Podcast Reviews Again

A lot has happened since I wrote my last post about TOR podcasts over four months ago. Both The Instance: TOR Edition and Sunny's Diner closed their doors, and Mos Eisley Radio has undergone a reboot. What do I listen to now?

Mos Eisley Radio

I'm still tuning in to MER, but the show has certainly changed. After all the old hosts left at once, it was taken over by Leo and Evan, who used to do Ossus Academy, a more general Star Wars fan/lore podcast. The new MER is basically a hybrid of the old show and Ossus Academy, with the scope even broader than before, as the hosts spend a lot of time talking about other Star Wars related things such as the newest releases for tabletop games and CCGs.

I don't mind this in principle, because while I'm not personally into these other kinds of games, I have some friends who are and thus have at least a general idea of what they are talking about. I also find the hosts pleasant to listen to in general. Still, it's a shift in subject matter that might not appeal to everyone, or at the very least the show's attraction might vary from episode to episode. I have to admit that if they go on about a non-TOR-related topic at great length, I tend to kind of zone out after a while.

TOR Reporter

This podcast might be my new TOR-related favourite. One of the hosts is Anexxia from Inquisitor's Roadhouse, and while I don't approve of her fervent love for purple lightning and chopping off people's heads, she's definitely fun to listen to. As far as the other regular host, Chris, is concerned, I was surprised when I realised that he actually plays a lot of different MMOs and is involved in a couple of different podcasts as well, because he always sounds fully devoted to the game and never comes across as if he'd rather be playing something else.

The two of them have good chemistry on air, and mostly talk about TOR in positive terms. Even when criticisms of the game do come up, their love for it can never be in doubt. I also really enjoy that the show has a community segment where they pick up topics discussed in the blogosphere and share some link love.

TORWars Podcast

I'm not sure how I went so long without really being aware of this one, considering that TORWars is one of the biggest fan sites out there, but there you go. The hosts of this one are a crazy bunch, and I can imagine that their particular sense of humour might not be everyone's cup of tea, but you can always tell that they are having fun, it's contagious, and god knows that's something we need more of in this community.

During the episodes I listened to since I started following the podcast, Deirdre (whom I already knew from Corellian Run Radio) did a fair bit of moaning about the game, but oddly enough I didn't find it that off-putting because her righteous anger was so over the top that it was hard to take it seriously. I'm not sure whether that's intentional or not.

Darth Hater Podcast

I have to confess, I've always been a bit biased against Darth Hater, for the simple reason that I think that putting "hater" in the name of your fan site is pretty dumb. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be ironic or something, but it immediately gave me a negative impression when I first heard of the site. Still, it's one of the oldest fan sites out there still running, and it certainly makes a big contribution to the community. It was about time that I gave their podcast a listen as well.

Unfortunately... it didn't really click for me. I listened to episode after episode, thinking that maybe I had just caught a bad apple, but they were all pretty similar. Maybe it's something about the hosts' voices, but I absolutely couldn't concentrate on what they were talking about; my attention started wandering as soon as they opened their mouths. They never really sounded excited about anything and came across as incredibly jaded to me, immediately connecting every piece of good news to something bad that happened in the past and concluding that the new feature would just go down the same line. They don't exactly bash the game, but they don't really sound like they love it either. I get the impression that after 134 episodes they are pretty much just going through the motions.

Still, I would encourage people to give the show a listen at least once. While it didn't click for me at all, I could see it appealing to others.