Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - Act II

 

More Ecclesia, as I try to get into this game. Despite the highly-memorable main character, it completely failed to grab me in the first third or so of the game, and the linear level structure isn't doing it any favors so far.

Dragon Quest 1 HD-2D, Part 2 - Rescuing Gwaelin

 

When you think about it, this is pretty much the full-circle RPG. It was the first console JRPG in the West, bringing the playstyle of things like Wizardry off of the PC and onto the TV. Now here it is in a modern form. It's sort of like how the characters ingame are going full-circle with the events of their past.

Dragon Quest 1 HD-2D (Multiple, 2025)

 

I've played every other version of DQ1 under the sun, so I'm legally obligated to play the new ultimate version. Will I finish this game in four hours like the old versions, or will it pose a more robust threat? What kind of optional content did they add? Is there finally an Erdrick's Helm? Join me as I answer these and more pressing questions.

Ranking the Eight Igavania-Style Metroidvania Castlevanias

 

These games came out swinging right out of the gate, with Symphony of the Night setting an extremely high bar that the rest of the 2D 'Vanias worked hard to try and top. Did any of them succeed?

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Nintendo DS, 2008)

Shanoa is bringing sexy back.

Wait a minute. They also brought back Ayame Kojima's classic artstyle! Yes! YES! After two games of generic anime art that could have been anything, we're back to looking like Castlevania. Pretty awesome to go out with the old artstyle returning, but it would have been really cool if they'd continued that train of thought and also brought the Belmonts back for one last hurrah. Ah well.

Vampire Killer (MSX2, 1986)

 

The MSX2 adaptation of Castlevania, this game pre-dates almost the entire series. Released in Japan, Europe, and Brazil, but not the U.S., it's pretty much a lost footnote at this point. For whatever reason, it hasn't been ported to any modern collections. They forgot about Vampire Killer, much like people once forgot about Dre.

Gameplay-wise this is much closer to the NES game than the arcade Haunted Castle was, and follows the Metroidvania formula that later games in the series would frequently adopt. Well, sort of. It still takes place within confined stages, they're just more of a maze than a simple point A to point B. Which makes this...the first Sorta-Metroidvania in this series. The Protovania.

Note: Castlevania Bloodlines on the Genesis was also called Vampire Killer in Japan, but it wasn't a remake of this game or anything.

Bloodstained - Dominique's Curse (Playstation 4, 2024)

 

The second "classic mode" DLC for Bloodstained effectively functions as its own game. The first classic mode was a short linear-style action romp with Miriam taking on foes from the base game, while this one adds a bunch of entirely new areas/foes and gives you a totally different character to play. Far as I'm concerned it's a new game. I'm impressed because they didn't have to go the extra mile with it, they could have just cranked out another regular classic mode with a new character. We even have new items, and this one is styled to be as much like Simon's Quest as possible which makes for a pretty interesting game.

Castlevania Judgment (Wii, 2008)

 

It's Castlevania: The Fighting Game. That's right, they went full Dissidia here by bringing in characters from across the series to battle each other in a 3D fighting setting. Sounds awesome, right? Well, unfortunately, it's super mid. It's so mid, they should have called it Castlevania Judg-Mid.

None of the characters look the way they should, which is something that has always driven me nuts about various IPs that did similar things. If you bring in a beloved character and totally change their look, while calling them the same thing, people just aren't going to get excited the way they would if the look was recognizable. See also Zero's redesign in Mega Man Zero.

Regardless of all of this, it's the one time when the series tried to mash all of the games together in a crossover of sorts, so I'm playing through it with some of the characters before I move on to finishing the last two 2D 'Vanias.

Final Fantasy Tactics, Finale - Come What May

The final battle of this generational game.

Originally posted April 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 8 - God of Thunder

Today on Final Fantasy Tactics: As the bounty on Ramza's head continues to grow like a Powerball jackpot, will Cloud achieve any level of usefulness any time soon? The good news: It's okay if he's useless, because now that I have Orlandu, I'll cut through the rest of the game like a hot knife through butter.

Also: Argath returns, in a PSP version exclusive!

Originally posted April 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 7 - Boco Haram

Today on Final Fantasy Tactics... a special guest star arrives: The Yellow Rooster himself, Cloud Strife, sans nose. Bawk.

Originally posted April 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 6 - Chapterhouse of Belias

Today on Final Fantasy Tactics... the hardest, most unfair, most obnoxious fight in the game. A fight that ended many playthroughs.

Originally posted March 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 5 - Backside of Ivalice

 

At the center of the map is the Imperial Capital, from which all roads - and all power - emanates.

Originally posted March 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 4 - Queklain's Tinnitus

Look at all the classes I've got unlocked now. Dragoon is a big one, but unfortunately it isn't any good until lances become a purchasable weapon type in stores. That isn't the case just yet. Went Thief to try and steal Gaffgarion's Blood Sword, but that ship has sailed. Alas.

Originally posted March 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 3 - Faithless

Chapter 2 begins now. It's a bit more serious than everything up to this point. Not from a story perspective, because the story got depressing/serious a while ago; from a gameplay perspective. This is where things get difficult.

Originally posted March 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 2 - None Shall Pass

The battle for Ivalice continues with the remainder of chapter one. In this one, I level up Ramza, murder my other party members, and deal with the bastardly Argath.

Originally posted March 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Playstation, 1998 / PSP, 2007)

 This is one of my favorite games of all time. I played it in early 1998 on the original Playstation, and it was a magical gaming experience. The great soundtrack and the unparalleled atmosphere gave it an edge over other strategy RPGs, while the gameplay and class/ability system were super-compelling and fun. Best of all, it doesn't have that stupid Judge system from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. If you've only played those games, do yourself a favor and check out the original. This one...is where it's at.

It got a PSP remake in 2007, and that's what I'm covering here. With a redone translation and some new additions like cutscenes and optional endgame stuff, this might be my favorite version of the game.

Originally posted March 2016, now remastered for 2025

Final Fantasy Tactics: Five Geomancer Challenge Longplay

 

Quick post organizing playthrough videos for FFT. The Geomancer-only challenge was a neat idea, but it ended up being pretty messy. First, I take a moment to fondly look back on the awesome cover art. It made a strong impression on me when I was younger, even though it lied about the five-character party. A lot of these battles only allow four characters! Da hell, Square?

Mystic Ark, Finale - Terminus

"I'm the King" says Remeer as he looks out from the empty castle. "King of allllll the land."

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 11 - Hourglass

  Fairytale World continues, as our heroes meet...Cinderella?

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 10 - Darkness

Next up is the Dark World. This is the shortest world in the game by a longshot. It's basically a haunted house. When I first heard "Dark World" I had all kinds of crazy ideas bouncing around, so this is a little bit disappointing.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 9 - Colossus

 

 The next world is the "Giant World", so-named because it's home to a colossus. Other than that it looks a lot like Ticondera. Definitely the most "normal" of the worlds so far. I thought the game was finally finding its footing, but unfortunately, this world is home to the most annoying dungeons in the entire game. At least I'm doing actual dungeoneering, I guess, and not fetching kitty litter to make local 6 year olds like me or something.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 8 - Machina

Plowing through the last dungeon of the Machine World, as things take a turn for the creepy. You'll never win, Skynet!

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 7 - Pharaoh

 The Machines, Sarah.

In other words, Machine World continues, and I continue hoping for something interesting to happen in this game.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 6 - Navajo

 Mystic Ark continues, despite my antipathy towards the game at this point. The rest of the game starts now, so sit down and have some Tea.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 5 - Paranoia

Time for part five, as I get close to tapping out on this game...again.

I'm actually not sure which of the two main characters that is.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 4 - Sundial

Since I got SIX characters all at once, it's time for some serious level-grinding. They all start at level 1. Luckily, exp goes to every character, even the ones you aren't using, so I've already been farming exp for a bit now.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 3 - Moonstone

I'll need this to get through this infernal game.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark, Part 2 - Lighthouse

The cook has gone missing. The question is... are we talking about a food cook, or a Breaking Bad style meth cook? I've been wondering why the cat people are locked in a nonexistent war and why their warships seem to be beached in the middle of the desert. Short answer? They're high out of their minds.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

Mystic Ark (Super Famicom, 1995)

Time for a classic Super Famicom RPG that never made it over here, like many great RPGs of the mid-90s. This is the game that would have been known as The 7th Saga II, had it gotten a North American release. It fixes many of the problems of the original game, and lets you have a three (!!!) person party. It wasn't far off from a NA release either, considering Nintendo Power covered it and played it up as on the way here.

Legend says that this was one of Enix's better efforts of the 90's. Thanks to the folks at Dynamic Designs (formerly Magic Destiny), we eventually got a fan translation of the game. If Lennus 2 was any indication, it'll be a great translation. Hell yeah, I'm excited for this.

Originally posted over 2013-2014, now remastered for 2025

The Top Ten Most Difficult Battles In Final Fantasy Tactics

Now that Final Fantasy Tactics is out again, I'd like to rank some of the more difficult battles. Which ones are the biggest roadblocks - and which ones stand the test of time in difficulty?

The 7th Saga Finale - Gods

The 7th Saga concludes with the final episode. Now with Nintendo Power coverage added in. That's right, I managed to dig up their official coverage of the game. This is going to be a trip.

This is my playthrough from 2008. Originally posted in 2013, now remastered for 2025

The 7th Saga, Part 6 - Crescendo

Why do the towns in this game have such weird names? And I may have been a bit inebriated during this one, so I apologize in advance.

This is my playthrough from 2008. Originally posted in 2013, now remastered for 2025

The 7th Saga, Part 5 - Babylon

Previously on The 7th Saga, in ye olde days of... yesterday, it was time to slay the dragon.

Now, our heroes take on the nefarious Serpent. I'm getting closer to the end of the game, but first we've got some more blisteringly difficult boss fights.

This is my playthrough from 2008. Originally posted in 2013, now remastered for 2025

The 7th Saga, Part 4 - Apocalyptos

This place is no Bone. In today's 7th Saga post, Esuna and her dwarven bodyguard square off with the nefarious Lejes and cross the meridian into the second half of the game.

This is my playthrough from 2008. Originally posted in 2013, now remastered for 2025

The 7th Saga, Part 3 - Entwine

On the latest episode of 7th Saga, our heroes plunder the town of Bone. They also storm a few castles, as I thrust onward into the game.

This is my playthrough from 2008. Originally posted in 2013, now remastered for 2025

The 7th Saga, Part 2 - Fear

Our heroes battle the bastardly Red Pison as 7th Saga grinds onward. Will I avenge my loss to him from 1995? We're about to find out.

This is my playthrough from 2008. Originally posted in 2013, now remastered for 2025

The 7th Saga (Super NES, 1993)

This week I'm doing a full series for one of the more difficult RPGs on the Super NES. This game came out in 1993, and I first played it in 1995. That was before I was interested in RPGs (which didn't happen until Chrono Trigger) so I didn't really know what I was doing. As a result, when I initially played this, I couldn't finish it. Not even close.

In this run I'll avenge a career loss, to put it in MMA terms. How far did I get in 1995, you ask? The battle with Red Pison. Tune in to find out how it went with double digit years of experience under my belt.

This is my playthrough from 2008. Originally posted in 2013, now remastered for 2025

Brain Lord, Finale - The Eastern Front In A Nutshell

Romus of 7th Saga fame returns, as I finish up Brain Lord.

Either that or it's Harold Ramis of Ghostbusters fame. No, pretty sure it's Romus.

The last 3 dungeons are an absolute grueling slog, just trying to get the next key, over and over. This game has a lot of strong elements and it certainly has potential; unfortunately, it doesn't meet that potential because it's such a slog.

Now updated to include the final boss as I un-deleted the game and got it done

Brain Lord, Part 2 - Site of Civilization

 

The Japanese box art for this game is pretty damn good (and for the ladies) - just like the NA box art. This game has to set a record for "punches furthest above its own weight with its box art" because both of them make the game look amazing. Is it, though? Ehhh.

Brain Lord (Super NES, 1994)

 

Another of the many quirky Enix RPGs for the SNES, this is probably the biggest game of theirs that I totally missed out on (this and Robotrek). Right off the bat, the box art for this game is incredible and punches well above the game's weight. I definitely would have rented/played this as a kid if I'd ever actually seen it in a store. 7th Saga had really nice art, too. This is basically a "sister game" to that one, made by the same people and using the same graphics style.

Wanted to do a retro RPG I'd never played before, and that list is short, so here we go.

The 7th Saga: Lux Solo Game

 

LUX is a character I really like, and I've been back and forth about whether or not he's the best of the seven characters. He starts with easily the strongest stats of the seven, which makes up for his total lack of weapons/armor and slow stat growth. I'm going to make a run at this game with him solo, so this should be fun.

The 7th Saga: Ranking the Apprentices

 

Ranking the seven playable characters to figure out who the best is, both as main character and partner character. Going to be reposting some old 7th Saga posts with edits/fixes, along with two entirely new posts on the game (this and a Lux Solo Game). While the game, and the characters, are all rough around the edges, I've always found this lineup really compelling for some reason. I've finished the game with all of them in my main duo at one time or another, so let's get to it.

Ranking the Elden Ring Legacy Dungeons From Worst To Best

Time for the Legacy Dungeons, which had to be their own list since they (and the criteria for judging them) are so much different from the open world areas. Smaller dungeons (catacombs, caves, etc) of the more cut+paste variety aren't going to be on here, nor will the smaller copied-over DLC dungeons like the forges and the prisons. Any dungeon that's large enough to have more than one grace point probably qualifies to be on here.

I'll be ranking them using the criteria of how atmospheric they are, how much fun they are, how unique they are, and how good the level design is. Level design is one area where Fromsoft excels, so nothing on this list is "bad" in that sense.

Ranking the Elden Ring Overworld Areas From Worst To Best

Contrary to the name, this list will include underworld areas if they're not dungeons. "Overworld" in this case basically means non-dungeon areas. The major legacy dungeons will get a separate list (hell if I try to rank all the catacombs and caves and whatnot).

I'll be ranking the overworld zones using the criteria of how atmospheric they are, how much fun they are, how much there is to do (i.e. how much they maximize their space), and how much I liked the overall layout.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (Playstation 2, 2004 / Playstation 5, 2025)

 

Here we are, Metal Gear Solid 3, the best game in the series. Going to do the usual MGS-series thing here and give it a fairly light rundown while trying not to go too overboard with spoilers - though I'll talk about the interesting elements of the story regardless.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Playstation 2, 2001)

 

With an MGS3 remake coming up and me having done posts for MGS1/4/5 in the past, it seemed like an appopriate time to fill in the other missing one. This game was pretty divisive in its day, but it holds a lot of nostalgia for folks who grew up with it. I always liked this one, and thought it was WAY ahead of its time.

As for why it was divisive... having Raiden take over as the main character was a terrible idea, like selling drugs in the hood without the CIA's permission.

Highlander III: The Final Dimension (1995)

 

Released during the latter half of Season 3 of the TV show, this has us revisiting our friend Connor Macleod for the first time since Season 1 Episode 1. Putting this out instead of the Four Horsemen episodes is sort of like when Dragonball Z's original run got to the hotly-anticipated arrival of the Ginyu Force and then showed The Tree of Might instead.

I don't remember being all that crazy about this as a kid, thought it was mid at best. Will I gain a new appreciation for it as an adult? Let's find out.

The Best and Worst Thing In Each Soulsborne Game

 

Been wanting to do a list like this for a while. What we have here are seven of the best games of all time (plus a remake, a DLC, and a spinoff). Having played all of them now, I might be able to zero in on the best and worst aspects of each game with some degree of accuracy. Let's go.

Star Fox 64 (Nintendo 64, 1997)

This is quite the evolution of the shooter genre. Say what you will about Nintendo, but they're the masters of having first-party franchises that people really care about... even if that isn't as much the case in the modern era. For the N64, all they had to do was bring back beloved SNES franchises, add a 64 to the end of the title, and they had a guaranteed hit. This is one of the more shining examples of this practice; Star Fox 64 is a fine game. And it adds the Charged Homing Shot, which is a game-changer that makes it so much more fun to play.

Originally posted March 2013, now with more of the game added