Beaten Games 2023

Happy New Year everyone!

A bit sad that these yearly beaten games lists are the only
consistent updates you get on this site these days…
But as always I blame the content of the list on why I don’t
get around to doing much else, haha.
Another amazing game year and I haven’t even played everything
new and interesting yet!
I already made a post about it but completing the PS1 RPG library
was a big goal and achievement for this year and I will keep
going with SNES and PS2 next. At the moment I am down to
20 SNES and 20 PS2 games but when you consider 8 of them are
Shin Megami games, half are strategy games, and once you see
the amount of games I already have and will get in 2024…

On to the list! (top 5 at the bottom)

Sakuna of Rice and Ruin
A nice and cozy opening to the year but a bit too long/
repetitive.

Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus
Weaker than the first game but still pretty fun for the
Sci-fi starved RPG fans.

Last bible 3
This might be my favorite in the whole Shin Megami series
since it is more of a traditional RPG and not the usual first person dungeons.

Darkstone
The only PS1 RPG to properly use the right analog stick for camera!

Yakuza 2
A bit better balanced and paced than the first game, looking forward
to the rest of the series and story.

Brandish 2
More and better of the same from the first game!
Still using the confusing world turning control scheme.

Monsterseed
Ugh, this was a pain to play with some nice looking graphic at least.

Octopath Traveler II
More or less the same as the first game, better exploration and
party interactions, worse but still great music!

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II
More of the same great hack and slash!

Kidou Senshi Gundam: Cross Dimension 0079
One of the many Gundam strategy games, decent enough.

Deception 3 Dark Delusion
less and less RPG and simpler with each title. Still fun though!

Pode
A cute little puzzle co-op game!

The Legend of Heroes Trails to Azure
The conclusion to the amazing Crossbell saga, I love it so much!
I spoke with all 300+ NPCs probably 30 times each, all the text!

Metroid Prime Remaster
I didn’t really need a remaster of this buuut a friend gave it to
me and it was an amazing remaster and excuse to play the game again!

Live A Live
Even better than the original, especially the soundtrack!

Turtles Hyperstone Heist
I thought I had beaten this before but apparently not.
Co-op fun of course.

Boxxle
This was… unexpected but after seeing two streamers play it and being
so slow I had to do it myself… and was just as slow, haha.
It just is a long and tricky Sokoban game.

Bravely Default II
I had this for a while and finally played it. Much better than expected with
lovelyvisuals, battles, music and even a decent story!

Front Mission 3
This has been a long time coming, as expected a great game.
What I didn’t know was that it has a simulated internet that you can spend
many hours exploring!

Xenoblade 3 Future Redeemed
This DLC might as well be its own game with new characters, locations, story etc.
Great DLC with a maybe not so great end to the whole Xenoblade Saga.

Azure Dreams
Dungeon crawler+ town building and dating simulator. The added aspects
makes it stand out and more fun than most in the genre.

Kings Field II
Number III in Japan. This was actually a good game after the rough
predecessor. The lack of bosses is my biggest complaint.

Ogre Battle
The only English RTS RPG on PS1… I figured out a way to break the game
early and could rush through luckily since I didn’t enjoy it at all.

Digimon World 3
This could have been a good game… if not for the worst backtracking I have
ever seen!!

Persona 2
A big step up from the first game in all departments,
especially being able to save anytime.

Brave
A short beginner friendly RPG on DS, played in Swedish too!

Arc the Lad II
Man this was a massive game, best in the series with amazing pixels,
a darker tone for the story and worth the 80+ hours.

Arc the Lad III
Just as massive as the second game but more 3D and lighter tone.
A bit more fun and improved combat at least.

Rhapsody
My final PS1 RPG! Short, fun and nice to look at, could end in
a worse way.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie
Without spoiling anything this reminded me a bit too much of Sky 3
making me like it less but still, it is Legend of Heroes!

Shifters
I kept thinking this is a PS1 and not PS2 game, haha…

Torneko no Daibouken: Fushigi no Dungeon
Ah, good old shopkeeper Torneko. This was the SNES version
and probably no reason to play over the PS1 version, more
similar than I expected.

Jade Cocoon 2
Much better than the first game with some interesting
battles where you swap in different monster teams.
Pokemon could learn a thing or two.

The Legend of Heroes A Tear of Vermillion
More or less the definition of a classic and cozy RPG, the Lunar
vibes are strong but sadly one of the worst localization I have see.

Super Robot Taisen Aiden Lord of Elementals
More Gundam, more strategy, they will all blend together in the end.

Deus Ex
I hated this for the first hours but enjoyed the final ones when
you have more to work with.

Super Chinese World 3
One of the most unique games in the sense that you can choose between
turn based combat or the usual fighting game style combat from 1 and 2!

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
Fun co-op game where you help each other to steer a space ship and
shoot at things!

Swashbucklers
One of the most unplayed RPGs on the PS2 system I would say, it feels both
high and low budget at the same time and could be called a more modern
version of Uncharted Waters. (mostly trading between harbors).

Lost in Play
My first “touchpad game”. A beginner friendly point and click/adventure
game I guess, quite charming!

Wizardry Gaiden IV: Throb of the Demon’s Heart
A completely different game than the main IV of the series but from
what I have heard I should be thankful for that, hehe.

TMNT: Shredders Revenge
They had one job, to capture the feeling of the old games and they nailed it!

Sea of Stars
Most anticipated of the year! And it delivers on all fronts!
What a feat to completely switch genre instead of going with a safe sequel
to The Messenger. What is next for the studio?!

A short Hike
It is short, fun and great, just play it if you like games.

Moon scars
This is a very stable and good metroidvania but it doesn’t do much
to stand out and I fear it will be forgotten in time and with the
competition it has…

Venba
A short game about making Indian food and a sweet tale of a family
trying to live life.

Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark
I have wanted to play this forever and finally got to do it!
The strategic battles and classes offers so many options and
overall even better than expected but the plot was maybe a bit
lacking in the end.

Nayuta: Boundless Trails
YS+Legend of heroes, instant fun! I was not happy when it turned out to
be “stage based” but the game is just so fun to play that I can look past
that and see the great game it is.

Alwas Legacy
Another game I should have played ages ago!
I think I prefer the first game even if this has a lot of improvements.
Also a studio I’m looking forward to see their next game!

Dredge
Fishing has never been this fun, and scary at the same time.
It is a great game but a lot of unfulfilled potential too.

Chaos Wars
Known as the game with the worst RPG voice dub ever. While it is true,
you can switch to Japanese voices too in the US release. And more than
bad or annoying the actors all just sound extremely bored reading the
script, haha. Decent gameplay in Disgaea style but such an odd game
seeing characters from different series like Shadow Hearts mixed in…

Ultima VI
I finally beat an Ultima game! I could have enjoyed this if it
was the only game I had to play, but now with open worlds I just feel
stressed to make progress and not search and entire world for a tiny clue.

Digimon World 4
This time the series tried… a Diablo like! They never get it right, they
should just have cloned pokemon from the start, haha.

Majin Tensei
This was a game that sounded like a nightmare beforehand but turned
out to be quite nice, all the usual Shin Megami monsters and mechanics
but with strategy maps.

Trapt
The final part of the series, at least for me. The shortest and least RPG
of them all but still fun.

Kidou Senshi Gundam F91: Formula Senki
Another one I wouldn’t call RPG after playing it, pretty unique
radar-based-action or something, haha.

Star Ocean The Second Story R
As always sad to call a remake best of the year but it really is!
Thanks to new game+ and new features of the remake I could finally
finish my dream of getting every ending! Getting the Platinum trophy,
max level etc. on the way was just a minor distraction, haha.

Eternal Poison
It started out great and I was excited to hear some of my old favorite
voices from the Xenosaga cast but pretty soon the battles dragged on
and I decided to just get the bad ending and be done…

Super Mario RPG Remake
Yet another fantastic remake! The SNES version was my first beaten
turn based RPG and the first time I ever heard about RPG at all so
it will always have a special place. I have heard a lot of complaints about
the difficulty but complaining about a Mario game being easy is just silly
to me, I am happy that a new generation of players may find their way to
RPGs the same way I did.

Uncharted Waters
Another game I feared for a long time but with a bit of guidance I
ended up enjoying the trading and journey to a big fleet of ships!
Curious to see how different the second game is.

Robot Warlords
A poor man budget Front Mission with far too much randomness…

Might and Magic Book II
And my first Might and Magic game, also a lot different than the
Book II on other systems and with no complete walkthroughs or
playthroughs in English a struggle to get through yourself!

Romancing SaGa
My old nemesis SaGa, so many fantastic ideas and environments
but so many of them falling just short or get hindered by terrible design
choices… Beat it with one character, that is enough.

Zwei: the Arges Adventure
A PC game ported to PS2 then PSP and back to PC and getting a translation
in the process, haha. really cozy town and NPCs but the dungeons and
battles leave a lot to be desired.

Lies of P
The second coming of Bloodborne!? Kinda, I will more likely replay that
than this but a great game that borrows a lot from bloodborne even if
the exploration reminds me more of Darksiders, Prince of Persia,
God of war etc.

New Beaten: 65
RPGs: 53

Top 5 of 2023:

1: Star Ocean The Second Story R
2: The Legend of Heroes Trails to Azure
3: The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie
4: Super Mario RPG Remake
5: Sea of Stars

That was that, what a year! More or less the same stats as always,
and as every year most anticipated 2024 is
Silksong and more Legend of Heroes, haha.

Every English PS1 RPG Beaten and ranked

More or less 20 years later, I finally did it, beat every single PS1 RPG released
in English! I was a bit late getting on the PS1 train but having Chrono Trigger
as my favorite game back then, Chrono Cross finally pushed me into getting
the console. My brother already had one and the Final Fantasy games so I
beat them first, followed by the eluding Chrono Cross and after that a friend
burned me copies of most Square games and another friend introduced me
to Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Tales of etc. The great games seemed endless
and they almost were, until now!

I will list and rank the entire library from best to worst, number 1 should
be very obvious and some of them might move a step up or down
depending on what day you ask but this should be a pretty final list:

#1 Xenogears
Xenogears shouldn’t need any further explanation,
the game that would shape the rest of my life and
finally dethrone Chrono Trigger as number one (until Saga).

#2 Final Fantasy Chronicles
A bit boring to have a poorly emulated collection as #2
but with both Chrono Trigger and FF4 in there it can’t be helped!

#3 Valkyrie Profile
Hidden behind complex systems and vague requirements the
true ending and its route makes it one of the very best games ever.

#4 Suikoden 2
The pinnacle of the series and can’t wait to see the upcoming
remaster! A tale of family, friendship, politics, war, creation and
of course an epic food cooking duel of life and death!

#5 Final Fantasy Anthology
Another boring entry but again, hard to deny both
Final Fantasy 5 and 6 in one package!

#6 Chrono Cross
Not the sequel I expected when buying the console
but it still blew me away and was the beginning of this
long journey.

#7 Tales of destiny 2
Eternia! It was love at first sight and sound with this,
filled to the brim with everything I love in RPGs!

#8 Star Ocean 2
Another magical game that truly defines the PS1

#9 Tales of destiny
The last third of the game is a bit too slow but until then
pixel perfection

#10 Final Fantasy IX
It is very close between VII and IX for me but the
way they tell the story by jumping between parties is
my favorite part about this one

#11 Final Fantasy VII
The classic of the classic! The first time I saw it around 1997
I didn’t even understand what I was looking at, it looked terrible
and I spent another 5 years only playing on my beloved SNES
instead, haha

#12 Wild Arms
The pixels, the puzzles, the music!

#13 Suikoden
A bit rough compared to 2 but still a great start to the
amazing world of Suikoden

#14 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
If not inventing, at least making the genre combination
much more popular. The soundtrack alone is enough to place it this high

#15 Final Fantasy Tactics
The best of it’s genre!

#16 Saga Frontier 2
I hate playing this but love the story, music and art style,
fake Gustave is one of my favorite characters and concepts!

#17 Legend of Mana
The remaster is a better way to enjoy this but such an
unique and cozy game, not even mentioning the Swedish
ending song and li’l cactus!

#18 Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
If you look up the definition of “JRPG” this is probably it,
just thinking about Lunar makes me happy!

#19 Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
If you look up the definition of “JRPG” this is probably it,
just thinking about Lunar makes me happy!

#20 Grandia
Few games have captured the feeling of adventure as
well as this, and the battles, wow!

#21 Arc the lad collection
I would rank them 3-2-1 internally but they all make up
a single great world and story!

#22 Threads of Fate
I have beaten this so many times! Not sure why
it speaks so much to me but it does.

#23 Breath of Fire IV
I really would love to replay this and see
how it holds up but in my mind it is #23, haha

#24 Breath of fire 3
Crossing that desert is one of my most
treasured experiences, odd but true

#25 Tactics Ogre
I actually played the PSP version so the list might be a lie!!

#26 The Legend of Dragoon
Not the Final Fantasy killer they hoped for but still great!

#27 Koudelka
Short but sweet!
Horror+RPG is still underused but there are a few great ones.

#28 Persona 2
To think I actually enjoyed this in the end after avoiding it
for so very long!

#29 Wild Arms 2
It is good but drags on far too long and the translation
gets worse by the hour too, haha

#30 Parasite Eve
Quite haunting and unique, the story is a lot more
silly playing as an adult but I still like it!

#31 Alundra
Amazing world but they should have cut some of the dungeons

#32 Front Mission 3
Just great all around!

#33 Vagrant Story
Another one I really want to revisit!
I would call it my first “Dark Souls” experience, hehe

#34 Vandal Hearts 2
Just a bit greater than the first

#35 Vandal hearts
Great strategy game!

#36 Final Fantasy Origins
Probably the best way to enjoy I and II to this day?
The music!

#37 King’s Field II
Another surprise that managed to climb quite high on the list

#38 Brave Fencer Musashi
The fully voiced NPCs still impress me!
Glory to the Sodapop empire!

#39 Final Fantasy VIII
Story, music and graphic is mostly great but the world
and the battles brings it down quite a bit for me.

#40 Dragon Warrior VII
This was beaten on 3DS so another lie on the list!

#41 Saiyuki: Journey West
A really nice overlooked game about a journey west!

#42 Saga frontier
Some of it great, some of it terrible, beat all 7 characters!

#43 Harvest moon
Not an RPG but I beat it and it is often mentioned among RPGs.
Great game if you have 100+ hours to spare

#44 Thousand Arms
Filled with humor that was probably best served before 2000, haha

#45 Blaze and blade
An odd co-op Action RPG that never got a US release but is available
in PAL territory

#46 Shadow Madness
This gets a lot of hate it seems but I found the dialog and characters fun
and some of the environments are quite nice! The combat balance is sadly
completely broken and probably part of the hate.

#47 Eternal Eyes
The first of many strategy RPGs on the console, it is nice!

#48 Beyond the Beyond
Another lowly rated game in general but once you get past the intro it’s
not that bad, very generic standard RPG but not bad.

#49 Shadow Tower
A little bit more linear version of Kings Field

#50 King’s Field
It is number II in Japan, first in English… the start of this is
a true challenge but once you get into it you can see all the
DNA that lives on in Dark Souls today

#51 Alundra 2
The shift to 3D took away a lot of the charm from the first game
but still a good puzzle RPG

#52 Legend of Legaia
I much prefer the second game but extra points for the Xenogears-like
battle system of course!

#53 Persona
Aside from boring dungeons the one big flaw is the RNG/lack of
savepoints, it can be hours between them, gah

#54 Technomage Return of Eternity
This is completely PAL exclusive, not available in the US or Japan!
Not a bad game either, quite ambitious too!

#55 Azure dreams
The town and dating parts makes it stand out from other dungeon
crawlers, quite fun!

#56 Legend of Kartia
I remember quite little of this to be honest

#57 Rhapsody
This ended up as the very last of the library, a short but charming end
and predecessor to Disgaea complete with voiced musical numbers and
strategy battles!

#58 Megaman Legends 2
This fixed a few problems from the first game at least!

#59 Megaman Legends
I like the style and charm but the dungeons were pretty boring
and not the easiest to control in the 3D environments

#60 Diablo
Having played II first I was surprised how good and playable this still is!

#61 Jade Cocoon
I beat it with my starter “pokemons” and a good friend can’t
believe how, haha.

#62 Digimon World 3
Best of the bunch and could almost be a good game if not for all the insane
amount of backtracking. You can’t believe the amount until you play it!!

#63 Warriors of Might and Magic
Short simple Action RPG

#64 Legacy of Kain Blood Omen
It was decent but not amazing as some people make it out to be.
Vae victis!

#65 Chocobos Dungeon 2
The FMVs in this are so charming! And the game is decent too,
especially when you manage to transform the final boss into a random easy
monster, hahaha.

#66 Torneko the Last Hope
Torneko! One of my favorite parts about Dragon Quest IV was managing his
shop so I love that he got his own game

#67 Vanguard Bandits
Another where my memory fails a bit, it was good but not
memorable apparently

#68 Granstream Saga
I wish this was better since some of the team is the remnants of
Quintet (Terranigma, Soulblazer etc.) But sadly it is just a mediocre
Action RPG with some puzzles

#69 Deception 3 Dark Delusion
The third polishes the systems from 2 even more.
I’m looking forward to playing Trapt on PS2 later!

#70 Deception 2 Kagero
The second simplifies the concept of killing people with traps a lot

#71 Tecmo’s Deception
The first was the most complex and maybe most RPG of them all

#72 Parasite Eve 2
More resident Evil than RPG maybe

#73 Gauntlet Legends
A lot more complex than you expect from a Gauntlet game,
it is a full 3D Action RPG and not just a simple hack and slash

#74 Guardian’s Crusade
Very standard RPG of the early PS1 days.

#75 Dragon Valor
Almost an “Arcade” feeling to this, pretty simple but fun!

#76 Shaolin
RPG+beat em up! Pretty cool

#77 Ehrgeiz
What an odd game, a dungeon crawler and a beat em up with
Cloud and Sephrioth thrown in to sell some copies, haha

#78 Hoshigami
So slooow

#79 Darkstone
The only RPG that actually uses the right analog stick
for camera movement!

#80 Crusaders of Might and Magic
Another simple Action RPG, probably more impressive if you
played it 25 years ago.

#81 Ogre Battle
Big disappointment! I thought it would be more like Tactics Ogre
but this is a RTS RPG, the only on the console too!

#82 Monkey Hero
Not more RPG than Zelda but oh well, some count that too!

#83 RPG Maker
The prebuilt game is more or less a 5 hour Dragon Quest clone,
made by Dragon Quest staff, haha

#84 Monsterseed
Nice graphic, not terrible but I have a hard time with
games where your characters die and you have to get
new ones.

#85 Brigandine
More boardgame than RPG and my god the first half of the
game was a struggle.

#86 Dragon Seeds
A rock-paper-scissor combat style and arena battles, barely RPG

#87 The Hunter
Now we are at the very bottom where I can safely say this is a
terrible game. You can play it with friends like a boardgame
but alone with NPCs you only get to play 25% of the time and
sit around waiting the rest. Very RNG heavy too.

#88 Digimon World
Sorry Digimon fans, I had to put these at the bottom.
A tamagotchi style game where you need to go to the toilet
and where your digimons turn to literal poop if you don’t beat the
game fast enough…

#89 Digimon World 2
Much better than the first game but the length still makes it my
least favorite on the console thanks to 97 hours of slowmotion
animations in random dungeons.

Well, that is it! A bit sad to move one after all these years but I will
of course return to the favorites and the fan translations are starting
to drop in too!

Finally let us thank this great machine that made it all possible,
my very first PS1 that I bought used and chipped from a random kid at $80.
I have played about 80% of the games on this specific console and it is
still going strong:

Beaten Games 2022

Once again, the yearly list! It never gets old.
A shame this is only the third post this year but I guess the list explains why…
I have had a great year over all and one of the best gaming years ever,
everything points at 2023 being at least as good with more
Legend of Heroes, Sea of Stars, Suikoden and hopefully Silksong to just
name a few. 61 new ones this time, top list at the bottom!

Listed in chronological order I beat them this time, ask if platform is important:

Eastward
Such a long wait for this and in the end it delivered!
A lovely world filled with lovely NPC:s and pixels.

Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2
Not as great as the first and a bit messy because of too
many characters. (still great though)

Cris Tales
The split time mechanic and unique thing about the game
didn’t add much and was very under-used sadly, a good game
but far from it’s full potential.

Impostor Factory
This series always leave me surprised and touched
and this is probably the best of them!

Scarlet Nexus
Surprisingly good Dark Souls+God Eater mix!

Flynn Son of Crimson
Just pure fun platforming, not a single complaint from me!

Disco Elysium
The slowest and most event-less game I have ever played,
I probably aged two years just by playing it.
With that said it is very well done and ambitious, just not
made for me.

Shenmue III
The most enjoyable in the series but more or less just repetition
of the first games and no real progress.

Banner Saga 2
Mentally exhausting to follow the fate of this world and
its characters but so very good! Each part is just different
enough from each other to feel like one story but not get stale.

Banner Saga 3
Mentally exhausting to follow the fate of this world and
its characters but so very good! Each part is just different
enough from each other to feel like one story but not get stale.

Thousand Arms
The humor might have been more fun 20 years ago but still a
fun game!

Rise of the Third Power
From the creators of Ara Fell, another masterpiece!
This game has everything I ever want from RPGs, I’m so
grateful that people out there share my love for the genre
enough to make this!

Summoner 2
Not as a over-ambitious as the first game, a bit more focused,
it’s decent enough.

Milli and Greg
Budget Celeste+Meat boy, haha. It’s great!

Elden Ring
Well, this will probably be remembered as the year of Elden Ring,
I didn’t put it as my favorite this year but I did play it… TWELVE times
over the year. Defeated every boss, got all achievements,
made a speedrun route and some other extra challenges.
Not to mention I spent two months and my budget building
that Lego tower and watching others play it for hundreds of hours.
There is still so much potential in this game and so many parts where
it falls short,a true shame but From Software will never truly learn.

Triangle Strategy
They did talk too much at the start of the game but it gets a bit more
balanced later on. Overall a great game but even if it has high replay value
I can’t see myself playing it again.

Tunic
Another long-awaited game! Zelda-Dark Souls-Fez all in one!
Sadly that combo didn’t work for me, the world and puzzles are mostly
great but I found the battles really boring and just… bad.
The option to turn damage off should be a sign.

Infernax
This is a “retro” game done right, all the actually good parts from the
NES era and none of the bad!

Death’s Door
A lot of similarities with Tunic, Much better combat,
less puzzles.

Hades
It was fun and well made but I have no interest
to play more of it after beating it once.

Kena Bridge of Spirits
If you want to play a Pixar movie, now you can!
It looks amazing but the battles felt a bit unbalanced
and the story just fizzled somehow.

Blaze and Blade
Never released in the US, this not very polished but still
kinda fun co-op action-RPG on PS1.

Crimson Tears
Short, simple, not much to say.

Princess Minerva
How ahead of its time, an RPG filled with anime girls in bikinis!

Horizon II Forbidden West
I much preferred this to the first game, more variation
and just such a spectacular marvel of optimization, how anything can look
this good on a base PS4 is a mystery and makes you wonder what every
other developer is doing wrong.

Torneko The Last Hope
Simple but kinda fun dungeon crawling.

Radical Dreamers (remaster)
This was the last thing I ever thought we would see officially
translated, I’m still in a state of surprise by it! It was nice returning to
this but in my head this was more or less identical to the fan translation.

Chrono Cross (remaster)
Every excuse to play Chrono Cross is a good one, a pretty lazy
version but at least even nintendo players can enjoy it now!

Ender Lilies
Quite good, not the best not the worst in the sea of
metroidvanias.

Warriors of Might and Magic (PS2)
This is the PS1 game with the same title but very expanded!

Shiki Eiyuuden
Hm, pretty forgettable among the other great SNES RPGs, not bad
but not unique enough in any way.

Shadow Tower
A more linear King’s Field, really hard intro but might be
a better start for newcomers.

Justice League Heroes
All of these super hero games on PS2 are the same,
short fun action RPGs, triple the fun in co-op!

Super Chinese World 2
Much better than the first but still not
a favorite for me…

Dragon Seeds
Terrible Rock-paper-sisscor simulator

Drakan
The unknown cousin of Drakengard, Action RPG
where you get to fly a dragon!

Albert Odyssey
My first Albert game and I must say it was a
nice experience! I always wanted a game like this,
strategy battles but no separate maps, you move around on
an ordinary world map and battles are seamless!

Wild Arms XF
Very worthy of the Wild Arms name, great graphic, music,
characters, story, battles and even puzzles!

The Hunter
Probably the worst “RPG” on PS1. Mostly a dice rolling
simulator where you get to play 1/4 of the time. Just awful.

Xenoblade 3
156 hours and every quest done. I really enjoyed this
in more or less every way! Xeno still lives on I guess!

River King
This felt a bit rushed or just badly translated and either
way not my kind of game. I have seen other RPGs with better fishing
than this dedicated fishing RPG.

Horai Gakuen no Bouken! The Adventure of Hourai High School
Odd, unique and good! Another SNES gem!

The Legend of Heroes: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch
The series have come such a long way from this but it was nice
to finally play one of the more ancient parts and see the similarities
and differences in the evolution into greatness.

Persona
I finally did it, I beat a Persona game!
It started out quite nice but soon devolved into the RNG hell the
series is, with 4 hours between saves, ugh.

Valkyrie Elysium
If it was only called something else it would be a decent
Action RPG, now it’s just a parody of one of my favorite games…

The Legend of Heroes Trails From Zero
What a surprise, a Legend of Heroes game being the game
of the year again! No need to introduce it, finally officially in
english, what a dream! Will Trails from Azure be the best next year?
(probably)

Star Ocean 6
I’m both surprised and happy that we got another title in this series!
I’m also glad that it’s good enough to compete with part 3 and 4.
The story gets a bit repetitive by the end but not an uncommon RPG problem.

Ghost Song
Another very long awaited game finally released! Story, combat and
atmosphere is great but it might leave some things to wish in the
exploration department.

Eiyuden Chronicles Rising
I planned on skipping this but gamepass convinced me to play.
It does feel a bit like a mobile game thanks to the quest-based
progression but it was a surprisingly fun game with some great characters
that I look forward to seeing again in the main game next year!

Knights and Bikes
The definition of an indie game?
Anything is great if you play it with your sister!

Champions: Return to Arms
More hack, more slash, more inventory juggling!

Signalis
I will respect anyone calling this the game of the year, words
don’t do it justice, such a well made horror game!
Made from the love of all the old classics in the genre and filled
with more references than I can list but still very tastefully implemented
into something very unique! I have seen 15+ streamers play this and it is
such a joy every time. Unless you really hate puzzles or horror be sure
to play it!

Vampire Survivors
Fun for a few hours but mostly a repetitive pain to beat.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder (SNES)
My main complaint is the messy controls, why no mouse support?

Saiyuki: Journey West
This was a nice surprise, I knew almost nothing about the game
but it was a great strategy game, not too serious unlike most strategy RPGs.

Baroque (PS2)
Story and some ideas are really interesting but it is
still a pretty standard dungeon crawler that could be an absolute pain
to beat without a guide.

Power of the Hired
Very simple but good strategy game!

Digimon World 2
97 hours of my life wasted, what a horribly slow and long game.
Not as bad as “The Hunter” but might be the worst RPG on the console
just because of the length and terrible slow loading times/animations.

Chained Echoes
And yet another long awaited game, made by a single person, strongly
inspired by Xenogears and the SNES era, I’m melting!
Why are you even reading, you could be playing this and Rise of the
Third Power right now! What a time to be an old RPG fan.

Disgaea 5
It’s Disgaea, it took a while but I was finally ready to return to the series.
Considering all the bad RPGs over the years it has become hard to tell if this
story is just bad or the usual Disgaea parody, haha…

Oninaki
Last game of the year! I liked the story but other than that, as budget
as you might expect, sadly I assume this will be the last from Tokyo RPG Factory.

Best of 2022

1: The Legend of Heroes Trails From Zero
2: Rise of the Third Power
3: Elden Ring
4: Xenoblade 3
5: Signalis

It has never been this hard for me to make a top 5 and they are almost interchangeable,
Chained Echoes could also be among them!

That’s it for this year, I hope all of you will have a great and RPG filled 2023!

Elden Ring Lego Moc

I’m not going to speak about Elden Ring in detail this time but
it has truly been one of those time and mind consuming games that are
hard to move on from… I have beaten it 6 times by now and as soon as I
beat it I immediately started on my most ambitious Lego build yet,
taking apart my poor castle town, spending two months of time and
most of this year’s budget. The inspiration was just too strong!
The title might be misleading since this is only inspired by Elden Ring
not a specific location but those who have played will clearly see were
the inspirations come from anyway, haha.

I did most of the building this time but my brother helped a lot too
with both building and mostly making those hard design choices,
there was a lot of prototypes for each section, sometimes 10+
for just a single section making the build-time quite long.
As for piece count, I have no idea but probably 20-25000,
there is a lot of them holding up the construction from the inside
and I had to order thousands of specific parts to make my vision
come true, including 700+ 2×2 round bricks, a vital part of the build!

After building a lot of pretty standard houses and castles we wanted a
challenge with this and we got it… the biggest was getting a completely
symmetrical shape of the tower, finding a way to attach all those round
bricks and making the landscape, something I have never done before
and knew was going to be a pain.
Also, this being a different scale than the usual minifigure scale, see
the church and village in the pictures below as a reference!

I do have a lot of pictures taken during the build that I might post
later if anyone wants a closer look at the process.

Anyway, enjoy the final result, I am very pleased with it:

In total 140cm wide and 128cm high!
Built in 5 major sections: The landscape, the bridge section in water,
mountain+bottom section of tower, middle tower and lastly top tower.

Click on a picture for higher resolution and easier viewing!

Is the PSP collection next?

I haven’t made an active decision to collect PSP games but I sure have bought
a lot of them lately… A friend was selling Wild Arms XF, a game I always
wanted to get and is now playing (great so far).
He also had Phantasy Star Portable and Blade Dancer.

Then someone mentioned that Phantasy Star Portable 2 was a bit rare and I
happened to see it at a good price.

I also mentioned to my friend what my most wanted games on PSP was…
he had them too and I am very grateful and happy to finally own these:

As soon as I beat Wild Arms XF I will start on these next! Even if they don’t have
the same quality as the later Legend of Heroes games they should still be good
and always nice to see the full history of a series.

After that I just added a few more of the cheaper titles, two twos:

I was surprised to see these in US editions being sold over here, also cheap.

And finally Jikandia, a game that you can still find sealed and it probably sold
poorly as a late title and a bad “clone” of Half minute Hero.

That’s all of them for now! Time will tell if I will add any more PSP games,
try to complete the collection or just add a few more that I want to play.
I’m currently missing about 50 titles in total, not an impossible goal
since I already have most of the expensive ones but there are so many
other things I should be spending my money on and I usually only
beat 2-3 handheld games per year so it feels a bit silly to buy even
this many… we’ll see!

If you want to see the list of missing titles it’s in the
buying/selling/trading section.

Beaten games 2021

Here it is!
The one post I never miss to post.

As usual I only include the newly beaten
games from 2021. Not as impressive as last
years list but I did replay some longer
RPGs and with the whole expedition into Lego
I’m surprised I got anything played, hehe.

Quite happy with my gaming year even if I
have a large pile of new games I need to
tend to, in fact I still have a few games
left sealed from 2020! Oh well, slowly
but surely.

NES

Uforia
A bit of a metroidvania and quite good
but far too much backtracking, it felt like
I did everything in the worst possible order, haha.

SNES

Wizardry Knight of Diamond
The second game, listed as the third
in the SNES remake if I understand correctly.
Either way the Llylgamyn trilogy is beaten
and the fourth game is up next!

Dai-3-Ji Super Robot Taisen
I fear that I will see a lot more of this
in the future, robot tactics RPGs.
A lot of battle units to handle but pretty
simple at least.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: Volume 1
I have tried to beat this before but finally
made it all the way this year, there is good reason
why it’s not mentioned among the classic SNES
RPGs, including the dark giant maze dungeons…

Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei (SNES version first game)
The SNES remake of the very first “Shin Megami” game!
Quite playable in this version and it goes seemlesly
into the second game on the same cart!

Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei (SNES version second game)

FEDA The Emblem of Justice
A pretty good and standard tactic RPG.

Ultima: Runes of Virtue II
My first true encounter with Ultima, not the
best place to start and solving some of the
puzzles without a guide or savestates would
be a pain!

Shodai Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-Kun
Beat em up RPG, like normal beat em ups
this is also a bit too repetitive.

Galaxy Robo
The name says it all, more robots
more tactics!

Cyber Knight II
This is more or less identical to
the first game in every way and the story and
characters is just a continuation, not a bad
thing!

Shin Megami Tensei If…
Last SNES game of the year, I’m trying to
pick up the pace of the series and since this
have been called the origin of Persona I guess
I’m ready to tackle those games next year.

PS1

Shaolin
An odd little fighting/RPG combo.

Crusaders of Might and Magic
I knew nothing of this coming in
but it was a pretty plesant and
very classical RPG!

Shadow Madness
This was another surprise, aside
from the completely broken battles
this was a very fun game to play thanks
to some cool environments and mostly
due to the dialogue written by Ted Woolsey.

Vandal Hearts II
A step up from the first game
in every way!

Eternal Ring
I believe this was the first
Tactic game we got in English on PS1
Quite fun and the first of many!

Warriors of Might and Magic
Surprisingly playable, haha.
3D and PS1 is always a dangerous combo.

Kagero Deception II
This was a bit more player friendly
than the first game but not as fun.

Kartia Word of Fate
Yet another good tactics game
with all the usual politics and wars!

Gauntlet Legends
I expected the usual simple
gauntlet style but this actually had
some real level design and was overall
a good game!

Monkey Hero
It was expected, but more or less a
straight Zelda clone, with monkeys.
Too little RPG, move along.

Technomage
A PS1 RPG created in Europe! Not a bad
one either, very ambitious with large
environments and fully voiced dialogues for
every NPC and line in the game.

PSP

Breath of Fire III
Identical to the PS1 game but my first
time playing on the PSP. Still a great
game with some annoyances, just like
I remembered, hehe.

DS

Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light
Truly a Bravely Default prototype, or
maybe a FF1 remake. A good game and
I’m happy to finally have played it!

PS2

X-men Legends II
More of the same fun co-op fun
from the first game.

Tsugunai
A very early but still impressive
PS2 title, especially character models
and the music from Yasunori Mitsuda.
A rather unique battle system too that
you really need to master by the end.

Stella Deus
I knew this was a great game but gave
up on it back in the PS2 era for some
reason. Revenge is mine and it feels
good!

Summoner
Running this on a poor PS2 was really pushing it,
MMO sized environments…

Gauntlet Seven Sorrows
Action RPG, short, simple, not much to say.

Colosseum Road to Freedom
I managed to “cheese” the game and get an early
ending and I thank the stars because it was so
repetitive…

Chaos Legion
A pretty good Action RPG

The Bard’s Tale
I’m probably 15+ years late to the party
and most of the humor and meta jokes have
been done better by others since then.

The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon
A surprisingly fun dungeon crawler!
I always dread them a bit but this was as
great as it gets in the genre.

RPG Maker 3 (My Dear Brave Heart)
The worst of any RPG maker games I have played…

Legaia 2 Duel Saga
People keep calling the first game a
hidden gem but this was a far better
game if you ask me! The same battle system
but better story, world, music, characters,
everything, haha.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Another weird place to start a series.
The start was terrible but the game
got pretty good after a while.

Yakuza
Finally my turn to try this!
It was clear pretty fast why the series
have become so popular but I was tired
of the battles only a few hours in…

Magic pengel The Quest for Color
What a terrible game, you can explore
the entire game and see everything in
10 minutes, the rest is just Pokemon
battles, but worse. Graffiti Kingdom
was a big step up from this!

Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
I have only played the GBA version
before back when it was released and
this was a good reminder on some plot
points. I played on easy and skipped
as many battles as I could which led
some of the bosses to be a real pain.

Dark Angel Vampire Apocalypse
Here it is! THE most repetitive game
I have ever played, defeat about
100000 enemies in the same location
until you are strong enough for the final
boss, sorry that I spoiled all 50 hours
for you, haha!

Future Tactics
An odd little game, the best thing to
compare it to would be Valkyria Chronicles.
A turn-based strategy, action RPG with destructible
environments.

PS4

Dragon Quest Builders 2
This was probably the most FUN
game all year, it is just so good
and the building works so well.
Love the game and watching the NPCs
work and live in the villages you build!

YS IX Monstrum Nox
Everyone agrees, a great game but not
as great as VIII. Exploring the main town
was probably the highlight for me.

Streets of Rage ?
I don’t remember which one… I played two
of them in co-op with a friend.

Streets of Rage ?
I don’t remember which one… I played two
of them in co-op with a friend.

Nier Replicant 1.23…
I already made a longer post
about it, nothing more to add, sadly
a remake/remaster is the best game yet another year.

Tales of Arise
I mostly love it, all the renewal the series
needed both technically and otherwise. My sister
was not as pleased with it and pointed out a lot of
valid complaints but as a whole, I am very pleased
and hopefully the next entry won’t be such a long wait!

Legend of Mana Remaster
A great remaster that more or less
replaces the original! I was surprised and
happy to see the option to turn of combat and
just stroll around the amazing environments!

WiiU

Wind Waker HD
Another remaster that makes the original
obsolete, my third favorite in the series!

Switch

Metroid Dread
A new Metroid game! I beat it twice, normal and hard.
Very fun to play but far too linear and guiding.
The “dread” part was just terrible and I do my best
to forget the story.

PC

Cyber Shadow
As expected some classic
fun platform action!

Ori and the Will of the Wisps
It is clear that they played
Hollow Knight and maybe some other
rival games before making this, it
is so much better than the first game!

What Remains of Edith Finch
I don’t want to spoil anything about it
but probably my favorite in the “genre”.
A great story and environment.

Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice
Some cool environments is all I take from
this, it felt too much like playing a triple
A game in a bad way, haha.

Katana Zero
Probably a better version of
Hotline Miami?

Dead Cells
It was very fast and fun to play
but I am also glad it didn’t drag
on more than 10 hours.

Tetris Effect
Tetris, with effects! Wow…

Spiritfarer
A great game, mostly thanks to the
NPCs but you need to be in the mood
for a slower game to enjoy it.

Touhou Luna Nights
Why did I wait so long to play this,
more or less the same style as
Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth.

Astalon
I still prefer Castle in the Darkness
but this was good enough for me to do 100%, hehe.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
A fun little Zelda-like I guess?

Metroid Origins
It is more or less a fanmade short version
of Metroid 2, quite impressive, I would love to
see more from the developer!

Deltarune 2
I can’t believe how long ago the first part
was already. Either way, this continues the
story and it will probably and hopefully grow
into a full story someday!

Best of 2021:

1: Nier Replicant 1.23…
2: Tales of Arise
3: Legend of Mana Remaster

Worst played 2021:

1: Magic pengel The Quest for Color
2: Colosseum Road to Freedom
3: Dark Angel Vampire Apocalypse

Number of new beaten games: 65
Number of RPGs: 46

A happy new year everyone!

99 more RPGs to go

The year is not at its end just yet but you get a
list anyway, haha. I still don’t have a name for this little
project but anyone who has checked my Instagram knows
it is as alive as ever, the quest to beat every SNES, PS1 and PS2
RPG available in English. Of course the list is still expanding
thanks to fan translations but at the moment I just hit the milestone
of 99 RPGs left, double digits! Also, I have focused extra hard on
PS2 and finally gotten that down to the same level as SNES,
from now on I will play the games in order of SNES, PS1, PS2, repeat.

If you check the titles you will know I still have a long road ahead of
me but it does feel doable even if every third game is a strategy/ tactic
game and every eight game a Shin Megami or spinoff… other than
that four more Wizardry games, four more Digimon and three more
SaGa games should be the most intimidating, haha

——————SFC 39—————

Shin Megami Tensei if…
Last bible 3
Wizardry Gaiden IV: Throb of the Demon’s Heart
Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
Might and Magic: Book II
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
Dream Maze
Brandish 2
Dungeon Master
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder
Ultima 6 the False Prophet
Ultima 7 Black Gate
Horai Gakuen no Bouken!
Princess Minerva
Cyber Knight II
Dragon Ball Z Super Gokuden: Kakusei-Hen
Torneko no Daibouken: Fushigi no Dungeon
Romancing SaGa 2
Shiki Eiyuuden
Super Chinese World 2
Super Chinese World 3
Dragon Ball Z
Kidou Senshi Gundam: Cross Dimension 0079
Kidou Senshi Gundam F91: Formula Senki 0122
SD Gundam G Next
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem 776
Power of the Hired
Super Robot Taisen EX
Super Robot Taisen Aiden lord of Elementals
Super Gachapon World
Super Famicom Wars
Albert Odyssey
Majin Tensei
Majin Tensei 2
Uncharted Waters
New Horizons

——————PS1 21—————

Arc the Lad 2
Arc the Lad 3
Persona
Persona 2
King’s Field 2
Digimon World 2
Digimon World 3
Deception 3 Dark Delusion
Torneko the Last Hope
Darkstone
Azure Dreams
Blaze and Blade
Technomage
Shadow Tower
Battle Hunter
Front Mission 3
Dragon Seeds
Saiyuki: Journey West
Ogre Battle
Monsterseed
Thousand Arms

——————PS2 39—————

Persona 3 FES
Persona 4
SMT Digital Devil Saga 1
SMT Digital Devil Saga 2
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
Romancing SaGa
Unlimited Saga
Digimon World 4
Digimon World Data Squad
Warriors of Might and Magic
Shifters
Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land
King’s Field: The Ancient City
Trapt
Yakuza 2
Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus
Champions: Return to Arms
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
Summoner 2
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II
Jade Cocoon 2
Justice League Heroes
Baroque
River King: A Wonderful Journey
Swashbucklers
Deus Ex
Drakan
Crimson Tears
Gladius
Future Tactics
Eternal Poison
Front Mission 4
Chaos Wars
La Pucelle Tactics
Soul Nomad
Dokapon Kingdom
Sakura Wars
Wild Arms 5

The most random post?

Hello everyone!

I keep complaining that blogs are dying without
adding any posts myself…
I should have plenty to write about but as usual I keep
getting distracted, gah. This will be a mix of random
updates and items.

• 

• 

• 

• 

First up we have to mention the 15th anniversary of Xenosaga III
15 years! Didn’t I just make the 10th Year post? Oh well, playing
the game once again was just as great and painful as usual…
There has been a lot of great and amazing games in the past five
years and I actually thought that this might finally start to show its age
just a little, but of course, it only cemented the game as number one
once again, other games and developers still has a lot to learn from
the end of this Saga!

That was a great start to my summer and it was followed by my
first family trip in years and years! Sadly my sister was not part of it
thanks to miscommunication but I truly hope we can make another
trip with her included next year! My brother has yet to send me pictures
from the trip but let’s just say that it was filled of amazing nature and
my first climbed mountain. Standing on a summit, seeing miles and miles
in all directions and feeling the strongest wind you have ever felt was
truly an experience! I only have one picture myself, quite a nice view
from the place we stayed at that night but nothing compared
to the mountain.

The rest of the summer just went by with plans almost daily,
not as much gaming as expected.

The game collection is more or less on hold at the moment but this
expensive and nice addition arrived earlier! Bought it for the
Lil Cactus plush, haven’t even opened it yet…

The super cute birthday present my sister made me!
Haha, love these mini puzzles.

Tales of Arise has entered the collection, and beaten games list too, hehe.
Truly a great game with all the renewal the series needed!

And of course, ALWAYS more Nier soundtracks!
This time a set of four vinyls in a nice box, with the 1.22..
versions of the soundtrack.

You might have thought that the last Lego post with 100+ sets
was the culmination of it all but NO, my entire year has been
consumed with Lego and I am very deep into the hobby at the moment.
I have somehow managed to piece together every single one of the
old Castle sets, some not in the picture but all of them are here now!
What an absolute childhood dream fulfilled!
Apparently that was not enough however and I have completed a lot
of the space sets as well, not to mention built and bought more and
more pieces to my 80s inspired castle town!

If you want to see more I just made a new LEGO category
you can click on to the right!

Either way, expect me to be stuck in this next year too…

At least we have the absolutely splendid looking Welltal ID
to add to the Xeno collection next year!!

As you might expect my gaming schedule has also taken a hit from
all the Lego but I ‘m still doing my best to get through all the SNES; PS1
and PS2 RPGs. Don’t worry the yearly list will still be impressive and
include at least a few new titles too like Metroid Dread.

Thanks for reading!

Nier 2021

I did promise a Nier post and here it is!
Actually I don’t have that much to add that hasn’t already
been said by others or even myself before but of course
a new Nier means a few new items as well:

The most important one being the Snow White edition of course!
This fast became one of my favorites boxes, I’m still not a fan
of those paper sleeves around boxes but in this case I keep it on as it looks
amazing with that art and no logos at all! Great!

The inside is great as well, I didn’t take any more detailed
pictures but they are easy to find elsewhere. I haven’t even
taken the time to listen to that exclusive soundtrack yet,
the very reason why I had to have this box, haha.
Including the full script of the game was also cool and the
three Grimoire pins looks just amazing, even if they are too
heavy to actually use as pins on a shirt.

I said it before and I do it again, collecting Nier soundtracks
could be an entire hobby or collection on it’s own, they just
keep releasing more of them! This time the full and redone
soundtrack of the Nier Replicant remaster and also the one
from Nier Reincarnation, I have yet to listen to it but am
excited to do that. Yonah’s diary in physical form was a really
cool bonus item!

Not the best picture but I am pretty happy with this newly added
Yoko Taro shelf, hehe. I had to find a spot for the Snow White box
and this turned out to be the best solution even if a few other items
had to go into hiding. I should probably add Drakengard 1 to the shelf
but fitting all of the soundtracks would be harder, especially since
there will be yet another set of vinyls later this year!

As for the game itself, it doesn’t make the PS3 version completely
obsolete, I will still want to play as the older “Nier” again and
some of the songs in the new soundtrack doesn’t capture the same
feeling as the original even if both of them are fantastic of course.
Aside from that the remake is a big upgrade in graphic, smoother combat,
the old DLC is included, more story and even locations that only
got mentioned in side material before. I love it and if you have
to choose one to play, it would be easy to pick the remaster!

What year is this (new SFC games)

That’s right, somehow my good old table is full of SFC games once more,
what a nostalgic sight and post this is!

I will never be truly done with SFC after all but it was still a bit sudden,
the plan was to get a Xeno poster but that plan failed and I got these instead
as consolation. Little Master might be called an actual RPG but most of the
others are pure strategy or with more or less RPG elements. Harvest Moon is
just Harvest Moon and fits into any SFC collection, hehe.

Best of all must be the Legend of Galactic Heroes game, I have wanted to add
that ever since I first saw the anime.

Be sure to bask in their glory, I don’t expect to get any more SFC games in any
near future but I still have quite a few on my extended wanted list.

Next up should be a Nier Replicant post!