I have to say that I'm very curious to see what, if anything, Square Enix shows for the 30th anniversary at TGS this year. There is talk about more projects, so if something good comes from it fantastic. If it's just more Dissidia and mobile free-to-play games, I can't say I'll be interested. I want something nice and substantial, but that doesn't mean I have to have a reveal of Final Fantasy XVI, just something RPG related would be nice. At this point it seems like most of the fans care more about the series than the company, so if there's nothing new shown this piece might be rushed to completion.

If you want to catch up on my prior pieces, here's a link to Issue 32 from last week.

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood (PS4)

Last week I was trying to decide what else to do with the time left on my subscription. Turns out I got to do all of those things. After tackling the high end dungeons, I was able to get some help from my awesome Free Company mates and was able to plow through Omega Normal, my first ever raid. I had somehow thought it would be more like a dungeon with a major boss at the end, but it turns out it was just four back-to-back boss fights. The first two were a little dull, the first being long and mostly an HP sponge and the second being really confusing the first time through. Thankfully, my team was helpful and understanding, so my deaths didn't slow them down. The final two boss fights were pretty great, though, especially boss number three. I really love quirky battle mechanics, and this fight was full of them. While I have no desire to keep grinding Omega, it was fantastic to be able to actually experience this content. After that, I only had one more task left so I quickly leveled Arcanist and Dark Knight to good numbers and have hung it up since. I have a few more days left and might go back for a little bit, but I think this might be a good stopping point for now.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (PSP)

Thanks to the Watch Out for Fireballs podcast, I decided to dig out my copy of Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection and give The After Years another run. It had been quite a few years since I finished this, and I'd forgotten a lot about it, specifically how frequent the encounter rate was. I played through most of the intro chapter with Ceodore and the Hooded Man, only stopping once I'd returned to Baron and was about to have to trek through the Underground Waterway. While the Band team attacks are rather neat, other gameplay additions like the moon phases causing physical or magic attacks to be boosted or weakened didn't really do much for me. I prefer melee parties, so I'd do what I could to make sure that physical attacks were always strengthened. While this opening chapter drags a bit, I did want to finish it to unlock the other characters' chapters. I recall liking Yang's and Edge's, so I wanted to try them again. I might be better off just cutting it off, because I really don't remember it getting that much better.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (PS4)

I had planned on postponing my playthrough of Final Fantasy XII until I had a few more games off my plate, but when I loaded up my last save and finished off the "I'm Captain Basch" section I found myself unable to put it down. I know lots of people, myself included, find the story to be a bit problematic, but that's more due to the fact that it has some great build up that didn't go as deep as it could have. Doctor Cid's intro with him talking to himself was an instant reminder of how much I loved his character and wanted more. I've spent my last few sessions leveling up a bit in the Dreadnought Leviathan and can't wait to get back to it, even if I really do want to try out some other console titles first. Let's see how well I can balance this.