Can’t believe I have to say it, but I’ve run into a second Zelda game I’ve decided to shelve and leave unfinished. Phantom Hourglass is a quirky spin on the handheld Zelda formula, but unfortunately doesn’t particularly work for my tastes.

The big issue for me here is the controls. Everything is controlled with the DS stylus. EVERYTHING. Movement, combat, interaction with items, the whole shebang, and frankly it never got to a point of feeling intuitive.

I always appreciate Nintendo wanting to include new gimmicks to Zelda releases, but this one wasn’t doing it for me. I got a little over halfway with the game and decided that was enough, so for now, Phantom Hourglass will be left unrated and unfinished in my pile of shame.

I was interested in getting some more backstory in the FFVII universe, and decided to jump into Crisis Core right after finishing the recently released Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. While this game was extremely underwhelming in a lot of ways (I give most of it a pass being a remake to a PSP exclusive), it was extremely additive to understanding characters in the series' universe.

Bullet points: Combat is fine, story is pretty overcomplicated, but the final moments of the game are absolutely ACE. I really like Zack and really get his importance being highlighted in the new Remake series now, so overall, I'm glad I burned through this, even if it wasn't the hottest gaming experience I've had recently.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was an absolute roller coaster of an experience for me. There were moments the game had me clapping and cheering over what was occurring on-screen, and others that had me scratching my head, wondering why anyone would leave this in the final production.

It's tough for me to explain this dissonance thoroughly, but in short, I think my biggest complaint is the game feels incredibly bloated - both from the amount of optional side content it throws in your face, and from actual main beats in the main path. Even when attempting to mainline the story, you are thrown through constant diversions and an almost grueling level of over-indulgence of the original source material.

However, the presentation, characters and their minute to minute interactions are some of my favorite in video games. There is little more enjoyable than traveling around with a group of pals as they tackle an adventure to save the planet. Cloud, Tifa, Aerith and the gang live in my head rent free on a minute to minute basis - if anything, this will be a franchise I continue to revisit just to ensure I can check in with my best friends again. The combat continues to be best in class, although I will say some of the additions were a bit nuanced and were hardly ever utilized.

To summarize, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth feels like a game tailored and aimed at its hardcore fanbase of its original release in the 1990s - if you just can't get enough of your favorite game and characters of all time, this decadent open world adventure will tickle your fancy immensely, but for those of us on the outside, trying to understand and appreciate the love this entry has, there are a staggering amount of roadblocks that are keeping me at bay from falling head over heels for this boisterous remake trilogy.