Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was released on July 11th, 2001 and directed by Final Fantasy legend Hironobu Sakaguchi. The movie would ultimately lead to Sakaguchi’s departure from Square and the eventual end of Square itself. I remember seeing Spirits Within in the theater in 2001. I was about 13 and being a huge fan of…
Category: 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: Final Fantasy VIIÂ
 There is not much more that I can say about Final Fantasy VII that has not already been said. If you want an in-depth, modern review of the game, checkout my review for the HD Remaster here. On the other hand, if you want a quick recount of my earliest, and fondest memories of…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Knights of the Old Republic
Let’s get this out of the way: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the best Star Wars video game that I have ever played. A full blown RPG set in the Star Wars universe thousands of years before the three prequels’ saga took place. One of the selling points of the game, as…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Working Designs
Last month, on December 12th to be exact, marked the 15th anniversary of Working Designs’ defunction. For those of you unfamiliar with the company, Working Designs was an American publisher that brought over Japanese games to the States. Most of these Japanese games were role-playing games that otherwise would have never made it to our…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time
I have been a fan of the Star Ocean series since Star Ocean (2): The Second Story on the PlayStation 1. Since then, I have played a few more entries, as the series has lost some of its appeal lately (at least to me). I have Star Ocean: The Last Hope to blame for my…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Final Fantasy VIII
In my lifetime, there have only been two game releases that had me more hyped up about them than I was back in 1999 for Final Fantasy VIII. Those games were Super Mario 64, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. That I expected Final Fantasy VIII to stand proudly with those two masterpieces…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Grandia
1997’s Grandia, touted to be the Sega Saturn’s answer to Final Fantasy VII, is a legitimately great Japanese Role-Playing game in its own right. The Saturn version holds an 87% GameRankings meta score. As a spiritual sequel to GameArts’ own Lunar Series, Grandia had some big boots to fill. Not Quite the “Final Fantasy VII…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Resident Evil 4
This week we are celebrating Shinji Mikami’s 30th year birthday in the industry. As such, it seems like an opportune time to look back and reflect on Resident Evil 4. The GameCube release of the series’ 4th entry is Mikami’s highest rated game, and a bona fide masterpiece. The GameCube Needed a Mega Hit Keeping…
Throwback Bit Thursday: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, was Nintendo GameCube’s Swan Song, and the Wii’s launch killer app for the Nintendo core gamer. While I ranked the game as the 4th best Legend of Zelda game in our “Top Ten All Time Zelda List“, Twilight Princess is my personal second favorite Zelda game, after Ocarina of…
Throwback Bit Thursday: Tales of Symphonia
Tales of Symphonia, was a much a needed gift from the RPG gods on Nintendo’s Gamecube back in 2003. Nintendo’s console was somewhat devoid of traditional Japanese RPGs, as Sony’s PlayStation 2 had inherited the genre’s top titles from its forbearer. Namco’s fantastic fifth entry in the series would quench the JRPG thirst for Gamecube…