"Delving Into...": A New Feature

My monthly "Cover Game" format on MoeGamer has enabled me to do in-depth explorations of games as well as shining a spotlight on underappreciated titles… but I've still had something on my mind.

Specifically, how best to handle substantial series that would be difficult to cram into a single month, particularly when I actually have to play their component installments before I put pen to paper!

There are a number of series that I'd love to explore in detail at some point, but squeezing them into the monthly format would prove difficult or impossible. As such, I've decided to introduce a new (hopefully regular) feature that will enable me to explore these games more gradually alongside other titles — and perhaps compile everything into a Cover Game feature once I've explored them all to my satisfaction.

I present to you "Delving Into…"

While I present my Cover Game features from the perspective of someone who is thoroughly familiar with the game or series in question — while in many cases I'm still playing the game up until the last article I write in a month, I always insist on beating it before I write about things like the narrative — I intend Delving Into… to be a more "immediate" response to games that I'm playing; a sort of "gaming diary", if you will, only one specifically focusing on particular series.

In other words, a Delving Into… column will feature an outline of the progress I've made with a particular game or series, and what my thoughts on it are at that point. They aren't intended to be authoritative articles; instead, they're personal responses to my progress to date, perhaps with a more comprehensive wrap-up article (or a companion Essentials/One-Shot piece) once I've beaten an individual installment.

The series I particularly have in mind to cover in this way are Dragon Quest, Yakuza, Trails in the Sky and Trails of Cold Steel. All of these are impractical to rush through in the name of a monthly Cover Game feature, but I desperately want to write about all of them — and, in the case of both Dragon Quest and Trails of Cold Steel, actually try them for the first time!

I'm going to kick this off later this week with the first Delving Into Dragon Quest article looking at the progress I've made on playing Dragon Quest: Chapters of the Chosen on Nintendo DS. This has been my "bedtime game" for the last couple of weeks and I've been enjoying it a lot. I've been meaning to educate myself about Dragon Quest for some time now, and this would seem like a good time to start writing some words about it — particularly with Dragon Quest XI just around the corner.

There are doubtless some other series that this format could work well with, too — the Warriors series springs to mind with the sheer number of games that involves! — but the titles mentioned above are likely the ones I will be focusing on to begin with.

Please let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy reading about my responses to these classic games I've been meaning to check out for some time now!