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‘Final Fantasy VIII’: Ultimecia is every bit as epic as her name suggests

There’s a particularly telling moment toward the end of Final Fantasy VIII that really lets you know what kind of finale you’re in for. After a climactic space battle with the sorceress, Adel, players are blasted through time, 1000 years into the future, to face their true foe. When they arrive they find the last members of a dead army, their dead army, still valiantly committed to fighting the war against evil. Unfortunately, they have failed. As the party traverses a desolate landscape, littered with their dead comrades, a mournfully operatic tune evokes a sense of menace to this already horrific future. Finally the player crosses a giant chain, one of many, that holds Ultimecia’s Gothic castle aloft in the sky.

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‘Life is Strange’ is a wondrously realized and effectively nuanced slice of life

In many ways Life is Strange, the new serialized adventure title from Dontnod and Square-Enix, has set the benchmark pretty high for future episodic releases. With it’s gorgeous presentation, high production values, and tons of replayability, this is going to be a tough game for the format to top for a long time to come.

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Kingdom Hearts: Let’s Play in Disneyland!

Everyone has heard the famous phrase “I’m going to Disneyland” uttered by sports heroes and other famous people. Kingdom Hearts, however, has you experience the full ride throughout the Disney animated universe. There are no lines, no waiting, and best of all: Running through abridged versions of childhood favorites such as Tarzan and The Little Mermaid.

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‘Chrono Cross’ is a divergent but impressive successor

Generally when a sequel is in the planning stages, things are fairly vague. The themes are uncertain, the setting is unclear, and many of the narrative hooks have yet to be worked out. One thing that’s always a given, though, is the characters. As the driving force of the original story, the characters are always the first thing that people will think of when they hear about a sequel. So what happens when a so-called ‘sequel’ jettisons the original cast almost completely? Well, to this day, Chrono Cross remains an intriguing answer to that question.

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‘Final Fantasy VII’ and a titanic step forward for RPGs

Anyone old enough to remember gaming in the 90s would, of course, remember the huge splash that Final Fantasy VII made when it first arrived back in the autumn of 1997. Preceded by a mountain of hype, a massive advertising campaign, and a price tag that signified it as the most expensive game ever produced, FFVII had a heady and hefty weight on its shoulders before it even stepped out of the gate.

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‘Final Fantasy X’ and the End of 9999

RPGs stand as arguably the most punishing, demanding, and time consuming of all video game genres. An RPG (or role-playing game) is essentially a command-based adventure which takes place under a fantastical pretense, generally fantasy, sci-fi or a combination of the two. As such, since its general inception in the 8o’s (inspired by D&D, and other pen and paper games), RPGs have come with a set of rules that were very rarely deviated from, and almost never broken.

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HD Remakes: Where Convenience Meets Nostalgia

Of the many trends that have taken off this console generation, one of the finest is certainly the idea of the HD Remake…and why wouldn’t it be? I mean, what’s not to love? First and foremost is the convenience factor. Giving players the ability to play games that they know and love without having to …

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‘Kingdom Hearts’: Making the Impossible, Possible

Final Fantasy and Disney together in one universe. Logically, it sounds like a terrible idea. Yet Kingdom Hearts, an action role-playing game, has managed to harmoniously bring these two extremely different universes together, reaffirming the old saying “opposites attract.” In fact, Kingdom Hearts is six games strong, with a seventh in the works, has won several awards, and is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time.

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