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Derek Heemsbergen


Favorite Games:
  • Earthbound
  • Xenoblade Chronicles
  • Anything by Falcom!

82 games reviewed
75.9 average score
78 median score
49.4% of games recommended

Derek Heemsbergen's Reviews

A connoisseur of all things RPG, Derek has been writing about video games professionally since 2010. His educational background in linguistics and Japanese coalesced to form a fascination with game localization, a field he recently started working in after publishing research on the topic. He has a deep and abiding love for Japanese developer Nihon Falcom, and his heart is prone to go pitter-patter at the sound of the word "Ys." Aside from his kinda-sorta-almost-all-consuming love of gaming, Derek enjoys staying active, improving his mediocre cooking skills, drinking too much coffee, and covering his body in geeky tattoos. He lives with his partner in Arizona and seeks to expand his family by once again welcoming several ferrets into the fold.

A slow-paced but charismatic RPG with an incredibly well-crafted world and characters.

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In going so far retro, Pier Solar HD shows that it hasn't learned from modern advancements in game design.

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You could do better within the Ys series, but it's still near the top of the pack as far as retro-styled action RPGs go.

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Jul 28, 2015

This thrilling game of high-stakes detective falls short narratively but remains strangely compelling throughout.

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A visually appealing but ultimately trite series of references to much better games.

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Oct 13, 2015

A polished cyberpunk graphic adventure with themes other developers rarely handle with this much finesse.

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If you've played Trails FC, you need to play Trails SC, period.

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Dec 18, 2015

A content-rich sci-fi adventure that diverges from its predecessor in unexpected but delightful ways.

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If you like traditional JRPGs but Trails in the Sky was a little too dated for you, Cold Steel is exactly what you've been looking for.

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Recommended to those seeking an RPG that is light in all senses of the word.

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Not the jump forward I was expecting for this series, but a light and entertaining RPG nonetheless.

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Jun 24, 2016

Idol enthusiasts will ascend to J-pop nirvana, while the rest of us will find TMS to be a perfect appetizer to tide us over until Persona 5

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Jul 11, 2016

7th Dragon III Code: VFD rewards those who are dedicated to its unique brand of role-playing and feeds the rest to the dragons.

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Jul 21, 2016

A brief, somber, and quietly beautiful journey that occasionally stumbles to resonate emotionally.

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Aug 20, 2016

Exhaustingly trite and mechanically shallow, A.W. Phoenix Festa is a waste of memory card space better occupied by something like Steins;Gate.

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Trails of Cold Steel II continues in the series' tradition of lengthy, narratively expansive JRPGs that will have fans up late theorizing about their favorite characters.

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Oceanhorn is a passable-at-best adventure that just made me want to go back and play the games it took everything from, because they did it better.

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Exist Archive is an intriguing follow-up to Valkyrie Profile, but its deficiencies in some major areas make it a hard sell in a season already packed with stellar RPGs.

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8.5 / 10.0 - Gotta Protectors
Oct 25, 2016

Gotta Protectors is a frenetic and charming celebration of retro Japanese games that rises above its low-fidelity presentation to deliver one seriously addictive experience.

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Oct 26, 2016

This nostalgia-fueled collectathon is a pleasant, if juvenile, tour of Final Fantasy's greatest hits.

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