But!
As usual, I am planning to come back, and say I'm going to do things, and likely fail at doing them, but with much gusto!
This time, my plan is to begin reviewing games again once I play one as it comes out, as opposed to reviewing a game long after it's past it's due date and such.
So yeah. That oughtta be fun. In theory.
So let's make with the relevant updates, and things that mattered to me, I suppose!
- Was gonna beat Dark Souls 2. Did not because Scholar of the First Sin got announced, and I want to play the more definitive version.
- Speaking of definitive versions, Devil may Cry has a definitive edition coming out, and now that time has passed, my hate has subsided, and they've chosen to include a lock-on function, I'm kinda inclined to consider giving it a shot. Admittedly, they made the idea way easier with the second DMC based announcement:
- Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition! For the PS4 and Xbox One! With a very teasing image and voice clip of my main homie Vergil! Dear god, the excitement.
- Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire was rather... Whelming. It did very little with the opportunity it had, and honestly, I think Nintendo kinda just phoned this one in, particularly compare to the phenominal Fire Red/Leaf Green or Heart Gold/Soul Silver. Not to say OR/AS is bad, just... It's nothing crazy.
- Winter-Een-Mas has come and gone. My goal was to beat 2 Final Fantasy games. I unfortunately failed. Poor time management lead to me making it to the end of the second game, but not quite finishing it in time. Much to my dismay. But I did get to go to:
- Distant Worlds, the Final Fantasy orchestral concert! It was great. And I met Nobuo Uematsu. So I am rather happy.
- Took a trip to MagFest in Maryland. Great convention, Met Smooth McGroove, chilled at a Death Battle panel, had a great time overall.
- Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is on the cusp of release, and it looks amazing. And a special edition New 3DS is confirmed to release here in America. My money...
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 has been out for some time... But I'm finally playing it!
That should cover general news type things. There are a few others (Got a Vita, started pushing through uncharted series, grabbed a PS4 and an X1) but they're less important.
And for some quickie reviews/FF series progress!
FFV: Everything I loved about FFIII, but with a better story, and far better characterization. 7/10
FFVI: The first FF in the series to convey its story and characters with such strength, despite its sprite-based graphics. By this point in time, the overarching story isn't massively original, but the fleshed out cast and cool scenes are much appreciated. 7.5/10
FFVIII: Squall is one of the most strongly developed characters, perhaps of all time, especially in the area of developing as the story goes along. Zell amuses me, Seifer has a cool coat. Laguna's kinda cool. The rest of the cast sucks, and the story was very meh and unnecessarily complicated after maybe halfway into the second disc. Junction system is fun, and Triple Triad is one of the most addicting games I've ever played. 6.5/10
FFIX: This game feels like what the first 3 Final Fantasies well and truly wanted to be, but couldn't because of technological restrictions. Fun, whimsical, but not particularly gripping. There was for sure a plight, but I didn't find myself feeling the weight of it, or caring about it until near the end of the game. 7/10
FFXIV (part 2): I'm at level 50 and playing the endgame content. At this point, I feel whatever MMO you play is sort of just a skin for the genre, there isn't a massive amount of differentiation, so it comes down to what aesthetic you like best. That said, I still love FFXIV, The references to the rest of the series don't stop, and I enjoy them in all of their forms. It's also a far more story driven MMO than I usually get my hands on, so that's fun. The downside to all of it is things like the finial fight in the game are restricted to 8 man parties, so if you want to enjoy the story and watch the cutscenes at your leisure, you're gonna want to do those dungeons with people who are willing to wait, which is uncommon this late in the game. It's mostly people doing speed-runs at this point. But a good time all the same. Main story was fun, and I beat it, so I'm at 11 FFs defeated so far. Feeling good. 3 to go. 8.5/10
After going through bits of VII again, I'm gonna amend that score to an 8.5, and I'm considering a 9, but I'm staying away from it, because fanboying is not how one should write reviews.
That covers everything for now. Gonna try and update more! Will talk about future plans soon. Don't quote me on that.
FFXIV (part 2): I'm at level 50 and playing the endgame content. At this point, I feel whatever MMO you play is sort of just a skin for the genre, there isn't a massive amount of differentiation, so it comes down to what aesthetic you like best. That said, I still love FFXIV, The references to the rest of the series don't stop, and I enjoy them in all of their forms. It's also a far more story driven MMO than I usually get my hands on, so that's fun. The downside to all of it is things like the finial fight in the game are restricted to 8 man parties, so if you want to enjoy the story and watch the cutscenes at your leisure, you're gonna want to do those dungeons with people who are willing to wait, which is uncommon this late in the game. It's mostly people doing speed-runs at this point. But a good time all the same. Main story was fun, and I beat it, so I'm at 11 FFs defeated so far. Feeling good. 3 to go. 8.5/10
After going through bits of VII again, I'm gonna amend that score to an 8.5, and I'm considering a 9, but I'm staying away from it, because fanboying is not how one should write reviews.
That covers everything for now. Gonna try and update more! Will talk about future plans soon. Don't quote me on that.
