Sam Brooks reviews the latest entry of the Trails of Cold Steel saga and finds the rarest thing in a video game: a whole lot of care. When you look at Falcom’s Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III from the outside, it’s not an enticing prospect. Firstly, it’s a game that promises (more like demands) … Read more
Fire Emblem: Three Houses perfectly splits difference between staying true to its core while reinventing itself to appeal to a broader audience, writes Sam Brooks. Against all odds, Fire Emblem has become a stalwart gaming franchise. Created by Japanese developers Intelligent Systems, Fire Emblem‘s success is especially surprising considering its first English-language release, in 2003/4, … Read more
The JRPG has been in decline for the past decade, but the Tales series continues to attract a dedicated audience. Sam Brooks investigates how it has survived so long. The first Tales game I ever played was a good ten years after its debut. It was 2005, the year where we pre-emptively gave Reese Witherspoon an Oscar for playing … Read more
Despite five numbered entries over eleven years, Suikoden remains a much loved but little known RPG series. Sam Brooks writes about one of his favourite video game series ever, and what makes it so special. If there’s a niche that I occupy that very few other people do, it’s that I love video games based on 14th-16th … Read more
Our resident JRPG aficionado Sam Brooks submerged himself in Atlus’ Persona 5 and when he came up for air he had this happy, goofy look on his face. He reveals what made him bliss out. I got into videogames when JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Games) were huge. They were everywhere, thanks to the now inexplicable … Read more
The 16th entry in the venerable Tales series of JRPGS has fans salivating. Eugenia Woo finally got her hands on a copy and found a beautifully designed game let down by stilted plotting. Ever since Tales of Phantasia in 1995, Bandi Namco (formerly Namco Tales Studio, formerly Wolf Team) have basically been operating an assembly line … Read more