I love Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy has been my go-to franchise for just about as long as I have played video games, and this is true for many RPG fans. As the years march on Final Fantasy has become a shadow of what it once was, but many people, myself included, can look back on decades of history with fondness. Anyways, that doesn't really have a whole lot to do with where I'm going here. One of the things I think is so interesting about Final Fantasy is that typically each game feels radically different from the one before without actually making that many big changes. As a result of this and the pure number of Final Fantasy games out there, people tend to have very different opinions on each game. I always find it really interesting talking to people I know about which ones they liked and which they did not, and why. That's where this post comes in.
So for whatever reason, I recently got to thinking about Final Fantasy IV. Reason being, the game has always been a bit of an enigma to me. That's not to say I Don't like it, by any means, but why I like it is a hard question to answer. If you were to look at the game with a critical eye, chances are you would find that it is pretty lacking in areas, even by 1991 areas. So why is it that the game is so celebrated? I can't speak for everyone, not can I claim to really know the answer, but I figured it was worth some thought anyways.
If you've followed me since the start of this year, you may have noticed something. I was fairly critical of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Case in point. The fact of the matter is, I've been a massive fan of Final Fantasy for a really long time. I thought Final Fantasy XIII was deeply flawed, but pretty fun none the less. I thought it had a lot of potential, and XIII-2 promised to deliver on that potential. Instead we got a couple fixes at the expense of a floundering mess of a game. Sure, it fixed the mistakes of it's predecessor, but it create more (and bigger) problems in the process. When I was done with XIII-2 I felt disappointed, and a little betrayed even. So suffice it to say that when I heard the official announcement of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, a lot of thoughts went through my mind. Read on for my best attempt at arranging those thoughts into something coherent.
The Elder Scrolls series is one that is very close to the heart of it's fans. People who have been around since Morrowing and beyond are almost fanatical about the games, and it seems like the more time goes by, the more the fanaticism seems to spread. So it wasn't surprising that when Skyrim was announced, millions of gamers stood at attention. Hype surrounding this game was astounding, and even now after the game has been released, the game is getting almost universal rave reviews. Personally I had never played an Elder Scrolls game before Skyrim, and my experience with Bethesda games in general was exceptionally small, though that's another story that I'll get into in a moment. At this point in time I have played Skyrim for about 40 hours, and I thought I would give my thoughts on the game, as someone who is new to the Elder Scrolls series. However before I start I want to point out that this is in no way a review of the game. I'm a strong proponent of the idea that a game cannot be properly reviewed until beaten. However that said, 40 hours is a significant chunk of time and I while I in no way claim it is indicative of the game on the whole, it's certainly enough to develop an opinon based on what I have seen. So with said, read on to read my impressions thus far!
