Star Ocean: The Divine Force is Everything Wrong With JRPGs | In-Depth Critique
Can't help but feel disappointed by modern JRPGs? Let's review and take a closer look at Star Ocean: The Divine Force and what it has gotten wrong. Is this Square Enix game worthy of the PS5?
I Didn't Think Tomb Raider Games Could Get Worse! 😂 | Tomb Raider Reloaded Review
I've been blocked by game director Brian Horton and the official Tomb Raider twitter page. Do they think that will stop this review of the latest (hopefully last) of the awful Tomb Raider games that Square Enix has published? Tomb Raider Reloaded, it's terrible, obviously.
Thank You For 1000 Subscribers! Nobuo Uematsu Fanfare Cover
Cannot believe we've finally hit 1000 subscribers! Thank you all for that. I wanted to celebrate with a very special video, so I got a few musician's together to perform my arrangement of victory fanfare by Nobuo Uematsu. This takes elements from Final Fantasy VII, IX and V versions of the soundtrack. The drums for this cover were recorded at Rock & Roll Circus in Leeds.
How FF7's Materia System Works Wonders
The thing about deep turn based combat is, it’s just as much about preparing for battle as it is about the battles themselves and Final Fantasy VII provides a unique and expansive tool to do just that! We’re talking about the fantastic materia system.
Project Athia: The Luminous Engine Ruse | Square Enix's New "Game"
Is Project Athia a real game? With everything that's happened with the Luminous Engine, Square Enix had given the impression that Luminous Productions was defunct, but conveniently, when it comes time for a round of announcements (SE's favourite thing to do) they are suddenly back in business after using the Unreal Engine for all their recent high profile games.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Soundtrack First Impressions
Unfortunately, I never got my review copy of Final Fantasy VII Remake from Square Enix as they know I would actually cover its flaws instead of simply gushing like the majority of reviewers are doing, but what I can do is review the soundtrack! Arranged by Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki.
Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope | Review | PS3
In 2010, the proper version of Star Ocean 4 was released on the PlayStation 3. It contained both English and Japanese voice-over, a choice of 2 UI styles and an extended soundtrack that was included in the Japanese version, and all on 1 disc instead of a ludicrous 3, which needed to be changed when travelling to different planets. It was also bloody awesome.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood VS Original Anime | Which is best?
Fullmetal Alchemist is my favourite anime...but do I mean Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or the one which is clearly better in almost every single way? Find out in this in-depth review of both Brotherhood and the original anime.
Kingdom Hearts 3 | Review | PS4
In my last Kingdom Hearts video it would be an understatement to say that I was pessimistic. Square Enix’s insistence on releasing games in the series so frequently on every platform imaginable, with massively fluctuating quality in aesthetic and gameplay terms, has left the series in the unfortunate position of having more bad games than good. But I thought I’d give Kingdom Hearts one last chance, knowing all along that if Kingdom Hearts 3 went the way of Final Fantasy XV (a buggy, ugly, unfinished train wreck) I could safely say I would never buy another Square Enix game again. Ever. So unlike a lot of commentators I’ve noticed on social media who outright bum every nonsensical story trailer or screenshot of one of Tetsuya Nomura’s ludicrous cast of Final Fantasy rejects, you can rest assured I’m about to give this game exactly what it deserves.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Review | PC
Well, Rise of the Tomb Raider was awful but what do we have here, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is developed by Eidos Montreal, the studio that brought us the excellent Deus Ex: Human Revolution & Mankind Divided. Surely they played Rise of the Tomb Raider, laughed their arses off at its ludicrously easy combat difficulty, its barely developed characters & its complete lack of meaningful improvement over the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, & simply proceeded to make their own Tomb Raider game...but then Square Enix stopped them & said “No! That will cost too much money.”
5 Great Characters We NEED in Dissidia NT!
Square Enix announced a run of DLC characters for Final Fantasy Dissidia NT and as I'm a huge fan of the lore, writing and characters of the Final Fantasy series, I thought I'd give my opinion on the best characters we could possibly hope to purchase!
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Review
Translating the Dissidia Final Fantasy games that originated on the PSP system to the PS4 was never going to be easy. The original & its sequel Dissidia Duodecim were some of the most feature rich games, not just on a handheld but possibly of all time. But now that the series has been given more of an online multiplayer focus in an era of microtransactions & incomplete games, Square Enix & developer Team Ninja have had more ways than ever to mess this one up...but did they?
Kingdom Hearts III: Should You Be Worried?
Kingdom Hearts, what a unique video game franchise. Despite only having two numbered games in the series so far, Kingdom Hearts has a mind boggling amount of entries across an equally mind boggling amount of platforms many of which are essential to understanding the overarching plot. Kingdom Hearts 2.8 is the latest piece of the puzzle and all of it is meant to contextualise and precede the highly anticipated Kingdom Hearts III.....It’s also a load of old bollocks!
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Beta | First Impressions
Square Enix have allowed me access to the closed beta of Dissidia Final Fantasy NT for the PS4 so here are some thoughts and first impressions from a long time Dissidia fan.
Rise of the Tomb Raider | Review
If you enjoyed Crystal Dynamics' 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider series then I have some good news, some bad news & some worse news concerning Rise of the Tomb Raider. The good news is that this sequel is the exact same game in almost every conceivable way. The bad news, is that it's the exact same game in almost every conceivable way. The worse news is that all the things that are different about Rise of the Tomb Raider are significantly worse than what's come before.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness | Review
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is an unfinished game. Not in the way you might have heard before; as a complete product that is 20 hours long (far too short for a JRPG of this type, and in the Star Ocean series to boot) and not in the way that Drakengard 3 was unfinished; that game only needed a few bug fixes, a bit of optimisation and a budget to speak of....No.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a completely unfinished game.
Final Fantasy X/X-2 & the Awful "Will" Audio Drama
We have two videos for you today! An in-depth discussion and review of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster and a much shorter video summarising the 'Final Fantasy X -Will-' audio drama. My co-hosts Tom & Luke had never played an RPG before Final Fantasy X and 15 years later, the game remains one of their favourite games of all time.
Triple Triad Mobile | Review
For me, Final Fantasy VIII is not a game, it is a biennial event...Once every couple of years I'll visit gamefaqs.com for the brilliant walkthrough by Alex and proceed to go through every inch of Final Fantasy VIII, max out the stats, beat every boss, whistle at every chocobo...and of course, collect every card for the unique Triple Triad mini game. So it was with equal parts optimism and absolute dread that I decided to play Triple Triad Mobile. Thankfully the Triple Triad collectible card game has made its move to mobile quite gracefully though not without problems