Lord Spencer

I didn’t know you could get Luigi’s mansion on switch?

I started reposting my Dtoid blogs, which number close to 300 blogs. I am aiming to post twice a week, and I am trying to use the WayBackMachine to know the original post date for each blog.

Of course, I am "remastering" those blogs, fixing grammatical and spelling errors, improving some lines, and updating some information. I don't think those changes affect the "tone" and "style" of the original work, which I hope still reflects my writing style of the past. However, I will make changes to better align my previous writing with my current style, especially regarding my past reviews.

I plan to repost most of my PS1 Reviews, but also intersperse some other blogs as I find appropriate.

Hope you enjoy rereading those blogs.

Check out my latest PS1 Review of Wild Arms 2, an improved sequel to the early PS1 classic, albeit one with an infamously bad localization. Still, it is worth playing today.

Also, check out my blog where I ask Where the Hell is Wild Arms? A retrospective blog where I try to figure out why the Wild Arms series died, and explain why it would be great to have it back.

Finally, check out my weekly updates on the games I am playing now. The information in brackets is how long I have been playing the games and how close they are to the checkpoint that decides whether I continue with them.

-Galerians (PS1) [2/3W]: I am enjoying Galerians more than I thought I would, a game made in the style of the first Resident Evil games but with even more emphasis on cinematics and story. Right now, I finished Stage A and I am in the middle of Stage B and hope to finish it soon,

-Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch) [0/4W]: I should have started Luigi's Mansion 3 this week, but my sister lost our cartridge holder bag, and now we are frantically looking for it and all the games inside of it. It would be disastrous to lose that bag, but it would do wonders to clearing my backlog (silver lining??!!)

-A Short Hike (Switch) [1/1W]: Talk about honest advertisement here. A Short Hike is indeed a short hike to complete, and that's wonderful in an age where even indie games are routinely bloated. This is a wonderful game that can be finished quickly but still has a lot of charm in great mechanics to support a longer playthrough if you want to spend more time with the game. It's graphically brilliant with its simple pixelated style and connected "open world". Its core gliding and flying mechanics are fun to experiment with, especially as you discover ways to gain verticality quickly and organically as you explore the island. I can play the game again, and I would probably enjoy it, but the first time was special enough that I don't want to overwrite it this soon.

-Demon's Souls (PS5) [5/5W]: I finished the final third boss in four of the five worlds, and hence I a close to finishing the game. At this stage, it is clear that Demon's Souls was a brilliantly innovative game that nonetheless was completely overshadowed by its predecessor, but that doesn't disregard its innovative legacy. Consider the Old Monk boss, an extremely weak boss if you fight him offline. However, if playing online, the boss summons a human player character which you fight, making for possibly one of the toughest fights in the game. This wasn't only mechanically interesting, but also fit with the lore of the game.

It is also clear that as innovative as the game was, From Software's budget was running out, with the third boss in each area following immediately after the second with no explorable area in between. Of course, the remake doesn't fix any of those issues (instead ruining the brilliant Maiden Astrea's boss theme).

-Upcoming Games in my Backlog in Uncertain Order: Various Games (PS1), Pokemon Sword (Switch), Inmost (Switch), Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS5).

I'm so glad you've enjoyed A Short Hike! Delightful game. It's like a perfect distillation of the 3D platformer collectathon genre.