great soundtrack – Page 9

O tempora: Final Fantasy II (Pixel Remaster)

29/11/2021 29/11/2021

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

While my attempts to play the original Final Fantasy usually failed because of how hard and outdated it was, while also having a really simple story, Final Fantasy II in addition to the difficulty and chunkiness was also really weird. All of my attempts quickly hit a wall and every time I’ve tried to check on some guides to help me start, I’d read about some bizarre but seemingly necessary tricks where you’d grind for a few hours by hitting your own party members. With the Pixel Remaster version I was finally able to give the game a proper look and appreciate what it tried to be. Even though it still has some questionable decisions.

O tempora: Castlevania Advance Collection

17/11/2021 23/08/2024

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Well, this was unexpected. After spending years locked to Game Boy Advance, a console that most people nowadays probably don’t have or use anymore, Konami has decided to release the Castlevania entries made for that console for modern platforms and most importantly PC. Oh and the SNES port of Rondo of Blood as well, for some reason. Unfortunately, this isn’t some extremely complicated NightDive Studios remaster or what Square Enix did with the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection. This is just a collection of original game ROMs, wrapped in a nice emulation package with a few extras thrown in. Luckily, it’s a well made collection and playing these titles is a joy.

O tempora: Final Fantasy (Pixel Remaster)

12/11/2021 12/11/2021

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

How many times have I tried to play the original Final Fantasy… I’ve tried the original NES game, the Final Fantasy Origins version on PS1, Dawn of Souls on GBA… But I’ve never actually finished it until the Pixel Remaster release. It’s strange to finally play the very first game in such a huge and influential franchise to completion. And it’s especially strange to realize that despite being so quaint by modern standards, even with so many improvements Pixel Remaster version brings, there’s still a place for a title like this.

Happy about: GRIS

24/10/2021 24/10/2021

GRIS is a wonderful example of when a game doesn’t do anything extraordinary or anything new, yet what it does it does really well. It looked so “seen it all before” in trailers and bits of gameplay, that I didn’t consider playing it myself. And now that I have played, it’s not like my expectations were completely off. Yet, I enjoyed this game quite a lot.

Happy about: NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…

12/10/2021 12/10/2021

I’ve tried playing NieR (Gestalt) when it first came out years ago, but just like it happened with Drakengard even earlier, I got bored with the game. So it wasn’t until slightly later that I’ve learned about how inventive the storytelling in NieR becomes, how the game twists your perceptions with the second playthrough and just how intentional a lot of the boredom I’ve felt was. Years later, NieR: Automata came out and was absolutely fantastic, doing a lot of the same concepts, but in a much more fun way. And given its success, I expected that it was only a matter of time NieR will get a modern re-release. NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… turned out to be much more than a simple re-release.

Thoughts on: Yakuza 5 Remastered

18/09/2021 22/09/2021

Yakuza 5 is considered to be one of the best entries in the franchise. To me, it’s the least enjoyable one so far.

In love with: Chicory: A Colorful Tale

17/08/2021 17/08/2021

A couple of years ago I saw the first teasers of the “Drawdog” game on twitter and it looked really neat. The project regularly popped up somewhere on my timeline, consistently looking more enticing until finally it changed the title to the current Chicory: A Colorful Tale and then finally, and very recently, got released. Despite me not liking the previous title from the developer, Wandersong, all that much it was a promising game with lots of heart, so I was hoping that Chicory will be better. It turned out to be more than that.

Happy about: Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective

11/08/2021 11/08/2021

From the screenshots, it’s easy to think that Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective is a Where’s Wally\Waldo?-type of game, like Hidden Folks. That’s what I thought at first too. But while wonderfully detailed screens, full of charming characters and fun interactions, are indeed present, the game plays quite differently. This is, as the name would suggest, a maze game, where you must figure out how to get from one point to the next. And it’s quite fun, even though it has some frustrating elements to it.

Happy about: Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

01/08/2021 29/06/2023

Finally, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is available internationally and on PC. I’ve not missed a single Ys release since my first experience with Ys Origin seven years ago, as even though the games aren’t always amazing, they never fail to be fun and entertaining. And the previous entry in the series, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA, was easily one of the best action RPGs I’ve ever played. Despite the fact that the PC port of the game was at the time very flawed.

Yet, my hopes for Monstrum Nox weren’t as high as from it’s original announcement trailers it looked to be going for much bigger and more open, yet empty feeling locations. So I was afraid, that the tight and exciting hack and slash action and really fun exploration mechanics would get lost with this move. Luckily, I was mostly wrong and Ys IX turned out to be really fun.

In love with: Yakuza 4 Remastered

25/07/2021 25/07/2021

As I was going through all of the Yakuza titles, I was getting less hopeful that another one will get me as excited as 0 did back at the start of this journey. None of the games I’ve played this far were bad, even 3 had lots of strong elements despite being the game I’ve enjoyed the least. But then along comes Yakuza 4 in its remastered form on PC and I’m happy again.