Altercate TV

“Wait a minute,” some of you might be thinking, “didn’t Altercate already have a video about Final Fantasy VI?”

Yeah. I did.

When I first released this retrospective back in early 2023, GenAI was new and exciting, and the concept of generating high-quality images at the press of a button seemed like genuine magic. I got carried away, and included a handful of generated images in the retrospective I was working on at the time.

Almost immediately afterwards, I regretted it.

Two and a half years have passed, and that early excitement has turned to exhaustion. Which is why I’m making the following commitment:

My content is 100% human made.

The scripts are written entirely by me, the voiceover is recorded by me, and all the content featured in my videos is made by humans (to the best of my knowledge lol).

Note, all of this was true even before. EXCEPT for those generated images I included in my FF6 retrospective. So I finally decided to fix that.

But! Being a highly neurotic perfectionist, I also saw this as an opportunity. Since I’d have to make a new version of the video anyway, I thought I might as well make some improvements. It’s the same video, but better. It’s not a remake, but let’s call it a remaster lol.

Note, I’m not judging anyone for consuming or even generating AI content. The tool is there, so people are going to use it. Simple as that. I just don’t want to use it myself. At least, not for this kind of stuff. I’m not here to debate the use of generative AI - you do you, and I do me.

And I’m not rejecting AI in all forms. It can be a great tool for cutting down on tedious grunt work, and opens up possibilities that didn’t exist before, like upscaling images or removing backgrounds, or cleaning up flaws in voice recordings. But I don’t want to use it as a substitute for human creativity.

As always, thanks for supporting me, and I hope you enjoy the video! 😍🙏

1 month ago | [YT] | 117

Altercate TV

Starting a new journey! For my next project, I'm continuing my series of Dragon Quest retrospectives with Dragon Quest IV! Very excited to see the direction Nakamura and Horii took the series after realizing their original vision with Dragon Quest III!

8 months ago | [YT] | 94

Altercate TV

After a final burst of bone-crunching effort, my updated Final Fantasy retrospective review is now live on YouTube. Find it here:
youtu.be/a-BD_qrmzLc

Why did I make a new version of an existing video? Well, this is a special case. Years ago, my original FF retrospective review started as an experiment that grew into a passion for doing in-depth retrospectives. But as time has passed, I’ve grown increasingly dissatisfied with that video.

While the video was fun to make and (apparently) entertaining to watch, I don’t feel it did the game justice. The video was originally meant as a lighthearted exploration of what the original Final Fantasy is like by modern standards… and this isn’t an attitude I’m as interested in taking anymore.

Rather, my passion is to try to help put classic games in their proper context, digging into what made them hits back when they were new. That’s the kind of respect I want to extend to these titles, and by that metric, the original version of this retrospective review had started to feel like a colossal failure.

So here it is. The new version. More than twice as long, and, imo, a much more fair and loving look at one of the most important console RPGs ever made. And with the benefit of a LOT of research to back my claims up lol.

I really hope you enjoy the video!

As for the old version, I've kept it up, but unlisted. You'll find it here:
https://youtu.be/2sHG3lSdeLc

9 months ago | [YT] | 18

Altercate TV

Currently doing a new run through the original Final Fantasy in preparation for making a new version of my retrospective of the game.

I've learned a lot about my creative process and what I want my videos to be like since 2021, and I don't feel my original retrospective came close to doing the game justice. Instead of looking at the game in terms of what it meant at the time, I judged it by the standards of modern gaming. And that's not something I'm interested in anymore.

Don't worry, I won't let remaking old videos become a habit lol. This should be a one-time thing. After this, it's on to Dragon Quest IV!


PS. I just got a Bluesky account if you're interested in following me there. I don't know how actively I'll post, but I'll try to keep you updated on my process.
@altercate.bsky.social

1 year ago | [YT] | 65

Altercate TV

Today is Dragon Quest III day! The HD-2D Remake is finally here! 🎉🎈✨

On a not-so-unrelated note, through a heroic/moronic act of self-destructive determination, I managed to finish my Dragon Quest III retrospective late last night. It's called "Dragon Quest III - The culmination of a vision".

The video goes live later today! I hope you like it. :)

1 year ago | [YT] | 60

Altercate TV

I hope everyone's having a great summer! I've been hard at work and just finished editing my latest retrospective review. "Dragon Quest II - The right game at the right time" goes live on Friday, Aug 2nd.

Now I want to know, have you played Dragon Quest II before?

1 year ago | [YT] | 15

Altercate TV

Alright, time to take the plunge into Crossbell...

Very excited to finally start this journey. After playing the three Trails in the Sky games, I couldn't be more hype about seeing what comes next!

1 year ago | [YT] | 21

Altercate TV

As of today, I'm officially a lifetime fan of the Trails series.

I just completed Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter, and I'm not even sure I can put into words how I feel right now. These games are the REASON the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" was invented. I've played a lot of great games in my time - some of which were arguably "better" than this - but I've never played a game that's LIKE Trails in the Sky. Because this game is one of a kind.

I've often seen people say Second Chapter is a much stronger game than the first one. And I agree. But that's kind of beside the point. Because these two games should be seen as two parts of a single story. And it's the two games TOGETHER that form such an incomparable experience.

This is a story that requires buy-in, and it definitely helps if you can look past some of its flaws, but the payoff is kind of insane. This is one of the most genuine, most fun, and most emotional stories I've ever experienced. I laughed. I cried. I jumped out of my seat cheering at times! Before the story was over, I'd fallen head over heels in love with the kingdom of Liberl and its amazing people. And that goes doubly for the story's ridiculously wonderful heroine.

Estelle Bright's personality is beyond OP, and she is now my favorite fictional character of all time. 😂

PS. I plan to make a full spoiler critique for the whole trilogy at some point, but it's gonna be a while. To begin with, I have to play Trails in the Sky: The 3rd first. LOL

2 years ago | [YT] | 23

Altercate TV

Today, it's been a year since I started this channel, the new, permanent home for all my retrospectives and critiques!

Covering all the games I want to cover is going to take a LOT of effort, so I've got a long road ahead of me. But I wanted to take this opportunity to once again say a heartfelt "thank you" to everyone who's helped me get this far. I really couldn't do this without your encouragement. 😍

PS. I just finished recording the voice over for my Torna: the Golden Country critique. It should be up within a week or so.

2 years ago | [YT] | 30

Altercate TV

Final Fantasy XVI is coming in about a month... how do you feel about it?

2 years ago | [YT] | 10