Operation Backlog Completion 2026

I’m Surprisingly Excited for Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Mar 032021
 

Last week, Square Enix announced the enhanced version of Final Fantasy VII Remake for the PS5, as well as a PS5-exclusive DLC starring Yuffie.

(If you have the PS4 version, you can upgrade your game to the PS5 version for free, although not if you have it through PS+.)

Alongside that news, Square Enix also revealed the truth behind the mysterious trademarks “First Soldier” and “Ever Crisis,” which fans speculated might be related to Final Fantasy VII.

They are, and they’re both mobile games.

I have no interest in Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, which is a mobile battle royale prequel set 30 years ahead of Final Fantasy VII. However, although I was disappointed when I saw both games were mobile, I’ve become much more interested in Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis.

It is a single-player, chapter-based game that covers the entire Final Fantasy VII compilation timeline: Final Fantasy VII, Before Crisis, Crisis Core, Advent Children, and Dirge of Cerberus, along with new story content as well.

Meanwhile, a Famitsu interview about Intergrade, First Soldier, and Ever Crisis, translated here, revealed even more details.

Ever Crisis is a command-based (ATB) JRPG that uses chibi character models in the field and full models in combat. In addition to the compilation titles, it will also cover the First Soldier story and a new prequel scenario written by Nojima about “THAT legendary hero” (presumably Sephiroth).

New chapters will be added each month, and each title will be separate from the others with its own chapters to choose from (so you won’t have to play through the Final Fantasy VII chapters first if you want to play the Advent Children game, for example).

Honestly, that sounds fantastic. I’d love to play through a new turn-based version of all the Final Fantasy VII timeline events, and the trailer calling it “another possibility for a remake” together with Nomura saying it’s the response to people who preferred the command-based battle system sounds like it’s exactly that.

The only thing that has me worried is that the official website says it’s free-to-play with in-app purchases.

I’m hoping that just means you’ll buy new stories or bonus items or something. It doesn’t sound like a gacha game, but that sort of wording always makes me nervous. We should learn more as we get closer, since Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is planned for 2022.

So here I sit, looking forward to a Final Fantasy mobile game. How about you? What do you think of Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, and do you intend to play it?

The House in Fata Morgana is an Emotional Gothic Romance

 Reviews, Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with:
Mar 012021
 

Romance month is over and the contest winner has been contacted, but now there’s one more visual novel we really need to talk about.

Originally, I intended The House in Fata Morgana to be the last review of February, but I didn’t finish it in time… in part because it gets so heavy at certain points that I needed to take a break, and in part because it’s the sort of story that deserves to be savored, not rushed.

Described as “a gothic suspense tale,” The House in Fata Morgana begins with you awakening in a strange mansion, where a mysterious maid tells you that you are the mansion’s Master and invites you to learn about its history.

It is a slow burn story, not in the sense that it takes a while to get interesting, but rather that it takes a long time before you truly understand what the story is about.

There will be times when you’ll question why I considered including it in February’s celebration at all, although you should understand by the end; I’ve described it here as a gothic romance, but at times it is horror or tragedy.

I don’t want to say too much about it, because the slow unfolding of its tale is part of this visual novel’s beauty.

The House in Fata Morgana is powerful and emotional, and it also plays a clever trick using its medium partway through that I assume most people only find accidentally, like I did.

Click for The House in Fata Morgana spoilers
If you’ve finished or gotten far enough to know the truth about the fourth door, go back to the fourth door’s story and check the backlog from time to time.

The backlog does not reflect the false story, but something else entirely.

There’s so much I want to say about The House in Fata Morgana, but most of it I don’t even want to include behind spoiler tags, in case someone would see it by mistake. Instead I’ll just say that if you like visual novels at all, I consider this one a must-play (as long as you’re okay with some seriously dark sections and sensitive topics), and it quickly rose to stand among my favorite visual novels.

Oh, and the soundtrack is absolutely gorgeous, which makes the emotional moments stand out even more.

The House in Fata Morgana has a prequel story as well, which I’ll definitely read, although I’m tempted to wait for the Switch version to be released in English, since the console versions bundle the two together with additional content. Anyway, go read The House in Fata Morgana!

Celebrating All Things Romantic: Top 5 Games With a Central Romance

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with:
Feb 262021
 

We’ve talked about a lot of visual novels this month.

And there are a handful of romance-focused games in other genres.

And a lot of RPGs have multiple romance options that you can choose between.

But what about games that fall into other genres and are about more than just romance, but also feature one canon romance at the center of the plot?

That’s the type of game we’re going to focus on today, and so here are my picks for five great games that feature a central romance.

5. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

You might argue that the love story isn’t exactly at the center of a story about Professor Layton getting sent forward through time and trapped in a future London, but Professor Layton and the Unwound Future prominently features flashbacks that show Layton getting to know and fall in love with a woman named Claire. Their story is actually much more important to the main plot than it might first appear, and it’s one of the things that makes Unwound Future one of the best in the series.

Without that romance, it wouldn’t be nearly as powerful as it is.

4. The Last Story

I played The Last Story for the first time just a few months ago, and I stand by what I said in my review – this Wii action JRPG deserves a lot more recognition than it gets. Now, why is it on this list? Well, while the story follows a band of mercenaries, a fair amount of time is also devoted to the growing relationship between Zael and a young woman named Calista. There’s a lot more going on in the story besides just that, but it’s a sweet romance that really helped it stand out.

I just wish The Last Story would get a re-release to make it easier for more people to play it.

3. Final Fantasy IX

That’s not a problem for our next game, however, because not only is Final Fantasy IX still readily available for the original PlayStation, but they’ve since ported it to pretty much everything. Now, I know a lot of you are raising your eyebrows at me for not picking Final Fantasy VIII or Final Fantasy X, and I’ll admit I’m biased toward Final Fantasy IX because it’s one of my favorite Final Fantasy games, but for me, the romance in Final Fantasy IX just outshines the others. Watching Zidane and Garnet go from strangers to friends to falling in love with each other felt natural to me, and the song “Melodies of Life” just makes it even better.

(I also loved the romance between Beatrix and Steiner, so that’s yet another reason for me to pick Final Fantasy IX for this list.)

2. Trails in the Sky

Okay, there’s a lot of Trails games I still need to play, but I wanted to highlight Trails in the Sky for this list. As I mentioned in my review, it’s a slow-paced yet highly story-driven JRPG that is well worth taking the time to see through to the end. And yes, there is a slow-burn romance between the two main characters that is also worth playing it for. The relationship gets a fair share of (in my opinion undeserved) criticism, but as long as you aren’t put off by a romance between two characters who are seen as adopted siblings (but aren’t related by blood and met each other when they were old enough to know that), I think you’ll enjoy taking this journey with Estelle and Joshua.

Now, I need to get back to playing Trails in the Sky SC to see the rest!

1. To the Moon

But if you play only a single game on this list, make it To the Moon. To the Moon is on PC, mobile, and now the Switch as well. You play as two scientists going back through an old man’s memories to fulfill his dying wish in his mind, and while there is no romance between the actual main characters you play as, the love story in the past as you explore Johnny’s memories is truly central to the story.

In fact, of all the games I’ve covered today, this is probably the one that most requires the romance for the rest of the game to work. It’s a wonderful, beautiful game that you really need to play.

Conclusion

And there you have it, five excellent choices if you want to play a great game with an important romance as part of its plot. I was really tempted to include Yakuza 0 on this list, but I couldn’t figure out a way to talk about it without spoilers. So, uh… play that one too!

Anyway, what do you think? What are your favorite games that feature a canon romance, and what do you think of my picks? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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