Video Games

I am no Tim Rogers, but I would like to occasionally opine about video games. Like the section above, this would be a space for essays.

One project that I have been considering: Brief reviews of every English-language Sega Dreamcast game. Why not?

Grandia, Developed by Game Arts, Published in the U.S. by Sony Computer Entertainment. Playstation, 1999.

Grandia is a JRPG, originally made for the Sega Saturn. I discovered it through Hazel's YouTube video about Cozy Anime RPGs. Cute setting, fun writing, cheesy voice acting, and a neat implementation of an active time battle system. I am not accustomed to JRPGs, but it has been a great blend of challenging and approachable.

Pokemon FireRed

I never played a pokemon game, beyond briefly being handed a GameBoy at a basketball game by a classmate in elementary school, until recently! I got my hands on an emulation handheld (an Anbernic RG35XXSP, which looks like a GambeBoy Advance SP) and I have chipped away at FireRed as I feel like it. I'm playing Grandia on this handheld too. I never cared for JRPGs on a TV or computer monitor, but it just feels right on a little clamshell screen.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Developed by Sandfall Interactive, published by Kepler Interactive. PC, 2025.

Where do I even start? I saw the hype boil over post-release and got curious. I had not been keeping up with new releases, but discovered it was available on Game Pass. I was absolutely blown away by the prologue and early sections, and after discovering the game ran decently on Linux, I hopped off the Xbox to buy the game on Steam.

The dev team knocked this game out of the park. Excellent story, a great implementation of old school JRPG mechanics with some modern creature comforts, an excellent soundtrack by a composor that the devs discovered on SoundCloud, and an altogether great experience.