The PlayStation version of Konami‘s Azure Dreams is an excellent level-grinder, and this Game Boy Color version is also very good, but differs somewhat from the original.
It still takes place in the provincial city of Monsbaiya, and you are still a Monster Hunter. Whereas the PlayStation version uses a 3D isometric viewpoint, this one instead goes for an overhead, 2D view. With titchy characters and intricately-detailed locations rendered as flat pixel art.
Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (KCET) and published by Konami in 1997, in Japan, and in 1998 in North America and Europe, Azure Dreams is a ‘Roguelike’ Role-Playing Game about a young boy who wants to become a Monster Hunter.
Beginning of Post Game:
Visiting Havens Above on Cetacea.
Dragon Quest XI does have substantial Post Game content, for those who want the full experience of the excellent story. Challenges such as The Past Masters in Tickington , The Wheel of Hama at Mount Pang Li, Drustan’s Labyrinth, The Luminary’s Trials, and The Timewyrm are all battles for the DQ11 experts. They’re all very challenging to beat, and they’re a serious visual treat. But they’re worth grinding for to get to! 🙂
Continue reading Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, PC [Part 4 – Post Game]
Beginning of the Third Act:
Remembrance service in Arboria, and The Tower of Lost Time.
A gigantic number of people worked on Dragon Quest XI, and if you play it enough you’ll see where all the effort went – into creating arguably the best JRPG of all-time. Square Enix not only managed to keep the feel of the Dragon Quest universe true to itself, but also managed to innovate in many areas, to enhance the play experience.
Continue reading Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, PC [Part 3 – Third Act]
Beginning of the second act:
The quest “A Dark New World“, and then some individual companion quests before the party reunites.
The game changes after the dramatic first act ending. Monsters become “Malicious“, become tougher, and now have glowing green eyes. The world turns on its head with some seriously bold story-telling…
Continue reading Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, PC [Part 2 – Second Act]
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is the eleventh – and reportedly final – game in the long-running Dragon Quest series, from Square Enix. With the passing of character designer Akira Toriyama in March 2024, and composer Koichi Sugiyama in September 2021, this will now likely to be the case. But what a stunning game to end on, because Dragon Quest XI is one of the best, most vibrant, and most rich JRPGs I’ve ever played…
Continue reading Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, PC [Part 1 – First Act]
Developed and published by HAL Laboratory, Arcana is a fantasy Role-Playing Game that mixes card-battling with first-person dungeoneering, and it is a reasonably enjoyable experience overall. Also known as “Card Master” in Japan, Arcana was first published in 1992, exclusively for the Super Nintendo.
This enhanced edition of the classic sci-fi RPG, System Shock, was developed by Nightdive Studios and first released in 2023. What Nightdive has done is bring the original 1994 classic into the modern age, with high definition graphics and a boatload of quality-of-life features.
This is the original VGA/SVGA* version of System Shock, first released in 1994. The game was developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems in North America and Electronic Arts in Europe.
*= System Shock was originally released in VGA (320×200 resolution), but was soon upgraded to SVGA (640×480 resolution) via patches and re-releases. I’m showing both the VGA and SVGA versions here.
This is the expanded version of Diablo II, called Lord of Destruction, released by Blizzard in 2001.
The King of Grabs 