Swords & Souls Legacy Collection (2025) review

Warning this is going to be a rather long blog review post. Please take as many breaks as humanly possible while reading all of this.

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, quickly I want to confirm a last minute change. Stuff suddenly came up prior to buying today's compilation game. The original plan was to buy Gex Trilogy for my tenth wedding anniversary. Officially that's moved back for my birthday.

Don't worry I'm going all in when the time comes. In the mean time I hope those about to read this review entry enjoy. You can tell I really wanted to play this compilation game. I figured to literately go in all reviewing it purely out of fun.

I also wanna confirm I didn't just buy it for that one game. This had a rather interesting lineup of games. Swords & Souls Legacy Collection came out mid July on Steam. It's a collection for five classic flash games made by two cousins. The same publisher as Decision Legacy Collection being Armor Games Studios.

Swords & Souls (2015)

I figured to take my sweet time reviewing each game within the collection. I knew exactly which game to kick things off with. Swords & Souls has to be among not only the greatest flash games I ever played. But among the very best games I played period!!! I also will confirmed I did find the original flash game version through Newgrounds website.

It took me a long time to fully completionist that game. I never expected I would do the entire process again. Neither did I expect to do it way faster in comparison. We're talking within twenty fours of my purchase I checked. For me I'm not used to a game that's heavily centered on training.

Usually I find it boring to a degree. Although I do recall some fun similar experiences. Somehow each training section done just right. I personally felt I struggled the most with strikes. You also get to join money to unlock stuff. Some aspects of this reminded me of a game I reviewed earlier this year through GOG.

Chicken Assassin: Reloaded except it's not a clicker style game. Every training section has a few similar variety that's all done incredibly differently. You also can take on the arena for thirty waves. There's a Survival section to keep you replaying the section. You also got to do well enough to unlock the true final boss.

Strength is heavily striking apples at faster paces. Block is using your shield to block apples from hitting you. Accuracy is using a bow for target practice. Dodge is literately all about timing to avoid taking hits. Critical tests your patience to deliver critical damages. I should mention Critical is mostly done through your mouse unlike most of them.

I simply love each training section has different style of controls. Which ended up being a rather unique experience. It's also possible to quickly knock out Combo challenges if you have enough combo build up prior to getting them. I really love the style of using an bow in this as well. Which sorta reminds me of Rambo 3 on Sega Genesis when you face the bosses.

You literately look like you're using a bow in this cool first person style. Hard to believe all those training sections occurs in the same room right? I will confirm some will take a little longer getting a bit better at than others. You just don't know how incredibly addicting these training sections are. The best part is you can do terrible at challenges to still gain experience for those stats.

If you're new to the game you wouldn't know who it is. What if I told you he's been with you the entire time!!! No really this Scarecrow that training you is the real final boss. You also go through several forms of currency as well as equipment. I love there's a few sections to check out what you unlocked. You can buy stuff for your home as well.

My favorite being your equipment that's a rather long room. The controls for the most part are quite decent. I actually don't have a single major issue at all. Even considering at times lag inputs to a degree. It's not entirely game breaking either. I also loved they reference some of the other games within the collection.

Unlike Decision Legacy Collection, they added in a link to Swords & Souls: Neverseen. It's presented on the map screen on the right. I also noticed some animations were notably sped up a bit. It took some time getting use to the speed within training sections. Later unlocking the option to use Turbo Mode for faster variations of them.

You also can use money to include your total bank earnings. When you nearly bought every equipment. At the store there's an option for experience points. Which you'll get for every ten thousand coins. A very large amount of experience points. Although you could get much more through collecting clovers. Clovers often pop up through training.

Clovers among feeding em to a mushroom whose your pet. Randomly gives you stuff with popped animation means nothing. Ideally you can get a lot of free stuff you could use in the arena. You also get quickly get money as well as experience points. Let's put this way a ridiculous amount of clovers. There's a huge chance you'll fly through a few levels at best.

A lot of your enemies seems to be from Rogue Souls series. Including Rogue himself among many opponents. I also noticed a particular hat belonging to the guy in The Soul Driver. The money earning is quite decent for the most part. Personally here's what I recommend to truly get started. Trust me this will be somewhat time consuming but worth it in the end.

Quickly unlock all five training sections. Try to spend a lot of your time training hard. Even if you kept failing challenges. Your additional experience from these sections still helps you out. There's no true ending to the game for anyone wondering. It's mind blowing how truly great this game turned out to be. They really went the distance with this!!!

This by itself earned enough respect it's much more than an flash game. No it's a game you really should play before you die. If it's not on your list you may wanna consider adding this soon. I really can not say much more about the game that already haven't been said thousands of times. Seriously if you don't believe please consider giving this a try.

The Soul Driver (2011)

This was SoulGame Studio's first flash game. This was a short but fun driving game. Very quickly some aspects reminded me of other games. For examples, you are mostly getting from point a to point b. But you often deal with cops & mobsters. There's a lot of hazards on the road to test your driving skills. You can collect coins to upgrade your car to a degree.

There's ten levels with the last being easily the most difficult by far. This level goes on a lot longer with the game throwing everything it's got at you. If you do finish the final level be proud. I had to replay this one level a couple times. Luckily they were kind in selecting the five achievements. Don't expect em to be that easy to get though.

A handful of them I took several attempts to get. One in particular I ended up getting during an failed attempt at a challenge. Yes this game also offers an short challenge mode. I just wish they made it clear what the minimum for bronze, silver and gold requirements are? The controls are quite decent with amazing accuracy.

I simply love you get to drive crazy in general. Helicopters drops mines that also can affect other enemies. Huge birds that drops mess in hopes to partially blind you. Considering this was the cousins' first flash game together. It's actually much better than expected. It's simple with just roughly the right level of challenge.

Then again I also felt challenge mode is quite repetitive in comparison. I would have to say my favorite aspect is the animations. Like seeing cop cars crashed into things taking em out is so satisfying. You also get to hit & run people on the road. This would be a great game to start playing the collection with. To me it's more fun than Dash of Destruction.

You know a free XBLA game someone won an Doritos contest to make. Sadly that XBLA game gotten delisted since then. This is notably more satisfying to play. You actually can tell how good some of the upgrades are. I also love you can speed up or use boost. Which you can refill cheap making that a good option.

The Soul Driver is a great time for anyone wanting to cause chaos on the road. The ultimate goal of the game is escape into Mexico. I felt the cousins did a great job designing the game. It may get repetitive to a degree. At the same time get it done will make you quite happy. I highly recommend people check this game.

The Gentleman (2013)

The Gentleman is one of those you gotta adapt to all kind of situations puzzle games. This game will test not only your skills but how creative you can be. Some of these levels with some aspects of the controls taking a little longer getting use to. The learning curve is a very huge one. For the most part you have to unlock doors.

Not like Hotel Mario on CD-i though. Some doors requires keys or surviving until time unlocks em. There's some rather interesting animation. The artwork itself truly stands out within the levels. Can you believe there's fifty levels? Easily one of the most ambitious flash games I ever played!!! Thankfully you can easily use level select.

Which helps regarding achievement hunting this collection game. The gold times are ridiculously shorter than you expect. The most being thirty seconds notably longer than majority of them. This also confirms most levels aren't long either. There also are a few boss levels as well. I am glad these bosses has a health bar.

A rather huge health bar at that to know my process in them. You can easily fail by getting touched. This is more meant for speed runners than anyone else. Yes it can get repetitive but beating some of the harder levels. In all honestly feels truly amazing when you do so. It actually felt like those were well earned.

Without question one of the most interesting games within the collection. Just right level of creativity within the levels. Very few of them felt a bit similar. But majority of them are vastly different experiences altogether. This game kept blowing my mind how great it truly was. The Gentleman is perfect if you want variety within the game play.

Just expect more towards adapting to the levels than anything else. During an 1st playthrough you won't know what may get thrown your direction. Trust me when I say a lot get thrown to see if you have the skills to win or not. I also love the game points at breaking reality jokes. One of my favorites being "an Gentleman doesn't care about gravity."

Some of these levels are incredibly strict. Even doing the smallest thing wrong forces you to try again. Thank god for limitless chances right? The bosses largely defeated by jumped on their heads. In a weird sense you face one boss twice. But the later variation you face a second, smaller bat with em. Some of them has a very notable learning curve.

The final boss is among the easiest I felt. But considering how frustrating the last few levels are. It's almost like the developers felt bad they made those levels too hard. I won't sugar coat this the hardest game to complete in the collection. It turns out the final boss is this cat you kept seeing through out the game.

Now I see where a similar concept done in Swords & Souls came from. This has the most confusing everything controls within the collection. After you go through portals your controls swapped. Which is rather annoying within games. Timing is insanely critical if you wanna get far in this. You are forced in some of the later levels go in with a huge leap of faith.

Hoping regardless what's in your path you somehow made it through. I will give credit the levels that alter perceptive to a degree are rather cool looking. There's a particular level I absolute dislike with a strong passion. Level 47 is an absolutely nightmare to get through. I tried so many times to get through this level.

I didn't skip any levels at all which had a set number how many you could've skip. I nearly had every level done with gold by the time I finished the game. I guess what I have with the game is a love/hate relationship. I love so much about the game compared what really gotten under my skin. For what it's worth The Gentleman isn't a bad game at all.

This game expects absolute perfection nothing lesser than that. I thought games like Contra series was brutal in comparison. Plus you got to constantly learn things during an 1st playthrough. More than you're actually expecting to make it even harder to finish. I would say this is great if you wanna play something different.

Rogue Soul (2012)

The first Rogue Soul is virtually endless hit & run platformer. There is an ending but you can actually continue after first watching that. The controls are quite decent just roughly where you want em. It's a rogue-like experience with the levels even among after using continues changes. Despite that it's a surprisingly shorter length game within the collection.

I do like you can unlock stuff for your room. A feature later done in Swords & Souls. You play as Rogue who wants to be the most wanted man. There really isn't much of a story at all. What you need to know is unless you have armor. You can fail from taking one hit. It's possible to find more armor around the levels.

It's a rather faster pace game not in the style of Sonic the Hedgehog. I would make a joke but Shadow the Hedgehog game already exists!!! You gotta think fast as well as react nearly as quickly. There's a little of a learning curve regarding some of the enemies. You can give flowers to women that gives you additional jumps.

I love the famous Assassin's Creed style Leap of Faith to end levels on. The actual achievement hunting will take a bit of time after figuring some stuff out. It's quite doable to say the least. I also love you can customize your character to a degree. The developers did a great job making you feel like an actual rogue.

There's virtually no bosses at all. If you actually wanna see the ending to the game. You need to score at least 5000 coins. You can then die to trigger the cutscene. Then a paper gets added to your room allowing you to simply rewatch the ending whenever you want. You do need to get that ending if you wanna attempt the challenges.

This is a game among a first look you would think. "There's no way I could play this!!!" After a few hours stuff becomes second nature to you. In all honestly, this is a good beginner game within the collection. It's just right balance of everything. I should also point you there's a huge possibility of dying a lot as well.

Rogue Soul turned out to be a rather cool game. Screw the fact it originally was an flash game. I believe this deserves more respect than it's getting. You also get a few ways to attack enemies. Including the classic jump on enemies trend. I felt this game held up amazingly well after all these years. Without question make sure you play this one.

Rogue Soul 2 (2014)

Despite the similarities in game play from the first Rogue Soul. This follow up step up huge time here. You get a lot of upgrades that betters your chances. You get ten levels with several objectives. I actually completed all ten fully before I attempted replaying level 10 on an faster setting. Not only you get to customize your character being Rogue again.

You also can unlock additional modes to offer more variety within the game play. You get challenges as well as an Survival mode. There's also Arena which I don't currently have in my save. But I'm a little half way there to getting it though. There's some rogue-like aspects to keep the game interesting. Now when you give ladies a flower.

Several power ups could be given to you. All of them notably helps you out. My two favorites if I had to choose has to be Magnet & Infinite Ammo. Magnet for a short period pulls stuff you can collect. Even at a notable distance while you can keep focusing on finishing the levels. There's a few bosses that all differ from each other.

Thankfully all of them has a health bar with their names included. There's an actual story this time around. Rogue takes on an cult with their leader being the final boss. I simply love his name, Dark Zoul is a play on the game series Dark Souls. Some of the unlockables is references to the other games in the collection.

Yes there's a notable learning curve. It's just not The Gentleman level of strict though. Sometimes you get hit when you felt you shouldn't. Then again you do get a particular upgrade. Where among taking hits at random doesn't register the hit. Instead counts it as you dodge em which is kinda awesome. You can tell they gotten quite creative with this one.

Rogue Soul 2 is a worthy successor. I also love additional jumps as well as parachutes automatically given. This also means you can use em more often than in the first Rogue Soul. Changes like this heavily impacted the game in a great way. In all honestly, it was quite amazing they pulled all of this off so well.

I should point out there's three caged old men you can rescue in the levels. Some of them are quite tricky to get though. I simply love among first finishing a level. Any of the objectives you completed stay done. You have no idea how truly annoying some games can be not doing that. I felt this is easily one of the best games within the collection hands down!!!

Now I wanted to do a quick ranking. You already given enough to go on prior. I am aware some people's lists could differ to a degree. Majority of them will have the same exact number 1!!! All I ask for in return is please don't bitch thank you. This was actually trickier to do than Decision Legacy Collection. I carefully analyze each game before the official ranking was given.

Ranking

5. The Gentleman

4. Rogue Soul 1

3. The Soul Driver

2. Rogue Soul 2

1. Swords & Souls

Conclusion

I finally get to talk about the game selection screen. I personally felt this is simply being too great. I know some may point out it's a little weird the order they were placed. They aren't placed by years or genres either. I really prefer the game selection screen more than Decision Legacy Collection's. Which wasn't bad for what it was either.

There's just something I love so much in comparison here. Each game has an added return to game selection screen option. It's hard to believe I waited for months to play this. I can honestly say I'm quite satisfied with this collection. I know the usual criticism of you could possibly play these on websites free.

Some even felt it's price is a little too much. A little much wow oh okay. It's $9.99 or $10.49 the same as Decision Legacy Collection. If we went by two dollars a game that's great value right there. There's not much actually added though. Let's be honest, the insane amount of content. You simply already happy with you bought.

You can see the amazing level of creativity that went into each of these flash games. This has to be among the best compilation games I played off Steam in years. I am dead serious I didn't find many big issues. The achievements are quite well selected. Occasionally there's a few that's going to piss you off. I officially finished achievement hunting this collection.

The best part is it's perfectly ported that I could easily play this collection for years. Regardless what major changes Steam does to their service as well as computers getting more ambitious in scale. They absolutely knocked it out the park with this. I been wanting to support more indie developers. Thankfully my ranking confirmed my top 3 favorite games within the collection.

Even as great Rogue Soul 2 was it just wasn't Swords & Souls!!! I know a lot of people don't expect much from flash games. These classics are way better than the ones you may know of. All of them I felt held up amazingly well time wise. I also loved we're going from 2011-2015. 2015 so happens to be the year I gotten married.

As of this year, I'll be married to my amazing wife for a decade. Several aspects of this collection felt fitting for my upcoming tenth wedding anniversary. Swords & Souls Legacy Collection is a must within your Steam collections. I would buy this again on GOG as soon as I had the chance honestly. This is easily one of my favorite 2025 games I played this year by far!!!

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (2020) and My Friendly Neighborhood (2025)

Thanks to Microsoft and their Game Pass program for today's games.

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I apologize stuff kept coming up. Further delaying Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. But I figured I just recently played another game added to Game Pass. I may review both of them together in one review blog entry. Two vastly different games that's a lot of fun despite their flaws. I highly recommend checking both of them out.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (2020)

Essentially this is a sequel to Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. The compilation caused a new timeline to happen. Which means Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex to Crash: Mind over Mutant no longer canon. They actually got more ambitious of a concept than just time travel. Crash with his sister Coco gets to do stages across several universes.

Yes you heard correctly they went multiversal with the franchise. There's actually a few more playable characters as well. Along with the sibling, some rather unexpected characters teams up with em to a degree. Tawna and Dingodile from other universes. Even Crash's nemesis Dr. Cortex gets in on the action. Most of the playable characters differs similar to Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 respectively.

I also wanted to say with the recent franchises failing after doing that. Somehow Crash found a way to make such a concept into something truly amazing. The actual stages are well thought out. Even stages you play as another character up to a point. Then you go back to Crash or Coco to finish out harder variation of those stages.

I should mention the game when you start out gives you two options. A more set lifes or virtually have infinite chances? Let's be real you're going to die a lot in this game. There's no way I could've gotten far with the more limited lifes system. I knew very early on the infinite chances was the way to go.

Dingodile is more of a shooter while you got to use gadgets as Dr. Cortex. If it's not obvious from just looking at the characters. They did confirm their appearances was inspired by Saturday morning cartoons. Which ended up working wonders for this Crash game. The difficulty curve is notably higher than ever before.

Let's put it this way you mostly collect gems this time around. If doing every stage for gems wasn't enough. They actually made alternate versions of every stage. Which means if you really want to go the completionist route. You literately gotta do double the work. The audio as a whole absolutely amazing!!! Just when you think they wouldn't do much to keep things interesting.

This Crash game filled with such fun surprises to keep it a rather refreshing experience. I would even dare to say this is better than Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Something I really didn't expect to ever say. This game can be very strict as well as overly critical over the smallest mistakes. This is more of an issue within the later stages.

I do like you get these masks that all alter how to get through particular sections of the stages. You know quite like both Mega Man classic and X series respectively. Some stages you really get tested how well you truly adapt at the game. I probably died more than that Crash collection game honestly. I also love the map screen it's incredibly well done.

To a degree I still prefer Crash 2/3 style. Where you simply pick which level within a set. You would have to do them all before doing the boss stages. I will say they sure made progression of the map screen quite interesting. This actually renewed my interest back into the franchise. It's hard to say with the current direction of the company.

I'm just glad we finally gotten a decent Crash 4 game. I did previously play Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex it doesn't even come close. This Crash game kept blowing my mind as I kept on playing. This is filled with content to truly keep you busy for hours. This has to be one of the finest 3D platformers I ever played!!!

My Friendly Neighborhood (2025)

I don't have a lot of experience playing Resident Evil clones. This is currently the weirdest I ever played!!! Obviously parts of the game play was heavily inspired by a few Resident Evil games. To some degree it also pulled from BioShock series. Which is heavily reminding me of Maize.

More so into the actual story of My Friendly Neighborhood. Both games you play as an unlikely hero. As the games goes on you discovered what fully happened. Just looking at the enemies it screams The Muppets to me. They are animatronics that used to be on an television studio for children.

Which is similar to The Banana Splits Movie the horror one. Majority of the actual feel brought BioShock together with Resident Evil 7. Your job is take care of an antenna on top of a building. Of course, the characters don't make things easy for ya. There's some notable differences that helps this stand out from other similar style horror games.

In a sense some aspects of Sesame Street as well. This kept reminding me of Five Nights at Freddy's series. This is an mascot horror game after all. The term is you are being hunted by classic mascot characters. Some of these mascot horror games are quite weird. It took a long time for me to finally enjoy one of these horror games.

You can only down most enemies while given a choice. Depending if you have tape or not. Either you tape em up preventing em getting back up or run past em. To be fair, it's possible to sneak around enemies to prevent encounters. Just some enemies like the dogs are a little trickier.

The weapons are surprisingly smaller than expected. But each one notably differs with none of them sucking bad either. I know this bags the question does more weapons help or hurt an game? Honestly it depends how each weapon was designed. Personally I prefer majority of them being done well than too much lack of quality.

I don't need twenty weapons if too many of them are too similar to each other. Not to mention, too many of them being quite difficult to use. Some of which could possibly harm maybe kill you. I prefer how they kept the weapons a short list. There's no real upgrades for the weapons. Don't worry there's ways they made up for that.

Majority of ammo is the truly strange part. Usually you would expect bullets for your firearms within video games. Instead you use letters that's used in every weapon. Thankfully they do differ how each gun ammunition. It's kinda cool rapid firing letters. Seeing them ricochet around the environments.

Sure some people may not like taped enemies keeps on talking. The inventory is very Resident Evil 7/Village style. You also get a tool box or two in a handful of locations. If you need to put some extra stuff in them. I liked the thought behind the concept. There's a small variety of enemies that notably differs.

What I really like is many enemies. If you do side stuff to help em out. They no longer pursue for reminder of the run. There's a few sections around the TV station you get to explore. Depending on difficulties at a point. Either you don't need any token to save or at least one to do the same.

I also gotta talk about the puzzles. There's some rather clever puzzles in this game. One of my favorites involves figuring out three patterns regarding time cards. You can only use three particular shapes with three of a shape being the limit. This is more of a math problem than solving time theme questions.

Another puzzle I liked was you need three particular key items. You go to the green house to mix em together. I confessed it was late at night. It took a little while before I realized. I needed to hold down the three colored buttons for this puzzle. Quickly press all three of them will not work.

I always loved when an game eventually allows you to fully go around the entire map. Despite some sections getting cut off for reminder of the run. There's not a lot of bosses in the game either. It's more bosses than Killing Time: Resurrected let's get that fact straight here. I won't sugar coat there's some back tracking.

I don't think the necessary portion of that is game breaking by any means. Especially in later playthroughs you could replay the game with cheats. The grading system for your runs is quite similar to newer Resident Evil games with S+ being the best grade you could earn. It's mind blowing this really felt like an Resident Evil game.

The achievement/trophy hunting is surprisingly a lot of fun. If you need to use guides I recommend watching videos. I also like you get the option to drop stuff from your inventory outside using tool boxes. Although for key items you gotta use em fully before doing so. There is a notable learning curve that's roughly close to being somewhat fair.

I'm about to go into major spoiler territory. I will give you a few minutes to leave to prevent seeing major end game spoilers. Alright the entire endgame takes place in the location you first met Ricky. I simply love one of the main characters is a sock puppet. You need to gain access to a particular elevator.

You got a few surprises awaiting you upstairs. A notable amount of this area is made out of cardboard boxes. This kept reminding me of a particular episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. Edtropolis for anyone wondering which episode. You also have to help this guy on a piano out a little bit.

This is the only character you regularly have the option to help or not. Helping him you pull a lever to make the platform you're on go higher. You get to climb all the way up from the roof to the antenna. You knew something had to happen right? You get to face the final boss easily the weirdest character in the game.

Yes even weirder than another boss that covers the entire entrance with multiple eye balls. This thing is like several of these characters rolled into one. It's sorta like a Chimera from Greek mythology. It's a weird hybrid creature that's notably bigger than the rest of the enemies. You actually have two choices you could do during the boss fight.

Defeat him or figure a way to sneak past him? Which was a rather unexpected angle. Among leaving the building you have one last conversation with Ricky. You are given a choice between a few endings. The game will end slightly faster if you pick Yes. If you chosen No you have to get back to your vehicle to leave.

Believe it or not, I still got a lot more to discuss. Earlier I mentioned cheats you can unlock. Majority of them you could find by collecting VHS tapes. Supposedly one of them has a few possible locations. The last couple cheats are given to you among beating the game on difficulties.

Although they do allow using cheats for the most part. There's a few unlockable modes that notably affects the game. Including Free-cam mode that's virtually the famous No Clip mode. Dusk Mode which is a direct reference to the developers' previous game. I should mention it was two brothers that made My Friendly Neighborhood.

I just found out PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions. Actually came out a day earlier just short of two years following the original Steam release. My favorite mode by far gotten added in through a free update originally. Neighborhorde is very Resident Evil's The Mercenaries inspired.

No literately you get a handful of characters with their own set up. You get a few stages being four possibly referencing either version of Resident Evil 4. You can hit targets to increase your time to a degree. The bosses are essentially the Unfriendly Neighborhood versions. Imagine a more creepier, determine variation of the same characters.

Obviously they are much bigger from they were in the short section of the campaign. It's also possible for more than one to spawn too. I also liked they did change a few stuff between the stages to differ em from each other. I was quite blown away how truly fun this mini game was. You have to beat the game once to play this mode.

I must be obsessed with this Resident Evil clone. I confessed I didn't think much of it a few years ago. Now I wish I would've given it respect back then after playing it. This game officially earned my respect. The campaign without using cheats could be a few hours long. This is easily one of the most surprising games I ever played through Game Pass.

Yes even considering both Mullet Madjack and Crime Scene Cleaner in that discussion. This felt like Resident Evil yet does plenty of things differently. This is exactly why indie games are earning my respect more recently. Games like this are quickly becoming some of my absolute favorites in recent years.

Words just can't express how truly amazing this game was to me. I would actually be proud to hand both brothers' hands for making this I'm not kidding. I felt content wise it's more focus than Resident Evil 7 let's be honest. I still felt a few aspects were done better in RE7 out of respect.

I will say this though I am deeply impressed by this. I would be very interested playing a sequel or a spin off to this game. It's safe to say among my favorite modern horror games by far. Don't expect it to be scary no expect a few wow oh okay moments. Like after you put together a key item after turning the lights on.

Which also gets Ray to leave the area. One of the regular enemies suddenly shows up. Among firing at him causing multiple copies to pop out. Suddenly you go into panic mode hopefully to not get overwhelmed. My Friendly Neighborhood was a rather great addition to Game Pass. I just hope anyone that reads this review considers playing this game soon.

Death Battle: Hulk vs Godzilla update

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I'm slowly getting a few future posts ready. Death Battle just confirmed they are finally getting ready to do my least favorite match up. Pulled from Tournament of Champions that's right it's Hulk vs Godzilla!!! Before I get into what I need to add there's another recent Death Battle prediction blog I also need to discuss.

Update on Death Battle Fight Prediction: Father Pucci vs Lucius Zogratis

I will be honest until now I wasn't sure how to bring up this sudden development. Shortly after I written my prediction blog for Father Pucci vs Lucius Zogratis. Two new chapters of Black Clover came out. Which further solidify my decision was indeed correct. Lucius ended up being a magic variation of Bleach's Yhwach as well.

Lucius revived his angels but also made em more insanely powerful. You still haven't heard the truly ridiculous part yet. He made himself the source to every grimoire within the Clover Kingdom. Basically every grimoire not taken instantly goes to him. Any magic user that dies from the same kingdom has their grimoires along with every spell they had.

You guess it also goes to him making Lucius a ridiculous Black Clover character. Plus that method also makes him stronger. Hence why I instantly compared him to Yhwach in that regard. As of right now we don't know how many magic types he currently has. Keep in mind, the devil possessing him haven't gotten directly involved yet.

Now I can safely say this is an even bigger stomp. There's virtually nothing Father Pucci can do. Lucius has simply way too much that we know of. The fact what he could end up getting at critical points possibly heavily impact things. There's no question Aizen finally has a true successor with this guy.

Update on Death Battle Fight Prediction: Hulk vs Godzilla

More recently Godzilla kept crossing over with Marvel comics. These two met once again to end up becoming friends. Hulk even out of his way to bleed onto the monster. Thus transforming him into Hulk Godzilla. This is excluding other ridiculous possibilities in these recent crossovers either.

A more recent crossover fight against Thor. The king version ended up being trapped into eternal combat. Sorta like a fight that never truly ends but always restarts on a daily basis. It's insane Godzilla can match such a powerful version of Thor is mind blowing. There's also a recent crossover where Godzilla gotten an symbiote.

As of right now it's not clear which direction they're going with Hulk vs Godzilla. My personal assumption being full composite route. Which is pretty ridiculous to begin with. Sure I'm also aware Hulk defeated The One Above All before. The actual deity at the very top of Marvel's power scaling.

Although some could easily argue a particular comic version of Godzilla. Defeated both God and the Devil is pretty ridiculous too. I'm still upset there's no way Hulk going to win. Officially going to be his third defeat on the show. Some people treating this like Goku vs Superman please don't!!!

What also directly hurts it is the previous episode. Which was Deku vs Spider-Man (Miles) a good episode I'll say. But we also ended up getting two Marvel characters in a row that's going to lose. Assuming I'm right about who wins that is. It's also weird a particular poll Ben done years ago.

Following this Hulk episode, every option of that poll officially happens on the show. Hulk already loss to both Doomsday and Broly respectively. I still felt Hulk should've won against Broly though. There's a long list of connections these two have. I felt that's way more interesting than the actual fight.

Honestly in a way I'm glad it's up next. There wasn't many confirmed episodes left I didn't want to see. I still felt this is going to be a major waste of time to everyone!!! As much I could support Godzilla needed another appearance on the show. I rather see him face Cthulhu. Which would've been a rather unique episode.

I guess the only positives being it'll be done in a month. Also it can't come back through another Tournament of Champions. Despite that, I know this isn't the worst match up. It just adds salt to a comic book character I absolutely love with a huge passion. Maybe one day if he were to come back for a fourth episode.

We could only hope it's someone he actually could win against. Then again people suddenly wants Superman vs Optimus Prime or Homelander. I might jump on Superman taking on Optimus Prime train. I don't think we need more Homelander though. Plus a lot of people still upset over Omni-Man vs Bardock.

I am not even sure if I could like the animation for this or not. Especially when Hulk notably looks different between the fights. We're talking more than normal for this show. I just don't wanna get a barf bag ready among seeing him. We don't even know if this being done in 3D or sprites that might include some hand drawn parts.

What we do know is Hulk going back in the grave. The size difference doesn't even matter. Hulk can get very powerful but it's not often we seen Godzilla weakened. Of course, I do enjoy watching destruction of buildings that aspect I love about this. Sadly the rest of it quickly falls apart.

Phantasy Star II (1990) review

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I originally was planning to do an two in one review. Once again pulled from Sega Genesis Classics. I couldn't imagine how many hours would go into finishing today's game. I recently reviewed both Phantasy Star III & IV respectively. Now I'm back to review Phantasy Star II officially finishing out the classic Phantasy Star series on Sega Genesis.

I got to make several things clear. I did use a written guide with a few videos to a degree. I did use rewind as well as fast forward to a degree. There's plenty of major issues that makes this a difficult sell for people. To clarify this isn't a bad RPG game. It just has stuff that easily can ruin the entire experience for people. I still would say it's among the best classic Phantasy Star games.

Phantasy Star II (1990)

I do think this is worthy enough to be included into Sega Genesis Mini 2 as well as huge Genesis compilation games. I also think it's easier to start with what I did like. The characters were also quite interesting. Sadly one of my personal favorites dies right before the first actual boss fight begins. Recently I found out there exists a version that allows you to play the entire game as her.

To a degree I did enjoy the soundtrack with the sound effects a bit more. Some of the towns had a layout I liked. My favorite towns were layered as a bit simpler that's easy to navigate. You can easily reach exactly where you need to go plus it's easy to leave towns. There's two planets you get to explore. I personally ended up enjoying Dezoris more.

The same planet shows up in Phantasy Star IV. It's done vastly differently though. I did like most of the enemies I faced. Obviously like most classic RPG games, there's plenty palette swapping among em. I personally wasn't a fan of the floating sword enemies. You get up to four characters to play as. Although you can swap out for a few more characters.

I do respect each one brings something different to the table. Let's take Shir for an example, she's a thief. Her specialty is RNG based when you go in & out of stores. At random, you'll get a texts she disappeared. You have to go back to Rolf's house to get her back. Even if you're on the other planet which bags the question.

How did she get back to the other planet without the spaceship? Another character I found incredibly usable is Rudolf Steiner aka Rudo for short. This guy is a tank that uses powerful guns. He also can fight with melee weapons. Which you should do for awhile after getting him into your party. I also like the weapons differ just enough to know which is better for each character.

Some of which multiple characters could use. A particular selection of weapons that's thrown only Anna can use. Anna plays like the classic character style in the series. I also liked you could find an item allowing you to properly communicate with the people on the ice planet. Without it, you can't do anything in towns.

Let's put it this way you would've been force to go back to the original planet. Simply to buy supplies as well as heal up your party. Thankfully I kept that hat it saved me a lot of trouble. I also liked some of the battle animations. Notably more from Phantasy Star III's battles. The actual story ended up being more interesting than I expected.

The actual look of the game I liked a lot as well. As you can see it has some rather good positives. I also liked you can use teleport stores to go quickly to other towns. Which I ended up using more than items or spells serving a similar purpose. Not only I'm about to talk about the negatives. I also gotta mention some rather weird stuff I came across on the way to beating the game.

There's four bosses in the entire game. The first boss your hybrid character has a connection to. Sadly she does a solo battle where she dies. Then you actually get to face her for real. It turns out the monsters on the original planet was her doing. Of course, things wouldn't end there. You have to get water flowing from every dam.

Which are all colored differently that acts like dungeons. Let me tell you about the dungeons majority of them sucks. Navigation is at it's worst in some of these locations. Even trying to carefully follow a guide minus random fights can get rather frustrating. This plays into the bosses because among finishing the final dam.

You instantly go straight into the second boss fight that has a twist. I still haven't heard many RPG bosses that operates like this either. You face Army Eyes, security robots. Three of them to be exact yet the goal actually to lose. Yes you heard me correctly you gotta lose to continue on the game. I know some of you are probably why right?

It's possible to defeat all of them however doing so prevents you continuing at all. The reason to lose this particular boss fight is you need to be captured. Then get sent to a prison that's on an satellite. Which does serve a huge purpose. My strategy as weird as it was I made the entire team stay on defend. Then I kept hitting fight until I gotten captured.

This prevented me from defeating em by accident altogether. Easily, the one boss fight I liked in the game. It's kinda hard for me to like the first boss after liking a personal favorite character there. You knew Dark Force had to be one of the final bosses. I gotta be honest this is my least favorite Dark Force boss in the classic Phantasy Star series.

As a reminder, I didn't finish the original Phantasy Star. Where Dark Force was the final boss there. A boss that actually gotten me to rage quit on a recent stream it's that bad. Unlike both III & IV I couldn't pick which enemies to attack. Which was rather frustrating late into the game. This is just a small issue to what I'm about to say.

Some mechanics like Shir stealing from stores or Nei Sword canceling out Dark Force's manipulation. Yes this boss can directly stop anyone within your party from doing what you need em to do. This by itself kept screwing me over bad. This sword doesn't often cancel out it's effects either. Plus Dark Force has a rather powerful attack that effects the entire team.

If you are lucky, you either have a decent health item or if you have Amy in your party leveled up enough. Regardless those ended up being essential to survive this particular boss fight. More than I ever realized for a long time. I put over forty hours at least into this one RPG game I'm not joking. Thankfully Lutz a magic user gives you a nice surprise.

Go into your items as Rolf to use Nei Sword while in the final dungeon. You'll be teleported back to his location. He always asks the same question you have to say no to refill the entire party. This is perfect if you didn't stock up on health items. The final boss is Mother Brain herself no not the Metroid villain. Although that kinda would've been interesting too.

This Mother Brain is an AI that's operates systems the people became heavily depended on. She is virtually life support in a sense. It's sorta like how some shows & movies showcases the future to a degree. Where the people became too depended on technology to a fault. She also caused that satellite you gotten captured to reach to collide into a planet causing it's destruction.

The same planet destruction that later gotten discussed within Phantasy Star III. Considering majority of the people in that game were descendants of the survivors. She's also the reason why several people view your party as enemies rather than heroes. Rolf was also revealed to be an descendant of Alis from the original Phantasy Star.

I kept realizing late into the run how similar Chaz in Phantasy Star IV was to Rolf. They sorta look a like to a degree while notably colored differently. I should also point out you had to collect eight particular Nei stuff. Two from each dungeon on Dezoris. Which sorta acts a little like the dams on the other planet.

Earlier I stated you get teleport options outside of teleport stores. Some characters has access to those spells. However unlike the later entries regarding using spells or items. You don't get to pick the destination among usage. Which can be rather annoying at times. For example, if you wanna travel to another town.

Depending on which planet you're on. Either you'll get teleported back to Paseo your home town or where your space ship docked. I really wasn't kidding about the navigation situation. Skure on the ice planet for a long while a major pain to get through. There's only four exits but only three of them leaves to towns.

Which means by default even explored the one section you never can teleport there. Thankfully items or spells that gets you out of dungeons works how you expect em to. Although you do need to know what actually is an dungeon. You might confuse a handful of locations for one. Most major locations has a few floors with rather confusing paths to explore.

Even trying carefully to follow an written guide. There's plenty of times I gotten confused where I'm suppose to go. Not only that, I really need to discuss leveling in this game. Around half way, I felt money earning gets decent. Later on, you'll easily get a lot of money quickly fixing that problem. In comparison, leveling can be a real pain.

The max level is Level 50 around half way you'll start to notice a lot more experience required. In order to level up your characters making the process rather time consuming. It's even debatable which spot ended up being the most ideal for leveling up for the final bosses. I kept going back to a dungeon nearby a town on Dezoris.

The shortest gap location that's directly on route to where the game ends to help prevent confusion. I was forced to swap out Shir for Amy to simply better my chances at those bosses. I nearly had the full recommended set up for my team. I lacked the great health items I sold em. Also this game simply dislikes you running away from battles.

Obviously there's no point doing that against bosses. I mean for enemies you don't wanna fight for many reasons. But the game suddenly says you can't forcing your party to get attacked as punishment. It's not like I wasn't planning to train on the side. Even Phantasy Star III done that aspect a bit better. Another frustrating situation was trying to figure which stuff to give to the characters.

I simply love (sarcasm) when I attempted to buy the wrong stuff for them. The store owners jokingly asks do you still want em? The joke was a clear don't waste your money on em. Thankfully you can prevent fully buying em or do so to give to someone within your party that could use em. Another frustrating thing even if some may view this being a rather small issue.

Unlike Phantasy Star III & IV, this one doesn't allow you to see your process on the fly. No if you wanna know how much more grinding you gotta go. You have to save the save stores for that purpose. You don't even need to save your game to access that information. This issue forced me to leave great grinding locations before I wanted to.

Originally you could only save your process at those stores. But Shir after reached level 10 at a particular building can steal a device. Which allows you to save the game anytime you want. Then again I'm playing this through Sega Genesis Classics I can easily quick save/load my saves. I originally forgotten to mention this within my review.

Going back to that satellite, you can't do much of anything. Thankfully it's a rather short section with some sick story animations. You can't even fight random enemies. I will say out of kindness the one section you can run away from enemies. I also liked this space pirate not only gives your party everything back.

He was kind enough to drop you off at your home town. Do I even need to mention the obvious recurring problem? Oh okay fine regardless where your random or boss fights takes place. You only get this one sorta matrix style layout. Almost as if you're in a simulation. Which you actually aren't at all but still looks rather cool.

I just wish it had variety like the other Phantasy Star games. Even the original often changed the background for those. Now that was on Sega Master System, this being on Sega Genesis. To be fair, it also was one of a few Genesis games to originally came with a book like Sword of Vermilion. They knew a lot of people would struggle with trying to understand the game.

I also got to mention the walking speed is not decent. It's not painfully slow but slower than it needs to be. In some dungeons you may get more random fights than you are prepare for. I still haven't mention you also get access to a water vehicle. It's a little weird not only how to get the vehicle. But also how you could get back on it.

There's a garbage theme dungeon I'm not kidding. You are suppose to find one of the people that occasionally looks through trash for stuff. After talking to a particular one leave the dungeon. Right outside is the water vehicle. Which quickly becomes yours because that person's lack of interest. Now for the weird part regarding this vehicle.

When you teleport this also effects placement of that vehicle. The nearest coast which can be a little confusing depending on location will be where to find the vehicle at. It's not set up like Phantasy Star IV, vehicles are in your inventory. You just need to find em on the right planets you're good to go. Which by itself doesn't make a lot of sense either.

I simply prefer the later usage of the same concept. There's no vehicles on Dezoris forcing you to walk more. You can't even teleport from Skure to a town. Plus if you don't know one of the three exits leaving to a town you're screwed. This water vehicle is used to get directly into dams. Which itself can be frustrating for a few reasons.

You will notice on the first planet's layout several tubes. You need to get inside the notably bigger tubes to reach the dams. Sadly they thought it was a good idea to not only allow random fights. They also made these tougher than normal. I also gotta mention after the first boss. Most enemies on the first planet will now be robots.

Some robot enemies are notably tank like than others in terms of structure as well as taking damage. A particular shared design enemy reminded me of RoboCop's ED-209. I almost expected to see within the texts, "You have 20 seconds to comply." I also liked both planets for the most part has notably different enemies.

Poison status wasn't as annoying as it was in the later games it still sucks though. If you don't cure you can't heal em up. Thankfully you can buy antidotes from stores. Some poisonous enemies you wouldn't expect either. Which means suddenly getting poisoned more annoying. I felt in many aspects Sword of Vermilion simply done better.

Sword of Vermilion came out a couple months later. Especially grinding up levels aspect despite how differently it's random fights were done. For me, it's a decent Sega RPG game. Man some of these flaws makes it a difficult sell. What I personally recommend if you want a more enjoyable experience. Sega Genesis Classics does have rom hack support.

I recommend downloading it's free Phantasy Star II Easy Mode + Fast Walk hack. Although Phantasy Star II (Genesis Mini 2) hack works a similar purpose. Both were altered to make several aspects a bit better. You are going to be putting a lot of hours into trying to finish it. If you want a more lay back hack, Phantasy Star II - Cheat Edition.

I know it's a tough pill to swallow. A hacked version of a game ends up being a notably better experience. For the right games it could suddenly make alright or bad ones into something amazing. Also either hack would help the game from over staying it's welcome. Just expect you're going to be at it a long time don't rush things either.

For what it's worth Phantasy Star II was a great introduction of the series on the system. I strongly felt Phantasy Star differs itself plenty from Final Fantasy. Phantasy Star is more of a futuristic theme with traveling between planets. Personally if you had to play just one of these Phantasy Star games make sure it's Phantasy Star IV.

Three RPG reviews pulled from Sega Genesis Classics

This is going to be one of my absolute longest series of reviews I done in a long time. But considering all of them were pulled from Sega Genesis Classics. Maybe others that were quite unhappy with it's delisting find some enjoyment in reading any of these reviews. Seriously it would mean a lot to me to just read one of them that's it.

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I secretly had a rather interesting idea. If I could get more into any video game genre I barely played much out of. I kept coming back to Role-playing games aka RPGs for short. Some of the longest video games I heard of are in that genre. We are talking enough content to play for hours.

A lot of them also has random battles that can easily slow everything down. I will confirmed I played a handful of these classics through Sega Genesis Classics recently. I confessed I started one of them prior to my visit seeing my family. I have since finished that game along with two others that just happened honestly.

Originally I was going to delay a little longer to include a fourth game. But it's vastly different from these to stand out on it's own. I figured at a later date I could eventually finish it. Also one of today's games was not only among a lot of Sega Genesis games I had growing up. It also among the very first RPG games I ever played.

I also plan to rank these for sure. But I'm sure as soon I start talking about my favorite among em. You quickly figure out which was my favorite. I'll even confirm my favorite stands with the finest Genesis games in two great Sega compilation games I played. In all honestly it truly was a fantastic game. I really had a lot of fun writing all of this thanks to anyone that reads at least some of it.

I put a lot of hours into making this three in one Sega RPG reviews blog entry. I took my time to do one playthrough each. I also will confirm two of them are from the same RPG franchise. A former competitor to Final Fantasy no less. A major hint what I'll be reviewing shortly. I know the introduction longer than normal is fitting for a huge RPG review.

1. Sword of Vermilion (1990)

I actually grew up with two RPG games on Sega Genesis. Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun and Sword of Vermilion respectively. I always remembered their cover pictures. Despite being games I never gotten far in. Sword of Vermilion dramatically changed my opinion of it during a playthrough.

Keep in mind, this was an early Sega Genesis game. Not debut year but close to that. You only get one playable character. Which is unusual for most RPGs at the time having a lot of playable characters. You play as a prince that learns the truth. He goes on a quest to save the world from a man.

Thankfully you can easily grind up levels as well as money. This game has several unique genre usages within the game play. You get the typical exploring towns like most older RPG games. A different style within dungeons called dungeon crawlers. Virtually first person exploring dungeons works wonders here.

Personally I was a slightly bigger fan of Shining in the Darkness' usage more. A different style altogether exploring the actual map outside towns and dungeons. You get two views during these sections. You see your character moving around the huge map. You also get a map screen to sorta help you out.

The big issue is you have to find maps for that section. Some of which an old man among talking gives ya. Some villagers among talking to em does the same thing. I do strongly recommend follow a guide. As for the random battles it's way better from most games in the genre. Even this follow aspect I didn't know what to think as a kid years ago.

Instead of being in teams against one or more enemies. Which also would've given you options you could do. You simply appear onscreen with enemies. You have two major options either fight to attempt killing them all or run away. Which the later option gets much trickier later on to do. It's rather annoying sometimes you're forced to face em knowing your chances to get further decreases.

The final major game play style actually are the boss fights. Most of them is one on one with your character finally prepared for battle. However you can't use magic or jump. Although you can easily duck to a degree. A handful of them has a few enemies before you could directly face em. To be fair, it could've been worst than this.

I dislike the final boss altogether. The only boss with a few phases. The first phase actually similar to a previous boss with skeletons. The actual boss doesn't have much health. Then he transforms into a surprisingly cheap final boss. You are already limited what you could do. Well you really feel that the most here.

You have to take out four heads it's a weird abomination of a creature. By the way the game doesn't end with his defeat I'll explain later. The actual map connecting everywhere is rather confusing to navigate. Some issues like not having maps to sections or limited light equipment. Earlier these issues can be quite frustrating to deal with.

Sure you could go to a store to buy candles or lanterns. But lanterns stops after you leave dungeons. Which is why I prefer the later light spell just wasting some magic that's it. As for getting poisoned, a particular shield helps against it. What's better than that shield is a spell to counter it altogether. To clarify you can still get poisoned but you can easily get rid out of that afterwards.

Later on those no longer is an issue. Like the light problem easily countered by a light spell. Very late into the game is you find an object. Then you use it instantly gives you every map in the entire game I'm not kidding. I also gotta mention this game absolutely loves caves!!! You have to travel through em being your dungeons for the most part.

The actual story if you care enough is in all honestly quite decent. There's a particular twist that affected me emotionally. There's a particular merchant that's rude to you at first. You don't even get allowed to leave or see the prices. He rudely replies saying you don't have enough money. Trust me, this truly stood out as it's happening to me.

He takes all your money plus whatever sword you had equipped. Before I fully seen the twist to this. I was quite mixed being forced to trigger this among following a written guide. It turns out he was a secret ally that used what he's taken from you to make. Wait for it, the Sword of Vermilion!!! I didn't expect this twist when I noticed it in the written guide I was following.

Yes he later reveals he was being watched by enemies. Up to a point poison enemies is rather annoying. You are forced to get a particular item that cures you. Except for a mysterious woman that offered you food. Which you quickly realized poisoned you. Sadly that item doesn't cure you of that. Sure it does serve as a cheap excuse to explore another location.

You have no choice but go out of your way to find a particular plant to cure yourself. By the way the woman in question actually one of the final bosses in the game. I do enjoy some of the art design to a degree. The absolute best aspect of all is the music. Some sound effects takes a little getting use to. In all honestly, for an early Genesis game it's decent.

Man some of these songs are very decent. For my first RPG game with one playable character I finished. I was quite amazed how fun portions of this game was. Yes it quickly gets repetitive to a degree. At the same time, the game has ways to balance itself out. Also need to point out back in the day.

Some RPG games like this could include books to help you out starting the games. Which is exactly why originally they cost more than normal. Honestly Sword of Vermilion seems like parts of it could be somewhat beginner friendly. Some the bosses are slightly altered variations with the later ones being trickier to beat.

Sword of Vermilion likely take you a couple hours to finish. Surprisingly the actual map connecting everything quite huge. It's sorta like metroidvania games in that department. Just not as well executed in my opinion. I could recommend this game. Of course there's better RPG games around. To be fair I rather play this over Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest.

I also gotta mention the walking speed is a little slow. If you're playing this on Sega Genesis Classics. You may wanna hold down the fast forward button you'll thank me. It's not the slowest I ever experienced in a game though. Another major factor is towns differs which stores they have. Thankfully issues like that no longer a problem at that point in the game.

Which can be somewhat frustrating. Although you do later get a flight spell to make getting around the map much easier. Let's be honest, it's a huge back track RPG game. A good amount of it you can't avoid. At the same time, some of that ends up being well worth the effort later on. As for the main antagonist the truth is revealed among his defeat.

It turns out these evil rings originally your father the deceased king and this guy had good intentions. Neither was prepared for getting corrupted by the evil rings. They wanted to help save the world. Instead indirectly cause it to go into chaos. The other guy kills your father. Among revealing the truth, he regretted many actions from those rings.

A little weird you must use sixteen rings. It's literately called sixteen things in your inventory on the throne. Which triggers the ending to the game. But it's a little confusing on how many rings there actually are within the story. Thankfully it's not ripping off The Lord of the Rings franchise. Although a set of evil rings corrupting people would be similar to the One Ring.

There's one more character I wanna discuss. There's a rather selfish king I really don't like. I actually enjoyed the master of disguise king way more. Just wish the game had more stuff with that king instead. This prick forces you to get him three different crystals. All within dungeons guarded by bosses. He kept going back on his promises.

Inevitably the main character forces him to hand over a particular ring. However an servant of your dad confirms he handed over a fake ring. Which led to his own kingdom's downfall after you left. Amazing how everything was fine until his selfishness led to his own kingdom's demise. I was in all honestly glad he's gotten this fate.

For an early Genesis RPG game it's better than expected. Some mechanics takes a little more than others to get used to. Parts of the game may not aged as well as other aspects. This still turned out to be a surprisingly fun game. Some items are frustrating to find for many reasons. Despite things I could recommend checking this game out.

2. Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (1991)

A weird start to a review I only done three character's paths. This will get rather confusing later on. This is the third entry in the classic Phantasy Star series. Back when the franchise was a more direct competitor to Final Fantasy series. Personally Sega knew when to quit lol. This also seen by many fans as the black sheep of the series.

Among looking at the game it doesn't looks similar to the other entries. Yes the game does later explain it's connection. The game is actually broken up into three sections called generations. Generation 1 will always be the same except for the end decision. You play as a prince with a small group of characters.

You actually go against orders of the king aka your dad to pursuit these monsters. Rhys was about to get married to Maia a mysterious women. Originally there were plans for him to marry Lena. Whose ends up in your party during Generation 1. The actual farming of experience points as well as money the slowest here.

It's not game breaking but sure takes awhile to truly get going. There's two bosses Rhys' party faces during Generation 1. Lyle suddenly leaves your party to end up as the first boss of the game. What's unique about this is whatever level he's used as well as how much HP he had prior to leaving. Determines the difficulty of Rhys facing him exclusively one on one.

Thankfully with a good strategy he'll go down. The final boss of Generation is Maia's father that's also a king of a different country. I guess by that point you should've seen that twist coming. Her dad is also accompanied by a few monsters. Of course, he is the biggest threat by that point in the game. I recommend stocking up on health items.

Not to mention grinding up a couple levels to better your chances. Also take advantage of using Gisares that heals the entire party to a degree. You better get use to that during the later boss fights. After the king defeated Rhys is presented with his final decision. He has the choice to marry either Maia or Lena. Which also determines your main character in Generation 2.

Keep in mind, these paths notably differ from each other. For this review I chosen to go with Lena. I ended up playing as their son Nial. Farming money as well as experience is notably increased to a degree. Some characters notably level up much faster than others. Oddly the magic user in two generations required the most experience points to level up.

Basically despite being the lowest leveled within parties. They actually secretly among the strongest characters you play as. You just gotta be patience for them to level up longer than everyone else. Nial's path does start throwing out some awesome stuff you can do. Like you get to see more of the worlds. Oh okay you're in a spaceship with each section in vastly different worlds.

Later on, you do use an spaceship to fly away a few times. The other path I didn't choose had a few more boss fights. I didn't realize that prior to writing this. I ended up with just one boss fight with Lune. The other path where you play as Ayn slightly more boss fights. Ultimately regardless who you picked for Generation 3 the same two final bosses.

Either Nial or Ayn gets to choose between two women to marry. In total you get four final paths from Generation 2's final decision is crazy!!! I ended up choosing Laya whose sister shares the same name. She also ends up in Nial's party as well. Generation 3 there's a lot of major changes. If Generation 2 wasn't fast enough for ya.

Trust me, Generation 3 gives you some awesome surprises. Two particular characters in every path you can take. Being Mieu and Wren whom are both cyborgs. They end up being your most played characters in this game. Grinding experience points as well as money actually kinda ridiculous. Majority of your party levels up faster than your main character.

For some weird reason Nial takes longer to level up. Wren gets a few vehicle forms. He can transform to fly or move across the water. Obviously his flight form much faster in comparison. Not only that you might've noticed some air fields around the worlds. Generation 3 also delivers major lore drops. You can expect some good surprises.

It turns out everyone here within the three generations are survivors of Parma. Which was directly caused by the conclusion of Phantasy Star II. I know some might see that being a rather loose connection. Among researching where it fits in the timeline, this actually the last to happen. Almost sandwich in terms of where it fits into everything.

Parts of this felt somewhat like an classic Final Fantasy game. Probably why some quickly didn't like it over. I will give em credit for making all these possible paths you can go. Now that's a lot to pull off for it's time. Random battles is what you expect not much to say. I do like the boss fights are somewhat distance.

In all honestly, this was much better than I expected. The maps are much easier to follow than Sword of Vermilion. Most towns had majority of stores. Speaking of that, Inns acts as both fill your party back to max after paying em. You also could go an in game save following em. If you're playing this through either huge Genesis compilation game you don't need to.

I also need to point some locations has a passage through a cave as well as a temple. Starting from Generation 2 you can directly use temples. They mostly act as short cuts to the same locations from passages. Now passages is filled with enemies that's tricky to navigate. You don't wanna risk going in low on resources.

You also need to collect five weapons for each member of your party for the final battle. Now I can finally discuss the final two bosses. There's two similar floating locations only reachable by Wren in his flight form. The first of them only has enemies in the dungeon section. However the later one is all filled with enemies.

This guy like King Cile also accompanied by enemies. Thankfully some members of your party could be altered to directly target him. I been avoiding discussing these combat options for a good reason. Unlike most of the series easy to memorize commands. You may have to experiment to a degree to know how they properly work.

Even running away option at first you may not realize what it does. There's a brief animation for these options as well. One of them allows you to decide what each member of the party could do during fights. It's not as simple as you automatically can choose which enemy to target right off the bat. This guy right behind the final dungeon too.

You will notice there's two major dungeon designs. Either you get a more rocky maze that you might have trouble seeing further of or a more glass theme dungeon. Several broken glass preventing you from moving forward forcing you to find alternative paths. Thankfully in the rock dungeons it's mostly find someone as well as a few stuff.

Mostly with the more glass theme ones it's finding items. A handful of times you need to interact with technology that's automatic. Obviously that's the easy part of exploring em. If you have Escapipes you can use em to instantly get out of em. Just not fully for some weird reason. However this item doesn't work on the later floating city where the game ends prior to the final dungeon.

The logic for this it's not an actual dungeon despite eventually leading into one. Some of these sucks if you lack that item. You can't imagine how confusing some of them are unless you play this. I'll try to give an good example. Back in Generation 1 prior to facing the king. You had to navigate a rather unusual style.

You may notice a lot of stairs on the way to eventually getting to the first set of stairs. Which means you gotta navigate underneath trying to figure where to go often. It's trivial of error without a guide. I didn't follow the guide in those sections. I did try to later on though. It also doesn't help how the main section where the boss is.

You can't even reach that opening unless you find a direct way into that section of the location. Which makes an already confusing, frustrating situation more so. I also like merchants could refuse giving you equipment. Mostly due to those doesn't work with that character.

Although you could still end up buying em. You also can option up the menu to swap items around to a degree. Which can be a little confusing at first to do. If your main character has too many items. Whatever you find simply goes to the next character within your parties. I do like that since it does help you out later on.

The overall pace goes from somewhat slow to wow you may wanna slow down a bit. I am not kidding when experience points and money earning notably increases. I had a team mostly in level 40s for the final battle. I didn't even do an grind section to clarify. I simply do my best to follow the guide mostly fighting enemies.

The final boss regardless of paths is Dark Force. I simply love you work your way to a particular chest in a dungeon. Can you imagine open a chest to find such an evil being inside? I don't know if that's meant to be a reference to a story with pandora's box. You know a woman assigned to keep guard of this box.

Inevitably her curiosity led to opening the box causing the apocalypse to happen. If you think about it this is kinda similar to that. Dark Force is usually among the final bosses in this particular Phantasy Star series. He actually has three separate health bars with no phases. Which is weird but it kinda works in it's favori.

Both his hands has HP you could took out. I highly recommend taking out his left hand which is on your right to clarify. This hand at times will quickly do a spell to heal all the health bars up to a degree. Which means as soon as that hand taken out he can't heal anymore. Despite being leveled up this could be a tough final boss fight.

Phantasy Star III is more overlooked for it's reputation. At the same time, it's also somewhat underrated as well. The characters are rememberable to a degree. I do actually enjoy a good amount of the game play. Sure it can get quite repetitive at times. Also playing it through Sega Genesis Classics helps with rewinding as well as quicker save/load features.

This sorta felt like three short RPG games in one. I am still quite surprised it wasn't much longer. I also gotta mention the audio as a whole I absolutely loved it!!! There's a lot of depth into everything. Sometimes a game quickly turns you off. Simply because you prefer how the older ones plays in comparison.

I had that same reaction with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Then I gave that a chance, I ended up loving it. The same ended up happening with this game. It's not the best entry in the original Phantasy Star series. I will say this was quite an amazing RPG game indeed. Honestly you may wanna consider giving this one a try.

3. Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (1995)

Easily not only the best Phantasy Star game but also the very best RPG Genesis game I ever played!!! Originally intended to be an Sega CD game. Which didn't have many notable RPG games there. Mostly Shining Force CD that's also in Sega Genesis Mini 2. The person in charge was convinced this Phantasy Star game as ambitious it was could work insanely well on Sega Genesis.

Of course, they were right in the end. Phantasy Star IV is in all honestly mind blowing awesomeness. The game starts with two hunters Alys and Chaz investigating into monsters showing up at an university. I really gotta mention I love these anime style cutscenes. They sorta pop on your screen like panels of a comic book or an manga volume for that matter.

The audio as a whole really well done I'm deeply impressed. If it's obvious by the game's title. Sega made this to be the conclusion of that Phantasy Star series. Despite actually taking place in between Phantasy Star II & III. Don't worry I'll explain how they wrap everything up later. The story is incredibly well done.

This is a rather long game that somehow kept things fun as well as refreshing to a degree. It never begins to start over staying it's welcome. I haven't fully played the first two games. I never did finish Phantasy Star I through Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. You get some rather interesting party members on the way.

You actually get to travel between locations around an solar system. Just like Phantasy Star III, later on is such a deep lore drop. It's actually quite an epic one at that. They also reveal a major threat about a recurring boss character you face in all of them. Dark Force actually shows up three different times in the entire game!!!

Later on I'll full explain how Dark Force fits in to all of this. You get a few temporary party members on the way. Kyra fights like Alys to a degree. By the way the game attempts to trick you into thinking Alys being the main character. Then a rather sucky situation occurs that took her life. If it's obvious her apprentice, Chaz the true main character of the game.

She's also named after the famous original protagonist back in the first Phantasy Star game. Ultimately you can only have five party members. Which does play a role prior to the final boss fight. You surprisingly get a choice between a few characters. You also get a man named Seth whose actually Dark Force in disguise briefly in your party.

This is different from facing Lyle in Phantasy Star III. He had good intentions while Dark Force a true monster in comparison. Before I can even discuss that version fully. On an satellite is where you first face Dark Force. You later face him in a cave funny enough. Where he took on a more insect form. The final Dark Force boss fight happens as soon as you leave a particular location.

You go in for an key item that's meant to find a hidden planet. But this also forced Seth aka Dark Force to expose his true identity. None of these boss fights are easy. I really gotta mention this one is filled with boss fights. You have to grind a lot more than normal to attempt getting further. There's also some guardians you defeat on your journey that's helps set the end game up.

This still felt somewhat easier than normal. I have virtually no complaint about the combat system it's perfectly done. You also get some vehicles that can get random battles. Which is kinda awesome you can do that!!! Sure these vehicles are planet depended usage. They quickly make up for that though. There's even good story within the side quests.

They really put a lot of work into everything. Not even one notable bad location in the entire game. Each major location being planets or satellites is done amazingly well. This game truly screams epic in every sense of the word. Phantasy Star IV even was good enough to make it into Sega Genesis Mini 1's lineup.

The art style is among my most favorites on the system. The true antagonist is Profound Darkness. It turns out Dark Force was avatars of Profound Darkness. Which explains why all three Dark Force avatars you face were notably different from each other. You discovered a huge hole in the ground of a particular planet.

I highly recommend leveling up as high as you could go. Stock the hell out on health items. If you can run away from major random fights inside do so. This final boss has three phases I'm not kidding. Now this will test your determination how bad you wanna beat the game!!! I guess people who fought Lavos in Chrono Trigger felt the same as I did here.

Phantasy Star IV was the perfect ending entry to a once legendary RPG franchise. Everything about it is top notch. I can't even criticize much of it at all it's that damn good!!! I do recommend following a guide it's a long game after all. This could be a great beginner RPG game as well. You just aren't living until you play this!!!

Now I previously promised to rank the three classic Sega RPG games down below...

3. Sword of Vermilion

2. Phantasy Star III

1. Phantasy Star IV

Between 3 and 2 it was surprisingly closer. I do felt Sword of Vermilion had slightly better songs. Ultimately it was easier to understand maps in Phantasy Star III. Also having a couple more characters helped spice up the game play. Not to mention, all the possible paths from Generation 2 to Generation 3. There's simply more in depth within the game play.

Obviously neither came close to Phantasy Star IV. Now it's crazy PHIV came out late into the system's run. Especially not many Genesis games gotten people's attention that year. Unless you count Vectorman 1 or Comix Zone. Both of which also in several Genesis compilation games. Around that point people were quickly getting ready for PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64 respectively.

For what it's worth Phantasy Star IV is a truly amazing video game. I couldn't imagine such an RPG game exists!!! I know many had similar reactions to several RPG classics. I did notice after playing em. My view on the genre changed notably. I don't expect to jump into more right away. I'm just glad for such a random thought I had.

It actually led to something mind blowing. Something that's already changed my life to a degree. Sometimes you gotta take chances to find more stuff you like. Ultimately that's the entire point of doing this. I sure had a lot of fun playing these three RPG games. I would for sure consider playing em again. I personally would place RPGs over Simulator games well weird ones.

Four movie reviews (2024-2025)

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I know I been writing a lot of blog entries today. Here's a huge composite review blog. I felt with what I already finished to make it a little easier. But doing four movie reviews in one long review blog entry. I watched these following movies with my parents during my vacation.

I also got to make a few things clear before I get started here. Three of them are horror movies of course they are lol. One of the following movies is a comedy movie I knew on and off about for years. Yes once again I'm doing another movie with that reputation. For those that takes the time to read all of this. Trust me it's going to be a long one at that, thank you so much for your time.

There's on more thing I also wanna try to keep these spoiler free as possible. For anyone interested in any of these movies I'll be reviewing here.

1. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

For years, stuff regarding a fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie. Out of no where stuff started to show up with more details than normal. Further confirming the movie finally happening through Netflix. Eddie Murphy also a producer of his own company. Adam Saddler is in a similar boat. I personally felt this was better than expected.

More importantly it also was better than Coming 2 America. To be fair it lived up a little more to my expectations than Dumb & Dumber To. By now more of these legacy sequels are showing up. Some are surprisingly decent while others just does not work at all. Personally I felt Beetlejuice Beetlejuice for me lends towards it works enough to get the job done.

I also felt the same about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F as well. Axel tries to help his daughter whose a lawyer. She blindly believes her client is innocent. Being a crime movie crazy stuff happens. Some of the older actors do better than expected. I was pleasantly surprised Kevin Bacon in the movie. Hero or villain, that guy can act!!!

I also respect this is more of it's own thing from the previous movies. For what it's worth this easily blew the last two Die Hard movies away it's not even close!!! Murphy still got it after all these years. I liked we get to see newer characters interact with the older ones a couple of times. Parts of it sorta came off as indirectly Axel passed the torch to someone else not spoiling who though.

Considering the previous movie was in 1994. Thirty years ago I was quite surprised how much I liked this!!! Don't go in expecting it to be like the classic movies. I rather you attempt viewing this as a somewhat modernize take on the same concept. Which may turn some older fans off. At least you get a better ideas how this differs from those movies.

This isn't a plot repeated thing either. I got to be honest, I would rewatch this movie. I do need to rewatch the first three movies again. For a legacy sequel I felt it deserved mostly what you want. I took notice of a few upcoming legacy sequels prior to writing this. I felt this is going to be better than those newer ones.

Yes I just took a shot at Spaceballs 2. I do think that still has a fighting chance. The Naked Gun with Liam Neeson not so much. I will say this though several sections doesn't go the way you expect em to. I didn't expect more action scenes like this. Eddie took a huge risk to bring this franchise back. I do believe he caught our attention with flying colors!!!

2. Final Destination Bloodlines (2025)

I just checked I surprisingly haven't done the other Final Destination movies. Which is kinda mind blowing to me. Final Destination series is among my favorite horror movie franchises ever!!! The concept is someone gets a vision about what's about to happen. Which originally would've killed everyone.

Usually anyone with these views ends up saving a couple people from death. Then Death as in the entity hunts em down. Some of the absolute most creative kills in movies I have ever seen!!! We waited since 2011 for another Final Destination movie. I gotta be honest this was well worth the wait. It's not what I personally would call an legacy sequel.

Although in a few ways I could see how some could view it as one. I will try to not give it all away though. Yes the late Tony Todd is in the movie just not for very long. At the time of filming, he was in a bad state. They were amazed to get anything at all with his condition. It's a similar situation to Sig Haig in 3 from Hell.

There's a few major twists including right at the end. This ended up being one of the finest entries by far. It's technically a prequel as well as a sequel. The prequel portions goes the furthest back to date. The present side of the story is virtually after all the other movies. Just when you think you seen it all. You clearly never seen any Final Destination movies lol.

The special effects alone helped these movies stand out. The creativity that goes into things is exactly why I love these movies so much!!! For a sixth entry it's quite amazing what they were able to pull off. This one made me funny about pennies for a little while after watching the movie. I guess one cent anything you wouldn't expect happens is the point they attempted to get across.

If you haven't seen any of these. I recommend start with the original. Then slowly work your way up to better understand how this franchise works. More true regarding this particular entry. Bloodlines is a huge clue what to expect. This is among the best 2025 movies I seen so far. I highly recommend checking this Final Destination movie out soon.

3. Everyone Is Going to Die (2024)

I won't sugar coat this my least favorite among movies I'm reviewing today. This has to be the weirdest 2024 movie. I watched Beetlejuice Beetlejuice for reference purposes. It's an home invasion film that's becoming more common. Of course, anything horror you can expect a lot of similar concept movies to show up.

Especially some styles based on actual situations that could happen in real life. We have a father and his daughter whose visiting for her 16th birthday. The beginning portions are a little on the slow side. As soon as something unusual shows up things gets picks up. I think it's my mom that said it best. "You couldn't predict what's going to happen next."

I will try to not fully spoil the movie. I will say I wasn't a fan of it's ending!!! All I gotta say about it is don't expect a decent one. It's more like a twist is revealed then it ends crap. How many movies does that? Way too many to keep count for sure. I rather watch any of The Purge movies than this!!! If you wanna be technical about it.

Home Alone was a comical take on the concept meant for families to enjoy while celebrating several holidays. These people held a grudge against her dad for different reasons. Parts of this reminded me of a movie called Phone Booth. Which is way better than this too!!! It's a rather mess up movie with everything considered.

Even if you watch this in an unusual state of mind. You might not enjoy it very much. Let's be honest the movie drags to a degree. At the same time such stuff is happening you almost can't fully look away. A part of you gotta see what's about to happen. When we were searching for movies to watch. I decided to watch this with my parents.

I wish I didn't chosen this movie. It's not for the fact it's an home invasion movie either. None of us expected what we ended seeing. I did kinda laugh when a particular song played earlier in the movie. This truly was a weird, mess up movie. I felt very confused as well as not satisfied after finished watching it.

I had to take some time thinking about how all of that connected together. I don't think I'll consider watching this again. It's not what I would call a bad horror movie. It's more directly a thriller than anything else. Thrillers are meant to constantly keep you guessing what's going to happen. In it's defense the movie did achieve that.

4. Clown in a Cornfield (2025)

Here's my other big horror movie of last month. For a few months, I knew about this killer clown movie. Very quickly I learned it's based on an book of the same name by Adam Sesare. A surprisingly recent book for that matter released back in 2020. I will try to not give too much away. A group of teenagers are being targeted by a killer clown.

Somehow everything ultimately ties together. We have a father with his daughter recently moved in. She quickly becomes part of a circle of friends. There's several twists you won't know are coming. Unless you have a friend or an family member that spoils everything. I did see the trailer revealing one of the kills in the movie.

This guy lifting weights suddenly gets killed by a killer clown. Surprisingly done amazingly well for the movie. Parts of the movie reminded me of another killer clown movie called Clown Fear. Sadly I can't say anything further without spoiling stuff. I got to be honest I was amazed how well this movie works. Some moments reminded me of either Scream franchise or teens after my generation.

I also welcome another killer clown movie. Especially I ended up loving it!!! I do think this earned a spot among the decent killer clown movie. I will directly confirm this it's not a clown rip off of Children of the Corn series. Let's be honest with some similar bad movies. Like Shark Exorcist being a good example how could you not think that at first?

I actually enjoyed most of the kill scenes. Some truly amazing special effects as well. The story will become more interesting as the movie goes on. I gotta be honest this turned out better than expected. More surprised Will Sasso was in the movie. I know him best for Mad TV as well as playing Curley in The Three Stooges movie.

Clown in a Cornfield ended up being a good killer clown movie. It doesn't over stay it's welcome. When the movie picks up it truly delivers. Some rememberable characters to a degree. I simply love the actual look of the clown myself. I knew some horror fans had some hype for this. I also know clowns that works events aren't going to be happy about this movie.

Not to mention the same year as It- Welcome to Derry show as well. This must be the year of Coulrophobia. Fear of clowns for those not familiar with the term. Some could argue some similarities with Scream 4 to a degree. I felt this is much more it's own thing than ripping it off. I will say please consider giving this killer clown movie a try.

Conclusion

I enjoyed most of these movies. Everyone Is Going to Die left a rather unpleasant taste in my mouth. Easily the one movie to avoid among em. If I had to pick the best among these mostly amazing movies. It has to be Final Destination Bloodlines. I kid you not this movie really delivered in so many ways. It was clearly the most ambitious with the most risks.

Somehow they were capable pulling off the impossible. My second favorite was Clown in a Cornfield. Honestly I had a few issues with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Still ended up being a rather fun time!!! I don't think it's because I looked forward to seeing that more either. I'm just amazed Axel F turned out to be a decent movie.

I also was a little funny about it being an Netflix movie. It's almost like taking a chance. Either it turns out to be surprisingly decent or crap. Honestly, I would rewatch majority of these movies. Especially Final Destination Bloodlines it's so good!!! In all honestly, it was a small variety of movies to watch with my parents.

I didn't expect much prior to watching the first of these movies either. I kept overhearing my wife rewatching The Last of Us show with my mom. No I haven't seen the show neither played the games. I didn't exactly came with a list of stuff I wanted to watch. I simply wanted to have fun as well as spend more time with my family.