Sonic The Hedgehog is an important fictional character in my life, for a variety of reasons. First, my first experience, and love with video games came with Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 in the late 1980s when I was the age that my son is now (4 years old). My chance encounter…
Throwback Bit Thursday
Throwback Bit Thursday is a weekly Thursday feature on Never Ending Realm. Read all of NER’s #TBT articles here!
Throwback Bit Thursday: Can Star Ocean Make a Return to Glory?
The Star Ocean series is a bit hard to discuss for me. On one hand, I consider Star Ocean: The 2nd Story one of the very best JRPGs that can be played, even today. On the other, starting with the The Last Hope (some would say since the “Till the End of Time“), the series…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Quest 64
The Nintendo 64 was not known for its RPGs. While it’s best three are some of the greatest games of all time (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber), apart from those, all that we are left with is Quest 64,…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Game for Game, The Legend of Zelda is my favorite video gaming series. I don’t think I have ever handed out as many 10/10, and 9.5/10 to as many games in any other series. My favorite game of all time is a Zelda game (Ocarina of Time). My favorite gaming universe of all time is…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Rogue Galaxy
At this point, Level-5 is a legendary (as far as J-RPG development is concerned) developer. The Team is responsible for the Dark Cloud series, The Ni No Kuni series, Rogue Galaxy, and Dragon Quest VIII (among other titles). Today, I have decided to take a look back at Rogue Galaxy, Level-5’s last PlayStation 2 epic….
Throwback Bit Thursday: Infinite Undiscovery
This week, I listed the top 5 JRPGs for the Xbox 360 according to critics. Fans were in disagreement over the list, pointing to Lost Odyssey’s omission (though I clearly felt it should have overtaken FFXIII), and other misses such as, the weirdly named, Infinite Undiscovery. Unfortunately, Infinite Undiscovery fell through the cracks. It was…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Kingdom Hearts
No one should question how great the Disney/Squaresoft Kingdom Hearts union has been, at least commercially. After 32+ million units sold (as of 2019), Kingdom Hearts, as a franchise, is one of the biggest names in the industry. I Wasn’t Big on the Union At First Truth be told, as a child, I wasn’t a…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Breath of Fire IV
Breath of Fire III is often remembered (perhaps, rightfully) as the more legendary game of the pair of PlayStation entries in this series. However, I truly found myself enjoying, for the most part, Breath of Fire IV. A Mid Tier RPG? One of the reasons why I enjoyed Breath of the Fire IV, is that…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Tales of Graces F
Tonight (or tomorrow morning) those of us who pre-ordered Tales of Arise should be able to download, or pick up a copy of the game at stores. It is currently holding an 87 Metacritic rating, thus it might be the best Tales game since Tales of Vesperia. Knowing this, there is no better Thursday to…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Record of Lodoss War: Advent of Cardice
The Record of Lodoss War: Advent of Cardice was a strange title for me. I purchased it went it first came out, but I was about 16 years old then, and was disappointed by its graphics, the fact that it didn’t play like the J-RPGs that I had become accustomed to playing, and the allure…