It’s difficult to write something special about a game like Secrets of Grindea when not only do the developers do a fantastic job of informing their fans of what’s going on with their game (via their dev blog), but is still in heavy development. That being said, something Pixel Ferrets cannot do, despite their apparent ability to create something magical, is properly relay the feelings that one encounters while playing their game. They can try as they wish to convey these feelings, but this is something which can only be acquired through personal experience.

Some people love their fighting games; others have an undying addiction to outsmarting their opponents in strategy titles, but me? I have an unending love for RPGs of all shapes and sizes. The game that broke my RPG cherry, so to speak, was Final Fantasy IX. I didn't get to spend nearly as much time with it as I would have liked to, but from the moment I stumbled through the streets of Alexandria as the adorable Vivi, I knew that this was something I wanted more of. The fantastical worlds, exciting combat and engaging stories immediately pulled me in, and it was a great time to be an RPG fan. Within the few years following my encounter with Final Fantasy IX, I got my hands on wonderful titles like Fable and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Those two games in particular ate up every waking hour of my life, sparking a love in my heart which cannot be properly relayed with mere words.

(I’m getting to the point, just hang in there…)

To continue using Fable and Elder Scrolls as an example, it didn’t take long for even these franchises to grow stale. Fable II was a decent title, though Fable III might as well not even exist. Despite the masses apparent love for Skyrim, it fails in a number of ways and adds up to little more than an ‘ocean with the depth of a puddle’. The genre that I spent years falling deeper and deeper in love with was slowly but surely declining in quality. At this point, I’ve pretty much become disillusioned with games as a whole in many ways. Sometimes a title pokes its head around the corner and reminds me of that love that I once had for the RPG experience, like Dishonored or The Witcher 2, but despite their brilliance they weren't able to bring back that seemingly unending spark of love for RPGs. That being said, they came pretty damn close.

It is here that we finally move past my nice little rant and get to the point…