newtmonkey

@Austin I played through Illusion of Gaia for the first time somewhat recently, and really liked it! It's indeed very linear, but I liked how it mixed real and fantasy environments, and I found the story to be quite endearing and well-told. It's a game I never got into back in the day, so it ended up being a very pleasant surprise. It has a great soundtrack too (just reading the title brings to mind several tracks). I actually had Stunt Race FX back in the day, but I don't think I fully appreciated it for what it was back then. It seemed so slow and jerky compared with F-Zero, but I remember thinking how cool it was to go up and down hills in a racing game. Having played it recently, I think it's a decent game that's slightly hampered by the hardware, but still very playable and enjoyable once you get into it.

Nice! I hope you enjoy it. You've got some very good games there... I especially like Rampage on the Lynx. I got into the Lynx just a couple years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised with the nice screen (totally playable today imo) and game library. It's a system I think I would have been disappointed with back in the day (not a lot of side scrollers or RPGs), but I really appreciate it today. I think my favorite game on the system now is Toki, which looks, sounds, and plays great on the system.

Phantasy Star II I went through the crevice and then went and completed the first of the dungeons that appear after that, and found my first two pieces of Nei equipment. Like the dams, you can go through them in any order. I'm sure there's an intended progression through them, but it's nice to have the freedom to explore any of them... if you get annoyed with one dungeon, put it aside and explore another one. This game is pretty awesome, honestly. There's a somewhat lengthy section a few hours in where the game is a total slog, but once you get through that the game becomes a lot of fun. My only real complaint so far is that the soundtrack, while good, is very repetitive and samey... though part of that is due to the overbearing snare drum instrument in the Japanese version (wisely changed in the US release).

@RetroSonicHero Do it! Every time I pull out my old PSone from the closet and hook it up, I end up addicted for weeks. Such a great library of games. FF8 and FF9 are both worth playing through imo.

Interestingly, this is actually a review of an 85% complete prototype of the outsourced SFII: CE that Capcom ultimately scrapped in favor of their in-house-developed SFII: SCE (though the review doesn't mention it of course). They fess up in the next issue.

Phantasy Star II I completed the green dam dungeon, and got whisked away to space jail. After escaping, I explored a big maze (not too bad by PSII standards) and finally ended up on the second planet. I explored this quite a bit to seek out towns and upgrade my stuff; even without grinding, I actually had more than enough cash to get everything I needed, which was nice. The next step seems to be to explore a crevice near one of the towns. I'm probably going to stick with my current party to the end (Hunter, Huntress, Medic). The robot enemies aren't too bad at all even without the techs that damage them. Medic is pretty useless, but I think she's the least useless of the remaining characters, because she's got some nice utility techs (and great healing spells useful in an emergency).

VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (1993) I finished reading through the 1993 issues of this mag. Although Aug 1993 was the final issue of this magazine, it did continue the following month as VideoGames - The Ultimate Gaming Magazine, though by this point it was pretty much a completely different mag (the core team of Eddy/Katz/Kunkel/Worley was gone, and they not only dropped PC game coverage, but injected a lot of 90s attitude.. including a completely embarrassing editorial that definitely reads like a grown man trying to sound hip and with it). So I'm not gonna bother continuing with the successor mag. --- This magazine had a lot of problems, but I'm sad to see it go. It had a pleasant layout and nice screenshots, and when they managed to get the right person reviewing the right game, their console game reviews were quite good. Their PC game reviews were mostly excellent, though the quality for even this content began to really slip in '92 and especially in '93. --- My biggest problem with the magazine is their poor selection of reviewers. Several of their reviewers couldn't tell a good platformer, shooter, or beat'em up from a bad one, which is absolutely insane for someone professionally reviewing console games in the early 90s. Instead, they would just go on and on about meaningless stuff like how funny they thought the animation was when the character stood still, or how great the digitized voice was, but not mention anything about level design, play control, difficulty, or whatever. The problem is that this was true for several of their regular reviewers! This would lead to absolute nonsense like their review describing unparalleled masterpiece Contra III: The Alien Wars as a mediocre side scroller that's just Contra with nicer graphics, but then turning around and praising the absolutely dire Dragon's Lair (SNES). Yes, they were different reviewers, but this is not GameFAQs where everything goes... you need to exert some editorial control so that people can actually trust your reviews. Imagine being the kid that passed on Contra III to pick up Dragon's Lair, thanks to VG&CE. They also had one reviewer in particular, Howard Wen, who seems completely miserable in every single one of his tedious, sarcastic reviews. The guy comes off as hating every game he plays, even those he scores highly, because he just goes on an on about how dumb the story is, and how he's reviewing yet another platformer/shooter/beat'em up. His reviews are honestly a complete waste of space, and it's unbelievable that he was one of their main reviewers.

Regardless of who it is, there's a lot of misinformation in those comments. Depending on who you ask at Capcom, the chain combos were either unintentional but left in because they were fun (most interviews with Capcom that I've read), or were designed to be there from the start (Ichiro Mihara Capcom/Arika, who was also involved in developing the MD version of SF2CE). Some of the commenters mention that the "bug" was removed in later versions of SF, in some kind of attempt to claim that the SFC SF2 is the definitive version of the game (even over the arcade version). However, as the article itself even mentions, the chain combos were actually kept on all the CPS1 SF games (SF2, CE, HF) but removed starting with SSF2, which revamped a lot of the mechanics and introduced a similar but different combo system (renda/kara cancels). Surely, if Capcom wanted the "bug" fixed, they would have removed it before release, during a minor update, or in CE/HF arcade.

Phantasy Star II I completed the red, yellow, and blue dam dungeons. These were actually pretty decent, with somewhat sensible layouts but still pleasantly mazelike. They were also full of crazy powerful equipment, so it was definitely worth thoroughly searching around in them. The combat has started to get a bit tactical, since you run into some heavily armored robots that are heavily resistant to bladed weapons (what's even better is that these robots even look heavily armored, so there's no need to guess). I'm still using Hunter, Huntress, and Medic. Medic is kind of worthless at this point. She has the best healing spells, but she doesn't have many TPs and on top of that has the lowest speed stat in the party, so she always goes dead last in combat. I'm almost tempted to replace her with a bunch of trimates and use Thief or Engineer in her place; they can use the same in-combat items as anyone, but have other benefits (Thief: really high speed stat, Engineer: Unique techs for destroying robots). Not sure yet.

Phantasy Star II I finally completed the undersea lab. It turns out I had mostly completed it on my last save (which got corrupted)... so once I got back to that point, it didn't take too long to finish it. This dungeon contains the first boss encounter in the game, and it was surprisingly easy for my party (hero, hunter, huntress). Once you defeat the boss, all the random encounters become robots. I was tempted to use the one guy who has techniques useful against robots, but it turns out that my party already does plenty of damage to robots with their weapons... so I just added the medic back to my party. I have her with two shields equipped and she just defends every battle, so I am using her as a dedicated healer (and occasional buffer). Next up was a dungeon that is there solely to waste your time. The control tower has just two levels, but something like 50+ elevators on each level, most of which just lead to dead ends. Outside of the mandatory quest items, there isn't even any loot to find! Next up is the four dams, which apparently can be done in any order. Although I have a lot of complaints about this game, I do appreciate some things about it, especially after completing a string of mediocre or worse RPGs on the PC Engine. The combat is pretty mindless in PS2, but you do have to pay attention, and the game defaulting to auto battle actually works pretty well. I also like that the dungeons are not just linear paths to boss encounters... they are mazelike and your goal is often to find some quest item instead. It also doesn't have the dull "town>dungeon>boss>town2... etc." structure that a LOT of 16-bit console RPGs have, which is a nice change of pace.

@Tanooki Thanks! I took a look and it seems like this is exactly what I'm looking for! It has the maps, but nothing is labeled, so you actually have to find the treasures, etc. yourself. I actually have the Japanese version complete in box, but all it comes with is a manual and a map of the first world with spells and items listed on the back.

On a lark, I tried using a cheap SCART-to-composite converter to see if converting SCART RGB to composite would look better than the composite out of the stock MD. It's one of these devices: Sadly, it doesn't seem to work at all, and I just get a black screen. I know these are not really meant for games, so I'm not too surprised. Oh well! --- Phantasy Star II I mentioned earlier that my save had somehow got corrupted, but that I thankfully had a backup saved on my PC. I only lost a bit of progress, and tonight in just an hour of playing I was able to get back to where I left off. I'm seriously considering just downloading the dungeon maps for this game, instead of drawing them myself. The game doesn't really have any mapping challenges like in Dungeon Master or Wizardry or the like, so I don't really get anything out of drawing maps... they're just giant and extremely annoying map. I think what I will probably do is just refer to some maps online to get my bearings as I explore naturally, and then maybe check them once I clear the dungeon to see if I missed anything. That would give me the experience of exploring the dungeons, without the start-stop annoyance of having to draw these frustratingly empty yet cluttered dungeons. I've somewhat cooled on this game. There is basically nothing to the combat. Enemies are just HP sponges that smack you, and it's very rare for an enemy to use any special attack at all. You have all these cool characters to choose from, but nearly half of them are useless or at least so situational that they are nearly useless. You have a ton of techniques, but very few technique points and no way (normally) to recover TPs outside of town... so forget about using techniques in any of the massive dungeons. There's still something very intriguing about PS2, possibly just the cool late 80s/early 90s anime art that reminds me of stumbling upon stuff like Vampire Hunter D and Robot Carnival on TV late at night and being awestruck at how cool and weird it was.

GamePro (1990) I finished reading through the 1990 issues of this mag and, believe it or not, it actually makes some impressive improvements over the year. The writing and layout are still just as good as they were from the first issue... but 1990 is pretty much the year that the magazine becomes "GamePro" as they introduce the famous GamePro rating system late in the year, and in the final issue of the year they start adding the famous GamePro "character" reviewers (such as Slasher Quan and Abby Normal). Having finally added a rating system, the mag actually starts to introduce some criticism in their "Proviews." Yes, a lot of the text is just mind numbingly dull stage by stage descriptions or lists of enemies and powerups, but you are starting to get some actual content worth reading toward the end of 1990. Even more shockingly, I find myself agreeing with a lot of their reviews so far. Reading their RPG reviews is a treat, because their reviewers come off as understanding and liking the genre, and rate the games accordingly. It's completely bizarre to read GamePro of all things (rightfully) going on and on about how awesome Wizardry and Ultima: Quest of the Avatar are, when most of the other multiformat mags simply detested RPGs. One thing I appreciate about this magazine is that the editor will bring up some topic in his editorial each issue, and then the letter column the following issue will be mostly devoted to readers giving their opinions on that topic. It gives the magazine a sense of community, in a way. My cutoff point for GamePro is 1996, so I still have many issues to go... but I've been pleasantly surprised with the 1990 issues. Hopefully the mag will continue to improve.

Phantasy Star II Disaster struck! I don't know how it happened (I'm playing on an Everdrive, not a PS2 cart)... but I started the game tonight and was met with the dreaded corrupted save error; sure enough, all the files were now blank. Thankfully, I had backed the save up earlier this year when I switched from a Mega SG to the Everdrive, so I only lost a few hours of progress. I'll have to be sure to back my save up now and then going forward.

Live A Live (Super Famicom) Live A Live has you selecting from one of seven characters, each with his own unique scenario. The scenarios themselves are quite short (ranging from 10-15 minutes at the shortest to several hours at the longest), but each has its own quirks and game mechanics: Pogo the caveman: This takes place before humans invented language, so the story is told through gestures and pictures. It's otherwise a pretty standard RPG. Oboromaru the ninja: You have to infiltrate a massive castle and take out its lord. The cool thing about this scenario is that you have multiple paths through the castle, and can choose to kill everyone, sneak your way through, or a mix of both. Master of Shinzanken style kung fu: The quirk here is that you're an aged martial artist who must choose one of three pupils as his successor. Quite short and mostly just fighting, but pretty fun. Sundown Kid the cowboy: You have to defend a town against bandits, but instead of going around dueling them, you have to set traps up all over town. There's not much to this one, but it's a nice change of pace. Masaru Takahara the martial artist: This is basically a turn-based version of Street Fighter II. It's kind of cool at first, but doesn't really work imo. It's definitely the shortest scenario. Akira the psychic: This is a pretty standard RPG, but the quirk is that you're a weak guy with psychic powers, but get increasingly powerful as you learn new powers. It ends with a giant robot fight. Cube the robot: This is mostly an adventure game where you just have to explore a spaceship and follow the story. It's a good story, though. It's a refreshing approach to an RPG, because each scenario was designed to be completed in a single day. You can just pop in, complete a scenario, and then put the game down for another day. Once you complete all of these you start the seventh scenario, which is a very typical RPG story taking place in a fantasy medieval world (Oersted the knight). It has a cool story twist, though... and then you're off to the final scenario, where you get to create a party of your four most favorite characters from the other scenarios and explore the world to find awesome equipment. Each character has a unique dungeon to explore with an ultimate weapon at the end, and each dungeon has its own gimmick (puzzles, time limit, etc.). It has a turn-based combat system, with battles taking place on a grid. Each character has a variety of moves that can be used as much as you want, each with its own special effects and range. The more powerful moves tend to take longer to do, so it's important to keep in mind exactly what each attack does. You can run from pretty much any fight at any time (other than bosses), and also get healed up to max HP in between battles... so instead of conserving resources like in most RPGs, you are actually better off doing everything and anything you can to win each battle. What a game! I became quite addicted to this, and would rank it right up there with Square's best on the SFC. Highly recommended!

Live A Live Finished! As I mentioned earlier, the final scenario has you selecting one of the heroes from the previous scenarios as your main character. You're then tasked with tracking everyone else down and getting them to join you. From there, you're free to explore the (very tiny) world and figure out what to do. The best thing about this world is that each of the characters has his or her own unique dungeon to explore in order to find their ultimate weapon. Each dungeon has its own quirk, and they are a lot of fun to explore. The game actually has several endings depending on choices you make at the beginning and end of the final scenario, with the best ending requiring the most effort. What a great RPG! I had a blast with this one, and I'd rank it right up there with Square's best. I'm actually looking forward to playing the remaster, though probably not for a while.

Computer Game Review and CD-ROM Entertainment (1992) I think this mag is not known very well today, but it's a PC gaming magazine published by Sendai (yes, the EGM guys... and the overall layout is very similar to 90s EGM). The quality of the writing is generally better than EGM, but still below other mags of the day. They review a LOT of games each issue, and while they clearly don't play each game to completion (they often mention this in their reviews), it does feel like they play the games enough to form a valid opinion. Other than reviews and news, the rest of the mag is usually devoted to a few somewhat in-depth strategy articles, mostly for RPGs, or strategy/sim games. Anyway, I completed reading through the 1992 issues, and so far I still like this mag. Their reviews are really too short to be of any use, but they're good for what they are, and I find their scores to be pretty much right on the money (with the exception of their review of Wizardry VII, a beloved RPG classic that even their RPG fans inexplicably didn't like). In a shocking twist, much of the core team of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (Arnie Katz, Joyce Worley, Bill Kunkel aka The Game Doctor) left that mag to write for this mag partway through 1992. It's nice to see The Game Doctor in this mag, and I assume Joyce Worley was mostly working behind the scenes because I didn't notice any articles by her. Arnie Katz brings his bizarre fixation/misunderstanding about CD-ROM technology to the mag, which feels completely out of place. He's still going on and on about the promise of the truly interactive FMV that the CD-i and 3D0 will (somehow?) bring to gaming, even as the other editors/reviewers (who seem to know better) continue to savage the barely interactive CD garbage that was starting to be released. Hell, even Katz himself in his column reviewing so-called "CD-ROM entertainment" struggles to come up with anything good to say about the digital comics and encyclopedias being released.

I think most people can agree that the SFC/SNES and PS1 are at the top of the list, due to the sheer quantity and variety of RPGs on those consoles. I'd also rank the Switch up there, which brought console RPGs back to glory after years of the genre being mostly ignored (or worse, developed for creepy perverts desperate for anime boobs). However, I'd personally rank the NES/FC right up there, simply for having the first three Final Fantasy games, first four Dragon Quest games, and Mother, which are all excellent games (many of them 5/5 of classics imo). It's also got several good-to-excellent ports from classic computer RPG series, such as Wizardry, Might & Magic, The Bard's Tale, and Ultima (excluding the horrible port of Warriors of Destiny), so you could argue that it trumps even the mighty SFC/SNES in variety. I'd probably rank the PC Engine next; it has a TON of RPGs, but many of them are at best mediocre in my experience.

Thank you @KulorXL for trying to help.

I'm still working my way chronologically through a bunch of old mags: GamePro (1990) I've read up through the August issue, and this magazine is still a bit of a drag. It looks great, the screenshots are surprisingly nice, and the writing is fine. However, the magazine has yet to add its infamous rating system yet, and the "proviews" provide no criticism. These make up most of the content of the mag, so it's basically just a bunch of wasted space. Making things worse, the magazine started introducing some 'tude halfway through the year, so now you have (I assume) grown men writing about how "totally rad" some game is or whatever. Embarrassing. EGM (1991) I completed the run of 1991 issues, and at this point the mag is getting really good. Awesome layouts, tons of detailed coverage of import (Japanese) games, and just a ton of fun to flip through even today. The writing started to improve halfway through the year, though the reviews are still written very poorly. Computer Gaming World (1984) I've now read up to the June issue, and the magazine is getting both better and worse. Better in that there is a greater variety of games covered (earlier issues were almost completely devoted to wargames, mirroring what was available for computer games at the time)... but worse in that you are getting some really garbage reviews now that spend paragraph after paragraph trying to be funny without actually talking about the game at all. For example, David P. Stone's review of Bruce Lee, a side scrolling platform game, starts with four full paragraphs of complete nonsense ("I don't know what 'martial arts' is... [but] it delivers all the... action-packed adventure you'd expect from a... martial arts movie") with plenty of what I assume was meant as comedic asides delivered in parentheses... but even though the review takes up most of an entire page, you really get no idea of how the game actually plays. I could only understand what he was saying, because I have actually played this game! It defeats the purpose of a review. I've enjoyed this magazine until now, so I hope this is just some kind of growing pains, or maybe a bad batch of reviewers or something.

Live A Live I played through the medieval scenario ("Oersted") in one sitting last night. It's probably the most conventional scenario in the game, as it takes place a fantasy kingdom and has you gathering a party to defeat the demon that stole your fiancée, the princess of the kingdom. It of course uses the standard Live A Live combat engine, so it's a bit more tactical than your typical RPG. It's also by far the most difficult scenario thus far, but not too bad if you pay attention (I didn't have to grind at all). There are some cool twists. Instead of sending the last hope of the kingdom out with clothes and a wooden stick like in most RPGs, you're allowed to take anything you need from the castle, so you start out fully decked out in awesome stuff. All the upgrades you find are from random drops or treasure chest. There's also a very cool twist at the end, which I won't spoil. Anyway, this was a lot of fun! Next up is the final scenario, where you get to pick any of the heroes from the previous scenarios as your main character, and then have to go around finding everyone else to select three other heroes for your final party. Should be fun!

Live A Live I cleared the "sci fi" scenario (Cube). This was pretty much exactly what I expected... a very linear "adventure" game where you just have to go to certain rooms, talk to certain people, and press certain buttons in a very specific order. Having said that, the scenario doesn't really require you to figure anything out, other than learning the layout of the (pretty small) spaceship you're on, because you're almost always told exactly where to go. That's good, because there's nothing worse than a super linear game that still gives you the illusion of freedom. Anyway, the story ended up being pretty fun with some nice twists, and I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. After completing the first seven scenarios, you unlock an additional scenario that takes place in your typical medieval fantasy world and plays a lot like a standard RPG. So that's up next.

Live A Live Tonight I played through the near future chapter (Akira). I was dreading playing through this one, as I remember giving it a try years ago and not liking it for some reason... but it ended up being a really fun scenario! This is basically a Japanese superhero story, complete with a gang of masked criminals terrorizing a small town (including an orphanage). The twist is that your character is sort of the side kick of the actual badass hero... but you have psychic powers and become increasingly powerful as the game goes on. It is probably the most conventional RPG-like scenario in the game. You have a tiny world map to explore with a handful of locations to discover, random encounters (visible on the map), and your party of heroes grows as the story progresses. Instead of a store, you find all of your equipment, either in locations or dropped from enemies, but after a certain point can upgrade your stuff for free... meanwhile, you gain more and more psychic abilities (basically spells) as you level up. It's one of the longer scenarios in the game, but it's still only a few hours long at the most. Next up will the "sci fi" scenario (Cube). I've read that this is more of an adventure game than anything, so I'm not really looking forward to it... I'm foreseeing lots of "go here, talk to this guy, go there press that button, then go back to there and talk to this girl, etc." so I'll probably just follow a walkthrough for this one and enjoy the story.

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction I finished Diablo II (w/o expansion) earlier this year, and went away somewhat disappointed. I found the "field" maps to be too big and empty, and several areas were full of tiny, fast enemies that would constantly run away from you, forcing you to chase them down. I was therefore even more disappointed to find that LoD is basically just more of this. The outdoor maps just seem to go on and on and on, with you fighting the same two or three monsters constantly. Even worse, character development just ceased to exist. I leveled up quite a few times, but adding points to my attributes and skills basically had no effect whatsoever. Enemies and chests dropped mostly normal and magic loot, while I was running around decked out in unique stuff that I had found in the base game. I found upgrades only for my belt and amulet. It wasn't all bad though. It looks and sounds great (supports EAX!), though the soundtrack is very forgettable. I found it to be far more challenging than the base game, though it was still quite easy on the default difficulty level. I have zero intention of playing Diablo IV due to it being always online, so with this I'm now done with the series. I thought that the series got worse with each game, honestly: D1>D2>D3. Brief thoughts on the series: Diablo Feels a lot like a mix of a survival horror game and a true Roguelike, and is over before the formula gets stale. I like how your "build" is determined mostly by what you manage to find, so that you just have to make do with what the game gives you. It's a pretty tough game, but not frustrating. It also has the best atmosphere (especially music) by far in the series. It's interesting that we call other hack and slash RPGs "Diablo-clones" because they really play nothing like this game; it would be more accurate to call them "Diablo II-clones." Diablo II A mostly fun time, but it's way too long for what it offers (especially if including the LoD expansion). It is extremely easy on the default difficulty level. The bigger issue is that the game has a lot of massive empty maps full of annoying, fast, little enemies that constantly run in to poke at you and then run away, forcing you to chase them down. Tedious. It's a great looking game (the perspective option does a very convincing job of making this 2D game look 3D), but the atmosphere is a bit lacking compared to the first game. Diablo III The game is unbelievably easy; I started on Normal but it was rare indeed to see my health drop down to 80%... so I took the difficulty up to Master, and still had no problem at all. The game also does away with the concept of "builds" as your character is mostly defined by his equipment. I do like that they tried to change things up with this, but I don't think the implementation was good. The atmosphere is completely gone by this point, and what's worse is that the game has some of the worst writing and dialog I've even experienced in a game. Saturday morning cartoon level stuff.

GamePro (1989) I finished the first year of this mag just now. Everything but the writing is actually excellent; it's a very professional looking mag even from the very first issue, with a pleasing layout and great screenshots. It also covers a ton of games each issue, and in some impressive depth. I came away with the impression that the reviewers actually completed the games they were writing about (though it's certainly possible they were using cheat codes to skip through the games). They cover so many games, in fact, that they end up covering games no other magazine at the time would touch. What other mag would devote two full pages to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and actually describe in some detail how to actually play it? One very weird thing about this mag during the first year is that it's clearly written for kids, but then they'll have a 1-2 page interview with some marketing executive at Taito or Acclaim or something. What is the audience for this kind of stuff? The writing is just awful though. Don't get me wrong; it's actually written very competently. However, the majority of the content is "proviews" which are supposed to be reviews, but are just dry level-by-level descriptions of the game in question. It is so tedious to read this stuff. "Level one is in the forest. Dodge the birds and bears! Then it's off to level two, which is in the castle. Watch out for rocks and goblins! Level three is in a space station. Don't let the aliens take you down!" They don't even really review the games at this point (they would add their iconic face rating system in 1990). It's not even worth reading out of nostalgia at this point, but I did skip ahead a bit and skim future issues, and the magazine does actually improve quite a bit... so I'm looking forward to the 1990 issues.