Ranking the Sekiro Areas From Worst To Best

 

Not a Soulsborne game but I absolutely consider Sekiro to be one of Fromsoft's "big seven" and a part of the overall series. It plays very differently from the rest, though, and is considerably more challenging than any of them. At least until you realize the game doesn't really penalize you much for spamming block. In any case, this game is tremendous and I had a huge amount of fun with it. While ER is their best game overall and Bloodborne is pound-for-pound the most interesting, Sekiro might be the most fun out of all of them. No character-creation in this one, but it allows the game to do a lot more with the emotions of the main character. No build variety either, which allows the game to have really focused gameplay that is centered more on mastery than finding a meta.

Ranking the Bloodborne Areas From Worst To Best

 

Good to finally get some Bloodborne content on here that isn't me hating on the game. While Elden Ring is Fromsoft's magnum opus, Bloodborne might be pound for pound their most interesting game. It's the only other one that sometimes challenges ER's supremacy for me, depending on the phase of the moon when you ask.

Ranking the Dark Souls 2 Areas From Worst To Best

A game with very low lows and very high highs. The dynamic range for zones in this game is a lot more variable than the rest of the series. I'm one of the few people who likes this more than Dark Souls, and I find it much more polished and streamlined. Well, for the most part. the Adaptability/Agility stat was unnecessary (and never appeared in any other From game) and the rolling wasn't nearly as good as the other games - which probably accounts for the vast majority of people's gripes about this game. Level Adaptability to 30ish to get Agility to 105ish and your rolls are basically as good as the rest of the series, which, essentially, "fixes" this game. It's kinda like triggering all of Alia's speeches and then backup-saving so you can play Mega Man X5 normally after that. Regardless, on with the list.

Ranking the Dark Souls Areas From Worst To Best

 

The second game in the series, but as of right now the "oldest" if that makes any sense. It's the only one that doesn't look amazing. Though maybe its muddy grittiness is a plus, I'm not sure. Despite having masterclass-level stage design, this has slowly become my least-favorite of Fromsoft's big seven soulsbornekiros. Not as pretty as all of the others, more rudimentary, and just kinda dark and unforgiving. Which, for some, makes it perfect. After the more normal level and level select format of Demon's Souls, this game's world layout is pretty much the next evolution of the Metroid formula and would define their games from here on out.

Ranking the Demon's Souls Areas From Worst To Best

Time for some Fromsoft content. They're my favorite game devs and make my favorite games, and I've barely mentioned them on here except to not like Bloodborne before I understood what it was (a mistake previously made with FFVI in 1995 and Xenogears in 1999). I think I later revised that, at least. Doing several of these lists, now that I've played most of these games several times over.

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#474 - 500)

 

#474 Contra (NES) – Fall 2013

Got to the rest of THIS series a good decade and a half after I should have (much like the Castlevania series). This is pretty much the quintessential NES action game. No bullshit, just cool weapons and nonstop battles. It also draws heavy inspiration from Alien and Aliens, which begs the question of why that series never got any games based on it that were just THIS. Nope, they always had to get cute and mess it up. Well, this game gives you the blueprint on how to make a good game, all they had to do was follow it. The only real downside is that it's a very difficult game. The thirty lives code helps a lot and I only play it with that.

Battle Unit Zeoth (Game Boy, 1991)

 

One of the many games I wanted as a kid and didn't get. And also one of the many games that I'm kinda lucky I didn't get because it isn't anywhere near as good as I thought it was. It's a fairly basic action game, nothing great, nothing bad either, but it can be finished fairly easily in about 30 minutes at the most. The same could be said for Kirby's Dream Land, but as a first game launching pad it does what it does very well. After that I wanted things that had a bit more longevity, given that I'd only get a game every couple months. This one wouldn't have fit the bill at all, and it has the illusion of complexity that isn't there. At least it has a mech in it, that's pretty cool.

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#453 - 473)

#453 Bioshock Infinite (Playstation 3) – Summer 2013

One of those games that I thought was a masterclass the first time I played it, only to find all kinds of flaws with it on subsequent runs. Nowhere near as deep as the previous two games. Basically plays like a Call of Duty, with the main "attack spell" functioning just like a grenade. Doesn't have the variety or the interesting spells of the previous games. Gets rid of traps and the weapon wheel in favor of "loadouts" where you can only carry two weapons at a time. There are more weapons, but even then they're heavily redundant (aka a bunch of them will do the same thing). The gameplay is lacking on this one and it's carried by the story and setting.

I really did love it the first time through though. It has some heart and soul, and it was probably the first real "multiverse" story I saw in a game/movie, or at least the first interesting one. This was before multiverse stuff was completely overdone in pop culture. However I'd take the first or even the second game over this one any day on gameplay and storytelling. Main thing going against this is that it's in the same series as an all-timer like Bioshock and if it were its own standalone game I wouldn't judge it as harshly.

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#432 - 452)

#432 Mario Bros (Arcade) – Winter 2013

The start of the Three-Decade Project. Got this idea to play something from every year of the previous 30 years, which got me a bunch of new #'s. First was 1983. This game...did not take long at all. Probably like a half hour? It's a very basic arcade game with one screen.

The Top Twenty Classic Final Boss Themes in Gaming

Today I'm listing what I consider to be the twenty best final boss themes in the lexicon of classic gaming. There are many final boss themes that I've never heard, so your mileage may vary. RPGs will be over-represented, as most of the great epic final battle scores that come to mind are from those very games.

(Originally posted many years ago as a top 17. Now with several more added and all of the broken music links fixed)