Category: Takes
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My Advice to Gamers: Stop Making Yourselves Miserable
As a dad in my mid-30s, I’m starting to feel a bit differently about myself. I certainly don’t feel wise, I still do plenty of things that are pretty dumb. But I do feel like I’ve spent enough time on this earth to actually have the occasional bit of advice to dole out. I’ve seen…
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Rise of the Ronin Early Impressions: A Big Miss By Reviewers
A lot of people on social media love to hate on gaming media as a whole. So much of my twitter feed is taken up with complaints about gaming journalists, reviewers, media, etc. I am not one of those people. I view game reviewers as a valuable resource that have often saved me from bad…
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Traditional MP Battle Systems Need to Die
If you grew up with SNES and Playstation RPGs like me, it was an era where you knew exactly what to expect heading into almost any game in the genre. When it came to combat, which was almost always turn-based, you would have basic attacks, and then special attacks and magic. The special attacks and…
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Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth Has Made Me a Photo Mode Convert
As games have gotten better and better looking, video games have leaned into digital photography. Almost every big release has a photo mode now, and Xbox and Playstation consoles are set up to allow you to easily access and share any photo you take. For years, I’ve been a bit of a grinch on this.…
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Way Too Early Thoughts on Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth (Spoiler-Free)
Including the demo, I have now put about six hours into FF7: Rebirth. This was my #2 most anticipated game of 2024. Early on, I’d say I may have even underrated how hyped I should have been for this game. Here are some quick takes and a bit of advice from my early hours with…
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Gaming Round Up: FF7 Remake, FF7 INTERmission, Lil’ Guardsman, Helldivers II, and Unicorn Overlord
In the lead up to the release of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth this Thursday, it has been tough to center myself on one video game. Over the past 2-3 weeks, I have been bouncing around several video games, some of which for only a few hours. Because of this, it seemed easier to just do…
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“Ubisoftication” is a Good Thing, Actually
It seems that every time a new open world game comes out these days, I hear the same tired buzzword about their design from game critics. Putting a lot of markers on the map to tell you where the side content is, is “Ubisoftication”. Thanks to the new Zelda games and Elden Ring in particular,…
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3 Quick Takes on Helldivers 2: It’s Only Hell Getting In
For the second time this year, a game has come out of nowhere to take the gaming world by storm. Helldivers 2 didn’t have a giant marketing push and is only selling for $40. It’s pretty obvious that it wasn’t expected to be a massive success. Like many, Helldivers 2 was not on my radar,…
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Skull and Bones Open Beta Impressions: Lost at Sea
Ubisoft has pulled off a seemingly impossible feat. We have a AAA open world pirate game coming out in about a week with absolutely no hype behind it. Skull and Bones first began development in 2013, and was announced in 2017. As with anything that has this turbulent of a development cycle, hype has slowly faded.…
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Dondoko Island Might Be The Greatest Minigame of All Time
I absolutely adore a great minigame in my video games. For long RPGs in particular, minigames can be a way to dramatically enhance the experience. When you are going to put 50+ hours into a game (and sometimes way more than that), it can become a grind, and breaks are good. A minigame can put…
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