"Dammit Agro"

In early 2019, I started a journey. I’m not sure I realized, then, how long the journey would be. I had started Final Fantasy VI a few years prior but fell off just after the opera scene, so when I started Final Fantasy IX early that year, I figured there was a chance I might fall off it in the same way. Instead, in between work, life, and other games, I would spend the next 5 years playing…

We’re now 2 weeks past the end of 2023, a full decade since the last time I wrote a year end review post. Naturally, a lot has changed for me in the past decade so it’s kind of wild to look back at that post and try to discern what I was thinking at the time… and what I thought was funny. Back then, I was a college student, with a lot more time between classes and a much more limited budget for…

Ever since its reveal and in nearly every press cycle it has appeared in since, Final Fantasy XVI has garnered a lot of conversation over its battle system. The upcoming title in the longstanding RPG franchise known for command-based combat has foregone even referencing its turn-based history in favor of a Devil May Cry-style battle system designed, not coincidentally, by Ryota Suzuki, game…

I lied in the title, don’t start worrying, but it may be time to show some concern towards the Big N. A little under a year ago, on the eve of Nintendo’s 2014 E3 Direct Presentation, I wrote a piece explaining why those of us who would like to see Nintendo continue to succeed should stop worrying about their future. Now, the following April, we know now what we did not know then, and I feel it’s…

Let’s Stop Worrying About Nintendo

I had been meaning to write up this article a few weeks ago- after the Nintendo shareholders meeting- unfortunately, alongside schoolwork, job work, and my own procrastination, I’ve held off on putting the words down until now- a month after the news broke. Now, seeing as Nintendo’s E3 presentation is only several hours away, I figured I should probably get this post out before everything I could…

My 2013 Video Game Retrospective & Completely Necessary Awards!

2013 was a bit of a turning point for me and my relationship with video games– at least I’d like to tell myself that. I started the year trying to really play as many of the games talked about for game of the year as I could. I normally don’t try to do that since money exists, and the games I already want already come with a significant cost. But it’s really lucky I did, because otherwise I…

The Game Community Needs to Grow Up

Most children spend their entire lives dreaming to be like their parents, but parents spend their entire parenthood dreaming their children will become better than they ever were.

I don’t normally liketo work with statements that feel so absolute and quotable as what I’ve just said, and in the context of actual human lives, I’m sure there are many children who detest their parents (and also far…

I’m the Other Kid on the Block

So lately I’ve been trying to collect retro games. I just bought a Nintendo Entertainment System and more recently I’ve been scouting around for a Nintendo 64. While discussing this with a friend of mine, he made a point that, while valid, really kind of stung at me.

“What reason do you have to get these old systems if they have no nostalgic value towards you. I owned a NES, a SNES, and an N64,…

What’s in a Game?: The First Rule of Storytelling

In my last post, I reviewed an anime called Sword Art Online, and while it’s not necessary for any of you to go through and read it (unless, of course, you want to hear my thoughts on it) there is one point that you should take away from it when heading into this article.

You see, the main critique I had of Sword Art Online was how poorly it failed to follow what many consider to be the first…

Gone Home & The Rise of the Interactive Sketch

Gone Home as an Interactive Sketch

This past weekend, I finished Gone Home. It was interesting, to say the very least, and even months after its release and a wealth of reviews, I had still somehow managed to evade spoilers past “there’s something in the attic”. And even though I had been told there’s nothing to really worry about, I still found myself extremely tense throughout the whole game.

T…

Brothers: A Tale of Two Player

***SPOILERS AHEAD.*** You have been warned.

“Dude, she’s a spider lady. She’s going to eat us.” My friend looked over at me. “Don’t go in the cave.”

I disagreed. There’s no way this girl that my character had gotten lovey-dovey with–something I had called a short while after meeting her–would actually be a spider-person who had been leading us on from the start with the final goal in mind of…

Contemplating the Stale Open World and the Challenges of Traveling Through It

Why hello there! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

This summer I played a few games worth talking about, several of which I have nothing to even say about. But there were a handful of similarities in quite a few of the games that I spent a lot of time with, similarities that I saw more and more of when the game expos started rolling around and new games started getting revealed. You see, this summer,…