Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 23h

Definitely games I've considered. I do think quite often about covering Legend of Dragoon or Xenogears. I did actually write about Parasite Eve a few years ago.

pixpen.co.uk/2020/12/22/c...

Christmas Evil – Parasite Eve

If you read about Squaresoft’s videogames from the 1990s, they are often framed as the trendsetters. Final Fantasy is still the lens many assess the entire Japanese role-playing game genre through,…

pixpen.co.uk

1

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

I'm certain I'll find something myself but I do think I could make things a little more varied.

1 1

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

Got an Expedition 33 post going up on Monday, working on something about Final Fantasy Tactics, will probably write something about the Dragon Quest 1+2 remake and am planning to do something with Chrono Cross.

Other than that I've not really got any concrete plans past that.

1 1

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

I've already got a few plans in the works for future content for pixpen.co.uk but I'm interested if there's any sort of game you folks think I should make an effort to write about?

Pixpen

Trying to understand how games work

pixpen.co.uk

1 1 2

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 3d

Expedition 33 article all written! Publishing it on Monday!

Words: 4,722
Characters: 27,017
Characters excluding spaces: 22,333

3

Reposted by Sam Howitt

Erin: Dead and Loving It 🖤💀🖤 @woodaba.bsky.social · 3d

a small piece about a medium bugbear about an increasingly big way people talk about art.

Call(Out) and Response

If you would like milder criticism, please ask for it. I used to be a big fan of British comedian Stewart Lee. I say I used to be: I am demonstrably still a fan of his older material, particularly 'If...

woodaba.tumblr.com

1 14 35

Reposted by Sam Howitt

Jacob Geller @jacobgeller.com · 3d

Much like Kentucky Route Zero, your dialogue choices in Mario Galaxy 2 don't affect the path of the story but they change your understanding of the character

Dialogue choice in Mario Galaxy with two options: "that's right" and "yes"

8 83 750

Reposted by Sam Howitt

josh (oldfriend99) @oldfriend99.bsky.social · 3d

The Butlerian Jihad must have sucked for guys who just bought a new computer

21 230 1.8K

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 3d

So in the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster, they've got all the War of the Lions cutscenes dubbed over with the new cast, but weirdly they're only accessible from the part of the chronicle menu that recaps the plot. They never play during each relevant story sequence.

1

Reposted by Sam Howitt

Roland Meyer @bildoperationen.bsky.social · 5d

So-called #genAI means the abolition of the future through the proliferation of endless streams of stochastically rendered generic pasts. Having turned large parts of the cultural archive into training data, it now traps us in a foreverized pastness, a 24/7 nostalgia for a past that never existed

QuoProQuid @quoproquid.bsky.social · 6d

have just come across a YouTube account that has been using Sora to upload reels of fake, AI-generated “90s sitcoms” every few hours

13 180 560

Reposted by Sam Howitt

VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 5d

I wrote a long article about Rieko Kodama, her career at Sega, the evolution of her company, the games she worked on (including some canceled games and/or games for which she is not credited), the status of women and working conditions in the video game industry, etc.
vgdensetsu.net/riekokodama/

Illustration: a portrait of Rieko Kodama with some of the games she has worked on. The dominant colors are yellow, purple and red. Counterclockwise from top left: Rieko Kodama, Alis and Lutz from Phantasy Star, Sonic in a maze, Alex Kidd and his motorbike next to Flicky on a waterfront pier, Joe Musashi and his dog near the Statue of Liberty facing a skyline, the three playable characters from Golden Axe seen from behind on the edge of a cliff, and one of the flying ships from Skies of Arcadia.

7 290 540

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 5d

I now have a first draft written for an article about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Right now it's around 4,400 words or so. There's a lot in it that I'd really like to tidy up so I'll take some time to do the edit.

I'm hoping to have it out early next week!

4

Reposted by Sam Howitt

Cosmic Horror Goblin @buliaros.bsky.social · 7d

NEW POST: There are many reasons why you should consider cancelling your Gamepass subscription, but perhaps the most important one is what it does to your understanding of the value of games:

You should probably cancel your Gamepass subscription

The 'Netflix of Games' is not all its cracked up to be

open.substack.com

2 2

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 7d

If you see this, QTP with your top 4 Final Fantasy games 🎮

Final Fantasy VIII

Rinoa and squall on an edge sitting at night time. Text box: Rinoa "Y'know, when you start thinking, you tend to frown like this."

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Serah Holding a bow with the string pulled back and an arrow ready.

Final Fantasy IV

Battle scene. Cecil, Rydia, Rosa and Edge fighting two black lizards and two anteater armadillo looking things.

2 12

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 7d

However, they made random encounters seemingly optional in the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster. You can just choose not to do them when they come up. If they go badly you can just return to the world map.

A few seemingly small changes that make this version of the game considerably friendlier.

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 7d

I've fallen back to my old Final Fantasy Tactics grinding habit of deliberately walking characters into a level down trap so that random encounters don't scale too high, and I still gain job point growth.

1

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 8d

They should do a Yakuza remake that turns one of the older games turn-based. I just wanna see how people would react to that.

1

Reposted by Sam Howitt

Morrigan @ragepyro.bsky.social · 9d

Please hire Chloe! She's great, she knows her stuff and will bring a different design lens to your project!

Chloe Goodchild @gendertruckery.bsky.social · 9d

Hey folks!

If you or anyone you know is after an experienced designer to pick up full time, part time or contracting positions I'm available via my company WitchGraft Ltd!

● 10+ years design experience
○ Level, systems, mechanical, you name it, I've poked it
● Also team lead/management experience!

3 1

Reposted by Sam Howitt

headfallsoff @headfallsoff.com · 9d

this is still the greatest work of games criticism ever produced

Docfuture - Sonic 1 Easy Mode

YouTube video by RaocowGV

www.youtube.com

11 67 270

Reposted by Sam Howitt

Sophie Pilbeam 🏳️‍⚧️ @sophiepilbeam.bsky.social · 22d

As I've mentioned a few times on here, the FF6 (FF3 at the time) ending sequence would freeze half way through on most NTSC-PAL converters, so UK magazine Super Play literally printed the entire ending so that their readers could finally see it.

some screens from the FF6 ending, printed in a magazine

A screen from the FF6 ending, printed in a magazine

4 37 120

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 10d

I can really tell that this Final Fantasy Tactics remaster comes from people who worked on Final Fantasy 16. The user interface is very similar, and it also won't tell you how much time you've spent playing the game.

1

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 12d

To be fair I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes, it's not even mentioned on the box as well.

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 12d

There's also a free Switch 2 version upgrade on the eshop

2 1

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 12d

So while I'm still working on my Expedition 33 blog post, I've also got what's next lined up too. #FFHowitt

Title screen for Final fantasy tactics the Ivalice Chronicles.

2

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 12d

I'm curious why for a series that's often so consistent with its logo typeface that Final Fantasy makes exceptions for these?

2 3