Shadow

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic - What a great game. Dark Messiah is a spin-off of the wellknown series Might & Magic, but has very few to do with it overall. Instead of either being a strategy game or a cards game, it's a WRPG. And a great one at that. While being a WRPG, most elements have been discarded, like shops, exploration and levelling up, though the latter has been replaced with a skillbased system. All items you can get are either found or selfmade, and the game goes chapterwise so you can't revisit previous places. That may scare away some people but eh, I'm easily pleased. The main mechanic that makes this game stand out is the combat though. You see an Orc standing in front of you? Well, you have at least 10 ways to kill it and you decide yourself what the most effective is. Kick it off a cliff? Throw a barrel at it and impale it? Kick it into a wall of spikes? Or just sneak around and shoot them with arrows or backstab them? The sky is the limit my friend. And I couldn't be any happier. Most WRPGs just stick me to a select weapon, and I seldom change unless it's not wise to go in a situation with said weapon. The story itself is alright I suppose, but not exactly worth playing a game for. Decisions do have effect on how you later on progress though. There are a total of 4 endings according to the internet, but I'm a fond believer there are actually 6, but I have to confirm that myself. Overall, a game I very well recommend to everyone who likes WRPGs and is looking for a new experience.

Shovel Knight - Shoutout to my good friend Shadowxx25 (resident of another forum I go, and also a friend on Steam) for donating me this game! I've had it in sight for quite a while, and I had no doubt I would get it during this Steam Summer Sale, but Shadow beat me to the punch! I haven't had much time to play it yet (actually, I've only beaten the first stage), but I'm already in love with it. Secrets, great platforming, minibosses that are pretty fun, and all that! I challenged myself to beat the first stage without dieing and hey, that I did! I can't wait to play this once I have more free time this weekend (though I'll probably finish Dark Messiah first, otherwise it might turn out to be another one of these games where I'm very close to the end but never finished it), but I'll definitely get back to it!

Guess I'll pass the quiz too. Well, might try it just for fun, but on the original PMD, I had to reset the game a lot of times before I finally got a pokemon to my liking >.< Don't want to go through that struggle again, even though I'll remain curious what Pokemon I will be this time.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic - A spin-off of the series I've been talking about lately, Heroes of Might and Magic, and a rather good one at that. I've always been a fan of WRPGs, despite talking more about it's counterpart, the JRPGs. I've only played an hour so far, and Dark Messiah definitely delivers. There are just so many ways to kill your enemies instead of just swinging your sword around or burning them with your magic. Why not throw a barrel at them and impale them when they are down, or kick them into a wall of spikes or a campfire? The only thing the game lacks so far is customization. You can't customize your character, and as far as I'm aware, there are no shops either since the game is completely linear. I could very well be wrong here since I'm only at chapter 3. Linearity doesn't necessarely mean bad design, though it's strange to see in a WRPG.

Final Fantasy Adventure - I've played this some times when I was kiddie Bokxie, but I never came far. I was either having troubles or just no interest. That changed when I evolved into adult Bokxie, and boy am I glad I did. Final Fantasy Adventure is the prequel to Secret of Mana, and I can definitely see why. I must admit that the game hasn't really aged all that well, but hey, still having a blast. Weapons are fun to use, and the overworld is fun to explore. The dungeons themselves not always due to them being a bit complicated at times. Wasn't really a fan of the key and mattock system, because every time you use one, it's gone. That was the reason I ultimately had to move on to an emulator and play it on there, which fortunately didn't bring the experience down too much. Overall, one of the better RPG's I've played on the original gameboy. Kid Dracula - A fairly decent platformer. It's a spin-off of the Castlevania series, but it's really taken to childlevels of friendly. I don't mind it too much. Platforming is solid, and the magics are fun to use. Though it was kind of stupid that you had to switch magics with the select button, I mean, the Gameboy didn't really have that much buttons so I couldn't blame the game for it, but a remake/remaster wouldn't hurt this game at all. Or an updated version on the 3ds, whatever fares your boat. Still, this is also a game I enjoyed playing through. The gameboy has a lot of sweet games that I have just lieing around or I can purchase at any time. Think I'll play on it a bit more, especially since my last 2 games on it were pretty fun. BiT Evolution - This is kind of cheating since I haven't beaten the final boss yet, but I didn't want to make another post. But honestly, I have already completed this game. The developers just forgot to put the final boss in there and instead have the final level teleport you back to the title screen. Oops. And also a stage where no collectibles are present. At all. So for now, I'll just have to wait for a patch, but technically I already obtained every collectible possible and beaten every stage. It's a gimmicky game, and though I like the mechanic of when you die, you get a chance to get back to life, it gets boring and old quite fast. It's not a bad game, don't get me wrong. It has 4 era's: Atari, Gameboy, Nes, Snes. Every first levels of these era's are fun, but later it just drags on. But eh, at least the NES and SNES era have more variating stage designs, so it's something. But they really need to fire that composer, good god. The battle music against the boss battle from world 3 is just eargrinding.

  It does. The anniversary collection contains Mega Man 1 to 8, while this one only includes 1 to 6. The only advantage this collection has is a certain 'HD Flare' (but it's an 8-bit game so.. eh.), a museum where you can view artwork (which you can also find on the internet), leaderboards (which are... cool) and finally challenge mode (which sounds cool). But that's about it.

I'll get it anyways since I adore the classic Mega Man games, but it is a very lazy knockoff. I mean, I really wanted Mega Man to come to Steam for a long time so I don't even have a right to complain. Challenge mode really interests me.   But yeah, I could do with a new Mega Man game.

I'm very excited for this! I mean, Explorers of Sky is by far my favorite Spin-off game in like, ever. Gates to Infinity dissapointed me though, but this trailer already looks more interesting than the entirety of that game.

Kid Dracula - A spin-off of the Castlevania games, which I STILL have not touched yet. Don't ask me why, I have no idea either. Should really start playing Super Castlevania 4 or SotN, I dunno. Anyways, fun game. It plays nothing like Castlevania, but the power-ups and basic platforming is good enough for me. There's a huge emphasis on bosses, which are fun too since literally every boss has multiple phases. The only thing that really holds the game back is it being on a gameboy. You can only switch abilities with the select button because well, there isn't another button for it. Think this game could really benefit of a remake, but eh... Konami.   Also playing Final Fantasy Adventure again. Some of you may already know that I've played it on the gameboy but due to stuff, I have to continue on an emulator, which held me back at first. I'm not playing with a controller which makes the experience much better than with just a keyboard, and by quickly browsing a faq, I'm up to date. Just beat Kary at the Snow cave, which was a ridiculously easy boss.   (Regarding the stuff: Final Fantasy Adventure is a game that, once you go to a different floor, all locked doors and enemies respawn on the previous floor. The problem is that every locked door requires a key you can purchase at shops, and if you don't have them, you're f*cked, stuck, and begging for mercy you have saved at a good place. Which I didn't. The advantages of an emulator is that, whenever I don't have any key, there's Gameshark. I put my trust in the overlord of cheating. I think FF Adventure could also benefit of a remake but eh, not seeing that happen anytime soon.)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sister Generation - From a few chapters that took ages, to a few chapters which I finished in one sitting. Great game, though I would have preferred it if they kept the time a bit more equal with each chapter. I mean, it was over before I knew it (although the Final boss was pretty easy, even with my underlevelled team). Had a great time with this one nevertheless! Fun characters, though I am still confused as though why story elements in this game were different from Re;Birth 1. But if I'm correct, that has to do with alternate universes. The combat is as good as ever, and while a fourth part character wasn't necessary, it is still a very welcome addition. I think I liked the humor of the original a bit more. I dunno, Nepgear is a great character but she has a bit less randomness than her big sis. The humor is still great though, with special mentions going to Cave's EXE Drive and the 'Fake Metalchemist' npc. Overall, a game I had a lot of fun with and one that has, yet again, arrived pretty high on my favorite JRPG games. Possibly even in my top 30 games of all time, but I never made a list so I don't know. For real though, the franchise might just land really high on my favorite franchise list, and that in just half a year. Bravo, Idea Factory and Compile Heart! You took my low expectations, juggled with them and then threw them out of the window!

Unpinned the thread for now because y'know, we haven't heard anything in ages. Will pin it again if we finally hear something, given the project isn't dead.   (I myself am more interested in the Ratchet & Clank movie to be honest but eh, that's a topic for another day :3)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sister Generation - And as expected, the moment I jumped in, I was happy. The original Re;Birth left a very, veryy good impression on me (saying it's in my top 20 games of all time wouldn't even be an overexaggeration I suppose), and so does this one. So far I only think the original had more humor, though that isn't a problem as there is still tons to be found here. The game is also pretty easy so far, mainly due to me getting the double exp booster very early on, and having purchased the DLC. After playing for a while, it felt more like a visual novel with occasionally a few battles in between, so I dropped all the DLC gear (as in, unequipped, not actually dropped. I've paid for it after all :3), put off the exp booster and put the difficulty a bit higher. I mean, the original was very grind-heavy, but that was part of it's charm since, let's be honest, JRPGs nowadays aren't really too difficult. I'm having tons of fun at the moment, and I have no doubt that will get any less. Might even overtake the first game. Also playing Tales of the Abyss, as expected. I've played the original ps2 version co-op, but we didn't came too far since my friend got into a kind of depressed mood, so we unfortunately had to drop it. I do remember it being good though, and I can definitely see why people think this is the best. It isn't the best for me so far but hey, I'm just 3 hours in. Only thing that is kind of holding me back is the 3ds. It's a neato console, but I just don't like the control stick. Just doesn't feel good.

Atelier Ayesha ~The alchemist of Dusk~ - I was very, VERY dissatisfied with the ending. In turn, it probably ruined the entirety of positive experience I had with this game. So I should explain what I mean first. This game apparently has a time limit (which I probably could've known but I last played this game longer than 6 months ago), similar to Majora's Mask. You reach the final day, game is over. Sure, you get a... kind of good ending I suppose, but this is no excuse. Unlike Majora's Mask, you can not go back in time or reset time whatsoever. And literally everything you do consumes time. Traveling, sleeping, creating items (which is the main gimmick of the game, alchemy), literally everything. And I didn't even mention that this game has a ton of side content, which I wouldn't mind if that freaking time limit wasn't there. This is a JRPG for crying out loud, I want to explore and create bonds with the characters I'll be travelling with. Do you really expect me to rush through a JRPG without me forming a bond with my companions, just so I beat the final boss? Of course not! Didn't they get the f*cking memo on how to create a JRPG?! And if it's for the sake of replayability, then go away and never show your face again. I don't want to play multiple times through a 20+ hours JRPG just to obtain everything. And besides, there isn't even a new game+ mode. You just start the game again, and while you do skip the introduction and keep all your equipment, the game starts again at level 1. I seriously had a good time with Atelier Ayesha, but this time limit is probably one of the biggest crap I've seen so far in my gaming life. If the time limit wasn't there, I would probably even put Atelier Ayesha pretty high on my JRPGs list, aside from not doing anything outstanding. I don't know if all the other Atelier games use the same mechanic, but if they do, don't expect me to pick up any Atelier game anytime soon. And I definitely don't want to play a JRPG with a guide next to me, so that's out of the question.

Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando - Eck. If I'd say I had a bad time with this one, I'd be lieing. Because that's definitely not the case. It's just that... I felt more frustrated with this game than I want to admit. Be it hard to reach stuff or just bad controls and/or camera. And those often came in combination. I mean, it's the game's fault technically. Not like Dark Souls or Mega Man where everything I do is basically my fault and I should feel stupid. And this game required. so. much. patience. The amount of bolts you need to get everything or just the overall skill points, where at times you have to destroy EVERYTHING in the level. It just drains unnecessary energy. I really went for completion in the last game, as it was a fun journey. But here, I just can't bring myself to do so. Maybe one day, not now. Also feel that the levels, while having a nice atmosphere, don't really have too much soul put into them. I do like that how a weapon upgrades the more you use it and your health the more you kill enemies. Though enemies later in the game do way more damage so technically with just the 7 nanotech from the last game, you would have the same effect. I mean, of course if the enemies did the same damage every time, that would be pointless, but I'm not sure if this is the way to go either. But eh, that's just a small nitpick, I'm still grateful for it.' Overall, it's still a good game. I do however not have any plans to pick up 3 anytime soon. At least, not for the coming months. EDIT: Revisited Ratchet and Clank 2 a bit, I take back what I said about the levels. They do have soul. Still doesn't change the fact that the game felt annoying.   Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue - What? Don't judge me. Hamtaro games are more fun than you would think they are. But to be fair, Rainbow Rescue is a minigame game which I'm not too big a fan of (I dislike Mario Party a lot). The minigames are fun though, and exploring the areas doesn't hurt either. Heck, there are minigames based on turn-based JRPGs and space invaders! They aren't that good, but I still like them for what they are and what the developers did with them. So overall, a neat game. Don't judge Hamtaro. And would you believe this game has a rather long post-game? Yeah, I didn't either.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology - ...Nope, not even going to try. I have games lieing around here which I really want to play. Jeanne d'Arc, Star Ocean: the First Depature and many more. Yet, why do I constantly keep playing Tales games..? Eh, I did pick this game first because out of the 3 it seemed to be the shortest, because SRPGs are most of the time pretty long (looking at you disgaea...). Having tons of fun so far though. Hey, it's technically Etrian Odyssey combined with the gameplay and characters of Tales. And it's not as ballkicking as Etrian Odyssey. Am I the only one that really has trouble with the original? I mean, if I grind a bit it wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not a fan of grinding. The only complaint I have so far is that you can only accept one quest at a time. Which means that you accept a quest, talk to quest giver, execute quest, and finally return to the quest giver. Only afterwards you can accept another quest.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons - Eh, what can I say? Like Ages, it's a pretty solid game, though it has it's flaws. It seems as though this game has more content than Ages did though. And also a ton of references to older games, particularly the first with the old mans living underneath trees, and 4 bosses. On that front, I like Seasons better. But something about the dungeons just bothered me. They were just annoying. And I prefer time switching over seasons switching too. So yeah, both are good games I had a good time with (though I still prefer Awakening DX), and even though everybody says they're the exact same game, they're not. Yeah sure, mechanics and all are the same (and seriously, screw that invisibility frames Poop. Can't really accept that), but otherwise they're quite different from one another.

WARNING! NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHING!   Soooo... I recently finished both seasons of Magi. And I absolutely fell in love with it. For that reason, Trinity Seven is now a honorable mention, while spot 9 to 3 move down one spot. A la:   3. Magi: the Labyrinth and Kingdom of Magic - An anime I have only finished not so long ago, but one that has impressed me a lot. The first season was great, but the second season was even better. Good action, story and characters. I can't wait to see what else this anime has in stock in future seasons (because, considering it's popularity, the chance of another season is pretty big).

Hey there gentlepeople, Cheery here, starting this new section off strong with a rather big topic!   Like I said, countdowns can be about anything. I decided this topic specifically because it's everchanging, and a rather big topic too. So... let's start the countdown!   11. Trinity Seven - Actually a rather predictable anime, but... was still pretty fun. All of the characters from the trinity have some way that make them interesting to the viewers, with special mentions going to Yui and the ninja Levi, who is awesome. Yeah, I could use another season of this. Doubt it will come anytime soon though. After all, the anime only finished a few months ago.   10. No Game No Life - At first I wasn't too excited about the anime. Give it a few more episodes and boom, went the complete opposite way! They weren't just playing games: they were playing games that were over the top and unpredictable. I like that. Good characters, great thought out story.   9. Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? - A rather short anime, but still awesome. It actually has the same premise of No Game No Life (having these kind of games, though less complicated), just a bit more 'sane'. It's only 10 episodes long, and has some appealable characters and provides an overall fun time. Give it a shot!   8. Black Bullet - One of those anime where I expected it to be some kind of shooter anime, but it wasn't really. The title screams shooter, the opening screams shooter, yet it was only a fragrance of the anime. It's more like this post-apocalyptic anime, with superpowered loli characters and their 'bosses'. Yeah, supernatural might be the best way to describe this genre. And I wouldn't have want it any other way.   7. Ao no Exorcist - This anime is just great. I could go on and talk about how great the story and characters are, but I suppose it's better if you watch it yourself. I would even argue it's better than the following two animes, though they have one big advantage. You see, after I was done with this one, I was pleased enough. It was a great anime, and I left it at that. All of the following anime made me so sad when it ended, I just wanted to watch it again and again. Of course, I didn't, but you get the point.   6. Zero no Tsukaima - The most recent anime I finished also makes it really high up on my list. This is one of those animes that get better with every season. The first was okay, the second was good, the third was great and the final fantastic. The anime got some really great characters, and the story is good too. However, there is one major point that might be the deciding factor for people: the fanservice. This anime won't hold back when it comes to fanservice, and it contains a lot. Like, I might even be able to make an entire movie out of all the fanservice scenes. If you can look past the fanservice, please, do watch this anime! You will surely not regret it.   5. Shakugan no Shana (III) - I specifically put III behind it. The first season was alright, but it didn't hook me at all. The second season was good, but the first half felt like an identity crisis. Like, it felt like some kind of High School Romance anime, while I doubt that was the genre the franchise was aiming for in the first place. Fortunately the final season just kicks the previous seasons out of the competition and finishes the anime off well. The only real flaw with the final season is that it introduced WAY too many characters, with not too much (or just no) backstory. I can't tell you how many, but I suppose 25 characters is a fair guess. And believe me, that's A LOT considering they got very few development. But that really is the only flaw I can come up with.   4. Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica - Know that anime where you have expectations, and then just throws all of your expectations out of the window? That's Madoka Magica in a nutshell. You might expect some cutesy magic girl anime, but you will be proved so wrong. Soo wrong. This is probably one of the deepest animes I have watched so far, while still having a good story with great characters. Yeah, Madoka Magica has NO bad characters. Well, I would argue that Kyubey is a massive a**hole, but he is well developed. Kyoko is by far my favorite character in the anime.   3. Magi: the Labyrinth and Kingdom of Magic - An anime I have only finished not so long ago, but one that has impressed me a lot. The first season was great, but the second season was even better. Good action, story and characters. I can't wait to see what else this anime has in stock in future seasons (because, considering it's popularity, the chance of another season is pretty big).   2. To aru Kagaku no Railgun S - The spin-off anime of the anime with my signature girl in it! Got that? Okay, good. You know these spin-offs that become more popular than their main series? Persona is a good example. Well, Railgun technically does the same. The first season was good, but couldn't compare to the second anime. The original anime tackled the Sister's Arc, and so did Railgun. But it improved on it so massively, that it just made the entire anime. We get to see the situation through the viewpoint of the main heroine Misaka Mikoto, and one of the greatest fights in anime ever, between her and the villainous team ITEM. At first I was expecting the anime to be some kind of Gundam one, due to the opening. And I'm so glad the anime proved me wrong. If you want to watch this, I would recommend watching it like this: Index > Railgun > Index 2 > Railgun 2. Or just Index first, and then Railgun.   Honorable mentions: Sword Art Online II, Log Horizon, To Aru Majutsu no Index   1. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - People who have known me for longer should have expecting nothing else than Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood to take the top spot. And rightfully so. In this world, there really isn't anything that can be described as perfect when it comes to fictional media. But Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood comes pretty close. The original was good too, but the ending didn't really satisfy me. The feeling of having literally every character be important to the plot, while at the same time giving all of them development is impressive. And I didn't even mention the amount of feels I received throughout the entire anime. The action was there, and the story kept engaging me. Almost every episode had a cliffhanger, and I have no shame to admit that I couldn't stop watching. Overall, my favorite anime ever, which I doubt will ever be topped.   And that is the first official top 10 on here. Hopefully you get an idea what this section is about, and I'm looking forward to all of your lists!

It works regularly on my phone. Have you tried zooming out and/or refresh the page?

Pokemon Omega Ruby - ...I don't know. I'm going to be really honest here. Omega Ruby is a good game, probably even the best pokemon game ever created (though I will always prefer Platinum). Still, I couldn't like it as much as I wanted to. Probably I've finally reached the point where I just don't care for Pokemon anymore? Listed a few reasons below as to what held me back from finishing OR: The game was too easy. Literally none of my Pokemon has been koed throughout the entire journey, except for when I wanted to or just didn't prepare and went into battle regardless, but those were faults on my side. When I was playing seriously, no pokemon has been koed whatsoever. I mean, it's a step up from X and Y with it's stupid trainer limit (3 pokemon gym leader, 4 elite four and 5 champion), but it was still way too easy. I really think pokemon could benefit from either a New Game+ mode or just hard mode in general. Or I just had an extremely powerful team, because I did. It's a remake. Sounds weird, but I have been to Hoenn a lot of times. Probably more than any other region. That may also be the reason why I couldn't like OR as much as I wanted to: I've just been here too many times. The journey as a result felt more like a drag, as I also avoided most trainer battles towards the end just because I wanted to finish this game. Probably just done with Pokemon overall. I've tried to play Black 2 and while I could see it's superiority over the original, I stopped playing and didn't look back. The same case with hacks, unless they really stood out. I tried playing a few hacks but I quit pretty fast. I could list a few reasons, like the absense of the Battle Frontier, and many newly added stuff from X and Y, but eh. Don't get me wrong, I still like OR and I'm definitely excited to try out the Delta Episode, but I fear that the franchise and me are indeed growing apart. I have no doubts that I will purchase and play any future pokemon games, though I'm not as excited anymore as I used to be. And believe me, Pokemon used to be my favorite franchise when I was a kid so.. Hai.

Legend of Grimrock - I've played my first-person dungeon exploration crawlers whatever in my life, but it's been a long time since I actually took my time and sit down for one. Hence, I had trouble with Legend of Grimrock at first, but it's much better now that I know what I'm doing and since I found some secretz. I didn't customize my characters for this playthrough though. I know I probably should've but eh, I don't mind. Dungeon crawlers have always been a pleasure of mine, so I'm going to have fun with this one. Though I really need to learn using the keyboard more.. I'm currently using keyboard and mouse, though I'm very certain that my attacks would be much faster if I knew what buttons to press.

Happy birthday my big brother!