Lord Spencer's Gaming (and other stuff) Blog

The 4th Generation of video games is commonly known as the 16-bit era, as opposed to the 8-bits of the 3rd Generation. With increased graphical power and expanded memory, it can be said the gaming as we know it today started in this era, even if the great majority of games were still limited to the 2D plane . In many ways, the advancements in this generation was instrumental in developing the home game market as opposed to the Arcades, since games started being developed with longer running time, story, and continuity in mind. As such, we can consider the 16-bit era a maturation of the previous generation, building on solid foundations to make games that stand the test of time today. The improvement in sprite graphics and expanded soundscape is a major reason why the games of the 4th generation, as opposed to the early 3D works of the 5th generation, still look good today. One major thing worth noting is that this is one of the few generations where an actual “console war” was going o...

  The PlayStation 1 had such a massive library of games that it is impossible to do it justice with a simple top 100 games list . As such, I decided to supplement my usual review of a top 100 games list (this time, I used the top 100 PS1 games list from Retro Sanctuary) with other games picked up from different lists. This parallel "Additional List" is not numbered in any ordered way, so the quality of the titles theoretically varies from top to bottom with no rhyme or reason. This report covers 10 series, with a couple of games that obviously deserve a place in Retro Sanctuary's Top 100 list. Of these games, I fully reviewed six games, since the rest of these consist of genres that I don't usually cover in these reviews or games that have been ported elsewhere. From this report, I think that it is a huge omission   that neither of the  Lunar  games was included in Retro Sanctuary's list, and a huge travesty that Tactics Ogre: Let's Cling Together ...

Howl’s Moving Castle may be one of the more difficult Hayao Miyazaki films to write about, as it can be seen as both a more complex and simpler film than his earlier work. If you want to look into the deeper meanings of the film, then you can see obvious allusions to pacifism, anti-ageism, and a critique of modernity. However, you can also view the film as a simple, unlikely love story between Sophie and the wizard Howl, as both learn to accept themselves and find family and friendship in their surroundings. I think the tension between these two threads is one reason that the film has a polarizing reputation in the Studio Ghibli canon, with one of the studio’s most ardent fans, Roger Ebert, even giving the film a review of 2.5 stars. The film begins with Sophie, a hatter's daughter, accidentally getting involved in the shenanigans of the wizard Howl and being cursed into becoming a 90-year-old woman for her troubles. As an old woman, Sophie feels more comfortable in her own skin, ...

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete is the rare sequel that, while not departing much from its predecessor, makes many small improvements that turn a good game into a great one. If you enjoyed or loved the first Lunar , then you will surely love this one as well. This is yet another classic JRPG, filled to the brim with romance and adventure, with an engaging gameplay loop that should push you towards a great story's conclusion and beyond. While I still would not call Lunar 2 a true masterpiece of the genre, I think it packages all the good things we love about JRPGs, even if it doesn't necessarily excel at any of them. As such, the new Remastered release of the first Lunar games is not only a good deal for two lovely games, but also a historical record of JRPGs at their root. #A19: Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete:- Year: 1999, 2025 (Remastered). Genre: JRPG. Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten, Working Designs, GungHo (Remastered). Developer: Game Arts, Ashibi Co. (Remastered).  

With the release of the 5th generation of consoles, video games leaped into a new dimension. 3D games were now fully possible, and 2D games were viewed as technically regressive, often being lampooned as such in much of the gaming press. Not fully committing to that trend, Sega released the Sega Saturn as a console capable of great 2D graphics but only middling 3D. Of the three major consoles in that generation, the Sega Saturn was the lowest seller, and it is widely considered the weakest of the three. Anecdotally, I didn't see many people playing or owning the Saturn, nor did I see its games sold in any stores. Personally, I had both a PS1 and an N64, so I never played a Saturn game before starting this review series. Now that I have played over 30 Sega Saturn games, culminating in choosing a top 10 list that was honestly harder to fill than any other console before it, I feel I am qualified enough to review the console as a whole. Biggest Strengths: 2D Graphics: The Sega Satu...

Now that I have completed my Sega Saturn reviews series (reviewing around 30 games and playing over 50 games), I am ready to make my own Top 10 games list. My top 10 is widely different from Retro Sanctuary's list, with only three games being in common between the two lists. Generally, I consider any console that has 10 great games to be one worth owning. Based on my reviews of many Saturn games, I actually struggled to compile a top 10 list for the console, not for an abundance of options. Still, this list contains 10 games that are worth playing even today. Ironically, my list probably doesn't reflect the kinds of games the Saturn is most famous for, since I am not a big fan of the content-light Arcade ports that Sega pushed the hardest for the console. Also, since many of the Saturn's "best" games were never ported West, this list may actually miss some games that would otherwise get in. The list is presented in alphabetical order, but Panz...