Lord Spencer's Gaming (and other stuff) Blog

The Tales JRPG series is nowadays synonymous with comfort food; a satisfying meal that is neither complex nor memorable. Full to the brim with anime archetypes and genre cliches, it is honestly difficult to pick the different games apart. It is then hard to imagine a time when the very things the series is known for were actually incredible innovations to the genre. The unabashed anime-ness of the series was established in the first game on the SNES, where an Anime cut scene and vocal track inexplicably fit into the cartridge. With the second game, Tales of Destiny , the series established much of its traditions and firmly entrenched itself into becoming an anime-videogame, for better or worse. #A40(S): Tales of Destiny:- Year: 1997, 1998. Genre: Action RPG. Publisher: Namco. Developer: Wolf Team (Namco).

Past the halfway mark in Retro Sanctuary's Top 100 PlayStation 1 Games list and we are supposedly going to get to the good stuff. This appears to mostly be the case despite Tomb Raider polluting the list (it deserves a place on reputation alone despite aging like milk). Weirdly in this list of 10 (and supplements), there are two Shmups, with one of them deserving its place on the PS1 while the other is just better on the Sega Saturn. Other than that, we have some great games such as Valkyrie Profile and Dino Crisis 2 along with strong and interesting titles like Silent Bomber and Devil Dice . Capcom features on the list twice, with the best Mega Man game on the console, as well as yet another fighter, and JRPGs are represented by Atlus's then-fledgling Persona series. Overall, this is a strong choice, and it's indicative of the strength of the console's library that its top 50 game list shouldn't have any weaknesses. Of course, I expect Retro Sanctuary's ...

If you notice in the game's cover art, it's titled Tomb Raider II : Starring Lara Croft. At this stage, it was clear that the character and game became iconic in the gaming landscape, and that was enforced by an extensive and extremely effective ad campaign. As I explored in my review of the first game, despite some revolutionary advancements, I don't think the first game was very good to begin with and is certainly intolerable now. While the sequel improved on every aspect of the game, I think the shortened development time (to catch the hype train of the original) and the flawed basis of gameplay means this is still not a very fun game to play. #41(S2): Tomb Raider II:- Year: 1997. Genre: 3D Action-Platformer Adventure. Publisher: Eidos Interactive. Developer: Core Design

There is no doubt that the first Tomb Raider is an absolutely iconic game. Not only was it a pioneering title at the start of the 3D era, but it also introduced the iconic character of Lara Croft, one of gaming's most famous leading ladies. However, like many trailblazing games of that era, time wasn't kind to it, and I found playing it today to be excruciatingly stiff and boring. This iconic game is best left in museums along with the artifacts Lara casually raids. #41(S1): Tomb Raider:- Year: 1996. Genre: 3D Action-Platformer Adventure. Publisher: Eidos Interactive. Developer: Core Design

Valkyrie Profile is just the type of game that is typical of the many hidden gems in the PS1 library. Experimental in every way, both trying to expand the genres before it and forge its own path, it ends up becoming an entirely unique game. Not all of those experimental games succeeded, but Valkyrie Profile pulls it off extremely well. It's a game with unique and engaging gameplay, brilliant graphics and music, and a pretty good story and characters. Rarely putting a foot wrong, it fully justifies its reputation as a cult-favorite title. #42: Valkyrie Profile:- Year: 1999, 2000. Genre: Action RPG. Publisher: Enix. Developer: Tri-Ace.

Moving away from aping the Survival Horror formula of Resident Evil like the first game did, Dino Crisis 2 instead crafts its own identity as an Action-heavy take on the genre, giving justice to the concept of fighting dinosaurs for survival. This is simply a much better sequel, and probably one of the best Action games on the PS1. Now it makes sense why my cousin was so addicted to the game when it was first released, but more on that later. #44: Dino Crisis 2:- Year: 2000. Genre: Action-Horror. Publisher: Capcom. Developer: Capcom.

What would Resident Evil play like if all the enemies in the game were mobile and aggressive dinosaurs? Not very differently, as the first Dino Crisis game demonstrates. If you were not aware that the game was actually made by Capcom, you would be forgiven for thinking that this is the most blatant Resident Evil clone that ever existed. Since it was made by Capcom, it survives the sin of unoriginality through experience and provides a really solid PS1 Survival Horror experience, but it suffers from lacking the trapping and atmosphere of the Resident Evil locations. #44: Dino Crisis:- Year: 1999. Genre: Survival Horror. Publisher: Capcom. Developer: Capcom.

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 game series, with four of them having two games in the same generation, for a total of fourteen games. Of these games, I only fully reviewed three games, since the rest of these consist of genres that I don't usually cover in these reviews or games that I played thoroughly a long time ago. Unlike the previous supplemental list reports, I don't think any of these games deserve to be included in a top 100 PS1 games list except for Harvest Moon and Broken Sword , but it...

While the first Vandal Hearts game was Konami's attempt at making a traditional Tactical RPG, its sequel was in many ways a complete revolution of the genre. Through its innovative "Dual-Turn" System and abandonment of fixed classes, it went out of the comfort zone of the first game. These changes could not have worked, and indeed, the new gameplay system will need some adjustments. However, thanks to a brilliant story that followed Konami's attempts at more "mature" storylines in the PS1 era, the game ended up being one of the finest Tactical RPGs on the system. #A16: Vandal Hearts II:- Year: 1999. Genre: Tactical RPG. Publisher: Konami. Developer: Konami.

Made by a number of ex-Squaresoft US employees, including the influential Ted Woolsey (whose localization of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger were the best possible localization given the constraints, fight me!), Shadow Madness was a Western attempt at making a JRPG in the mold of Final Fantasy VII . In a way, the team succeeded in emulating their inspiration a tad too closely. It aims to look and feel like Cloud's adventure, but it misses the mark and ends up looking much worse while not playing as tightly despite being two years older. Unfortunately, the small team at Craveyard Studios just couldn't give justice to the interesting idea that they had. #A42: Shadow Madness:- Year: 1999. Genre: JRPG. Publisher: Crave Entertainment. Developer: Craveyard Studios, Lobotomy Studios.  

Of the many mascot characters that Sony attempted to craft for their PlayStation brand, none wore that particular role with less grace than Sir Daniel Fortesque of the MediEvil series. That's not to say that his games were bad, but that a suit of armor with a one-eyed skull for a face is not something that usually sells a brand. However, the competent 3D Action gameplay of the first game did showcase the console's capabilities, and the first game had enough charm and personality to commission a second game to advance the formula. While it's undoubtedly true that the sequel does fix many of the issues of the first game, the result is still a game with an awkward pace, terrible combat, and little to recommend other than its unique zombie charm. #A45: MediEvil II:- Year: 2000. Genre: Action-Adventure. Publisher: Sony (SCE). Developer: SCE Cambridge Studio.