Joe Playing Stuff Part 8375

Yes, I'm still chewing through that list of games I dropped a while back, plus some other stuff I've been checking out:

-Tembo the Badass Elephant
Just finished this one and typed up a rough draft for a review. It's good. Not amazing, but good...

-Ephemeral Fantasia
Groundhog Day meets Guitar Hero in JRPG form. So far, I'm not terribly impressed. I haven't gotten to the combat yet, but the guitar mini-game is confusing and overly complicated, exacerbated by a lousy tutorial. Meh.

-Overlord
As in the one on PC where you command little goblin-like creatures, and not the old-school space strategy game. You know, I dragged my feet on playing this one because I thought it would only be good if I played it back when it was still relevant. However, I'm actually digging this one. It reminds me a big of Pikmin without a timed campaign. However, some of it seems a little over simple, so we'll see if this thing maintains steam all the way to the end.

-Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys was my introduction to the series. Though I'm not big on it (I played the SNES version), it holds a special place in my heart for introducing me to this terrific franchise. So you can imagine how excited I am to play a remake that promises to blow the original out of the water. I'm barely into it, and I'm already captivated.

-Star Wars: Republic Commando
Halo via George Lucas, it seems. I'm kinda liking it. I probably won't review because I have a tough time writing stuff up for games that play like Halo or Red Faction II. I'll probably be picking at this one because I'm more in the mood for RPGs at the moment.

Comments 4

JoeTheDestroyer Blogger Mar 15, 2025

Aaaaaaand that's it for Oath in Felghana. Whew, great game!

honestgamer Staff Mar 22, 2025

I played a few minutes of Ys I & II on the Turbografx-CD when I was very young and it was available to play at the local video store. I thought it was really cool. I have the disc somewhere that I bought from zigfried, and it works on PC due to Magic Engine (or did, at one time). I need to go back and try it again at some point. Oh, and I also own the Virtual Console version that released on Wii. So, I would probably do that first... Ys III is one I played a few years later, but it didn't make a lingering impression. I really need to devote more time to the Ys games. They're obviously up my alley, but I keep not playing them!

JoeTheDestroyer Blogger Mar 23, 2025

Ys I & II on TurboCD is great. I bought the Wii version and loved it. It's the main reason I broke out the funk Ys III left me in with the franchise. I honestly recommend the TCD one over the double pack that's on Steam currently.

I've gone through a fair bit of the franchise as this point and enjoyed most that I've played. I have unplayed copies of Memories of Celceta, 7, and Monstrum Nox to go through, plus I plan to pick up the newest one soon. If they don't remake it soon, I may end up emulating Lost Kefin as well.

dementedhut Mar 30, 2025

I'm in the same boat with the Ys series. I've been meaning to get into it for years, evening picking up the recent games when they first came out in preparation (I think VIII and IX are still in their original wrapping), but for some reason I just find it hard to just dive in.

I finally played and reviewed my copy of Ys: The Vanished Omens (Ys 1) for the Sega Master System last year... and that's a game I've had in my possession since the early 90s! I was meaning to follow that up with a first-time playthrough of Ys III for the Genesis, but I never got around to it. I've heard "things" about it, but it's nice to know they did a remake that's better than the original. Looking forward to playing that in maybe 10 years, if my current pacing is any indicator.