A few months ago, I bought Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition because it was on sale. I have played the standard edition before, when it was available on Gamepass. But I never really got past the first few hours in the game. This time around, after having bought it, I resolved to actually finish the game.
This game is such a quirky RPG. Maybe it’s because I haven’t played a lot of Japanese RPGs since Final Fantasy 10. Maybe these features are already in other games nowadays. But I found this game to be a departure from what I expected a Japanese RPG to be. It's like going on a road-trip adventure with your best friends, where you and your friends look like you belong in a K-pop boy band. You could say, it's like a boy band got their own action adventure RPG made for them. Weird, but good.
The game takes place in a fictional world, but is based on our modern world. Almost like a parallel universe. There are cars in the game. There are activities like camping and fishing. Cooking and eating food is a notable part of the game. One of the characters brings along his camera, which he uses to take photos and selfies throughout the game. Characters carry cellphones and would occasionally get on a call in the game. It’s not what I expected from a Japanese RPG. But man is it a good game.
Final Fantasy XV – Certificate of Completion. Took me 34 hours to finish the game and I was level 43 at the end. The level matters because, there is a New Game+ mode after you finish the game.
Yes, that is an official certificate of completion, generated by the game itself. The game even allows you to select a photo for the certificate, although when I made the selection, I didn't know it was going to be used for this purpose. Still, a fun surprise after I finished the game.
I am blown away by this game. As I said in a previous post, the game has flaws, but man what an experience finishing this game. I will talk more about it in a proper game log post, but this is just an update on this game and this blog. I haven't been posting as much because I've been playing more, trying to finish games. And finally finished this one. What a really good game!
I just finished Chapter 9 of Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition and holy moly... what an experience! Amazing story, amazing visuals, unexpected plot twists. The game has a number of flaws. But the storytelling and the resulting experience elevates this to a different level. This is the RPG experience I have been missing all these years. This is what Final Fantasy is all about.
Bought Elden Ring last November. I struggled with it during the first few hours of the game.
I tried taking on the Tree Sentinel, who roams around at the starting area of the game. The Devs must have put that boss there as a preview of what's to come and maybe just for laughs. Because unless you are a very skilled player, you are not going to be able to defeat that guy, no matter how hard you try. I was both a newbie to the game and an unskilled player. I could not defeat the Tree Sentinel. Just at this very early part of the game, I already died more than 10 times I think.
Anyway, so I moved on and tried to follow the golden markers. I ended up at Gatefront Ruins. Instead of resting at the next site of grace, I only touched it and moved on to fighting the enemies at Gatefront Ruins.
^ This was a very noob mistake, because if I had rested at that site of grace, I would have unlocked the ability to level up. As it is, I kept racking up runes (they are like XP, used to level up), but had no way to make use of them. I could have made my life easier by leveling up, but didn't know I could do that.
I then spent multiple hours trying to clear the enemies at Gatefront Ruins to no avail. I could not defeat the Knight with the Spear and Shield.
^ What's hilarious is that, this guy was not even a field boss. He was just a regular enemy, granted, he was the strongest enemy at the ruins. Couple that with my mistake of not unlocking the level up feature, it's hilarious to look back and think that I could have made the fights against him so much easier.
Starting off the New Year with this wonderful tribute video for Elden Ring. If there was ever any doubt that Elden Ring deserved to be 2022 Game of the Year, this video will extinguish those doubts. This game, no matter how difficult, should be experienced by anyone who loves playing video games.
Also just an update. As of this writing, I am now level 40-41 in Elder Ring. I'll talk about my experience with the game in a future game log. For now, just enjoy this video.
Character Name: Edgewater
Class: Soldier
Playthrough: 1st
Just had an encounter with Spacers (basically space pirates) while traveling to a different planet. At first, they were happy at having someone to bully. But after realizing that I was flying the Razorleaf, the ship that belonged to The Mantis, they apologized and grav-jumped away LOL. This surprised me as I didn't know that would happen when flying the Razorleaf.
The Razorleaf...
The Razorleaf is a starship that was piloted by The Mantis, a space vigilante. If you finish the quest line for The Mantis, one of the rewards you get is the Razorleaf. You also get the Mantis armor set, which is one of the best armor sets in the game IMO.
To finish the “Check out your ship's inventory” mini quest in Starfield, you need to find the Cargo Hold in your ship and intentionally take out an item from the Cargo Hold. It is not enough to just browse the contents of the Cargo Hold.
This is Neon, the 2nd or 3rd big city I visited in the game. From the outside it looks like some big fish market out in the middle of an ocean. But from the inside...
It's nearly the end of the year and I'm looking for some new RPGs to sink my teeth into. I've already finished Starfield. I still am working my way through Hogwarts Legacy, but I'm looking for some other game to alternate with. I've heard that Tears of the Kingdom was nominated for Game of the Year, so I thought I'd check out a review. If this review is any indication, this might be one of the best sandbox RPGs ever made. I'm looking forward to playing this soon, hopefully someone gets me this as a Christmas gift. Hoping my wife is reading this LOL.
