Square Enix and the Merch

Man Square Enix, you just live to piss me off, don’t you? Apparently you’ve opened your merchandise store to the west, and rather than being a force of awesome, you’ve filled it with lousy merchandise and worthless jewelry so teenage otaku have something to go with their black nail polish.

Let’s look at the subcategories on the side navigation bar. We’ve got specific links for every Final Fantasy from 7 to 12…. oh wait. FF9 isn’t there. Sorry Zidane; guess you weren’t emo enough pal. The rest of the FF’s, as well as all of Dragon Quest are each lumped into a big series category. Just great.

I guess we can still look at what they have. Hmm. Seems the other FF’s have nothing to offer me but figurines of summons. →  Read the rest

Review – Dragon Quest 8

Dragon Quest 8 is a big game. Big in terms of how much content has been pressed onto the disc, in terms of how popular/hyped (insert appropriate word for your region) it was during release, and in terms of how much of a leap forward it is for the entire series. All in all, this is a frank and clear picture of everything that is right and wrong with this genre 20 years after Dragon Quest helped create it. There’s a lot of ground to cover here, so let’s cut the introductory B.S. and get right to it.

Sometimes, when feeling contemplative, I like to stand high up on this mountain overlooking the forest and think about all of the deep issues this game’s plot doesn’t try to touch.

My knowledge of Dragon Quest is more than a bit rusty, but as far as I know this is the first game in the genre to feature a large, fully realized overworld similar to ones found in MMO’s and games like Morrowind. →  Read the rest