Beaten games 2020

Another year, another list, another time me saying how
crazy the list is, haha. But look at it, it really is crazy!

As usual, I only list games that I beat for the first time,
no replays or unfinished ones included.

Also the year I finally decided to beat ALL of my RPGs,
a waste of time or an amazing journey!?
So far it has been a mixed ride for me but it
does feel great to actually play the games that I
spent an eternity and a fortune to collect, hehe.

If you want some stats and best of the
year, check the bottom!

—NES—

Moon Crystal
The only NES game this year, it had
some potential but the slow turning speed
of the character and the bad double jump
ruins it a bit.

—SNES—

Ryuuki Heidan Danzarb
A pretty standard SNES RPG, of course,
that is a good thing!

Sailor Moon Another Story
Hm, I was a bit disappointed with this,
I have heard good things about it over the
years but nothing really stood out for me
in it. Still good but I expected more.

Hero Senki: Project Olympus
I’ve never been a Gundam fan so to me this was
yet another decent but not fantastic RPG.

Aretha II
Yet again, nothing spectacular but nice
to return to the world of Aretha again.

Super Ninja Boy
Hm, this was a bit of a pain.
Beat em up + RPG, it got a bit repetitive.

Super Valis
Just a quick run through, I saw someone else
play it and wanted to do it as well.

Inindo: Way of the Ninja
This was interesting, a lot of people seem to
have missed it even though it was released in
English. Based on Chinese lore and territories that
you can invade/ control. An odd mix of a normal RPG
and a strategy game.

Drakkhen
The world map in this always scared me but I
finally decided to overcome that and it turned
out to be a pretty short game.

Cyber Knight
The precursor of Mass effect!
You can fly around in space and
explore countless pointless planets, wo!
I prefer this over Mass Effect though, haha.

Arcana
Some reviews I checked said this was a good way
to get into first person dungeon crawlers and I
have to agree, pretty simple and easy to get into.

Wizardry I
This was a big step up from Arcana, I never thought that
I would one day beat or even play a Wizardry game but
after mapping everything out and beating the final boss
it feels good to have beaten such a classic and important
game for the genre! Far too much randomness for my taste
is the biggest complaint.

Equinox
Also known as Solstice II, not really an RPG, more
of a puzzle action adventure in isometric view.
Glad I played and added it to the collection
either way!

Jutei Senki
I have always been interested to play this
because of the nice box art and Enix being involved.
It was indeed a good strategy RPG!

Obitus
One of the few US-exclusive SNES RPGs, another dungeon
crawler with a rather interesting world structure. The
dungeon crawling was fine but it has some terrible
dungeons that remind me of Shadowgate.

Brandish
I always deemed this as unplayable because of the shifting “camera”
but once you learn how to navigate, it is a decent game!

Metal Max Returns
More or less the same as the rest of the series, drive around in your
tank in an open world and hunt bounties until you stumble onto the final boss.
Surprisingly good but it’s a bit too much work to constantly upgrade your tanks
and yourself.

Wizardry II: Legacy of Llylgamyn The Third Scenario
More or less identical to the first game, with the surprise
that there is no final boss!!

Shin Megami Tensei
Another big milestone for me, finally beating a game in this series!
It was a pain, it took a long time but I did it and enjoyed it
much more than I thought possible!

Dragon Ball Z: Chou Saiya Densetsu
Ugh, only for the fans, I got very little out of playing this.

Der Langrisser
A really nice strategy/tactic RPG, a bit overwhelmingly large
battles in the beginning but otherwise a joy to play! Quite
high replay value as well with completely different story scenarios.

Tenchi Muyo!: Game Hen
The shortest and easiest strategy/tactic RPG
I have played! Some nice sprites and animations
but not much else to say, very basic.

Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure
Another one for the fans…

Shin Megami Tensei II
More Shin Megami! After beating the first this was very easy
in comparison and I have almost become comfortable with the
first person view by now.

Front Mission
Long overdue to play this and as expected another
quality title from Square! Some really impressive
graphic in there and nice battles.

—GBC—

Star Ocean Blue Sphere
After all these years it was finally possible to play this in
English! I’m so happy! This must be the most ambitious GBC game
made, it more or less have everything from Star Ocean PLUS
a lot from Links Awakening combined on one tiny cartridge!
It’s crazy how much they fit into the game. Sadly I have to
say that it probably would have been better as it’s own game, not
a Star Ocean sequel, but still amazing.

—PS1—

Vandal Hearts
Quite a good strategy/tactic RPG,
both Xeno and Zohar are names of
characters in this, haha!

Parasite Eve 2
More Resident Evil than RPG but
it was good to finally beat this,
the tank controls really ruined it
for me back in the day.

Jade Cocoon
Odd describes this well, I’m not sure
what was going on but it was short
and I beat it with my “starter pokemons”, haha.

Dragon Valor
A simple stage based Action RPG but I
like how time went by and you got to play
a few generations of characters.

Megaman Legends
I don’t have any strong feelings
for this but it is PS1 3D done right
at least with some charming humor.

Megaman Legends 2
An upgrade from the first game in every way!

Beyond the Beyond
Not as bad as some say but the popular term
“generic” sure fits this, haha.

Vanguard Bandits
Another decent strategy/tactic RPG,
they almost always are!

Brigandine
This however is one of the worst, especially
since I spent a fortune to get it, hehe.
One of the most unbalanced games I have played,
the first battle of the game can be the same or
20 times harder than the final battle…
It’s more like playing a board game than
anything else.

Saga Frontier
Oh man, the much dreaded and extra long game!
I’m glad I decided to do one character at a time
between other games instead of all 7 at once.
A LOT of “grinding” for good attacks in this but it did
have some interesting plots and ideas as well as some
amazing environments, I regret nothing!

Guardians Crusade
Hm, I guess the generic term fits again, not bad
but there is so much better you can play out there!

Eternal Eyes
A simple strategy/tactic RPG where I reached max level just by
playing it, haha.

Blood Omen Legacy of Kain
This felt very dated to me and had a lot of
problems, including five buttons for five different
menus, what a mess and a shame because there is some
good in there for sure.

Diablo
Much more playable than I expected and what
a joke Diablo himself was to beat, haha.

Alundra 2
Revenge at last! I used my old save file
to beat this and have to say it was much better than I
remembered, probably because I didn’t compare it to the
first game this time.

King’s Field
The Dark Souls of dark Souls? Another title
I never expected to play or beat ever.
Playing this was truly re-living my first encounter
with Dark Souls but I did it!

Deception Tecmo’s Invitation to Darkness
Hm, this odd game grew on me, hated it at first
but now I almost look forward to the second game and
getting to drop some traps on people again, haha.

Digimon World
The only game were your main character can die
of old age and become a literal pile of crap…
It was an utter pain to play.

Ehrgeiz
I struggled with the first five floors of this dungeon
crawler but once I passed that the rest wasn’t too bad.
Kinda interesting that you have two playable characters
that can save each other if one dies.

—PS2—

Okage Shadow King
The first hour or two was amazing but the
rest is not much to write about…
lovely style, cozy towns, boring dungeons
and unbalanced battles sums it up.

Evergrace
I can’t believe how much Fromsoftware
evolved from this early PS2 game to
Demon’s Souls on early PS3, night and day
but you still see some similarities.

Forever Kingdom
A big upgrade from Evergrace but
what I said there is still true here.

Orphen: Scion of Sorcery
Hm, and odd game with a unique battle system,
fixed number of encounters and some time travel
on top.

Falling Stars
Probably THE worst RPG I have played,
it is only about 5 hours long but 2 of them
are loading screens! It is absolutely terrible.

Monster Hunter
I know a lot of people like this series
but as I suspected it was not for me.
In fact one of the worst time wastes of
my life, ugh.

Virtua Quest
An RPG based on a fighting series
mixed with the .Hack story? Not terrible
at least.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Simple and fun hack and slash RPG!

Monster Lab
This is better played on Wii,
it’s filled with mini games clearly
designed for the Wii-mote.

Inuyasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask
This was a very pleasant surprise,
turn based combat and lovely drawn
environments that reminded me of the
good old Tales of games, ah.

Duel Masters
Hm, barely an RPG maybe but a really good
card game simulator, I’m not a big fan of card
games at all but this one was very good!

RPG Maker II Fu-ma
This dragged on far too long, a simple
demo game of what you can make in the engine.

Phantom Brave
Another revenge for me, I sold my old copy before I beat the
game and found it a bit hard back then. Not as easy to break
as Disgaea but I found a way to get crazy strong and enjoyed the story, haha.

Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance
It was good. I never have much to say about these hack and slash games,
they just work even if it was a bit much menu juggling with equipment for my
taste.

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
Wow, this felt very “PS2” a simple Action RPG,
I always like when you can switch characters
instant with a button!

Eternal Quest
I went in expecting a terrible game but I
actually had some fun going to the bottom
of this dungeon crawler with blasting…
disco music? Haha, an odd soundtrack either way.

Genji Dawn of the Samurai
Another big surprise, this clearly had a
big budget with some impressive visuals
and camera work for the scenes. A shame they reuse
a lot of the environments in the second half of the game.

Legion: The Legend of Excalibur
The PS2 never runs out of Action RPGs!

Xenosaga Episode III demo
Not a game but I include it anyway since
it was so shocking that I never have beaten it
before. As expected, the first area of the game
but with a larger party!

Champions of Norrath
More action! More equipment!

Phantasy Star Universe
Hm, a decent game but I didn’t like ANY
of the characters… a shame. Hard not to think
about Xenosaga in those sci-fi PS2 towns!

Knights of the Temple II
A PAL exclusive RPG! The sidequests was actually pretty
fun to do but the main game is very short and
quite bad.

The Legend of Alon D’ar
This is hard to judge, I had to start it over
an hour in because the start is extremely
unbalanced but after that I kinda liked it! Kinda.

ChoroQ
Ugh, a racing RPG with far too much racing and
too little RPG in it.

—PS4—

Indivisible
It has been compared to Valkyrie Profile and
the expectations were high back when I played the demo
years ago. It is clear the final product could use more
work but it is a good game to me, more of a metroidvania than
expected, in fact, you get more platforming abilities than
in most of them!

Final Fantasy 7 Remake
I have never been so mixed about a game before,
so good and so bad at the same time…

A Plague Tale
I expected rats, I got rats! It feels
like playing any other AAA game and I guess
that is a good rating?

Trails of Mana
Wow, I assumed this would be another half-assed
remake but amazingly I was wrong, to me this is one
of the few remakes that surpasses the original.
I would say in every way but the graphics!

Code Vein
Anime Dark Souls? It is, haha.
Surprisingly good but I can’t believe
how much they steal from Dark Souls
without shame…

YS Memories of Celceta
Maybe a bit too long but as always a
bliss to play some YS!

The Last of Us II
I was never a big fan of the first game
but this is truly impressive! Especially
the environments, the very reason why I played it
at all. It does feel like some parts of the story is
provoking just to be provoking but I’m not easily
provoked and found it interesting.

Never Alone
This is barely a game, more of a documentary
with simple platforming. I played it in co-op
with my sister, otherwise not something I would
have bought or played myself.

Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV
Here it is! The game of the year! Also the longest game I have ever
played which just adds to the amazingness, managing to be interesting
all the way from start to finish. I won’t go into much detail
but the series as a whole keeps climbing the top list a little with
every new title and I never thought I would or could care so much about
a series again!

Mortal Shell
I hoped for a Dark Souls clone but got more of a Sekiro clone…
Some nice environments and a cool final boss, I don’t regret playing
at least!

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
The final game of the year! An odd mix of Visual novel, RPG and RTS.
It really balances between interesting and a confusing mess/silliness
but in the end it just managed to win me over to the interesting side.
Really worth to try yourself!

—SWITCH—

Xenoblade Chronicles DE
Finally the version and resolution the game deserves!
I’m very happy this finally exists even if it is 8 years late
or something. Future Connected was a nice addition too!

—PC—

Guacamelee 2
Better than the first one, pure, simple “metroidvania” fun!

Grandia HD
Ah, how nice to replay this! I made sure to do all the
sidequests too. As good as I remembered!

Kunai
It didn’t leave a strong impression but it was a
nice little platform game with double hookshots.

Mindseize
Broken at release and probably still filled of problems,
even if you love sci-fi and metroidvania this still gets a
“maybe” from me.

Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth Record of Lodoss War
This is still not a finished game, more of a demo but it does
look very promising!

Steel Sword Story
A simple one hour game, beat it twice, haha.

Rain World
Phew, this is a platform game for those who think Hollow Knight
was far to easy and far to linear! Extremely open and interesting
but not for everyone.

So, that’s it! Time for some stats and summary:

Best of 2020:

1: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV
2: Xenoblade Chronicles DE
3: Trails of Mana?

Worst played 2020:

1: Falling Stars
2: Digimon World
3: Monster Hunter

Number of new beaten games: 85
Number of beaten demos: 2
Number of RPGs: 75

I believe that we have an interesting year ahead of us,
both when it comes to new releases and seeing how far
I can get with the 124 remaining SNES, PS1 and PS2 RPGs
on my list!

A Happy New Year to everyone!