After a few taps on my controller, I’m standing in a familiar scene: a sparse, sunbathed living room with wall-to-wall windows, a spartan furniture arrangement, and a sliding glass door that leads out to a dock-side balcony. Though it’s more of a crude rendering (there are no textures here, and my avatar is a simple, …
Written by guest writer and friend of the site themasterofcubes. You can find them on Twitter here. I’ve played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney six or seven times in my life. This hopeful, colorful murder mystery series has been one of my favorites ever since I first played the initial iOS port on my iPod Touch …
As Jennifer Unkle and Allen Ibrahim journey from Mt. Bur-Omisace to the sprawling city of Archades, they reflect on the difficult circumstances surrounding Final Fantasy XII’s development, gush over how much they enjoy Balthier, and decide to switch things up for the next session. JEN, Here we are again, a few months later. Despite a tumultuous few weeks …
Jennifer Unkle and Allen Ibrahim make their way to the summit of Mt. Bur-Omisace, learning more about Fran and the inner workings of the Archadian Empire. Jen finally manages to get a handle on the combat, while Allen insists that even the game hates Vaan. ALLEN, After our last series of letters, I came close …
As Jennifer Unkle and Allen Ibrahim continue their journey through Final Fantasy XII, Allen is swept up in the politics and finer details of this gorgeous, complex world, while Jen grits her teeth through several brutal bosses. JEN, I’m surprised by a lot of Final Fantasy XII. Its minute-to-minute structure reminds me of a linear RPG or …
This year, Jennifer Unkle and Allen Ibrahim decided to play through Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, a remastered update of the PS2 classic. While Jennifer had never played it before and Allen had some prior (if incomplete) experience, the two set out to chronicle their experiences through a series of letters. This first set …
My dip into Monster Hunter World has been enjoyable thus far, but every MonHun game in the past has reached a point, fairly early on, where it puts a roadblock in my way I’m not willing to grind my way through. I’ve yet to learn if World will be the one that I stick with, …
My time as a World of Warcraft raider was fairly brief: it lasted about an expansion and a half, before I stopped doing WoW’s raids with organized groups altogether. Getting together ten to twenty-five skilled, max level, kitted out players in the appropriate roles on a regular basis was exhausting, even if you weren’t in …
Here’s a quick thought experiment: how do you write a compelling, agency-driven character without turning them into a blank slate? Most visual novels do the heavy lifting themselves, offering only a few branching options to their audience, but that makes them more of an observer than a participant. As we gradually hand more control to …