The Essential Companion of Heroic Adventurers
When I first saw advertisements for the original Bravely Default, I was so excited to get my hands on a traditional JRPG from the company behind the classic Final Fantasy titles. Final Fantasy had lost its way in my mind and Squeenix's last attempt at something more traditional (Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light)... Continue Reading →
Mastering systems is a major piece of the appeal of video games for me. I love it when I can dig into the mechanics of a title and develop a deep understanding for the possibilities, experimenting with different ideas to discover the most effective combinations of tools to succeed at the game. In games like... Continue Reading →
Final Fantasy VII is a game that for many was a genre-defining experience. So many people were awakened to the possibilities of JRPGs when it was released. The scale of the story combined with the series' first foray into 3D, the love that people felt for the cast, and the spite for the game's villain... Continue Reading →
Fire Emblem is one of my favorite all-time video game series. I have played almost every title with a western release and for many of them, my playtime exceeds hundreds of hours. I'll happily dive into Fire Emblem time and again to discover the varied support relationships of the characters, play through each story path,... Continue Reading →
I've grown to love this cast a lot over the last few years and I am delighted to have had the opportunity to spend another game with them.
There's a saying about first impressions: we rarely move past them. Your initial impression of a thing colors every interaction with it, establishes a bias for which your mind seeks confirmation and little else. It's something that became very evident to me when I started regularly writing first impression articles for Adventure Rules - often... Continue Reading →
In November the crossover title Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity released on the Nintendo Switch. It was a game which blended the lore and characters of Breath of the Wild with the 1-vs-1000 gameplay of the Dynasty Warriors franchise. While I wasn't impressed with the storytelling in Age of Calamity, the mechanics redefined my expectations... Continue Reading →
There isn't necessarily anything new or groundbreaking about the combat but all of the elements from familiar titles come together to make a complex system with lots of factors to weigh together that really get you thinking.
When I wrote that article and described my ideal farming sim as "Harvest Moon but Depressed," I never imagined that a day would come when I would play the game that scratched that itch. Yet in 2020's (after)life sim Spiritfarer, I found the melancholy I sought - plus a little hope to go along with it.
Spiritfarer is not just a life sim or farming sim - it is a platformer, and the satisfaction of movement that comes from that genre adds so much to what Spiritfarer accomplishes.
