Megaman Zero

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This is a game with a lot of trauma attached to it for me. When I was younger I was extremely confident (read: cocky and obnoxious) in my “skills” as a gamer, and I was convinced I could complete anything. Then I played this. Oh dear. I think I managed to beat one or two bosses, but otherwise…yeah. This game was BRUTAL. I’ve been low-key afraid of it ever since.

I almost didn’t buy the Zero collection, but another part of me really wanted to go back to this and see if I could beat it as an adult.

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Megaman X5

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Another month, another Megaman X game. Only this will be the last this year probably! Reading up about this after the fact – it’s kinda necessary to follow the narrative, really – it turns out that Inafune intended this to be the last Megaman X title, and that 6-8 were produced against his wishes. So I’ll be skipping those for the time being and moving onto Megaman Zero…immediately.

Honestly, I’ve wanted to do that for months.

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Star Ocean: First Departure R

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Despite the fact that I started with Till the End of Time and have played Integrity and Faithlessness, I love the Star Ocean series. Because I’ve played the other three games, and they’re all absolutely fantastic. Yes, even The Last Hope. I LIKED The Last Hope, OK? It was better than Tales of Vesperia at any rate. Fight me.

Er, right. First Depature R. Off we go!

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Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

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I have a bit of a thing against so-called “art” games…or, I suppose I should say, games whose primary purpose is to convey a message or theme to the player, rather than deliver a high-quality gameplay experience. The two things aren’t mutually exclusive, of course, but there is this tendency for games like this to…get carried away with it. Or have the focus on the message try to excuse the poor gameplay. I had this issue with GRIS – visually beautiful, lovely message, absolutely rubbish gameplay, and therefore not a very good game.

Hellblade was…something else.

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Final Fantasy VII Remake

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I really wasn’t a fan of the original Final Fantasy VII. I did the opening mission when it was first released and I got hopelessly lost and flustered because the time was ticking down. I made it out, but I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t get a chance to play it again after that until I bought it for PSP and I was even less impressed by the rubbish minigames that constantly interrupted the gameplay flow. I never finished it.

I wasn’t quite as unimpressed with the remake, but I can’t say I had a particularly good time with it.

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Trials of Mana

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I was so excited for this when it was announced – a brand new Mana ga–oh, wait. It’s a remake of an old Mana game. But it never got locali–oh, wait. It’s coming out in the Mana Collection. Oh. Okay then. Way to shoot yourselves in the foot, Square Enix.

Well, I was going to play that version first, but impatience won out and I played this one first instead. That might have been a good thing.

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The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

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Whilst I enjoy the occasional (read: once every two or three years) replay of games I enjoyed the first time around, there aren’t many games I’ve played so many times that I can confidently say I know them inside out, off by heart. I’m not a speedrunner, but if I was, there are only three or four games I’d be confident in speedrunning and setting a good time for.

Oracle of Seasons is one such game.

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The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

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I’ve always thought it something of a crime that the Oracle games get overlooked by fans so often. I get it, A Link to the Past was good. This was also released after Ocarina of Time which, whilst I don’t personally think is much of a step forward for the franchise, is still insanely popular and tends to overshadow anything that can be compared to it. But these games were pretty groundbreaking for their time! It’s a shame they could never get the third game to work, because I would have loved to have seen that.

Still, between the two of these, I know which one I prefer…

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Halo 5: Guardians

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It’s the last one! At least for now. Honestly, my experience with Halo has been one long and very tiring battle of endurance to see what all the fuss is about with this series. Coming to the last game, I should be feeling relieved that it’s over and I can go back to my RPGs until the next one comes out and I force myself to play through that to see if they do anything with the promising world they’ve slowly been building up and wasting over the last two decades.

Well, they did with this game. I actually want more. Now.

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