FF6 is mine. That moment when they turn the corner and the world map music changes. Beyond cathartic. The 3-4 hour tension and release they set up in that part of the game is an incredible design triumph.

I did okay with the delays in FF7 but it was absolutely unbearable by FF9. On the plus side, that drove me to discover Suikoden merely because it had instant transitions.

Jeffrey Combs was also in DOTA: Dragon's Blood, and that series's cast was a fun synthesis of video game voice actor luminaries plus Star Trek alumni (Michael Dorn, John de Lancie, Anson Mount, Andrew Robinson and more).

But yeah, really that whole late 90's/early 2000's gaming era had some genuinely great performances from actors of different media. I still think about David Warner in Baldur's Gate 2 from time to time.

And this is why I use the LTSC version and disable updates. Yes, my system isn't as secure, but considering the usual attack vectors have moved more towards social engineering lately, being free of Microsoft's nonsense outweighs the outdated security in my view.

Irdeto's been on a PR push lately. If they actually had robust studies backing their product, we would have seen them. Considering how they've got their hooks into the major Japanese PC port publishers (Sega, Capcom, and Square Enix), part of a segment of the industry that has long had specific stereotypes and prejudice surrounding PC gaming, I highly doubt the sales pitch for Denuvo amounts to much more than FUD and snake oil.

If you're willing to give Daybreak 1 a shot, you can jump right into it; almost all of it traces back to Sky 3rd and Crossbell, not so much Cold Steel. It's a very different flavor. No promises for not being lost in the rest of the Calvard arc, but if you really like the vibe, depending on where you stopped in CS, you might just be able to catch up with summaries.

With Sky SC's remake already announced I may just end up waiting for that myself. What I'd really like to see is Sky 3rd though. I liked that game so, so much more. No guarantees of that one coming, I suppose. It's the one that probably makes the most sense for them to remake, being exiled on PC only at this point.

they really do suffer 😭

Nothing last month for me, been playing a lot of not-JRPGs lately. Quite busy!

This month I'm most likely to pick up Breath of Fire IV again, or Dohna Dohna if that counts (NSFW warning if you google that one). Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter and Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles are on my playlist, but I likely won't be picking them up until they are on sale (although on FFT, if I start hearing a lot of interesting buzz about the new changes or the difficulty I might be tempted).

Reverie was definitely a "one last time" kind of game for its cast but I mostly ended up loving it because I'm such a huge Crossbell fan.

The best turn-based gameplay I've enjoyed recently (maybe ever) is Honkai: Star Rail. If you want something similar to that without the gacha, try the Trails series. It's a continuous story, but they just released a remake of the first game this month.

Baldur's Gate 3, Civilization V, Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre are all turn-based games I've put hundreds of hours into. Since you enjoyed 13 Sentinels, a story-heavy game, I'd steer you away from Fire Emblem Engage for now and more towards FFT or TO if you want stronger story.