Author's Note: This the second part of a two-part series on The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time. If you missed the first part please click this link:

• The Quest For The Worst Adventure Game Puzzles - The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time (Part 1)

If you enjoy this blog and would like to read my other adventure game retrospectives, here's a list of my previous episodes of this series:

• Episode 1: The Dig
• Episode 2: Atlantis: The Lost Tales
• Episode 3: Loom
• Episode 4: Drowned God
• Episode 5a: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Part 1 & Episode 5b: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - Part 2
• Episode 6: The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime
• Episode 7a: The Quest For The Worst Adventure Game Puzzles - The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (Part 1) & Episode 7b: The Quest For The Worst Adventure Game Puzzles - The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (Part 2)

Shangri-La - [April 14, 1219 A.D.]

Collecting The Pilgrim Guise & Examining The Green Buddha Statue - [Rating: 2/10] - Shangri-La is the most "by the numbers" portion of Legacy of Time by a country mile. The core conceit of the level is for you to locate six color-coded Buddha statues and then provide these statues with an offering which results in them handing over a colored stone that will allow you to ascend a temple. When you first warp into the Himalayan Mountains, things start much as they did in Atlantis. Arthur chimes in at the start that Gage should capture a guise before moving further into the level, and in the case of Shangri-La, there is a praying pilgrim that you can copy. After assuming the form of the pilgrim, you can make your way into the monastery and locate the first Buddha statue. The trick is to have Arthur translate the text at the base of these statues, so you know what offering they require. For example, the green Buddha statue signifies knowledge and wants a book, but more on that another time. As expected, this first sequence is a tutorial about what to anticipate at Shangri-La. However, it's only decent at best, as the game doesn't provide an "easy" statue right from the rip, nor does it make the location of the figures explicitly known to the player.

Getting The Yellow Buddha Stone - [Rating: 4/10] - While the green Buddha statue is the first you encounter, it is also one of the last you can complete. As such, you need to move on and continue to the statue's left until you locate a greenhouse. Inside, you will find a gardener who explains that the "wishing tree" is sick and dying. When you enter the garden, find a scaffold and ascend the stairs on it. While at the top of the platform, pick up a knife and a map. Next to the scaffold is a yellow Buddha statue, and if you read the inscription on it, you will learn that it is looking for fruit. Near the statue, find a water grate, open it to descend into the tree's roots, and use the healing water from Atlantis (see Part 1 if you forgot about this step). When you exit the underground chamber, find an apple growing from the tree and place it in the bowl on the statue. This action will result in the figure providing a yellow stone.

Getting the knife and tunnel map is the part of this sequence that many people forget, but both are incredibly important. It is also essential to talk to the gardener as they are the only person who will warn the player about the underground tunnel system. Navigating the tunnels will be a royal pain in the ass if you don't have the map or don't know what the fuck you are doing. Otherwise, the yellow Buddha statue is a fun introductory puzzle at Shangri-La. Everything you need to do is in front of you, Arthur's hints are helpful if you need them, and there's even an NPC in the background who is willing to assist. Finding the exact place in the roots to use the healing water is maybe the most challenging part of the puzzle, and even that isn't that difficult to complete.

Stealing Genghis Khan's Sword - [Rating: 8/10] - After you capture the yellow stone, it is time to return to the grate by the wishing tree. This time, however, turn to the left of where you used the healing water and notice there's an entrance to a tunnel system. This entrance leads you to the underground steam tunnels I mentioned earlier. Now, I understand what the game is trying with the steam tunnels. The chambers have doors that need to be moved to unlock passages to other rooms. It's your usual run-of-the-mill lock and lever door puzzle, but with one major annoyance. You can only switch the placement of the doors from their fronts and not their backs. This design decision is a significant problem when you try to trace your steps back to an entrance by walking backward but cannot because one of the switched doors is stuck. There are eight main chambers; you can only reach half of these rooms without moving the switches. More importantly, there's a secret chamber that leads to the Black Buddha statue, and there are environments you can only reach if you navigate the steam tunnels. If I were judging the steam tunnels alone, they would rank reasonably high by my metrics. The tunnels are monotonous, and the exits and entrances to different rooms are sometimes tricky to find. It is also worth mentioning that the markers that indicate your placement on the map are obtuse and often challenging to see.

No matter, let's talk about the first reason why you enter the steam tunnels: stealing Genghis Khan's sword. For this puzzle, to give you a better sense of how disorienting the tunnel system is, I'll outline how you even get to Khan in the first place. I will not do this with subsequent puzzles because I'd rather shove a spork into my testicles than meticulously lay out how to explore these fucking tunnels. From where you first enter, continue forward until you see a room with a cross on its ceiling. If you look at the cross, Arthur will chime in about the symbols in every room and begin to mark your location on the map you picked up by the wishing tree. Continue forward to the room with two interlocking circles. Move forward until you find yourself in a steam pit and take the forward path to the room with a conch shell on its ceiling. In this room should be a crank or disc that you can click to block one entrance but unlock a new one. Enter the new entrance, and if you examine the map, you should be in a room symbolized by a conic section. When you use a ladder in this room, you will find yourself in the tent of Genghis Khan. Your mission here is simple, find and pick up Khan's sword before he notices you and knocks you back down the ladder. The timing here is harsh. The game gives you seven to ten seconds to locate the object. Once you find the sword, you need to click it to add it to your inventory.

This puzzle is essentially a hidden object point-and-click puzzle. Usually, I wouldn't be too harsh on one of these puzzles, but the propensity of bullshit ratchets things up to a breaking point. The fiddly tunnel system adds a point. Not knowing what you need to steal from Genghis Khan adds another point. The fact it is a timed mission adds a final point. It's a lot of bullshit for what amounts to needing to add a single item to your inventory so you can use it on a statue. Finally, I cannot emphasize enough how little signposting the game does to direct you to this sword in the first place. When you eventually locate the red Buddha statue, Arthur translates the inscription and surmises you need an artifact of war to please it. Even if you press him further, he'll direct you to inquire Khan about his activities, but not necessarily to steal his sword by finding an obtuse passageway underground. I have a hard time imagining a world where someone can solve this without help from a guide or the in-game hint system.

Opening The Bridge - [Rating: 2/10] - After your little run-in with Khan, Legacy of Time chills out for a bit. Return to the room represented on the map as a conic section with the sword in your possession. Though optional, there's a way to set up the shiftable gates to make your life easier when you need to melt the black Buddha statue, but I will not go over that here. At the least, I recommend shifting two of the grates to explore the room that houses the black Buddha statue and have Arthur clue you into something you will be doing later. I will say that the black Buddha statue is made from butter, and you will eventually need to turn it into buttermilk using SCIENCE! However, there's a critical step you CAN'T skip: finding a bowl near the butter statue and picking it up. With this item in tow, it's time to head back to the surface, and there are several ways to accomplish this. If you end up in the first steam room, you can continue forward, run into a grate, click a crank, and then open the grate to return to the green Buddha statue. From here, cross a rope bridge and enter the second half of the monastery. The objective is to enter the gatehouse and interact with the guard to open a bridge that leads to the town's leader. When you find the guard, he will agree to extend the bridge, but only if you provide him with a silk scarf. If you remembered to pick this up from the boat with the chained captain in Atlantis, this is an easy "gear check." If not, then you are in for a long backtracking adventure! Even then, it's not an impossible task as it is a simple rendition of the "pick-up and deliver" puzzle format.

Collecting The Lama Guise & Blue Buddha Stone - [Rating: 3/10] - When the bridge becomes available, cross it and enter the exclusive "Prayer Hall" section of Shangri-La. The head Lama occupies a building to the right of the giant Buddha statue. Capture his guise and then begin talking to him in the form of the pilgrim. When you have exhausted all of his dialogue options, enter the central room in the building and locate the blue Buddha statue. After Arthur translates the inscription, place the beggar's bowl from Atlantis on the figure to receive the blue stone. Like before, the difficulty of this puzzle stems from whether or not you remembered to pick up a random object from a different environment. If you did not, you end up stomaching a fair amount of aimless backtracking. However, once you have the item in question, all you need to do is select it and click it on the statue. That, in and of itself, is as simple a puzzle can get.

Collecting The Red Stone & Genghis Khan's Secret - [Rating: 2/10] - Let's return to the issue of the Lama. If you talk to him as the pilgrim, he mentions wanting to test your understanding of the principles of Buddhism. However, he does not hint at what his test might entail or what he wants you to study. Nonetheless, you can collect the red stone from the red Buddha statue to the right of the building he is in and to the left of Genghis Khan's tent. That is, as long as you remembered to snatch Khan's sword from earlier. If you decided to skip picking up the blade before talking to the head Lama, you must return to the steam tunnels. The good news is that if you have the item they are looking for, you only need to click it on the statue to get the stone it is holding. The second part of this puzzle involves talking to Khan, but in the form of the Lama and mentioning the test the Lama teased. Khan will blurt out all the answers, but the funny note is that they are all surface-level questions about the Buddhist belief system. I wonder if you can skip this step and go immediately into the test if you have a good understanding of Buddhism as a scholar or practitioner. Nonetheless, the sequence here is pretty straightforward, and I like how both parts are conveniently next to each other.

Collecting The White Buddha Stone - [Rating: 5/10] - Oh, no. The time has come. It is finally time for me to review and rank an audio/music puzzle. When you examine the White Buddha statue to the right of Genghis Khan's tent, you will notice it carries a lute and does not have the expected dish for placing an item. This statue requires you to turn to a series of prayer wheels and play a musical song. However, before you can have a go at playing this song, which is found on the statue's inscription, you need to repair one of the wheels. To accomplish this task, locate the olive oil you collected in Atlantis and apply it to the faulty wheel. Once done, you need to fan through and find the wheels that play the sounds "Om," "Ma," "Ni," "Pad," "Me," "Hum," and in that order. It takes time to determine which wheels play those tones, and the game assumes you are taking notes as it does nothing to differentiate the wheels visually other than the Chinese characters you may or may not be able to read. There's a bit of trial and error design here that can easily frustrate some, but it's nothing too out of the ordinary. Plus, the correct order of the notes is not exactly a secret.

Passing The Lama's Test - [Rating: 4/10] - With the red and white stones out of the way, it is time to return to the head Lama but while under the guise of Genghis Khan. With the information that you picked up from your talk with Genghis Khan hopefully still in the back of your mind, you should be prepared for the wizened sage's "test." I emphasize the word "test" because knowing which dialogue tree leads to the one question you need to answer is the hardest part. I genuinely spent upwards of seven minutes listening to the Lama drone about his daily routine or his recommendations about how to live the best life before accidentally reaching his question on what is the source of suffering. As I said, the question is about as basic as possible, but the tricky part is finding it in the first place because it is the third or fourth part of one of five dialogue trees.

Melting The Black Buddha Statue - [Rating: 9/10] - DEAR GOD! I almost gave this puzzle a ten but refrained from doing so because you can make this sequence easier if you do some prep work. As I mentioned, you can fiddle with the gates to cut off unnecessary avenues and exits. This playthrough being my first go at the game, meant I did not know how to do that and had to suffer a harrowing fate. That fate, mind you, involved swapping between the same monotonous steam tunnels and low-res map twenty to thirty times. But I am getting ahead of myself. When I first discussed the steam tunnels, I briefly explained the presence of a black Buddha statue made of butter. To get the statue's stone of power, you'll need to melt it by directing a current of steam from the underground steam pits towards the Buddha statue. If there is one positive, user-friendly thing to note about this puzzle, it must be Arthur. If you get disoriented, he will tell you precisely what you need to do in the steam tunnels and even chimes in when you have affixed the gates in the correct position to melt the statue. And that's about it! The game does a shit job of communicating what you need to do, and the map is obtuse enough that it is not immediately apparent where each of the possible gates exists.

When I first attempted this puzzle, I was unaware that you need only one pathway leading to the Buddha statue. I had two vents directing heat to the figure, which apparently dilutes the steam to where it does not get the job done. Likewise, the two steam rooms need to be connected, and you cannot just vent one through one pathway and the other through a different one. On top of that, let's say you realize you made a mistake with a gate on the upper right portion of the tunnels. The issue is that getting back to correcting that mistake is an uphill task because you can only switch the gates from one direction. Refer again to the GameFAQ solution screencap above for a minute. Let's say you are at the upper-left exit. You can switch things up in the first circular room you enter with a gate, but NOT the second room because that switch only works from the OTHER SIDE! I somehow solved this by running a factorial calculation that eliminated the known incorrect positions for the gates after some trial and error. However, my inability to conveniently travel to where I needed to get to constantly reared its ugly head. On top of that, you can screw yourself over and not know how to unfuck yourself. Overall, it is among the worst puzzles in the franchise's history and unrelentingly unfun to play.

Getting The Green Buddha Stone - [Rating: 1/10] - Hey, remember that "Book of Knowledge" you collected from the Lama after passing his test? Well, it's time to put that book to good use! The Green Buddha statue is one of the first you see and one of the most straightforward quests in Shangri-La. All you need to do is insert the Book of Knowledge into a receptacle underneath the statue, and it will provide the glowing green stone you need. Yup, that's it!

Ascending The Wheel Of Life Temple - [Rating: 2/10] - With the green and black Buddha statues out of the way, you can return to the monastery's other side across the bridge with the Lama. Go back to the white Buddha statue but this time, enter a door leading to an empty temple with a mural on the floor that depicts each Buddha statue. Go down a flight of stairs and approach the enclosure with a white Buddha statue in the center. As you might expect, you need to use the white stone you collected from the other white Buddha statue to make a new set of stairs appear. Continue with this process with each colored statue until you reach the roof of the building. While here, examine a series of murals with Arthur's help.

Finding The Siddha - [Rating: 2/10] - When you reach the top of the Wheel of Life temple, you will find a large spinning lotus vehicle you can enter. This contraption raises you to the ceiling, which allows you to examine a series of murals. More importantly, it will enable you to find a part of the ceiling with a glowing lotus object you can add to your inventory. The second step in examining the Buddhist fresco is the trickiest part. On one of the frescos, you will notice two sparkly eyes, and it turns out these are a magical viewfinder that reveals the legendary Siddha, misspelled in the game as "Sidda," of Shangri-La. This person is the pilgrim you encountered at the start of the game. When you return to this pilgrim, he welcomes you with open arms and hands over an alien artifact when you surrender the lotus piece from the temple.

Andes Mountains - [January 28, 524 A.D. - Second Visit]

Thwarting The Temple Guard - [Rating: 3/10] - I did warn you that the El Dorado section of the game was the shortest, right? Well, you'll find that this section will be brief in comparison to the previous two because Presto Studios essentially ran out of money when they reached this part of Legacy of Time. Regardless, Arthur saves your position from the last time you visited the Andes Mountains, which most likely means you are in the temple where you collect a sheet of gold next to a muralist. No matter, your main objective in El Dorado is to find a shaman and learn more about where you can find another alien artifact. However, when you attempt to enter the shaman's temple, you'll find it guarded, and regardless of the guise you use, he will continue to block you. It is worth noting that you will require the guise of the child when trying to talk to the shaman, but regardless, the trick to "defeating" the guard is pretty straightforward. From the position you speak to the guard, you can find a secret walkway through some bushes, and if you use the knife from Shangri-La on a rope, you will cause the guard's airship to begin floating away, causing him to chase after it.

There are a few tricky parts to this puzzle worth mentioning. Finding the pathway reminds me of the puzzle in Riven, where the solution involves closing a door and noticing stairwells hiding behind them. This puzzle is the only time the game plays up needing to utilize the 3D movement, and it sticks out as an oddity. Cutting the rope is a bit of a leap because Legacy of Time has been additive rather than destructive with its use of items. When you review the vast majority of puzzles that require item usage, you will notice that you rarely destroy objects. I will discuss this more when I tackle the 2000s "modern adventure era." However, in short, I think games should either split the difference evenly or go all the way in one direction (i.e., destructive vs. additive item use). That better prevents the player from forgetting they can do specific actions in the one or two circumstances that buck the gameplay traditions a game has been signaling. Otherwise, this puzzle with the guard isn't that hard once you get the gist.

Getting The Talisman - [Rating: 2/10] - With the guard out of commission, you can meet the shaman as long as you are in the guise of the sleeping child. Next is a long, and I mean LONG, dialogue sequence in which the shaman lectures about the child's destiny and an impending disaster that he has seen in a prophecy. The game wants you to fulfill the child's destiny, but the shaman makes mention of a talisman that is required to make that a reality. Luckily for you, Arthur and other NPCs mention that the actual child always has the amulet on his person. If you talk to his father, you discover the object reminds him of his recently departed mother. As such, the kid only parts with the thing if you speak to him in the form of the shaman and tell him it is needed for super secret shaman research. El Dorado is mercifully the smallest environment in Legacy of Time. Still, it is a pain in the ass to navigate due to its hot air balloon ferry system, which takes FOREVER to complete its animations. That point, however, is the only struggle I had with this sequence.

Using A Hot Air Balloon To Find The Hidden Temple - [Rating: 2/10] - You have the talisman but don't know where to use it. To rectify that, you will need to find a hot air balloon next to the shaman's temple that can rise into the sky. To make the balloon rise, you need to use the talisman on a stone in the balloon to light the ignition and make a burner work. While in the sky, there are a few details in the panoramic vista shot of El Dorado you'll need to note. The two most important are the location of the hidden temple where the alien artifact is housed and Nazca Lines that depict four animal shapes on the temple's roof. You will need to note these shapes to complete the next puzzle without additional help. You can skip this step and immediately go to the hidden temple once you pick up the talisman, but I wouldn't recommend it, especially for first playthroughs. First, you will enjoy some gorgeous 90s-era skyboxes when you commandeer the airship, and Arthur has a few fun lectures about the history of Incan culture there as well. Second, the puzzle at the temple with the different rocks affixed to the stone wall is virtually impossible if you skip this part of the game and don't have a guide on standby. Overall, I found this to be a fun and low-stakes puzzle that led to some impressive visual set pieces and fun worldbuilding.

Draining The Pool At The Temple & Summoning The Entrance - [Rating: 4/10] - Once you have had enough of your hot air balloon tour, you can descend by clicking the burner to switch off the ignition. When you reach the ground, you trace your way back to the temple with the artist, but this time move to the right and forward until you notice a hidden pathway concealed behind some shrubbery. As you continue forward, you'll see the temple is flooded, but the solution to this problem is simple. The water pool drains when you place the talisman into a receptacle in front of you. However, the door to the arrowhead temple's inner chamber remains closed. To unlock this door, you'll need to find four sets of six animal stones jutting out of the stone pool's walls. Each of these sets coincides with a cardinal direction that you need to match with the animal shapes you saw on the temple's roof while piloting the hot air balloon. The game informs you when you select the correct stone when its eyes turn red. I will say, the textures on the rocks are not great, and there were times when I struggled to discern what animal a rock was attempting to depict. Also, the puzzle resets your progress when you make even one incorrect selection. The good news is that this part of the game is not randomized. If you get stuck, you can always look up the answer in a guide, but the game also provides all of the tools necessary for you to solve it naturally.

Putting Out The Flames In The Temple - [Rating: 2/10] - When you find the winning combination of stone shapes, the door to the temple opens, but you quickly realize it has dozens of fire traps that make entering hazardous. To highlight how much this game differs from its predecessors, Legacy of Time does not subject you to a platforming or timing puzzle that dolls out "Game Over" screens like its life depends on it. Instead, it prevents you from entering the temple and forces you to find a different solution. That solution involves going back to the temple entrance, lifting the talisman, and using the water to extinguish the fire traps. You can then enter the temple and pick up the alien artifact without issue. This is a fun puzzle that requires ingenuity, and I loved it. Also, the movie sequence that plays after you pick up this artifact is AMAZING!

TSA H.Q.

Constructing The Sosiqui Legacy - [Rating: 7/10] - Back in the TSA labs, the aliens responsible for destroying the legendary cities you visited appear and demand (ala Men in Black 1) that you present them with their "Legacy" or else risk the destruction of humanity. To appease these wonton alien invaders, your team pieces together the three artifacts but are disappointed that the shapes on the fully assembled object are not in the correct order. What ensues next is a sci-fi 3D Rubik's Cube puzzle! You swap pieces on each side until you get the correct symbols to show up on that given side! And that's it. The LAST PUZZLE IN THIS GAME IS A GODDAMN RUBIK'S CUBE! I wish I were joking.

Now, there's more to this puzzle than you playing around with a Rubik's Cube. Arthur, for example, relays that if two projections match between two sides, then they will cancel out each other and make a shape or symbol disappear. Likewise, you change the images on the pyramid by spinning the entire object or by clicking the face of a side to manipulate one piece. Nonetheless, your experience with this puzzle depends on your feelings about Rubik's Cubes. If you can solve them by doing some simple math in your head, you will have no trouble, and the added complications will be nothing. However, this will not be fun if you have never solved a Rubik's Cube. It's also a lazy and disappointing end to an otherwise creative, action-packed adventure.

Should You Play The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time? (Verdict: If You Are In This Deep, You Owe It To Yourself To Play This One)

What a journey this has been. When I first played Pegasus Prime as part of a charity stream, I had no idea I would see the entire Journeyman Project series out to the end. It's a unique hallmark of the FMV era of adventure games and a relatively unknown franchise despite having an indelible mark on the genre for the better of a decade. Legacy of Time is the best playing and most ambitious of these titles as it aims for the stars at every turn. While the first game and Buried in Time are more complete experiences, their punishing difficulty makes them challenging to recommend, especially with their rougher edges. Legacy of Time is a delightful stroll compared to Buried in Time's marathon or the first game's 100 m sprint. You don't have to worry about needing to save after every other step to avert losing progress due to malicious "Game Over" screens. In Legacy of Time, you can absorb its scenery without fear of reprisal.

Unfortunately, no one is reviving The Journeyman Project series. Presto Studios went bankrupt years ago, and most of the figureheads that made the heights of the franchise possible left the industry. It is a damn shame The Journeyman Project lives in relative obscurity as its peers continue to get crowdfunded revivals. When I look at the treasure trove of adventure games that have come out thanks to Kickstarter alone, I cannot help but feel bummed out that The Journeyman Project 4 died so Presto could make Myst III: Exile and I say that as a complete Myst apologist.

Finally, I cannot stop thinking about what this game lacks and its many visible pitfalls. The fiddly interface is "of an era." The occasional challenging puzzle here and there is something I can handle because that is a facet of the adventure game genre. The over-the-top FMV cutscenes were an absolute delight for me, but they are not for everyone. But it is how the game ends just as it feels as if it has found its stride that smarts the most. As I said in the first entry, Atlantis is the only level that feels like a "whole" environment because El Dorado is painfully half complete. Shangri-La's corner-cutting is immediately apparent when you discover half your time there is spent looking at the same repeating underground tunnel textures. And while I consider this game the best entry in the franchise, I cannot recommend you skip the previous two to reach this game. So, who can I recommend this game to at the end of the day? Honestly, it is to the handful of people that are fans of the point-and-click genre and are up for the long, wild, and sometimes laborious adventure every single one of these games provides. Presto Studios killed this series when Ubisoft assigned them to work on Myst III, and that's a shame because they had something original in their catalog that had the potential to rival Myst as it started to creak with age. And if you are up for three wildly ambitious FMV experiences, then I cannot imagine you'll be disappointed by what this series provides.

Author's Note: Here are links to previous episodes of this series:

• Episode 1: The Dig
• Episode 2: Atlantis: The Lost Tales
• Episode 3: Loom
• Episode 4: Drowned God
• Episode 5a: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Part 1 & Episode 5b: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - Part 2
• Episode 6: The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime
• Episode 7a: The Quest For The Worst Adventure Game Puzzles - The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (Part 1) & Episode 7b: The Quest For The Worst Adventure Game Puzzles - The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (Part 2)

Preamble

Upon the conclusion of my two-part examination of The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time, I briefly mention my effusive affection for The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time. To me, the series' third outing strikes the perfect balance between the multimedia format of the first game and the Myst-like gameplay of the second. The lack of game overs is the masterstroke of genius that sets this game apart from what preceded it. Legacy of Time does not have a single puzzle or sequence that forces the player to work within a time restraint or face the consequences of inputting incorrect data. It is a breezier and more enjoyable adventure where players can interact with every character and environment at whatever pace they see fit, making it a far easier recommendation. And much like its predecessors, it shoots for the stars with its banana story and downright gratuitous use of FMV. On the latter of those two notes, Legacy of Time is the game that most resembles what most people think of when they see the words "full-motion video." The acting is over the top, and the written dialogue is endlessly hilarious. It's an indulgent affair only conceivable during a very narrow window in the history of video games.

However, as we will discuss in more detail, Legacy of Time has two black marks against its case. The first problem is something I debated during my final write-up for The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time. You cannot hop around the entries of this series by how much the games appeal to you. Instead, you need to play these games chronologically, or else entire characters and plot threads in the second or third game will make no sense. Even if I consider the second game a formidable challenge, I cannot recommend skipping it for people interested in this game. Legacy of Time assumes that you already know who Arthur and Agent 3 are and does very little to remind you of their accomplishments in Buried in Time besides passing remarks.

The second problem is a more pressing one. Legacy of Time is a painfully incomplete game. Presto Studios, before their shuttering, made it clear after the game came out that they ran out of money when making Legacy of Time and cut back on certain levels so they could make their release date. Legacy of Time has one environment (i.e., Atlantis) that feels genuinely complete. Shangri-La is almost there until you reach the back half, where it ultimately falls apart. El Dorado is at best a twenty-minute sequence, and the epilogue amounts to a single puzzle and then an end cinematic. It's disappointing, but when you examine the game's successes in a microcosm, you can come to terms with some of these shortcomings.

When playing Legacy of Time, "streamlining" is the "word of the day." This game takes the clunky BioChip interface from the first game and streamlines it into two essential options. The first is a tool that translates foreign scripts into English, and the other summons Arthur, the wisecracking artificial intelligence from the last game. Unlike the past two games, you will spend the lion's share of your time combing through inventory items and merging them or clicking them on environmental objects rather than scanning for clues or engaging alternate modes on your time suit. The benefit of this streamlining is that the game is far easier to play, and Legacy of Time cuts out the bullshit logic puzzles or vehicle sequences of the past two games. You won't need to worry about translating an alien script into Arabic numbers or clicking on random bullshit while piloting a spaceship. On the flip side, the game requires you to play telephone between various NPCs much more than its predecessors. Several puzzles need you to speak to a person to learn about something and then go to another person to learn more about it so you can return to a third character to answer a riddle. If you hate backtracking, this game will drive you up the wall, but I feel I have said enough. Let's review and rank some puzzles in the first part of a two-part series!

Ratings Explained: I'm using a continuum ranging from 1 to 10. Puzzles ranging from one to four are accessible sequences or set pieces that can be solved without guides or hints, regardless of your puzzle game expertise. Puzzles ranked between five and six are ones that only intermediate puzzle game players can solve, but beginners can solve in-game through clues, hints, or significant trial-and-error. From seven and above, we get into puzzles that most players cannot solve without consulting outside resources. Also in this category are puzzles that have major accessibility issues.

Atlantis Destroyed [October 6, 1262 B.C.]

Locating Arthur And Dr. Elliot Sinclair - [Rating: 1/10] - Atlantis was real, and aliens sunk it into the ocean! Don't tell The History Channel about this, or we won't stop hearing about it for the next fifty years. Regardless, after warping to ancient times, you find the legendary city of Atlantis in ruins. After moving forward to a windmill, you bump into Agent 3's time suit and encounter Arthur. The wacky artificial intelligence copies himself onto your Translation BioChip and relays an audio recording from Agent 3. For those that may have forgotten, Agent 3 is the female TSA (aka, Temporal Security Agency) agent that framed Gage Blackwood for committing crimes against the Space-Time Continuum. After listening to her little spiel, you learn she has hidden three timecodes across three locations that can transport Gage to one day before aliens destroy them. As you continue past the windmill and to a nearby pier, you scan the horizon and find Dr. Elliot Sinclair on a departing boat. Sinclair was the antagonist in the first game, and this scene reveals him to be an ancient citizen of Atlantis, somehow capable of living for thousands of years.

This "puzzle," if we can even call it that, tasks you to become accustomed to Legacy of Time's streamlined inventory and movement interface. It doesn't sound like much on paper, and that's part of the point. There's nothing for you to gather or combine. All you need to do is explore your environment, and the game will do the rest. Simply moving around an environment and exploring your surroundings for a scannable object or person would have taken at least twenty to thirty clicks in the first or second games. In Legacy of Time, it takes a mere ten to fifteen. I can only imagine this game being a shock for fans of the previous two games, but as I have stated already, it is a much-appreciated step in the right direction. As such, this particular puzzle gets a low mark from me.

Locating The First Timecode - [Rating: 3/10] - With Sinclair scanned, your next objective is to locate the first timecode Agent 3 mentioned during their audio recording. To accomplish this task, you must find a coil of rope on the pier, add it to your inventory, return to the windmill, and enter its destroyed interior. While inside, you need to use the rope on a broken stairwell. After climbing to the top floor of the windmill, you click on a trapdoor to reach the roof. You will find a timecode on the floor that transitions to a cinematic showing alien spaceships blowing up Atlantis. There are only two tricky parts to this puzzle. The first involves finding the rope, which blends into the ground texture and can be challenging to find. The second possible problem is knowing to use the rope on the broken walkway. Additionally, there's only one part of the fractured walkway you can use the rope on, and you need to be on a particular screen in the windmill to combine the two. It's a bit of your usual "adventure game bullshit" but nothing too hard to figure out on your own; plus with Arthur in tow, you have a handy hint system to assist you.

El Dorado Destroyed [January 29, 524 A.D.]

Getting Out Of The Well - [Rating: 3/10] - The aliens that destroyed Atlantis felt like impersonating Francisco Pizarro and also leveled El Dorado. Unfortunately, before you collect evidence on who those aliens might be, you first need to get out of a well. To escape, you turn to the right, click a stone plug, and then flick a lever to fill the well to the top. After getting out of the well, you must remember to pick up a stone disc from a nearby lever. This task is not too difficult and serves as the game's tutorial on interacting with parts of an environment or level. The last puzzle at Atlantis relayed how to collect and use inventory items, and this one shows how you will interact with the usual adventure game gadgets and gizmos. The last part with the stone disc is tricky to remember during your first playthrough, but when you reach the vehicle that requires it, Arthur will provide a clue about where you need to go.

Fixing A Balloon And Jumping To The Airship With The Timecode - [Rating: 4/10] - As you move forward from the well, you can notice floating balloons on the horizon of El Dorado. These hot air flotillas provide transportation from one cliff to the next. Past the well, you will see a landing platform with a still working dirigible, but it lacks a holding compartment for any passengers. Before you enter the walkway that leads to this vehicle, you first need to go left at a fork on a prior intersection and find a destroyed building. In the ruins, you will locate a basket you can collect and then use to attach to the broken airship. However, to lower the airship to allow Gage to repair it, you need to use the stone disc from earlier on a wooden pillar to fix a broken crank. This action enables you to lower the balloon and connect the basket to it.

When you enter the airship and raise it upwards, you need to identify a rope with a hook at the end and click it twice. After the second click, Gage will throw the rope towards another balloon, allowing him to hop over to it and record the timecode written inside its basket. Overall, I found this sequence only slightly harder than the previous puzzle. The left fork on the pathway leading to the airship loading bay is easy to pass by without a care, and the basket doesn't immediately stand out among the rubble. Likewise, the wooden plank you must attach the stone disc on is a little on the fiddly side and will only accept the disc on a specific screen, a recurring issue you might have already noticed. Other than that, it is a fun puzzle that's not too challenging, thanks to you only needing to use two items, and it has some impressive visuals to boot.

Shangri-La Destroyed [April 15, 1219 A.D.]

Finding The Timecode In The Monastery - [Rating 2/10] - Guess who destroyed the fabled city of Shangri-La! Yup, aliens, yet again! However, another timecode exists somewhere in the rubble, and you need to find it. First, you need to turn right from where you start and pick up a wooden wheel and a hiking staff. You use the wheel on a mechanism housed in a destroyed building to the left where you started. After clicking the wheel while it is attached to the tool, you can proceed down the building and forward into a snow bank. You continue moving forward until you notice a monastery and use the staff on its windows until you locate the one you can push open. Inside the monastery, you continue and climb on top of a Buddha statue and record the final timecode written in the snow. This sequence is the quickest to complete of the three tutorial levels, and it seeks to reinforce all of the basic concepts from the two prior ones in a single environment. However, it is the most straightforward tutorial to complete because everything to need to accomplish is in front of you. Now, if only that were the case with the rest of Shangri-La in Legacy of Time.

Mediterranean Sea - [October 5, 1262 B.C. - First Visit]

Getting Off/Out Of The Windmill - [Rating 4/10] - When you first teleport to Atlantis one day before its destruction, you do so on top of the windmill where you found the first timecode. Mercifully, when you warp in and out of timelines, Legacy of Time saves where you were rather than restarting you at a default start position. From your starting position, you locate the trapdoor, go down, pick up two giant metal cogs, and then use the cogs to repair a nearby mechanism. With the gadget inside the windmill fixed, you can turn a crank to adjust the sails on the windmill. You keep clicking the crank five times, and before you ask, Arthur chimes in if you need to continue turning the crank and tells you when you can stop. If you miss these audio cues, you can also observe the one broken sail with enough space for Gage to hop on and assume that is the one you must stop at to exit the mill. You hop on this sail, turn around to face the crank, click it, and then end up on the terrace of a different building.

From the terrace, move forward and jump on a ship's mast. Pivot to the left and click down when you reach the center of the mast. You must pick up a silk scarf when you get to the ship's deck. Near the scarf is a gaff which will play a more significant role in the future. Getting out of the windmill is convoluted, and adjusting the windlass is annoying if you are not careful. Still, I have to say if this exact sequence were done in the first two games, it would have been far more miserable. When I noticed the screen wobbling as Gage walked on the mast, I was relieved to discover I would NOT have to interact with a terrible balancing minigame. The complete absence of player death is a relief, allowing you to explore your surroundings more freely. Yes, the item collection is still "of an era," and the silk scarf is an annoyance, but that's about it in terms of this puzzle trying to kick you in the crotch.

Getting To The Temple - [Rating: 5/10] - It is time to review one of the core mechanics of Legacy of Time: assuming guises. The time suit Gage uses in this game is an improved prototype of the one he's used in the previous games. This time, the suit can record the appearance of NPCs and then allow Gage to camouflage himself as them. Before moving further into the city of Atlantis, you will need to register your first guise. To find this, leave the ship and move to the right side of the dock. Eventually, you will find a blind beggar whom you can record and immediately transform into so people will not freak out over the site of your spacesuit. As the beggar, return to the ship and observe a captain in shackles who provides a handful of coins after you grovel. Capture the captain's appearance, leave the boat, transform into the captain, and locate a nearby ferryman. When the ferryman asks where you'd like to go, reply, "The Temple." Don't worry about running out of money, as your supply of coins is endless. Quick note, whoever played the ferryman deserves an award because their performance is one of the best in the game. Whoever that man was, he had a fun time.

When you arrive at the temple, capture the disguise of the ferryman and the temple guard to your right. A guard will stop you as you ascend the steps to the temple entrance. The guard reveals that the only people allowed to enter are full citizens with an accompanying medallion that verifies their citizenship. Even if you swap your disguise, the second part of the equation prevents you from moving forward. It is worth noting that a lot of the game's storytelling mileage comes from you encountering NPCs and seeing how they react differently to your many disguises. You can tell Presto put most of their budget into recording lines of dialogue and getting actors willing to read them. To return to why I gave this sequence a five, it all comes down to the design of Atlantis. The city has tons of dead-ends and avenues that lead to nowhere. It's also open-ended about how you want to explore and reach the temple. It is incredibly easy to get the guise of the captain and his coins and not know what you need to do next unless you use Arthur's hint system, which I avoided for this write-up. The good news is that when you meet the temple guard, he tells you exactly what you need to do before entering.

Making An Impression Of The Seal - [Rating: 6/10] - The good news about what the temple guard said is that you already have half of what you need to enter. The beggar is technically a citizen and can enter if they have a medallion, so that's your focus for now. To get that part of the puzzle, you must return to the ferryman and ask him to take you to a potter. While you listen to the ferryman, you learn that Atlantis is celebrating one of its yearly holidays, which is the game's excuse as to why there are not a ton of NPCs in the city. When you enter the potter's workshop, you can talk to them for a while and discover his sister is the oil merchant, but the important thing is capturing his guise. In the back of his workshop is a barrel with a crank; if you click it, it will release a stream of clay. After you pick up the clay, exit the workshop and turn around to find the oil merchant. Observe her appearance and talk to her for a bit. The fun Easter Egg is that you can discover she has a crush on the ferryman. However, if you explore her shop, you'll find a seal on one of the jars. You can use the clay on this seal to create a mold for your own medallion. However, the temple guard noted that medals proving citizenship were made from gold. Curiously, there's no gold in Atlantis, and Arthur directs you to explore a different location.

I had a blast talking to people in this game and seeing how they would react to different disguises. Presto put a lot of love and care into Legacy of Time's script. No stone goes unturned in this game, and it shows. If you are wondering how the game handles all of these variables without having player death, Arthur will lock your movement if you attempt to get too silly. For example, if you use the potter's appearance, Arthur will refuse to let you enter the clay workshop. However, to return to this particular puzzle, things are a bit murky. On the one hand, you don't have that much to do, and your possible destinations are truncated. On the other hand, finding the clay extruder and knowing to use the clay on a random olive oil jar is a bit of a leap. Neither stands out all that well, and nothing in the game helps you put two and two together. Finally, and we will discuss this more in the next section, the game does a TERRIBLE job of signposting where it wants you to go next—speaking of which.

Andes Mountains - [January 28, 524 A.D. - First Visit]

Picking Up Gold From An Artist - [Rating: 4/10] - From where you first warp in El Dorado, you return to the well, but you need to take note of a sleeping child. While obscured in the grass, you can rely on their snores to know where to click to copy their identity. After transforming into this child, you can interact with a farmer who is the child's father and learn about the surrounding town and its inhabitants. The father reveals there is a shaman in the town's center, but he's not the focus of this journey just yet. Nonetheless, you travel to the airship bay from earlier, hop into a hot air balloon, and then reach the city's central plaza. After ascending a flight of stairs, you can enter a temple and observe an artist working on a mural. You can talk to the artist to learn more about the history of the Inca, but your focus is on a basket with gold. After taking some of this gold, you can return to Atlantis to complete your previous roadblock.

Nothing with this puzzle is complicated—however, needing to hop between different timelines is what convolutes everything. There's always a level or two in these games where your first folly only involves you warping into an environment and picking up one or two inventory items. In this game's case, at least Arthur remarks that Gage should explore a different timeline for a metal material to make the medallion. However, that's all he provides, and he fails to suggest what material would suffice or which of the remaining two civilizations has it. If you accidentally decide to explore Shangri-La, you will run into a different roadblock there because an item you need to progress further only appears until AFTER you complete all of Atlantis. I understand this structure is a continuation of what the series has always done, but I wouldn't say I liked it the first and second time, and, still, I wouldn't say I like it here.

Mediterranean Sea - [October 5, 1262 B.C. - Second Visit]

Making The Gold Medallion - [Rating: 4/10] - With some gold leaf in hand, you can return to Atlantis to complete the second phase of the level. First, you need to assume the guise of the oil salesperson and then offer to watch over the potter's workshop so he can attend the ceremony. With the workshop wide open, turn to face the kiln. After opening the door to the kiln, place the clay with the impression you collected earlier on a platform, and then layer the gold leaf on top of it. Exit the kiln, close its doors, and then locate the wheels that stoke the fire inside the kiln. Turn the handle once, then re-enter the kiln to find a perfectly fashioned gold medallion. There's a slightly tricky aspect in knowing what you need to do with all the items in your inventory, but nothing here is too illogical to figure out on your own. You know what to do in the workshop, and everything you need to interact with is before you. Therefore, I can't be too harsh on this puzzle.

Collecting Oil & Healing Water - [Rating: 4/10] - It is time to collect some items! After successfully fashioning the medallion, locate a bench near the kiln. Next to the table are a bowl and pitcher. To fill the bowl, go to the oil store, but don't enter it. You will find drying racks and bowls of olive oil near the entrance. You can use the bowl on one of these to fill it with oil. With that out of the way, it's time to cash in that medallion! Go to the ferryman and ask him to transport you to the temple. Remember to be in the guise of the potter or oil merchant when you arrive and then present the medallion to the guard that blocked you earlier. When you arrive at the temple, use the pitcher on a water bowl. Before you leave, select the gaff and use it to close a shutter and stop water flowing into the temple. There are a few parts of this set piece that annoyed the fuck out of me. You'd think the oil would be inside the shop, but it isn't. The only bowl you can get olive oil from is a random one outside the shop. The only tricky part of the water temple is knowing to use the gaff to unflood the temple's inner sanctum. The angle and specific screen where you can use the gaff are hard to pin down the first time you play the game.

Transmitting Messages To The Abolitionists - [Rating: 7/10] - Return to the ferry and ask the ferryman to take you back to the windmill. Enter the windmill, capture the guise of a worker, and locate a chest next to the entrance. Open the chest and notice a map depicting an underground network. If you elected to talk to the beggar, captain, and man who works in the windmill, you might have noticed that they seem to inquire the player about the weather as if they are trying to clue you into a secret verbal handshake. That's the case, and you will need to investigate the matter if you wish to complete the game. When you talk to the worker in the windmill, you can pick up the first part of their secret language. The worker starts every sentence by saying, "Looks like nasty weather." If you say this to the restrained boat captain using the worker's guise, you will discover the second part of the conversation. If you assume the image of the captain and reply to the blind beggar's opening question with "It may even rain," you will discover they are abolitionists operating a secret network that opposes Atlantis' slave trade. It is essential to trigger the beggar as he will disappear and leave behind his begging bowl, which is a critical story item. However, he will only leave his bowl once you return to the windmill and use his line, "Looks like a long winter." This response convinces the worker to depart from his workshop and allow you to investigate his home.

While exploring the windmill, you need to pick up a rope on the floor, attach it to a part of the central mill inside the windmill, and click a crank to pull the cord, which reveals a hidden door. The back and forth nature of this game of telephone drove me up the wall the most. The windmill and dock are NOT connected locations. Each time you transmit a message from the foreman in the windmill to the captain or beggar, you need to waltz back to the ferryman and ask him to teleport you to a different environment. The final bit with the beggar's bowl is incredibly easy to miss considering he tells you to go to the worker in the windmill to "begin the last leg of your journey." If you forget to pick that shit up, you'll be unable to complete the Shangri-La section of the game when you least expect it! Worse, the rope is difficult to locate because it has a matching brown texture to the one for the floor. On top of that, it's unclear what you should connect the rope to in the first place!

Collecting The Pyramidal Artifact - [Rating: 4/10] - After you open the hidden door, enter it. While following a corridor, you enter the temple's inner sanctum, which would generally be flooded with water had you not used the gaff earlier. There are a few murals to examine, but your attention should turn to Dr. Sinclair or "Soros" while utilizing the beggar's guise. After you finish talking to Soros, he passes you a disc you can use on a nearby clock-like mechanism. All you need to do is place the disc where there is a missing cog and turn the crank when you fill this gap. Locate a set of stairs that lead to the top of the temple where you collected the water. Finally, use the gaff on the same block from earlier. This time, unleashing the water results in a geyser that shoots up an artifact. While wild and wacky at times, this part of the game is more a story device than a full-fledge "puzzle." Your conversation with Sinclair forms the lion's share of the scene, and the machine you need to use his disc on is right next to you. Remembering to use the gaff to release the artifact is a little tricky, and the temple can be confusing to navigate at times, but it is nothing too hard. It's also an excellent-looking set piece.

Author's Note: The the second part of a multi-part retrospective on Final Fantasy Vi, If you missed the first part here's the link:

• Finishing Final Fantasy VI - Episode 1: Is This The Greatest Video Game Introduction?

If you enjoyed this episode, here's a directory to the first episodes of every Final Fantasy game I have covered on this site thus far:

• Part 1 of Final Fantasy I series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy II series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy V series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy VII series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy VIII series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy IX series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy X series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy X-2 series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy XI series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy XII series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy XIII series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy XIII-2 series

Part 6: Sabin's Route Is The First Truly "Timeless" Moment

I ended the last episode of my written Let's Play series for Final Fantasy VI right before the start of Sabin's route following the battle against Ultros. While the game's introductory credit roll is an impressive tone-setting moment, your highly involved adventure with Sabin, Shadow, Cyan, and eventually Gau proves to be the first time all of its mechanics and characters click. It's far from the game's "best" sequence, but it is the first time I felt like it stopped its stunting act and realized it needed to be a JRPG with an epic storyline. Things start with Sabin washing ashore on a different continent and running into the elusive Shadow. During the last episode, I avoided discussing each character's specific mechanics; moving forward, I'll work to prevent that. Shadow is a weird character. His throwing mechanic is exciting but hard to rely on in the early game because his best items are costly. When you can stock up on his elemental scrolls, you are best off hot-swapping the best spell-casting Espers on to him instead. Along with Locke and Celes, he's one of the few characters that primarily rely on the regular "Attack" command, which means he's more reliant on Relics. As I mentioned in the previous entry, the characters that depend on the relic mechanic were among my least favorite because I found fiddling through the equipment menus annoying.

But in terms of making Sabin feel like a total badass, the first part of his route does precisely that. His Blitz command is one of the more involved specials in the game, and it is varied enough in what it does that I rarely had Sabin doing anything other than magic or blitzes. Likewise, Kefka starts to set himself apart during the siege of Doma Castle and the battles afterward. While exploring an Imperial Camp, Sabin and company overhear General Leo preparing the forces of the Empire for a prolonged siege as it is the "honorable" approach to defeating an enemy. While I would counter there's no honor in attacking and killing hundreds of people, including innocent civilians, he's a character rooted in Squaresoft's obsession with Bushido and modern samurai epics like Lone Wolf and Cub. When Kefka bucks those traditions, he does so in the most sadistic manner possible by poisoning the city's water supply. What often gets forgotten is how Kefka is one of many generals up to this point, and this act of genocide ends up setting him apart from the likes of Ultros and Leo. Before this moment, he's a clown who runs away after you land a single hit. However, with power in his control, we see what acts he's willing to commit to force the world to bend to his will. It is one of the few rare examples of a Final Fantasy game showcasing its villains during the opening moments and not losing sight of them.

Then there's Cyan, the lonely samurai. I have nothing nice to say about Cyan as a party member. His Bushido ability is vanilla to a fault, and his main gimmick is that he hits hard and can wear heavy armor. It is discordant to have characters like Sabin and Gau, which have some strategy and complexity to their abilities, and then plop them next to Cyan, whose ability amounts to picking something in a menu and waiting for it to charge. I like to imagine that his out-of-date mannerisms mean that while he stands there charging up his sword techniques during battle, people are gazing at him, wondering what the fuck his deal might be. I don't think the game does enough to explain how Cyan and others rationalize using metal swords to fight mooks piloting mech suits, but that's a video game trope as old as time. HOWEVER, Cyan is the best-told character in all of Final Fantasy VI. Watching him become overcome with grief at watching the destruction of his homeland and family at the orders of Kefka is one of the game's darkest moments. That is something the game builds upon during the Phantom Forest when Cyan desperately attempts to chase after the ghosts of his wife and son as they depart into the afterlife. It's even a storyline they further expand upon and fully realize during his recruitment mission in the World of Ruin. Again, I hate using Cyan in my party, and if he were a bad overall character like Setzer, I'd be able to deal with that a lot better. But he's not, and that's a definite bummer.

Speaking of Cyan, let's talk about one of the most famous levels in Final Fantasy VI: the Phantom Forest. After ducking your way out of the Imperial Camp and going toe-to-toe with Kefka again, Sabin and company make their way to a mysterious forest populated by ghouls and specters. Eventually, the motley crew makes its way to a trainyard, and upon entering one of its cars, it comes to life and begins moving. The party realizes they are on a fabled train called the "Phantom Train," which takes recently-departed souls to the afterlife. During the pursuit off the train, there's a distinct sense of tension while the game allows everyone to strut their best stuff. Shadow's throwable scrolls hold their own, Sabin's fire dance is a godsend, and even Cyan has options to make things tolerable on the train. Then there's the Phantom Train boss encounter, which, as goofy as the internet always makes it seem, has a balance between the game's wackier sensibilities and its realistic sci-fi scaffolding. People sing effusive praise about the cheeky animations of watching your characters run away from the train as they fight it and Sabin's ability to suplex it. My version of the Pixel Remaster did not entirely "fix" Sabin's suplex, as you can see below. However, what gets less reported is how the Phantom Train is Cyan's level. Watching him drop to his knees as he watches his family leave him is one of the most gut-wrenching scenes in the entire game. It does so much to frame him as a man out of time and reminds you that everyone in the team, whether they show it or not, is in a different state of coming to terms with grief or loss.

As impressive as Sabin's route might be, there are niggling nitpicks worth addressing. First, when the game presents the three paths, it does so with a sense that each is of equal importance when the opposite is true. If you pick Sabin's route first, you can end up fucking yourself because it involves multiple boss battles and far more challenging enemy encounters. Second, it's a real bummer if Shadow leaves your party before you reach the haunted forest. During my first playthrough, because there's a 1/16th chance he will bounce at the end of ANY BATTLE, he left after my second random encounter, and all I had for the entire Phantom Train sequence was Sabin, Cyan, and a ghost. It sucked! The final issue related to Sabin's route is a structural storytelling complaint. Between this route and the coin toss scene, there's a growing sense that Sabin has unresolved insecurities and baggage to address with Edgar, but nothing comes of it. From this point forward, Sabin as a character is done for all intents and purposes. His character mission during the World of Ruin is among the least satisfying, and the game conveys the rest of his character-building during optional and missable cutscenes. It's disappointing because you feel like the game and writing are moments away from raising him to be more than the "gentle giant" archetype.

Part 7: People Still Hate Zozo For A Reason

After surviving your ordeal on the Phantom Train and permitting Cyan some time to himself, Sabin and Cyan make the leap of faith from Baren Falls. Before that, there's an optional scene at a nearby inn wherein Cyan is taken aback by a waitress flirting with him. Sabin needs to assist him in understanding intimacy, and it is a reminder that these characters all have incredibly humanizing flaws or shortcomings. Cyan is far from being the only character who struggles to process the loss of a loved one, with Locke and Setzer looming on the horizon. Quick note, even in the Pixel Remaster, the game does not de-equip characters of their weapons, armor, items, or relics when they depart the game temporarily. I always forget that with Shadow, as I feel you can never predict when he's leaving and was down a Genji Glove until his return. Nonetheless, after washing ashore on the Veldt, Sabin and Cyan encounter a "wild boy" in the surrounding plains. When they enter the nearby town of Mobliz, they learn that using a piece of dried meat can convince the boy to listen to strangers. It's an odd quest and introduction to Gau, but considering how abnormal he is compared to the rest of your party, it somewhat prepares you for his mechanics.

Admittedly, I said my piece about Gau in the previous episode. Still, it bears repeating that it is bizarre that Final Fantasy VI has ostensibly TWO Blue Mages with Gau and Strago. Gau's approach to the Blue Mage archetype is more frustrating because he can only learn new abilities on the Veldt, which has its quirks and mechanics you need to consider as well. For one thing, none of the encounters at the Veldt bestow experience points, and at this juncture, where you still lack Espers, that's a consistent source of frustration. Now, I understand why the programmers designed the monsters at the Veldt not to provide EXP. Still, that results in many encounters translating into jack shit, especially if you end up running against repeat monsters or ones that don't have any Rage abilities to teach Gau. Also, there's no more frustrating feeling than queuing up a Rage only to discover that one or more of the enemies in front of you are immune to Gau's moves. In that case, you have a wasted character. However, there's no denying that the partnership between Sabin and Gau is one of the more pleasant ones in the game, and I wish there were more to it.

With Gau tagging along, you make your way to a cave where Gau provides a single diver's helmet. Using this helmet, between three characters, mind you, the party navigates a series of underwater currents called the "Serpent's Trench." Here, the game provides its most stark use of Mode 7. Again, I respect the game pushing the technical envelope. Nonetheless, I find the first-person sequences disorienting, and in the case of the Serpent's Trench, getting lost is almost effortless. The Serpent's Trench is a dungeon where you pick between left and right avenues from time to time in the first-person perspective, and if you are not playing it with a guide, you will likely take a less efficient path out of the trench. Speaking of short set pieces that are emotionally and physically exhausting, Final Fantasy VI does not let up when it ferries you to Nikeah and reunites everyone at Narshe to fend off an invasion led by Kefka. In a minigame that I can only imagine inspired the Fort Condor missions in the original Final Fantasy VII, you divvy up your characters between three pots (two groups of three and one group of two). Then, you plop each grouping at chokepoints leading up to the frozen Esper from the start of the game. The waves of soldiers you fight back feel endless, and it does a great job of further highlighting the power imbalance between the Empire and the rest of the world. It goes on longer than it should, but by the time it is over, the Returners feel like children eating at the kiddy table, and I think that's the intent.

I am of two minds regarding everything you do between the Battle of Narshe and getting your first Esper. On the one hand, the worldbuilding involving Terra and the Espers is fantastic, and the use of flashbacks masterfully builds a growing sense of mystery that it fully delivers on by the time you wrap things up with Terra. Learning about her tragic upbringing and how she never had a childhood makes what the game does with her in the World of Ruin all the more perfect. On the other hand, Terra leaving the party sucks shit, and Zozo is one of the worst levels in the game. There are few levels in the game that Final Fantasy VI fans are united about in their hatred as much as Zozo besides the Cultists' Tower. The Floating Continent has its fair share of detractors, but I view the difficulty spike there as an understandable mid-game "gear check." Many others hate Kefka's Tower, but when viewed as the sixth entry in a franchise's tradition of wanting to kick your teeth in with final end-game dungeons, I view it as another "one of those." Zozo just completely sucks shit, but at least the characterization of Terra is masterfully done.

Likewise, the concept that Jidoor's aristocrats forced its lower-class citizens into a separate township that is riddled with crime, murder, and thievery is icky. Also frustrating is how you maximize the storytelling and worldbuilding during this sequence. Despite the game presenting your following party composition as a "player's choice," you'll miss out on some story-critical plot beats if you don't elect to use Edgar, Sabin, Locke, and Celes. The famous "coin toss scene" wherein Edgar absolves Sabin of his guilt for running away is secretly here. You can also miss the first hint of Locke's character arc if you fail to bring him along when visiting Kohlingen. Finally, the relationship between Celes and Locke starts here, but you wouldn't know if you didn't bring both along for the journey! It's a shitty design choice, but not nearly as shitty as the random encounter rate at Zozo. It's an outdoor dungeon, and that's interesting in concept, but it is a slog in execution. That random encounters do not stop when you enter buildings is beyond disheartening. The Hill Gigas encounter, wherein the enemy will pop off a massive damage-dealing move after its KO, is incredibly raw, considering how early it is in the game. But the level design drove me up the wall the most. The intricate pixel work to create a dilapidated metropolis was a headache to parse when the game was first released, and it is still a problem in the Pixel Remaster. The sequences where you hop between two skyscrapers sucked then, and it sucks now.

Part 8: The Magicite System's Weird Downstream Consequences

Let's return to Terra before I go on another gameplay-focused rant. When you reach the top of a skyscraper with Terra in it, your party runs up against the Esper Ramuh. This Esper provides a long lecture on the history of humanity's interactions with Espers and why both realms remain separate. Ramuh reveals that the Empire is conducting experiments on recently captured Espers in a research facility in their capital city of Vector and begs the Returners to rescue them. The plight of the Espers echoes a recurring theme that dots almost all of Final Fantasy VI: characters and people being in a stage of grief or loss. Each of the game's victims of grief reacts to it differently, and the game leaves it to the player to determine which reactions to death or failure are right or wrong. When you discover that Locke has a former lover of his in suspended animation as he seeks a cure, it's up to you to decide if his reaction impugns the wishes or rights of his partner. The only time the game passes hard or fast judgments about a character's coping process is when Setzer turns to substance abuse, but that's it. Stargo wanting to create a sheltered life for Relm? It's up to you to determine if he's in the right. Sabin letting his familial ties go dormant for years? You make the call. I sound like a broken record at this point, but it is refreshing to see a Final Fantasy game trust its audience to reach their own conclusions rather than feeling the need to spell everything out in ten to fifteen-minute diatribes.

I should also mention that I took the time to get Edgar's Chainsaw. The puzzle itself is a pain, but what is worth remarking upon is Edgar's utility to the party. Through his tools, before you unlock some of the more potent magical abilities, he's one of your more reliable crowd control options in the game. What's more, most of his abilities inflict significant status effects or debuffs that the early to mid-game encounters are not immune to or cannot block. Unfortunately, only a few of these tools scale well into the World of Ruin, and the progression system of gaining new tools sucks. Having to peruse a random open-air dungeon while meddling with clocks, so one of my party members can have their ultimate ability? FUCK THAT! On a similar boat is Locke. Final Fantasy VI tucking away some of the best items and weapons on bosses that need to be stolen is a continuation of a franchise tradition I hate with a fiery passion. Part of that stems from how long it takes to make Locke hold his own in combat. Because he's the only character that can steal, you almost need to have him in your rotation. However, as is the case with every thief in the eight to sixteen-bit eras of Final Fantasy games, the success rate on his steal command is awful, and it takes FUCKING FOREVER to make him useful during battles.

However, we are dancing around my central topic and thesis for this sub-chapter. After Ramuh sends your team to rescue his friends, both he and a smattering of Espers turn into stones (i.e., Magicite) that can then teach any number of magical abilities to your characters. I wouldn't go so far as to call the Magicite System a "leveling mechanic" like the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X. It's more on par with character customization features like Final Fantasy V's jobs or Final Fantasy VIII's Junction Mechanic. Your characters level up and gain bigger pools of magic points and health points as they did before earning the Espers. However, what has changed is that all enemies now provide "Ability Points" that allow characters to learn new magic commands at varying intervals depending on the Esper. However, the utility of Espers ranges a wide gamut. Some Espers teach new magical abilities, whereas others exist primarily to bestow buffs or stat boosts upon leveling up a character. To the mechanic's credit, the possibilities are endless. And yet, there are plenty of reasons not to like what the Espers add to the game.

To argue in defense of the Magicite mechanic, while you can take the time to teach every character every ability under the sun, I don't suspect that was the intent of the original design team. I think they provided the Espers and their sometimes overlapping thematics to allow players to "cover all their bases." Suppose you find yourself in an environment lacking the specific elemental spells that make it demonstrably easier. In that case, you can hot-swap whoever is in your party to make them capable of being successful in their present environment. Is your only healer low on MP, and you don't have an alternate? It's miraculously easy to teach any character the most basic Cure or Cura command as both are held by at least four or five Espers. A considerable amount of work was put into the system to allow it to make life easier in Final Fantasy VI. At no point was I ever afflicted with a sense of anxiety in my choices of Espers like I was when experimenting with similar systems like the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy XII's License Grids. But in the case of Final Fantasy VI, consider this case study. Let's say you take the time to level up Cyan, and he becomes an absolute workhorse in your party rotation. Whatever you did or discovered is not novel to Cyan; you can apply that same strategy to every party member, and you will get the same results. Yes, it is satisfying, but there's no denying that the game's initial act of presenting every playable character as unique or distinct from one another is a bit of a sham.

There's no denying two significant complaints with the Magicite system. The first is the time commitment it requires. If you enjoy grinding in RPGs because watching numbers go up or menus fill out with new abilities gives you a rush, this system is right up your alley. Nonetheless, this process often takes hours and what the Magicite mechanic's defenders often overlook is how painful it is to keep all of your lesser-used party members on par with your favored ones. Because the World of Ruin essentially requires teams of characters working together in groups, you must divide your attention across virtually all of your characters unless you want to be caught with your pants down. Sequences that require specific characters can get gnarly if you are not careful in the World of Balance. Worse, when you combine the Espers with the Relic System, I spent on average at least seven to ten minutes fiddling around in menus whenever I swapped from one group of characters to another. Again, there's a give and take here. When you take the time to explore exciting ways the Epsers and Relics can complement each other, you can create unspoken sub-classes in the game, and I found that highly rewarding.

However, the most significant issue with the Espers presents a real quibble some, including myself, have with Final Fantasy VI. Over time, Final Fantasy VI's character-specific abilities fall to the wayside in favor of its magic system, which denies them any unique characteristics in combat. Once you get the Espers, you end up making the same two to three character archetypes over and over again. Three to four characters specialized in healing magic, three to four specialized in buffs and debuffs, and three to four specialized in elemental or non-elemental offensive spells. Despite the game's early signposting of what each character might be inclined to be better at, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Much like the modern Fire Emblem games, anyone and EVERYONE under your disposal can become a tool of destruction if you put the time into it. When the game starts providing massive AP-dropping enemies, even those roles begin to blur as every character goes from being a specialized fiddler crab to venerable murder machines AND party-wide healers. If you consult any guide or walkthrough for Final Fantasy VI, you'll notice there are at most three end-goals for every character. One of these, Ultima Spam, is so broken that it has become an in-joke among all Final Fantasy VI fans. That said, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you that I didn't have fun playing around with Espers. I spent hours upon hours making sure everyone in my playthrough was at least level twenty-five and had a blast doing so. Here, we have a classic example of a "difference in opinion." If someone tells me they think Final Fantasy VI is the last time the summons in a Final Fantasy game felt entirely justified, I understand them. However, if someone says the Espers are just "the same shit over and over again," I also get them.

Part 9: The Opera House Scene Is Still AMAZING (But Setzer Sucks)

After finishing your talk with Ramuh, your team will make its way back to Jidoor and run into the Impresario, who runs a nearby opera house. He will remark that his latest production is in trouble because a pirate king wants to kidnap his leading actress (i.e., Maria) and that Celes looks oddly similar to this actress. Locke will surmise that this problem can be rectified if Celes impersonates Maria during the upcoming stage production and the Impresario agrees. What takes place next is Final Fantasy VI's famous "Opera House scene." I hate to disappoint you if you expect me to be a contrarian asshole about the single most beloved moment in the franchise's history. This entire scene is a fantastic set piece that uses every technological trick up its sleeve to make one of the most cinematic moments in video games. Which is astounding when you consider each part of it sounds blasé or boring on paper. Needing to memorize lines from a play for in-game quick-time events? That sounds painful! A play within a play as the focal point of a set piece? That's not exactly a new idea. And yet, it works.

First, let's address "the elephant in the room." The Pixel Remaster's flaws are forgiven in light of its AMAZING work to make the Opera House scene look gorgeous. The shadows, lightning, and spoken lyrics create a more cinematic and engaging setting. The use of the Octopath Traveler engine is undeniable. Still, the Pixel Remaster design team has tamed its light bloom effect so that the moodier and more emotional moments at the Opera House are not camouflaged for high-resolution pixel work. Speaking of the pixel work, it's simply amazing. The castle during the Opera House has a more believable 3D effect, and the animations of the characters are easier to discern and interpret. Small finger waves, leaps, and character poses are just as much fun as they were the first time, but here they feel more charming as you get a better sense of the implied emotions of the characters. Some prefer the SNES version's synthesized bleeps and bloops to the use of real lyrics, but I'm the opposite. I find the SNES sound chip grating and downright awful at times, and the Pixel Remaster to be the vastly superior alternative.

I have seen a handful of people mention dislike towards the transition to Ultros' wacky scheme, but I am not one of them. Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI are the games that most feel like they are paying homage to East Asian fables, classics, and Peking or Kabuki opera. When you view the battle against Ultros as the climax of a play, it makes thematic sense. Characters jump into the scene, bow, and billow their introductions as they would in a Jīngjù production. And when you accept that the Opera House is equal parts Squaresoft stunting and throwing the player some breathing room after all of the heavy shit involving Terra and the genocide of the Espers, I'll take some wacky hijinx; thank you very much! There's also something quaint and charming about watching an Italian Opera director needing to "wing it" when the battle with Ultros commences. Furthermore, the way the game "sticks the landing" is something that needs to be seen instead of viewed on a blog.

The Opera House scene is forever good. The original version of the scene is even more impressive when you consider it was accomplished in the late 1980s. Unfortunately, Setzer sucks. I have said it before, but I will repeat it for posterity. I hate how there are TWO "Casanova Wannabe" archetypes in Final Fantasy VI. Setzer's sexually harassing and womanizing antics feel redundant when you already have Edgar. Likewise, the very premise of this scene is that he wants to kidnap a female character and bend them to his will. Please stop and think about how horrible it is in the real world to experience or be a victim of kidnapping, and I think you realize Square's reliance on it as a writing crutch, EVEN TO THIS DAY, is all the more reprehensible. I get that some might be able to say, "It was a different time," and then move on, but I can't. I especially cannot give the game the benefit of the doubt when every central female character becomes a damsel in distress and a victim of kidnapping or imprisonment at least once in the story. Squaresoft was at the time a "boy's club," and that reeks here, and if ever there was a sign that even in their "glory days," they needed to be more culturally and socially conscious of other genders, races, or creeds, this and Zozo prove the case.

Whenever I have expressed these concerns while praising the Opera House scene, I end up with the same arguments in defense of its unsavory underpinning. I don't know how many times I have heard people point toward Celes getting the better of Setzer by using a weighted coin to force him to join the party, but that doesn't excuse the story's reliance on kidnapping women as a cheap plot crux. Also, let's be honest for a minute. Who are these people that enjoy using or playing Setzer? I hate his slot machine mechanic even if I find it one of the more visually pleasing character-specific commands. Due to it being a slot machine, you can never rely on it, and I don't care what weirdos on the internet claim to be the "tricks" on how to guarantee you always summon Bahamut when using Slot. I tried all of them and still ended up with Mysidian Rabbit more than I'd like. And that's still ignoring the fact that there's a chance he murders your party! Things only marginally improve if you decide to swap Slot out for Gil Toss, but I was never down to sacrifice my Gil when there were plenty of items, armor, and weapons to buy until the final chapters. Setzer also has one of the worst plot arcs in the game, and the fact he's one of the required characters you recruit in the World of Ruin is a massive drag.

Part 10: Right, Terra Is "TECHNICALLY" The Game's Protagonist

With an airship finally at your disposal, your troupe of charming rogues parks at Vector's outskirts before entering. Vector is a teeming technologically advanced metropolis far grander than any of the villages you have encountered. You can also explore nearby towns off the beaten path using the airship. I completed the side quest at Maranda involving the injured soldier and tied up a few other errands at the surrounding towns of Tzen and Albrook. If you take the time to interact with any of the NPCs in these cities, you will discover they are presently under occupation and clue you into life in the Empire. When you do make your way to Vector, you encounter an undercover agent for the Returners who provides a distraction for your party to enter the Magitek Research Facility. Before I sing praises of what the game does in terms of its narrative, there's no denying this is one of the more demanding levels in the World of Balance. I had a hard time correctly interpreting where platforms began and ended. Similarly, the conveyor belts are endlessly frustrating. The good news is that the level uses treasure chests as a breadcrumb trail to where you should go, but getting lost is incredibly easy.

However, everything subsequently accomplished in the facility and the Sealed Gate makes up for whatever design quibbles I might have. It is odd to think, but Ultros has had as much air-time as Kefka up to this point, and the research facility highlights how they exist on different planes of villainy. Through several interactions with the Espers, you learn they are sentient beings that want to live as freely and happily as your party members. Thus, Kefka's comically cruel treatment of them is all the more tragic. After you battle Ifrit and Shiva, they paint, as well as the corpses in the background, an incredibly bleak picture of what Vector's scientific research does to Espers. However, they also make it blatantly clear that when Espers turn into Magicite, they sacrifice their lives to ensure that whoever holds them will honor their code of ethics. I always forget this detail, and it consistently catches me off guard. Nonetheless, it's another sign that things are desperate for the forces that wish to oppose the Empire, so much so that one side must rely on sentient creatures sacrificing their lives.

To complement the dower tone of the Research Facility, you eventually encounter Cid, Celes' adopted father. Cid is the architect of Vector's rise to prominence, but upon realizing the Espers are a conscious people, he disavows his work and declares that he will attempt to stop further research. However, when Kefka arrives, he immediately dismisses Cid, and because of villainous chicanery, the facility begins to self-destruct. Celes leaves the party with everyone doubting her allegiances, and as they attempt to depart using a train Cid summons, a monstrous artificial creature attacks them. It bears mentioning that the final portion of the research facility is an early-game boss rush. Things start with a fight against Number 024 and then climax in a Mode 7 battle against Number 128, the latter of which is significantly more challenging. However, you must also deal with the Crane boss encounter before you can catch your breath. In terms of action-oriented set-pieces, this entire sequence is one of the best in the game. There's a genuine sense of needing to fight back an endless onslaught of enemy forces, and the visual variety of backdrops is an absolute delight. The 3D work leading up to the Number 128 boss battle is the best example of the game operating on a then-unheard-of level of technical excellence.

However, Vector and the journey to the Sealed Gate are all in the name of bringing Terra to the forefront. For the most part, the game is successful in this endeavor. I cannot deny that I felt something when I first watched the flashback where you control Maduin. Watching Maduin fall in love and take steps to be a family man, only for all of that to evaporate because of a selfish emperor's pursuits, feels timeless and apt. Again, few games in the Final Fantasy franchise today bother to humanize their summons, let alone make them the focal point of their stories. Today, most modern, post-FFX titles view them as nothing more than a source to provide flashy animations or visual flair. So, when Terra learns about her past and how her childhood was ripped away from her, I think everyone sympathizes with her rage. When she frees the Espers from their realm, and they begin to rain destruction on the human world, I think you relate with them more than your party. However, up to this point, you still feel like there's hope for both sides to settle their differences and live in peaceful co-existence. Therefore, when Kefka rips that away, it is a decisive moment that underscores him as the story's ultimate evil and reiterates the game's central theme of overcoming failure. Some people forget that unlocking the Sealed Gate leads to a spectacular example of an anti-climax "done right." The Returners open the gate expecting the Espers to assist them in fighting back the monolithic Empire. Instead, they blame the totality of humanity for the death of their friends and wage war on everyone.

I don't think people give Final Fantasy VI enough credit for realizing that sometimes levels in an RPG are meant to be vessels for storytelling rather than playgrounds for battle tactics. I cannot remember a single random encounter or battle I had in the cave leading up to the Sealed Gate, but I recall entire plot threads from the cinematics before and after you reach it. The use of combat screens when the larger Espers rush out of the Sealed Gate is among my favorite use of the feature. The Esper pixel work was impressive even in the SNES release, but in the Pixel Remaster, they are even better, with fluid and highly detailed animations to boot. Between the non-player battles between Kefka and the Espers and the first-person Mode 7 sequence in the research facility, Final Fantasy VI flexes while its ultimate "plot twist" looms in the future. I forgot to mention it, but when you first pilot the airship, there's a brief scene as you watch the city of Vector rise on the horizon. Scenes like that show how much Final Fantasy VI went on to inform Final Fantasy VII's directorial and aesthetical choices. The Returners, awkwardly milling around in the ruins of Vector, knowing they are at least partially responsible for the havoc, CLEARLY went on to inform Squaresoft how they wanted to frame Shinra and Avalanche during Final Fantasy VII's opening hours. It speaks VOLUMES of Final Fantasy VI's legacy and its timeliness qualities that people were more than happy to allow Square to try its ideas a second time, but with a different veneer. And on that note, I'll close this blog. Next time, we'll go from the Sealed Gate to "THE BIG TWIST" and dabble in some side quest nonsense.

Author's Note: This is the second part to a two-part series on The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time. If you missed the first episode, here's a link. If you are interested in reading other entries in this series, feel free to consult the following list:

• Episode 1: The Dig
• Episode 2: Atlantis: The Lost Tales
• Episode 3: Loom
• Episode 4: Drowned God
• Episode 5a: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Part 1 & Episode 5b: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - Part 2
• Episode 6: The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime

Farnstein Lab (Part 2)

Pressurizing The Biomass Processing Room - [Rating: 9/10] - Of Buried in Time's many set-pieces, the Farnstein Lab and Mayan Temple are the only ones that require multiple trips during an optimal playthrough. As I mentioned in the first part of this retrospective, the Farnstein Lab is inarguably the most challenging level in the game and because it is here where you pick up Arthur, one of the game's most important. As was the case before, you first need to purchase a can of aerosol cheese that you use to propel your character towards a space station. Your target location during your second visit is the Biomass Processing Room, and there are multiple routes you can take. However, because the exterior and interior of the station lack any atmospheric pressure, you also have to contend with a dwindling oxygen meter that acts as a timer. The route I took involved going to the main central room from before, using the computer terminal to pressurize the Biomass Processing Room, and then attempting to find the oxygen refilling station near the mining facility. It took me several tries before I completed this level, and I was not too fond of it.

The first issue with the lab is immediately apparent; the level has a time limit. Worse, there are required cutscenes and dialogue sequences involving Arthur, and the game continues to diminish your oxygen reserves while these occur. The second problem concerns the multiple routes leading to dead-ends. Exploring the space station is interesting in concept, but with the oppressive time limit, you can't appreciate any of the game's worldbuilding and need to stick to a critical path. Finally, and this is the most significant issue, the game does a terrible job of signposting how to get to the Biomass Processing Room and what items or equipment you will need to get there. The flask of water and oxygen refilling station are incredibly easy to miss. In the latter's case, passing it over makes completing the mission impossible in a normal playthrough.

More alarming, several steps are involved in refilling your oxygen tank, so if you are not careful, you might not be able to replenish your stock in time before you get a "Game Over." What you need to do in that case is find a terminal and select the "Run Mining Cycle" option to extract ice chunks from an asteroid. Next, you need to select "Run O2 Extraction" to remove oxygen from the ice, then move Forward-Right-Right to face the recharge station. Once there, you touch a specific nozzle to refill your tank at the station. Fun fact, there's a "Drain Oxygen" nozzle right next to it, and clicking it will result in an immediate game over. This sequence was an absolute ballbuster, but it is far from the most complicated puzzle I have seen during this feature.

Getting The Flask And Filling It With Water - [Rating: 6/10] - I have mentioned how I have difficulty gauging pixel hunts for this feature. This sequence is one such example. While making your way through a series of elevators that take you to the Biomass Processing Room, you first need to stop at the second level of the space station and explore a nearby room by moving Right-Right-Forward-Right-Down. You then pick up a plastic flask in a room with no other purpose but to give you this specific item. On a good day, I could excuse this sort of game design as "of an era,", especially with The Journeyman Project operating under the shadow of Myst. HOWEVER, the flask itself is not easy to find, AND if you have any hope of completing the game, you also have to fill it with water. The second part of that sentence is the real kicker, but to the game's defense, it lists the flask as an "empty water jug," and the oxygen station has a marked "H2O Mode." It's not that big of a leap to know that you need to use the jug on the terminal with that mode activated. Nonetheless, it's as fiddly as the previous puzzle.

Using The Green 3D Printer - [Rating: 3/10] - Using the elevator from earlier, you reach the top floor and use a vehicle to move to the door of the Biomass Processing Room. Fun fact, if you fail to pressurize the room, it will explode and kill you. Once inside, the good news is that you no longer need to worry about your oxygen meter and can freely explore the level. Eventually, you will notice a floating glob of green material and a command terminal with frequencies. Using the dial on the screen causes the green orb to transform into different statues, but what you want to do is set the frequency to 11kHz. If you explore the room long enough, you'll find notes talking about a UFO that attacked the station and how the signature of the spacecraft emits that frequency. When you touch the statue after setting the machine to the correct frequency, it reveals a schematic you can collect as evidence. There's a slight "hunt and peck" factor considering only one note in the entire room is applicable to moving forward, but that's not as pressing an issue as you'd think, considering there aren't that many notes to review in the first place. Of the many tasks at the space station, this was my favorite as it organically encouraged you to learn about the story as you solve a simple but clever puzzle.

The Mayan Temple & Caves (Part 2)

The God Of War Puzzle - [Rating: 4/10] - The second half of the Mayan Temple is BY FAR the most by the numbers portion of Buried in Time. Once you make your way back to the caves, which requires you to repeat the same process I reviewed in Part 1, you will notice doors to four rooms with differing Maya wood carvings. Each entryway signifies a different god, and the puzzle inside the subsequent room coincides with the god you are attempting to "beat." You can complete these rooms in any order except for the final one, which you can only finish if you have done the previous three. I started with the "God of War" room that you can only enter if you have the bloody arrow from the French castle. Quick note, you can cause an interesting "fail state" if you use the bloody arrow and exit this chamber as the arrow is a one-time use item, and after you use it, the door to the temple closes after leaving. The issue is that the game detects the arrow used for its intended purpose and will not respawn a new one.

While in this room, you need to use skulls from various skeletons in the mouths of serpent statues to make nearby mechanical wall-spear traps stop. You have a limited number of skulls at your disposal and cannot turn all the mechanical traps off in the room. As such, you need to do some mental calculus to figure out how to successfully reach the other side of the room to pick up an obsidian block. Even after you pick up the block, you need to calculate how to use the two skulls at your disposal to get to the exit without dying. This puzzle stumped me for a bit but in a good way. This puzzle is a weird Tower of Hanoi clone, but I found it entertaining. It's a logic puzzle with some attractive window-dressing, and that's sometimes all you can hope for in games like these.

The God Of Rain Puzzle - [Rating: 7/10] - To enter the Rain Temple, you use your recently acquired water flask. However, unlike the bloody arrow, you can use it multiple times in case you accidentally exit the temple temporarily. You will eventually run up against a rope bridge when you continue moving forward from the entrance. However, this bridge is "magical." To reveal its "final form," you must cross it, turn around, walk over the bridge again, and turn around once more. The bridge is now a set of swinging platforms, and you will need to time your button presses to cross the bridge to pick up a limestone block. The timing with the swinging blocks is tricky. You must click the Forward input seconds before a platform reaches you, but not before it passes you. Likewise, you do this twice as the swinging bridge does not stop after you get the limestone brick. For whatever reason, I had a harder time with the return journey than the initial trip, but your experience might be different. Hopefully, you have a save right before you start this sequence because this puzzle is about as "trial and error" as it gets in Buried in Time.

The God Of Wealth Puzzle - [Rating: 5/10] - To enter this room, you use the gold coins you picked up from the treasure chest in the French castle. After the door opens, you move forward until you see a rope bridge like the Water Temple, but you must avoid entering the gold-filled room in front of you. If you enter it, the door behind you will close, and the only way to exit is by warping back to Gage's apartment and trying again. Yes, this part fucks you over, but I think it's in the spirit of this particular puzzle. As long as you remember the lesson of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you will not fall for the fake gold room, and even if you do, needing to warp back to Gage's apartment is only a temporary setback. To solve the puzzle, you need to notice the entrance to a bright room during the walk back from the bridge. You use a rope hook holding the bridge together to scramble to the glowing door. To accomplish this, you need to recall the coil of rope you found at Leonardo da Vinci's Studio and use it on the anchor. As long as you notice the bright room, you will eventually find a way to progress the story. The part with the hook is a toughie, no doubt, but even then, using the coil of rope is the only logical item combination here.

The Final Mayan God Trial - [Rating: 7/10] - To enter the final temple, combine all the stone pieces you picked up at the previous three temples and then insert the final product into a receptacle. At the entrance of this temple, there will be a piece of evidence for you to collect. When you enter the room, you discover a sacrificial altar and can observe a second and final piece of evidence. After collecting the evidence, you use the preserved human heart from da Vinci's workshop to summon a Maya puzzle box. Using the translation BioChip, you can decipher the various icons and symbols on the box and, with the help of Arthur, discover you need to input the shapes of what the mystery box contains. You can find the answer to this puzzle at the temple entrance, but if you do not write this down before summoning the mystery box, you are fucked! The box doesn't have a timer, but inputting even a single incorrect symbol results in a game over, which includes walking away from it.

This sentence might sound like PC adventure game apologism, but I did not hate this puzzle. Yes, having the answer be outside of the temple isn't great. However, each temple in the caves has something you can translate on their entryways that gives away how to open the door. By this point, it becomes an automatic reaction to queue up your Translate BioChip and make mental notes of what you read. I will admit that the decision to make the mystery box a game over if you mess up when you attempt to enter a complete combination is harsh. I will also concede that mystery box puzzles, in general, are a contrived crux for adventure games that have run out of ideas unless you are Fireproof Games. Finally, getting that preserved heart in the workshop sucks ass. However, the puzzle is still simple enough to solve once you have all the appropriate tools at your disposal and even forces you to explore your surroundings. That alone motivates me to avoid giving it a higher mark.

Gage Blackwood's House (Part 2)

Using The Environ Cartridge In The Projector - [Rating: 1/10] - When you open the Mayan mystery box, you find a cartridge you know you can play back in Gage's apartment. The cartridge appears in your inventory as an "Environ Cartridge," and Arthur chimes in that it might have clues as to who might be responsible for framing Gage. After going to Gage's projection system, you learn more about who is behind the grand conspiracy at play. As you watch a series of cutscenes, the culprit reveals themself and then knocks out Gage, which transitions the game to its penultimate level. There's not much here to discuss other than the FMV cutscenes in Buried in Time are QUITE EXCELLENT and are prime FMV Vinny material.

The Missile Silo

Using Arthur To Break Free - [Rating: 5/10] - When Gage wakes up, he is completely immobilized and strapped to a chair. While the "surprise" perpetrator of the conspiracy against Gage lectures about what their master plan is, Arthur reawakens and devises a way to break free. Arthur finds a way to hack into the culprit's computer terminal and discovers a way to sabotage their warp suit. However, Arthur needs the log-in codes to do this, and there's only a limited amount of time to prevent the culprit from killing Gage. Arthur directs you to use the Files BioChip and try to find essential information about the culprit to see if you can figure out their password. As you look at their dossier, you need to take note of their hobbies and input that as their password. There are a handful of other possible inputs to try, but you only have enough time to do two to three. If you are not using a guide, this sequence can become tiring as you'll have to rewatch several unskippable cutscenes. Nevertheless, there are not that many options to try before reaching the correct answer, and once you know the answer to this puzzle, it is impossible to mess up again.

Powering Up The Generator - [Rating: 4/10] - After another series of cutscenes play out, you are free to move around and explore the culprit's lair. To progress the game, you need to locate a generator core in the right corner of the room, pick it up, and find the console of the room's power generator. Using the console, you need to eject a spent core, turn to the emptied generator, insert the new core, and remember to pick up the used one. For whatever reason, Buried in Time has a glitch where you must look away from the generator after using the console to insert the new core into the machine. It is also worth noting that Arthur is no longer with you and the last two levels need to be completed without the game's hint system. Nonetheless, for this puzzle, it is visibly apparent the room you are in is not powered, and the generator is impossible to miss. Fixing the generator takes just a handful of clicks, and it is among the most straightforward tasks in the culprit's room.

Getting The Warp Codes To The Alien Spaceship - [Rating: 4/10] - With the lair online and operating, you need to explore the heaps of notes and video recordings in the room. The culprit's suggestions that an alien race is attempting to ruin humanity's attempts to achieve intergalactic recognition are accurate. To discover which aliens are behind this conspiracy, you first need to find the "Gravis Plasma Tools." When you touch this device, a control panel will emerge with two large triangular buttons. After pressing the two buttons, the words "Run Program" will pop up on the control panel. You need to cycle through several commands using the triangle buttons until the words "Transport Code" appear and then push the "Run Program" button. The warp codes to an alien spacecraft will appear but will dematerialize quickly. Likely, you will need to run the program two to three times before you note the entire warp code.

However, we are not yet prepared to jump into the alien spaceship as there is more than one ship using that exact code. To discover which ship is the correct one, you need to explore more notes in the room that reveal the sensory perception of the aliens in question. Next, you need to turn on a television and read a series of news articles about several members of the "Symbiotry" until you find one with a matching sensory perception listed at the end of their report. When you find a match, you need to jot down their "Transport Prefix." Only with the correct transport code and prefix will you be able to warp into their ship without dying. While involved, this puzzle did a better job of making me feel like a detective than when the game stops you in your tracks and forces you to find clues. Once again, Buried in Time finds a clever way to opt you into learning more about its story while you are solving puzzles. I admit reading text written in the format of a CNN article is not to everyone's taste, but if that is the case, you can skip to the ends of the articles to get what you are trying to find. If you fail to note the transport prefix, the transportation machine will ask for one, and you can power down the device to get it. Overall, I enjoyed this sequence more than I thought I would.

The Alien Spaceship

Activating The Alien Transport System - [Rating: 5/10] (But It Depends) - Remember when I made a big deal about picking up the lens filter in Leonardo da Vinci's workshop? Yeah, well, this part of the game is where that becomes a big deal. If you only observe the lens but fail to pick it up, you will not be able to see anything inside the alien spaceship and will automatically fail the game. If you lack a prior save where you can warp back and pick up the lens, then you will need to restart the entire game. I suspect this problem was an oversight by the developer, but it sure sucks nonetheless. However, turning on the alien transportation system is relatively straightforward if you have the lens. After turning on the lens, you observe some approaching guards and need to use the cloaking BioChip. After they pass, you need to touch a muscly bar at the bottom of your screen to turn on the alien transportation system and move forward to the next room. A recurring theme on the alien spaceship is that your reaction speeds need to be quick. Otherwise, the game will murder you. Other than that, the "It Depends" factor of whether or not you have the lens is what determines if this puzzle makes or breaks for you.

Collecting Items From An Alien Organ - [Rating: 2/10] - The transportation system sucks you through a series of bio-organic alien rooms until you end up next to a mass of flesh with items jutting out of it. You need to click on a fleshy container holding a medieval sword. To break the blade free, you need to use an explosive charge, which shockingly does NOT alert the alien guards you encountered earlier. Using the sword, you can cut open the remaining storage containers to locate an "interactive sculpture," The Codex Atlanticus, the Mayan puzzle box, and the Environ Chip. The game does not tell you what you do or do not need, and I felt compelled to give the flesh pile a second go, pecking away at every pixel before moving forward. That said, I'd struggle to call this puzzle "difficult." Getting all the items certainly boosts your in-game score, but only the sword is necessary to complete the game.

Dealing With The Alien Guards - [Rating: 8/10] - The next two bits are where my suggestions about needing quick reaction speeds kick into high gear. After picking up the sword, you must return to the transportation tube and backtrack to your initial starting position. However, the guards are back, but you cannot move this time. To avoid an untimely demise, you must use the sword on the fibrous bar that usually engages the transportation system to send the guards back. The issue here is that your window to complete this task is scant, and considering how fiddly the game's inventory system can be, it is easy to get a game over even if you know exactly what you must do. I timed it and would guess you have less than twenty seconds to locate the sword and use it on the bar before the game murders you, and for most, that's not enough time especially considering how cluttered your inventory can get.

Defeating The Evil Alien Ambassador - [Rating: 9/10] - After you defeat the guards and attempt to move forward, the ambassador of the evil aliens apprehends Gage and locks him into a prison cell. In prime villain form, the ambassador announces aloud that he plans to use his special laser beam to rip away Gage's space suit, which will cause him to suffocate in the alien environment. To prevent this, you need to use the spent energy core to cause the beams to reflect onto the ambassador. With the ambassador dealt with, you need to locate the console that pilots the ship, which triggers the game's ending. It is worth noting that if you took the time to read the label on the spent energy cube, there is a warning that says it can disrupt transportation beams. However, that's the only bone the game throws you. For most, this entire sequence boils down to using whatever shit you have in your pockets and seeing what works. With Arthur out of commission, you can't even ask for help if you get stuck. As a whole, not only does the game end with a haphazard "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" puzzle, but the ending itself is a complete disappointment. It's a shitty puzzle and an even shittier ending to an otherwise fun and riveting game.

Should You Play The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (Verdict: Yes, But Only If You Enjoyed The First Game)

My recommendations for Buried in Time at the start of the first entry still stand. You should only play this game if you complete the remaster of the first game (i.e., Pegasus Prime) and still have an appetite to see more. The ambition of Buried in Time is undeniable. Presto Studios pushed the boundaries of the then industry standard for PC adventure games, especially those that used FMV. However, this game is crusty. It is an absolute bore to play at times and almost impossible to recommend to people who do not have a tolerance for Myst-like bullshit. If you lack the context of where most adventure games were in the late 1990s, its design will feel bizarre or mean-spirited. I have it in my heart to love this game, but I know I might be an outlier. I view the "FMV Era" of adventure games in a far more positive light than most. By hook or by crook, even the most cynical critic of FMV has to admit that they kept the adventure game torch alight during the genre's darkest hours.

It's a shame because I think The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time is an experience worth having. Legacy of Time is a game that reeks of an incomplete project, but it is BY FAR the most enjoyable game in the series. In a masterstroke of genius, Presto boiled out the previous two games' punishing difficulty and created an adventure with no death. The puzzles are also better, and the third game's excessive use of FMV is a proverbial cherry on top. Unfortunately, playing the second game is a necessary step to enjoying the third, and its incomplete status is incredibly disappointing. Legacy of Time has two fully realized levels and ends just as it starts to find its stride. With the entire series in stasis and with no hope of that changing, seeing this series out to the end feels like a logical conclusion on my part. There will likely never be a Kickstarter that reboots the series and allows the characters of The Journeyman Project to reach their logical conclusions like Tex Avery or Leisure Suit. I cannot help but lament that. But for Buried in Time, check it out if it looks attractive, and feel free to let out a yelp if you need help.

Author's Note: Here are links to previous episodes of this series:

• Episode 1: The Dig
• Episode 2: Atlantis: The Lost Tales
• Episode 3: Loom
• Episode 4: Drowned God
• Episode 5a: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Part 1 & Episode 5b: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - Part 2
• Episode 6: The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime

Preamble

It has been over a month since I last published one of these adventure game blogs, but old habits die hard. With this episode, I will be returning to the FMV world of The Journeyman Project, but this time my deep analysis will target the second game in the series. I ended my post on The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime with a proclamation that it was one of the better introductory games to the late-90s FMV era of PC adventure games. I stand by that because The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time is a definite jump in difficulty and features more of the expected "hiccups" of an FMV game. Don't get me wrong; Buried in Time is a game I had a blast playing. Nonetheless, it is undoubtedly the least welcoming entry in the franchise for newcomers or those whose only impressions of the adventure game genre are LucasArts, Ron Gilbert, or Tim Schaffer. I have played these games for almost all my life, and this game still managed to kick my ass, but more on that later.

And yet, I still love this game. As mentioned in the previous episode, you can never claim that Presto Studios, the team behind The Journeyman Project series, wasn't trying their best whenever they made one of these games. With Buried in Time, you get the sense they had a far larger budget to work with and had bigger storytelling aspirations. With The Journeyman Project 1 or Pegasus Prime, you got a story that was a total mess that eventually went to some wild and insane places. Buried in Time doesn't wait to kick into high gear. After starting a new playthrough, you first see an incredibly over-the-top FMV cutscene where a man in a ridiculous spacesuit claims to be you from the future and that your life is in danger. Then, in one of your first "official" levels, you explore a derelict space station before acquiring a sentient artificial intelligence that enjoys cracking turn-of-the-century puns and one-liners! Buried in Time oozes with 90s charm, and if you have any nostalgia for this era of games, that will keep you going while you butt up against some of its bizarre design choices.

Speaking of which, there are some consequences to Buried in Time utilizing the format and structure of its predecessor but applying it to a grander stage. Much like the first game, you'll need to hop back and forth across various environments and timelines to address roadblocks in subsequent levels. Including the introductory hub world, there are seven levels in Buried in Time, and each features up to twenty or so fully explorable screens that can have trinkets or puzzles where you least expect them. Much like the early Myst games, your playable character can examine any screen you are in using fully rendered 3D movement on an x and y-axis. This design presents plenty of frustrations as you'll often need to find a specific location or screen in the game and then turn down to look at the floor and click a random pixel to put an item in your inventory. However, I predict the game's backtracking will represent most players' prominent source of frustration. If you elect not to have a guide on standby, you'll often find yourself staring at historical monuments or gizmos with no input from the game that the missing piece to what you are stuck on is five to six levels deep in a different setting. Again, if you are asking me what any of this translates to in terms of a recommendation, I would start with Pegasus Prime and see if that game's old-school design is too much before jumping headfirst into the far more ambitious Buried in Time.

Finally, for various reasons, I will be breaking this examination on Buried in Time into two parts. While a quick review of HowLongToBeat might suggest the game is a scant seven to eight hours, that's pretty long for a game of this type. I finished Pegasus Prime and even the third game well under that amount. When you start playing Buried in Time, you'll immediately discover why it's considered the most extensive and challenging entry in the series. The environments and levels in this game dwarf the ones in the first game, and unlike the series' third entry, Buried in Time feels like a full-featured folly. The environments you explore are dense, and their puzzles are far more complex. So, to spare everyone from reading a manifesto on FMV adventure game design, I decided to make things easier. Simply going from the start of the game to its halfway point, I managed to crest at the word total of my write-up on the entirety of Pegasus Prime.

Ratings Explained: I'm using a continuum ranging from 1 to 10. Puzzles ranging from one to four are accessible sequences or set pieces that can be solved without guides or hints, regardless of your puzzle game expertise. Puzzles ranked between five and six are ones that only intermediate puzzle game players can solve, but beginners can solve in-game through clues, hints, or significant trial-and-error. From seven and above, we get into puzzles that most players cannot solve without consulting outside resources. Also in this category are puzzles that have major accessibility issues.

Gage Blackwood's House (Part 1)

Finding The Gage Blackwood Action Figure - 2/10 - During the game's introductory cutscene, a version of your character from the future warns you about a grand conspiracy. You discover that your character is under house arrest in the present timeline for committing "crimes against the space-time continuum." Before your futuristic doppelganger departs, he relays that he hid a special message on how to prove your innocence and "reveal the truth" about what's happening in the world of The Journeyman Project 2. What that happens to be is an action figure stacked on top of your bookcase that, when clicked, plays a Mission Impossible-styled story summary. It's a bit on the contrived side, and the learning curve on how to control the game isn't the best, but it is a decent enough tutorial puzzle. Along your way, you interact with other pieces of furniture that either exist as pure window dressing or fill in some gaps in the game's worldbuilding. Overall, it's a manageable pixel hunt.

Using The Enviro-Projector Room To Collect Shopnet Order Numbers - 4/10 - Here's where Buried in Time's design may make or break for most people. The message I mentioned earlier warns Gage Blackwood to explore their apartment to "collect all of the resources necessary to prove your innocence." That one line is your only clue that there are two inventory items in the apartment which, if not collected, will result in you being unable to progress the story. These items are a can of aerosol cheese called a "Cheese Girl" and a translation BioChip. Where Buried in Time complicates things is how you unlock the ability to possess these items. You first need to enter your living room, which is siloed away from the kitchen, and then use your home entertainment system. While watching the news, you must record these items' shipping/order numbers while observing their advertisements. The lack of signposting makes this a jump-up in difficulty from the previous puzzle. Worse, one of the advertisements is for a music album that has nothing to do with progressing the story. It also does not help that the order numbers for these products are incredibly long. Correspondingly, if you fail to write the codes down quickly, the game transitions to the news, thus causing you to restart the whole process. If you enjoy some FMV-based goodness, this isn't that bad of a time. It's not an impossible task once you understand what you need to locate, but an annoying one nonetheless.

Using The Replicator To Order The Cheese Girl And Translate BioChip - 2/10 - The good news about collecting those order forms is that the next part of the process, ordering the goddamn things, isn't that hard. All you need to do is find the food replicator in your kitchen, which is impossible to miss and select the "ShopNet" mode, where you can search for and order the necessary items. The one added step that caught me off guard is that you also need to select the "Replicate" button to create the items and add them to your inventory. I thought the process of ordering them added them to your inventory automatically when I first played the game. Also, in the case of the Cheese Girl, you need to reorder one-time-use items if you misuse them, which can involve a lot of backtracking thanks to the game's trail-and-error adventure game design. More on that in a minute.

Farnstein Lab (Part 1)

Using The Cheese Girl To Navigate The Vacuum Of Space - 2/10 - Similar to the first game, once you get into the timeline jumping part of Buried in Time, it presents four possible locations you can jump to at any time. The lucky news with Buried in Time is that, IN GENERAL, no energy meter ticks away after you warp to a location. The lone exception to that is the Farnstein Lab which, because it exists in space, features a time limit (i.e., a rapidly dwindling oxygen meter) that does not exist in other environments. To make matters worse, even upon entering the space station, you discover the entire facility has been depressurized. This time limit continues until you find a way to pressurize a room you are in, but the station can only do that once. If you accidentally select the wrong room, you must warp back to the apartment, reorder a Cheese Girl, and try again from scratch.

As a result, Farnstein Lab is my least favorite level in Buried in Time by a country mile. Things are not off to a great first impression when, after warping to the station, you discover the coordinates to the entrance are wrong, cannot correct them, and need to use the Cheese Girl to propel yourself to the space station. After doing this once, it becomes an automatic reaction upon warping there. However, your first experience involves fumbling through the inventory system and seeing which items allow you to move forward. Also, where you use the can of cheese determines the direction you move. If you use the can of cheese, a one-time-use item, in the wrong place, you need to warp back to the apartment, reorder it, and try again. As I said with the previous two puzzles, it is not necessarily hard, but it's fiddly, and the time limit makes it more nerve-racking than it needs to be.

Pressurizing The Capacitance Array - 4/10 - After using the can of cheese to propel Gage to the entrance of the space station, you need to open an airlock and continue moving forward into a large room until a sentient artificial intelligence starts yelling. What I find especially heinous is how some of these screeds are required unskippable cutscenes that eat into your time limit. While in the main room, you need to take note of a sign that says "Capacitance Array." When using a computer terminal, select that room when given the option to pressurize one room of your choice. There's also a metal bar you can pick up blocking a door you will need to use later. As I warned earlier, there are dozens of rooms to choose from on the terminal, some you cannot even enter, and if you misclick, you will need to restart from the beginning. Moreover, the computer terminal is easy to miss as it blends with the environment's grey and black palette. With a time limit running in the background, finding it is undoubtedly stressful. Luckily for all involved, after pressurizing the room, you no longer need to worry about the time limit as it has a steady flow of oxygen. This puzzle is a little on the hunt-and-peck side, but it is acceptable in my book.

Exiting The Docking Bay - 5/10 - The artificial intelligence from earlier introduces himself as "Arthur" and states he is willing to help you if you assist him in leaving the space station. The first step towards completing this involves exiting the main room and exploring the station's docking bay. Unfortunately, a force field-based conveyor belt system prevents you from entering or exiting the room quickly. Here, you take note of the directions the force field throws you and find the correct directional inputs to get to the other side. There are a few ways for you to select the wrong directions and end up right back at the entrance. Also, the game's first-person perspective makes it even harder to get your bearings straight, and the lack of visual variety makes it impossible to tell if you are making progress. This puzzle reminded me of the ice skating levels in Chip's Challenge but on crack. It's still a puzzle you can brute force if you get lucky, but it can become an incredibly frustrating task if you are not in a position to take notes.

Opening The Lock To Arthur - 3/10 - When you make your way to the docking bay door, Arthur greets you and asks again if you are willing to help him leave the station. Once you agree, he directs you to a room called "The Nexus." When you first open the door to this room, Arthur provides the answer to the numerical lock that stands in your way (i.e., 32770). After prying away a few layers, the inner part of the Nexus displays three red lights on the top and three green lights on the bottom. You move the dots so they leap over one another (ala checkers) until the green and red dots have swapped places. It's a simple logic puzzle, and if you end up in a fail state, the puzzle resets itself. Just be careful as you have entered a new room that is not pressurized, and the time limit from before is back, but luckily reset to its starting level. This callback might be a reach, but this puzzle is reminiscent of the Leap of the Locust puzzle in Jewels of the Oracle. If that reference means anything to even one person on the internet, please let out a yelp.

The Mayan Temple & Caves (Part 1)

Using The Translate BioChip On The Maya Script At The Temple - 2/10 - As is the case with every single Journeyman Project game, your first time exploring the Mayan temple is brief. In the Journeyman Project games, there is always at least one level wherein your first rodeo is to warp into the level, fiddle with one thing, pick a random item up, and leave. The first step here is one of the more enjoyable storytelling moments in the game. Using the Translate BioChip and Arthur, you can learn about the ancient Maya and their religious practices as if you are using Microsoft Encarta. The trick is to use the translation tool on the four edges of the temple and take note of the gods and sacred animals mentioned in the script.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but Buried in Time improves upon the first game by boiling down your necessary BioChips to just a half dozen. This improvement makes exploring environments and interacting with items more enjoyable and accessible. The real issue here, and from this point forward, is how you feel about Arthur and his wisecracks. If ever there was a part of the game that dates it more than its use of FMV, it has to be the turn of the century pop culture references he interjects into the story if you choose to interact with him. The key word is "choose." You can elect not to use him beyond the story sequences that require him.

Using The Maya Combination Lock To Drop To The Caves - 5/10 - Getting to the bottom of the temple is something you will likely do several times in a single playthrough. Much like ordering the Cheese Girl, it becomes an automatic process with practice, but figuring things out the first time is a chore. Inside the temple is a Maya version of a combination lock. On one side of the wheel are symbols of animals, and on the other are dots and lines resembling the Maya counting system. The trick is to remember the scripts from earlier and recall which numbers match with the correct animals. You do not need to use the machine more than once; all you need to do is set one animal symbol to the correct number. With this out of the way, you need to find a bowl of water and place the bowl in the hands of a statue at the temple's entrance. This action will trigger a trap door that will lead to the underground cave system or immediate death. Because this puzzle involves a decent amount of lore and mythos building, I did not mind it though it is worth mentioning that leaving the temple complex results in a "Game Over."

Picking Up The Copper Medallion - 2/10 - Remember when I briefly mentioned how some of the puzzles in this game utilize 3D movement and require the player to look up or down to pick up random items? This sequence is one such example of that. After dropping down into the cave system, your only task is locating a skeleton and snatching the copper medallion in its clutches. You are free to explore the caves, but the doors remain locked until you collect more items from the other supporting levels. It's a shitty move, but par for the course regarding adventure games of this specific era.

Château Gaillard

Picking Up The Arrow & Grappling Hook - 5/10 - First, I want to say that I find this setting highly compelling. Buried in Time is one of the few examples of a game using the post-Jeanne d'Arc part of the Hundred Years' War. It's a fun setting and as Buried in Time utilizes a real battle for this backdrop, it ends up playing like a stealth mission. Avoiding detection isn't that hard, and the game even provides an invisibility BioChip that allows you to avoid getting caught more easily. However, things start pretty blandly with you needing to pick up a bloody arrow from a dead soldier and a subsequent grappling hook that is required several times in the game. The tricky part is that the bloodied arrow is a pixelated mess and almost impossible to see unless you know what you are looking for, and the grappling hook is only marginally better. At least with the grappling hook, Arthur clues you into needing one when your character butts up against a wall. You do not use the arrow until you decide to complete the underground caves in the Mayan temple. Collecting both items is not in and of itself complicated, but it is a pain knowing what you need to gather in the first place.

Making A Key - 6/10 - For most players, making the copper key does not happen until you read a textbook in a knight's bedroom. After reading this book, you discover there is a hidden treasure room in Château Gaillard, and discern it is there you will be able to detect clues on who is behind the conspiracy against Gage. Having played this game before and wanting to speed things up, I decided to jump right into making the key since I already had all the necessary parts. When you turn to face the forge, you will notice two bricks running horizontally when the rest are vertical. Double-clicking one of the bricks reveals the mold to a key. To make the key, place the medallion from the Maya caves into a dish and click a nearby wooden bellow to stoke a fire. After the medal melts, click the pan to pour it into the mold and then collect the key that forms. Because Gage's suit is capable of withstanding hot molten metal, you do not need to chill the key in water after making it.

Boy, howdy did this puzzle give me Riven flashbacks! The task here is about clicking things in the correct order, but luckily the puzzle doesn't send you back a step if you click something wrong. Extinguishing the fire after melting the metal but before pouring it into the mold doesn't result in a "Game Over" as in other PC adventure games of this era. Also, there are not as many steps as you might think. So, you have a historically correct version of a "Gadget and Gizmo puzzle" wherein you keep clicking until you can progress the story. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's not impossible to parse out on your own.

Finding The First Chateau Galliard Temporal Anachronism - 2/10 - Beyond the usual FMV-induced madness and adventuring gameplay, Buried in Time has one additional recurring hook. During the game's second act, you will need to collect evidence on who framed Gage for crimes against the time continuum. The first time this kicks into gear is at Château Gaillard, where, as you try to find the castle's hidden treasure, you will see signs of a different time traveler. The good news here is that Arthur blares that there's a temporal anachronism when you are near one and will even offer a hint if you have a hard time trying to find it. The only problem is that collecting evidence is a bit fiddly with you needing to select the "Evidence" BioChip and then click the clue's hitbox. The second part of that process is way more challenging than it should be, mind you. Still, this first clue, a random picture, is straightforward enough.

Using The Grappling Hook On The Castle - 2/10 - So, we know there's another time traveler and also that there's a hidden trove of treasure that might shed some light on who that might be. Before that, you'll also need to infiltrate the castle's keep using the grappling hook, and be quick about preventing the defending guards from dropping a cow on you. I did warn you that this game is goofy, right? The guards will unhook you mid-climb when you first attempt to scale the castle. The second climb will go without a hitch, but only if you are quick. When the guards that tried to thwart your scaling attempt earlier notice you entering a bedroom, you need to use the Invisibility BioChip. Both sequences require you to click things within a time constraint but are not nearly as oppressive as the space station.

Finding The Treasure Room At Château Gaillard - 4/10 - While in the keep, there are plenty of books and items to interact with, but not all are necessary for progressing the story. The gist is that you are at the castle during the late stages of the Siege of Château Gaillard, where the French attackers are moments away from taking the fortress. To find the treasure, you need to touch a tapestry near where you entered the room and then pick up a burnt letter from a fireplace. When you exit the first room, you will observe the other time traveler warping out of the castle, and your suit will automatically collect that as evidence. While in a cellar, you need to detect a nondescript chest and then use the key on the chest to unlock the entrance to a secret room below. While in the treasure room, you need to use the Evidence BioChip on a sword and pick up gold coins from a coffer.

Again, the FMV veneer and time-traveling story elevate a standard turn-of-the-century puzzle format. The game provides a scenery-dense environment with a dozen screens and a handful of items you need to locate. Like Myst, you can process puzzles and environmental context clues at your preferred pace. With Arthur in tow, you can even get a history lecture from time to time. The only complication is that some rooms have guards, which will spell a "Game Over" if you are not careful. This design decision seems almost antithetical to what the game is trying to accomplish, but The Journeyman Project has always envisioned itself as more action-oriented than Myst. Therefore, you need to tangle with the fear of instant death occasionally.

Da Vinci's Studio

Finding The First And Second Temporal Anachronisms In Leonardo da Vinci's Studio - 2/10 - What is any time-traveling video game series without at least one leap into Leonardo da Vinci's workshop? There are a few things to note about this environment. First, you cannot complete this zone without the hammer from the smithy in Château Gaillard. Second, the villa has the fewest possible sources of death of any level in the game, short of Gage's apartment. There is one tricky "Game Over" you can get if you forget to summon the elevator and fall down its shaft, but that's the only one that jumps out to me. Otherwise, it is the breeziest level in the game and one of the few where you can appreciate the scenery and Arthur's lectures leisurely. There's also a key in a door that you use to get into this first room that you need to remember to pick up, or else you'll butt up against a locked door leading to the final level of this environment. Trust me; it is a bummer to forget that key.

When collecting evidence, da Vinci's studio has a decent amount. In fact, you need to find your first clue almost immediately after warping into the level. The issue is that most of the evidence is on the floor of the studio or nearby villa, and the brown and beige tilework makes it impossible to distinguish where clues might exist. In this case, you need to take note of some red paint on the floor, but it is a dull enough red that almost matches the floor's texture. The good news is that the second clue is contained within a required unskippable cutscene that doesn't need you to fumble around with your BioChips to collect. There's a bit of aimless wandering here, but it is not the end of the world, and if you have Arthur, the game even warns you if you are getting colder or hotter to the clues.

Using The Elevator At Da Vinci's Studio - 2/10 - As I mentioned, there's an elevator at the studio, and you need to use it once to get to the ground floor of a surrounding villa. If you attempt to hop into the elevator without operating its crank, you will fall to your death. Instead, you use the "Translate" BioChip to translate Latin on two levers to discover which one is "Up" and which one is "Down." You use the up lever to raise the elevator to where you are currently standing, and after walking into it, you use the down lever to continue your adventure. I wouldn't typically rank something like this more than a one, but because this device is one of the only ways you can kill yourself here, and that "Game Over" isn't too off the beaten path, I'll bump it up to a two.

Building The Siege Machine - 6/10 - After lowering yourself to the ground floor, you need to move to a nearby room where you must pick up a rope and then move to a second room where you locate a drive assembly. Next to the drive assembly, you can observe the blueprint of an unfinished vehicle by da Vinci that can summit walls and towers. The blueprint indicates that there are other parts to this contraption that still need to be collected before you can hope to assemble it. These necessary components include two wooden pegs and a wheel assembly. The parts can only be put together on a specific workbench in the workshop, and the wooden pegs require a hammer from the French castle forge if you wish to connect them correctly. After placing all of the pieces in the correct spot and hammering the wooden pegs into place, you have a working "siege cycle" that you can use to reach the tower that you saw the other time traveler occupying.

This process is not a great experience. The issue is that the distance between some parts and the rooms containing them is vast. After picking up the drive assembly, the wooden pegs are nine steps or clicks away (i.e., Right-Forward-Left-Forward-Right-Forward-Forward-Forward-Forward-Down). Furthermore, the parts the game needs you to find are not easy to see in the first place because they are sometimes indistinguishable from the game's background and foreground textures. To highlight, I walked past the rope four or five times before I realized I was missing a part of the siege vehicle. It sure does not help that the workbench where you need to put all these pieces together is tucked away in a far corner of the workshop and easy to miss. Finally, while I appreciate the many interactable parts in the studio and workshop, very few have anything to do with moving the story forward. I spent five to seven minutes trying to pick up some of the game's window dressing, thinking they had to be quest items because Arthur lectured about them for three minutes. As a result, it's incredibly easy to get stuck here, and the hint system isn't especially helpful because all it repeats is that you should look at the blueprint if you are confused.

Using The Siege Cycle - 6/10 - Using the siege cycle is marginally more manageable than putting it together. First, you must find a ballista past a rose garden outside the workshop. This task might not sound like much, but it is not difficult to get lost here. From the workbench, you need to click Up-Left-Forward-Right-Forward-Left-Forward and then click to open a door. From there, you click Forward-Right-Forward-Left-Forward-Right-Right-Forward-Forward-Left-Forward-Left-Forward-Right-Right-Down. Fans of Buried in Time will likely contend that the villa is a circular loop. Even if you get lost, you will eventually find the ballista, but I value my time and thought the level design of this part was a significant annoyance. When you find the ballista, you need to click its base once to turn it to face the correct castle. I did the rest of this puzzle first without doing this and did not know why the machine was not working.

When you enter the operator's position of the machine, you use two handles to adjust the ballista's pitch and yaw axis. If you read a note by da Vinci, you would know that you need to align the crosshairs with a star constellation, but for most, you click the left-handle right nine times and the right knob down twice. With the crosshair in the correct position, the ballista hooks a rope to a building, and you can place the siege cycle on the cord and then ride it to the final level of this environment. As you might expect, this puzzle is either something you look up the answer to or fiddle around with for hours. The feedback the game provides is far from great, but at least the target you are aiming for is clear enough. The note I mentioned earlier that provides your only clue is vague about which stars to use as your guide, and it's not entirely helpful. However, because this puzzle doesn't have a timer breathing down your neck and the ammunition to the ballista is endless, I can't judge it too harshly.

Finding A Lens And Attaching It To Your Time Suit - 4/10 - First, remember the key I said you need to pick up on the first level? It sure would be a bummer if you did everything necessary to get to the last part of this environment, only to be unable to because you forgot that key. That sure would be a not fun experience! After you unlock the door, you will watch as the other time traveler departs and immediately need to observe a lens that fell from their suit. However, you will need to collect that lens and attach it to Gage's. This process is oddly fiddly but far from impossible. You can use this lens to observe a book in the final tower of the villa and notice that the time traveler has edited some of its scripts. Fun fact, the game only requires you to observe the lens as evidence and does not require you to pick it up. You should not do that because the final level in the entire game becomes impossible if you leave it behind, and you can even get stuck in a weird late-game fail state. That alone bumps this score up ever so slightly.

Remembering To Pick Up The Human Heart - 7/10 - Speaking of random bullshit that can fuck you over if you are not careful, let's talk about this human heart before we close this episode! Buried in Time will lock you into specific screens or environments until you have located a required set of clues or cutscenes. Once you have collected all of the possible clues or sources of evidence at any given level, it will even tell you that there's nothing left for you to do. This warning is complete and total bullshit because the game does not count necessary story items. This design decision is a problem with da Vinci's villa because in the very last room exists a non-descript cupboard that has a human heart that you will eventually need for the final part of the Maya temple sequence. This cupboard doesn't look especially important, and when you open it, there's nothing to indicate that the heart is even something you can add to your inventory. And yet, it is, and if you forget to do this, you will need to drag your ass from wherever you are (usually the Mayan caves) to the start of the villa to make the long trek to the final tower, ballista, and all, a second time. That is what I call a "dick move."

Yet again, the gaming community has to mull over another batch of seasonal video game sales making a massive dent in their incomes. Steam's Summer Sale is at the forefront of this phenomenon with another flashy minigame and thousands of ridiculous markdowns on big and small games. It's interesting to look at the Steam storefront now and remember how it was annotating demos for indie games and livestreams of people playing them just two weeks ago. Seriously, do you remember the June 2022 Steam Next Fest? Shit, I barely remember what I ate one week ago, let alone temporary digital events! Nonetheless, while one of these events is a cluttered mess designed to get you to pull the trigger on games you are on the fence about, the other is all about providing smaller developers a platform to pitch games to a community of millions. Before we move on to my next point, I'll give you a minute to think about which one is which.

There's something to be written or said about the current state of Steam's UI/UX these days, especially whenever it decides to parade around thousands of games on sale. However, I always find it curious how Valve showcases a far easier-to-navigate version of an event-oriented Steam Marketplace during Next Fest. The windows that play the community streams are moderately sized and inoffensive. Sorting games by genre is not entirely a pain in the ass. Finally, the most notable feature is a tab that chronologically annotates, by release date, games that have gotten demos. That one feature is something fellow moderator Chaser324, and I joke about whenever there's an upcoming or active Steam Next Fest. Every time Valve does one of these events, Chase, a person with design and programming experience, has to remind me to check out hundreds of game demos before the event ends. Because, after a Next Fest ends, it becomes virtually impossible to discover new shit, especially demos, that might tickle my fancy from smaller developers. Worse, that convenient tab that lists demos by date? Yeah, that disappears because, for whatever reason, it is an exclusive feature to Next Fest.

The reason I feel passionate about this topic isn't exactly a new idea or concept, but the current Summer Sale has made it all the more apparent. Filtering out the dogshit on Steam is all but impossible. Most developers now know that putting a game perpetually on sale makes it recommended on the storefront's frontpage in perpetuity. At this point, I see the same bullshit zeitgeist or clout chasing knockoff games every waking hour I log into Steam. Worse, Steam now limits its ignore feature to 100 developers or curators, and with the marketplace constantly flooded by bullshit, that limit is not enough. The number of developers and curators actively abusing Steam's low barrier to entry or curation rules is ridiculous, and I reached my cap years ago. Yet, I am still seeing dogshit video games in my recommendations. So, please, Steam, make it easier to find and track indie games and demos for games I give a shit about; please, for the love of God.

Why Is Steam Next Fest The Only Time Steam Has A List Of Demos From Newest to Oldest?

I have to issue two points of clarification before we continue. First, Steam isn't the only digital gaming marketplace that desperately needs a "New Demos" tab or platform for independent developers to release miniature versions of game builds. GOG, for example, has this same issue. On GOG, the only reliable way I can track or follow game demos is to go to their store, click a genre, and then sort games "Price (from lowest)." Then, and only then, can I peruse a list of game demos and locate new releases of demos because the price of demos is programmed to be "$0." The second concession I need to make is that Next Fest is not a perfect event. The event's billed purpose is to give indie devs a unique event wherein they can share their games in their current state, collect input from players, and return to making their games with a treasure trove of free information. Instead, the current goal seems to be "Let's get people to follow or wishlist some games because there's no other way to track how well people are reacting to these games."

With that in mind, it is still a vastly superior UI/UX experience than what the current storefront or the much-ballyhooed Summer Sale provides. I tell you what, I got a big kick out of this year's Summer Sale minigame/gimmick, but not for the reasons that you might think. I was belly laughing when, as I fanned thorough nigh unnavigable slide decks, some of the actual games I could buy with real-world money seemed as ridiculous or more than the fake games Steam was asking me to find. Furthermore, I think I speak for most when I say I do not enjoy navigating Steam to find games without using the search feature. The slide decks and panels do not work as intended, and worse, the swings you can experience with a single click are simply bizarre. In one case, I looked at Resident Evil VII right next to a shovelware VR game and an obscure anime visual novel from 2008 in a panel listed as "Critically Acclaimed Horror Titles." I think this was Steam's attempt to try and recommend titles that match my purchasing habits or browsing history, but I don't know. I thought I ignored enough VR titles to tell the system I do NOT have a VR headset. Maybe Steam's trying to help out smaller developers by placing them next to tentpole AAA titles? If that's the case, someone needs to do a better job of making sure to separate the chaff from the wheat, but that battle was lost years ago on Steam.

That's why I think Steam could benefit from making Next Fest's demo search and tab features a permanent fixture. A visible "Check Out These New Game Demos" tab on the front page would also greatly alleviate the often overwhelming nature of Steam sales. Likewise, while Steam always directs you to "Wishlist" a game, this only goes so far. Usually, all making a wishlist does is send notifications on your phone when a game goes on sale. Why not ping users when new demos are released, or the developer is testing a new build for the game? And if that's all too much, how about just putting one more tab or search parameter that allows me to locate newly released game demos I was unaware of until recently? I'm not lying when I say I discover more new games I want to follow through Next Fest than any E3 presentation or Summer Sale. And yet, I can only do that for a week, three to four times a year.

Deleting All Demos After The Event Is Over Sucks

I mentioned earlier that Next Fest is by no means a flawless event. One of the most infuriating aspects is how many of these demos I have thus far glowingly praised disappear once the event is over. And when I say "disappear," I mean it. When the first Next Fest happened, and my job prevented me from using a weekend to get my fill, I downloaded around a dozen demos with the hope of playing them another time. Unfortunately, I was unaware that when Next Fest ends, Steam and the developer will delete the demos designed for the event from the marketplace and people's accounts. As a consumer, I'm not too fond of this. It puts many people with busy or seasonal schedules at a disadvantage in taking advantage of Next Fest. Also, this "feature" means that even if I read an article on a gaming publication or forum about the best games to check out during Next Fest, those recommendations are fleeting. Some of the demos stay around, but the vast majority disappear until the developer feels more comfortable sharing a larger slice of the game. Even if a demo for the recommended titles reappears, there's no guarantee it will be the same demo or slice of the game.

However, I understand why developers will likely push back on me regarding this point. The solution to my complaint would require devs to stop pulling the demo at the end of the event, and that's unlikely to change. Next Fest is a widow in which Steam opens itself up to smaller indie devs, and those teams might not want what they whipped up for the event to be their benchmark. If I were a member of a small design team, I might not be happy having a mid-development demo out there, which might not be representative of my post-alpha or beta work. The event intends for developers to collect input that they can practice in future builds and releases. Any notion of permanency defeats that purpose. However, while I understand not having a working demo available after a specified date, outright deleting downloaded content from people's accounts seems a bridge too far to me.

I also must address the big "elephant in the room," Steam Early Access. Having a hub for demos is not something I envision replacing Early Access. I understand that Early Access is a significant moneymaker for most developers, and demos can present a drain on developmental resources. However, plenty of people like myself are not interested in buying into a development process after paying an entry fee that can take upwards of two to five years to complete. Others want free ways to opt into a game or its community before taking the plunge. Thus, demos are a more suitable and palatable segue into discovering whether or not a game is worth buying. Most itch.io releases do as much, and I have a hard time envisioning a world where Steam cannot match itch's practices. And when it comes to developers, not everyone can physically or emotionally subject themselves to the rollercoaster that is Early Access. Yes, Early Access allows developers still in progress with a game to collect input and QA data while filling their coffers. However, the quality of that input is sometimes questionable, with most consumers still buying into Early Access games and expecting completed products.

I Understand The Importance Of Timed Events

When I passed by some of the ideas of this blog by a friend who is an active member of the indie dev scene, they felt I needed to be more careful about not fully advocating for the end of timed events that provide attention-grabbing platforms. Events such as Next Fest rouse up attention because they are "special," and Next Fest is one of the few times when a major digital marketplace makes itself openly welcoming to smaller developers. It's tricky; I agree that making Next Fest permanent would make the games that take advantage of it stand out way less. However, I do not think it is impossible to have Next Fest's event-like nature and improvements to demo search features as well. Having a "Steam Next" hub for demos and then running these Next Fest events every four to six months seems the best course of action.

However, I want Steam to set monitored guidelines for what gets posted in this proposed "Steam Next Demo Hub." I already have to wade through enough bullshit as it is just trying to find AAA video games I know I want to buy. Before you decry this as an unreasonable request, Steam already does this for Next Fest. The demos during Next Fest have to be a certain length and activate a handful of user-input features that allow users to feel like they are a part of the development process. Not every developer can invest the physical and mental resources necessary to publish a game via Steam's Early Access program. However, the ability to collect user input should exist beyond seasonal events. Also, I would prefer if only smaller developers were allowed to take advantage of the feature. I know this makes people uncomfortable, but I think it is high time for Steam to make it easier to find non-AAA titles by providing them with a safe and siloed space. I know Steam already has a global "indie" tag that you can click when shopping for games, but that tag is a depression factory.

Let's not forget that Steam is a profit-making enterprise, as with all video game storefronts. Nevertheless, if Steam wants to make money, they should make it easier to navigate their goddamn store's front page. Why is finding new games that might excite me by searching by genre or theme so shitty? If you want me to invest in the old wishlist program, maybe don't make it feel so pointless towards curating what I see or are recommended to check out? Steam is far from being the only or even worst digital marketplace for surfacing valuable information to its users. However, it is frustrating to see them experiment with new interfaces during temporary events like Next Fest, and none of that translates to the central marketplace where most of us will be on a day-to-day basis. Some will say that they don't mind this current version of Steam as they have taken the time to use the customization features tucked away in your settings. However, how many of you genuinely use these features? If you have used the "Discovery Queue" more than once or twice, please, drop a comment. Anything that currently exists to make your user experience even marginally better is either thoroughly tucked away in obtuse menus or downright impossible to figure out on your own. And with this current Summer Sale simply beating the same tune previous events have played repeatedly, it doesn't look like things are getting better soon.

• Part 1 of Final Fantasy I series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy II series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy V series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy VII series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy VIII series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy IX series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy X series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy X-2 series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy XI series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy XII series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy XIII series
• Part 1 of Final Fantasy XIII-2 series

Preamble

On June 19th, 2015, I decided to embark on a blogging experiment. That day marked the first genuine attempt in my life not just to play a Final Fantasy game but to complete it. Since then, I have completed more than fifteen retrospectives and specials examining the Final Fantasy franchise and its supporting media. It's weird to think a one-off joke series I did on a dare has gone on to define my writing contributions on this website. Before the Final Fantasy series, I penned weekly updates to the Community Spotlight with the occasional gaming or off-topic forum thread to mix things up. Then I did a written Let's Play series on Final Fantasy VIII, and everything changed. The site has undoubtedly transformed in those seven years, and so have I. Looking back at some of my older works, I can honestly say it wasn't until recently that I found my "voice." Many of the earlier blogs, at least to me, are unreadable because they pine for surface-level criticism with a hostile and boisterous voice, a common theme on the internet circa the mid-2010s.

I would also be lying if I did not concede that this blog series of mine went through an existential crisis about a year ago. When things started, the gimmick involved me, a relative novice to JRPGs, trying entries in the Final Fantasy franchise for the first time and sharing my outsider impressions. Then, when I capped off Final Fantasy XII, a few users chimed in that I had, at that moment, reached an exciting milestone. By that point, I had completed more Final Fantasy games than most of the JRPG enthusiast crowd in the community. Around that point, I also butted heads against some members of the r/FinalFantasy community. I was not prepared for users on Giant Bomb to turn to me to share how I felt about Square-Enix, especially before their E3 presentations. I silently changed course without anyone noticing and decided to keep the series a Giant Bomb "exclusive." And trust me, getting your writing known on the internet is HARD. Right now, it is the hardest it has ever been. When the site first launched, making these silly long-form essays could draw up to fifty to sixty original comments in a single post. Now, I'd be lucky to get one-third of that. When I thought about possibly writing one of these retrospectives for the last time, I had to think about which game would be the most suitable to send it off on the best note.

And now, here we are, Final Fantasy VI. I couldn't honestly tell you why I did not tackle Final Fantasy VI earlier. Part of me wants to say that I find it easier to close read the more modern entries in the series. Likewise, something about the game intimidated me. It is universally beloved, and my prior experiences sharing even the most remote criticisms for cherished JRPGs haven't gone as smoothly as I expected. For reference, check out my retrospective on Final Fantasy XII. Related was my fear that I wouldn't be adding anything new to a discussion that has been raging for over twenty years. Go to YouTube or any gaming website and search "Final Fantasy VI." You'll find exhaustive retrospectives and video essays examining every part of Final Fantasy VI with a proverbial magnifying glass and opining about what the writers and developers intended. How in the world can I, an amateur video game blogger, ever hope to compete against works of writing and video editing like that?

Then, when the Pixel Remaster for Final Fantasy VI finally came out, I said to myself, "Fuck it, I just want to play a 'good' video game." So, here we are; I am playing and writing about Final Fantasy VI, one of the most treasured video games ever made. I cannot guarantee that my experience or opinions about this game will match yours. If you have it in your heart to follow me as I attempt to complete the game, I greatly appreciate it. If you read this first episode and realize my writing style or main takeaways are not your cup of tea, that's also okay. I'm writing this blog for me, and if it resonates with even one person, that's cake. Without further ado, let's jump into it!

Part 1: The Pixel Remaster Of Final Fantasy VI Is Really Good

I mentioned earlier that I played the Pixel Remaster for this blog series. It is worth noting that I initially played Final Fantasy VI through the iOS/Android version for a podcast. With the release of the Pixel Remaster at the time still nebulous when I first started writing, I contemplated using that version for this series. As you might guess, I don't think that port is good. The smoothed graphics are awful, and some of the more complicated environments are a pain to navigate. The intricate layers and levels of Narshe, for example, all blur together and become impossible to discern at times. I did appreciate some of the quality-of-life additions in that version, which are notably absent in the Pixel Remaster. Playing the game at three times speed or without random encounters on tap was welcomed even if it gutted the utility of certain characters or relics. Even then, the game is goddamn ugly. I am a forefront defender of video game preservation. Nevertheless, Square-Enix shit-canning those ports for the Pixel Remaster versions was a necessary evil for the betterment of society.

And before I ramble about the several nitpicks I have with the Pixel Remaster for Final Fantasy VI, I need to make something obvious to everyone reading this blog. The Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy VI is the game's DEFINITIVE version. If someone were to walk up to you and ask about Final Fantasy VI and how to play it, you SHOULD direct them to this version. Suppose you tell them to play the original SNES version of the game. In that case, you are a monster, especially if you expect them to get into retro gaming without guidance and respect for their wallet. Do you want to know a slight touch that blew my mind with the Pixel Remaster? Suppose you input one incorrect button prompt with Sabin's Blitz Command. In that case, the Pixel Remaster lets you try again instead of forcing you to whiff on the move! There's a mini-map on the upper right part of the screen whenever you enter a town, and it highlights the buildings that are shops! Do you know how much time these two minor edits save players in the long run? The in-game manual has been revised to make it immensely more helpful. The auto-save feature ensures you always have a save ready to load from before a battle, even with random encounters. That's right; you never have to live in fear of a Hell Gigas rocking your party in Zozo and needing to restart from scratch.

Unfortunately, Square-Enix has made some incredibly curious design decisions with their Pixel Remasters, and Final Fantasy VI is no exception. The first and most controversial of these is the default font choice, and it deserves all of the criticism it has gotten at this point. I will use the default font throughout this blog to reference what the game is like out of the box. I have no idea what Square-Enix was thinking with this font choice, but it sucks. Anyone can do a simple Google search for "16-bit fonts" and find free art assets a thousand times better than those used here. One of the reasons the default font is so bad is that it is a non-bolded sans serif font. As a result, when the game displays text during cutscenes without a dialogue prompt, the text can be nigh unreadable. For those who have not played Final Fantasy VI, during in-game cutscenes, flashbacks, and internal monologues, the game has lines of dialogue displayed without a background. These scenes are among the most important in the game, especially during the World Ruin, and they are sometimes illegible.

There are two other niggling nitpicks I'll address now about the Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster. The first of these has to do with the game's brightness. I know the Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster uses some of the technology used for Octopath Traveler for specific backgrounds and cutscenes. For the most part, the added graphical fidelity works, but something got lost in translation: shadows. Especially when you enter the World of Ruin, the Pixel Remaster lacks the spookier and moodier shadows that add so much depth to some of the game's levels and dungeons. For example, when you enter Zozo, the environment feels far less intimidating because you can see everything without overbearing shadows. However, this problem's most significant victim must be the World of Ruin. This issue needs to be seen in person, but the Pixel Remaster's version of the World of Ruin feels less impactful because it has the same brightness as the World of Balance. Something the original SNES version perfectly conveys is an overbearing sense of Kefka bringing forth an era of darkness. The World of Ruin there didn't just feature a yellow filter and swap around the location of cities. It felt morose and melancholy, and it's a bummer that the Pixel Remaster couldn't help itself with its fancy new graphics.

The other issue is what isn't in the Pixel Remaster. I don't know why they cut the GBA content from every Pixel Remaster. However, the extra dungeons and espers should be here. If Square-Enix continues to bill these ports as the "definitive" versions of these experiences, why not include content exclusive to previous ports? And before you chime in that it might be a rights issue, even the Android/iOS ports had the Dragons' Den! And you know what? I would have liked to have seen a Pixel Remaster take on the PSX cutscenes and cinematics! Why not? This version will be many people's first impression of a revered classic! Why not include everything? All of this grousing aside, I highly recommend the Pixel Remaster for Final Fantasy VI. It is the most fun, and accessible this game has been without as many downsides as previous port jobs. It is STILL fucking wild none of the Remasters have made consoles yet, shit fonts or not. But, if you have a PC or mobile phone capable of running it, check it out!

Part 2: No, Seriously, This Introduction Is AMAZING!

Sorry, but I lied about not complaining about the Pixel Remaster for most of this blog. We must talk about how they completely fucked up the opening scene. As has already been reported, the Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster does not play the introductory credits during the Megitek Armor march to Narshe. What you get right out of the box is a slow contextless trudge with characters you barely know for the same amount of time as if the credits were playing, but with zero text. Now, of the many curious decisions in the Pixel Remaster, this is one I can at least understand conceptually. Almost all of the people behind the original game no longer work for the company. Regardless, there were so many alternatives at Square-Enix's disposal for this scene that I still find its current state unforgivable. For example, why not change the old credits to ones that reflect the Pixel Remaster-specific design and programming team?

Other than that, it's a fucking incredible sequence in totality and still stands as one of the most outstanding introductions to a video game. It is one of the starkest reminders of Squaresoft always being on the cutting edge of graphical prowess and direction short of maybe Final Fantasy VII. Squaresoft was on their fucking A-GAME for years and people today need to be reminded of that fact. This point is a shocker, but compare the release date of Final Fantasy IV to Final Fantasy X and realize they are only ten years apart. For a ten-year crease, this franchise was unbelievably good. Final Fantasy VI was, to many gamers, the moment they first realized that. The way the game starts feels like a victory lap by Square. By this point, Mode 7 was a well-established feature on the SNES but with known limits and issues. And yet, Squaresoft used it liberally whenever they felt like it. The parallaxing horizon and the slow reveal of Narshe give you a clear sense of lumbering through a snowfield before you reach your mission objective. The rest of the opening is so dense that a friend of mine aptly pointed out that it feels as if the game is stunting.

With a green-haired woman as your avatar, you and a duo of ne'er-do-well soldiers storm a city and attack its defenses in hopes of plundering a yet unknown source of power. All of this is in the name of a yet off-screen empire you quickly learn is expanding its borders aggressively. Starting things off with you controlling villainous characters and someone who cannot control their actions is an underrated reason why this opening has so much impact. That sense of helplessness is further expanded upon as the game teaches you its mechanics. You are limited in what you can do to just a few menu options. The world of Final Fantasy VI is devoid of magic, at least from the onset. It's shocking to see how committed the game is to that gimmick, even by the halfway point of its first act. That plot point is emphasized by your character's piloting mechs to complete their actions as they waste away hapless soldiers. The way you effortlessly off Narshe's final defense, which takes the form of a monstrous whelk, assists in framing the Empire as a significant threat that does not necessarily require magic. The next part of your adventure lacks those mech suits and is decidedly harder to complete.

There's also a pace to the game's opening level that makes it one of the strongest to this day. The entire sequence at Narshe to the getaway from Figaro Castle represents a mere two to three hours of my playtime. However, the introductory set pieces are so rampant in elaborate details that they felt longer than they were. All you do in Narshe is move forward, but the pace at which you blow through the defending guards makes it feel more poignant. When you reach the esper, you already understand a power imbalance between the Empire and the rest of the world exists. Therefore, if the Empire gets even a tiny feather in its cap, it could still present massive consequences to the rest of the world. Another example of the game's stunting involves how frequently it injects gameplay variety when you least expect it. With the introduction of Locke, the game showcases how it plans to break up the usual slog of exploring dungeons with a brief tower defense minigame involving an army of Moogles.

Finally, this and the subsequent getaway from Figaro Castle do an AMAZING job of showcasing the mechanical differences between your party members. You spend more time than I would like with just Terra, Locke, Edgar, and Sabin. No matter, there's no doubt that the game presents each character's gameplay gimmick in a prompt but effective fashion. Likewise, their vignettes take advantage of their individual gameplay mechanics and allow for a decent amount of practice before the game starts to expect you to get your shit together. It took me a while to feel comfortable about Sabin's Blitz system. Still, once I was, he became a murder machine that I kept in my rotation almost to the very end. And the game does a great job of making you feel like you are controlling a scrappy group of venerable badasses. The most obvious example has to be when you start Sabin's route when the party splits up, and he blitzes a goddamn ghost train.

Part 3: "But ZombiePie, Don't You Hate The ATB System?"

I briefly mentioned my less-than-great run-ins with the Final Fantasy sub-Reddit during the introduction, but let's explore that more. Part of the reason is that I have a reputation for hating the ATB system, and I want to "set the record straight" on that. I do not hate the ATB system during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. What I appreciate less is how the combat system overstayed its welcome for three console generations when Square desperately needed to mix things up, especially during the switch from the SNES to the PS1. I feel that Final Fantasy VII is the last Final Fantasy game that had any right using the ATB system. With Final Fantasy VII, I can imagine the difficulty of transitioning Final Fantasy from 2D to 3D was hard enough that I can allow them to pass on rocking the boat. From that game forward, Squaresoft should have explored different combat engines that worked better with the high-flying cinematic aspirations of its directors. By Final Fantasy IX, I can honestly say I tolerate the ATB system for an otherwise enjoyable story. That said, IX is not a game I enjoy playing because the game struggles to process its character's decadent attack animations and exorbitant special moves.

With Final Fantasy VI, the ATB system works as intended for the most part. Again, playing the game without magic or espers for what feels like ten hours was a creative choice, but one that I think leads to pacing issues during the World of Balance. Nonetheless, it is an almost perfect system to showcase the inherent and intrinsic differences between the characters. And before you ask, Square-Enix has officially thrown in the towel regarding "Wait" versus "Active." In the Pixel Remaster, the game defaults to "Wait" because, at this point, Square-Enix KNOWS no one plays Final Fantasy games set to "Active." For those that have no idea what I am talking about, for Final Fantasy games that use the ATB mechanic, the game features two settings for battles (i.e., "Wait" and "Active"). Setting the ATB system to "Wait" will cause the ATB meter to pause after taking time to fill up. You can scan your possible enemy targets and process your options more leisurely. Active mode is when the ATB gauge fills up no matter what happens in the battle. Only monsters play old Final Fantasy games set to "Active."

Overall, I consider the World of Balance the better-paced half of Final Fantasy VI. Its set-pieces progress naturally, and as the player, you only experience brief spurts of the usual unfair JRPG bullshit. Until the Floating Continent, I can count on a single hand the number of times I saw a "Game Over," and the few times I did, were my fault. However, it does have one critical weakness. This game takes its sweet-ass time to open up its mechanics, especially its Esper-based magic system. Anyone who tells you to grind at Lete River by taking advantage of the infinite loop exploit is a fucking idiot. Sure, you can get Sabin's Fire Dance Blitz early, but deliberately racking up experience points BEFORE you get the Espers feels like a waste. Likewise, the point where the magic system opens up is a solid five chapters removed from when you start playing the game. As a result, characters like Locke and Cyan, who have primarily un-involved special commands, are far less compelling to play for the first four hours.

Speaking of characters that are way less interesting to me than others, let's talk about Gau and Strago! If there were examples of Final Fantasy VI's ATB system biting off more than it can chew, it is these characters. First, I do not know whose call it was, but the Pixel Remaster changed the names of the Blue Magic spells to be more "authentic" to their Japanese names, which fucked me up. Likewise, fanning through Gau and Strago's magic list continues to be a pain in the ass because of the insane amount of useless shit. For this blog, I put in more effort to collect abilities for both than in previous playthroughs of Final Fantasy VI. I can say that people who talk up a big game for Gau are correct, but they are also people who do not value their time. Like many, I usually rely on Bio (Great Malboro), Catscratch (Stray Cat), and Sonic Boom (Satellite) when using Gau. However, getting The Veldt to make your life marginally enjoyable is a fool's errand. You are bound to toil away trying to get specific enemies to spawn after hours of aimless wandering. Also, I will die on this hill, but the game should allow you to collect every Rage between Gau's initial Leap and when he returns. With Stargo, the poor fool is a painful example of the "Late Character Syndrome." By the time he joins your team, you already have full-featured party members that don't require additional busy work. Additionally, the random encounter and ATB systems do not make getting him up to par easy. Worse, getting what you want for him can tack on hours to your playthrough.

To continue with my give-and-take discussion of the game's early combat, it goes without saying that Final Fantasy VI has more good dungeons than bad ones. However, that's not to say that it isn't free from some crummy old-school JRPG dungeon-crawling quirks. Unless you take the time to grind out experience points to unlock abilities or tools, Final Fantasy VI initially has the same mechanical downside as its predecessors. Because your ability to utilize magic is limited to Terra and Celes, your party's crowd control options are severely limited. As a result, your most significant "Game Over" threats are random encounters instead of the in-game bosses. Sure, there are tricky to downright cruel bosses in Final Fantasy VI, which we will discuss in future episodes. However, my experience in Final Fantasy VI was no different from Final Fantasy I or V. Trash mobs that spew status effects or high damage attacks are SIGNIFICANTLY HARDER than anything else in the game. Likewise, there are some serpentine dungeon floor plans in this game that are no fucking fun to play, and the game doesn't exactly make a great first impression with Mt. Kolts.

Part 4: An (Almost) Perfect Example Of An Ensemble Cast Done Right

The other significant storytelling aspect of Final Fantasy VI that doesn't get as much appreciation today as it should, is the ensemble nature of the cast. While most modern Final Fantasy products today frame Final Fantasy VI as "Terra's story," playing the game reveals that the opposite is true. Final Fantasy VI is as much Locke's, Sabin's, Edgar's, etc. story as it is Terra's story. Each party member is a primary actor at least once in the game. The story arcs and characterization they get are each presented as equally important as the next. Other characters (i.e., Biggs, Wedge, Banon, Leo, etc.) occupy guest roles and blink in and out of the story. Yet, the game still treats them with as much reverence and respect as the characters you follow from beginning to end. I can honestly tell you more about Banon or Leo while avoiding describing what they look like than the majority of Final Fantasy XIII or XV's primary cast.

The game almost immediately revels in its ensemble format. After Terra breaks away from Biggs and Wedge and their mind control device, she attempts to make a hasty exit from Narshe. Unfortunately, she falls victim to a trap and needs assistance. The game then transitions to Locke, who becomes the protagonist of his own game. He attempts to dodge guards while trying to apprehend Terra but also muses about perusing the cave for untold treasures. We understand Locke's job class, character quirks, and personality in what amounts to a fifteen-minute sequence. We also understand how each character is mechanically different from one another as Locke's "Steal" command replaces Terra's "Magic" option. There's also a short bit where we get a brief cameo involving Mog. Speaking of which, the minigame in the Narshe caves adds some much-needed levity and gameplay variety. For the most part, Final Fantasy VI differentiates most of its dungeons through special gameplay hooks and one-off sequences when you first explore them. As a result, there were only a few occasions when I dreaded exploring dungeons in the entire game.

Then there's Kefka. Much like the death of Aerith in Final Fantasy VII, modernity has spoiled much of Kefka's appeal. At face value, Kefka is a trope. He's a cackling mustache-twirling goon who later reveals himself as the story's primary antagonist. Much of what we think is canonical to his behavior and motivations are not present in Final Fantasy VI and are instead by-products of supporting media. However, he is still a fantastic character. Like a Shakespearean actor trapped in a schmaltzy popcorn flick, he commands the center stage whenever he talks and chews through the game's scenery like his life depends on it. His mannerisms are unlike any other character, making him all the more memorable. Those quick and quirky mannerisms are what I think have resulted in people claiming he's a bigger deal in the story than in actuality. For more than half the game, he's a two-bit jester whose main gimmick is that he keeps fucking up whenever the Emperor asks him to deal with the Returners. Correspondingly, the "surprise" that he's the REAL big bad isn't nearly as revolutionary as some make it seem. When you compare Final Fantasy VI to its five predecessors, you realize it's less about reinventing the wheel and more about making a version of the wheel for a Porsche 911. The Final Fantasy franchise has always pulled the rug from underneath you when it comes time to reveal the main antagonist. If anything, Kefka is another example of Final Fantasy VI's stunting, as he's one of the best examples of this trope up to this point.

Next episode, I plan to discuss the importance of Ted Woolsey's original translation and how much of what has come to define Kefka comes from Woolsey's interpretation. Overall, I felt the Pixel Remaster's translation was a notable improvement over the original SNES translation, which I know was a by-product of the times. For example, the characters of Final Fantasy VI finally say "damn" and "Hell" in English. With the Pixel Remaster, many of Woolsey's "rough edges" have been sanded off, and that's a good thing. The Pixel Remaster has made corrections that are bound to get some fuming, but that's par for the course. I know some people are upset Kefka doesn't say "Son of a submariner" in this version. However, the entirety of what is here is far better than what we have seen before.

If there is one criticism about the world-building up to this point, the game feels like a series of vignettes rather than a "whole" story far longer than it should. Worse, some of these vignettes are missable, and missing some of these scenes is a bummer unless this is your second or third rodeo. One of my favorite in-game moments is the coin-toss scene with Sabin and Edgar. This awe-inspiring character-building moment is missable if you decide not to return to Figaro Castle after the party split. And depending on how you prefer to play the game, you might not have either running around in your primary team. That presents another minor nitpick I have with the first "half" of Final Fantasy VI. While the "World of Balance" doesn't actively punish you for picking an "A-Team" when you progress the story or attempt side quests, the "World of Ruin" certainly does. I did NOT use Celes a ton during my playthrough and forgot how much of a bad idea that was until it was too late.

Part 5: I Don't Love EVERYTHING About This Game!

I'm going to shoot my shot right now; I hate the relic mechanic. Since finishing the game, I have flip-flopped back and forth on the relics. While I agree with the general sentiment that they help you organically explore character class hybrids, the relics are way too fiddly to use. That problem is especially the case towards the mid to late-game, where dungeons force you to split up your party or swap between groups of characters. I found it to be a colossal pain in the ass to flip between the same eight or nine characters and menu screens to de-equip one cadre so I could re-equip another. Even when using the random guy in the airship to unequip unused party members, I still felt like I was spending between five to ten minutes fiddling around with relics and menus when trying new party combinations. The "Auto Equip" feature, which has existed since the original SNES release, only goes so far as it doesn't touch relics or Espers. As a result, I desperately wished the Pixel Remaster version had an option to save templates or specific equipment and relic combinations. And I know this is going to sound "spoiled," but I wish the Pixel Remaster had an EXP sharing toggle. That way, I wouldn't need to drop everything in-between chapters to level up new party members from time to time.

Another quibble I have struggled to pen into words stems from the character classes. The signposting on what the implied class or "job" for each character might be isn't the best. Likewise, how relics impact the utility and functions of each character's job, or stats is confusing, especially for newcomers. But it is the game's smattering array of character progression sub-systems that drives me crazy most of all. Each party member gains new abilities and special moves differently from the other. Some, like Sabin or Cyan, require you to grind away and complete a character mission in the World of Ruin to see all of their abilities. On the other hand, Edgar and Locke need you to explore various merchants and environments for high-tier equipment. The bane of my existence, Setzer, gains their alternate move by equipping a different relic that is easy to pass over if you are not careful. Then there are more abstract characters like Relm, Mog, Strago, Gau, and Gogo. The game doesn't do a great job of tutoring how to get the most out of these characters. In the case of Relm, her initial ability (i.e., Sketch) gets a tutorial. Still, her far more helpful alternate (i.e., Control/Charm) gets jack shit. Also, some characters are better than others, and it sucks when the game forces you to use those less-than-ideal characters (i.e., Setzer).

Transitioning to the subsequent story set-piece at Lete River leads me to one of the game's many positives. The pseudo-vehicle sequences, even those that do not involve Mode 7, are snappy and highly cinematic. Your first impression of Ultros is equally impressive, with the game conveying reactive dialogue during an ATB fight. If there is one complaint worth bringing up, it must be the Pixel Remaster boss dialogue prompt. Again, the readability of the default font rears its ugly head. More importantly, the sizing feels "off" for every boss fight where the characters speak to one another. The prompts on modern monitors feel significantly smaller than on the SNES or GBA versions. To highlight why this is an issue, I missed the first part of Kefka's "Life, dreams, hope" speech because I was faffing about my battle options and did not know the cutscene triggered. Otherwise, that octopus was a delight when I first played this game, and he continues to be a highlight in the Pixel Remaster, thanks to his iconic linguistic tropes.

The party split, to me, is another example of the game flexing its muscles, albeit less successfully. Honestly, I wasn't that impressed when I first experienced it, as the pacing with the party split after the Ultros fight has always felt weird to me. Continuing with Terra and company on the raft maxes out at ten to twelve minutes. It does almost nothing to service the characters in that segment, and I'm still shocked at how little meat is on the bone with that one. Locke's mission is fucking annoying as fuck, but credit to the design team for trying something different. Locke's escapade at South Figaro is a stealth mission with few random encounters until you reach the prison containing Celes. The issue is that while navigating environments in the Pixel Remaster is slightly better, thanks to quality-of-life features, it's STILL not the best. The entrances to buildings and the starts and ends of scaffolds can still be hard to parse out at times. Similarly, some parts involving backtracking and uniform swapping can be hard to pick up on if you don't know where to go. That said, it's an admirable tutorial on Locke's "Steal" command.

Finally, to return to my previous rant about the ATB system, we have to talk about the forced moments when you have fewer than three party members. This sequence is not the only time you need to shuffle along with one character while dealing with random encounters. However, this set piece with Locke feels even more heinous than the segment with you soloing with Celes in the World of Ruin because of how half-baked Locke is at this point. In Final Fantasy tradition, the success rate on his Steal command is dog shit, and he barely inflicts enough damage for you to get by single enemies. When you finally get Celes, she improves things only slightly, considering how much of a glass cannon she can be. Speaking of Celes, I despise her "Runic" ability because it is so situational from start to finish. Even when it can be helpful, getting the timing down is finicky. More often than not, after popping Runic, the timing would not be correct, and my turns with Celes were largely pointless. Luckily for all involved, Sabin's Route is a tour de force of badassery, and the Pixel Remaster does it (mostly) justice. However, that will be where we pick up next time.

Preamble

With not-E3 2022 over, it's clear there were winners and losers. Console manufacturers, gaming press publications, and independent developers all put out their best to a smattering of reactions. If you pressed me, I would say Sony's scant forty-minute State of Play was a highlight, and Microsoft's split presentations and trailer packages were a close second. If I enjoyed fighting games or expected remakes of venerable classics more, maybe I would swap Capcom into Microsoft's slot. Near the bottom of the list of conferences in terms of my enjoyment was the Keighley-led Summer Game Fest. This almost universally derided event became a venerable walking meme that even Microsoft made cracks about on their official Twitter account. Much like the Game Awards, the Summer Game Fest was a bloated and poorly paced experience with massive lulls and went on for two hours and thirty minutes. Included during the event were the expected celebrity cameos, comedic skits, non-video game-based advertisements, and grandiose promises that practically define any occasion led by Keighley. The internet had a field day lampooning the SGF, and many deemed it disappointing.

Before I continue my pontifications on why I did not enjoy Keighley's showcase, I want to clarify a few things. I can tell that Keighley puts a lot of time and effort into organizing his yearly events. He has a knack for production values, and when tasked to assemble a handful of notable names or gaming outfits, he gets the job done. I am also aware that his shows are not shot-gunned one-person productions but involve teams of writers, producers, and directors. Talented people work on The Game Awards and the Keighley-led Summer Game Fest. I pray and hope that the version of Keighley we saw on Twitter, who pled with his audience to have realistic expectations about what would be at the event, was him coming to terms with many of the SGF's shortcomings this year. Plus, important people in the upper echelons of the industry like him. The people in suits trust Keighley, and every industry needs a bland but overly optimistic speakerphone. He's the Ryan Seacrest of video games, and that's okay.

Similarly, I want to preface that I don't understand why people get upset over these conferences. Keighley's format, structure, style, and tone are known quantities, and anyone that expected him to deviate from this tired and true formula set themselves up for disappointment. What is incredibly baffling is when people express dissatisfaction with one conference not having a game that either doesn't exist or ends up being featured as a marquee title in a different presentation. The latter of these has never made sense to me. You got your game announcement or corporate-approved teaser trailer. What the fuck difference does it make if you had to wait an extra day or two? Likewise, I don't know what to say about the internet's ability to get upset over pipe-dream games not happening or known projects being absent because they need more time. 2022 marks the third year the industry has grappled with the COVID pandemic's effects. Everyone associated with this industry has said making shit has been challenging. How often does it need to be noted that AAA productions need more time, given the circumstances? However, please don't take any of these points to mean that I am defending Keighley's 2022 Summer Game Fest; I thought this year's event was terrible.

Please, No More Conferences Over Two Hours Unless You Can Make It Count

I don't want to spend this entire blog examining Keighley's body language and inner machinations like many online bloggers or YouTubers who are desperate to collect article clicks. However, I have to raise my eyebrow ever so slightly at what he was able to assemble during this year's Summer Game Fest. If you go back to when the cancellation of E3 2022 was first announced, you might recall the man was practically gloating on Twitter. This merry posturing was due to his previous disputes with the Entertainment Software Association (i.e., ESA). The ESA hosts E3 and, in 2021, decided to block Keighley from sharing the same floor as their marquee events. Almost immediately after E3 2022 was shit-canned, Keighley set to Twitter to remind everyone that his non-ESA-sanctioned event would go ahead, unimpeded by the demise of E3. Then, he continued to bill the event as a possible replacement for E3 in the future. Yet, on the eve of the event, Keighley took to social media to temper expectations while confirming the event would continue with a two-and-a-half-hour running time. So, when the Rock started shilling shit, or the expected mobile game block lasted far longer than it should, I was not surprised to see an onslaught of negativity directed his way.

What baffles me is how Keighley continually presents himself as an industry pioneer, and yet, the format and structure of his conferences follow THE EXACT TEMPLATE of the 360/PS3/Wii era of E3 conferences. No one is beating to the tune of this drum anymore, non-ironically, except Keighley. Sony this year was perfectly content with a forty-minute showcase, and Microsoft had the common decency of splitting their package into two 90-minute chunks rather than subject viewers to a three-hour slog. Virtually every console manufacturer and then some have innovated on how to present games and gaming culture on a big stage more than Keighley has. The weird out-of-place celebrity cameos? Watch an E3 presentation from EA in the 2010s, and you'll find something similar to the Rock's shameless shilling. Comedy bits that feel awkward and embarrassing? Need I remind you of the clown show that was "peak Ubisoft" during E3? Keighley's events feel like relics of a bygone era, and with all of us growing older, I think we are increasingly becoming aware of that. I don't know about you, but I do not enjoy being seated for more than two hours for these things, especially when there are bolted-in advertisements that barely have anything to do with video games.

Some might point out that the IGN Expo, PC Gaming Show, and Guerrilla Collective 3 clocked in over the two-hour mark. However, are you about to use those three presentations as evidence that Keighley's conferences can justify a two-and-a-half-hour block? Furthermore, the PC Gaming Show is propped up by whatever gaming PC company is willing to pay top dollar to keep the lights on, and the Guerrilla Collective gets most of its bang for its buck on its Steam page. And those events are as long as they are for reasons that do not apply to Keighley. For example, the PC Gaming Show is an excruciatingly long endeavor, so it can ramble about system specs for Big Navi GPUs or raffle off iBuyPower gaming rigs. The only reason the Summer Game Fest is two-and-a-half hours long is that Keighley insists on it being that long. If he knew the event's dossier was bound to disappoint, no one was preventing him from pruning the occasion of its chaff to create a tighter and better-paced experience. You cannot tell me he hasn't seen what Nintendo has been doing with their Direct presentations for the past FIVE YEARS and isn't aware of how to do a conference under two hours that gets people champing at the bit.

Is This Conference Meant To Be An End-All-Be-All Event?

The ESA has announced that they intend to restart E3 in 2023. Say what you will about the ESA, but I can safely say I have no idea what form or shape the 2023 version of E3 will take. I have no confidence that the organization will address all of the event's shortcomings and problems, but at least there's a "wildcard factor" to next year's E3. Nonetheless, I can confidently say I know what structure and format Keighley's event will have this time next year. In the year of our Lord, 2023, Keighley's lack of a filter and general inability to tell people "no" when they ask for air time will result in a bloated event that does not justify the entirety of its running time. I know this because that's how every single one of these has taken shape. That's why I think this year's Summer Game Fest was a lost opportunity for Keighley. If he hopes to create a showcase that rivals E3, then GOD, JESUS, this was NOT THE EVENT that proved that!

Let's role-play for a bit and say you are the CEO of Ubisoft, EA, or Square-Enix. After watching this year's Sumer Game Fest, are you thinking:

a) "Gosh! That Geoff Keighley knows how to run a conference, and I think we should rely on him to showcase our games in the future!"

b) "Huh, I think we can do better than that. Let's call the ESA RIGHT NOW!"

c) "God, these E3 conferences are a complete waste of money."

If you are this CEO, what are you doing in June with developer-led E3 conferences likely to come back next year and probably at a discount? If you answered "a," I want you to pinpoint anything that Keighley did that any other developer or console manufacturer cannot do. This task is impossible because there's nothing unknown or patentable about Keighley's format BECAUSE HE BORROWED IT FROM THOSE SAME COMPANIES! Again, his lack of innovation is not breaking news to developers and publishers. Much of this is by design, so he can quickly make way for larger publishers should they ever have a game they cannot fit elsewhere. However, if all Keighley is going to offer is a platform that is not unique or special, then why work within his constraints? Why not host your own event?

Likewise, what major publisher or developer is Keighley poaching from the field? Microsoft and Sony have "World Premiers" at The Game Awards because there are no other competing conferences or gaming-related events. However, they both have special occasions and platforms during June, whether they are directly tied to an ESA-sanctioned event or not. Nintendo continues to beat to the tune of its own drum, so it's unlikely he will EVER get major first-party games. However, what remaining significant developers does that leave? Bethesda and many other mid-tier studios aren't autonomous anymore. Ubisoft and EA want big flashy independent platforms and are bound to play ball with the ESA come 2023. I think that sentiment will be echoed by other publishers next year. Square-Enix and other major Japanese developers could give two shits about E3 and are happy to stick with game-specific events and the Tokyo Game Show. Therefore, what does that leave? Indie developers? Let's talk about why that's not exactly a match made in heaven.

Is This A Platform For Developers That Can't Get Time Elsewhere?

Let's say you are an indie developer and would be down with your game being present at the Summer Game Fest. Who could blame you? Even in its worst form, the event draws millions of views worldwide. Unfortunately, while indie devs have the most to gain from being present, they are not Keighley's priority. If they were, why did the man give the Rock and exploitative mobile games just as much, if not more, air time than most small-scale video game productions? Keighley's eye is on creating an event that rivals the major developers and saps competition from the ESA. Also, Keighley's event is purposefully inoffensive, so should a developer play ball, he's ready to welcome them with open arms. Look back at his statement regarding workplace harassment during the 2021 Game Awards. Yes, he made a statement, but he did not prohibit developers with known toxic workplaces from showing their wares. His events cater to bigger publishing houses, which is painfully evident at this point.

To return to the issue of Keighley repeating a dated format for this year's Summer Game Fest, while some indie developers are bound to jump at Keighley's stage, most expect better. Developer tolerance for the "Indie Game Highlight Reel" that Microsoft took shit for year after year is at a record low. Furthermore, what most indie devs want out of a conference is not anything Keighley is likely to provide. Sure, some indie games catch a whirlwind of attention after airing ostentatious teaser trailers. Nonetheless, most end up with followers and fans after developer-led game demos where the developer is allowed to detail their thought processes and sources of inspiration. These demos do not mesh well with Keighley's up-tempo tone of wanting to set the world on fire with game announcements audiences did not know about before his event started. Furthermore, an increasing number of small game projects that eventually catch major attention upon release do not showcase in the tried-and-true trailer format that E3 and the Summer Games Fest demands.

Finally, the competition for indie developers with demo-worthy projects during June is fierce. Not only will Keighley have to fend off the major console manufacturers, but there are plenty of other conferences and livestreams that showcase smaller games better. The Day of the Devs event that immediately followed Keighley proved as much. But even after that, this year alone, you had TWO Guerrilla Collective events, a Wholesome Games Direct, and all of the game publication-led events (i.e., IGN, GameSpot, and GamesRadar) that were willing to budget time for slower and more substantial demos. I don't know about you, but I almost always get more out of the IGN and GameSpot showroom demo streams where developers and programmers can talk about their game at their pace than most tentpole E3 presentations. Correspondingly, I'm not sure all of you are aware of this, but a huge portion of the indie gaming scene endlessly dunked on this year's Summer Game Fest as they felt it harkened to a time when E3 barely gave a shit about indie games. Unless Keighley spends a significant amount of time reaching out to these developers and earnestly tries to build bridges by changing his format, these indie devs will continue to look at his events with cynical eyes.

Is This Meant To Be A Generalized Celebration Of Games And Gaming Culture?

I now need to ask a core question in the final section of this blog: who is the intended audience for the Summer Game Fest? If I were to ask Keighley that exact question, I know his answer would be "everyone." However, ask the denizens of any gaming website, forum, or Discord who they think the audience is for the event, and I think you'd see a kaleidoscope of answers. Its third-way big-tent nature is meant to be welcoming to anyone with even a passing interest in video games. In execution, its wide net only pulls a few stray fish rather than any particular school. The event, and every exposition hosted by Keighley in general, has a major identity crisis. The presence of slot-machine mobile games and celebrities suggests it wants to aim for a younger audience. However, the laborious pace and colossal time investment create a barrier to entry that only permits older demographics.

I'll let you in on a bit of my personal life here. I am a full-time middle school teacher, and in a purely anecdotal exercise, I asked multiple classes of mine if they watched the Summer Game Fest. Six did, and the ones that did universally described it as "boring." Even the kids I know who play video games religiously are not tapped into an ecosystem that directs them towards Keighley. This next fact isn't exactly shocking, but most kids are content to watch streamers or commentators discuss highlights of events in bite-sized chunks rather than opt into the beastly marathon sessions Keighley creates. It also does not help that Keighley doesn't make video content with the regularity that can organically build a new community. Additionally, the timing and structure of the SGF discourages younger demographics from watching it. It airs on a weekday and is late enough that some need to worry about not being able to watch it completely. Besides, what would you take if you were a kid presented with a two-hour-long video archive with an unfamiliar name versus a ten-minute highlight reel with your favorite YouTuber?

So, what does that leave? Well, it leaves you and me. An increasingly aging demographic that might remember the "glory days" of Keighley grilling Reginald Fils-Aimé on GameTrailers about fan-perceived grievances or may recall his time on G4. Yet, we are the ones that have continually called on Keighley to rehaul the structure of his conferences and The Game Awards, so they avoid repeating the same pitfalls of previous years. All the same, nothing has changed. Instead, Keighley continues to dig in his heels as he prepares for a possible showdown with the ESA next year. However, if that is the case, I have to question if his Summer Game Fest is a platform for one rather than a platform for all. Increasingly, the person who benefits from throwing their hat into Keighley's arena is himself. Just some food for thought in the single percent chance he ever reads this blog, which I would discourage him from doing.

For someone who has been on Giant Bomb since the very beginning, I can say that the past few days have been a quickly shaken cocktail of emotions. Jeff Gerstmann no longer being a fixture of Giant Bomb is a blow I entertained every blue moon in the back of my head but never fully considered. I know the exact time and place of where I was when the news of Jeff's GameSpot firing first broke. It was minutes from me needing to attend my sixteenth birthday party at a local Black Angus Steakhouse. My birthday celebration was, as my parents put it, "a momentous occasion" that should not be disturbed because "a video game reviewer lost their job." And that Black Angus was a fixture in my local community, with some erring towards histrionics in calling it an "establishment." Nonetheless, I told myself then and there that if I wasn't going to be able to watch the events unfold as they happened, then I promised I would follow Jeff wherever he went. It was childish, yes, but I was a teen and still convinced that the para-social internet interactions I had represented deeper personal connections. It's a lesson we all hopefully learn. Also, after almost forty years of existence, that specific Angus Steakhouse closed two years ago.

I have been writing on Giant Bomb since 2008, and I do not say that to put newer users in a position of implied inferiority. I say that because, by hook or by crook, I have been plugging along with blogs and articles meant to entertain and keep people's spirits up for over ten years, and I did so because of Jeff. The news this week shook me as it did for many of you. It's a sting that reminds me that the fifteen years this site was able to persist in the capacity it had were a blessing and not a norm found on most websites. Giant Bomb continued after the passing of Ryan and outlived the version of E3 we knew and loved. Jeff's commanding voice led Giant Bomb through some difficult bumps and bruises, and its core tenet of being a place to watch a close-knit group of friends joke around with video games persisted. Part of that is changing, and I understand that scares people and angers others. Nevertheless, when I watch the content without Jeff, it makes me feel hopeful, and it makes me feel happy. In that spirit, I'm sticking around. It was the dream of many of the people helming the site now to be where they are, and I am not going to deprive them of attaining their aspirations. Watching the new introduction of the site's core staff showed me that it's at least worth waiting to see and support this path they want to take. Many of them have already done so much for this site, and I am willing to give them a chance.

Also, Giant Bomb is special. When I fucked up, and trust me, I have really fucked up in my many years on the internet; it was always here. It has been a place for me to relax, watch videos, and meet up with familiar friends and allies. That aspect of Giant Bomb will never change. However, I plan on following Jeff much as I continue to tune into Nextlander while also awaiting new episodes of Run for the Hills or the Waypoint podcast. I promised many years ago to see Jeff through to the bitter end. That will still stand. It was great having all of the video game-based media I wanted in one place, but that's no longer the case, and that means I have to change how I go about supporting the people that have already been an essential part of my life. Consuming video game-based content online is different. When Giant Bomb was first founded, it was formed with users being able to publish blogs in mind rather than hosting videos, chats, or streams. It took time for me to come to terms with these words, but here I am saying them, "things change." It's okay to follow multiple websites, YouTube accounts, and streamers and be subscribed to complimentary Discord communities. And before anyone asks, absolutely, I would have changed the circumstances to have Jeff still working with this incoming group. There's a lot I would change, but I don't think I'll ever know what led us here, but I know the only thing I can personally do is look ahead and continue to explore ways to help the people that kept me here in the past and continue to keep me here. And I know I need to think about that more because I know I can and should do more.

And while I am not in a doom-and-gloom mindset right now, there's something to this puzzle of seeing waves of websites and online communities come and go that I always forget to do. I always fail to say goodbye. When Whiskey Media got bought by CBS, and users protested that their premium subscriptions did not justify the cost, despite my disagreements, I let users I saw and talked to for literal years leave without a word. Shit, when the Whiskey Media sites split apart, despite getting the green light to provide front-page editorial content on AnimeVice, I never gave all of my friends there the goodbye they deserved. I regret that mistake to this day. When Brad, Vinny, and Alex left, I let long-time friends walk away. With this news, I can only imagine many of you will leave Giant Bomb in response, and that's a reaction I emphasize and understand. So, before you do, I want you to know I enjoyed talking to you. I loved so many of you, and I hope in your journey to find something that brings you the same happiness and joy this site brought you, you are successful. I liked seeing the same four or five of you commenting on my articles and blogs. I liked the silly memes. I liked the same repeating chat emotes. I enjoyed every minute of it, even when I did not show it. And for that reason, I am rooting for you in your search to find something on the internet that brings you genuine happiness.

It's okay if that doesn't ease all of the anxiety and anger some of you feel. That's a part of the process of bearing the brunt of unexpected change. If this is a hard goodbye, and you never want to come back, or you do come back, and you don't enjoy what the site has become, then I also want to say something to you. You grew up on this site. We grew up together on this site. I watched so many of you go from being young adults who bragged about long gaming sessions to talking about your marriages and bringing life into this world. I want you all to know I heard you, even when I did not reply to you. I want to thank you for what you brought to the site when you were having fun. In moving on, I want you to know that you have obviously changed more than I have, and that's amazing. For many of you, we all got over ten years older together! You're probably never going to get the same enjoyment that you once did, but you can still have the fond memories of jokes or events that brought the hardiest laughs or biggest smiles. And all I ask is that you remember some of the users, profile pictures, list makers, artists, reviewers, and commentators you met along the way. There might not be another opportunity or place where an infusion of user-led talent and passion ever crosses a single website as it did for Giant Bomb. To those who contributed to that, I hope you all find platforms and champions and advocates as you did here. You deserve them.

I want to thank Jeff for putting years into this site and allowing me to interact with so many of you. Jeff's impact has resulted in many in this community feeling empowered to follow careers across a gamut of industries. People who blogged for fun on Giant Bomb are now actively covering games because of him. People who made silly Giant Bomb highlight or compilation videos are shooting, editing, and directing movies. People who made fan art ten years ago have gone on to become full-time artists and designers. Some former users are even making AAA video game titles! To all of you, if no one has taken the time to say "I'm proud of you" yet, I will now. When I decided to pursue a career in public education, the hope I could have an impact on youths was what drove me through the darkest of my moments. Jeff and the long list of other faces that have graced Giant Bomb have had that sort of impact. The same goes for everyone who has shared one iota of their creative capacities here.

So, to anyone who departs after all that is said and done: Good luck, and stay safe out there. We need you all and don't forget to drop by to say hello from time to time if you have it in you. And if we meet up elsewhere, wherever that may be, let's promise to have another good laugh. All these years supporting each other shouldn't amount to nothing.

Preamble

For those of you that have been following my blogs, you know that for the past three years, I have been penning a yearly series titled "I'm A Star Wars Nerd and..." about updates related to the Star Wars IP in the video game industry. If you have not read those blogs, here are links to my asshole nitpicky musings about Fallen Jedi and my minor annoyances with Squadrons. Likely due to the pandemic, there is no major Star Wars video game to discuss in 2022. Unless there's a groundswell of interest, I do not plan to examine the desiccated husk that is Zynga publishing Star Wars Hunters, which is yet ANOTHER mobile-focused competitive arena combat game. However, that's not to say there is no Star Wars video game news worth discussing this year. There is a cavalcade of Star Wars games in active development. Still, the vast majority have tenuous release dates and are projects that we will not see in the foreseeable future. For example, I am happy that Bit Reactor, a team of former developers that led the XCOM and Civilization franchises, will be making a Star Wars strategy game. I am hopeful that at some point in my life, I can stop jerry-rigging total conversion mods onto Star Wars: Empire at War - Forces of Corruption to scratch my itch for a Star Wars RTS game. However, considering how little we have seen of this game, odds are it is a long way from being something anyone can play.

However, despite a massive agglomeration of new and potentially exciting games to talk about, I want to discuss something old that is getting a highly predictable console port. As many of you are already aware, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is coming out for the Nintendo Switch. That alone is not worth discussing, but what is worthy is the subsequent news that Aspyr Media, the team behind previous KOTOR port jobs, will be releasing an "official" version of "The Sith Lords Restored Content Modification" as free DLC on the Switch. This revelation has the Star Wars community jumping to conclusions, especially considering Aspyr is in charge of the PS5 timed exclusive "Remake" of Knights of the Old Republic. If you check social media, you will find dozens of people positing that this might even signify that Aspyr plans to give KOTOR II a similar remake treatment. On the other hand, I have been a part of the vocal minority of Star Wars video game fans asking, "How the fuck are they going to make this work?"

I don't plan on reviewing the "complete" developmental history of KOTOR II, but the long story short is that the game was initially released in an incomplete state with entire character arcs and storylines left unresolved. Obsidian was the original developer and, in post-release interviews, have painted an incredibly bleak picture about their timetables. As mandated by LucasArts Entertainment, the game's original 2005 release date was changed to December 2004 after it demoed well during E3 2004. On top of the excessive amount of cut and dummied content, the PC version launched with a plague of bugs. All of this is to say that the game was good but "problematic" even at the time of its release. Yet, some people believe a single, solitary Switch port with free DLC will magically fix all of this. Not only that, but some are already claiming that this version of the game is somehow going to legitimize the Restored Content Mod and make it a guaranteed part of any future attempts to "possibly" remake KOTOR II. Yeah, let's talk about why all of that is bullshit.

Reason #1: The Cut Content Is Notoriously Unfinished

It's important to note that The Sith Lords Restored Content Modification (i.e., TSLRCM) doesn't promise to provide a complete experience. The minute you find its Steam Workshop page, you'll note the words "unfinished but playable" used. Yes, it should be praised for being a monumental undertaking and is a passion project many years in the making. However, there's no denying that it is still a close, but not exact, facsimile of what Obsidian wanted to make. The source code that the TSLRCM team worked with had whole swaths left in an incomplete state, and the people leading the project were, at several points, forced to fill in the gaps on their own. Sure, they will point to the many interviews they had with the game's original design team to guarantee that what they created would be as authentic as possible. Nonetheless, while it does make the game less buggy and assist some characters in having better story arcs, there are still plenty of rough edges. The transitions between old and restored cutscenes are often abrupt, new dialogue sticks out like a sore thumb, constant hitching bugs are easy to come by, non-shippable crash issues still exist, and the list goes on and on.

Also, this is not an insignificant modification. Making everything in TSLRCM work on a console will be no easy task. That's why I think it's HIGHLY UNLIKELY the Switch port will be getting a complete version of the mod. It would not surprise me if what Aspyr release is only a partial emulation of the mod. Furthermore, there's no way Aspyr will tackle the more incomplete sections of the source code, and they're likely going to highlight the areas they can more easily run through an algorithm. As someone who has been following the Restored Content Mod for a while, I don't blame them. Many are unaware, but TSLRCM is not the first time the KOTOR II mod community attempted to address the cut content in KOTOR II. In 2005, an even more ambitious attempt was made to restore "everything" in the game's source code called The Sith Lords Restoration Project by a group known as "Team Gizka." That group burnt out in approximately one year after Team Gizka discovered the dummied content was far more unfinished than what they anticipated.

If you are going to claim that Aspyr is a professional team that will have more time and better resources to fill in these gaps, I'm not so sure I agree with that. I agree that they are better equipped. Nonetheless, that does not change that the workable source code they would have at their disposal is teeming with game-breaking bugs, non-existent audio, incomplete questlines, and placeholder text for important dialogue choices. Making all of this work with a base game that is already "problematic" would require an enormous team, and there's no way a Switch port of KOTOR II is getting that. Finally, I think some people hyping up this news have forgotten that this is for a Switch port. I can promise you that the portions of this mod, as it stands today, that can pass console certification, can be counted on a single hand. Therefore, unless Aspyr is in it for the long haul, I don't plan to retire my PC KOTOR I and II save data anytime soon.

Reason #2: It Being Free DLC Should Set Expectations Low

Now that you understand why bringing the entire Restored Content Mod to consoles is impractical, let's return to what Aspyr has already promised for their KOTOR II Switch port. Currently, they are promising general bug and gameplay fixes, engine optimization, and major graphical upgrades. Furthermore, the Restored Content "Free DLC" will arrive after the initial Switch release. There is no official word if this DLC is exclusive to the Switch port and if it will ever become available on Aspyr's KOTOR II Xbox or PlayStation releases. They have confirmed that this Switch DLC will NOT replace TSLRCM on the Steam Workshop. Like any video game enthusiast trying to pinch pennies and survive this smoldering hell-pit we call a planet, I will take "free" any day. However, I hope that after the previous section, you understand that a "complete" version of TSLRCM would warrant an absurd budget, and with the DLC being free, that's all but certain not to be the case.

Connected, but if the Switch port were the "definitive" version, instead of a press release about smoothing things over, it would have talked about partnerships with some original team members that worked on KOTOR II. With Obsidian now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft, that's pretty unlikely unless someone unfurls a fat wad of cash. It's crazy to think, but much of the core team that made KOTOR II is still working at Obsidian. Despite their frequent hardships, people are willing to follow Feargus Urquhart, Chris Parker, and Leonard Boyarsky through thick and thin. The ones that are available to commission to rewrite lines of dialogue aren't going to do it for free. Also, with Chris Avellone rightfully a persona non grata, I don't know if you can rewrite the incomplete lines of dialogue that plague whole parts of the source code without summoning his specter. And what would you want them to do with all of the lines of dialogue that have no voice acting? Even Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, which did bring back the original voice talent for nostalgic purposes, was a commercial product with a price tag.

It is also worth noting that even TSLRCM has its limits. The mod currently purports to "fix 500 bugs" present in the base game, but I can attest that there are more than five hundred bugs, glitches, and game-breaking issues in KOTOR II. Bringing the base game to a modern console will NOT be easy in and of itself. While the announcement of "Restored Content DLC" certainly got people's attention, if you review Aspyr's press release, you'll notice that their significant promise is that the Switch version of the base game will be a smooth and relatively bug-free rodeo. That ALONE will require the lion's share of development time and resources from the team working on the Switch port. Likewise, anyone wishing for the "Droid Planet" is fucking crazy! The M4-78 Enhancement Project is separate from TSLRCM for a reason. The workable audio for the M4-78 area left in the code is next to none, with some modders substituting their voices to make up the difference. For example, this kind of shit will not fly in an official video game release unless someone wants to deal with SAG-AFTRA busting their kneecaps.

Reason #3: The KOTOR I Switch Port Wasn't That Great, And Aspyr Are Busy Working On The Knights of the Old Republic Remake

So, you can already buy an Aspyr-led Switch port of KOTOR I. I wouldn't recommend it when there are already other versions of the game that are better and easier to modify. I have played KOTOR I on many different platforms, including an Amazon Fire Tablet, and the Switch port still ranks relatively low. My antipathy primarily stems from one of Aspyr's bizarre design decisions about world navigation and item collection. Each level or room you are in has dozens of interactable elements with chests to open and computer terminals to hack. In almost every version of KOTOR I, when you want to interact with any part of the environment, you move your cursor to it and then click it. With the Switch version, you press the shoulder button to cycle through clickable parts of the environment. As you cycle through your options, you can click one and then watch your character move to that object or item. I fucking HATED THIS SHIT! It was incredibly clunky, but it also removed the mystery of searching environments and discovering hidden goodies.

Admittedly, some of Aspyr's other old Star Wars video game ports have been perfectly acceptable. I thought the Switch version of Star Wars: Republic Commando was an almost perfect way to play the game, and to get off of Star Wars for a bit, I thought their Civilization VI Switch port was AMAZING. Aspyr has done some incredible work, and I don't want to suggest that they are an incapable developer who cannot solve many of the issues I have presented. However, they are already a developer stretching themselves a bit thin. Lost in the mix is the fact that they are the team behind the highly speculated Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Remake. If you want to tell me that a Switch port of KOTOR II has development priority over that, then I am willing to call you a fucking crazy person. No rational human being should even jokingly suggest that.

At some point, I plan to issue a second one of these "I'm A Star Wars Nerd And..." blogs for the KOTOR Remake. In the meantime, if getting the Restored Content Mod to pass console certification is an eight out of ten on the difficulty meter, then making a full-fledged Remake of KOTOR I that doesn't piss off fans is a fucking eleven. That game will need a sizable team and a collection of designers to tow a very hazardous line between paying homage to the original and needing to modernize its old-school RPG sensibilities. I'm willing to say right here and now that whatever the KOTOR Remake might be, it will not use D&D 3.5E or even 5E for its combat engine. You are going to get a real-time action RPG combat system, and you are going to like it. If there are skill points and attributes, they will be light and breezy. As much as those last two sentences disappoint me, I have come to terms with them as today's CRPG landscape is considerably different from the one that existed when KOTOR I launched. But even if Aspyr whips up a lazy action-RPG combat system, that will require a ton of design and programming power. Power that they likely do not want to sink into a niche DLC project.

Reason #4: This Isn't New News (i.e., Aspyr Have Bootstrapped The Restored Content Mod To Previous KOTOR II Ports)

We now turn our attention to the reporting of Aspyr's supposed sudden loving embrace of TSLRCM with their recently announced Switch port. I have to admit to getting a little peeved when I saw recognizable video game publications extol surprise that Aspyr even admitted to the existence of TSLRCM. If you go to their company website and try to buy a KOTOR II PC key, you'll notice that they straight-up TELL YOU to download TSLRCM. Them supporting the project is not new news. Aspyr has been in charge of porting classic Star Wars titles and updating digital-only releases of those titles since 2015. One of the first things they did when they secured the rights to update KOTOR II's Steam release was to announce Steam Workshop support. Months before they made Workshop support official, they contacted the team behind TSLRCM and assured them that they wanted the project to be compatible. When the mod team stated they were unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the Steam Workshop system, Aspyr taught them how to use the platform and even offered their QA team for additional support.

When the TSLRCM team attempted to develop the mod for iOS and Android, Aspyr helped them. Because of Aspyr, this mod has come to non-PC platforms, and its arrival on the Nintendo Switch is not that surprising. Aspyr has done TSLRCM a solid for over seven years. However, to return to the topic of alternate platforms getting mod support, I think you get a better idea of what is in store for this Switch release. With the mobile edition of TSLRCM, they started with a fraction of the PC mod and then worked from there. Aspyr laid the groundwork, assisted in the QA process, and eventually handed things over to a small team of modders. That will be difficult on the Switch, but it wouldn't be impossible. Aspyr has the clearance to publish things on the Switch online store. You could reasonably assume they might hand over their tools to a group of designers and programmers they can trust since they have been working with them unofficially for over seven years.

I don't know how there can be THIS MUCH EVIDENCE of Aspyr working with a mod community, AND YET people are acting like they don't know what the future will hold. This Switch port will have a small bite-sized chunk of a massive fan project that barely works as-is, and they have done so at least once before. What the fuck are people thinking when they take to YouTube and speculate that this is a prophecy of a future direction for the KOTOR Remake? However, none of my pessimism should take away from the one undeniable positive thing to note about this news. Simply having some version of TSLRCM on a console is a huge step for that modding community and will bring even more attention to it. Maybe the Switch version of TSLRCM only has one-sixteenth of the content of its PC counterpart. Even in that case, a non-zero number of people become aware of its existence in the first place by sheer virtue of it existing somewhere outside of the PC. That alone is worth a little bit of excitement.