By Ronald Gordon 

Hello and welcome back to the Roundup, where we find the stories posted by interns and members to highlight the excellent work they’ve done! School is back in session for the Critics Circle, and we’ve started our initiative to teach the basics of games journalism to young folk yet again. It’s always exciting to get back into after school programs and see the different reactions that students have to learning about Gaming Journalism, and I’m hopeful to get some good narratives and reviews by the end of the program. This week, we’ve got news on our Newest Intern, Pokemon TCG going virtual, the horror within Clickolding, revisiting Final Fantasy VIII, the endgame secrets of Star Wars Outlaws, and so much more!

Starting off, we at the Circle would like to introduce our next newest intern, Mary-Ellis Ryan! Mary-Ellis is a winner of our Minecraft Writing Challenge. In her first story, she talks at length about her experience joining the citywide contest during her intro essay. Mary-Ellis starts her with this paragraph, “If you’d ask me about my interests, developing games definitely wouldn’t have been one of them. I’d usually lean towards art, music or fashion but I found myself landing a gaming internship with the New York Videogame Critics Circle. It offers practical experience and skill development in a real-world setting. Additionally, it aids in career development and provides a chance to build professional connections. And I’m really getting into the idea of reviewing games.” While it may not have been what she expected, joining the Critics Circle may have been a great match for Mary-Ellis. 

Because he’s been a longtime fan who was the tattoos to prove it, Executive Director Ryan O’ Callaghan brings us a first look at Pokémon’s newest trading card mobile game. This new game, which is titled Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, will be just like the TCG but virtual! Taking to the world of mobility, Pocket will allow for players to collect, share, and battle with their cards with ease, while not having to worry about them being lost or damaged no matter where you take them. While he had his doubts prior to the event, Ryan was quickly absorbed by the app’s capabilities. He writes, “I was skeptical about the quality of the collection angle of Pocket, but the entire process is done with immense love and care from every angle. Players are given 2 free packs each day, each with 5 cards ranging from lowest (diamond) to highest (3 star). The contents of the pack will vary and are not tied to one specific run of the previously released sets. Card selections were carefully curated to excite and entice fans from new to old. In my first pack opening, I encountered a Slowpoke from the original Fossil run alongside a full-art Marowak EX. As I opened more packs I found Pokémon from more recent generations like Elektross and Froakie. I was also reunited with my beloved Ponyta.” While it may not have the same tactile sensation as opening physical card packs, Pocket seems to be everything that Pokémon TCG fans could want in a mobile app, including rarer cards to collect and use in battles. Considering the instances where retailers scalped Pokémon TCG packs, having a mobile alternative is a great back up to have. 

Strange Scaffold makes all types of games, some action packed like I Am Your Beast, and others that require strategic skills like Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator. None of them even come close to the experience Kimari had with Clickolding, a game about denying satisfaction through clicking. “Clickolding is by far the strangest and most uncomfortable game I have ever played.” Kimari starts off by warning the reader what this game has to offer, saying, “Strange Scaffold, the developers of Clickholding hold true to their studio’s description ‘Games that you wouldn’t expect to exist, with intentional, weird, and nuanced constraints.’ That’s because, in the 30 minutes it took me to complete it, I have never wanted to step away from my computer so bad. But I was strangely glued to my seat playing.” Clickolding is a short experience that will keep you stuck for the full ride as morbid curiosity overtakes you, and Kimari’s time in the game left her with a feeling akin to that of playing a horror game. “Clickolding is the kind of game that will send shivers down your spine – it doesn’t need jump scares, loud noises, monsters, or chase sequences. Clickolding is a 30-minute experience that will leave your skin crawling with only a masked man, a hotel room, and a click counter.” Creepy!

Interviewing is one of the things Stephen Totilo of Game File does best, and this time he brings not only the insight on Star Wars Outlaws, but also Endgame secrets straight from Creative Director Julian Gerighty. Star Wars Outlaws is an ambitious game. Devs tout the open world exploration that Ubisoft is known for while also telling a new story within the universe of Star Wars, and with a universe so vast there’s bound to be plenty of hidden treasures and unanswered questions by the end of the game. Luckily, Stephen is here to clear the air on any questions one might have, such as the fetch quest within the game regarding the infamous Jet Kordo’s hidden caches. When asked about if there’s a set number of discoverable caches, as well as a reward for finding all of them, Julian Gerighty replies, “Jet Kordo was a travelling scoundrel too, so the numbers in-between he may have hidden elsewhere as he’s a bit unpredictable. There are about five on each planet and nothing is recovered from collecting all the caches, finding them is more the reward in itself along with the materials you find within. Jet Kordo is also linked to the ‘Scoundrel legacy’ quest and there are gear item rewards for that quest.” There’s plenty more spoiler-heavy tidbits about the endgame, as well as the full interview between Stephen and Julian. So I highly suggest you check it out if you’re interested in Star Wars Outlaws and what to do after the main story. 

“I hate Final Fantasy VIII. I love Final Fantasy VIII. Excuse the whiplash,” writes Luis Aguasvivas, recounting his thoughts on Final Fantasy VIII in an article for Unwinnable, “Every time I think about Square Soft’s ambitiously fraught epic, I think of the liminal space between hope and poverty, malady and recovery. To be specific, I think of a time nine years ago at the peak of my idealism when I contracted an infectious disease that nearly claimed my life. Like Zell eats hot dogs with fervor I looked for solace in the game – an uneasy one at that, but, succor, nonetheless.” For most people, gaming can be a stress reliever, a moment to wind down at the end of a long day, or a way to vent frustrations out into the ether of the digital world. Yet nine years ago, gaming was much more than that for Luis.  It was a borderline lifesaver. Fighting against an infectious disease in a West African Village, Luis’ only solace from the pain was the world of Final Fantasy VIII and the adventure of Squall Leonhart. “Yes, I’ve finished it, but under conditions that can only be described as tortuous. Laying on the floor sweat dripping down my back, I transition between hallucinations and playing FFVIII. I escaped into Squall’s traumatic past and his quest to stop Ultimecia, and then Laguna’s own journey.” It’s one the more compelling stories you’ll read this year.

Giovanni Colantonio gives us a look at The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which he believes could use more time to establish itself. The newest top-down Zelda game actually has you taking control of Princess Zelda, who has to save Link this time around and has many abilities to get the job done – including copying things like beds, crates and enemies. When looking at this new Echoes mechanic, Giovanni wrote, “While echoes are a great idea, the system isn’t fully realized here. I’m surprisingly limited in what I can actually copy, with no in-universe explanation as to why. One sidequest tasks me with finding a treasure chest for a Zora. I figured I could copy one and summon it, but it turned out that it was an item I couldn’t copy. In fact, of the over 100 echoes available in the game, very few of them are for items with unique effects. The bulk of what I end up copying are interchangeable monsters who I can summon to fight for me as I stare on passively.” He mentions how Echoes is a great concept, yet still falls short when it comes to the variability of what you can copy using Echoes. While 100 is a large number, it doesn’t mean much when, as Giovanni puts it, “Once I capture the most powerful moblin on the block, there’s no need for me to summon any of the other dozens of creatures that are just stand-ins for computer-controlled swords.” 

Beyond The Circle

Nintendo has been a part of the gaming industry for so long, that it’s no surprise a brand-new museum dedicated to Nintendo was created to exhibit their many achievements as a gaming company. What’s more surprising is that the man behind Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, helped build this museum himself! As detailed in the New York Times Article by Zachary Small, “the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, Japan, an exhibition hall that opens on Oct. 2 and documents the company’s evolution from a local storefront selling handmade playing cards in the 1880s to a video game company nearly a century later.” It’s exciting to see something as impactful as Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto‘s time at the helm of the company be immortalized in a museum. Best of all, it gives many a chance to know the deeper history of what made Nintendo different than any other company.

Ronald Gordon is a New York Videogame Critics Circle Member & Mentor. He was the first of our writers – or any intern anywhere – to complete an internship at Rockstar Games.

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