After many years of shying away from one of the most contentious Final Fantasies in the series, I finally played Final Fantasy XIII, and much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. I saw it for what it was and recognized its (many, many) flaws, but at the end of the day, I finished the story, beat the final boss and…

For a long time Vocaloids were not something I ‘got’. A million years ago on an anime forum that was basically my second home, one of the regular users switched their icon and signature image (remember when those were things, ah, the simpler times of the internet) to the green haired Miku. Sure, it was cute art, but I…

Final Fantasy XIII is probably one of the most divisive, if not the most divisive game in the Final Fantasy numbered series. It was supposed to be one of the biggest games of the PS3 era that would usher the PS2/One golden era of JRPGs to a graphical platform that could support the visuals with the epic stories we had…

It’s the new year and Gamer Diary rolls on. I started doing Gamer Diaries last year to deal with my somewhat overwhelming backlog. I’d play a game until completion, then do an article with my thoughts and feelings on it. They weren’t reviews in the traditional sense, but more like running commentaries to motivate me…

I had a problem. Like most gamers, I’d buy far more games than I actually could play in a year. Across many systems and platforms, I’d have games that would stay in their shrink wrap, or only be played a few minutes to make sure they were tested to work if they were used. As a result, I ended up with stacks of games I…

This is a story about fifteen years in the making. I remember when I was in middle school my mom would often go to the thrift store. I remember that near the cash register was a stack of Nintendo Power game guides for Ocarina of Time. The guide was really cool. Rather than just say where things were and how to beat…

I played 999 last year after being badgered by everyone from people on this site to random strangers at conventions, and Virtue’s Last Reward earlier this year once I learned the trilogy would actually get finished. I loved both games and with Virtue’s Last Reward’s ending, I had to find out what happened next. What…

I got all the DS Ace Attorney games at the beginning of the year after years of waffling on getting into the series. I marathoned the first four in short order, and after taking a nice long break after Apollo Justice, I decided to finally play the spin-off from the series, Miles Edgeworth: Investigations.…

In all honesty I’ve never played a Rachet and Clank game before. Adventure games and shooter games generally aren’t my forte. I don’t have super great reflexes and most of those games require some amount of dexterity to get through with any kind of consistency. Most attempts to play these games in the past usually…

Come my children, and listen to an epic tale. A tale of pursuit, close calls, failures and victories, or alternatively known as, how I finally got the last Professor Layton game. The story of getting the game is almost as interesting as playing it and started two years ago when the game was first released. At the…

After getting my Ar Tonelico II disc repaired back in December, I finally got to play all the way through to the ending and made something of a startling discovery: the game ends on a cliff hanger. One character charges another character with a mission to deliver the Heart of Gaea, an item that was a major plot point…

Who do you think is the biggest Lego nerd on Talk Amongst Yourselves? Zarnyz? Please. Giant Boy Detective? He wishes. Nope, it’s me, The Geek Empress. While most women have a shoe closet, I have a Lego closet. I have tons of sets from the early 90s to now, plus free style blocks and snagging up any loose blocks I…

In January of this year, I made a resolution to tone down my backlog which, like most gamers, consists of tons of games that I own but haven’t played. To motivate myself, I’ve been writing these Gamer Diaries, which are more or less stream of consciousness thoughts about games as I play them. I tell stories about how…

I remember very vividly the first conversation I had with my mom about Disney Infinity when the original wave showed up in our local Toys R Us and Walmarts a few years ago.

I know I said in my last Gamer Diary that I was going to take a break from the Ace Attorney series for a while after finishing the Phoenix Wright trilogy, but with the Ace Attorney anime now out (and, if I’m being honest here, quite a bit of decision paralysis when looking at my backlog) I decided I might as well…

And so my journey with Phoenix Wright comes to an end. I bought the first game after playing Professor Layton versus Phoenix Wright, and finally found a cheap copy Amazon after dancing around the idea of buying it the better part of a decade. And this week I finished the third game in the original trilogy. It’s been a…

Beware the circus case...

Playing Virtue’s Last Reward has much to do with playing 999, both in terms of the game and my adventure in getting it. For years people would tell me to play 999. I don’t mean that as an exaggeration. People on Kotaku, people on Talk Amongst Yourselves, even random people at conventions. I’m not even kidding. Someone…