Author: opkij86

Once again, the yearly list! It never gets old.
A shame this is only the third post this year but I guess the list explains why…
I have had a great year over all and one of the best gaming years ever,
everything points at 2023 being at least as good with more
Legend of Heroes, Sea of Stars, Suikoden and hopefully Silksong to just
name a few. 61 new ones this time, top list at the bottom!

Listed in chronological order I beat them this time, ask if platform is important:

Eastward
Such a long wait for this and in the end it delivered!
A lovely world filled with lovely NPC:s and pixels.

Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2
Not as great as the first and a bit messy because of too
many characters. (still great though)

Cris Tales
The split time mechanic and unique thing about the game
didn’t add much and was very under-used sadly, a good game
but far from it’s full potential.

Impostor Factory
This series always leave me surprised and touched
and this is probably the best of them!

Scarlet Nexus
Surprisingly good Dark Souls+God Eater mix!

Flynn Son of Crimson
Just pure fun platforming, not a single complaint from me!

Disco Elysium
The slowest and most event-less game I have ever played,
I probably aged two years just by playing it.
With that said it is very well done and ambitious, just not
made for me.

Shenmue III
The most enjoyable in the series but more or less just repetition
of the first games and no real progress.

Banner Saga 2
Mentally exhausting to follow the fate of this world and
its characters but so very good! Each part is just different
enough from each other to feel like one story but not get stale.

Banner Saga 3
Mentally exhausting to follow the fate of this world and
its characters but so very good! Each part is just different
enough from each other to feel like one story but not get stale.

Thousand Arms
The humor might have been more fun 20 years ago but still a
fun game!

Rise of the Third Power
From the creators of Ara Fell, another masterpiece!
This game has everything I ever want from RPGs, I’m so
grateful that people out there share my love for the genre
enough to make this!

Summoner 2
Not as a over-ambitious as the first game, a bit more focused,
it’s decent enough.

Milli and Greg
Budget Celeste+Meat boy, haha. It’s great!

Elden Ring
Well, this will probably be remembered as the year of Elden Ring,
I didn’t put it as my favorite this year but I did play it… TWELVE times
over the year. Defeated every boss, got all achievements,
made a speedrun route and some other extra challenges.
Not to mention I spent two months and my budget building
that Lego tower and watching others play it for hundreds of hours.
There is still so much potential in this game and so many parts where
it falls short,a true shame but From Software will never truly learn.

Triangle Strategy
They did talk too much at the start of the game but it gets a bit more
balanced later on. Overall a great game but even if it has high replay value
I can’t see myself playing it again.

Tunic
Another long-awaited game! Zelda-Dark Souls-Fez all in one!
Sadly that combo didn’t work for me, the world and puzzles are mostly
great but I found the battles really boring and just… bad.
The option to turn damage off should be a sign.

Infernax
This is a “retro” game done right, all the actually good parts from the
NES era and none of the bad!

Death’s Door
A lot of similarities with Tunic, Much better combat,
less puzzles.

Hades
It was fun and well made but I have no interest
to play more of it after beating it once.

Kena Bridge of Spirits
If you want to play a Pixar movie, now you can!
It looks amazing but the battles felt a bit unbalanced
and the story just fizzled somehow.

Blaze and Blade
Never released in the US, this not very polished but still
kinda fun co-op action-RPG on PS1.

Crimson Tears
Short, simple, not much to say.

Princess Minerva
How ahead of its time, an RPG filled with anime girls in bikinis!

Horizon II Forbidden West
I much preferred this to the first game, more variation
and just such a spectacular marvel of optimization, how anything can look
this good on a base PS4 is a mystery and makes you wonder what every
other developer is doing wrong.

Torneko The Last Hope
Simple but kinda fun dungeon crawling.

Radical Dreamers (remaster)
This was the last thing I ever thought we would see officially
translated, I’m still in a state of surprise by it! It was nice returning to
this but in my head this was more or less identical to the fan translation.

Chrono Cross (remaster)
Every excuse to play Chrono Cross is a good one, a pretty lazy
version but at least even nintendo players can enjoy it now!

Ender Lilies
Quite good, not the best not the worst in the sea of
metroidvanias.

Warriors of Might and Magic (PS2)
This is the PS1 game with the same title but very expanded!

Shiki Eiyuuden
Hm, pretty forgettable among the other great SNES RPGs, not bad
but not unique enough in any way.

Shadow Tower
A more linear King’s Field, really hard intro but might be
a better start for newcomers.

Justice League Heroes
All of these super hero games on PS2 are the same,
short fun action RPGs, triple the fun in co-op!

Super Chinese World 2
Much better than the first but still not
a favorite for me…

Dragon Seeds
Terrible Rock-paper-sisscor simulator

Drakan
The unknown cousin of Drakengard, Action RPG
where you get to fly a dragon!

Albert Odyssey
My first Albert game and I must say it was a
nice experience! I always wanted a game like this,
strategy battles but no separate maps, you move around on
an ordinary world map and battles are seamless!

Wild Arms XF
Very worthy of the Wild Arms name, great graphic, music,
characters, story, battles and even puzzles!

The Hunter
Probably the worst “RPG” on PS1. Mostly a dice rolling
simulator where you get to play 1/4 of the time. Just awful.

Xenoblade 3
156 hours and every quest done. I really enjoyed this
in more or less every way! Xeno still lives on I guess!

River King
This felt a bit rushed or just badly translated and either
way not my kind of game. I have seen other RPGs with better fishing
than this dedicated fishing RPG.

Horai Gakuen no Bouken! The Adventure of Hourai High School
Odd, unique and good! Another SNES gem!

The Legend of Heroes: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch
The series have come such a long way from this but it was nice
to finally play one of the more ancient parts and see the similarities
and differences in the evolution into greatness.

Persona
I finally did it, I beat a Persona game!
It started out quite nice but soon devolved into the RNG hell the
series is, with 4 hours between saves, ugh.

Valkyrie Elysium
If it was only called something else it would be a decent
Action RPG, now it’s just a parody of one of my favorite games…

The Legend of Heroes Trails From Zero
What a surprise, a Legend of Heroes game being the game
of the year again! No need to introduce it, finally officially in
english, what a dream! Will Trails from Azure be the best next year?
(probably)

Star Ocean 6
I’m both surprised and happy that we got another title in this series!
I’m also glad that it’s good enough to compete with part 3 and 4.
The story gets a bit repetitive by the end but not an uncommon RPG problem.

Ghost Song
Another very long awaited game finally released! Story, combat and
atmosphere is great but it might leave some things to wish in the
exploration department.

Eiyuden Chronicles Rising
I planned on skipping this but gamepass convinced me to play.
It does feel a bit like a mobile game thanks to the quest-based
progression but it was a surprisingly fun game with some great characters
that I look forward to seeing again in the main game next year!

Knights and Bikes
The definition of an indie game?
Anything is great if you play it with your sister!

Champions: Return to Arms
More hack, more slash, more inventory juggling!

Signalis
I will respect anyone calling this the game of the year, words
don’t do it justice, such a well made horror game!
Made from the love of all the old classics in the genre and filled
with more references than I can list but still very tastefully implemented
into something very unique! I have seen 15+ streamers play this and it is
such a joy every time. Unless you really hate puzzles or horror be sure
to play it!

Vampire Survivors
Fun for a few hours but mostly a repetitive pain to beat.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder (SNES)
My main complaint is the messy controls, why no mouse support?

Saiyuki: Journey West
This was a nice surprise, I knew almost nothing about the game
but it was a great strategy game, not too serious unlike most strategy RPGs.

Baroque (PS2)
Story and some ideas are really interesting but it is
still a pretty standard dungeon crawler that could be an absolute pain
to beat without a guide.

Power of the Hired
Very simple but good strategy game!

Digimon World 2
97 hours of my life wasted, what a horribly slow and long game.
Not as bad as “The Hunter” but might be the worst RPG on the console
just because of the length and terrible slow loading times/animations.

Chained Echoes
And yet another long awaited game, made by a single person, strongly
inspired by Xenogears and the SNES era, I’m melting!
Why are you even reading, you could be playing this and Rise of the
Third Power right now! What a time to be an old RPG fan.

Disgaea 5
It’s Disgaea, it took a while but I was finally ready to return to the series.
Considering all the bad RPGs over the years it has become hard to tell if this
story is just bad or the usual Disgaea parody, haha…

Oninaki
Last game of the year! I liked the story but other than that, as budget
as you might expect, sadly I assume this will be the last from Tokyo RPG Factory.

Best of 2022

1: The Legend of Heroes Trails From Zero
2: Rise of the Third Power
3: Elden Ring
4: Xenoblade 3
5: Signalis

It has never been this hard for me to make a top 5 and they are almost interchangeable,
Chained Echoes could also be among them!

That’s it for this year, I hope all of you will have a great and RPG filled 2023!

Here it is!
The one post I never miss to post.

As usual I only include the newly beaten
games from 2021. Not as impressive as last
years list but I did replay some longer
RPGs and with the whole expedition into Lego
I’m surprised I got anything played, hehe.

Quite happy with my gaming year even if I
have a large pile of new games I need to
tend to, in fact I still have a few games
left sealed from 2020! Oh well, slowly
but surely.

NES

Uforia
A bit of a metroidvania and quite good
but far too much backtracking, it felt like
I did everything in the worst possible order, haha.

SNES

Wizardry Knight of Diamond
The second game, listed as the third
in the SNES remake if I understand correctly.
Either way the Llylgamyn trilogy is beaten
and the fourth game is up next!

Dai-3-Ji Super Robot Taisen
I fear that I will see a lot more of this
in the future, robot tactics RPGs.
A lot of battle units to handle but pretty
simple at least.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: Volume 1
I have tried to beat this before but finally
made it all the way this year, there is good reason
why it’s not mentioned among the classic SNES
RPGs, including the dark giant maze dungeons…

Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei (SNES version first game)
The SNES remake of the very first “Shin Megami” game!
Quite playable in this version and it goes seemlesly
into the second game on the same cart!

Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei (SNES version second game)

FEDA The Emblem of Justice
A pretty good and standard tactic RPG.

Ultima: Runes of Virtue II
My first true encounter with Ultima, not the
best place to start and solving some of the
puzzles without a guide or savestates would
be a pain!

Shodai Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-Kun
Beat em up RPG, like normal beat em ups
this is also a bit too repetitive.

Galaxy Robo
The name says it all, more robots
more tactics!

Cyber Knight II
This is more or less identical to
the first game in every way and the story and
characters is just a continuation, not a bad
thing!

Shin Megami Tensei If…
Last SNES game of the year, I’m trying to
pick up the pace of the series and since this
have been called the origin of Persona I guess
I’m ready to tackle those games next year.

PS1

Shaolin
An odd little fighting/RPG combo.

Crusaders of Might and Magic
I knew nothing of this coming in
but it was a pretty plesant and
very classical RPG!

Shadow Madness
This was another surprise, aside
from the completely broken battles
this was a very fun game to play thanks
to some cool environments and mostly
due to the dialogue written by Ted Woolsey.

Vandal Hearts II
A step up from the first game
in every way!

Eternal Ring
I believe this was the first
Tactic game we got in English on PS1
Quite fun and the first of many!

Warriors of Might and Magic
Surprisingly playable, haha.
3D and PS1 is always a dangerous combo.

Kagero Deception II
This was a bit more player friendly
than the first game but not as fun.

Kartia Word of Fate
Yet another good tactics game
with all the usual politics and wars!

Gauntlet Legends
I expected the usual simple
gauntlet style but this actually had
some real level design and was overall
a good game!

Monkey Hero
It was expected, but more or less a
straight Zelda clone, with monkeys.
Too little RPG, move along.

Technomage
A PS1 RPG created in Europe! Not a bad
one either, very ambitious with large
environments and fully voiced dialogues for
every NPC and line in the game.

PSP

Breath of Fire III
Identical to the PS1 game but my first
time playing on the PSP. Still a great
game with some annoyances, just like
I remembered, hehe.

DS

Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light
Truly a Bravely Default prototype, or
maybe a FF1 remake. A good game and
I’m happy to finally have played it!

PS2

X-men Legends II
More of the same fun co-op fun
from the first game.

Tsugunai
A very early but still impressive
PS2 title, especially character models
and the music from Yasunori Mitsuda.
A rather unique battle system too that
you really need to master by the end.

Stella Deus
I knew this was a great game but gave
up on it back in the PS2 era for some
reason. Revenge is mine and it feels
good!

Summoner
Running this on a poor PS2 was really pushing it,
MMO sized environments…

Gauntlet Seven Sorrows
Action RPG, short, simple, not much to say.

Colosseum Road to Freedom
I managed to “cheese” the game and get an early
ending and I thank the stars because it was so
repetitive…

Chaos Legion
A pretty good Action RPG

The Bard’s Tale
I’m probably 15+ years late to the party
and most of the humor and meta jokes have
been done better by others since then.

The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon
A surprisingly fun dungeon crawler!
I always dread them a bit but this was as
great as it gets in the genre.

RPG Maker 3 (My Dear Brave Heart)
The worst of any RPG maker games I have played…

Legaia 2 Duel Saga
People keep calling the first game a
hidden gem but this was a far better
game if you ask me! The same battle system
but better story, world, music, characters,
everything, haha.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Another weird place to start a series.
The start was terrible but the game
got pretty good after a while.

Yakuza
Finally my turn to try this!
It was clear pretty fast why the series
have become so popular but I was tired
of the battles only a few hours in…

Magic pengel The Quest for Color
What a terrible game, you can explore
the entire game and see everything in
10 minutes, the rest is just Pokemon
battles, but worse. Graffiti Kingdom
was a big step up from this!

Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
I have only played the GBA version
before back when it was released and
this was a good reminder on some plot
points. I played on easy and skipped
as many battles as I could which led
some of the bosses to be a real pain.

Dark Angel Vampire Apocalypse
Here it is! THE most repetitive game
I have ever played, defeat about
100000 enemies in the same location
until you are strong enough for the final
boss, sorry that I spoiled all 50 hours
for you, haha!

Future Tactics
An odd little game, the best thing to
compare it to would be Valkyria Chronicles.
A turn-based strategy, action RPG with destructible
environments.

PS4

Dragon Quest Builders 2
This was probably the most FUN
game all year, it is just so good
and the building works so well.
Love the game and watching the NPCs
work and live in the villages you build!

YS IX Monstrum Nox
Everyone agrees, a great game but not
as great as VIII. Exploring the main town
was probably the highlight for me.

Streets of Rage ?
I don’t remember which one… I played two
of them in co-op with a friend.

Streets of Rage ?
I don’t remember which one… I played two
of them in co-op with a friend.

Nier Replicant 1.23…
I already made a longer post
about it, nothing more to add, sadly
a remake/remaster is the best game yet another year.

Tales of Arise
I mostly love it, all the renewal the series
needed both technically and otherwise. My sister
was not as pleased with it and pointed out a lot of
valid complaints but as a whole, I am very pleased
and hopefully the next entry won’t be such a long wait!

Legend of Mana Remaster
A great remaster that more or less
replaces the original! I was surprised and
happy to see the option to turn of combat and
just stroll around the amazing environments!

WiiU

Wind Waker HD
Another remaster that makes the original
obsolete, my third favorite in the series!

Switch

Metroid Dread
A new Metroid game! I beat it twice, normal and hard.
Very fun to play but far too linear and guiding.
The “dread” part was just terrible and I do my best
to forget the story.

PC

Cyber Shadow
As expected some classic
fun platform action!

Ori and the Will of the Wisps
It is clear that they played
Hollow Knight and maybe some other
rival games before making this, it
is so much better than the first game!

What Remains of Edith Finch
I don’t want to spoil anything about it
but probably my favorite in the “genre”.
A great story and environment.

Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice
Some cool environments is all I take from
this, it felt too much like playing a triple
A game in a bad way, haha.

Katana Zero
Probably a better version of
Hotline Miami?

Dead Cells
It was very fast and fun to play
but I am also glad it didn’t drag
on more than 10 hours.

Tetris Effect
Tetris, with effects! Wow…

Spiritfarer
A great game, mostly thanks to the
NPCs but you need to be in the mood
for a slower game to enjoy it.

Touhou Luna Nights
Why did I wait so long to play this,
more or less the same style as
Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth.

Astalon
I still prefer Castle in the Darkness
but this was good enough for me to do 100%, hehe.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
A fun little Zelda-like I guess?

Metroid Origins
It is more or less a fanmade short version
of Metroid 2, quite impressive, I would love to
see more from the developer!

Deltarune 2
I can’t believe how long ago the first part
was already. Either way, this continues the
story and it will probably and hopefully grow
into a full story someday!

Best of 2021:

1: Nier Replicant 1.23…
2: Tales of Arise
3: Legend of Mana Remaster

Worst played 2021:

1: Magic pengel The Quest for Color
2: Colosseum Road to Freedom
3: Dark Angel Vampire Apocalypse

Number of new beaten games: 65
Number of RPGs: 46

A happy new year everyone!

The year is not at its end just yet but you get a
list anyway, haha. I still don’t have a name for this little
project but anyone who has checked my Instagram knows
it is as alive as ever, the quest to beat every SNES, PS1 and PS2
RPG available in English. Of course the list is still expanding
thanks to fan translations but at the moment I just hit the milestone
of 99 RPGs left, double digits! Also, I have focused extra hard on
PS2 and finally gotten that down to the same level as SNES,
from now on I will play the games in order of SNES, PS1, PS2, repeat.

If you check the titles you will know I still have a long road ahead of
me but it does feel doable even if every third game is a strategy/ tactic
game and every eight game a Shin Megami or spinoff… other than
that four more Wizardry games, four more Digimon and three more
SaGa games should be the most intimidating, haha

——————SFC 39—————

Shin Megami Tensei if…
Last bible 3
Wizardry Gaiden IV: Throb of the Demon’s Heart
Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
Might and Magic: Book II
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
Dream Maze
Brandish 2
Dungeon Master
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder
Ultima 6 the False Prophet
Ultima 7 Black Gate
Horai Gakuen no Bouken!
Princess Minerva
Cyber Knight II
Dragon Ball Z Super Gokuden: Kakusei-Hen
Torneko no Daibouken: Fushigi no Dungeon
Romancing SaGa 2
Shiki Eiyuuden
Super Chinese World 2
Super Chinese World 3
Dragon Ball Z
Kidou Senshi Gundam: Cross Dimension 0079
Kidou Senshi Gundam F91: Formula Senki 0122
SD Gundam G Next
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem 776
Power of the Hired
Super Robot Taisen EX
Super Robot Taisen Aiden lord of Elementals
Super Gachapon World
Super Famicom Wars
Albert Odyssey
Majin Tensei
Majin Tensei 2
Uncharted Waters
New Horizons

——————PS1 21—————

Arc the Lad 2
Arc the Lad 3
Persona
Persona 2
King’s Field 2
Digimon World 2
Digimon World 3
Deception 3 Dark Delusion
Torneko the Last Hope
Darkstone
Azure Dreams
Blaze and Blade
Technomage
Shadow Tower
Battle Hunter
Front Mission 3
Dragon Seeds
Saiyuki: Journey West
Ogre Battle
Monsterseed
Thousand Arms

——————PS2 39—————

Persona 3 FES
Persona 4
SMT Digital Devil Saga 1
SMT Digital Devil Saga 2
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
Romancing SaGa
Unlimited Saga
Digimon World 4
Digimon World Data Squad
Warriors of Might and Magic
Shifters
Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land
King’s Field: The Ancient City
Trapt
Yakuza 2
Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus
Champions: Return to Arms
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
Summoner 2
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II
Jade Cocoon 2
Justice League Heroes
Baroque
River King: A Wonderful Journey
Swashbucklers
Deus Ex
Drakan
Crimson Tears
Gladius
Future Tactics
Eternal Poison
Front Mission 4
Chaos Wars
La Pucelle Tactics
Soul Nomad
Dokapon Kingdom
Sakura Wars
Wild Arms 5

I did promise a Nier post and here it is!
Actually I don’t have that much to add that hasn’t already
been said by others or even myself before but of course
a new Nier means a few new items as well:

The most important one being the Snow White edition of course!
This fast became one of my favorites boxes, I’m still not a fan
of those paper sleeves around boxes but in this case I keep it on as it looks
amazing with that art and no logos at all! Great!

The inside is great as well, I didn’t take any more detailed
pictures but they are easy to find elsewhere. I haven’t even
taken the time to listen to that exclusive soundtrack yet,
the very reason why I had to have this box, haha.
Including the full script of the game was also cool and the
three Grimoire pins looks just amazing, even if they are too
heavy to actually use as pins on a shirt.

I said it before and I do it again, collecting Nier soundtracks
could be an entire hobby or collection on it’s own, they just
keep releasing more of them! This time the full and redone
soundtrack of the Nier Replicant remaster and also the one
from Nier Reincarnation, I have yet to listen to it but am
excited to do that. Yonah’s diary in physical form was a really
cool bonus item!

Not the best picture but I am pretty happy with this newly added
Yoko Taro shelf, hehe. I had to find a spot for the Snow White box
and this turned out to be the best solution even if a few other items
had to go into hiding. I should probably add Drakengard 1 to the shelf
but fitting all of the soundtracks would be harder, especially since
there will be yet another set of vinyls later this year!

As for the game itself, it doesn’t make the PS3 version completely
obsolete, I will still want to play as the older “Nier” again and
some of the songs in the new soundtrack doesn’t capture the same
feeling as the original even if both of them are fantastic of course.
Aside from that the remake is a big upgrade in graphic, smoother combat,
the old DLC is included, more story and even locations that only
got mentioned in side material before. I love it and if you have
to choose one to play, it would be easy to pick the remaster!

That’s right, somehow my good old table is full of SFC games once more,
what a nostalgic sight and post this is!

I will never be truly done with SFC after all but it was still a bit sudden,
the plan was to get a Xeno poster but that plan failed and I got these instead
as consolation. Little Master might be called an actual RPG but most of the
others are pure strategy or with more or less RPG elements. Harvest Moon is
just Harvest Moon and fits into any SFC collection, hehe.

Best of all must be the Legend of Galactic Heroes game, I have wanted to add
that ever since I first saw the anime.

Be sure to bask in their glory, I don’t expect to get any more SFC games in any
near future but I still have quite a few on my extended wanted list.

Next up should be a Nier Replicant post!

Send for help, as my long time readers know I return to childhood and
buy some mixed old Lego once in a while, only this time it really
went overboard…

I have spent most of the year repeating the pattern:
-Buying
-Cleaning
-Sorting
-Building
-Sorting the left over pieces into my storage systems

My brother has helped with all the sorting and some of the building
and it has been really fun but I am finally ready to move on and
return to the RPGs. I’m starting to go mad from staring at small
plastic pieces all day, haha.

This is from ONE of the cleaning processes, my poor kitchen has looked
like this a few times over lately

And this is from ONE of the general sorting sections, not as specific
as my storage system but enough to build these:

Some mixed city sets, mostly older ones from the 70s and 80s

Here we have the really good stuff, old castles!
Most of these are sets I never owned myself and I never had
any interest in the yellow castle but after building it I
must say that it is a really fun build!

Somehow, I got another yellow castle from another mixed lot, haha.
I combined the figures from both to make one almost complete,
this one is only home to a few horses now.

This is a really mixed one, some nice sets that I owned as a kid
and some from long before my time

Another great one, next to castles, space is the best and this
include a lot of my childhood favorites like the Ice planet mothership,
the cool robot and half an M-Tron army, haha. Really nice!

I can’t believe I got all these! I never had any of them as a kid since
they are mostly from the late 70s and early 80s but seeing and building
them now I can see why they are such collector items today.

Lastly, a brand new set from this month! It’s hard to beat the Lego NES
from last year but this might very well be the best set ever made!
Look up some official better pictures of this blacksmith, it’s amazing to both
build and look at and there was no way I would miss the chance to get it.

Phew, after all this I’m left with this mess:

I have no idea what I will do with them all, it’s literally a hundred
sets including a few duplicates! Here I thought games took a lot of space…
I can’t imagine being a full time Lego collector and I will keep denying
myself as one, even after this and even though I plan on building
2-3 more big sets in the near future.

Thanks for sticking around even when I stray far from Xeno!

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!