Leaving the gate room Raziel comes across more familiar scenery, the Lake of the Dead. Even though much of Nozgoth has changed in the time Raziel lay at the bottom of the lake, this landmark allows him to get his bearings. There are two directions I can, in theory, access, though I take the route […]
Author: Duane Weatherall

#ThrowbackThursday Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
I’ve had a few weeks break from #ThrowbackThursday since completing my Final Fantasy IX playthrough and thus it’s time to get back up and running again. I decided to stick with the same era but go with a completely different genre and fancied tackling the Legacy of Kain series, now why have I started with […]

What Are You Reading? April 2021
Well, I’m getting through things quicker than I’d anticipated, however, I’m still struggling through that Final Fantasy I, II, III: Memory of Heroes from Takashi Umemura. It’s a strange book, I’m still on Final Fantasy II and it’s really dragging. These aren’t complicated plots, certainly nothing on what comes from the series later, but the tales […]

True Grit – Charles Portis
Close Encounters Books Without Pictures returns! and it’s not A Song of Ice and Fire related! This month we read through Charles Portis’ “True Grit”, a book from a genre I have no experience of reading. First impressions were that it would be an “easy” book to read, coming off the back of George RR […]

Formula 1: Drive to Survive season 3
The past week and a bit has been a big one for Formula 1, mostly because Winter Testing took place, wherein teams get to test their new cars for the first time, but also because we’ve now seen the return of Netflix’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” series, which is now in its third season. […]

Final Fantasy VII Remake
It’s been a couple of weeks now since I finished Final Fantasy VII Remake and in that time I’ve been trying to form my opinions on it, it’s a difficult game to write about, particularly from the position I find myself in as a fan of the series though I don’t hold Final Fantasy VII […]

#ThrowbackThursday Final Fantasy IX playthrough part 47
Zidane walks towards the white light which resembles the moon being reflected in a pool of water. Garland: “You have entered a new realm. There are no more worlds. There is no more space… Follow your memory, your original memory, and march forth…” Zidane: “Garland, what exactly is our memory!?” G: “…” Z: “Why can […]

#ThrowbackThursday Final Fantasy IX playthrough part 46
We’re finally on the road to the end of Final Fantasy IX folks! At the end of last weeks post, we were stood at the bottom of a staircase/cobblestone pathway after Garland had named this new location “Memoria”. We begin by climbing the staircase towards a castle where we find a glowing orb that I […]

What Are You Reading? March 2021
Continuing from last month and being serious about trying to make this a regular feature, here’s the second instalment of “What Are You Reading?”. Not only is it a good way for me to hopefully engage with you guys, but it also gives me a bit of space to talk about books I may not […]

Console Exclusivity is Gatekeeping, and Needs to Go Away
I’ve been sat on notes for this article for a few weeks now, but this week’s Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade announcement has helped me flesh it out somewhat. So, as the title says, we need to do away with system exclusivity. It’s a business practice that, long-term, makes little sense. Why reduce your potential […]