tdubmoney
One of the better Star Wars stories. I like that how the gameplay was a healthy mix of Dark Souls's combat and Uncharted's platforming, though as someone who doesn't play Souls games the combat was a little too difficult for my taste. No shame in turning down the difficulty if it means experiencing this game's story. I'm excited to see where the series heads from here.
2021
This was the first time I'd played FF1 all the way through, and the Pixel Remaster's boosts feature was the main reason I was able to finish. This is a very grind-heavy JRPG, and previous attempts by me to play various versions usually ended in frustration. The default encounter rate is crazy high, and being able to turn them off completely was a blessing. I love the lack of guide posting in this game, but had I played with the default encounter and experience gain rate I would have bounced off this version as well. I just don't enjoy feeling punished for wanting to explore dungeons.
Story-wise, there's not much here, and that's fine. You're given a quest, and you adventure across the world to gain the resources necessary to complete that quest. There is a twist at the end, but it doesn't really change the story that much. I think what allows Final Fantasy to withstand the test of time is the simplicity of the story; while it is very "of its time" in terms of conforming the story telling to the limitations of the medium, it's also timeless in its brevity.
Overall, I really enjoyed this game and would recommend the Pixel Remaster to anybody who, like me, tried but failed to play any prior version of the game.
Story-wise, there's not much here, and that's fine. You're given a quest, and you adventure across the world to gain the resources necessary to complete that quest. There is a twist at the end, but it doesn't really change the story that much. I think what allows Final Fantasy to withstand the test of time is the simplicity of the story; while it is very "of its time" in terms of conforming the story telling to the limitations of the medium, it's also timeless in its brevity.
Overall, I really enjoyed this game and would recommend the Pixel Remaster to anybody who, like me, tried but failed to play any prior version of the game.
I don't know how, but Nintendo managed to follow-up the greatest game of all time with the greatest game of all time. Everything is improved, from exploration to combat to the story. If I could only pick one game to play for the rest of my life, it's this. And I'm pretty sure it could last me that long, too.
2023
Wish fulfillment in video game form. This is basically the Harry Potter game I've been wanting since I was a kid. Combat is excellent, Hogwarts looks absolutely incredible, and the story was fine. I really hope this is the beginning of more stories being told in the wizarding world, and less involvement from JKR, who seems intent on torpedoing the franchise.
2021
Twelve Minutes is, mechanically, a very interesting game. Unfortunately, it's also excruciatingly tedious. Everything in the game is left up to player discover; there's no plot set-up, no indication of what your goal is or how to even begin to achieve it. Just a series of events that plays out in a loop every 10 minutes. In fairness to the game, this is to set up the big reveal/twist about 3/4 of the way through, but this fell completely flat for me because it was both incredibly obvious and cheeseball. When your entire game exists just to lead to this underwhelming moment there unfortunately is little else to make up for the story.