Tales of Vesperia is my favorite Tales game ever. After more than a decade without making a serious run through the game, I decided to give it another try last week. Basically, playing older JRPGs is difficult for me these days, because if I already know how the story ends, I quickly lose interest in…
Opinion
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Games That Will Cost You a Kidney: Alundra
Editor’s Note: We have read your comments from our previous “Games That Will Cost You a Kidney” features, and most have been positive, and thoughtful. However, some of our readers have complained that a few of these games “do not cost a literal kidney” because they could be found for much less than $600 in…
The Best Games of 2004 According to GameRankings
2004 was a star-studded year in gaming. The year is competitive with 1998 in terms of high-quality games. With this in mind, many great games missed the top ten listing. Games such as The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, NFL 2K5, and Doom 3 all missed the cut. As always, we rarely consider…
Games That Will Cost You a Kidney: Suikoden II
Konami’s Suikoden is a respected franchise within the Japanese role-playing game genre. The series has been dead in the west for about a decade and a half as its last title Suikoden V was release in 2006 to little fanfare. As it often happens with dead role-playing game series, its older titles gain monetary…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Alundra is a Grown Up’s Zelda Game
This week as I continued to play Elden Ring, I began to look back at what games were tough, or tougher than Japan’s newest poster boy. Some of the 2-D Castlevania games were very difficult. Even Castlevania 64 was quite challenging if you went for the good ending. Castlevania 64 in particular did not…
The Best Games of 2003 According to GameRankings
If 2002 was a hallmark year for the Nintendo GameCube, then 2003 was an amazing year for Xbox owners. Out of the ten best games (as rated by critics), 4 were Xbox releases and only 2 were PS2 titles. At this point, Xbox games had started to surpass other consoles in terms of visuals and…
Games That Will Cost You a Kidney: Skies of Arcadia
The Dreamcast’s greatest Japanese role-playing game, and perhaps the best JRPG of the 2000s, is not as costly as other entries on this weekly series. However, purchasing a working copy (with case and booklets) of Skies of Arcadia remains a considerable investment in both of its versions. Skies of Arcadia the Greatest JRPG of…
TGIF: Looking Back at Horizon Zero Dawn
I never wrote an official review for Horizon Zero Dawn. So, this piece will stand as my “official” take on what I consider to be my 2nd (behind The Last of Us) favorite newest franchise of the last 10 years. To be fair, in terms of a single story driven playthrough, I might have enjoyed Horizon…
The Best Games of 2002 According to GameRankings
2002 will forever be remembered as the year of the GameCube. Nintendo’s little purple box received two of the greatest games of all time in Metroid Prime and its “next gen” Mario entry. The PC platform makes a return with a few games, and Grand Theft Auto continues its rise in popularity and critical acclaim….
Games That Will Cost You A Kidney: Tales of Destiny
It could be said that Namco’s Tales series might have reached its zenith in terms of popularity last year with Tales of Arise (2 million units sold to date). However, what perhaps remains the franchise’s most valuable game is a 25-year-old entry. 1997’s (1998 in the U.S.) Tales of Destiny is a game that will…