Torchlight II

When I finished Torchlight about a year ago, I gave the game some very high praise, calling it "a brilliant little game... blissfully simple... delightfully paced compulsion loop." By the time I wrote these words, Torchlight II had already been announced. Runic Games was beginning to release images and videos and developer blogs detailing the advancements that they were making on the play mechanics. I was really excited, and by the time that the game was actually released, I had already pre-purchased and pre-loaded the game on Steam. I was ready.

Not too long ago, I got to the end of the main quest, and I really enjoyed it. As is my custom, I wanted to attempt to write something about my experience with the game, but I haven't been able to produce any interesting thoughts on the game (in spite of the fact that the game is really quite fun). So, I've been procrastinating for a few weeks, which certainly hasn't elucidated the matter at all.

Journey

For quite some time, I'd been planning on moving from my midwestern homeland of central Indiana to the arid paradise of Phoenix, Arizona. The impending journey was something that I was both very excited about and very nervous. In fact the this tumultuous combination was something that I kept repeating on twitter and my YouTube channel... and finally here. It was a big deal for me!

A few Fridays ago, I was doing my very best to avoid packing for the impending move, so I decided that I would play for a bit before getting to work. On a whim, I decided on playing thatgamecompany's award winning game Journey. Little did I realize how poignant the game would be.

Kingdom Hearts

It's doubtless that Kingdom Hearts has one of the more enthusiastic communities in videogaming. Let's just take a few minutes to observe and reflect on what the fans have constructed:

• Kingdom Hearts Insider - a fan community that began in 2003
• A Kingdom Hearts tubmlr - lots of animated gifs
• The Kingdom Hearts page on FanFiction.net - easily the most written-about game series on the site

What do I take away from this? Kingdom Hearts fans love, love, love the franchise. They seem to fixate on the convolution of the plot points, construction explainations for how the whole series fits together. They love the characters and the worlds, and they're not ashamed of it. And of course, they're all clamoring for an unannounced Kingdom Hearts III. I commend their loyalty and fervor; though, I don't think that the series will ever inspire that level of fandom out of me.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

A couple of weeks ago, I came to a hastily written conclusion that Final Fantasy, specifically Final Fantasy XII, tends to present a better fantasy story than almost any other game. I'll readily admit that I was reaching a bit for something provocative to say about the game, but I wouldn't have written it if it was an entirely unsupportable opinion. I think my statement suffers from a slight lack of specificity. What I should have said is that late-era Final Fantasy games attempt a more complex scenario than Dragon Quest.

Champions of Norrath

When I reminisce about classic hack and slash games, which is totally something that I actually (never, ever) do, I have a fairly specific image in my mind, an image typified by games like Diablo II, Baldur's Gate, and perhaps Fable. Over the years, I've attempted to play several games in the sub-genre, completing only a handful of titles. I succumbed to the effects of boredom with the rest, and that includes the a three aforementioned titles. Even after multiple failed attempts, I'm still perplexed as to why so few of these games strike a chord with me. By all accounts, these games should be among my very favorites.

But when I look back on the list of games that I've complete—and, sadly, I have actually compiles such a list—these are the games that riddle me with feelings of guilt. Take Champions of Norrath for instance. I completed it sometime last year, and have been putting off any analysis of the game for as long as I could. I've come to agree with the general consensus that it is a fantastic example, quintessential perhaps, of a console cooperative loot-driven action role-playing game. Yet, I find myself inexplicably underwhelmed by the game. I skated through it with some reasonable amount of enjoyment, but I feel guilty for missing the special element that results in this genre being so loved by so many.

PlayStation Meeting 2013

Sitting down to watch the PlayStation Meeting 2013 press conference, I was doing my best to temper my excitement. It seemed very likely that a brand new PlayStation console would be announced, and I've been quite loyal to the Sony brand consoles (though this has a little more to do with how cost-ineffective it is to own multiple consoles).

And almost right away Andrew House announced the PS4. Amid a great amount of exciting rhetoric, the console was introduced as a something similar to a "Supercharged PC." Though it's difficult to have any idea how exactly this will play out, PC has been grounds for some of the most interesting and innovative games, so this could be exciting... with it's supposedly simple path from PC development.

Final Fantasy XII for the First Time... 5 Years Late (Part 3)

Just a few moments ago, I completed the final hour of the saga. It was a triumphant moment but certainly a bittersweet one as well. And now that I have seen the end of the game, I want to comment on one of the things that I think the Final Fantasy franchise does better than most other JRPGs, including my beloved Dragon Quest series. I hold the opinion that Final Fantasy games tend to present a better fantasy story than almost any other games (I use the term "fantasy" loosely to refer to any story that has features well outside our reality, sci-fi included). Final Fantasy XII is certainly no exception. From the very beginning, I appreciated that the conflict was one of a morally ambiguous nature (as I find moral relativism to be fascinating). I didn't observe any characters that seemed overtly evil until late in the game... if at all.

Freelancer

After my last post, which I was really proud of, it occured to me that I never actually completed the main quest in Freelancer. Of course, this was as good an excuse as any to install the game and jump back into it, especially since I recently finished my last semester of university and found myself with a little extra time on my hands.

I first came across Freelancer in 2003 or 2004 while walking around a Costco superstore. Having no previous knowledge of the game, I decided to purchase the game because the box made it look like a prettier version of Wing Commander: Privateer (I had no idea who Chris Roberts was or that he was involved with both games). Then I went home, turned off all of the lights in my room, and immersed myself in the (virtual) reality of interplanetary travel. Even as a young adult, the game filled me with childlike wonder and excitement.

Space and Video Games

I love thinking about space. I really do. When I imagine the future of humanity, I can't help but to envision the expanse beyond our breathable atmosphere. Space represents an infinite set of possibilities, a vast landscape of dreams, aspirations, and perhaps fears. I, for one, am quick to agree with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson that the continued exploration of space—specifically the short-term goal of putting a man on Mars—is of extraordinary importance to mankind.


This dream has been the backdrop of some of some of the greatest fiction ever created, which in turn has fueled the realization of the technologies that old-timey futurists only dreamed of. And though I can assume that Dr. Tyson is not a proponent of video games, I can think of no medium more suited to depict space than video games. I could easily spend an afternoon recounting memories of my most immersive moments in games such as Wing Commander: Privateer, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Starship Bridge Simulator (a mouthful), Freelancer, and an obscure little shareware game called EGA Trek, but eventually I'd like to get to the point.

Final Fantasy XII for the First Time... 5 Years Late (Part 2)

Let's talk about the license board in Final Fantasy XII.