In today’s remake and nostalgia-driven market, there’s no franchise too big or small to be trotted out in the town to help bolster fiscal earnings. Some, like Capcom’s Resident Evil or Square Enix’s Final Fantasy manage to go the extra mile, churning out high-quality remakes and new sequels in tandem …
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Many studios have tried to match the success and legacy of Diablo II over the years. The 2000 action-RPG (ARPG) by Blizzard Entertainment has long been considered the gold standard for fantasy dungeon crawlers, and is generally thought of as one of the best games ever made. Choosing from multiple …
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Final Fantasy XVI works because of its desire to push the series in a new direction, influenced by all kinds of western media, while still celebrating its own quirky spirit. It doesn’t reinvent or subvert its original concepts — there are still crystals, chocobos, and scenery chewing villains — but …
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It’s been a long time since I truly loved a Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy XII, which came out in 2006, was a somewhat forgettable distraction that mostly left me longing for another Vagrant Story. Unfairly maligned Final Fantasy XIII (2009) had a little je ne sais quoi but didn’t …
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Octopath Traveler II is a mesmerizing free fall into why traditional JRPGs are an irreplaceable art form. The sequel from Square Enix and Acquire hits every note that the 2018 original so carefully illustrated – the eight co-protagonists, the hyper-stylized turn-based battle systems, and “HD-2D” visuals that make Final Fantasy …
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