Yes. A lot. The world is bigger, there are more people to converse with, and the conversations are just as long - but with no bolded query tags. The monsters are a lot tougher, and there are more of them, and the dungeons are endless.

So, the new Final Fantasy features a party drawn from the ranks of Exile, it seems. Well, i can't say I'm surprised. Pretty boys like that really ought to get a room for the night, though - I can't imagine that it's easy to care for their hair properly while camping.

Go to as many systems as you can, to get stuff.

Ultima V - perhaps the best RPG of all time, and definitely one of the hardest.

That was my favorite of the "first four." I enjoyed them all.

I've been reading a lot recently.

Except for all those stupid ancient math-systems that were something other than base-10.

Argh, my memory isn't clear enough for me to distinguish, from that screenshot, whether this was the arcade version of a console version. The console version was kinda crap, in my memory, but that's at least partly because the arcade version was one of the few arcade games that I came close to mastering. I'd figured…

Yes, admittedly, the requirements in-universe to properly wear Marine power-armor are pretty serious … but it's also pretty damn sweet tech. Trouble doing things indoors? With that suit of armor, there won't BE any doors, or rooms, or buildings. You weigh a couple tons, after all, and there are few floors that can…

Since my number one choice of Seamus' power armor has already been taken, I'll go with a suit of Warhammer 40k Space Marine armor. It makes me strong enough to carry a gun that fires bullets the size of my fist, AND fly with a jetpack.

You got my number one. Seriously, it seems like the most all-around useful set of power armor ever represented in gaming.

The only thing I'd have to say against the relationships in DA:I is that they only really allowed you to explore "serious" relationships in a fairly mature and responsible manner. That's all well and good, since such a possibility is so rare in the gaming space - but sometimes you wanna be a little stupid. It was…

I've told my StarControl 2 star map bug story several times, so I'll tell a different one. I got very, VERY close to the end of Ultima 7 part 2, Serpent Isle. That game was incredibly awesome for all kinds of reasons, and an example of a situation where the developers had to cut all kinds of stuff somehow enhanced…

Interesting idea for a series. I hope there are plans to address the idea of cybernetic implants in games. Oftentimes, they are presented as pure upgrades - and in a sense, they are, as in a game all that matters is your ability to run, jump, fight, kill, and survive. The tradeoff between effect and humanity is…

For PC stuff, Rock, Paper, Shotgun is really good.

Have you tried and failed to watch Tarkovsky's Stalker before? I absolutely love that movie.

Apotheon does look really, really beautiful - but everybody I've heard from agrees 100% with your take on the action, and for an action game that's just a death sentence.

Stalker? Good for you. That's a game I've long admired from a distance, but never had the circumstances/guts to give a go. Russian developers really do manage to create a rather distinctive feel and atmosphere.

I will admit to having played no Star Wars tie in game of any sort since Xwing vs Tie Fighter. No reason or principal here, just chance. I think these games came out when I was moving to Japan, before steam hit, and I was on a tiny notebook as my only gaming system. Circumstance argued against my playing them, and…

For example, instead of leaving all the heroics to scrappy street orphans with silly hair, have the alternative hero team be the middle aged leaders who are supposed to deal with the problem to begin with. It's a bit of a problem with a lot of Japanese stuff, how those sorts are almost exclusively incompetent or…