-
CultureKotaku Game DiaryToo Fast Too Fantasy XV, Finale: I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends
Last night, after just over a week of daily playing, I finished Final Fantasy XV. And I realize now why I stopped so near the end during my first run some five years ago. It was a defense mechanism, my body’s way of protecting itself from the emotions that are going to utterly ravage me…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryToo Fast Too Fantasy XV: Dawn Of The Final Day
Noctis drains his fifth elixir in as many minutes, rising to his feet as Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis groan on the ground. The aramusha lurks silently, waiting. When Noctis stands, the monster makes ready, body crouched, bony hand on the hilt of its egregiously long sword. “Can’t take much more of this.” Noctis thinks to…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Threw $1,000 Into That Stonks Game Because Why Not
My partner and I spent $1000 on a game yesterday. We didn’t spend it on Pokémon cards, or Fortnite V-bucks, or decide to become whales in Genshin Impact. But, at my insistence, we combined some funds, downloaded the Robinhood trading app, and bought some stock. I mean, why the hell not right? We’ve seen the…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryToo Fast Too Fantasy XV: Episode Gladio? More Like Episode Bad-io
When I sit down for my daily session of Final Fantasy XV I’m expecting one of two things: A happy-funtime road-trip adventure with my boys, or a sad, emotionally wrought meditation on the bonds of friendship. I am not expecting a horror-suspense thriller filled with stealth mechanics and jump-scares, yet that’s exactly what I got…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryToo Fast Too Fantasy XV: Planes, Trains, And Wrecked Automobiles
In my epic quest to finish Final Fantasy XV by Friday, I am literally and figuratively on a train that is barrelling toward the final stop. I am in FF15’s endgame—a section of short, brutal chapters that no longer allow you to freely roam the open roads of Eos. Even if I somehow could return…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureOdds and EndsFinal Fantasy XV’s Photo Mode Captures Everything I Can’t
I’m going through Final Fantasy XV before it leaves Xbox Game Pass this Friday. It’s a game about having adventures with your best friends all while on a road-trip to, inevitably, save the world. Playing FF15, in addition to servicing my goal of finally completing beloved games I’ve left half-done, has become therapeutic. The game…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryToo Fast Too Fantasy XV: Chocobros Vs. The Volcano
Stop the Regalia, I want to get out. In my quest to finish Final Fantasy XV before this Friday, when it disappears from both Xbox Game Pass and my Series S, I’ve reached the point in the game I’ve been dreading. It’s the moment when the story takes a 180-degree turn from lighthearted road-trip romp…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureTevinter Is Nice, But I Hope Dragon Age 4 Visits Rivain, Too
It wasn’t hard to guess that Dragon Age 4 might take place in the Tevinter Imperium. After all, at the end of Dragon Age: Inquisition you stab a big knife through your lovely map table right where the Tevinter Imperium is. Today,Eurogamer wrote that BioWare’s book BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureMorning MusicNier: Automata’s Soundtrack Is Real Sad-Girl Shit
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re back from our winter break, refreshed and ready to dive into Keiichi Okabe and co’s masterful soundtrack for Nier: Automata I was late to the party with Nier: Automata (playlist / longplay / VGMdb). I…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryToo Fast Too Fantasy XV: Late, Broke, And Bodied By A Behemoth
In my push to finish Final Fantasy XV before it leaves Xbox Game Pass I had hoped to make up for lost time. Doing the math, I figured I’ll need to cover an average of five hours a day. But after Day Two I only have a grand total of seven hours clocked on my…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureOdds and EndsI Figured Out How Tall The Sexy Resident Evil Lady Is Because Of Course I Did
Oh, Tall Lady, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth, breadth, and height so much so that I took great pains to actually calculate your height. First, I downloaded Resident Evil Village’s Maiden demo on PS5. Even in my brightly lit living room, in the middle…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryToo Fast, Too Fantasy XV: Eight Days To Go
There are eight days left until Final Fantasy XV disappears from Xbox Game Pass and thereby, my Xbox Series S. Yesterday, I embarked on an epic quest to start and finish Final Fantasy XV in the few days remaining, and after Day 1, I’m only [checks watch] three hours in. Oh boy. Technically that number…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureBugsnax Devs Say The Ending Could Have Been A Lot Darker
I’ve been thinking about Bugsnax so much that it feels like I’ve eaten one of the suspiciously addicting little critters myself. It’s been a week since I’ve finished the game and I still catch myself muttering “bunger bunger bunger” as I go about my day. To satiate my hunger for more Bugsnax without actually consuming…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryMy Nine-Day Final Fantasy XV Blitz Commences Tonight
Let me explain. Final Fantasy XV is one of my “ones that got away”—a game that I deeply enjoyed without ever finishing despite getting very close to its end. One day I just put down FF15 and walked away, like Andy abandoning Woody. Thanks to Xbox Game Pass, however, I have the opportunity to correct…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryBugsnax Is Mass Effect And I Can (Somewhat) Prove It
I enjoyed Bugsnax far more than I thought I would. At first, it didn’t strike me as my kind of game when I judged it by its saccharine advertising billing it as a cutesy adventure romp in which I would eat my way through an island of colorful foodbugs. The reality of Bugsnax is much…
By Ash Parrish -
EsportsOverwatch League Announces 2021 Season Details
With around three months to go until Overwatch League Opening Day (for which we still don’t have a firm date), the League has released a new video detailing how the OWL 2021 season will play out. Here’s a look at what to expect. Heck Yeah Tournaments! For the entirety of the first and second seasons,…
By Ash Parrish -
The BestsLet’s Rank (A Few) Sonic Games
There are a lot of Sonic games. There aren’t too many Sonic games because one can never get enough of the blue streak, but in order to keep this list from spiraling out of control I created a few ground rules. 1. It must be a platformer. Sorry Sonic Team Racing and Sonic Spinball, we…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureOdds and EndsOh No, He’s Hot
A new trailer for the Nintendo Switch version of Super Mario 3D World arrived earlier today featuring a first look at Bowser in Bowser’s Fury and y’all…damn. Bowser’s hot. Super hot. Bowser-Jr.-ain’t-the-only-one-calling-me-daddy hot. There’s something undeniably sexy about a dangerous creature. Bowser’s hit the gym and gotten bigger and more muscly since last we saw…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryNier: Automata Dumped Me And I’m Okay With It
I finally finished Nier: Automata and I don’t think I’ll ever play it again. I don’t mean that in an, “Oh thank god the game is over, I am free now,” way that I felt finishing The Last Of Us 2—a game hellbent on holding on to you long after what any normal, non-sadistic storyteller…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureOdds and EndsAfter A Very Shitty Day, The Mr. Bones Speedrun Helped Me Cope
The speedrunning festival Awesome Games Done Quick is not yet over but the greatest run of the event has already been crowned. There’s a good chance you might not have even seen it. No, I don’t mean Argick’s Sonic Mania run that might have broken the Guiness record for fastest commentating. I’m talking about Lizstar’s…
By Ash Parrish
Ash Parrish
Ash Parrish's posts