December has arrived, and with it comes my predictable annual gaming tradition. After spending October and November immersed in survival horror – games built entirely around dread, where every corridor and encounter carries that constant psychological weight – December represents the complete opposite. This is when I deliberately shift toward what I call “lighthearted” games, though anyone familiar with Square Enix knows that’s generous. These games still have emotional gut-punches and can absolutely crush you in combat, but they lack that specific sense of dread that defines horror.
To compensate for months of psychological tension, December becomes my indulgence month. I play games like Final Fantasy and other Square Enix titles – games I genuinely enjoy without that constant feeling that something terrible is about to happen. This year, I’m focusing on three Square Enix games and one additional challenge.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Chadley’s Brutal and Legendary Challenges
FF7 Rebirth is potentially entering its fourth playthrough, but this time I have a specific mission: tackling Chadley’s Brutal and Legendary challenges. These optional fights sit at the absolute peak of the game’s difficulty curve, designed specifically for players who want to push the combat system to its limits.
In my previous playthroughs, I focused on the story and required content. Those Brutal and Legendary challenges remained unfinished – reminders of combat mastery I hadn’t achieved yet. Now I’m returning with a different approach, applying the same philosophy I’ve developed over months of tackling difficult games without guides.
No YouTube tutorials. No pre-built strategies copied from Reddit. Just me analyzing the combat system, experimenting with different approaches, and developing solutions that work for my playstyle. This represents how much my gaming approach has evolved – years ago, I would have immediately searched for the “optimal” strategy and followed it exactly. But that left me feeling hollow, like I’d checked off a box without actually understanding what I’d accomplished.
These challenges will test everything I’ve learned about action RPG combat: understanding enemy patterns, managing resources across extended fights, making split-second decisions about ability usage. It’s exactly what I want from December gaming – genuinely challenging without the constant dread of horror.
Kingdom Hearts 3: The Path to Platinum and Yozora
My Kingdom Hearts 3 platinum trophy sits frustratingly close to completion. Only a handful of tasks remain, but they include some of the most demanding content in the game.
First, there’s crafting the Ultima Weapon, Kingdom Hearts 3’s traditional ultimate keyblade. This requires collecting synthesis materials scattered throughout the entire game – not particularly difficult in terms of skill, but time-consuming and requiring systematic tracking of what I have versus what I still need.
Then there’s the ReMind DLC content, which I purchased but haven’t fully explored. This expansion adds new story scenarios and additional boss fights, specifically designed for players who felt the base game didn’t push them hard enough.
But the real challenge waiting for me is Yozora – the secret superboss representing the absolute pinnacle of Kingdom Hearts 3’s combat design. I haven’t completed this yet. Everything I’ve heard suggests this fight is brutal: attack patterns demanding perfect timing, multiple phases requiring different strategies, mechanics that can instantly end your run if you don’t understand the counters.
December feels like the right time to finally tackle this. The platinum trophy is the goal, but Yozora represents the real test.
Final Fantasy XV: The Complete Experience
FF15 occupies a strange place in my gaming history. I completed it once about three years ago, then never returned. That single playthrough left me with mixed feelings – I greatly appreciated the game but felt like I’d experienced an incomplete version.
The issue was that I somehow ended up playing the vanilla version rather than the Royal Edition. The Royal Edition includes significant content additions: expanded story sequences, additional gameplay features. I tried accessing this content but ran into problems with how it was distributed. I remember needing to go through the PSN mobile app to properly download the Royal Edition content, which created enough friction that I just played what I had installed.
This means my FF15 experience is incomplete. I also never played the Ardyn DLC, which explores the antagonist’s backstory and apparently recontextualizes significant portions of the main narrative. I never experienced the Royal Edition’s additional story content.
Three years later, I want to replay FF15 properly. I want the complete experience with all DLC and additional content from the Royal Edition. I want to see if my opinion changes when playing the definitive edition rather than the incomplete version I experienced before.
There’s also a practical element: I remember almost nothing about FF15’s combat system. It’s been long enough that I’ve forgotten the specific mechanics and strategies. In some ways, this will feel like playing a new game – familiar enough for basic context, but distant enough that rediscovering the systems will feel fresh.
The question is whether the Royal Edition download situation has been resolved. I’m hoping Square Enix has streamlined the process in the past three years. If not, I’ll need to figure out the correct sequence to actually access the content.
Expedition 33: Platinum Trophy and Defeating Simon
Finally, there’s Expedition 33. I’m going for the platinum trophy with one specific goal: defeating Simon. This represents the culmination of everything the game builds toward – the ultimate test proving you’ve mastered all systems and mechanics.
The platinum journey will naturally lead me to Simon, and defeating Simon will push me toward platinum completion. It’s a goal where the trophy hunt and the challenge I actually care about align perfectly.
The December Tradition
This pattern has held for years now. October and November are for horror games – games built around constant dread, where that psychological weight follows you through every moment. December is the opposite. It’s when I deliberately shift to games without that dread.
The games I’m playing in December can still be difficult. They can have punishing boss fights, complex systems, content that will absolutely destroy me if I’m unprepared. But they don’t carry that horror game dread – that feeling something terrible is lurking just out of sight, that constant psychological pressure defining survival horror.
After months of that dread, December is about indulgence. It’s about playing games I genuinely love without that psychological weight hanging over every moment. The horror games deliver that specific experience of dread that only survival horror provides, but I can only maintain that state for so long before needing something different.
December provides that reset – a reminder that games can be challenging and demanding without being constantly stressful. These Square Enix games offer exactly what I need: combat systems to master, stories to experience, optional challenges testing skill rather than psychological endurance.
December is here, and it’s time to indulge.
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