Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Gaming of 2009

Well, with the new year coming on, I figured I should dedicate a post to the games I played this year, whether I completed them or not, as well as giving some of my thoughts on them. Sure, the list will probably miss some games I've played, but I hope that at least what is here is an enjoyable read.

I also apologize for the lack of images, but as I can't get the title screen for everything I've played, I feel including any images would seem unbalanced. Anyway, enjoy!


Dragon Stomper
One of the original RPGs I could find on consoles when I dug around, the game is very definitely archaic in its setup, but showed a lot of creativity for its day. I ended up having to play it a good handful of times to get enough money and levels to be able to take out the dragon, but I finally managed!

Bang Bead
I can't say I completed this game, since, like fighters it has multiple characters (6 I believe). It's a very interesting Pong-like game where you hit the ball back and forth between your side and the CPU (or 2P) side, trying to knock out the stars forming a wall there so that you can knock the ball through and score a point. With really silly characters, and a fast pace, I play this off and on and have beaten one of the endings.

Dragon Quest 2
After I beat Dragon Quest 1 late last year, I went ahead onto Dragon Quest 2. Adding two new characters, and a slightly more detailed story, it was about as enjoyable as the first game. However, the last maze is a major pain in the butt, and I was sure glad when I finished the dang thing.

Hydlide
I ended up cheating to beat this, as otherwise I never would have managed. The music plays continuously somewhere between 3-5 notes, and the battle system, though set up like Ys, is certainly not streamlined like that game, making it very difficult to play. Also, it's way too easy for the creatures to get up behind you and kill you before you can do much about it. Not fun.

Princess Maker 2
I suppose you could count this as complete, as I did several endings. It's a great little management game, wherein you raise a girl up to be a Princess (or other careers depending on how well/badly you do). It takes a lot of time, but is a lot of fun if you like this sort of game.

Magic of Schereazade
An interesting game with a lot of amazing details for it's time period, it wasn't my favorite play of the year, but I enjoyed it enough to have come away with some fond memories (mostly of the discussions between your companions between carpet rides and the old man under the sea). It's a mix of a typical RPG and an Action RPG, and will definitely take you several hours to complete.

Castlevania
Playing this again, I realize: I still suck at it. I always get knocked back and into pits by those annoying bats. I probably will never complete the game, but it's kind of fun to mess around with old platformers sometimes and see how I do. Plus, I love the fact you end up outside the gate at the beginning, and it opens, as well as the background.

Destiny of an Emperor/Tenchi wo Kurau
An old Capcom RPG that it seems a lot of people don't know about. It's a fascinating mixture of both strategy and normal RPG, and has a story based somewhere in the timeline that Romance of the Three Kingdoms is in. It was either based off a manga, or made alongside it, of the same name, though that never left Japan. It was difficult to complete, and I sometimes had to go back and rethink how I was fighting the bosses, but I enjoyed it very much.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant
After losing near to 60 or 80 hours of data when my brother accidentally deleted this years ago, I was quite pleased to be able to play, and complete the game at long last, with BOTH endings (I then went back and viewed Shadow Hearts' second ending). It left me thinking at the end of the game, about life and such things, which I have to say I haven't done with a game for a very very long time.

Shadow Hearts (Hidden Ending)
I have to say that I still think the first ending is most fitting, and I completed that a while ago. However, I decided I should get the final ending on this game this year too.

Suikoden III
Well, I finally played, and beat, this game. I still didn't like it as much as I did the first two, and a lot of the issues that turned me off to it the first time, turned me off to it this time as well. However, I did enjoy several of the characters, and the story was pretty decent. I'm interested to play more of the series again, but am a little sad that a certain character won't be coming back in any games which take place after the timeline of game 3...

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
I'm not done with this yet. Stuck in the Arena again, as always, and want to get as many trophies as I can on this playthrough. I think I'm like 80 or 90 hours in, too! So far I'm really enjoying the game, and the part a lot of people are probably talking about with the 'WTF?' only made me sort of raise a brow, then I shrugged. I must say I still find Cliff the most entertaining character in the game, though, and after I get Sophia's ending I intend to do his.

Chaos Legion
I still can't beat this damn game! I'm just not very good at this sort of game, whatever you want to call it. Even if I raise my Legions' skills really high, my own ineptitude tends to get me killed. Probably I'll drag it out again later and grind some more for the Legions stuff, but I don't know if it will help.

Samurai Shodown IV
I think it's four. It's in 3D and really only has Haohmaru as a playable character from the first games left. It's an alright game, but rather bland and mediocre when compared to the rest of the series. Also, the jagged, boxy 3D really contrasts with the gorgeous 2D images of some of the characters put in.

Super Robot Wars Alpha
Well, I have no idea what's going on, but it kept me snickering when I did know, and was easy to get into. I'm now interested in eventually getting into more of the series when I have a chance, though I haven't beaten this game yet. Still, great when I need a break from serious stuff.

Evolution
Still not an easy game, but I still want to work on it. I'll get through it eventually, just you watch! I like how it's an easy dungeon crawler, in that you get to keep levels and such, and love the art style, as cute as it is. The story is also very simple, and is rather amusing because of it. I'll have to note, I love my Dreamcast.

Aero Fighters
I love to dig this game out and play it. It holds so many good memories of summer to it, and is still just fun as heck to play for the silly dialogue. Getting through the game is no easy task, however, and I have no idea why we fight a giant pudding monster at the end! And giant apes! And... yeah, it's a strange game.

Popful Mail
Again, I'm not great at this sort of game, so I mostly cheated my way through. Then, my emulator crashed and took hours of work with it, so I just watched the ending. What, I barely made the platforms the FIRST time through! It's still a funny little game, and Mail is still an amazing character. Tatt and Gaw also amuse me, though Gaw sort of gets on my nerves. Slicky, however, needs to be locked away away from everything so he can't pull anymore MacGuyver's...


Overall, these are the things I spent most of my time on this year. I suppose most are RPGs, eh? Aw well, I do love me some RPGs. Next year, I hope to log several more hours on RPGs, look into more classic games I didn't get to play, and just generally try to keep up with gaming as best as I can!

So, since I probably won't post again till 2010 (I will be busy tomorrow and so posted tonight), Happy New Year a bit early and enjoy the tail-end of 2009!

- Ryochan