Title: Arc the Lad Collection (1-3 and arena)
Type: RPG/ strategy
Publisher: working designs
System: PSX
Details: This is a old game and it shows, but its different. The 1st game is short
(under 20 hrs with all side quests done too) and there really is not much there
and the max level is 60 and is easy to get for most of the characters when u
put in all the hours. I often had to check
a walkthrough to figure out how to get back to the main story.. mainly because
the side quests are options for most of the game. In the 2nd game there is a
large improvement, but there's still a lot of choice in where to go and when.
If you use your game 1 save, you get to keep the old
levels for added fun, only having to fight the lv 60 Tosh before he joins again is
not that easy. Here you are a hunter and can follow the story and odd
jobs. The only bad thing seams to be that you are forced to continue with the
story at points because no more jobs come till after you do the next bit. The
arena goes along with game 2. It takes a bit of getting used to and a lot of
time, but it gives constant access to smith shops and the experience
divider.
Part 3 is on my to do list.
Title: Chrono Cross
Type: rpg
Publisher: SquareEnix
System: PSX
Details: You are Serge, a boy who finds himself in an alteration version of his
own world and now have to find your way back home. Doing that task may not be
as simple as it seams. Not a bad game, but there are a lot of characters and
unless you play though the game at least 3 times, you will not play with all
of them. The best thing about replaying this game would be you get to keep your
levels. This has the graphic you would expect from Square and enough to keep
you interested to finish at least 1 game.
Title: Dead or Alive
Type: fighting
Publisher: Tecmo
System: PSX
Details: Most ppl will know this game just by the overdone bouncing chests, but that
can be turned off if desired. Its a good game to play and lots to unlock. Each girl has 14
costumes and the guys 5, along with 2 hidden characters (Raido the boss and
Ayane Kasumi's half sis who uses a similar style). But Raido only has the
costumes he comes with and Ayane's a very similar. The only disappointment is the
difficulty in getting the costumes for Ayane, who is the last person you get.
She hard to work with but allows you to master the defense.
Title: Dead or alive 2
Type: fighting
Publisher: tecmo?
System: dreamcast (diff version for the ps2 with more costumes)
Details: An upgrade form the 1st, needless to say the chest prob was tended to and
graphic look smother and more realistic. There are not many new characters but extra
costumes seam to be non existent
in the usa version. The plus is you can get Japanese with subtitles on what the ppl are saying.
Changing the age you enter in the options menu is supposed to adjust some things
but I haven't noticed what it does, other make the boobs move.
Title: Final Fantasy X (10)
Type: rpg
Publisher: squareEnix
System: Ps2/ PC
Details: The first true final fantasy I have taken on with the rpg type of play, not
impressed but none the less it's good. This seams to be a title with too much hype around it. The best its
got is cgi cut scenes worthy of a ps2 game, spoils you when it's time to play
other games. The graphic are very nice and the game play goes smothly, there is
not a place were you put it down and forget the game. Most of the best weapons are
too hard
to get requiring without many hours of patience and trying time after time. Its not the
worst of rpgs but not one of the best either. I ended up having to share playing
time with my roommate who ended up playing this too.
Title: Fatal Fury : Wild Ambition
Type: fighter
Publisher: Snk
System: psx
Details: You can see the age in this but if you're a fan, play it. There are not many
chances to play with the Fatal fury characters other then Mai and Terry in some
of the newer games. This looks are the early workings of
3d by SNK, they have a long way to go from this one to the new max impact for
the PS2. The game is more difficult to master then the others they make. The
plus is out of 12 fighters, 3 are girls and none of them are pushovers.
Title: Grandia
Type: rpg
Publisher: Game Arts
System: Psx
Details: Another old game, but its enjoyable till you get close to the end. The
end is drawn out way too
much, the last dungeon takes a hours then the boss..well lets just say it comes back
to many times. The sequel is a better game
in the all around. I haven't play this in some time but this is a game where you like it or hate it.
The voices used are not the most fitting on all ppl, they may even get on your nerves.
I shouldn't say may, they will if you don't like half-asses dubs. The characters
themselves are amusing and fun to play with. The battle system is close to real
time but freezes when a character is ready to allow your choice, easy to work.
These games bring together ppl from different tribes to work together to save
their world, the usual.
Title: Grandia 2
Type: rpg
Publisher:
System: PS2/Dreamcast/PC
Details: I hear the dreamcast version is the best but I played only the ps2 so can't say.
The voices are better done than the 1st game and the battle systems still there. Not a
horribly long game and not 1 you wanna forget about half way through. The main character
takes on odd jobs and the story revolves around the one you take near the
start, being a bodyguard for a journey you must take that leads to nothing but
trouble for Ryudo. Your party takes a bit to build but it works out. The added
bonus with this game is Elena and Millenia. The main girls that keep you
guessing as to the secret for some time, well done.
Title: Grandia eXtreme
Type: rpg
Publisher: Game Arts
System: Ps2
Details:
This is the 3rd of the grandia games made, not to be confused with the Grandia 3,
follows along in the same type of play as the previous games.
There is no lacking in the magic, moves, and skills areas. There is also a cute
side quest to find the carros (in all the games) and get them to dance to the
musicians playing. The series has come a long way from the 1st game. The only
part I don't like is there is only 1 save point, meaning you have to get a few
hour of play in an area before you hit a geo gate that can take you to the base
and back when you wish. At a glance this game appears to be short because of the
small number of dungeons, but each one takes 3-5 hour to go though for a first
time. The leveling in not required, but once you get to the last ruin, you are
in for a rude awakening if you have been slacking. The end doesn't really stay
with you but the extra 100 level dungeon for after play is a nice extra. You can
enjoy the characters and get some nice armor and weapon, too bad you couldn't
get them before the end though.
Title: Grandia 3
Type: rpg
Publisher: SquareEnix
System: PS2
Details: Bravo. A great addition to the grandia line and well worth the long wait.
The english voice acting is very done this time and ever has the english Vash from trigun's
va doing the lead male. The battle system is the same and builds on the changes made in xtreme.
The only downer to it is, Yuki's moves are the same as Evan's from xtreme. Xtreme was made to tide the
fans over between the releases and there are a lot of similarities. This is a short game. It took me
around 45 hours to complete with 10 levels above the recomened. Great graphic and game play make this a
good addin for any rpg lover short on time.
Title: Kof '95 (King of Fighters)
Type: fight
Publisher: SNK
System: psx
Details: You can feel the age of this one, but it's meant for the old school
fans. Lots of characters and the usual from SNK.
The old 2D with teams you can either edit or just use the set teams. Each
character has a defined fighting style and are from the other series SNK
does like Fatal Fury and Art of fighting. Only 4 girls in the whole 24 but guys
you don't see in the later kofs. This is an easy to play game that's still lots
of fun.
Title: Legend of Legaia
Type: rpg
Publisher: sony
System: Psx
Details: This is my personal favorite game. The battling is unique, no other game
does this anything like it. You enter the way you want to attack, left hand left
kick ect. The right combos make special moves when you have the required sp to
perform them. The low point for me is lack of voices,
they are only in the battles. The voices there are in Japanese which adds to Noa's cuteness. You have 3 character that are chosen by the ra- seru
to eliminate the mist, a threatening thing that drives the seru to attack humans.
This mist is man made meaning you're bound for a blood torn path of destruction
as you stop the mist generators and forces behind them, man as usual.
Title: Legaia 2 (Legend of legaia2)
Type: rpg
Publisher:
System: Ps2
Details: Not as good for me as the first one but it has it's ups and downs.
There has been further building on the battle system, same basic structure, but
new types of art moves and the way you built up AP to perform them. There are a
lot of mini games to keep you going but I can still say its a 70 game, max for
me. Some things are not possible for the normal person to do being to hard or
tedious. This time around there are 5 character: Lang, Maya, Kazan, Sharan, and
Ein(Ayne in USA). Lang must be in your party of 3 as with many games. This
is a english dubbed games so the bad dub warning is given, not as bad as some
but takes some getting used to. Another fault is, no cute girls to play as!
Sharan is a well rounded girl fighter, but she is lacking the cuteness of the
1st games girls.
Title: Legend of Mana
Type: rpg/ action
Publisher: SquareEnix
System: psx
Details: Not the typical rpg the playing is closer to an action rpg, and you
make your world literally. When you finish an event you may get access to anther
place and where you place it on the map may get you something extra in the end.
From what I have heard, this is a hard game to find, expected with a
different game like this. There is no lack of quest to do but the game is
esentually made up of mini quest, some are connected while others trigger more.
For most of the quest you're on your own as the boy or girl depending who you
choose at the start. Once you catch some monsters, they can accompany you and
fight.
Title: Lunar: silver star story complete
Type: rpg
Publisher: working designs
System: psx
Details: Very hard to find and still expensive if you do. This is old fashioned
because its a remake of the sega game with updates and some changes. The voices and
speech bubbles are what you'd expect from
working designs and comes with the making of cd, spoilers included. Very good game, but
not that well know because it's a smaller release and not game people will sell. Anime cuts scenes
and pictures are added enjoyment. You can also collect an item that allows you
to view them again.
Title: Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
Type: rpg
Publisher: working designs
System: psx
Details: Very hard to find and still expensive if you do just like the 1st but this 1 costs more.
Again, this is old fashioned because its a remake of the sega game with updates and some changes. The voices and
speech bubbles are what you'd expect from
working designs and comes with the making of cd, spoilers included. Good game, as was the first. You'll end up
re-visiting old places with new layouts and the same types of goons.All the good stuff is still here, but I
wouldn't say I like it better then the 1st, but a good sequil none the less.
Title: Monster Rancher 2
Type: monster raising
Publisher:
System: psx
Details: Unlock various monsters from your own cds! Some may have some very interesting
creatures, others the common. With your monster you can then take him home and
raise him to fight for you. Its very interesting to play, especially when
looking for monsters or letting them go to train at special places, but it does
get annoying when you keep getting the same creatures. The downside to the
number of monsters that you can keep is low and their life is not long enough to
create a great fighter for long.
Title: Pokemon Puzzle league
Type: puzzle
Publisher: nintendo
System: N64
Details: Very addictive and fun, I'll sit there for hours moving the blocks. The only
part of pokemon involved it the backgrounds and characters, there is no catching them all,
just proving your worth in playing. Its similar to most block games, your goal is to
remove the same blocks in groups of 3 or more and chains are helpful in sending your
opponent to their end in the two player mode. Its similar to the online game
bejeweled but only side to side movement is allowed.
Title: Pokemon Snap
Type: picture taking
Publisher: nintendo
System: N64
Details: Taking pictures of pokemon in their habitats for the professor.
Guaranteed to give
you a few hours of entertainment. This game was done as an experiment and even with
its popularity no sequel was made. The faults are in the limited pokemon included
and the short play time because of that. But it has replay value for seeing if
you can get a higher score for your shots.
Title: Thousand Arms
Type: rpg / dating sim
Publisher: atlus
System: psx
Details: This world is a sort of spin off to wild arms, but the game itself is
nothing like it. The fighting
is like a normal rpg other then it's 1 on 1, with 2 char as back-up who can cast spells
to help the front row out. The dating comes in
when you need to get new spells forged into your weapons, and is necessary to get the healing
and strong attack spells. The spells forged depend on how much
the girl likes you and you can go on dates or give gifts to increase that. The
higher levels are difficult to get to, usually involves many dates and gifts
without a mess-up. There
is no lack of types of girls either. This game has a large amount of voice acting
for every character, especially for the girls, who reply to your answers on the
questions they ask during the dates. As a rpg, its good and has the unique
dating aspect. The scenes are a mix of 2d animation and 3d area giving a nice
look.
Title: Wild Arms 2
Type: rpg
Publisher: sony
System: psx
Details: Just your average game, nothing special about it. Actually very boring once the
story gets repetitive in saving the world. Part of the bad would be the large # of side
quests that become available all at once, not to mention the fact you need to level up
to complete them and go on. The way of getting around the world is, well hard to put. You
end up with many modes of transportation but none can go everywhere. Needless to say
I did not finish this game yet, but for the 9$ I paid it was not a waste.