Trent
189 Reviews liked by Trent
Good ass game
Super Mario Bros.
1985
Better than most modern games specifically from Sony
Super Mario RPG
2023
There are many reasons a game could be remade. Maybe to fix problems with the original, or reimagine the game entirely, but Mario RPG remake exists because Nintendo is too scared to experiment, and does everything the original did in a worse way.
It completely ignores the originals art direction, ignoring the appealing figurine style of its characters embodied by their 90's silicon graphics, instead for clean and palatable redesigns of the cast. These designs were a product of their time, and tried to emulate realism as best as it could, creating an art style based on limitations. One of Mario's more interesting renditions got mulled over for the sake of marketability. Nintendo doesn't realize it's these nuances that made the original game so special, and ignoring it is ignoring its identity.
At the start of the game we're given an option to play on "Breezy'' difficulty or a standard difficulty. Modifications have been made to the combat in order to make it easier despite the standard difficulty stating it's for series veterans. If you time your attack combo properly, the damage will spread to all other enemies. Alongside that, there's perfect dodging now which eliminates all damage received. These are fairly easy to time as you'll get used to it quickly. They change the combat to be even easier and quicker, which is not only bad for the difficulty, but also the pacing. Mario RPG remake is a 10 hour game compared with the SNES title which is around 20 hours. The design of this game feels centered around rushing through the game instead of savoring it, out of fear players will become uninterested if it isn't moving quick enough. A harder difficulty option that made enemy encounters harder and maybe nerfed these perfect dodging and attack spreading mechanics would have been more than welcome.
Because Mario RPG remake desperately needed some extra content, there are a few bosses you can refight after completing the game, each redesigned to enforce you legitimately have to strategize for the first time in the game. Why couldn't there have been a difficulty option akin to these refights? These fights are awesome, and actually require you to form unique strategies. They felt like they were made by the developers for RPG fans who've stuck with the genre for so many years. Speaking of the developers, Mario RPG’s original director Chihiro Fujioka had no part in the remake, and was not even let known of its creation.
Mario RPG remake ignores its legacy fans in order to make an overly-digestible RPG for genre newcomers. Yeah, sure, it's Mario RPG still. But, what does this game do better than the original? It plays it too safe and was designed to replace it. Nintendo is forcing this option onto their fans, since the original is unavailable on any of their storefronts. I can only hope we'll get a new Mario RPG game sooner or later, inspired from the creativity of its predecessors, instead of something like this weak imitation.
It completely ignores the originals art direction, ignoring the appealing figurine style of its characters embodied by their 90's silicon graphics, instead for clean and palatable redesigns of the cast. These designs were a product of their time, and tried to emulate realism as best as it could, creating an art style based on limitations. One of Mario's more interesting renditions got mulled over for the sake of marketability. Nintendo doesn't realize it's these nuances that made the original game so special, and ignoring it is ignoring its identity.
At the start of the game we're given an option to play on "Breezy'' difficulty or a standard difficulty. Modifications have been made to the combat in order to make it easier despite the standard difficulty stating it's for series veterans. If you time your attack combo properly, the damage will spread to all other enemies. Alongside that, there's perfect dodging now which eliminates all damage received. These are fairly easy to time as you'll get used to it quickly. They change the combat to be even easier and quicker, which is not only bad for the difficulty, but also the pacing. Mario RPG remake is a 10 hour game compared with the SNES title which is around 20 hours. The design of this game feels centered around rushing through the game instead of savoring it, out of fear players will become uninterested if it isn't moving quick enough. A harder difficulty option that made enemy encounters harder and maybe nerfed these perfect dodging and attack spreading mechanics would have been more than welcome.
Because Mario RPG remake desperately needed some extra content, there are a few bosses you can refight after completing the game, each redesigned to enforce you legitimately have to strategize for the first time in the game. Why couldn't there have been a difficulty option akin to these refights? These fights are awesome, and actually require you to form unique strategies. They felt like they were made by the developers for RPG fans who've stuck with the genre for so many years. Speaking of the developers, Mario RPG’s original director Chihiro Fujioka had no part in the remake, and was not even let known of its creation.
Mario RPG remake ignores its legacy fans in order to make an overly-digestible RPG for genre newcomers. Yeah, sure, it's Mario RPG still. But, what does this game do better than the original? It plays it too safe and was designed to replace it. Nintendo is forcing this option onto their fans, since the original is unavailable on any of their storefronts. I can only hope we'll get a new Mario RPG game sooner or later, inspired from the creativity of its predecessors, instead of something like this weak imitation.
Chrono Cross
1999
initially was going to convey this in a meaner, snarkier way for the bit but with how this game tied into trigger closer to the end i decided not to. the game is not subtle about how it feels having to follow up a dream team project like trigger and a certain set of characters basically have to refrain themselves from explicitly saying serge ruined chrono trigger, and because of that i would honestly feel kind of bad bringing that kind of attitude with this review. regardless, while i played chrono cross, the main thought that went through my head was "how is it that people thought cross didn't live up to trigger rather than the other way around?" but as i finished the game and write this review i feel as though cross didn't need to live up to trigger and that hinging its value on whether or not it does is a very childish way of looking at things.
to me, chrono trigger is a game that is held back by how near perfect it is. there's so little wrong with it that at least to me nothing really stands out anymore. there's nothing to grab onto, no imperfections to make it feel "complete" to me and as such i feel as though its reverence, while not necessarily misplaced, is harder for me to grasp because to me a "perfect" game without imperfections, as contradictory as it sounds, will never be perfect to me. meanwhile, chrono cross i found to be an amazing, thought provoking, mesmerizing game that pushed the playstation to its limits aesthetically, a game with so much to say about what it means to live and exist, what it means to dream. chrono cross is messy and imperfect in such beautiful ways, it knows its following up chrono trigger and while it still intends to be a continuation of a work like trigger it doesn't care what kind of shadow its living in and intends to be its own experience, flaws and all.
whether or not it lives up to chrono trigger is irrelevant, the arguments surrounding such are just attempts at insecure and childish posturing because these games, while connected are so different that its hardly worth comparing in that sense. i understand that nothing exists in a vacuum, let alone a sequel, but maybe it would do some people a lot of good to both understand the context of something like chrono cross while also letting it be its own experience.
to me, chrono trigger is a game that is held back by how near perfect it is. there's so little wrong with it that at least to me nothing really stands out anymore. there's nothing to grab onto, no imperfections to make it feel "complete" to me and as such i feel as though its reverence, while not necessarily misplaced, is harder for me to grasp because to me a "perfect" game without imperfections, as contradictory as it sounds, will never be perfect to me. meanwhile, chrono cross i found to be an amazing, thought provoking, mesmerizing game that pushed the playstation to its limits aesthetically, a game with so much to say about what it means to live and exist, what it means to dream. chrono cross is messy and imperfect in such beautiful ways, it knows its following up chrono trigger and while it still intends to be a continuation of a work like trigger it doesn't care what kind of shadow its living in and intends to be its own experience, flaws and all.
whether or not it lives up to chrono trigger is irrelevant, the arguments surrounding such are just attempts at insecure and childish posturing because these games, while connected are so different that its hardly worth comparing in that sense. i understand that nothing exists in a vacuum, let alone a sequel, but maybe it would do some people a lot of good to both understand the context of something like chrono cross while also letting it be its own experience.
redditors convincing themselves that Metal Gear As Written by Joss Whedon was actually hidden kino instead of yet another unfun platinum games hack and slash that's carried entirely by its soundtrack that just so happens to star post-character assassination raiden this time is one of the most extreme and simultaneously undeserved reputation shifts i've ever seen for a video game
A phenomenal video game adaptation of Plato's Cave Allegory. The giant boobs were a huge improvement on the original text.
Peggle
2007
Ok story time, so basically 3 years back I was on the brim of failure, I wanted to call it quits and I wanted to kill myself and my family, and one day while I was playing Peggle, I realised the beauty of life and how simple life can be, I started to realise that I'm not these feelings and I don't need to be, I have a poop fetish and I love shoving poop down my gullet, I quit my job the next day and moved to Utah with my family, easily the greatest decision in my life.
Now I'm back in my beautiful family with my beautiful wife Mariah Knits, with 3 little blues on the way, Thank you peggle.
Now I'm back in my beautiful family with my beautiful wife Mariah Knits, with 3 little blues on the way, Thank you peggle.
After coming back and forth to this expansion for three months, I finally beat Realm Reborn and god damn, I'm just glad it's over. It's a slog to get through, and requires you to do multiple filler, pointless fetch quests. The story, at least to me, wasn't something that I was very invested into, but it's still important to pay attention to because it sets up later storylines. The dungeons also kind of suck with some good ones along the way. It also doesn't help that I played a terrible, boring class up until post game, which is admittedly my fault, but it did diminish my experience. Unironically, I would say the best part of Realm Reborn is around the post game where things actually get interesting for later expansions such as Heavensward, which I do plan to fully play, as it seems like a HUGE upgrade from A Realm Reborn.
I think the most fun I had with this part of the game was being with friends, going through raids and dungeons with them, and goofing off sometimes in the world. I'm not too sure what I should expect for these next expansions, but with the quality upgrade in Heavensward thus far, I am hoping I can have more fun times with my friends.
IMPORTANT NOTE I NEEDED TO INCLUDE: I named my character Jiggle Gainsborough, the sister of Aerith Gainsborough from FFVII. She's strong. Just thought I should share it.
I think the most fun I had with this part of the game was being with friends, going through raids and dungeons with them, and goofing off sometimes in the world. I'm not too sure what I should expect for these next expansions, but with the quality upgrade in Heavensward thus far, I am hoping I can have more fun times with my friends.
IMPORTANT NOTE I NEEDED TO INCLUDE: I named my character Jiggle Gainsborough, the sister of Aerith Gainsborough from FFVII. She's strong. Just thought I should share it.
Chrome Dino
2014
My dad turns off my internet at 5:00 on the dot every day because he caught me talking to a 34 year old man on Roblox so this little guy keeps me company in the dead of night. Love this fun little guy
FightCade
2015
Hey guys! I just logged Fightcade as completed 5 s- SHUT UP! This is a PLATFORM. Not a VIDEO GAME. Stop acting like you play video games by logging shit like this. Nobody cares if you played Chrome Dino and Smash Bros. Fighter Pass 3. Go play some real shit like Modern Warfare then come talk to me.
Extra Mario Bros.
2005
A very cool and unique SMB1 Romhack that turns it into a Metroidvania. The catch is that the screen can still only scroll to the right. So all the branching paths and backtracking is handled via Warp Pipes.
This game seemed impossibly hard when I first played it with savestates but I've beaten it legit a few years later and it isn't actually as difficult as I originally thought. The Final Boss pretty impressive because it is giga bowser on NES.
You might wanna draw a map for this game.
Edit: Played it again and actually drew a Map. Was a fun process. To be honest I think this game would be better off with Infinite Lives. Since it's just tedious and frustrating getting back to Area 3 and 4 after getting a Game Over.
Use Game Genie Code: SXGOPO for Infinite Lives :)
This game seemed impossibly hard when I first played it with savestates but I've beaten it legit a few years later and it isn't actually as difficult as I originally thought. The Final Boss pretty impressive because it is giga bowser on NES.
You might wanna draw a map for this game.
Edit: Played it again and actually drew a Map. Was a fun process. To be honest I think this game would be better off with Infinite Lives. Since it's just tedious and frustrating getting back to Area 3 and 4 after getting a Game Over.
Use Game Genie Code: SXGOPO for Infinite Lives :)
dragon quest is by far my favorite series of all time, and even then i only hope i can one day love dragon quest as much as dragon quest 11 loves dragon quest. it hears everyone out there who ignorantly derides this series for every "this is too basic" criticism you could think of and simply says "even if you were right, who cares?", because dragon quest 11 is a game that adores the structure and stories of the games before while simultaneously knowing there's so much more that can and will be done with that structure going forward.
i'm really glad that i played all of the other 10 mainline games before 11, because it really does feel like a victory lap with all the little nods to the other games you notice along the way. i hope very deeply and sincerely that one day that this beautiful celebration of this momentous series's storied past will be looked upon as another step in its long history.
i'm really glad that i played all of the other 10 mainline games before 11, because it really does feel like a victory lap with all the little nods to the other games you notice along the way. i hope very deeply and sincerely that one day that this beautiful celebration of this momentous series's storied past will be looked upon as another step in its long history.
Lich hits Evunda for 600 points of damage.
Evunda has been defeated.
<Evunda> FML
LEVEL DOWN!
Final Fantasy XI sort of confuses me. It has all the things I should absolutely despise in a game: pointless and tedious grinding, a confusing set of missions, poorly explained tutorials, an overwhelming reliance on fan wikis to do quite literally anything, a story that at first doesn’t seem all that special, a relatively boring combat system that isn’t very special in any particular way, clunky and old UIs... But I believe that Final Fantasy XI's imperfections make it perfect, make it loveable, and make it filled with an overwhelming feeling of “soul” that is very hard to come by nowadays with most MMOs, or hell, most games in general. It is such a bundle of love and joy that I find myself at a loss for words when prompted to describe it in length. But I will do so anyway, because I love this game; it helped me heal, it helped me develop my sense of self, and it brought me comfort at a time when nothing in this world did. These are my experiences and my honest feelings about a little video game called Final Fantasy XI. I hope you enjoy the read, and I'm sorry if it gets too heavy. Grab yourself something cozy to drink—some San d’Orian tea, perhaps?
I had known of Final Fantasy XI for a really long time and I always thought it looked cute, something about it struck a particular fancy I had in my little heart. The old, charming, and PS2-era graphics coupled with the wonderful musical score I had grown accustomed to listening to made me quite interested. I knew that I had to try it for myself. I gathered enough of my hard-earned R$ to purchase the ultimate edition and began my descent into a game that would change my life and my soul forever. And what a time it was—that December in which I started Final Fantasy XI. I had just graduated from high school (class of 23!) and was at a point in my life where I was deeply uncertain about a lot of things. Mental illness and being unsure about your past can really take a toll on you and mold you in various ways that are toxic and unwelcoming to other people. You begin to sort of hate yourself, hate the person you’re becoming, and hate thinking about where you’re going to end up in life, and it leaves you drained, pathetic, and sad. It’s never easy. In Final Fantasy XI, my aching mind wanted to find some form of salvation, some form of healing, just to find anything that I could hold onto, even if just for a little bit of time. I ended up finding something much more. We all have games that changed us, or that found us in a time where life was knocking at the door, telling us to come out of our little room we burrowed ourselves in. This was mine.
I’ve never made it a secret to anyone who knows me that I struggle with borderline personality disorder. It’s a nasty thing. I will not be divulging details on how it works or how it makes me feel here; this isn’t the DSM-5, and this isn’t a piece about myself. Now you, the reader, might think this information isn’t very relevant, but it is. When I spoke of healing, when I spoke of wanting to grab onto something when it felt like everything sucked and no one cared about me, it all stemmed from the fact that I was suffering from the ills of, well, mental illness. In this world, we have to find blankets, right? Someone or something to coddle us and make us feel safe, to sort of guide us in the dark to a world where we feel like we can finally be happy. As stupid and silly as it sounds, this was Final Fantasy XI to me. When the entire world is so dark, a little bit of light is all we need to keep going. Vana’diel, at that time, was my light.
Dashing into that world of light, I made my character. A little blonde Mithra named Evunda. A sort of stupid and silly name with absolutely no thought of meaning behind it. I picked Warrior because I am very basic, and I didn’t feel like delving too deep into the magic or thieving systems just yet. Starting off in Bastok, a little stone fortress located right in the middle of Gustaberg, so polished and pretty and yet so daunting at the same time. I walked outside those Bastok gates into Gustaberg, and for a while I just... wandered around, listening to the music and killing whatever I came across. It was at that moment that, for some reason, I had a feeling of nostalgia. It somehow felt like home. Despite me never touching this game before, it felt like I had. It felt like somehow, despite a lot of turmoil, I found myself back somewhere I’d forgotten, but somewhere I desperately longed to be in. Leveling up and finding my way around the UI and the systems was a form of therapy. It was beautiful, really. I felt alive, and I felt in control of myself for the first time in a while. It felt like somehow time had stopped, and that was all there was to the world in that moment, killing bugs and leveling up.
And Evunda kept on going. Doing quests for the nations, adventuring, exploring, leveling up, leveling down, coming back to the mog house, dying, being revived by a kind passerby, earning conquest points, coming across new gear... Perhaps it is strange to feel such an overwhelming feeling of healing and kindness from doing tasks I assume other people would find tedious or boring, especially considering Final Fantasy XI’s clunkiness. But wow, it felt great! I was making so much progress that I even started one of the expansions, Chains of Promathia, and did a few quests regarding that. How cool is that? I felt so happy that I tried to share my happiness with everyone around me. I think it was around this time that I felt myself change in slight ways. I wasn’t really all that mean anymore; I wasn’t doing anything stupid or wrong. I was just a normal person. Perhaps it comes with being 18 and maturing, but even so, Final Fantasy XI sped up that maturity. I was met with kindness by strangers in the game, helping me with systems, explaining mechanics, and overall just hanging out with me. They didn’t know, but I needed that so badly that it kind of made me tear up some times.
I settled on being a Dark Knight, which is funny considering what my character looks like; it’s kind of jarring! A little tiny blonde Mithra wielding a scythe, wearing all dark, chaotic-looking armor, is quite the funny image. I did it because of the scythes. I am not immune to looking like a cool reaper. A DRK/WAR… A cool combo, I think... But mostly because I was too lazy to level up a second job alongside DRK, I just settled with my WAR, which already had 30 levels sunk into it. It was fun. It really was. I felt like I belonged somewhere in this little world, and it was Vana’diel! Being a part of it all, even if I am, by all standards, a very late newcomer to this game that's existed for so long, 22 years is a hell of a long time; I haven't even been on this earth for that long! To think it all happened in a single month…
December, huh… The jolliest of all months—Christmas and New Year's—all happen in December. I had navigated so much of the time before December completely alone and aimless on what to do with my life. I loved, lost, got hurt, felt like I was doomed, and at the end of it all, I think I became rather apathetic. I’ve been dropping tidbits of it here and there when attempting to explain what Final Fantasy XI did to me, but this is the part where it all comes into play. I have to be honest with myself; I was kind of a bad person. I said a lot of things to people that I now deeply regret. I broke friendships, broke myself, and broke so much. At the end of it all, I felt like the biggest loser in the world and someone who didn’t really deserve to live. Final Fantasy XI grabbed me by the collar, put itself around me, and warmed me up. Those nights where I drank tea while wandering around felt like a mother hugging her child. It’s embarrassing. Perhaps it’s even cringeworthy, but it’s how I felt, and it’s how I still feel. I still play, and I still enjoy myself. Sometimes I joke around about how much the game makes me want to die, but it is quite the opposite. I want to keep on going. I want to fix things. I want to continue healing and helping those around me. Final Fantasy XI woke me up to a lot of things; it’s inexplicable. All you need in life, as I said previously, is that guiding light. I found mine, not in a person or a figure, but in a silly little video game. How dumb.
Apologies if it got heavy; this is my heart. It’s what I’m putting out here for all you passersby to see. A little piece of my mind, a little piece of my life, and a little piece of my feelings are on this little website. I love you, whoever’s reading this. Please find yourself that blanket. Find your light. It can be anything; it can be a stupid video game; it can be a movie; it can be a book; it can be music. We all need it at the end of the day, I think. We’re all eternally lonely creatures on this little, messed-up planet. If we can’t have each other, we might as well have ourselves and our blanket. We can face the world when we’re ready, can’t we? I’m unsure of the answer, as much is bound to happen, both in my life outside of here and in Final Fantasy XI, Evunda’s little adventure and tale. But I believe the ending will be good; that’s what keeps me going.
And to close all of this, thank you, Vana’diel; you saved my life. I owe all I have right now to you. Have my eternal love and gratitude. The world cultivated there has a soul like no other. I pray for others to read this and try to understand it. Much love, forever and ever.
100.000 gil for some grass is criminal though I CAN’T FORGIVE THAT. I SPENT 4 HOURS GRINDING FOR THAT I DIDN’T HAVE MONEY I HATE ALL YOU FINAL FANTASY XI HYPER CAPITALISTS!!!!!!! (COME SAY HI IM EVUNDA LEVEL 56 DRK/WAR IN BAHAMUT I WELCOME THEE)
Evunda has been defeated.
<Evunda> FML
LEVEL DOWN!
Final Fantasy XI sort of confuses me. It has all the things I should absolutely despise in a game: pointless and tedious grinding, a confusing set of missions, poorly explained tutorials, an overwhelming reliance on fan wikis to do quite literally anything, a story that at first doesn’t seem all that special, a relatively boring combat system that isn’t very special in any particular way, clunky and old UIs... But I believe that Final Fantasy XI's imperfections make it perfect, make it loveable, and make it filled with an overwhelming feeling of “soul” that is very hard to come by nowadays with most MMOs, or hell, most games in general. It is such a bundle of love and joy that I find myself at a loss for words when prompted to describe it in length. But I will do so anyway, because I love this game; it helped me heal, it helped me develop my sense of self, and it brought me comfort at a time when nothing in this world did. These are my experiences and my honest feelings about a little video game called Final Fantasy XI. I hope you enjoy the read, and I'm sorry if it gets too heavy. Grab yourself something cozy to drink—some San d’Orian tea, perhaps?
I had known of Final Fantasy XI for a really long time and I always thought it looked cute, something about it struck a particular fancy I had in my little heart. The old, charming, and PS2-era graphics coupled with the wonderful musical score I had grown accustomed to listening to made me quite interested. I knew that I had to try it for myself. I gathered enough of my hard-earned R$ to purchase the ultimate edition and began my descent into a game that would change my life and my soul forever. And what a time it was—that December in which I started Final Fantasy XI. I had just graduated from high school (class of 23!) and was at a point in my life where I was deeply uncertain about a lot of things. Mental illness and being unsure about your past can really take a toll on you and mold you in various ways that are toxic and unwelcoming to other people. You begin to sort of hate yourself, hate the person you’re becoming, and hate thinking about where you’re going to end up in life, and it leaves you drained, pathetic, and sad. It’s never easy. In Final Fantasy XI, my aching mind wanted to find some form of salvation, some form of healing, just to find anything that I could hold onto, even if just for a little bit of time. I ended up finding something much more. We all have games that changed us, or that found us in a time where life was knocking at the door, telling us to come out of our little room we burrowed ourselves in. This was mine.
I’ve never made it a secret to anyone who knows me that I struggle with borderline personality disorder. It’s a nasty thing. I will not be divulging details on how it works or how it makes me feel here; this isn’t the DSM-5, and this isn’t a piece about myself. Now you, the reader, might think this information isn’t very relevant, but it is. When I spoke of healing, when I spoke of wanting to grab onto something when it felt like everything sucked and no one cared about me, it all stemmed from the fact that I was suffering from the ills of, well, mental illness. In this world, we have to find blankets, right? Someone or something to coddle us and make us feel safe, to sort of guide us in the dark to a world where we feel like we can finally be happy. As stupid and silly as it sounds, this was Final Fantasy XI to me. When the entire world is so dark, a little bit of light is all we need to keep going. Vana’diel, at that time, was my light.
Dashing into that world of light, I made my character. A little blonde Mithra named Evunda. A sort of stupid and silly name with absolutely no thought of meaning behind it. I picked Warrior because I am very basic, and I didn’t feel like delving too deep into the magic or thieving systems just yet. Starting off in Bastok, a little stone fortress located right in the middle of Gustaberg, so polished and pretty and yet so daunting at the same time. I walked outside those Bastok gates into Gustaberg, and for a while I just... wandered around, listening to the music and killing whatever I came across. It was at that moment that, for some reason, I had a feeling of nostalgia. It somehow felt like home. Despite me never touching this game before, it felt like I had. It felt like somehow, despite a lot of turmoil, I found myself back somewhere I’d forgotten, but somewhere I desperately longed to be in. Leveling up and finding my way around the UI and the systems was a form of therapy. It was beautiful, really. I felt alive, and I felt in control of myself for the first time in a while. It felt like somehow time had stopped, and that was all there was to the world in that moment, killing bugs and leveling up.
And Evunda kept on going. Doing quests for the nations, adventuring, exploring, leveling up, leveling down, coming back to the mog house, dying, being revived by a kind passerby, earning conquest points, coming across new gear... Perhaps it is strange to feel such an overwhelming feeling of healing and kindness from doing tasks I assume other people would find tedious or boring, especially considering Final Fantasy XI’s clunkiness. But wow, it felt great! I was making so much progress that I even started one of the expansions, Chains of Promathia, and did a few quests regarding that. How cool is that? I felt so happy that I tried to share my happiness with everyone around me. I think it was around this time that I felt myself change in slight ways. I wasn’t really all that mean anymore; I wasn’t doing anything stupid or wrong. I was just a normal person. Perhaps it comes with being 18 and maturing, but even so, Final Fantasy XI sped up that maturity. I was met with kindness by strangers in the game, helping me with systems, explaining mechanics, and overall just hanging out with me. They didn’t know, but I needed that so badly that it kind of made me tear up some times.
I settled on being a Dark Knight, which is funny considering what my character looks like; it’s kind of jarring! A little tiny blonde Mithra wielding a scythe, wearing all dark, chaotic-looking armor, is quite the funny image. I did it because of the scythes. I am not immune to looking like a cool reaper. A DRK/WAR… A cool combo, I think... But mostly because I was too lazy to level up a second job alongside DRK, I just settled with my WAR, which already had 30 levels sunk into it. It was fun. It really was. I felt like I belonged somewhere in this little world, and it was Vana’diel! Being a part of it all, even if I am, by all standards, a very late newcomer to this game that's existed for so long, 22 years is a hell of a long time; I haven't even been on this earth for that long! To think it all happened in a single month…
December, huh… The jolliest of all months—Christmas and New Year's—all happen in December. I had navigated so much of the time before December completely alone and aimless on what to do with my life. I loved, lost, got hurt, felt like I was doomed, and at the end of it all, I think I became rather apathetic. I’ve been dropping tidbits of it here and there when attempting to explain what Final Fantasy XI did to me, but this is the part where it all comes into play. I have to be honest with myself; I was kind of a bad person. I said a lot of things to people that I now deeply regret. I broke friendships, broke myself, and broke so much. At the end of it all, I felt like the biggest loser in the world and someone who didn’t really deserve to live. Final Fantasy XI grabbed me by the collar, put itself around me, and warmed me up. Those nights where I drank tea while wandering around felt like a mother hugging her child. It’s embarrassing. Perhaps it’s even cringeworthy, but it’s how I felt, and it’s how I still feel. I still play, and I still enjoy myself. Sometimes I joke around about how much the game makes me want to die, but it is quite the opposite. I want to keep on going. I want to fix things. I want to continue healing and helping those around me. Final Fantasy XI woke me up to a lot of things; it’s inexplicable. All you need in life, as I said previously, is that guiding light. I found mine, not in a person or a figure, but in a silly little video game. How dumb.
Apologies if it got heavy; this is my heart. It’s what I’m putting out here for all you passersby to see. A little piece of my mind, a little piece of my life, and a little piece of my feelings are on this little website. I love you, whoever’s reading this. Please find yourself that blanket. Find your light. It can be anything; it can be a stupid video game; it can be a movie; it can be a book; it can be music. We all need it at the end of the day, I think. We’re all eternally lonely creatures on this little, messed-up planet. If we can’t have each other, we might as well have ourselves and our blanket. We can face the world when we’re ready, can’t we? I’m unsure of the answer, as much is bound to happen, both in my life outside of here and in Final Fantasy XI, Evunda’s little adventure and tale. But I believe the ending will be good; that’s what keeps me going.
And to close all of this, thank you, Vana’diel; you saved my life. I owe all I have right now to you. Have my eternal love and gratitude. The world cultivated there has a soul like no other. I pray for others to read this and try to understand it. Much love, forever and ever.
100.000 gil for some grass is criminal though I CAN’T FORGIVE THAT. I SPENT 4 HOURS GRINDING FOR THAT I DIDN’T HAVE MONEY I HATE ALL YOU FINAL FANTASY XI HYPER CAPITALISTS!!!!!!! (COME SAY HI IM EVUNDA LEVEL 56 DRK/WAR IN BAHAMUT I WELCOME THEE)
This review contains spoilers
very very charming game that I enjoyed quite a bit
and since I struggle at writing reviews im just gonna list a topic and rant about it for a second
the music? great
the art style? so incredibly charming with everything in this game just being a joy to look at
the dungeons?
well I thought all the dungeons were pretty fun and the same goes with all of the puzzles in the dungeons/in the game overall
my only real issue is that the game just spells everything out for you at every possible moment
everything still feels fun to explore the puzzles are still fun and rewarding to solve especially with how unique their gimmicks are but the game just loves to hold your hand and tell you exactly what must be done and where to go
the same can be said for the combat
it is unbelievably easy 99% of the time
you just target your enemy and spam the attack button
and the times the combat is hard
well
sometimes its cool and fun like the knights where you have to perfectly time a parry to strip off pieces of their armor (these guys are basically the only enemy type that is like this and semi difficult btw)
and other times they spawn in 100+ enemies and your targeting starts to actively work against you
my favorite example of this is the like flying wizard dudes who can spawn in enemies
you almost always want to take them out first so enemies will stop spawning but the targeting system just loves to target everyone but the flying wizard dudes
this isn't to say the combat is bad however
I think its really fun and I love how they mix in other items into the combat
sure it isn't hard to target then press a button to quickly throw a boomerang/shoot a arrow/flap your deku leaf/aim your mirror shield then go right back to spamming the attack button
but its cool
I like the different weaknesses the enemies have
oh and I guess I should mention those giant ass skeleton guys are kinda ass since they just never stop spinning
but overall combat good
exploration?
really good
I love the islands filled with the charming characters
I love seeing the characters evolve even if its only a little bit
and I love the activities and quest lines they send you on
but even the tiny islands with no characters at all were fun to explore and I think a good way to explain all of this would be to share my time doing the tri force quest
for those who are unaware the game makes you go out and find 8 tri force shards
looking at the reviews for the game on this site it seems a lot of people were not a fan of this quest
I however kinda liked it
but it wasn't without issues
basically I decided to do the earth and wind temples before finding any of the shards
which btw side note: the game implies you can do any temple you want first but I actually just couldn't do wind temple before doing earth first
also don't get why its called earth temple when everything in the temple was based off light and darkness and the mirror shield but ok
anyways
after doing the temples I decided to go after the shards and thankfully your buddy ol pal tingle gives you a chart showing you where all of them are via the mailbox
it cost quite a bit but its easily worth it
and this is one of those special charts where its just the whole map and even shows your exact pinpoint location at all times
so I was just sailing away to all these tri force shards and checking out every interesting island along the way
a lot of these islands were these fairy islands with fairies who can give you upgrades like increasing how many bombs you can carry or how many arrows you can carry or how much magic you can have
and a lot of these islands also had these unground caverns with the reward for most of them being money
well you can only carry 500 rupees by default and I think it was the moment where I had 500 rupees and I beat one of these caverns and the reward in the chest was a silver rupee which is worth 200 rupees and it just went into thin air where I was like "damn I wish these fairies could give me a money upgrade"
then I got 2 tri force charts and I went to tingle to decipher them and the dude charges you 398 rupees per chart meaning I could only do 1 and I was like "damn I really really wish I had a money upgrade right now"
and it was while I was looking for my newly deciphered tri force chart that I saw the tingle chart that you get near the beginning of the game that ive never once opened
turns out it was a special chart with 2 fair locations on it
and both of them were money upgrades
yeah I felt pretty stupid and was quite annoyed in that moment
but after getting my money upgrades and grinding the labyrinth for money I continued my quest for tri force shards by using my tri force charts
and here is where we get into a big issue for the game
tressure charts and the sea chart/map suck
I don't mind the idea of having to chart out my map
and I like the idea of cross referencing tressure charts/tri force charts with my map
the issue is that charting the map is just so unbelievably tedious
at least in the beginning of the game
basically you have to talk to this fish guy at every island and feed him bait
the issue is that the bait cost like 30 rupees for a bundle of 3 and when you only have 500 rupees max but most likely actually less than that since you're probably not making that much money plus not to mention I think you can only buy bait at outset island unless im just dead wrong and refused to look anywhere else
its just ass
its also pointless since the king of red lions for like the majority of the game just marks where you have to go even if the area is undiscovered
so there is just no reason to ever chart out the map until this very point in the game where you have to cross reference tri force charts
and my map was looking pretty empty
thankfully however my newly found riches and the ability to fast travel which you unlock later on in the game made charting out the map pretty easy
just fast travel to outset and buy a ton of bait
then start sailing away to every island
and I got to explore even more islands and their fun puzzles and caverns
so it wasn't all bad
however being informed about the swift sail in the auction house by the fish dude as I was finishing up charting everything was slightly annoying
I also realized I think you're intended to speak to the fish dude to figure out the locations of the iron boots and the power bracelets but I talked to the sailor dude at windfall to figure that stuff out (was pretty fun figuring that out btw)
so yeah the exploration is fun
sailing is cool and the islands all have cool things to them
I just hate the damn sea chart
uhhhh
bosses
I like all of them besides the final 2
they are all really fun with unique gimmicks
gimmicks that aren't hard to figure out either since they almost always revolve around the item you obtain in that dungeon
then I got to puppet ganon
and I just didn't know what to do
now don't get me wrong its not that hard to figure out
the item you obtain is the light arrows and the puppet itself is a all black creature with a weird blue ball on its tail
for those who don't understand
you shoot the ball with the light arrows
but my dumbass spent 5 mins just throwing my boomerang at his puppet strings just over and over again until I finally decided to look it up
but even after looking it up and figuring out what to do the boss fight just isn't that good
especially that 3rd phase
bro turns into a fish like creature I think and runs around at the speed of sound sometimes charging at you and does a shit ton of damage
and you just have to get lucky with your bow shots
so ass
and the final fight with ganon is also kinda mid
but all the other fights are fun af and I really enjoyed them
the story? simple but good
nothing too special about it but its interesting enough to keep you invested the whole time and the characters are all pretty charming
I also think the idea that the whole world is just a flooded hyrule and the islands are hyrules hills is so cool
one final thing I can think of that I wanna mention is that the platforming feels like ass
but its really not that much of an issue especially when you get the deku leaf
but the like 3 instances where you are forced to hop between platforms and swing from rope to rope
it feels horrible
overall though game is great and I heavily enjoyed it 👍
and since I struggle at writing reviews im just gonna list a topic and rant about it for a second
the music? great
the art style? so incredibly charming with everything in this game just being a joy to look at
the dungeons?
well I thought all the dungeons were pretty fun and the same goes with all of the puzzles in the dungeons/in the game overall
my only real issue is that the game just spells everything out for you at every possible moment
everything still feels fun to explore the puzzles are still fun and rewarding to solve especially with how unique their gimmicks are but the game just loves to hold your hand and tell you exactly what must be done and where to go
the same can be said for the combat
it is unbelievably easy 99% of the time
you just target your enemy and spam the attack button
and the times the combat is hard
well
sometimes its cool and fun like the knights where you have to perfectly time a parry to strip off pieces of their armor (these guys are basically the only enemy type that is like this and semi difficult btw)
and other times they spawn in 100+ enemies and your targeting starts to actively work against you
my favorite example of this is the like flying wizard dudes who can spawn in enemies
you almost always want to take them out first so enemies will stop spawning but the targeting system just loves to target everyone but the flying wizard dudes
this isn't to say the combat is bad however
I think its really fun and I love how they mix in other items into the combat
sure it isn't hard to target then press a button to quickly throw a boomerang/shoot a arrow/flap your deku leaf/aim your mirror shield then go right back to spamming the attack button
but its cool
I like the different weaknesses the enemies have
oh and I guess I should mention those giant ass skeleton guys are kinda ass since they just never stop spinning
but overall combat good
exploration?
really good
I love the islands filled with the charming characters
I love seeing the characters evolve even if its only a little bit
and I love the activities and quest lines they send you on
but even the tiny islands with no characters at all were fun to explore and I think a good way to explain all of this would be to share my time doing the tri force quest
for those who are unaware the game makes you go out and find 8 tri force shards
looking at the reviews for the game on this site it seems a lot of people were not a fan of this quest
I however kinda liked it
but it wasn't without issues
basically I decided to do the earth and wind temples before finding any of the shards
which btw side note: the game implies you can do any temple you want first but I actually just couldn't do wind temple before doing earth first
also don't get why its called earth temple when everything in the temple was based off light and darkness and the mirror shield but ok
anyways
after doing the temples I decided to go after the shards and thankfully your buddy ol pal tingle gives you a chart showing you where all of them are via the mailbox
it cost quite a bit but its easily worth it
and this is one of those special charts where its just the whole map and even shows your exact pinpoint location at all times
so I was just sailing away to all these tri force shards and checking out every interesting island along the way
a lot of these islands were these fairy islands with fairies who can give you upgrades like increasing how many bombs you can carry or how many arrows you can carry or how much magic you can have
and a lot of these islands also had these unground caverns with the reward for most of them being money
well you can only carry 500 rupees by default and I think it was the moment where I had 500 rupees and I beat one of these caverns and the reward in the chest was a silver rupee which is worth 200 rupees and it just went into thin air where I was like "damn I wish these fairies could give me a money upgrade"
then I got 2 tri force charts and I went to tingle to decipher them and the dude charges you 398 rupees per chart meaning I could only do 1 and I was like "damn I really really wish I had a money upgrade right now"
and it was while I was looking for my newly deciphered tri force chart that I saw the tingle chart that you get near the beginning of the game that ive never once opened
turns out it was a special chart with 2 fair locations on it
and both of them were money upgrades
yeah I felt pretty stupid and was quite annoyed in that moment
but after getting my money upgrades and grinding the labyrinth for money I continued my quest for tri force shards by using my tri force charts
and here is where we get into a big issue for the game
tressure charts and the sea chart/map suck
I don't mind the idea of having to chart out my map
and I like the idea of cross referencing tressure charts/tri force charts with my map
the issue is that charting the map is just so unbelievably tedious
at least in the beginning of the game
basically you have to talk to this fish guy at every island and feed him bait
the issue is that the bait cost like 30 rupees for a bundle of 3 and when you only have 500 rupees max but most likely actually less than that since you're probably not making that much money plus not to mention I think you can only buy bait at outset island unless im just dead wrong and refused to look anywhere else
its just ass
its also pointless since the king of red lions for like the majority of the game just marks where you have to go even if the area is undiscovered
so there is just no reason to ever chart out the map until this very point in the game where you have to cross reference tri force charts
and my map was looking pretty empty
thankfully however my newly found riches and the ability to fast travel which you unlock later on in the game made charting out the map pretty easy
just fast travel to outset and buy a ton of bait
then start sailing away to every island
and I got to explore even more islands and their fun puzzles and caverns
so it wasn't all bad
however being informed about the swift sail in the auction house by the fish dude as I was finishing up charting everything was slightly annoying
I also realized I think you're intended to speak to the fish dude to figure out the locations of the iron boots and the power bracelets but I talked to the sailor dude at windfall to figure that stuff out (was pretty fun figuring that out btw)
so yeah the exploration is fun
sailing is cool and the islands all have cool things to them
I just hate the damn sea chart
uhhhh
bosses
I like all of them besides the final 2
they are all really fun with unique gimmicks
gimmicks that aren't hard to figure out either since they almost always revolve around the item you obtain in that dungeon
then I got to puppet ganon
and I just didn't know what to do
now don't get me wrong its not that hard to figure out
the item you obtain is the light arrows and the puppet itself is a all black creature with a weird blue ball on its tail
for those who don't understand
you shoot the ball with the light arrows
but my dumbass spent 5 mins just throwing my boomerang at his puppet strings just over and over again until I finally decided to look it up
but even after looking it up and figuring out what to do the boss fight just isn't that good
especially that 3rd phase
bro turns into a fish like creature I think and runs around at the speed of sound sometimes charging at you and does a shit ton of damage
and you just have to get lucky with your bow shots
so ass
and the final fight with ganon is also kinda mid
but all the other fights are fun af and I really enjoyed them
the story? simple but good
nothing too special about it but its interesting enough to keep you invested the whole time and the characters are all pretty charming
I also think the idea that the whole world is just a flooded hyrule and the islands are hyrules hills is so cool
one final thing I can think of that I wanna mention is that the platforming feels like ass
but its really not that much of an issue especially when you get the deku leaf
but the like 3 instances where you are forced to hop between platforms and swing from rope to rope
it feels horrible
overall though game is great and I heavily enjoyed it 👍
anyone who's known me for any amount of time could probably tell you that dragon quest is far and away my favorite series of all time, i love it dearly and to death. despite this, like most franchises i love, i struggle to reconcile with the wider opinions the fans of dragon quest hold, most of all the near universal acclaim of dragon quest 8. even the other dragon quests i don't "get" in the same way, namely 5 and 9, at least have something about them that i can understand being a hook to some even if i don't necessarily agree, but i just can not wrap my head around the fanbase's—and jrpg fans as a whole's—opinion on dragon quest 8. i understand that it had a lot uniquely going for it at the time, especially a demo for final fantasy 12, but despite most of what it had going for it at the time being less and less unique as time goes on the opinion of dragon quest 8 being one of the better dragon quest prevails, and i just don't get it.
don't get me wrong, i still enjoy this game! honestly having played every game in the mainline series other than finishing 11 at the time of writing this the only ones i even dislike are 2 and 9. in terms of positives i think dq8 has a great cast between the party and dhoulmagus, and despite the acoustics of the orchestral versions being questionable 8's soundtrack is really great. the final boss theme in 8 is unironically tied with 9 for my favorite final boss theme in the series, there was obviously as much love put into this game as every other dragon quest and that in of itself is charming to me.
however, that's sadly about where i run into the things i don't really care for. more than any other game in the series i find dragon quest 8 to be the embodiment of what most people who dislike or don't respect this series come to think of it; dragon quest 8 is a formulaic comfort food type of game without much notable to say outside of vibes and character writing. outside of dhoulmagus, yangus, and angelo there's not really that much to say about the story (and even what there is to say isn't crazy unique), the reliance on psyche-up and lack of distinct party variety outside of the 3ds version makes combat land on the less engaging side of what the series has to offer which is really not great when this game seemed to over-correct on people complaining about 7's combat-less intro (and to be honest nothing is more irritating to me than a sequel over-correcting on what made a much better game unique and appealing!), and the game is somehow on the longer end of dragon quest play times despite utilizing it the most haphazardly.
despite all that though, it's still dragon quest and i still get the base appeal! it's still a very strong 7/10 game for me and i'm glad i played it despite all of that because at the end of the day it's all dragon quest and i love dragon quest. it's just confusing and maybe a bit frustrating to see how common of a sentiment it is in the western fanbase to deride titles like 6 and 7 while parading a game like 8, maybe the most "generic" dragon quest in a series that outsiders deride for being generic, as a masterful golden goose of the entire franchise. i get that this game was the first 3d dragon quest, i get that it had voice acting and overseas it had an orchestral soundtrack, i get that there was a final fantasy 12 demo packaged with the game, and i get that plenty of people are nostalgic for this game but almost 20 years later with more and more people playing this game completely divorced from that context, what merits of its own does it really have? why out of every dragon quest game is it 8 that's so popular? i just really really don't get it.
don't get me wrong, i still enjoy this game! honestly having played every game in the mainline series other than finishing 11 at the time of writing this the only ones i even dislike are 2 and 9. in terms of positives i think dq8 has a great cast between the party and dhoulmagus, and despite the acoustics of the orchestral versions being questionable 8's soundtrack is really great. the final boss theme in 8 is unironically tied with 9 for my favorite final boss theme in the series, there was obviously as much love put into this game as every other dragon quest and that in of itself is charming to me.
however, that's sadly about where i run into the things i don't really care for. more than any other game in the series i find dragon quest 8 to be the embodiment of what most people who dislike or don't respect this series come to think of it; dragon quest 8 is a formulaic comfort food type of game without much notable to say outside of vibes and character writing. outside of dhoulmagus, yangus, and angelo there's not really that much to say about the story (and even what there is to say isn't crazy unique), the reliance on psyche-up and lack of distinct party variety outside of the 3ds version makes combat land on the less engaging side of what the series has to offer which is really not great when this game seemed to over-correct on people complaining about 7's combat-less intro (and to be honest nothing is more irritating to me than a sequel over-correcting on what made a much better game unique and appealing!), and the game is somehow on the longer end of dragon quest play times despite utilizing it the most haphazardly.
despite all that though, it's still dragon quest and i still get the base appeal! it's still a very strong 7/10 game for me and i'm glad i played it despite all of that because at the end of the day it's all dragon quest and i love dragon quest. it's just confusing and maybe a bit frustrating to see how common of a sentiment it is in the western fanbase to deride titles like 6 and 7 while parading a game like 8, maybe the most "generic" dragon quest in a series that outsiders deride for being generic, as a masterful golden goose of the entire franchise. i get that this game was the first 3d dragon quest, i get that it had voice acting and overseas it had an orchestral soundtrack, i get that there was a final fantasy 12 demo packaged with the game, and i get that plenty of people are nostalgic for this game but almost 20 years later with more and more people playing this game completely divorced from that context, what merits of its own does it really have? why out of every dragon quest game is it 8 that's so popular? i just really really don't get it.