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CultureKotaku Game DiaryA Realm Reborn‘s Ending Was Kind Of A Letdown
I rolled credits on A Realm Reborn a couple of days ago, ushering in the new Seventh Astral Era, and yet I feel kinda hollow. Compared to my gut-wrenching experience toward the middle of my journey, the end of A Realm Reborn’s storyline feels like a huge-ass letdown. I’ve said before how I love when…
By Ash Parrish Published March 1, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryPersona 5 Strikers’ Menus Are As Vibrantly Alive As Its Cast
Video game menus are like assholes—every game has them and more often than not, they stink. They are often the least-pretty, least splashy part of an otherwise beautiful game, partly because they aren’t central to gameplay (unless it’s Crusader Kings or something). But Persona 5 Strikers shows us a world in which menus do not…
By Ash Parrish Published February 23, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryA God Damn Boar Sank My Boat
Many survival games feature animals you can hunt for crafting supplies and sustenance. Only in Valheim do they get revenge. Nautical revenge. My friends and I have had some good times in the surprise-hit survival game. We’re making bronze armor. We’re in hot pursuit of the game’s second major boss, The Elder. Last night, I…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 23, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryWe Gotta Talk About This Main Story Quest In A Realm Reborn
My journey through Final Fantasy XIV continues apace. My bard and black mage are now at level 46, and I’m currently questing through the icy Coerthas, which seems oddly French with all the names ending in -x and -eau. When I first started playing, my circle of FF14-playing friends all told me to be patient.…
By Ash Parrish Published February 22, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryBowser’s Fury Co-Op Sucks, But Super Mario 3D World’s Is Amazing
Nintendo’s first big release of 2021, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, packages together a re-release of a seven-year-old game alongside a new, yet bite-sized, adventure. The main draw is the latter, which offers a showcase of what an open-world Mario game could be. What’s more, Bowser’s Fury technically has a couch co-op mode.…
By Ari Notis Published February 17, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryFriendship Ended with Azeroth, Now Final Fantasy XIV Is My Best Friend
I’ve done it. I’ve finally begun my journey with Final Fantasy XIV, after six years of aborted attempts I made it through the still strangely unfriendly onboarding process and am now roaming free in the world of Eorzea. This was a long time coming. This previously glaring omission in my Final Fantasy record lead to…
By Ash Parrish Published February 16, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Killed A Very Big Deer In Valheim, And It Was Metal As Hell
My time with Valheim so far can be summed up thusly: I killed a fuckton of deer. They screamed in fear and died in agony. It made me sad. Then I killed the biggest, meanest deer ever conceived, and it was metal as hell. Valheim, Steam’s latest out-of-nowhere mega-hit, mashes up an epic Viking tale…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 12, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Killed A Dancing Bear In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Feel Terrible, And Would Do It Again
Lurking out in the fields and forests of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla are immensely powerful beasts. The kind of animals that people tell stories about. Dangerous, killer monsters that only a hardy, brave, and perhaps foolish warrior could…Oh wait, never mind. It got stuck in the ground like an idiot. Since wrapping up the main story…
By Zack Zwiezen Published February 11, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game Diary17 Years Later And I Still Can’t Beat Hannibal In Age Of Empires
Xbox Game Pass has once again proven its worth by allowing me to confront a bully of my past: the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca. Yes, I’m serious. Every night for the last two weeks, when normal people would wind down for bed with a nice hot mug of tea and their favorite background noise show,…
By Ash Parrish Published February 9, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Hope This Final Fantasy XIV NPC Finally Got To Take A Dump
One meets a variety of NPCs while playing Final Fantasy XIV. Some can be pretty annoying—looking at you, Thancred—while others are instantly memorable. A poor Ishgardian sentry who desperately needs to find a bathroom while her country is being invaded by dragons falls into the latter category. At the beginning of Final Fantasy XIV’s patch…
By Ian Walker Published February 9, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryFor Nine Years, I Have Somehow Avoided Finding Out How Mass Effect 3 Ends
It didn’t start out as something I tried to do. It just happened. The year was 2012. I’d reached the point in Mass Effect 3 where it felt like I was one or two loose ends away from heading into the grand finale. Then, for various reasons, I stopped. It has been nearly a decade…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 9, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryHey Agent 47, Slow Down On The Stairs, You Could Hurt Someone
I’ve been putting a bunch of time into Hitman 3 since it launched a few weeks ago. It’s very good, if a little too heavy on storytelling, but I can’t help but cringe a little every time I’m asked to follow an NPC up or down a flight of stairs. Hitman 3 anti-hero Agent 47…
By Ian Walker Published February 8, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryMy Madden 21 Says The Chiefs Won The Super Bowl, And I Accept That Reality
This morning Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs were awarded the Vince Lombardi trophy after defeating Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 36 to 20 in my Madden 21 simulation of Super Bowl XV. Sounds right to me. In my simulated game, which played out on my Xbox Series X console at 11…
By Mike Fahey Published February 8, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiarySo, I May Have Made A Mistake In Mass Effect 2
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I did everything right in Mass Effect 2. I slapped armor plating on the Normandy and equipped it with a shield. I gave it a big fucking cannon. I even tackled (most of) the game’s loyalty missions. I was ready for the final battle, and went through the…
By Ari Notis Published February 1, 2021 -
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 Published January 29, 2021 -
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 Published January 28, 2021 -
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 Published January 28, 2021 -
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 Published January 27, 2021 -
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 Published January 26, 2021 -
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 Published January 25, 2021