Review: Persona Endless Night Collection

While the staple games in the Persona series cover some heavy topics, the Dancing games are all about fun. The Persona: Endless Night Collection includes Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, and a download of Persona 4: Dancing All Night. Full Disclosure Atlus, the developer of the Persona: Endless Night Collection graciously provided a review copy for the PS4 Persona 5 is one of…

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Satisfye gaming grip holiday bundle review

The thought of having a gaming grip for my Nintendo Switch never even occurred to me until I tried the Satisfye Pro Gaming Grip. Now I’m wondering where it’s been all my life. Or at least where it’s been since March 3, 2017. Disclosure: Satisfye provided the gaming grip holiday bundle for us to review.…

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Ocarina of Time’s field of dreams

It is a well–documented fact that Ocarina of Time started with a design centered on Ganon’s castle as a Mario 64-style hub world akin to Peach’s castle. As development wore on, that changed and Link’s first foray into 3D was taking shape as something even more groundbreaking than Mario’s. Of all the brilliant innovations Ocarina…

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The Price of Courage

Fado runs up to Link’s house, perhaps to ask the young man for help herding the goats, just as he did at the very beginning of Twilight Princess. But his calls go unanswered. He appears to have no idea what is transpiring nearby. On the outskirts of their quiet, secluded village, Ilia stares out into…

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How Breath of the Wild changed my perspective on video games

I have been playing video games for about 20 years, though it’s only been a year now that I got serious about them. This started with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch. I never used consoles that were connected to a television. Previously, computers had captured my attention to the…

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Phantom Hourglass: Time Well Spent

Everyone has games they love. A game can have a emotional impact on a player, mark a special moment in their life, or be a source of pride. Whatever the case, certain games can just mean more to one individual than another. That’s what makes people’s rejection of certain games so interesting to me. It’s…

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Advisers Turned Adversaries

“Oh man, he’s a bad guy? I can’t believe it!” These are the words spoken by absolutely no one while playing any Zelda game. Though it may be a surprise from the perspective of the characters, events such as Agahnim’s coup or Chancellor Cole’s betrayal never really shock the person behind the controller. But despite…

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Ocarina’s image: Freedom in Breath of the Wild

“When I was a child, I went hiking and found a lake. It was quite a surprise for me to stumble upon it. When I traveled around the country without a map, trying to find my way, stumbling on amazing things as I went, I realized how it felt to go on an adventure like…

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Ocarina’s image: Formulas etched in stone

Ocarina of Time was a seminal masterpiece. It was a model for how to make a third-person, 3D adventure game that was accessible and ambitious. It broke new ground in camera control, 3D melee combat, 3D level design, and immersive worlds. It maintained a high standard for readability and accessibility. It sold 7.6 million copies…

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The Master Sword: a blade, an ally, and a friend

Throughout the worlds of fiction and fantasy, there exist a near endless trove of unique and magical weapons and items. They give a sense of individuality to the characters wielding them, and, when used effectively, they provide us with a wide variety of dramatic events and special moments. Yet despite the plethora of weapons in…

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Octopath Traveler review: A tapestry of many small threads

Most Final Fantasy-style RPGs are about Heroes, but Octopath Traveler is different – it’s mostly just about heroes. The capital H is important; it means that they are the Chosen Ones, the Heroes of Light. They are on a Grand Quest. Instead, you will find yourself spending most of Octopath Traveler working at a more…

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Ocarina’s image: Fundamental challenges of 3D

 “I wanted something that players could get so lost in, it would take them a whole year to finish.” – Shigeru Miyamoto, 1992 [1] “I thought that making the user get lost was a sin.” – Eiji Aonuma, 2016 [2] The Zelda series has a storied, 30-year history. Shigeru Miyamoto created the first game with a…

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