Timedye
1986
Castlevania is a fun game, and it's the one that started it all for this franchise... but it has some serious balancing issues, especially in the final couple of stages.
I grew up on the Castlevania series, and in particular I LOVED Aria of Sorrow. So when IGA left Konami and decided to make his own Castlevania with blackjack and hookers, I was totally down for the experience.
If you enjoy the Metroidvania genre, and in particular grew up on Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, Bloodstained is 100% a love letter to you. Play it.
If you enjoy the Metroidvania genre, and in particular grew up on Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, Bloodstained is 100% a love letter to you. Play it.
2022
Infernax is a great love-letter to franchises like Castlevania and Contra. If you enjoy those old school NES titles, you owe it to yourself to give this game a try.
It took me about 18 hours to Platinum the game on PS5, and it was worth every minute.
It took me about 18 hours to Platinum the game on PS5, and it was worth every minute.
1992
Soul Blazer is a serviceable action RPG in the same vein as The Legend of Zelda, with elements of ActRaiser sprinkled in for good measure (not surprising, as it was made by the same people).
You may be wondering why I've given it a 10 out of 10 rating, and why it shows up on my profile with the Gold Star.
I'm biased, because it's one of the games that I grew up playing on original hardware decades ago. As a result, it's my favorite game ever made.
Doesn't matter what faults it may or may not have, what could have been done better, and so on. This is THAT game for me; the game that made me a gamer in my youth, and ensured that I'm still playing games all these years later.
I love Soul Blazer, and I always will.
You may be wondering why I've given it a 10 out of 10 rating, and why it shows up on my profile with the Gold Star.
I'm biased, because it's one of the games that I grew up playing on original hardware decades ago. As a result, it's my favorite game ever made.
Doesn't matter what faults it may or may not have, what could have been done better, and so on. This is THAT game for me; the game that made me a gamer in my youth, and ensured that I'm still playing games all these years later.
I love Soul Blazer, and I always will.
Final Fantasy VIII was greatly underrated when it released in 1999. It's not a perfect game by any means, and there are aspects of the story that feel rushed, but it's a solid JRPG with interesting mechanics and a cast that I really grew to love when I first played it all those years ago.
I've given the game an 8 out of 10, but this version has a few issues that I feel need to be mentioned: I experienced a couple of instances of the game crashing when using the Tonberry summon, and the lack of the game's native analog controls from the original PS1 release is a real nuisance. It causes thumb stick controls to feel weird, and there are a lot of areas you have to zig zag your way through because the 8 point directional movement does not allow for seamless movement.
But the quality of life features (like 3x speed and toggling off combat) really helps save time. According to my PS4, I've put 69 hours into the game, and I managed to earn the platinum trophy.
Well worth playing, despite some modern port shortcomings.
I've given the game an 8 out of 10, but this version has a few issues that I feel need to be mentioned: I experienced a couple of instances of the game crashing when using the Tonberry summon, and the lack of the game's native analog controls from the original PS1 release is a real nuisance. It causes thumb stick controls to feel weird, and there are a lot of areas you have to zig zag your way through because the 8 point directional movement does not allow for seamless movement.
But the quality of life features (like 3x speed and toggling off combat) really helps save time. According to my PS4, I've put 69 hours into the game, and I managed to earn the platinum trophy.
Well worth playing, despite some modern port shortcomings.