Seeing as Metroid directly contributed to the proliferation of metroidvanias, and Sim City could be the predecessor of the cozy genre (I'm talking out of my ass because I never played a Sim game or a cozy game, but I get the idea that they both offer stress free management rather than challenging action. Please…

On your first point, you have a good point. RPGs are about player agency, but; to seque into your second point, the agency was pretty limited.

VII over VI? Ya’ll get hit on the head or something? Top 3 should be VI, IX, and X, depending on preference; and XVI really should be higher up, it has the best voice acting, standout soundtrack, is glorious to behold, and nary a bug or glitch to be found.

No emotional growth? Did you play the game? Terra learns of family by bond, Cyan overcomes the grief of his dead family, Celes goes from suicidal despair (should cid die) to hope, Locke is able to move on with his life after his fiancée gets to say goodbye to him. If the emotional growth didn’t resonate with you, then…

Came here to say that. I realize the impact it has, but X, IX, and VI are just better than VII.

The thing is though, is that games like FFIII, IV, and II, were the illusion of open world. Sure you could walk around the map, but there wasn’t much, if anything; to do outside the next plot point. X and XIII just cut away the excess to show the only path forward.

Stick with what works SE, the moogle design peaked in VI and IX; don't mess with perfection.

Nah, you can’t improve upon perfection. A remaster to refresh it for modern consoles, sure; but I'd rather see a new game in the franchise (which I know is not coming, but still).

FFIV, it’s the game that set the standard of storytelling through the trauma of loss that is a theme of the series; it’s the game where Final Fantasy found its voice. I’m partial to the GBA version for its much improved localization over the SNES version while keeping the graphics intact as well as the soundtrack (for…

FFVIII was a weird one, and I’m glad it found an audience. Excellent soundtrack like all FFs, but Nobou made a statement with the ability to use orchestral arrangements. “Eyes on Me” is very sweet song, but it’s very mushy. I prefer the Distant Worlds VI version, Susan Calloway makes it sound less mushy.

“The best Final Fantasy is the one that makes you fall in love with the series" may be one of the truest statements typed. 

I'm not buying into anymore FFVII crap. I'll just let myself be a little lost because it's too much as it is.

Positive word of mouth and consistant quality will do that, and it’s probably a refreshing change of pace from other mainstream games that keep demading time and money.

Yeeeesssss! It's looking pretty amazing!

Did I suggest crunch? Did I suggest grinding down developers to the bone to get a game out a year sooner? No I did not, I am complaining about long development cycles without offering any solutions or much insight into game development. I know games have probably millions of lines of code that have to work together…

Modern game development has got to find a way to cut down development times because I’m going to be an old fucking man before Shadow of the Erdtree, Elder Scrolls VI, Metroid Prime 4, and Silksong are released. Shit,  franchises only get about one release per console generation, two if it's being shared with last/next…

I was never any good at the wall bouncing, so I’d just throw a smoke, rev my chainsaw, and go into the fog. It worked pretty well for me. 

It was a bumpy ride, but the destination was worth it.

After playing through Hollow Knight and Blasphemous, I welcome an easier way to traverse metroidvania maps. Shortcuts are nice, but it’s still a hassle to just GET to where I wanna go.

This, after a DIY sub piloted with a game controller implodes. What a world.