souls for the first time? Drunk. Unfortunately, that was Alex's experience. He arrived at a friend's house to find them playing Dark Souls 2 and doing Drunk Souls: take a shot or drink every time you die. Needless to say, it didn't go well. Fortunately, it didn't ruin the series forever for him. We talk about the rest of his journey in this episode of Don't Give Up, Skeleton. Enjoy!Links:Alex Graboyes (@AlexanderG413) | Twitter

This week’s episode is all about one thing: authenticity. Heath has found lots of things in search for authenticity, so we go through a variety of topics this week. If you had told me I’d be talking about mixed martial arts and how it can be compared to Dark Souls, I would have called you crazy. But here we are.See the links below to find Heath on the internet. www.dontgiveupskeleton.com Links:Heath In ATX (@heath_in_atx) • Instagram photos and videosBarbie De FactoTEXAS MICROPHONE MASSACREHeath (@ATXHeath) | TwitterGerron Music | Austin, TX Music Production

Time for something completely different, listeners. Our old friend Niki from episode 36 sent me the following DM a few months back: "hey, do you have any plans for episode 69?" Some of y'all probably know that I record these pretty far in advance, so while I had something for episode 69, I immediately told Niki I didn't and asked her what she was thinking. Her idea was to have her three gay friends come on the show, and have a sort of hour long chat about how great Lady Maria is. That seemed like it could be a super interesting and hilarious podcast, so I agreed, and I was right: it IS a super interesting and hilarious podcast. As someone who doesn't get into shipping or even developing crushes on fictional characters, I was interested in getting an opportunity to ask about this stuff. So, the episode you're hearing is exactly that. Four ladies (Niki, Molly, Steph, and Grace) gushing over Lady Maria and various other Dark Souls women, and trying to explain what they see in these char

Hello Skeletons! If you're here, you've probably heard of Richard Pilbeam, aka Jerk Sans Frontiers, who does the series of lore videos called Bloodborne Up Close. If you haven't, check the links below and make sure you go do that. Richard has a special kind of insight into the Souls series, and it was a delight getting to sit down and talk to him about it. We sort of go all over place, as you might expect, but it's a fun conversation nonetheless. Enjoy! Remember to go to Don't Give Up, Skeleton for previous episodes, links to social media, and all the RSS feeds you can shake an iPhone at. Links:Jerks Sans Frontieres - YouTubeRichard Pilbeam (@richard_pilbeam) | Twitter

This week we sit down with Ario, who created the Tumblr Brick by Brick. Stop right now, click on the link below, and go check out his series CRT Souls. I’ll wait. Stay tuned for some of Ario's music at the end of the episode. http://doshmanziari.tumblr.com/ Ok, back? Isn’t that cool?! Ario talks about his love of architecture, his unique view of the Souls games, and his disappointment with the music of the series. This isn’t your typical episode, but I think you will enjoy it that much more. Links: https://twitter.com/Doshmanziari http://doshmanziari.tumblr.com/ https://soundcloud.com/diplocephalus

This week’s guest is Jorge, a games writer who has somehow managed to play all of the Souls games in under a year. He talks about how he came to the series, his discovery of PVP and fight clubs, and what it’s like role playing a pacifist character in an extremely hostile PVP environment. Enjoy! Links! https://twitter.com/JAlbor http://www.experiencepoints.net/ http://www.popmatters.com/archive/contributor/708/# To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/

This week’s guest started the conversation in an interesting fashion: by telling me he looked up Estus in one of the Dark Souls wikis and got extremely confused. It’s a good conversation, and we get to chat about all of the games, which is fun. Find Nick on twitter at the link below! https://twitter.com/nchuha To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/

What’s it like when someone doesn’t particularly care about the Souls series, but is surrounded by people that do? That’s the question we answer on this week’s DGUS. I know syrg from the Duckfeed Slack, and when I put a call out for people that don’t hate the Souls series, but have tried it and failed to bond with it, he answered. We talk about Demon’s, DS1, and Scholar, as well as a surprisingly in-depth look into Lords of the Fallen. Enjoy! Syrg’s links: hellscaper.com To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/

Dylan, aka bansheebeat is an extremely talented musician with a love of the Souls series, so he’s a perfect fit for the show. We sit down and talk about what he does and does like about the games, his disappointment with the music, and his dream Souls game. Spoiler: he has a VERY unique idea about future Souls games. Links! https://www.bansheebeat.net/ https://www.patreon.com/bansheebeat https://soundcloud.com/bansheebeatmusic https://twitter.com/bansheetweet https://www.facebook.com/bansheebeatmusic/ To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/Links:bansheebeat is creating electronic music | Patreon

Monk is an old buddy of mine I met during the heyday of Dark Souls 1 PVP. He and I used to get together with the other Something Awful thread regulars to do fight clubs and dumb gimmick builds. He’s played the Souls games a LOT, like hundreds and hundreds of hours. Enjoy his invasions stories, his hatred for Dark Souls 2, and everything else in between. Links: Monk’s cool Chalice Glyph site: chalicedungeonglyphs.com PSN: MonkRocker To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/

This week’s guest is Chris, host of the Now and Again podcast. Chris discovered Dark Souls at a low point in his life, but has since come to enjoy them even in the good times. We talk about his journey through the series, his sort of ambivalence to Dark Souls 2, and his love for Bloodborne (because everyone loves Bloodborne and if you don’t your opinion is wrong). Just a quick note: you should totally check out Now and Again! It’s a great concept for a show (talking about a volume of Now That’s What I Call Music with a guest), and is very much fun to listen to. I guested on a year end episode to talk about my favorite thing I discovered in 2016, which you can find below: http://www.cageclub.me/now-and-again-2016-side-b/ Chris’s Links: https://twitter.com/instachapman http://www.cageclub.me/category/now-and-again/now-and-again-podcasts/ @NowAgainPodcast For all the Don’t Give Up, Skeleton related links you can shake a femur bone at, visit www.dontgiveupskeleton.com

This week’s guest is Nick! Nick and I chat about his journey though the Souls games, and we had a lot of fun. Nick started with Demon’s, and has played each game all the way through DS3. I knew I would like Nick when he told me he would do Monk invasions in DeS with the scraping spear. Heheheh Nick’s twitter: https://twitter.com/tepplen To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/

This week’s guest is Anthony, an experimental musician with a great love of the Souls games. So much so that it even was a small part of his wedding (details inside). Anthony and I sit down and talk about how he found the series, how it’s changed him, and most importantly: how does is wife feel about the giant poison skeleton in Dark Souls 3. Be sure to listen after the credits for some of his music! Anthony’s links: https://twitter.com/apfeid https://anthonysaunders.bandcamp.com/ http://ageoffire.tumblr.com/ Mentioned links: Quelaag on YouTube, lore vids from 2011: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1FFC0C4F88D3A150 Select Button Podcast from 2011 about Souls and King's Field: http://selectbutton.libsyn.com/episode-42-this-place-is-cursed- To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/ This week's guest is Anthony, and is a fun conversation if you like Souls and weird electronic music. Hit the link f

This week’s guest is Justin, who is a video game writer and podcaster. Justin and I sat down and talked about his unique first playthrough of Dark Souls 1, why he thinks Dark Souls 2 is better than DS1, and his opinions on Dark Souls 3. It was a fun conversation and I’m almost certain you will enjoy it. Justin’s links: https://twitter.com/lordhuffnpuff https://twitter.com/redpagespodcast http://jabortnick.com/ To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/

Hello! This week’s guest is Robert, who is a very enthusiastic Souls fan. After almost getting abandoned during our recording time by yours truly (full details in the ep), we get into why he loves them. It’s a very fun episode (with some audio difficulties that drag it down at the beginning, sorry about that). Robert’s links: https://twitter.com/RobertWOBrien 
 To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/ Additional Links! Included because Robert pulled them all together on his own and I didn't have to do any work! He's an excellent guy! Dark Souls Lore comic: http://imgur.com/gallery/iuJ7h Article about the above comic: http://www.johnnyetc.com/someone-investigated-the-lore-of-dark-souls-and-it-is-insane Ever Play Dark Souls? Fucking Don't: http://midnightresistance.co.uk/articles/dark-souls-has-ruined-videogames Prepare to Try: http://m.ign.com/articles/2016/06/20/prepare-to-try-season-2

This week’s guest is Lewis, who sent me what could almost be called on essay about, as he called it, “Dark Souls as the human condition.” How could I not bring him on after that? Lewis talks quite a bit about his history with the games, and how it affected his depression and even his personal religion. It’s a very good show, with some minor but persistent sound artifacting that is slightly distracting. Nothing terrible, though. Stay tuned through the end of the episode for a listen to Lewis’ band, Wild Apples. Lewis’ Links: https://wildapples.bandcamp.com http://www.mlewisbarker.com/ (this might not be up at the time of release, but it will be soon!) To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/

This week’s guest is Nicholas, aka StrenuousOrb on Twitter. Nicolas and I have long been twitter buds, so it was nice to sit down and talk about some Souls games. Check out his YT links for his challenge runs, which are great and I could also defeat the end boss of the DS3 DLC at SL1, just like him. Totally. I mean it. A couple of notes: (1) I’m a terrible person who let this one sit around for awhile instead of releasing it on time. As such, you get to hear my and Nicholas talk about the aforementioned DLC before it even came out! It was that long ago. Luckily Nicholas is a very nice guy and didn’t seem to mind at all. (2) Back when we recorded I was using Zencastr, which seemed to randomly and spontaneously breakdown in creative ways. That happened in this recording, but after the first 10 minutes or so I think everything clears up. Sorry about that! To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/

This week’s guest is from (take a drink) the Duckfeed community. I was able to meet Tim in person when Watch Out For Fireballs did live a show in Austin, TX. We’ve been in touch since, and I’m glad we were able to sit down and talk about his Souls experience. Tim talks about turning to Souls when his father passes away, and how he might just be a little bit tired of the games after the last five years. Tim’s links: https://twitter.com/frothy_ham To subscribe to the show and find links to all the various social networks it’s on, please go to http://www.dontgiveupskeleton.com/