Final Fantasy XV – First Impressions

Final Fantasy is a big deal. And Final Fantasy XV is a big deal even by those standards. Final Fantasy XV is a game that was almost relegated to vapourware, a game in perpetual development with no release in sight. But now, after countless delays and a decade of development, it is here. So, how is it shaping up? In short, it is good. It is really good. It is straight up incredible.

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Dragon Quest VII is here!

Dragon Quest VII is finally here. The adventure begins! The long wait for the pal region release on Nintendo 3DS is over. I’ve been dying for some Dragon Quest in Australia and for a while I honestly thought I’d never see it. Other franchises have always overshadowed it and greedily consumed what market share is available; behemoths like Final Fantasy, for example. This lead to a lack of faith in the franchises ability to sell to western audiences. A view that was compounded by the relatively niche demand for JRPGs here and poor sales in the past. I’ve always loved the game style and the stories of this genre. Square was a nexus point for me as a kid for great RPGs. Back before the prevalence of the Internet and the ability to Google things, seeing the emblem of a publisher on a game case that I knew had released good games, of a certain genre, counted for a lot.

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel – Hype!

I’ve been thinking a lot about Dark Souls III recently. The expansion, Ashes of Ariandel, comes out in a little over a month and I’ve been getting hyped. Anyone who is familiar with the series will know that the expansions are something to be excited about. The first game gave us the Artorias of the Abyss DLC which included one of the coolest and most compelling characters of the game’s lore, Artorias, and the chance to explore Oolacile, which no longer exists in the present timeline of the game – however fluid and open the concept of time is in the Dark Souls universe.

Then there were the expansions for Dark Souls II, which fundamentally improved and reinvigorated that game for me. The Scholar of the First Sin bundle of all three expansions shipped as an entirely different game than the vanilla version. The new locations and boss encounters were incredible, and a step up on pretty much everything in the original game’s content. The game was good, but the expansions and optimisations in Scholar made it exemplary.