Final Fantasy | Zero1Gaming

Tag: Final Fantasy

Gaming Emotion: Sorrow

August 16, 2013 Chris Smith CS, Editorials

One of gaming’s most powerful qualities is its ability to elicit an emotional response in those who play games. For those who don’t play games, this can often be glossed over by the mass market titles such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, World of Warcraft, FIFA, etc. The driving emotion that these titles generate is normally an adrenaline rush or a sense of progression / achievement. Even mainstream gamers themselves may be unaware of the wide array of emotional states that a game can engender. This is normally because they’ve simply never played anything except FPS killfests, cover-based shooters and football games. I can understand that they may not be interested in playing anything else… but they’re certainly missing out. Read more …

Two Very Different Final Fantasies – Part 1

July 9, 2013 Chris Smith CS, Editorials

I can only apologise for making another one of my articles about Final Fantasy. I have no good excuse, except that I am a massive fan of the series, even when they seemingly let us down. I’m of the belief that, despite any apparent failings in a given Final Fantasy game, there’s always a core of something good to be had. Read more …

The Trouble With XII

June 25, 2013 Chris Smith CS, Editorials

I managed to complete The Last of Us at the weekend, despite pacing myself carefully to try and prolong the excellent story and avoid becoming disenchanted with the mediocre gameplay. I popped in Demon’s Souls for a bit, killed an archdemon, decided I’d prefer something less taxing to unwind with. Tried a bit of Rayman Origins, recently purchased dirt cheap after being wowed by the Rayman Legends trailer at E3. It was certainly easier, but lacked proper depth. I realised that The Last of Us had left me thirsty for more storytelling. I looked to my game collection, my eyes immediately drawn to the PS1-era Final Fantasy games.

Now those were some excellent stories. My mind drifted… I never did get around to finishing X-2, did I? Read more …

Ultima I Retrospective

February 14, 2013 Paul Izod Features, PC, PI, Retro, Retrospective, Reviews, Ultima Series

Having garnered something of a reputation for himself in the still-fledgling computer gaming market, Richard Garriott found himself in an unenviable position: how to follow Akalabeth: World of Doom. While not the most sophisticated or visually stunning game made up to that point, Akalabeth was, as detailed in my article on the game, a game of considerable character and charm, one that had caught the imagination of many of the new group of people soon to be called Gamers. Read more …

The Last Remnant – A Retrospective

January 24, 2013 Paul Izod Features, PC, PI, Retro, Retrospective, Reviews, Xbox 360

Japanese RPGs: they divide opinion, arguably, like no other. While any genre of game has its lauders and its detractors, JRPGs seem to have something of a bipolar effect on gaming as a whole. Offer one to a gamer and they will probably have one of two reactions; utter revulsion or eager anticipation. Few games garner such a cult following as some of luminaries of this gaming sub-section and even fewer garner such utter dismissal and ridicule from those who dislike them.

The Final 25 Years of Fantasy

December 19, 2012 Kimo Kuppe Archive, KK

It’s terrifying to think that I’m only 2 years older than the Final Fantasy franchise that turned 25 recently. I’ll let you guys do the math on that one. 25 years is a long time in video games and it’s hard to think of what gaming would be without Final Fantasy. Like The Simpsons and Johnny Carson they’ve seen copycats and competitors come and go and they’ve buried them all, and even survived several class action lawsuits for falsely advertising that this was the FINAL fantasy. However the old grey mare she ain’t what she used to be and Final Fantasy hasn’t wowed people like it did in the past. Read more …