Reviews

I often find myself in the need for a game that can provide for a quick and easy escape at the end of the day. The issue is that there is a certain amount of ramp-up time to get into the groove of a game, especially if it is one you haven't played before. Yi and the Thousand Moons, written and developed by David Su, is a perfect example of a game that succeeds in providing a short, concise, and innovation experience. Through an interactive musical that feels much like a bed time story, I had a fantastic and relaxing time delving into this beautiful experience.

You play as Yi, an archer tasked by the gods with shooting down the moonsin the sky in order to save the world from darkness. Although the gods have asked her to do this, local villagers are worried about the resulting stardust that will hurt their home.

You play as Yi who begins to shoot down the moons abd the musical kicks in. It is impressive to see a musical in this format work so well, seeing as the pacing of the game and movement is completely up to the player. The music itself is built in a way to last as player's decide to streamline the game or take time to explore and appreciate the environment.

 The low-poly graphics provide for a movement of the mouth as each character sings. At some points in the game, I would move my camera angle to provide for cinematic shots of Yi singing, surrounded by a world slowly being destroyed. It is amazing that this game was able to capture the grand feeling musicals try to portray.

 The game itself takes about 20 minutes to play. Although the mechanics are nothing too innovative, there is something to say about being able to pick up this game and understand it in less than 5 minutes. These mechanics focus the player on seeing and appreciating their surroundings. From a volcano errupting in the background as you walk towards the village to moons falling from the sky after shooting a single arrow, these game is jam packed with picturesque moments.

This short, simple game accomplished so much in 20 minutes. It captures the grandiose feeling musicals provide without trying to mimic the medium. It is its own, unique experience that id recommend to anyone looking for a short escape.

I'm a newcomer to the Final Fantasy series, my first game being the Final Fantasy VII Remake that came out earlier this year. Of course it's one of my favorite games of the year so far with it's incredibly detailed world, fantastic characters and story, and it's fluid combat system. Naturally I was excited to dive into this series, and I figured Final Fantasy XV would be a good place to start.

Final Fantasy XV takes place on the world of Eos, you play as Prince Noctis as he journey across Eos with his best friends on a journey of self discovery, while at the same time fighting against evil that threatens to consume their world. Overall the story is fantastic, it's straight forward, thrilling, engaging, and emotional. While the game's open world style kills the momentum of the story at times, it's well done all the same. A couple plot holes here and there, but nothing that took the enjoyment out for me. 

The game's greatest strength is it's characters. Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, and Gladiolus are some of my favorite video game characters. Their chemistry heightened the enjoyment of the game, made the story more emotional, and remained consistently entertaining throughout my hours of playing. Not to mention their character arcs are great, from the story to the game's DLC's focusing on each individual character. Watching them grow from teenagers to protectors of Eos was fantastic. 

The massive world of Eos was a ton of fun to explore. I understand that the open world aspect is pretty new to Final Fantasy, but I loved exploring it. Driving from point A to point B was beautiful and relaxing as you got to take in the sights, enjoy character banter, and listen to music. The driving mechanics are pretty easy, which makes doing all these things all the better. The graphics are beautiful, with only minor issues along to way, overall it's one of my favorite open worlds in gaming.

On top of just driving around there's plenty of side missions and bounty quests to take up between plot points. They get pretty repetitive after awhile though, most of the side quests feel the same, but are pretty easy to just do as you traverse the map. Bounty missions are fantastic though, the world of Eos is home to a massive variety of monsters, all unique as far as looks and challenges. Some smaller than you, others as tall as mountains, either way it's one of the more exciting parts of the game. 

Combat is pretty different, but overall easy to grasp. The game is easy in comparison to the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but I enjoyed it. It's perfect for newcomers as well as longtime fans, they even mention that when you start up the game. But even though it's easy to grasp, there's still a level of challenge as you progress. While it's easy to level up, you may even feel over leveled at times, there's always a newer, tougher challenge for you to face if you look.

Overall I just love this game, it's one of my favorite RPG's of all time. For long time Final Fantasy fans, I can see elements of it being underwhelming, but I loved damn near every minute of it. 

Rating: 9/10

Played on the PS4

Dungeons is pretty basic, but that's what makes it fun. It's seriously lacking an endgame, and if development continues it could turn into something really unique. For $20, this is a pretty good, mindless ARPG. 

MC Dungeons' strongest aspect is the creativity and flexibility it demands from its players. I'll outline how by talking about the progression vectors available. 

1. Level. This doesn't actually make you any more powerful, but it does increase the quality of the loot that drops. It also gives you enchantment points to spend on item affixes for your weapons and armor.
2. Campaign. As you play the game, you gain access to more levels and harder difficulties, which allow you to collect a wider variety of loot and higher "Power Level" gear. Each level has a specific drop table, so if you need a particular piece of gear, you can focus your efforts on a specific level. In addition to some secret hidden levels, there's hidden runes scattered throughout all levels that unlock a new even more secret level once you've found them all. Overall, there's 15 levels available, each with different drop tables and some degree of randomization. In my opinion, level randomization is relatively poor when compared to games like Torchlight and Diablo. You run out of levels to play and difficulties to climb after around 20 hours of playtime.
3. Gear. You get six pieces: Melee, Ranged, Armor, and three Artifacts. They get more powerful, somewhat linearly, as your level increases and as you play on harder difficulties. Melee weapons vary in terms of their attack speed, range, how many they hit, combo attacks, etc. Ranged weapons vary in their attack speed, ammo pools, number of arrows fired, and ability to charge attacks. Armor affixes are a little more interesting. They always come with a health boost, then depending on the armor type, they might have damage reduction, a damage boost, a speed boost, cool down reduction, etc. Finally, artifacts are your abilities. There's a lot of variety, and they support many different playstyles in both solo and multiplayer play, ranging from casters to tanks to fast attacking rogues to heavy hitting hammer users.
5. Enchantments. Items can roll with 1, 2, or 3 randomized enchantment slots. These are the primary ways you will be customizing your character. Enchantments are varied and interesting, but due to the random nature of enchantments, you'll likely be unable to find ones that work perfectly for your build all of the time. This system works best when you are flexible and adapt your build to the gear you come across. 

The game is basic, and, like minecraft, has its strength in discovery and experimentation. If the game were to add in mod support, it would become a fantastic platform for ARPG gaming. Hopefully the developers are paying careful attention to feedback and build on the great groundwork they've already set down.