Tag Archives: video games

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: The Labyrinth of Time – Final Fantasy I #25

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The end is in sight… but there’s one more endgame challenge before we can finish this thing: The Labyrinth of Time!

This dungeon was added in the PSP version of Final Fantasy, and suggests that you forget everything you thought you knew about the world. And this is good advice; you’ll be doing things in here that you don’t do anywhere else in the game!

It’s one of the most satisfying challenges in all of Final Fantasy, and while some might argue that the fact it was added in 2007 means it’s not “authentic” to the original, it’s certainly a whole lot of fun! Let’s do this.

MoeGamer Awards 2019

The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: The “That Was Unexpected” Award

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The MoeGamer Awards are a series of “alternative” awards I’ve devised in collaboration with the community to celebrate the sorts of things that never get celebrated in end-of-year roundups! Find out more here — and feel free to leave a suggestion on that post if you have any good ideas!

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One of my favourite things about deviating significantly from what can be considered “mainstream tastes” is that you have a vastly increased chance of accidentally stumbling across absolutely wonderful experiences that you promptly want to tell everyone about.

Today’s award, suggested by Kharne83, celebrates one of these games from this year. A game that I initially didn’t really feel anything about… until I played it. And I was absolutely hooked. And I think you should partake, too.

After all, news of these games is best spread by word of mouth — because heaven knows press and marketing alike are inevitably terrible about letting people know they exist!

And the winner is…

Continue reading The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: The “That Was Unexpected” Award →

Videos, Warriors All-Stars, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: Barking Up the Wrong Tree – Warriors All-Stars #9

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Oh dear, Darius. You don’t know about Arnice, do you? That would explain why you’re so relentlessly pursuing her, but I can assure you, you are most definitely… you know.

Yes, this time around we encounter Darius from Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, a representative of the Demon Clan and an altogether mysterious individual. While everyone’s favourite lesbian vampire half-demon could be argued to be leading him on a bit with her girlish eyelash-fluttering and flushed cheeks, the sooner our mysterious hero understands his situation, the better.

Oh, also we fight some bad guys a bit. Hack and slash and hack and slash!

MoeGamer Awards 2019

The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: Best Character Arc

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The MoeGamer Awards are a series of “alternative” awards I’ve devised in collaboration with the community to celebrate the sorts of things that never get celebrated in end-of-year roundups! Find out more here — and feel free to leave a suggestion on that post if you have any good ideas!

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We’re all about narrative-centric games here, as you know, with many a visual novel and plot-heavy RPG having been explored in great detail to date!

Regular commenter ASD wants to know which characters had a particularly interesting, satisfying or otherwise noteworthy arc from the games and visual novels I’ve played and covered in the last year. Who went on a personal journey and discovered things about themselves as a person over the course of the game’s complete runtime?

Quite a few, as it happens, but one in particular stands out in my mind when I think back over the year gone by.

And the winner is…

Continue reading The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: Best Character Arc →

Videos

Atari A to Z: Rally Speedway

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Today’s game is a well-regarded top-down racer from back in the day: it’s John Anderson’s Rally Speedway.

Rally Speedway became well-known for its high-speed, smooth scrolling gameplay — and perhaps more significantly, for its strong amount of customisation. Not only could you tweak the game’s performance and difficulty to your liking, you could even make your own tracks for you and your friends to take on.

How well does it hold up next to more modern attempts to do something similar, though? Let’s find out!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Podcast

The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 32 – Catch Me If You Can

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Top o’ the evening to you! It’s been a little while since our last episode, but we’re back once again with a new episode of The MoeGamer Podcast, featuring my juicy baritone along with the mellifluous tones of my good friend Chris Caskie of MrGilderPixels.

The MoeGamer Podcast is available in several places. You can subscribe to my channel on YouTube to stay up to date with both the video versions of the podcast and my weekly videos (including the Atari A to Z retro gaming series); you can follow on Soundcloud for the audio-only version of the podcast; you can subscribe via RSS to get the audio-only version of the podcast in your favourite podcast app; or you can subscribe via iTunes and listen on Spotify. Please do at least one of these if you can; it really helps us out!

Or you can just hit the jump to watch or listen to today’s episode right here on MoeGamer.

Continue reading The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 32 – Catch Me If You Can →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Good morning! Apologies this is a little later than usual — the majority of my weekend was taken up with podcast recording and editing. We’ve got a beast of an episode coming up for you later today.

Christmas is coming! Hopefully for plenty of you that means plenty of games (or gift cards with which games can be acquired) beneath the Christmas tree, or perhaps even some nice new hardware on which to play them. I recommend a Switch if you don’t already have one.

But before we get there, of course, let’s have a look at what you might have missed over the course of the last week!

Continue reading Around the Network →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Brain Games

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It’s good to give the ol’ noggin a bit of a workout now and again, and that’s exactly what 1978’s Brain Games for Atari 2600 intended to do.

Consisting of several different games relating to memory and perception, Brain Games is a surprisingly fun little package that is all the more remarkable when you consider how early in the VCS’ lifetime it came out.

It was also a direct influence on the popular children’s toy Simon, so it’s got genuine historical significance, too!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Cover Games, Pokémon Sword and Shield

Pokémon Sword and Shield: Living a Trainer’s Life

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header-6-2861792This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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When the original Pokémon games were announced, I didn’t initially realise that they were RPGs — at least partly because I wasn’t overly familiar with how RPGs worked myself at the time.

Nowadays, of course, I know much better. But “RPG” is such a broad term, particularly when you throw its tabletop counterpart into the mix. There are lots of different ways you can approach the idea of an “RPG” from a mechanical perspective, and lots of different games over the years — including Pokémon — have experimented with the formula.

Pokémon Sword and Shield are, of course, no exception. Let’s take a closer look at the game’s mechanical components and contemplate how these games approach the idea of you “role-playing” as a Pokémon Trainer.

Continue reading Pokémon Sword and Shield: Living a Trainer’s Life →

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: Pack a Lunch – Final Fantasy I #24

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Oh boy. It’s a long ‘un today… but it’s worthwhile. We finally clear Whisperwind Cove, and with it, the Soul of Chaos dungeons are complete!

Well, except for going back and fighting all the bosses we didn’t see before, obviously. But I’ll spare you that for now, as we’re getting ever-closer to the end of this first game in the series.

Pack a lunch, there’s a long journey ahead.