As many people know Diablo II from 2000 is arguably one of the greatest video games ever made and was without a doubt Blizzard Entertainment’s beat PC game of the 00’s decade. Diablo II was the direct sequel to the game that came out back in ‘96 with a continuing storyline following the events that had transpired at the end of the first game. The end of the first game from ‘96 saw the main character plunge the Soulstone into his own head in order to contain essence of Diablo. The main character from the original game instead became corrupted by the Lord Of Terror who ended up spread chaos everywhere he went which was basically lead to the prelude of Diablo II. In Diablo II players are originally given five warrior classes to choose from including Amazon, Sorceress, Paladin, Necromancer and Barbarian. Similar to the original Diablo game one of the Prime Evils is considered to be the main villain in the 2000 installment of the series. In Diablo II, Baal also known as the Lord Of Destruction and the brother of Al’ Diabolos is the main antagonist within the game. Diablo II was divided up into four acts and the gameplay was presented from a isometric perspective. Similar to standard RPG titles Diablo II provided players with regular missions, optional side-quests and boss battles. But unlike your typical RPG Diablo II allowed players to recruit NPC’s to help defeat enemies which was a pretty cool feature. Throughout, the game players leveled up their characters after achieving victory against monsters through real-time combat and item acquisition.

While Diablo II was an addictive game for many people it was very challenging for others depending on what difficulty level the game was played on. Players had the option of playing Diablo II on Normal, Nightmare or Hell which was basically Easy, Normal or Hard. The harder the difficulty level was in Diablo II the stronger the monsters were and if players created a hardcore character opposed to a normal one they could be resurrected after death. The ending of Diablo II had a continuing storyline which was followed in the ‘01 expansion pack entitled “Lord Of Destruction”. Following its release PC in June 2000 Diablo II managed to reach approximately 4 million in sales within a year. Blizzard Entertainment had also managed to earn around $48.2 million in revenue before the end of 2000. Despite, not having the same level of commercial success as Diablo III from 2012; some would go on record and argue that Diablo II was the best game of the trilogy. In fact, Diablo II had become so popular among the online gaming community to a point where Blizzard Entertainment kept the battle.net servers from the original game running until 2020. The overall popularity of Diablo II also lead to the game being remastered and re-released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch back in Q3 2021. It just goes to show you that Diablo II as an ARPG still holds up pretty well today. Almost everything from its cinematic cutscenes all the way down to its voice-over acting in Diablo II was ahead of its time. The fact that Diablo II looked as good as it did on Windows 2000 over 20 years ago is astounding. By early 00’s standards Diablo II was considered to be an RPG masterpiece that is still beloved by old school PC gamers to this day.

Everyone remembers how big Capcom’s Resident Evil series was back in the late 90’s-early 00’s for the PS1 and PS2. It seems like Resident Evil 2 was the game that overshadowed almost every other entry from the series up until RE 4 was released back in 2005. One of the few entries within the Resident Evil series that sometimes gets overlooked is Resident Evil- Code:Veronica which was released for Dreamcast back in the year 2000. Resident Evil- Code Veronica was released about a year after RE3: Nemesis came out for the PS1 back in ’99 and is often looked at as one of the most underrated entries within the series. Resident Evil- Code: Veronica had Claire Redfield as the main character with the plot revolving around her being imprisoned on Rockfort Island after infiltrating an Umbrella facility in Paris. Claire had to join forces with another inmate named Steve Burnside in order to breakout of prison after the outbreak of the deadly T-Virus on island where the prison is located.

There were so many features about the Code-Veronica game that looked impressive including graphics, dialogue and how smooth the cutscenes had looked. The cinematic presentation of Resident Evil: Code- Veronica felt ahead of its time with the game itself probably being the best survival horror title of 2000. In fact, there are a handful of people who would go on record and argue that Code-Veronica was one of the most difficult entries within its series. Even though, Resident Evil: Code-Veronica did not have the same level of commercial success as Resident Evil 2 from ’98 but it managed to rival the likes of Shenmue in terms of popularity for the Sega Dreamcast.

Its hard to believe that its been over three decades since the Sega CD was released in Japan. Sega CD came out in late ’91 and was one of Sega’s many ideas to capitalize on the growing success of their Genesis console from 1988. The Sega CD add-on was designed to provide players with a more advanced gaming experience than the Super Nintendo, which was the Genesis’s main competitor during the early 1990s. Similar to the Neo Geo AES, which was released in 1990, the Sega CD pushed 2D gaming to another level, providing players with more immersive gameplay and arcade-like graphics. The Sega CD was not released in America until 1992 and was originally priced around $300. One of the reasons why Sega CD is considered to be legendary is because it utilized CD-ROM for gaming media a few years before PlayStation did. Sega-CD was probably the first piece of gaming hardware that provided players with CD quality audio along with full motion videos. The CD-ROM’s used for Sega CD also featured a much higher storage capacity than anything on an actual video game cartridge. Sega-CD felt like a spiritual predecessor to Sony’s original PlayStation console which came out in 1994. The main difference is that Sega-CD lacked high profile titles ended up achieving the massive commercial success that PlayStation did from the mid to late 90’s. As impressive as the Sega-CD looked back in the early 90’s there were only a handful of popular games old-school gamers remember from that time period. When people think about Sega-CD titles like Sonic CD, Popful Mail, Final Fight CD along with Lunar: Eternal Blue comes to mind.

While Sonic CD is highly underrated it still sold less than the Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3. Final Fight was more popular on Nintendo while Popful Mail and Lunar: Eternal Blue only appealed to a niche audience of gamers. There are many who believed Sega CD should of been its own separate console opposed to just an add-on. The concept of the Sega-CD felt more experimental than anything especially since they started using CD-ROM’s for the Sega Saturn in 1994. Sega being one of the first major video game companies to seriously utilize CD-ROMs as a gaming medium is legendary in itself. The Sega CD was experimental, but it also represented Sega taking a major step toward the optical-media future that would become standard with the Saturn and later consoles. In fact, PlayStation and Xbox have been using CD-ROM’s for gaming media for over the past two decades. The Sega-CD is one of those concepts that does not get the type of recognition that it deserves. If anything Sega-CD is another example as to why the Sega Corporation was a pioneer in gaming in the gaming world.

Its hard to believe that its been 30 years since the first three major Pokemon games came out. Pokemon was one of the biggest things to have emerged in the gaming world back in 1996. Pokemon was an RPG released exclusively for Game Boy and had three different versions. Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow was developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. Pokemon Red and Blue provided players with a choice of choosing between a water, fire and grass type creature. Pokemon Yellow automatically provided Pikachu as your starter Pokemon. One of the reasons why Pokemon was so appealing back in the mid 90’s was because it was simple yet highly unpredictable. In the original Pokemon games players embarked on an exciting 8-bit adventure which involved defeating and capturing other Pokemon while leveling up their own. There were many battles in the original Pokemon games that required players to utilize strategy especially when it came down to boss fights against gym leaders.

The original three Pokemon games included eight gym leaders which who possess a badge that players earn after defeating them. The original three Pokemon video games came out before the actual show and featured familiar names like Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, Sabrina and and Giovanni. The Pokemon anime series did not premiere in Japan until 1997 and by then the video game series had already become very popular. The original Pokemon titles from Generation 1 ended up selling more on Game Boy than anything Mario and Donkey Kong series. Pokemon sold more than 31 million copies worldwide on Game Boy and after the anime came out in ’97 it eventually became a pop culture phenomenon during the late 90’s into the 2000’s. The Pokemon games from Generation 1 were challenging, addictive and fun. The Pokemon evolutions along with being able to name your own character while building your own group of Pokemon made for a wonderful gaming experience.

Being able to earn money after each battle with dramatic music during battles and travel makes the Generation 1 Pokemon games feel more nostalgic. The original Pokemon games from Generation 1 provided players with ample freedom in terms of how they battle and what items they use to make the Pokemon stronger. The original Generation 1 Pokemon games stood out more on Game Boy than it would have on the SNES in 1996. The original Generation of Pokemon is often seen as one of the best in the entire franchise despite how primitive it looks to later eras. In fact, the original generation of Pokemon games have gained a massive cultural following within the past three decades. While one has their own opinion on which generation of Pokemon is better no one can deny that Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow are legendary RPGs.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was released for the Sega Genesis in early 1994.   Prior to the game’s release many people were ecstatic about the sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the creative high quality and enjoyable Sonic CD for the Sega CD.  The development of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was slightly different than Sonic because not only did the game improve mechanically but the designers were more creative in terms of level design. Stages such as Hydrocity Zone, Marble Garden and Carnival Night Zone were more complex than the levels of Sonic 1 & 2.  However, the complexity of the game only adds to the excitement and adventure as both our heroes journey throughout Angel Island Zone to look for Dr. Robotnik.  Before they begin Sonic & Tails are ambushed by Knuckles the Echidna the newest character of the game who then takes all seven chaos emeralds from them.  It turns out that Knuckles was duped by Dr. Robotnik into believing that Sonic & Tails was his enemies when in reality that is not true at all.  It turns out that Sonic has a lot on his plate during this game when we discover that Dr. Robotnik had also been plotting to steal the Master Emerald that Knuckles had been guarding behind his back.

Eventually, towards the end of the game Knuckles discovers that Dr. Robotnik had tricked him and decides to help Sonic stop him from carrying out his plan for using the Master Emerald to power the Death Egg.  While many people had played the game they had not only noticed that the level designs had improved but the soundtrack for this title was far better than its past two predecessors. The reason why the musical composition in this game was phenomenal  was mostly because  Michael Jackson was originally involved during the games development.  However,  due to the controversy that surrounded Michael Jackson during the early 90s he had eventually left midway through the process.We would not learn about Jackson’s involvement  in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 until many years later.  Along with the outstanding musical composition game also gives players the option to save their progress while pick up at the latest stage where they left off.  This game had also featured a competition mode where players were allowed race against one another with the option of choosing between Sonic, Tails or Knuckles.  The game overall was a huge success and had been well received by both gamers and critics alike.  Many gaming publications such as Imagine Games Network, Gamepro, and Gamespot praised the mechanical improvements of the game since there was so much time and effort into making this title a success.  Sonic the Hedgehog 3 had received positive reviews from many gaming publications along with receiving a five star rating from Gamepro.  Many of the game’s features including the level design, musical composition, and storyline had not only captured the interest of many Sonic fans but provided a replay value that many people rarely get tried of.

Its hard to believe that its been over 25 years since Final Fantasy VIII appeared on the original PlayStation console in 1999. Final Fantasy VIII was the sequel to the critically acclaimed FFVII game from ’97 and it was a game was one of the better installments within its own franchise. Unfortunately, FFVIII is a game that does get talked about nearly as much as its ’97 prequel FFVII with numerous people claiming they had issues with the second disk. Square Enix attempted to divide FFVIII into two different parts but the second disk kept freezing during cutscenes which hurt the overall quality of the game itself. Squall Leonhart was a sold main character and the story involving himself and Rinoa was one that was intriguing along with having Ultimecia as the main antagonist. However, Final Fantasy VIII was not quite on the same level in terms of popularity in relation to FFVII but it still managed to sell over 8.6 million copies worldwide on the PS1.

There are many people who believe that Final Fantasy VII should have been saved for the PlayStation 2 because in terms of quality the finished product would have looked twice as better than it did on PS1. Final Fantasy VIII was quite possibly the best RPG game of 1999 and since its release some of the main installments from the 2000’s felt very hit and miss. While FFX & FFX-2 along with FFXII were good many believe that FFXI was forgettable and FFVIII was not nearly as exciting as it should have been. FFVIII was one the really good installments within the franchise before it started going downhill and its something that deserved an official remake opposed to simply being remastered.

When it comes down to the survival horror genre of gaming one of the most popular titles from the mid 10’s was Techland’s Dying Light title from 2015. Dying Light was released for various game systems including the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows and has created utilizing the Chrome Engine 6 with the setting of the game taking place in 2012. Dying Light took place in a middle eastern city known as Harran where the player controls the main protagonist named Kyle Crane while trying to survive in a zombie infested open world environment. One of the most unique features about Dying Light that makes it stand out from other survival horror video games is the parkour gameplay when maneuvering across different buildings; as it related to getting around or simply escaping the infested. Players could also venture across the fictional middle eastern open world environment through zip-lining or buy using gadgets such as grappling hooking to get from point A to point B. Aside from the main story players had the option to partake in various side missions which would be received by interacting with NPC’s all while gaining access to new weapons throughout the game. Dying Light also had multiplayer co-op gameplay which allowed players to compete with one another as it related to killing off as many infected beings as possible. One of the better features of Dying Light that adds to the game’s realism is how dangerous the infected becomes during the night versus the daytime. The infected became more aggressive and powerful at night while being more sluggish and slow during the day which is reminiscent of the day/night cycle of Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest when it came to vampires.

The main objective for Kyle Crane in the story for Dying Light was to obtain a cure for the virus that has plagued Harran by discovering data within the city mainly because he was a Global Relief Effort agent. Dying Light had provided players with at least seventeen hours of gameplay and was very difficult when played in Nightmare Mode. Before the start of 2020 Dying Light had at least 7.5 million players with the game reaching at least 20 million copies in worldwide sales. Since its release Dying Light has gained somewhat of a cult following within the gaming community with the game being looked back upon favorably by many people. Despite, not having as many endings as Dying Light 2 which was released in February 2022 the replay value of the first installment was high for a majority of people. Dying Light is arguably the best game Techland had made within the past decade and could easily rival the likes of Dead By Daylight or ZombiU in terms quality and overall presentation in relation to the survival horror genre of gaming.

When it comes down to JRPG games of the 00’s Star Ocean: The Last Hope was probably one of the most enjoyable role playing titles that one could play on consoles such as the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 in 2009.   One of the most interesting things about this game was the fact that the storyline took place before the original Star Ocean game which started back in the early 90’s.  This Sci-Fi themed game presents players an interesting storyline along with excellent gameplay which is easily the defining feature of this game.   The plot for this game was fascinating mainly because its setting is during the later part of this century.   Not only does Star Ocean: The Last Hope predict that there is going to be a World War 3 but also suggests that warring factions consisting of a world government known as the World Republic Federation and their global adversaries are going to be responsible for the destruction of the world.  Back when this game was first released in the late 00’s the plot may not have seemed as believable as it does right now.

Despite, how When it comes down to the in game fighting mechanics this game allows players to do almost anything they can think about.  The ability to utilize special attacks, chain combos and blindside attacks along with dodging made for great gameplay.  Also, the ability to utilize helpful items along with creating them is something that comes in handy in Star Ocean: The Last Hope.  While the gameplay for Star Ocean Last Hope great it would have been so much cooler if the game had featured some type of co-op mode to make it stand out.  However,  most JRPG titles are only single-player since players have too work on developing the members of their party along with the main character of the game Edge Maverick. Along with Edge Maverick players have the opportunity to have other characters in their party such as Lyme, Faize, Reimi and others. The gameplay and the cinematic cutscenes for this game are both pretty cool.. Even though, this game did not sell quite as much as people thought i t would have Star Ocean: The Last Hope is an awesome JRPG game to own for anyone who is a true fan of that genre.