Ever since the beginning of the medium of video games, there has been a dream of photo-realistic graphics. Whenever a new console is released or a new form of graphics technology is created, developers immediately demonstrate games or tech demos that push towards realism. I have no doubt that this will also be the case for the newly announced Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X. It’s true that photo-realism can suit many types of games but, concurrently, I am often drawn to games that deliberately eschew realism for a different style of art. Let’s start with the disadvantages of photo-realistic…
Category: Video Games
Here is the conclusion of my list that began in “My Ranking of the Main Final Fantasy Games Part 1“. 6. Final Fantasy XIII A controversial entry, I’m sure that many of you are shocked that I rank this game so highly. In contrast to many people, I actually like the characters and story (except for Snow who I found very irritating). The graphics are absolutely incredible (particularly for a 2009 game) with an art style that I actually prefer to the much more recent Final Fantasy XV. The combat system also feels highly engaging although I’ll admit that it…
As I have mentioned in “Why I Prefer Turn-Based JRPGs” and “Is the PC a Good Platform for Japanese Games?“, I am a massive fan of Final Fantasy. I thought a nice way to discuss this series would be to rank the main Final Fantasy games that I have played and completed. That means no spin-offs will be ranked here and it also means that I will be excluding Final Fantasy II, XI and XIV as I have not completed them. Therefore there will be 12 entries on this list. Also a reminder that this list represents my personal opinions…
If you have been reading this blog up to this point, you’ll know how much of a fan of Dark Souls I am. What you won’t know is that whenever I load up one of these games and enter the character creation, I always choose to create a female character. “Why do I do this?” I have wondered. The first thing to note is how few games feature females as the lead character. In particular it reminds me of something I heard about a game called “Life is Strange”. As the developer Dontnod was seeking out publishers, the thing they…
As mentioned in “Why I’m a PC Gamer“, my only source of video games comes from the PC platform. However, my tastes tend to lean towards games of Japanese origin. Many people have, historically, questioned me on this, stating that not many Japanese games are released on PC. Here, I am going to explain the dramatic change in the world of Japanese games on PC and how it has got to this point. First off, it is worth noting that PC gaming wasn’t always unpopular in Japan. At one point, it was the most popular platform for playing RPGs. In…
I think it’s fair to say that, whether or not you like Epic Games Store, it has been a controversial move by Epic to break the Steam monopoly on digital PC game sales. Here, I’m going to state why I think that the Epic Games Store is good for the PC community while also explaining why I don’t use it and have no plans to in the near future. I remember hearing the announcement that Epic was going to release a store around December 2018. Hearing that they were going to release free games every 2 weeks to users and…
Some of you may already be aware of this but the first video game that ever had a profound effect on me was Final Fantasy IV. The story and themes blew my 8 year old mind away and allowed me to view the world differently. However, the Active Time Battle system also had a profound effect on me, allowing me to control up to 5 characters at once and harness their abilities. Naturally I continued to gravitate towards turn-based JRPGs as I grew up but, in contrast to my personal tastes, JRPGs began to drop turn-based combat in favour of…
I’m a gamer. While I do tend to lean towards Japanese games, I still play a variety of games of various genres and national origins. Despite this, I do not own a PS4, Xbox One, Switch or any eighth generation gaming device. The PC is my only source of games and while some may find this strange, I do have my reasons. This is not meant to be taken as hostility towards consoles and people who use them. There are plenty of good reasons to own a console, from exclusive games, the portability of the Switch and the lower upfront…