Finished: January 5th. Platform: Playstation 2. Time: 6h:12m:19s. Rating: 9/10

Ingame timer 5:43:07. Absolutely fantastic sequel, and one of the biggest steps up of any second game in a series ever. Like the first game it's very light on content, and combat still isn't especially nuanced or challenging. But what it is is really, really fun. Few games make the player feel as powerful or cool as piloting Jehuty does in this, and between that, the awesome set pieces, and the fantastic presentation and wild story, it's just a joy to play for nearly all of its admittedly too short runtime. Let down just a little by one or two gimmicky battles that don't entirely work and the fact that it leaves you wanting much more, but I loved this, and think it still stands among the best action games of its generation.

Finished: January 11th. Platform: Nintendo DS. Time: 26h:19m:05s. Rating: 7/10

It's no Skies of Arcadia, but a nice old school RPG that evokes many giddy adventures of the past. Fantastic soundtrack, with some lovely tunes and a rousing main theme. And 3D visuals are quite good for DS! Doesn't do enough with its alternate history setting, but story is a cute steampunk-y adventure with some sweet moments and brisk, fun dialogue that brings just enough life to the simple characters. Unfortunately the encounter rate is a little high, and game feels a bit rough around the edges design-wise, with the airship battles, especially, being very poorly conceived and balanced. It's not game ruining, but with a bit more fine tuning, this could have been more than the decent effort that it is, so a bit of a shame.

Finished: January 13th. Platform: XBox. Time: 13h:09m:44s. Rating: 9/10

The removal of the timer gives this a very different feel to JSR, transforming that game's arcadey action into something closer to a free flowing sandbox. But if you can roll with that, this is amazing fun. Camera can frustrate at times, and a few story beats did feel like padding to me. I also don't think combat serves much of a purpose, and the framerate can be spotty. But story, setting, visuals, movement, and sense of speed are just an absolute joy, and its huge dollop of early 2000s attitude is a massive nostalgia rush today. Music is also a perfect fit for the game - not all of it is the kind of thing I'd listen to outside of the game, but it complements the action so well. A thoroughly enjoyable genre hybrid.

Finished: January 16th. Platform: XBox. Time: 9h:46m:21s. Rating: 8/10

Could pass for a 360 title, and a staggering technical achievement on Xbox. Voice acting is stellar, and game feels like a forerunner to the kind of cinematic, genre-blending action games that became so popular in subsequent generations. Shooting, story, and stealth are each too weak to carry the game alone, but the mixture of elements is fun and accomplished, and anchored by the oppressive atmosphere and Diesel's total commitment to the project. At the time I suspect I would have rated this even higher, but a bit less impressive now, when so many of the things it does have become commonplace. Still, this is one of the better licensed games out there, and a fun ride that was wildly ahead of its time.

Finished: January 27th. Platform: XBox. Time: 14h:28m:02s. Rating: 9/10

A seriously beautiful game - the Xbox was wildly overpowered for its era, and these late big budget exclusives really show it. Also a very interesting mix of genres with a cool weapon loadout and nice level of challenge. Story is minimal and I saw where it was going early on, but what it has to say it says well, and it's executed so beautifully that I really enjoyed. Admit I wasn't completely onboard with the shift in structure for the last act even though it's narratively interesting, and think it lost a little of what made the game unique. And a few bosses are awfully trial and error if you're set on taking them alive, as I was. But I really enjoyed this, and think it's among the cooler, more interesting games of its generation.

Finished: February 13th. Platform: Dreamcast. Time: 2h:15m:43s. Rating: 7/10

Really quite good! Excellent art that really does feel like a next gen Turrican. And the game's emphasis on cautious, careful progression and exploration captures the appeal of that series perfectly. Music is good too - not on the level of Huelsbeck's, but lovely in its own right and does a good job evoking a similar mood. Like Turrican 2, weapons are unbalanced - there's no point using anything but Phoenix. And I encountered a lot of small bugs, cheap hits, and general rough edges that I think would have been sorted with a bigger budget. Still, easy to forgive for an indie release on old hardware, and this is largely a quality game in a genre that isn't well represented on Dreamcast.

Finished: February 26th. Platform: SNES. Time: 21h:01m:19s. Rating: 8/10

Has its share of warts, with uneven difficulty, often uninspired level design, rather unbalanced weapons, and a weapon progression system that feels like it discourages experimentation mission to mission. The AI allies are also pretty worthless - they're a fun bunch of characters, but combat-wise they mostly range from useless liabilities to active hindrances, and I generally tackled levels alone. Still, the A+ presentation, killer soundtrack by a dream team of Square legends, and unique mixture of a hefty, story-driven action RPG quest with satisfyingly weighty mech action makes for such an addictive, unique little game that I was more than willing to look past the bits that don't work. A great spinoff that works far better than it ought to.

Finished: February 27th. Platform: Playstation 2. Time: 8h:53m:45s. Rating: 7/10

All endings. A lovely, intricately branching mystery story that still holds up very well, and feels far ahead of its era. But as a game it's little more than the prototype of a good idea, with no more than a handful of very simple puzzles to solve. And it's held back by some extremely rough voice acting. I thought Charles Martinet was great and the rest has its moments of endearing camp, but by and large it's terrible and undermines a great script. Not normally a deal breaker for me, but when nearly all of the game's appeal is in its story and cutscenes, it's hard for it not to hurt the experience. Still, this gets big points for uniqueness, and I found it hugely endearing.

Finished: March 4th. Platform: Playstation 2. Time: 23h:13m:16s. Rating: 4/10

There's obvious talent at work here, with remarkably rich and well-animated melee combat, the kernel of a cool story, and a silly faux anime vibe that is appealingly of its era. But had to be rushed to market, and sadly it shows. Level design is anemic, storytelling is clumsy, gunplay is poor, and difficulty curve and checkpointing are nonsensical and truly punishing at times. Part of my low score is down to the abysmal PS2 port, as it really compounds the game's issues. And I'd like to replay on PC, as I think it's fascinating and far more competent than it should be given the time Bungie had. But feels like a beta of what it might have been, and it's such a shame that a game with so much potential had to be rushed out in this state.

Finished: April 30th. Platform: Playstation. Time: 16h:15m:49s. Rating: 8/10

Time includes deaths and retries. Lovely sequel to a game I already liked. Visual presentation is even better than the first and makes for one of the prettiest 3D games on the console. Controls are vastly improved and actually feel fairly modern, even if there's still a bit of early 3D clunk. Story is darker and a little bit more dramatic, but still maintains a lot of the whimsical joy of the first and is very enjoyable. Not everything is perfect - there's one really dud dungeon, and the pricing of items and upgrades is wacky and feels like it's there to pad game time. It also leaves story threads hanging, which stings when there's likely never going to be a sequel. But I had a great time with this one, and think it's probably the slightly better of the two.

Finished: June 1st. Platform: Playstation. Time: 7h:09m:30s. Rating: 9/10

Game timer is wonky and said 3:30:26, timed according to stopwatch. Wildly good for a game I only bought because it had a funny name, and can only assume the apparently dodgy localisation and difficulty changes of the English version are what's kept it from getting more attention. Eerily atmospheric, and excellent level design with appealing verticality and tons of fun secrets. Controls and performs extremely well for something from 1996, and story is presented in endearingly cinematic fashion. Possibly becomes a little too easy in the final stretch, but I really think this is a top tier PS1 action game, and so far ahead of most of its 1996 contemporaries. A hidden gem in the truest sense.

Finished: June 5th. Platform: Playstation 3. Time: 7h:23m:02s. Rating: 6/10

With the analogue control patch, this is not the disaster I was expecting. Often gorgeous environmental design, and an amazing cinematic score worthy of a major movie. Story is also mostly likeable cheese, and while gameplay is very unrefined and janky, I think when everything works, you can see a genuinely enjoyable game in there struggling to get out. Performance is incredibly rough though, even for a generation full of games that ran terribly, and it really does hurt the experience. And while a lot of the jank is the fun kind, certain parts of the game like the lock on system are broken in a much more frustrating way. Still, while this is by no means a great game, I had more fun than I expected. A little better than I had heard.

Finished: June 30th. Platform: PSP. Time: 51h:55m:24s. Rating: 6/10

An even worse game than White Witch from a gameplay perspective, as while it makes greater efforts towards being a proper RPG, it's all so sloppy and half-hearted that it's just an annoyance. And the story is held back by a weak, filler-y middle act with tons of backtracking, a lot of quite superfluous side characters, and an unwillingness to make the game's most important and touching relationship the focus of the story. But music is still fantastic, writing for the central cast is largely great, and the first and final acts are really exciting and fun and tie together with White Witch in lovely ways, so there's still lots to like. The weakest game in the series I've played, but still a story worth enjoying, and I'll play the third Gagharv game for sure.

Finished: August 9th. Platform: Playstation 3. Time: 37h:38m:12s. Rating: 9/10

Beautiful, immersive period setting with a really great cast of characters, and an outrageous amount of fun stuff to see and do. Runs a lot better than many games of the era, and the character faces are beautifully expressive, which combined with the excellent voice acting really sells the drama of the more cinematic moments. Thought the combat was a bit repetitive and way too easy, and while the story is often gloriously cool and comes to a very satisfying conclusion, I feel it stumbles quite a bit along the way and can be very disjointed at times. Still, there's so much gleeful fun to be found in every corner of the game that it's hard to care that the odd bit here and there doesn't work, and I think as a whole this is a blast.

Finished: August 12th. Platform: XBox 360. Time: 21h:26m:14s. Rating: 9/10

Hong Kong setting is a joy and gorgeous for a 360 game, and the game world is a nice size - not so big that it's overwhelming, but full of stuff to do, and nearly all of it is fun. Driving and shooting are solid, and the over the top Arkham-esque combat is extremely well done. Dialogue can be a bit juvenile, but the characters are fun and the story is appealingly dramatic to the point where I found myself getting swept along anyway. It's a shame that the game's treatment of women is gross and outright uncomfortable - feels very dated for something from 2012, and the dating elements, especially, are incredibly half-assed and utterly dire. Still, it's a small enough part of the game that it can't sour what is largely a great time. Had so much fun.

Finished: August 16th. Platform: Playstation. Time: 3h:38m:57s. Rating: 5/10

Game has amazing vibes, fun puzzles, and charming graphics and tunes. But the interface is clunky, and the action bits are laughably bad. The biggest problem, though, is that it clearly isn't finished. It starts with no fanfare and ends abruptly after only a single chapter that's split in half to try to make it seem like two. Feels really obvious that Gust took the one finished episode they had and sold it as a full game to meet a deadline. And it's shameless, honestly, especially as it seemingly retailed for full price. In 2000, no less! Were it three times the length as it was clearly meant to be, this would get two or three more points, as it's really quite sweet. But as is, it's just a demo of a good game, and feels so unsatisfying. Bummer.

Finished: August 18th. Platform: Playstation. Time: 8h:46m:55s. Rating: 7/10

One of the shortest RPGs I've played, but it really doesn't feel like it, and spins such a satisfying, gripping, and well-paced story. Genuinely great stuff, and enjoyed every moment, particularly some of the late game revelations. Music is pretty good too, and I really like the character art. And while the 3D dungeons are mostly empty mazes, they're quite atmospheric and appealing. Unfortunately the PS1 port is so broken - many enemy special attacks do nothing due to a bug, completely crippling bosses, and sapping any appeal or challenge out of the already simple combat. Such a shame, as without the bug it would be an outstanding niche RPG. Still, I greatly enjoyed this for the story alone, and it's well worth playing just for that.

Finished: August 26th. Platform: Playstation. Time: 22h:29m:44s. Rating: 6/10

While the frame rate can be dire, the draw distance, effects, and enormous levels make this one of the PS1's most impressive titles. And for half the game it was a solid 8/10, and I was really enjoying the clever, creative puzzle and level design. Second half is a total drag, though. Overlong and becomes awfully repetitive, and the rising difficulty reveals how bad the combat and platforming are. It also barely seems to have been tested. Mission objectives often fall apart with the slightest player deviation, music sometimes just stops playing, and I lost so much time to freezes or getting stuck in level geometry. The first half has none of these issues, but sad to see such an interesting, ambitious game fail to stick the landing.

IN PROGRESS

IN PROGRESS

IN PROGRESS

Not going to lie, I'm mainly playing this one so I can also play the sequel that Yasunori Mitsuda composed for. But it does look like a lovely wee beginners' RPG with some very pleasing art (Ghibli were involved!) and a cool premise. So appeals in its own right. Also, while this one doesn't feature Mitsuda's music, it does have music by Zuntata, which is hardly a downgrade. Looking forward to it! Think it's meant to be on the shorter side as far as RPGs go, too, which is no bad thing for me these days.

This has been the slowest series playthrough for me ever - I finished Infection in 2022, and Mutation and Outbreak were entries on my 2023 and 2024 lists respectively. Outbreak was the weakest chapter so far for me, but still totally invested in the story, and hyped to see how it ends here. Might start the GU games this year too, though not committing to anything there list-wise.

After finally finishing Earthbound for the first time a few years ago, I think this is very probably the most famous RPG of the 90s that I still haven't seriously played. And I have absolutely no idea why. I love Yasumi Matsuno, and am a big fan of both Tactics Ogre and Vagrant Story. And I've played most of Square's other PS1 titles and the vast majority of the notable English language RPGs on the console. Just one that fell through the cracks for whatever reason, despite a few failed attempts here and there. Want to stick it on one of these lists so I finally play it before I'm old and grey.

As someone who was mostly out of games during the PS3 / 360 / Wii generation, I wasn't actually aware of this one until just a few years ago. But I've heard only good things, and it seems super-cool! Excited to find out what the fuss was about.