Full House
My time is getting royal flushed down the toilet
Final Fantasy VII (1997) | Giving Turn-based a Turn
Partially spurred on by a bit of FOMO from all the talk about the recent release of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, a couple of weeks ago I started playing the original Final Fantasy VII on my Switch. I’m a little over seven hours in - for those who’ve played it I just finished my first Chocobo experience - and I’m enjoying myself plenty enough so far. But I’m just going to lay my cards on the table - I’ve never completed a turn-based role-playing game.
I’ve bounced off of multiple Pokémon games, couldn’t get more than a dozen hours each into Persona 4 or Persona 5, and only got past the intro to Final Fantasy VI. I’m casting no aspersions on these titles. I know they are staples of the genre, but my experience with them and my current experience with Final Fantasy VII is further proof to me that when we engage with a game is just as important as the quality of the game.
I tried playing all of the other aforementioned games either when I was a child with a shorter attention span, a teenager who was all about blasting noobs in Call of Duty (and playing too much Peggle), or in college when I was preoccupied attempting to keep my life from crumbling. Now as an adult almost a decade into their career, I’m focused on the idea of play and letting it take up room in my life. I have mental space to let the game simmer in a way I never would have been able to before. And so far the investment is paying off!
I’m lucky to be going into this game relatively blind. I mean, I know all about what happens to a specific character (it’s unavoidable when you’ve been playing games for 20+ years), and I know that Cloud doesn’t like Sephiroth but that’s about it. To get to experience these backstories unspoiled in 2024 is a treat. Good writing and characters will never be dated even if some aspects of the gameplay can be a bit of a headache.
I’ve historically been a purist when it comes to video games. I don’t engage in emulation, not for the usual legal or moral reasons people may site, but for the sole desire to experience a game on its original hardware. You know, how it would have been received when it was released. However, playing Final Fantasy VII on the Switch has driven me to embrace the opposite opinion. I’ll tell you right now - there’s no chance that I would complete this game if I couldn’t just turn off my switch without fear of losing progress. I hate how save systems worked in these older games - I can appreciate the technology they were working with in the 90s, but no matter how you slice it they are a burden to deal with in 2024. Additionally, the Switch port has a toggle that will 3x the speed of the game. This has been a godsend whenever I’ve had to spend time grinding to upgrade my character’s levels or to replay the same 10 minutes after being ill-prepared for a boss fight.
There are other minor obstacles (the game does not explain Materia AT ALL) I’ve experienced in trying to play through this nearly 30-year-old game, but they aren’t enough to distract me from wanting to continue to get to know this crew of rebels and the world they inhabit. However, there is another game that has completely derailed my time with Final Fantasy VII, and is a serious threat to the momentum I’ve built.
Balatro | I Have a Problem
In a complete 180° from my experience with turn-based RPGs, I am a fiend for rougelikes/lites. Some of my favorite games in recent memory include Enter the Gungeon, Spelunky, and Hades. I start up a run, in other words a new game session, in one of these games and I can easily lose a couple of hours to them. I should’ve seen this coming, but Balatro has me wrapped around its finger.
Developed by the one-person show LocalThunk, Balatro is a poker-themed rougelike deck-building game. The goal is to make it through 8 rounds with increasing point-requirements. The juice of the game is in its various decks and joker cards that offer endless variety. You never know what kind of cards or booster packs the game is going to throw at you, making every run feel different and ever-evolving. I can sense my brain churning through scenarios, trying to forward plan for what the game might throw at me only to be forced to pivot once the next round begins. Even when I lose it never feels unfair. I always end up thinking I just got a bad hand, or I had a bad strategy. That’s something that I can fix on my next run - which I’ll definitely just go ahead and start immediately. Is this the rush that gamblers feel??
Y’all, I have woken up from slumber thinking about this game. I’ve had it for 3 days and have already hit double digits in playtime, and I’ve only scratched the surface.
I’ll just call it right now. Balatro will end up on my Game of the Year list. If this sounds like your genre, you should check it out.
Extra Bits
The Triple-i Initiative Showcase
This one caught me by surprise! The Triple-i Initiative is a digital-only event focused on indie games. The online video showed off games from both well-known developers in the space and some that were revealing their first game.
I really hope to see this continue. Although I love a big-budget game, all the layoff news over the past year makes it hard to ignore the fact that maybe it isn’t the most sustainable practice. There needs to be some sort of balance in the industry and games like those revealed in the Initiative’s video hopefully offer that. You can watch the full video on the Triple-i Initiative’s Youtube Channel, but I wanted to call out a few personal highlights.
Mouse immediately popped out thanks to its old-school cartoon style à la Cuphead (it also reminded me of a random Family Guy intro). The Rogue Prince of Persia seems to be garnering the most headlines thanks to the combination of it having a familiar IP, it being the next game from Dead Cells creators Evil Empire, and frankly having a beautiful trailer full of fluid motion. I’m really curious how this will feel once we can get controllers in hand.
Lastly, there was a new gameplay trailer for Hyper Light Breaker, a successor to 2016’s Hyper Light Drifter. I adored Drifter for its fast-paced 2D gameplay and a stellar Disasterpeace soundtrack that I still routinely play. Admittedly, I’m a bit wary of the transition to 3D, but the synth notes at the end of the trailer melted my worries away.