My Video Game Library: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

    During the mid to late 90s, I got a little goth. Not all the way wearing black all the time, but goth nonetheless. I blame it on my bad emotional state at the time. Anyway, when I played the first demo of Legacy of Kain:  Soul Reaver, I was amazed.  The story was deeper than I imagined.  The gameplay was so interactive. Technically, the game was a sequel to Blood Omen:  Legacy of Kain. I barely knew of the game and never played it, but it didn't look like the type of game I would be interested in. Soul Reaver felt different. Just the two levels that had demos showed a great mix of combat and puzzles, as well as an intriguing backstory. You play as the vampire Raziel, a lieutenant to Kane, the head vampire who has taken over the land in the first game. Before the game starts, you were killed for having developed wings to fly, and have been in the underworld for a long time before being revived by this Elder god. Upon returning, you go out to defeat the remaining vampires, while trying to avoid vampire hunters out to kill you. You have to shift from the physical world back to the spirit world at times, both to regain power as well as to solve some of the puzzles. After gaining new abilities by defeating the vampire bosses, you defeat one last lieutenant to end the game, before setting out on a new quest.

    I replayed this game quite a few times to get the most out of it, which was a little strange for me. There was just something about going back to solve the puzzles faster and defeating all of the bosses while exploring the many locations in the game. I don't think I even had to use many tips, or cheat codes which were available. (Okay, I did use one once for one of the replays, but only because I messed up something and I wasn't able to defeat one of the bosses. I wouldn't have been able to complete that run without it.) I really got the most out of that game.

    There was a Soul Reaver 2 released soon after. The first game was so large, some portions had to be saved for the second game.  I never got it.  I think I may have skipped it because I was so busy opening my store that I just forgot about it or something.The was also a sequel of Blood Omen starring the original Kane as well, but that was another game I didn't want. I can't even remember if I knew about the game at the time. (I did some research to make sure I remembered everything correctly for this post, as well as many of the others in this series.)

    In 2003, Legacy of Kain:  Defiance came out.  It was the first PS2 game I got after the flood destroyed my entire Playstation collection. Although it was supposed to be a Christmas present from my mom, I was the one who had to buy it from Walmart. It was also the only time in my life I had to be carded for anything, as it was rated Mature. (Note:  I was over thirty at the time, with a touch of gray on my goatee if the cashier had noticed. Still, I find it kind of great that I looked almost ten years longer. I still think I could pass about five years younger, or more, in certain situations. I have yet to be in any other situation that required ID for age limits.) The game combined the two protagonists into one game. Levels shifted from Kain to Raziel.  Each character maintained most of the powers from their previous games, gaining and improving them as the game progressed. Finally, through some sort of time travel, the two met in a final battle.

    And that's where the game lost it for me. At the start of the fight, you were one character. Then just before winning, you shifted back to the other one to finish the game. No spoilers here, but the winner was not the one I preferred. You then went to battle the final boss. The fight was just button pushing. Literally. After knocking out a few tentacles, that would grow back, you had to hit buttons on the wall behind the tentacles in a certain order to win. No real strategy involved.  You didn't even need your special powers to win. The game ends with an uncertain, but somewhat hopeful, future. Maybe. I would go on to buy a guide for this game, because I was sure I had missed something while playing, because I finished it in less than one weekend. I hadn't. I tried replaying the game, using some of the bonus codes for new modes, but I didn't feel it was interesting enough to even finish the first level with any of them.

    I still like the series, but the way it ended was just anticlimactic. There were talks about new games in the series, but nothing came about for them beyond updated versions with some tweaks. I'm not even sure if I would go back to the games if new ones were out. 

My Video Game Side Quest: Demos

    If you weren't sure about whether or not to buy a game or system, there was really only one option back in the 80s--demos. Many places had systems set up so that one could try out a game or two for certain systems. The first one I ever tried was in the early 80s. I went with my mom on Saturday morning to South Mayo Tire to either get the tires rotated or the oil changed. Instead of waiting downstairs, we went upstairs to the electronics department where they had some video game system demo. Of course, I went to play with it. I was having troubles with it though, probably because I was holding the controller upside down, (I have always been a little ambidextrous, doing things offhandedly, so I had the directional buttons on the right and the action buttons on the left, which was backwards.) After a few minutes, my mom forced me off, even though we were basically the only people up there. I spent the rest of the time watching a Smurfs cartoon I don't think I had seen yet. She never took me back, going elsewhere for maintenance when I was there. South Mayo Tire may have gotten rid of its electronics section a long time ago, but it is otherwise still in business. 

    Other stores had demos too.  The ones I remember most were the original location of Lowe's in Pikeville and the Sears at the Huntington Mall. The latter one may have had a Phillips CD-i with the cursed Zelda game port on display. I don't remember ever playing any of them. Video game stores also had some demos up, but I never played them either, as they were usually at distant malls where I didn't have all that extra time to play games.

    In the mid/late 90s, when I was unemployed, I would make trips to Prestonsburg just to break the monotony. One thing I did was go to Walmart and play Super Mario 64 on the GC demo for a few minutes, usually after I lost a few lives. I thought it was fun combining my takes with others to beat the game. There were other system demos up, but I never tried those. I would wind up playing other games at GC demos in Paintsville and Norton. (Walmart has since opened larger, Superstore locations nearby at both spots.). Today, you can't find demos at Walmart, at least locally. Some gaming stores might have playable demos up, but I so rarely go into them and I rarely have enough time to play when I do go.

    I had another way to demo games in the 90s. The Official US Playstation Magazine used to have a demo disc in every issue.  Similar to the disc I got with my PS1, the discs had previews and playable levels to a number of games each issue. These discs were the main reason why I bought one almost every month. The mag even had a mini-guide for many of the playable demos, so you could complete them. Some of the levels could be replayed as many times as you wanted.  Others ended as soon as you lost all your lives, and you couldn't replay it until you reloaded the CD. A few were on a timer, ending after ten minutes or so. I replayed one game multiple times to see as far it went, always losing my lives or hitting the time limit, before I finally finished it, only to get an ending saying you needed the full version of the game to see more.

    While I didn't play every game, or watch every preview reel, I played most of them. In fact, some of them were more enjoyable than some of my full games. For a few months after the 2003 flood, those demos were all I had to play until I could buy more new games. Yes, strangely enough, I had saved most of the demo discs, as well as getting newer ones. 

    Ultimately, the magazine was cancelled, so I had no more new demos. A few other free discs had been available at places, but I never tried them as I was afraid of their dubious nature. Nowadays, with most games being digital, such demos would be hard to come by anyway, even if I had a newer system. I think I remember seeing something packaged with some of the few gaming mags that are still left, but I don't know if any of them were demos. 

    The next few posts will be about the games I only bought because I loved the demos so much. None of them were typical of what I would have normally bought, and I might not even considered them unless I had had them as part of a demo.

My Video Game Library: Q*Bert?!

    When scheduling posts for my latest series, I tried to plan it so that any of the side-quest posts on Mondays would coordinate with the following regular on Wednesdays somehow.  For instance, when I had the side-quest post about gaming magazines, the following regular post was about a game I picked up due to reading about it in a magazine.  Last week, I talked about guides, and the next post was about the game I needed guides that most for. My next side-quest with tie very closely with the next few games.  However, since I want the side-quest posts to precede regular post immediately, and since I don't to have regular posts on Mondays, I am left with a quandary.  I either have to cover games I didn't want to or come up with some other tangential topics to cover.  These posts were supposed to occur nearer the end of the series, but because some of the side-quest posts had to be split up into two parts, I am forced to put one of these 'filler' posts up today.

    Technically, my first ever 'video' game was Q*Bert. The board game. One Christmas, some relative got me this. Probably a second cousin or great aunt or something.  The game board was a tray in the bottom of the box.  On it was the pyramid from the first level of Q*Bert.  Each block of the pyramid had a hole in it to place a peg before the start. One player was Q*Bert, hopping from block-to-block grabbing the pegs.  The other player controlled the bad guys trying to stop Q*Bert, moving in their own ways. (The actual rules may have included more players controlling the bad guys, but since I only had my mom to play against, this is the only way we could play.) The goal for Q*Bert was to get all the pegs, and staying away from the enemies. He even had the flying saucers on the sides for a one-time escape. The other player won by preventing Q*Bert from getting the pegs. I can't remember anything beyond this.

    I lost almost all of my board games in the 1986 flood, save Trivial Pursuit which I had taken with me. I got many of them back. For obvious reasons, Q*Bert was not one of the games still available. (I would end up losing them almost all again in the 2003 flood, save for most of a small portable chess set.  As of yet, I still haven't gotten any of them back.)

My Video Game Library: Pokémon

    That's right.  I tried to catch them all, and I failed miserably about it.

    I had known about Pokémon for some time before it debuted in America. The big thing was when an episode of the anime caused viewers to have seizures. That is what led me to want to get a Gameboy and play the game. Of course, I got the Blue version.  I didn't have that much history with RPGs, so I had an even steeper learning curve with the game than usual. While I started out okay, I quickly began to flail. After a few tries, I took a break. I bought a guide.  Or two.  Ultimately three, I believe. The first guide was the official one from Nintendo, with the stickers of all of the Gen I Pokémon. I bough the others to get slightly different views on strategy. It took some time, but I finally beat the game, although I didn't catch them all, as I had no one to trade with.  Sigh.

    I still liked the game, mostly the cartoon once it started in the US. I got the Gen II game when it game out, again for Christmas. I wanted the Silver version, which was a mistake. Although I might have known, I failed to comprehend that Silver had the same mix of Gen I Pokémon as Blue. This meant that I couldn't even catch the ones I missed in the first game, even if I had a way to trade them.  Still, I continued playing, and made it not just to beating the first endgame boss, but also to the final boss. Yes, I had more guides.  Even more so than for Gen I, as I also got the remix game, Crystal, when it came out later. (I am of the same opinion as a few others that the remix should have been Platinum, and the Gen IV remix should have been Crystal. Whatever.) I think I liked Crystal more than Silver. Still couldn't catch them all.

    When the GBA came out, it meant that I could finally trade with myself, maybe. I know I bought a special connector cable, but I can't remember if the GBA was backwards-compatible. Anyway, I got the Gen III game. Yes, I picked Sapphire. For some reason, I felt this game was harder than it should have been. There were just too many secrets to find. I did beat the game, though.  Barely.  I don't think I was able to collect everything though. I also picked up the remix, Emerald. I picked up a lot more guides for that one.

    Although I lost my Gameboy and GBA in the flood, I didn't lose the Pokémon games. I lost about half the guides though, making getting everything harder. What was fun was getting the updated Gen I game. This time I got Fire Red for Christmas, assuring that I would finally be able to catch as many different Pokémon as possible. I played through the game multiple times just so I could get every single unique Pokémon, and then trade them to Emerald so that I could finally say I caught all the Gen I group that I could. I think I played it through at least five times, including one where I messed up so horribly that I had to play through with the same starter just to collect the special one that I missed. 

    I guess that I had gamer fatigue, but I just stopped wanting to play. I reached a point in Emerald that I couldn't play through, so I took a break.  I never went back.

    When the Nintendo Dual Screen (DS) game out with the Gen IV games, I never picked one up.  Sure, as I mentioned in another post, I picked up the guide, but I never got the DS and the games. I didn't really have the money for the system, but I had also lost some of the will to play after going through the previous games so much. I continued getting guides for each generation up to Gen VIII. (I also watched the cartoon until it moved over to streaming, just before it got to Gen VII.) With Gen IX, official guides were no longer being published.  Sure, I followed along online as much as I could, but I mostly lost interest. 

    Gen X was recently announced, and it is due out later this year on the current version of the Nintendo Switch portable. As of today, only the starters have been announced, and not their evolutions. Part of me almost wants to finally go back to system gaming, but only a small part. The idea of having to pay more just to make sure I had a physical copy of a game doesn't sit right with me. Also, the Switch is more of a partnership system, made for having multiple people playing.  That's something I just don't have. 

    I still want to connect with the series. I'm just not sure how any more.

My Video Game Side Quest: Guides

    I had trouble with a lot of games, so I used every possible avenue to find a way to beat them. Hence, guides. I didn't have them for every game, but I did use them when and where I could. When I first started gaming, guides were frequently actual books. By the late 90s, bookazines became the standard format, as they were quicker to produce. The guides would be out almost as soon as the games. They could also focus on just one game, as opposed to books which frequently featured multiple games.  I regret that I tore out large sections of these books that featured games I would never play, and I threw them away. That was wrong of me. For magazines, that would be okay, but not books.

    Following are a list of places where I bought guides. Places that are closed are in black, while those still open are in blue. I'll mention some other facts with each entry.

• Readmore, Prestonsburg:  I got one of my NES guides that included Super Mario here after signing up for classes at PCC, before going on to Pikeville to get two of my wisdom teeth removed. (The two on the left. The right ones came in fine. However, I still have jaw problems due to the imbalance to this day.) I may have gotten a Pokémon guide here later as well.
• Walmart, Prestonsburg:  I may have gotten another Pokémon guide here. I know I looked at some. Maybe at the closed Winn Dixie as well, but I don't think I bought any there. All I know is that Walmart's magazine area is less than half of what it was at its peak.
• Booknotes, Pikeville:  Of course, I bought books for myself through my own store.  Technically, they all belong to me until sold, but I digress. Almost entirely official Pokémon guides, but one or two others.
• Economy Drug, Pikevile:  They used to get a few guides along with their magazines. I would close my store early the day new mags came in to look at them. I kept looking at a Gen IV Pokémon guide. I think I bought it there, but it could have been elsewhere. The stopped getting mags over a decade ago.
• Food City, Town & Country, Pikeville: I think I saw a few unofficial early Gen Pokémon guides here, but it was the advance guide to the GBA that I ultimately bought here. It was what made me want to buy one, even though I didn't like the majority of the games featured in it. I don't think the current location ever had any guides.
• Walmart, Pikeville:  I got one or two guides from the Gen II/III eras here. At least one was unofficial.
• Readmore, Coal Run:  I'm pretty sure I got my first NES guide here, just after the Christmas I got it. I might have had a Pokémon guide as well.
• Borders, Huntingon Mall:  I remember getting at least one Pokémon guide here, or at least looking at a few. I believe I got a Street Fighter Alpha art book as well. (It featured move lists as well, so I'm calling it a guide.) However, it may be from somewhere else.
• Game Stop, Huntington Mall: Here. They had guides, but I'm not sure if they do any more.  They were still open the last time I went to the Mall.
• BAM, Huntington Mall:  The timeline is a little off, but I may have looked at some guides here, before deciding to get them through my store, if I didn't actually buy them here.
• Joseph-Beth Bookselleres, Lexington:  At least one Pokémon guide from here, most likely unofficial.
• Unknown video game store, Fayette Mall, Lexington: On a birthday trip, soon after I got my SNES for Christmas, I picked up the official guides to both Super Mario World and the competition cartridge with the original three games plus the bonus unreleased one. And this was a few days before I got the second cartridge through mail giveaway. Only time I can remember buying anything here before the store closed, since I can't remember where I got the PS1 controller

    Like mags, guides have gone the way of the internet.  I tried to look for a Gen IX Pokémon guide a few years ago, only to find unofficial, third-party, independently published books of unknown quality. Sure, I could order something, but I'm not sure how good it would be. Places likes Joseph-Beth and BAM would have art books based on games, but they mostly aren't play throughs for guides

My Video Game Library: Castlevania

    I, of course, knew of the Castlevania series well before I got any of the games. There was a 'Belmont' character on one of the old Saturday morning cartoons (more of that in a later post). The games were always being mentioned in the gaming mags. However, it wasn't until the news for the first Castlevania game for the PS1, Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night or SotN, that I became truly invested in the series. Those first preview pictures held a huge secret that would earn the game the "Best Middle" award from EMG (IYKYK).  The game ventured away from the linear path of the previous games to a more explorable situation, with sections locked away until certain upgrades were found. (In fact, this led to the creation of the term 'metroidvania' style of game that had such branching paths that had to be unlocked after this game and the Metroid series, which I never followed.) I started playing the afternoon I got it, after picking it up at the Game Stop at the Huntington Mall.  I think I even opened it and started reading the manual to get a head start. I was surprised at the opening, where my character flew across the screen past the first rooms, only to wind up into basically the first boss battle, pretty much unprepared. Somehow, I managed to work my way through the game, managing to get over 190% of the game explored (again, IYKYK). I worked my way to the final boss, Dracula, as Alucard, his half-vampire son. Yeah, silly, but the name was around before the series was started, I think. Yet, I could never beat him, even with the tips I found.  Still, I loved the game.  It is still the highest ranked game of the series. 

    Later on, a previously unreleased game for the US came out, Chronicles, and I got that for Christmas.  My mom had a cousin pick it up in Lexington somewhere. It was in the standard linear-style, so the change in play was tricky to adjust to. I made it about halfway through the game before I had to take a break. I was never able to get back to either of the games before I lost them in the flood.

    When the GBA first came out, a Castlevania game was one of the highlights. Circle of the Moon featured the same type of explorable gameplay from SotN, but with a different magic system. This time, I was able to complete almost all of the game, even beating the main boss and most of the unlocked challenges. I just couldn't figure out the one empty room with the soundbite of a skeleton.  The graphics could have been a little cleaner, though. The next GBA game was Harmony of Dissonance.  This one brought back the "Sorry, but our undead overlord is in another castle" schtick from SotN (once again, IYKYK). This game was a little underwhelming.  One of its side quests was finding objects to decorating a spare room in the castle. Yes, a challenge involving interior decorating. You couldn't even adjust the objects.  Just find them and, poof, they were arranged for you. Too easy.

    The third GBA game was Aria of Sorrow.  Of the GBA games, this one was the most like SotN. Set in a near-future Japan (?!), you play a college student who gets sucked into the castle where you get the ability to suck (?!) the spirits from enemies you defeat to gain powers from them that you get to decide which ones to use. I must say, this was my favorite of all of the games. While I had almost beaten the game in full before the flood, I had to wait until I got a new GBA to finally finish it.  In the interim, I had found great tips in a gaming mag. I had found every ability, beaten the real last boss, and defeated the unlocked boss challenge mode, getting the best weapon in the game.  Excalibur.  However, since my character wasn't the future king of England, it stayed in the stone. It was more of a hammer than a sword.

    There were follow up games to AoS on the Nintendo Dual Screen (DS), but since I never got the system, I missed out on them. I really hated that. There would be other Castlevania games afterwards, by the game company decided to go a different route, and get out of the console gaming market. There have been other signs of Castlevania in various media, such as a highly rated cartoon, but no new games in some time. I almost even opened my free Apple Arcade trial just to try out a Castlevania game, but I didn't since I don't think it was in the same style. I also didn't want to get stuck paying the monthly fee once the trial was over. Still, I think I would like to play the series again one day.

My Video Game Side Quest: Magazines

    I am always wanting to try something new, usually by finding out as much as I can about it before actually doing it.  When I started gaming in the 90s, there was pretty much only one way to find out about it.  Magazines. I got my first gaming mag just after I got my NES that Christmas.  I relied on mags throughout my entire gaming history, even after the internet started to become the dominant source for information.

    While it might not have been my first mag, Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) was the most dominant one. It had a great mix of news, articles, previews, reviews, strategy, and humor. Sure, I think I ever decided to buy only one game based on what I read there, but I still feel it gave me more than enough to make that and other decisions. As its height, EGM regularly broke 200 pages and came bagged with multiple inserts. They even had spin-off mags.  This included EGM2 (again, should be read as an exponent), a regular monthly published about two weeks after the main mag. It focused more on strategy and tips, but still had some articles. These articles were usually taken from the main mag, either in part or an expanded version. It didn't last that long.  [They also published a comic book mag, Hero Illustrated, that only lasted a short time, as well as the Official US Playstation Magazine. More on that one later.]

    EGM would outlast many of its competitors, but it was cancelled in the 2000s as online sources took over. A blurb in the final issue alluded to "hell freezing over."  To this day, I can't be sure if it meant a demonic-themed game or that they knew it was their final issue and I missed any other mention in the mag. I had gotten almost every issue for over a decade, and then it was over.

    There were other mags, such as GamePro, Nintendo Power, and the aforementioned Playstation Magazine, but I only picked those up whenever they featured a game I liked.  Although I did get most of the last mentioned one, for reasons that will be evident in a future post. Following is a list of most of the places where I bought gaming mags. I don't remember subscribing to any, so this list is mostly complete, baring any one-time stops. Closed stores are in black. Store still open are in blue, while those that still have mags are in blue and underlined. I will also add some extra facts when I feel necessary.

• Prestonsburg:  Winn-Dixie, Walmart, Readmore, Food City (Glenview Plaza location. The current larger location still has a small magazine section, but I don't think I have ever bought any there.)
• Pikeville:  Economy Drug (I bought many there, but they discontinued having mags years ago.), Food City (Town & Country. The current larger location has a small magazine section, but I don't think I bought any gaming mags there.), Page 3 Game Zone (They had a small newsstand section for a brief time in the late 90s when they were still downtown. I may have bought at least one gaming mag there. Currently, they don't have any mags, but they might be able to order some in the near future.), Winn-Dixie, Walmart (I bought many mags here, especially after I opened my store. The current magazine section is about 25% of what it was at its height, as well as in the back of the store after its major remodel from a few years ago.)
• Coal Run:  Kmart (Only store that regularly carried NP, but I bought a few others here. They got rid of magazines a few years before they closed.), Readmore, Magic Mart (final location), Walmart (Didn't get as many here as when they moved, but I remember an NP.), Kroger/Food City (I got mags at both places, but I can't remember any gaming ones in particular. They were about the last places I visited on shopping trips, so I usually had already gotten any mags by the time I got there. Not always.)
• Williamson/South Williamson:  downtown newsstand (I got many mags here over the years, but I can't remember if any were about gaming, but it's possible.), Kmart (I think I got at least one by the time I finally discovered the magazine section. They closed soon after, I think.), Kroger (I know I got a TCG mag there, so I may have gotten a gaming mag or two as well. Not positive though.)
• Norton/Wise VA:  somewhere, maybe (I am all but certain I got a mag during one of the few trips I took here in the mid-late 90s. Candidates include Food Lion, Kmart, Ingall's, Walmart, and Food City. The first three are closed, although I don't remember if Food Lion had mags. Walmart and Food City have since moved to new, larger locations, with the former still having mags as of the last time I went there. Food City might not, but I may have finally found the section hidden in one of the aisles I rarely went down on one of my last trips. Still not sure.)
• Paintsville:  Food City (Their magazine section was in the front of the store at times, so I didn't always get a chance to look, but I think I bought one there. Haven't been in years, so I'm guessing about mags.), Kmart (found an issue that wasn't out in Huntington once.), Read-a-lot/Kroger (I got mags at both, but rarely. I frequently stopped here after trips to Huntington, so I usually had already bought them by the time I got here. Still, I also had my dentist here for part of the 90s, so I may have gotten one of those times.)
• Huntington Mall:  Phar-more (This was usually my first stop most trips, so I think I got one of the lower tier mags here.), Waldenbooks, Game Stop (I got a TCG mag here, so I may have gotten a gaming mag once as well. The store was still open the last time I went to the Mall, but I don't think they still have mags.), Borders, BAM (The timeline may be off, but I might have gotten one of the last EGMs here. Still, I did get Mac magazines here, and they sometimes had game reviews, so it counts.), Kroger (Barboursville. I think I got an earlier/current issue of one I picked up at the Mall, thereby getting two issues in one day. Could be confusing it with somewhere else. They shrank their magazine section by over 75% when they remodeled/expanded, before getting rid of it completely.)
• Lexington:  Kroger (Regency Center.  The previous experience may have been here instead, or it happened twice. Haven't been in a long time, but they still carried a few mags that last time.), Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Waldenbooks (Fayette Mall), Walden Software (Fayette Mall.  A spin-off store that sold computer software and video games, as well as some hardware and mags. Felt embarrassed buying just a mag here just one time. The store didn't last long.)

        Aside from the occasional bookazine limited edition, such as recent one for the Pokémon anniversary, gaming mags can't be found on most newsstands. In fact, the only mags I see nowadays are imports. Only Joseph-Beth and BAM above would carry them. They are too expensive for me for what they are, and they usually don't carry information about things I want anyway. Never have bought them.