An NPC in Motherbound, the third of four towns in Breath of Death VII: The Beginning, jokes that she wishes she could go out and see more of the world, but the monsters surrounding the town are too difficult for her to fight; if only, she laments, she started an adventure in Lufestpolis—the player’s starting … Continue reading Mobility as a Weapon in Phantasy Star
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII references several other games in its first few hours. Lightning must gather the souls of a dying world (Valkyrie Profile) on behalf of a divine but untrustworthy benefactor (Legacy of Kain); a clock ticks down to the doomed hour (Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask), and our … Continue reading Making Lightning Strike Again: The Recycled Tropes and Weird Fiction of Lightning Returns
There are some things I wanted to say about Exit Fate that got left behind when I wrote about it and then wrote about it again and kinda wrote about it that one other time (“The Perspective of Privilege.” The Border House. May 1 2013; “On the Difference Between ‘J’ and ‘W’.” bigtallwords. May 5 … Continue reading Further Thoughts on Exit Fate
[Originally posted on PopMatters] In the wake of the Great War and a Spanish flu epidemic, T.S. Eliot wrote The Waste Land with considerable help from his friend and mentor, Ezra Pound. Ostensibly, The Waste Land is a shell-shocked reaction to the spreading wars and disease that would define much of the twentieth century. But beyond … Continue reading “A Game of Chess”: Breath of Death Is The Waste Land of Video Games
