The Game Race

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of my favorite games of all time. So I was excited to play through it again a few days ago, seeing as how I haven't played it in over three years. The last time I had played it was with two friends, in the same room with games, systems and tvs for each of us, racing through it in just one day. Unfortunately, only one of us finished (or got very close), and we had to call it a day. A few days ago I got a chance for redemption, as I wasn't just playing the game alone. It was another race through the game, this time with five players instead of three. Four others did not show up, but whatever, the five of us still had a good time. Only one person finished in 8.5 hours, two of us got close after 12 hours, and the other two had to drop out due to glitches with the game and/or system. A good post about the day can be found here. As angry as we were getting throughout the day, we all had a great time, and hope to repeat this challenge again next year or sooner. Next time I'll make sure to look up where I should go outside of the dungeons/temples, instead of having to ask the other players every hour or so.

But this post isn't just about that day. I want to discuss the possibilities for other games to race through. It's so much fun to sit down with a group of friends, start a game at the exact same moment, and encourage friendly banter as the group progresses through the game. As time passes, people pass each other in the game, take different routes, do things out of order, and can be just as interesting watching each other play as playing the game myself. Ocarina of Time was an awesome choice not only for the fact that it's definitely possible to run through it in under 12 hours, but also because it's a straightforward game with things required to do on the side. One must obtain certain items and complete certain requirements to continue through the game, but not necessarily in a linear order. So one person may be ahead of another, but the person just behind completed a "requirement" that the other person had not yet (which actually happened during our day). I suppose it also helped that it's a classic game that everyone had played through at least once, and is just an all around loved game by many.

So here we go, opening up discussion for games to be played through in a day. I encourage people to respond on here their thoughts on my choices and any additions they can think of, and also on facebook for those that know me. I have a few rules or requirements that these games must have, but most of them are obvious. Any games that break the rules will be discussed, such as how the rules can be bent or changed. The rules are as follows: the game must be able to be completed within one playthrough. Exceptions for multi-day playthroughs are extremely difficult to accommodate, with players having conflicting schedules. The games must have been played through already by players, or the players must be okay with playing a game they haven't played through before. I bring this up because I'll soon discuss one such game for myself. We, as in the players playing the game, must be able to acquire enough copies of the game and have enough systems to play the games on, all at once. Those are basically all the rules for choosing games to play. The rules for the game day itself are more complicated and do not need to be discussed on here.

The first possibility for a playthrough is obvious, being a Super Mario All-Stars...all-stars. I vow that we play through Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and possibly also Super Mario World. I have barely played Super Mario World, and have never played Super Mario Bros. 2, but would still be willing to play through those games for the sake of a game run day. I would also need to be playing with more than two certain people, as they can blow through all four games much faster than I can probably get through just one. But realistically, these four games could definitely all be played through in just one day, though I'm not sure how long SMW takes to complete. Warps would have to be considered, since using warps would considerably shorten the day. This would take away some of the fun however. It would also take away some of the interesting parts, like being able to choose ones path through SMB3 and SMW. People would be completing different levels at their difficulty level to progress through the games differently. I'm not sure if versions change the games the much, between originals and SM All-Stars version. Another consideration would be playing through just one of these games, but every level must be completed. The only problem would be keeping track of who had beaten what levels, and who might be cheating.

Along the same lines, Super Mario 64 would be another good choice for a run-through. Obtaining all 120 stars would be out of the question, but just finishing the game with the minimum 70 could be a lot of fun. Each played would be running through different level collecting different stars. Some people have an easier time with some stars, but find others harder, and other people are the opposite. It could be a fun day with quite a bit of frustration. Spend too much time obtaining one star and fall behind. Glitches obviously would not be allowed, and those are easy to spot when one person is using them.

Sticking with Nintendo, but switching to a different franchise, some of us have discussed Super Metroid as a possible option. This is a great choice for the fact that it's a real speed challenge. It's mostly a straightforward affair (unless one wants extra missiles, bombs or health) to see who can complete the game the fastest. I can personally finish the game in under three hours, and would be a no break challenge. Go to the bathroom and you'll lose precious time. Glitches would have to be heavily considered and discussed, because the game can be broken with them. I'd say that all bosses must be defeated, but would multiple bomb jumps be allowed? I know some parts can be skipped with this trick, not including a whole boss, and some people would use this heavily.

My personal favorite choice for a game run is my favorite game of all time: Metroid Prime. I have played through the game numerous times, and can probably beat it in around 6-8 hours. I believe I would emerge victorious in this challenge, but would love to try it for the fact that it's a challenge. The game seems long, but when not collecting every scan and item, people don't realize that it's actually pretty short. And I'll be honest, to this day I still get lost while playing and forget where to go next. To me that's a good game, to continually stay fresh and fun. I also think enough people have played through it to make it a possibility. MP Echoes and Corruption would probably not be possible, as they both take longer than a day to complete. Echoes may be possible to do in a day, but it's just not that fun, and many of us get very confused as to where to go next, making the game much longer than it should be for a challenge.

Oh boy, I suppose I should finally turn back to look at the big series. No, not Mario. Those games seem to be random and ever changing. I'm speaking of Zelda, which retains the same basic gameplay, mechanics, plot and set-pieces across almost all games. They all have close to 8 dungeons, and many even have the same themes for dungeons. I believe that there is more than just one Zelda game that can be played through in one day, but the problem arises with enough copies, or playing on a handheld. For example, Link's Awakening would be a great choice, but who wants to sit in a room playing a game with everyone else, but can't see other people playing? Kinda boring, and we don't have enough Super GameBoys/GameBoy Players and games. A Link to the Past may be possible in one day, but personally I don't think I can do it in under 12 hours like some other friends. I vow for Majora's Mask, and would have a lot of fun with it, but one person has played it too often, and others don't think they could do it in one day. Fair enough, this has to be a possibility between at least two to three of us. I love Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but obviously both are way too long do complete in one day. Four Swords Adventures is another great choice and can be completed in just a few hours, but not enough copies are available.

Moving on, I have a few other games to discuss. This may be a long post, but I'm serious, and want to have another game challenge within the next year if possible. On Saturday we discussed Eternal Darkness. It's a game I know I can beat within a day, and if I can, everyone else can. I don't know if we have enough copies (2 maybe?), but the fact that the game has three possible paths to go down, could make it a very fun game to race through. Choosing one path makes one thing easier to deal with, but something else harder. So each player with play on their strengths and weaknesses. Also, will any players go for the purple magic? It's the only optional item in the game, but it makes for a much easier ending.

And what about other types of games? Basically I've only discussed adventure types of games. I move to include First Person Shooter games as well. Yes, yes, I know our friends don't like very many FPS games, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few gems that we enjoy. The first is Goldeneye, an obvious classic. Very easy to complete in one day, it could be fun since I'm sure most of us haven't played it in years. And like most FPS, it's very linear so players won't get stuck for long. That was my problem with OoT.

Speaking of Goldeneye, how about Perfect Dark? It can also be completed in one day. And if people really wanted to, we could break up into teams and play the game co-op, and see which team can beat the game first. That would make for a really interesting competition.

My final game that I can think of today (which was all on the top of my head, didn't really do much thinking or any research) is Portal. I love Portal so much, and is an extremely short game. My record for beating it is about 47 minutes, and I hope to one day get it under 45 minutes. Too bad we only have like two copies of game, however.

So those are my thoughts one the game day challenge, for what other games are possibilities. I didn't even discuss multiplayer possibilities, such as teamwork, not including Perfect Dark. Maybe some games that some people have played and others have not could be played with teams, going back and forth. I'm not sure how the game would be split up, but it could make for a different and fun experience. But those are my thoughts just for now, and need to think about what game I feel like playing next. Not sure how many more RPGs I can play right now.

Replaying a series

Ok, deciding that tonight I was going to post a new blog on here couldn't have come at a better time. The in-game events that are taking place right now are perfect to talk about, and have given me much to think about. All of my game time lately has been focused on Golden Sun. Oh yes, the original Golden Sun for the GBA, not the new one. I picked that up last week, but have yet to open it.

The original Golden Sun came out around 7 years ago, or so I've heard, since I haven't taken the time to look it up. The second game in the series, Golden Sun: The Lost Age came out shortly after, probably within the next year. I absolutely loved the games, and played through both of them rather quickly. The fact that the second game is a straight continuation of the first game helped me play through it even more quickly. For most people the end of the first game would be a huge turn-off, because it's a cliffhanger. Just when you think you're about halfway through the game, due to in-game events, the game just ends. It was a high note, so that was nice, but no one saw the ending coming like that, and it brought about quite a bit of confusion. It's not very often that a game developer will release a game (unsure of how well it will do, by the way) with a straight cliffhanger ending, having not even announced a sequel yet. So when this ending came about, people were confused because there was no second game to continue the story! Many fans, including me, waited very anxiously for the sequel, and ate right through it when it came out.

What was strange about the sequel, is that it starred a whole new cast of characters, even though the developers had said that the cast would be returning for the second game. Fans had to play through around half the game before even running into the cast of the first game, and it was a bizarre feeling. Here you are, spending 20-30 hours learning about the cast of four characters from the first game, their pasts, and about their personalities, and then right when things are getting intense - the ending of the first game - the player gets shoved into a different room, with all new faces. To make matters even more confusing, the player THEN spends 10-15 hours with all these new characters, starts feeling comfortable with this "scene" of characters, but ends up running into the original cast of characters. I can't remember how things play out, but I'm pretty sure you can control all 8 of the characters, so at least the developers didn't totally pull out the rug from underneath the players.

Which leads to why I'm replaying these two games. I heard that the third game has quite a big of fanservice to the fans who played very close attention to the details in the first two games. People like me, who couldn't get enough of the games. Seriously, it was people like me who were dying for another Golden Sun game. For years rumors floated around that they were making another GS game for the GBA, and then rumors that it was being made for the GameCube. That one was a particularly strong rumor, and I believe they even started work on a game for the system, but didn't get very far into development. Well anyways, after 7 years the developers announced a new game in the series, which continues 20 years after the events of the first game. The characters are all supposedly the kids of the characters from the first game. I'm not extremely excited about that, since I enjoyed the characters from the second game more than that, but at least they're continuing the story even deeper with related characters. I also have no idea what the story is of the new game, which is pretty exciting.

Okay, enough chit-chat about how I LOVE the first two Golden Sun games. They're not even that revolutionary. Combat is standard turn-based RPG fare, out-of-combat is standard as well, talking with townspeople, learning the story, and traveling to the next town or dungeon, leveling up along the way. Yes, the psynergy (magic) is a little new, since you can use powers to move objects and the likes outside of battle. It makes for some fantastic puzzles, which get especially difficult in the second game. Oh, and I should mention that since the second game is basically a direct continuation of the first game, the developers don't hold the players hand for very long before throwing them back into what they know and have been craving for. The second game is basically the second half of the first game. Except, 40-60 hour RPGs don't fit onto one GBA cart, so obviously they made it into two. Returning to the subject at hand, you can also collect Djinn creatures around the world to upgrade the characters' magic powers to use in battle, and can summon even more powerful magic when "set" to the character. Stronger moves, but at the cost of lowering the characters' stats considerably.

So here's where things get really interesting. The developers did not announce a sequel to the first game until some time after the first game was out, and many people were finished before then. People were ALSO confused about this, because at the end of the game you can save a special file, but it cannot be played, like "continued" at the start screen. People didn't know what this did, but had a feeling a sequel would use this somehow? But game-to-game transfer of information was rare even back then, so people weren't sure what this would do. Come to find out, it basically transferred ALL the character data from the first game to the sequel. So when the player took control of the characters in the second game, everything, all stats, all items, all weapons, and all Djinn came with them. A HUGE advantage to playing through the first game, and people were EXTREMELY surprised. People saw maybe a couple things transferring, but everything?! So how do you think people felt when they transferred this information, and then had to play as totally new characters, all at level 1, for 10-15 hours? Oh yeah, very confused. You'd think this would just make players even more eager to get further and further to get these characters. But this just returns to the subject of A)the characters in the second game are more interesting and B) after playing as characters and learning about their plot for 10-15 hours, the player basically forgets the original characters were even in the game. Very bizarre turning of events in the second game, but the developers did a fantastic job entwining the two together, both story and gameplay-wise.

And now we return to me playing the original again. Sorry this post is so long, but c'mon, by now you should be used to this. Once I start typing about a game (especially one I love), I'll go until my mind is done, or until I'm about to fall asleep. But anyways, I'm about 22 hours into the first game, and almost done. I'm in the middle of a sidequest that I've been putting off until I was near the end of the game, just so I could level up first, and then blow through it later. And since I'm at the end of the game, I'm also doing quite a bit of collecting of rare items. I believe I have the rarest weapons and armor in the game, but most are cursed, so I'm looking for a way to remove these curses before I fight the final boss. Or else I'll be paralyzed randomly throughout the battle, at the expense of much strong weaponry. Along with finding rare items, I'm looking for the last remaining Djinn that I have not yet found, and these can be a bitch. I can clearly recall using a guide to find the rest the first time I played through the game, and I'm definitely going to again. Most can be literally seen in a town or dungeon, and just need to walk up to it and fight it (or it just joins without a fight), but the outside ones suck. It's like trying to find a rare pokemon, except you have no idea where it is in the world, and it's in one tiny patch of grass (speaking in Pokemon terms). But since they all transfer over to the second game (and cannot be found in that game, unlike weapons which just get strong in the sequel), they are very important.

The event I spoke of at the very beginning is a sidequest I just finished earlier tonight. It's a sidequest boss, the hardest boss in the game, and I've been working on him since last night. I was ECSTATIC when I beat him tonight, and was literally smiling and moving around my apartment just so happy. He took me three tries to beat this time, whereas the first time I played through the game he probably took me eight to ten tries. He's Deadbeard, a dead pirate, deep below nine floors of increasingly difficult puzzles. I'll admit, he's one of the hardest bosses I've ever fought, and it feels great beating him. The first time I beat him it took me about an hour, and this time about 45 minutes, because I've become a little better at strategy over the past 7 years.

So now all I have left to do is complete this quest, find the 5 remaining Djinn, and then I think I'll be ready for the final lighthouse (dungeon) and battle. I might be playing The Lost Age by tomorrow, or at least I hope so.

Great games with flaws

So lately I've been playing two games with most of the free time that I have, and a few other games on the side as well. I'll cover the other games I've been less time into first, before delving deep into my thoughts regarding the two important games for this blog. I'll warn you now, this is probably going to be another one of my lengthy blogs, seeing as how I haven't posted on here in quite some time. I mean, do you know how much time a person can put into multiple video games over the course of over a month? It will become clear in the next few paragraphs. And just to be clear, that's not to say I've been lazy. I work 3 to 5 days a week (not nearly as much as I'd like, but it's a job), and with the rest of the time I've had I've been either spending time with my family or studying for the GRE. I finally took the GRE today, and am going to spend the next day or so relaxing with some games, and then it's back to grind, actually applying to the grad schools. And if I find that my GRE scores aren't high enough, it's back to studying to take it again.

Anyways, I don't know where to begin, so I'm going to just throw a game out there that I've been playing, being New Super Mario Bros. Wii. I'm halfway through world 7 so far, and while I haven't played it in about two weeks or so, I was managing about one world a day. I found it to be quite a bit of fun, and makes me happy that Nintendo finally made another sidescrolling console Mario game. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 are some of my all time favorite games, and so it was a nice throwback to the good old days of platforming. And the difficulty and pacing is well laid out. I had heard in reviews that the game is pretty easy up until the last world, but I disagree. Nintendo did a great job making sure each world is varied with difficulty, and not every level has to be played (though obviously I'm playing as many as I can). Even better, they added multiple exits to levels. I'll probably never find all the exits and collect all the large golden coins, but it's a nice feature to throw in there for gamers who want replayability. And I'm not going to go into multiplayer, that makes the game really interesting.

I could be flying through that game much more quickly, but honestly, the game would get boring to me. That's unfortunate, since I've never grown bored with a sidescrolling Mario game before. But the good news is that whenever I got bored with NSMBW, I would pop in Super Mario Galaxy 2, and continue to get my Mario fix. Yeah, yeah, I was going to save SMG2 for a later date, when I finally finished other games. But I thought to myself, what's the pointing in saving a great game when I have plenty of other games I can play down the line, and many other great games will be released (and acquired in some way)? There are good things and bad things to the game. The good news is that the game is mostly designed for Super Mario Galaxy veterans. The game doesn't hold one's hand for very long, and to me it feels as though they developers assume that the player has played the first one. To me that's nice, since the difficulty level starts at about a level 2 to 3 out of 10, instead of a basic level 1 for the beginning of the first game. The problem with doing this, is that most of the new abilities are thrown at the player right away. Within just a few worlds, almost all new abilities have been seen. It just feels like a lot to take in, even though I know they're doing it just to get the "tutorials" out of the way. That way the player already knows how to use all of the abilities, and they can throw the abilities into earlier and earlier levels. It's a give and take situation. I'm only about 15 stars into the game, and will be playing much more of it after a finish the games I'm playing now.

I also purchased (used of course) Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii, since a friend wanted to play online together, and I fell in love with the original console version. This one seems like it's taking most of the best aspects of the previous two versions and combining them. It's a fun game to waste time on, but unfortunately doesn't have much to pull the player back into, besides collecting cool Nintendo items for the house. I've only paid off the first two mortgages, and have another 50,000 bells left to pay for this one. Then Nook will once again add onto my house without my permission, and assume that I will pay him for it. Bastard.

Okay, enough with the side games, people want to know what I've been sinking my teeth into. So I'll start with the game that I've actually already finished. Once I acquired my SNES, a friend highly recommended a game called Illusion of Gaia. He said that it's like a Zelda game, but made by Enix. Since it was cheap I picked it up, and immediately fell in love with it. That was before the game annoyed me. Yes, a great game with obvious flaws.

The combat in the game is awesome. It's basically the same as any top down viewed Zelda game (LttP, LA, etc.), but you are rewarded for killing all of the enemies in the "room." I say "room" because the game actually means area. When inside a dungeon, this means clearing out all enemies on the floor, even if they're on a ledge above the character. This is a unique feature because in Zelda, you just gain health by finding heart pieces or by killing a boss. Your sword gains power by upgrading it, as does your shield. But in Illusion of Gaia, one does not upgrade their sword and does not have a shield (not in the literal sense, I won't go into the shielding of the game - it's critical in some areas, but can be ignored for the sake of this conversation), and actually receives jack squat for defeating a boss, save for the usual "special required item (! /sarcasm)." The game forces one to defeat enemies to level up. The level up acquired from beating all the enemies in a room is either extra strenth, extra defense, or extra health. Yes, that means extra health to the health bar, right then in there. And from what I've seen, it's totally random what is received (though maybe not, I doubt you can randomly get all the health upgrades or strength upgrades at the beginning of the game, but it feels like it's random). But for all those people out there who just can't standing fighting in a Zelda type game, then when you get to the end of the game, you're out of luck if you have low health. I'm happy to find a game that forces the player to fight through each and every room, and rewards the player for going out of their way to find each and every enemy in an area. I don't know if I killed every enemy in the game, but I know I at least had a full health bar when I fought the last boss, so I must have gotten almost all of them.

"Man, he really enjoys this game, so what can the flaws be?" I'm sure you're thinking that, and it's unfortunate that the flaws are in this game, because this game could have been excellent, standing right next to LttP. But Enix made this game, and not Nintendo. I'm not sure how the Dragon Warrior games are, but the story in this game just sucks. I mean, it's actually overly convoluted at some points, when the overall plot is so basic! Boy's dad goes missing a year ago. Comet thing is hurdling towards Earth. Boy must find out what happened to father, and stop the comet. PERIOD. That's the extent of the plot. You could say the same about LttP: Boy wakes up. Princess needs help. Bad man wants to take over. Bad man takes over. Boy must stop him. Period. The difference is that the storytelling in LttP is phenominal, as are most of the Zelda games out there (even the crappy ones!). IoG just drags on, and on, and on....and on....and on...and then drags on further, just like this sentence is running on. Most games try to avoid sequences like this, as they are very hard to play out as fun. But that's not to say they're impossible! Chrono Trigger did these types of scenes extremely well (*cough*Square!*cough*Enixbuyout?*cough* sorry, something I had to get out...of my throat). But IoG has a few of these scenes, and the text is just painful. Not only are the conversations dull and pointless (and point out the obvious), but they take away from the story.

And yet, I can think of more good things the game does! Like I said, the game is great but just has flaws. This time, I speak of unexpected moments. There was a moment about three quarters through the game, where something occured, and it brought a smile to my face. What I saw actually made me happy to see in the game. Most games cannot evoke a sense of happiness or any emotion out of me (besides happiness in having fun, but that's different). Not ten seconds later, something else happened that made my jaw drop. It was the shock effect that the scene had on me. Enix did something that I don't think I've ever seen in a game, and while it was quite unexpected, it was neat. So bravo Enix (now part of Square, now SquareEnix, Squeenix, whatever), that scene was great. The end of the game was unexpected and hilarious as well. Seriously Enix?! Wow.

I'm done talking about Illusion of Gaia. Maybe one day I'll remember something from the game (like the fantasic music, btw) and throw it in a post on here. But I want to talk about Assassin's Creed. Oh how I love AC right now! AC is a game that stands by itself, but is not a game that is revolutionary. I feel like I've played a game just like it, and yet the two could not be more different.

I speak of Crackdown. The two games are so similar they could be brothers. Except, these brothers are totally different. In both games, the player scales walls and buildings, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and basically avoiding the ground as much as possible. The player is a natural killer, and has multiple ways of killing enemies. There are many enemies across the map, though there is one main enemy that must be killed. This main enemy, however, can be killed in any way the player sees fit. One can confront the enemy from any angle they so choose, and can even choose the order in which they so choose to kill these special enemies. Scattered across the map are items to acquire, hidden on rooftops, alcoves on the ground, and hard to find places. Like I said, these games could be brothers. But in each of these examples, the games are totally different.

In Crackdown, the player is a beefed up cop, who can take bullets, jump hundreds of feet, and basically not feel pain. He's got speed, power and agility up the wazoo. Btw, did you know that wazoo is actually a real word on here? I'll have to look up the exact meaning of it later, now I'm curious. But back to the topic. Altiar, the character in AC, is less about strength and more about cunning. He jumps across rooftops with realism and moves realistically through the environments. While walking through crowds, he bumps into every person who touches him, but on command can push and wade his way through crowds, making sure not to startle or upset anyone. Instead of just the basic walk or run, Altiar can also sprint and walk slowly, blending in with the crowd. This makes things semi-realistic as well. When running guards notice Altair, though don't care much. When sprinting, they are suspicious and put their hand on their sword, just in case something occurs. Though when blending in, Altair looks just like another monk, and guards will not recognize him...that is, unless he's just killed a dozen guards nearby and have many more guards pursuing him. Then he must move faster than them for them to fall behind and lose his trail, or for him to get out of their view, and hide somewhere when they can't see where he's gone. Okay, so this is very unrealistic, seeing five guards all walking around a haystack, and can actually hear them saying "Where did he go?!" Yeah, they're idiots.

But the controls work out so well most of the time. I say most of the time, because it can be very frustrating running towards a ladder, and Altiar misses it, tries running up a wall with not holds, and comes back down right into the guards hands. Not that fighting them is a pain. I've taken on a dozen of them at one time with my sword no problem, but running is much more fun. Plus, I have things to do! I don't want to waste all my time fighting, knowing that I'm just gonna have to run again after I kill all of them. The worst I saw is when I got behind a ladder, and Altiar actually started climbing it from the wrong side! As funny as it was (and props to the developers for letting the player actually do something that is possible in real life), it was very annoying.

But I digress, those are minor occurrences. Most of the time things play out smoothly. There is nothing like jumping rooftop to rooftop, sneaking up behind an unsuspecting guard, and assassinating him. No guards alerted, and I go on my way. Assassinations can also be done in broad daylight in largely populated areas, with guards right in the thick of things. Seeing a dead body in front of them, however, will alert the guards, and will immediately start looking around for the culprit. Once again, nothing like completing a side mission of assassinating a certain guard, slowly walking away from the scene down a side alley, and actually hearing another guard behind me yell "Who did this?!" This game makes you feel like the ultimate badass assassin...and it's the first game in the series! The reviews have only gotten better for each one, so I'm excited to see what the second one does better than the first. And wallclimbing is not as dumbed down as many people believe. Yes, you don't choose exactly where you want to grab, but the game does an amazing job of going in the direction that the player points. And the game is so realistic to show Altiar grabbing each and every spot on the walls and windows that need to be grabbed to look realistic, and does the same with the footholds.

I really wish I could explain more about how cool AC really is, and how it makes me feel like a badass (in the game obviously). I personally believe that most people who like Crackdown would like AC as well. But who knows. Now off to do more side jobs to learn about my next victim and how to kill them, and then it's time to do some assassinating.

The Adventures of Super Meat Boy

So about a month ago, I saw an ad on my Xbox 360 for 800 free Microsoft Points. Obviously I clicked on it to see what the catch was, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. To get those 800 points, one just had to spend 2400 ($30, being $1.25 for every 100 points). Seeing as how I already had 400 points on my account, I figured why not, there were plenty of things I've been meaning to purchase on Xbox Live, but was waiting for the right time. What could be a better time than basically buying two games, and getting a third free?

My problem now is that I still have 1200 points left to spend, and only have three days left to choose. I already spent 400 right off the bat on the downloadable content map for Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, and today I gave in and purchased Super Meat Boy (I'll be getting to that soon) on sale for 800 (normally 1200). I'd usually save the other 1200 points, but I can't if I want the extra 800. So what do I buy with the remaining points? I've got a few ideas, but I want to make sure I spend the points wisely, and make sure I don't overlook anything. The first idea is to purchase Psychonauts for the full 1200, which has become a cult classic and is said to be extremely overlooked. Another idea is to buy The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, also for 1200. I've been wanting to play that game for a long long time, but it is very hard to come by for the computer these days. So that's another option. And the only other idea I have is to get the downloadable content for Mirror's Edge, which contains nine more courses set across four different maps. It's another thing I've been meaning to purchase, just never had the money. Though even if I got that, it's only 800 points, so I'd still have 400 left over to have to buy something else. Maybe downloadable content for Fable II or Borderlands? Do I even have the memory space for the d/l content? We'll see, and I'm sure I'll put on here soon what the final decision turned out to be.

But back to the game I did purchase. Super Meat Boy actually started as a free flash game made by two guys, put up on Newgrounds. There's a good chance that the free version of the game still exists on that site, so I'd highly recommend people to give it a shot. But be forewarned, this game is not for amateurs. It may start easy, but that's just to lure you in.

Anyways, the game's main character is a cube of meat (Meat Boy), and his girlfriend is another cube composed of bandages (Bandage Girl). Unfortunately, another character hates Meat Boy, so he beat him up and stole his girlfriend. His name is Dr. Fetus. He's a fetus in a jar wearing a tuxedo, and he's a real dick. Yes, this game is that awesome. So basically the game is comprised of many short levels that Meat Boy must traverse to rescue Bandage Girl, who is waiting at the end of the level. However, whenever he reaches her, Dr. Fetus appears out of nowhere, gives one of them a smack or punch, and whisks her away. It's true that Dr. Fetus likes to smack around Bandage Girl. Like I said, he's a dick. Don't worry, he knows everyone hates him, which is why he's always giving people the finger.

But I'm getting off topic. As I said, these levels are very short, ranging anywhere from five to thirty seconds to complete. That's not to say that it takes that long to actually complete the level, no way. That's just how long it can take to beat the level once the player finally understands how to beat it, and can actually pull it off. Many times a 12 second level can take me ten minutes to beat, if not longer. It's because these levels are just brutal. Not including the first few introductory levels, they range from hard to insanely and unfairly difficult. It's like taking a MegaMan game, except traversing the worst levels without any weapons. Unlike the MegaMan games (which I actually just started playing), my frustration doesn't stop me from playing. Maybe it's the fact that one has unlimited lives, and even if one dies, the levels are really short. It could also be the fact that after the level is finally beaten, the player is given a replay of not only the winning run through of the level, but every single failed attempt to race through the level. So it's not uncommon to see 50 Meat Boys all running across the place, slowly dying by different means. It's a extremely rewarding sight and feeling. The levels are basically big rooms, platforms, and walls all over the place, and Meat Boy can run, jump, wallslide and wall jump. Wall sliding and jumping are the key elements to the game. If you've ever played N+, it's very similar to that...except with chainsaws, lava, salt pits, fireballs, and more chainsaws...and a fetus in a jar wearing a tuxedo.

So far I'm 43% done with the game, according to my statistics. I've heard there are around 340 levels to the game, and I've beaten about 100 of them. It's too bad that there are actually only around 150 levels, and then another 150 are just the same levels, but made harder in a mode called "Dark World." Basically each level has a quote time to beat, and if the player can beat that time, they get an A+ for the rating (there is no other rating, so it's just a way of saying that the player has beating the time), and unlock the Dark World version of the same level. I played some of the Dark World levels in the demo, and man, those aren't even funny. No room for error in those ones, and there isn't even that much room for error in the normal levels! That only adds up to 300 levels however, so I'd imagine that the other 40 or so are secret warp levels. To get to these levels, one must find a WORM HOOOLE!!!! on different levels. The announcer is strange, and he says certain words very loudly and with much gusto. These levels are super cool though, and are based around classic games. I've already played levels that are modeled after and look strikingly similar to Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Land, Tetris, some Atari game, and some evil undead type of game, maybe Splatterhouse?

Finally, the player must try to collect bandages throughout almost every level, and in doing so, unlocks secret characters. The developers (all two of them) had fun with getting secret characters, and I'm impressed already. I've so far unlucked just one character, and that's the Bit.Trip block thing from the WiiWare Bit.Trip games. But I also know that the main character from Braid is in the game, among other cool cameos. So that's neat, especially seeing as how every character controls differently. The Bit.Trip character even had his own WORM HOOOLE!!!! levels. I definitely encourage players to at least try the demo on the 360 or the free flash game on Newgrounds.

Still Adventuring

So almost a month has gone by, and I'm still playing Etrian Odyssey III. I'd say that was a well purchased game. My adventures will soon be coming to a close however, since I've finally made it to the final boss. Or at least, I've made it to the first portion of the final boss?

Not to give away any spoilers (like there are any people in the maybe three who read this that this will spoil anything), but I unlocked the Yggdroid class soon after my last post, and so obviously, decided to use it. Unfortunately to use a different character, I had to make a few sacrifices. The first and probably the worst, is that I had to remove a character from my already pretty well set-up party to make room for a new one. Who was the one with the least value? My Hoplite/Gladiator was a brick wall for defending my team, and was doing great damage with a spear. He wasn't done yet. My Buccaneer/Ninja was extremely fast, did good damage with a rapier, and could hit 2-4 times on most turns. No way was I about to get rid of her. My Monk was my healer. Enough said. My Wildling was starting to produce viable animals, with a lion which had a ton of health, did good damage, could paralyze enemies on occasion, and would take hits in place of other characters. That on top of good damage as well. I wasn't about to let go of a character I put plenty of effort and thinking into. That left my Arbalist/Zodiac. Sure it did more damage than others on occasion, but it had very low TP which left him with little abilities. Someone had to go. It just happened that he was the odd one out.

Little did I know that the Yggdroid is, well, difficult to use. It has two "main" ability paths it can take. The first involves summoning elemental robots into empty party spaces, and countering elemental attacks. They can also team up with the Yggdroid for attacks. The problem is that to cause stronger attacks, more robots must be "summoned" into empty spaces, and who wants to take out even more party members? That's also combined with very low TP, so the attack could only performed about one time. I strongly decided against that route, to save party members. But to save those party members, I had to sacrifice my Yggdroid's health. Not a normal way of attacking in an RPG, but it was something I was willing to try out.

This turned out to be a huge pain, literally. By the time I had the abilities maxed out to do as much damage as possible, I had to completely bind my Yggdroid, and basically reduce its health to 1. It's ok, that wasn't very difficulty, seeing as how it damages itself 127 HP each turn (thankfully only down to 1 HP, it would never damage itself to death, with curse, plague, poison and confusion not included) and I could self-inflict the three binds with one ability in one turn. But I only did around 280 damage, which sounds great, but being left at 1 HP left the Yggdroid extremely vulnerable.

A few days ago I finally made the decision to rest the character, losing 5 levels, and then putting the ability points into the former ability path. With only one robot being produced, the damage was minimal at best. I haven't made the switch yet, but I think it's about time to drop Samus (yes, that's my Yggdroid's name, and it even looks a little like Samus) and reinstate Nate. Eh, it was worth a shot...just maybe not worth my time.

Maybe with Nate back on my team and leveled up to around the same levels as the rest of my party, I can take on the final boss. I tried fighting him earlier today and reduced his health to 1/3 of what he started with, but unfortunately with all bosses in EO3, new abilities are used by the bosses when they get to low enough health. No surprise that my party was quickly demolished. Doesn't help that I have a character *cough*Samus*cough* laying dead in the corner during the battle. Dead weight indeed.

But yes, I think I've enjoyed this game, and should probably thank the person who made me buy it. I mean I've mapped out what, 95% of the ocean? Found every town in the ocean? Beat every quest but one in the normal game? Yeah, it's kinda fun.

Enough about EO3, I've come into possession, or at least I will come into possession of a SNES soon, thanks to a few back and forth transactions. This has me very excited since I've wanted a SNES since I was a kid. Not only that, but I've found a couple stores that still sell SNES games! Back home it was becoming hard to find older generation games, especially of cartridge format. But here where I live now, there are a few cool stores who sell all types of games. I've already spent a few bucks on two games, even though I don't have the SNES yet. I got F-Zero and StarFox. Yeah, I have to go for the classics first.

Finally, yes, I am still playing a few other games. Spirit Tracks has been put on hold for now. Yes, I'll come back and beat it some day, seeing as how it's Zelda. But I also got Borderlands for cheap at the same store that had the SNES games that I bought. It's basically a FPS game with leveling up...and x500 the amount of weapons...and it's not set during WWII or a modern war. It's an RPG gamer's FPS. To me it's a ton of fun, because it's basically taking a ton of guns out into a huge landscape, and killing everything in sight. No major plot to be found (yet), no linear path through levels or a story, and no online deathmatches. For example, right now in the game I'm a basic soldier who's proficient with automatic weapons and shotguns. I'm a big fan of going back and forth between a SMG and a high powered pistol with long range sighting. Best of all, I like to melee as much as possible to conserve ammo. There's nothing like sneaking up to the top of a ridge, spotting a few non-human enemies about ten yards below, and jumping down quickly meleeing them before they knew I was about them. When they finally realize what's going on, they're all getting a mouthfull of lead. I imagine playing online with a friend would be sort of like crackdown, except instead of a do-anything roaming action game, it would be a do-anything roaming FPS game. Hopefully I'll get to try it sometime.

Ah, I forgot to mention that I have 2080 Microsoft Points sitting in my account on my Xbox 360, and I need to figure out something to spend them on. Microsoft has a deal where if you spend 2400 by the end of October, you get 800 free soon after. I figured there would easily be things I was going to buy anyways, so why not buy them now and just play them later? So now I've got about five days to figure out where to spend these points, so any tips would be welcomed. And I still can't believe Microsoft basically gave away Fable II for free last week. Awesome.

Voyages at sea

Capuchin 9, day 100 at sea

Life at sea has not gotten any easier for me and my comrades. I feel as though every time we set out to sea, we are putting our lives on the line. And yet, none of us can say no to this life. Our guild, the RedWings, has become well known across many towns on the ocean. No one has mapped as much water as we have. I thank Marle for her expertise on sailing - I no longer regret letting a pirate join my team.

Today sailing went well, fishing was a success. We caught a handful of Flying Fish, and a few Lantern Squid had floated into our nets as well. Hopefully this will net us enough money to buy more Xian Yu fish. Our rations have been running low, and the biscuits and sheep cheese have gone bad. I won't say this up front, but I have suspicions that Rahil has been sneaking food when the rest of us aren't looking. Speaking little English, it can be hard to get across to the Wildlings, but I knew having someone with the power to connect with nature would be helpful in the caves.

Capuchin 10, day 101 at sea

An unfortunate day for the RedWings. As we were sailing the southern seas, Nate spotted something gleaming in the water. Unsure of whether to investigate, the five of us stared into the water as we slowly passed by. Staring at whatever that may have been was our undoing, as we were sailing straight towards a whirlpool! I was struck with fear, but luckily Nate and Marle were no strangers to whirlpools, and with much strength and wits, navigated the ship right past the danger. Hopefully one day Nate will tell more about his voyages on his old ship.

Continued sailing took us north once again, ever closer to uncharted territories. There was a reason why most ships avoided this region. Seaweed clusters and reefs were bad enough, but there are many tales of ghost ships. Stories tell of a ship which appears out of thin air, and wrecks all ships that dare to pass. I personally believed that these are all folk tales, and that captains won't admit to their clumsy sailing around the reefs.

But lo and behold, as we were dragging our net for fish, Rahil started hollering and pointing to the north. We had no idea what he was trying to say, but instantly understood his gibbered English as the fabled ghost ship sailed into view. Not wanting to end up like the other sailors, I quickly jumped to the wheel and steered us away. But outrunning a ship of that size was futile. It quickly overtook us, and something rocked the boat. The Epoch had suffered severe damages, and we knew it was best to call it quits for now, and head back to the marina. As we looked back towards the passing Ghost Ship, it slowly disappeared back to nothingness. Had we been rammed by the ship, or was it my fault and had hit the reef below us? We had little time to think, with a pirate ship full of laughing pirates heading straight towards us. We knew to get away before they overtook us. One day...one day I'll be able to fight those damned pirates!

Capuchin 15, day 106 at sea

Our ship is done with repairs, and my crew is ready to set out to sea. While repairing the ship, I decided to spend a little of our spare money to buy a stronger hull. The workmen told me that this hull could withstand the pounding of the reefs. The northern waters would no longer be slow and delicate sailing. I also found a cannon at port yesterday, and really wanted to bring it along, to blast those pirates out of the water. Unfortunately, I had to choose between food or the cannon, and my crew would not let me leave the food behind. *sigh* I suppose they're right, food can be important. And lately Lucca's "spectacular" fishing abilities have not kept us full during our recent voyages.

We set out north, towards where we had found the Ghost Ship. All the men at the taverns laughed at our story, but I want to prove them wrong. And this time, the reefs would not be a potential downfall, with my stronger hull. As we sailed towards the same spot, a different view came across us: pirates. I was about to turn away from the hooting and hollering pirates, when Marle stopped me. She explained that during the past few days at port, she had learned the ways of the Ninjas, and could slyly outmaneuver the other ship. I had no idea what she was talking about, but as with all my crew members, I had learned to trust her instincts. We sailed this way and that, getting the pirates to follow our every movement. While they did indeed follow our movements, they had followed them too closely. In one last mad dash, we zipped by the laughing pirates. The wind took our sails, and the pirates had little chance of catching us with their tattered sails. I couldn't believe my eyes, but we came across uncharted waters!

Rations were running low at this point, but none of us were ready to turn back just yet. We sailed and sailed, what seemed like hours, without any sign of land or fish. I began to question the value of new waters when I spotted a gleaming light in the sky. I had only seen this once in my voyages, and I knew it to be true: a new portal! Feeling the day had come to a semi-successful close, we pulled into the new-found third portal, and whisked back to port.

Capuchin 19, day 110 at sea

Things have been looking up for my crew. With each new discovery of land in the northern seas, the men at the tavern come to respect us more and more. Many have been asking questions, curious to what we've found. The older sailors have always told their stories of trading with the northern cities, but the younger men have always just laughed. But now that another ship has crossed into northern territories, they have started listening intently. Were there really more cities to the north to trade with?

The seas are much more expansive in the north, so I've had quite a bit of time to hone my weapon skills. Having been raised my entire life by a family of Hoplites, all I've come to know is defending. My team continually praises me for my courage to stand on the front line, defending them from as many attacks as possible. But holding a shield has become boring, so I've been using this time to learn some sword skills. Nate has been teaching me these skills, revealing to me that earlier in his life he was a Gladiator with a different guild. Every time I bring up the topic of why he switched from being a front row Gladiator to a back row Arbalist, he becomes angry and stomps off. I've noticed that during these times of anger, he likes to hide in corners of the ship practicing the arts of Zodiac magic, especially conjuring up ice. I'm worried the water is getting to him.

Capuchin 20, day 111 at sea

Success! The stories were true, and we have found humanity in the northern seas. More ships have started to chart the waters in this area, especially traders, using one ship as bait for the pirates as another ship slips by. None of the ships will go where we go however. Even my crew has begged me to turn back, fearing for their lives as we dare the waters around us. Lucca balls up near the railing crying each time, and even Marle will have nothing to do with the sailing. I'm not sure what's causing the disruptions in the waters, but each way we turn there are rapids, whirlpools and reefs. One slight miscalculation and the ship is pulled into the rapids, all leading to one whirlpool or another.

As I said before, trust is important with my guild, and my comrades gave in and let me sail the waters, giving me one chance to get through. We don't have the money to repair the ship again, though Lucca found some rare Silver Saury and Stonefish in her nets. That money gave us enough to buy some Salted Meat, enough food to last longer voyages. My crew was thankful as we passed the last of the whirlpools, and was amazed as we came across a windmill near some patches of seaweed. Being the first sign of humanity, we approached the men cautiously, but they seemed happy to see us. We laughed and rejoiced at the two sides of the seas coming together, and took part in a feast around the windmill. But the night ended too soon, especially with Nate getting sick on the rum. We left before the men caught wind of the mess. We headed back to port, but kept in mind what the men had told us. There were more cities to find out in the water.

Capuchin 21, day 112 at sea

We set out once again with a full stock of Salted Meat, meaning well to pass the windmill and find the cities. We passes the windmill as the men waved at us, and set out into the expansive waters. We sailed and sailed, the whole day and night, but found nothing but more water and seaweed. We got our hopes up many times at the few spottings of land, but nothing was found there. Were the men lying to us? But then why would they give us a feast? There must be more places to find out here.

Capuchin 22, day 113 at sea

Today we decided to spend some time fishing, needing to make some more money. My crew is complaining that their armor is beginning to rust from the water and salt in the air. A good thing I handle the money too, or else it'd be spent on weapons for the fighters, and necklaces and chokers for Lucca. Some Monk she is!

As we rounded a corner near an island, we came across a small straight. Having no luck with the fish, we decided to take to chance and explore this path. We carefully navigated some reefs and many rapids - most likely leading to more whirlpools - and eventually came across more land. One piece of land stood out from the rest, with a large orange rock jutting out from its center. Immediately upon seeing in, Rahil jumped up and started hooting and hollering, pointed ferociously at it. We armed our weapons as we sailed towards it, ready for a fight. We hadn't fought in quite some time, so it was about time. But then we noticed that Rahil had a smile on his face, and as we approached the island, the men looked just like him! Finding nothing to fear once again, we put away our weapons and pulled up to the island, and disembarked to greet the people.

What we came across was actually a large clan of Wildlings, just like Rahil. We couldn't understand most of them, but luckily a few of them spoke enough English to explain to us the joy of the occasion. It turns out that not only do they know Rahil, but he's a Prince! A Prince! The rest of the party stared with bewilderment as the tribes started giving Rahil plenty of food, and praising him for becoming a strong warrior. We spent the rest of the day and night on the island, and watched closely as an elder lady taught Rahil the ways of Princedom, including healing abilties. Supposedly there is more to being a Prince than just ordering people around!

Capuchin 25, day 116 at sea

The past few days we have took to sailing the same small straight once again, knowing full well there were not only more fish but more land to explore as well. We had all but given up hope on Lucca's fishing abilities until we stumbled upon a small house on a beach yesterday. The home was empty, and all the food had gone bad, but as we boarded back on the boat Marle tripped over something on the beach, hitting her head on a shell. As Lucca kneeled down to heal the gash on Marle's forehead, she noticed that what Marle tripped over was actually a large fishing net. We spent quite a while digging it up, but it was well worth it, turning out to be a fishing net much larger than the one we had. Fortune smiled upon us that day.

Today we sailed past the island of Wildlings, smiling to them as we passed. A few hours later, the most bizzare thing happened. The clouds became dark as if they came out of nowhere, we prepared for a storm, but none came. Instead, a man cloaked in white rose up out of the water, slowly approaching the ship. Rahil started to hoot and quickly became scared, trying to convince us to move the ship away. But the rest of us couldn't take our eyes away from what appeared to be an old man, standing out on the sea. We stared for what seeming like hours, as the man moved around the boat, but never directly approaching us. What we didn't notice is that while we were staring at the man, a storm had grew around us. By the time we guided the ship to safety, the man had disappeared, along with the storm.

Unsure of what to make with what just happened, we continued sailing. Eventually we saw a giant tower at the edge of the horizon. Knowing that our money depended on us finding more towns, we pushed towards it. We're not sure how long it took, but we eventually reached the tower, with dark clouds circling the upper levels. We creeped towards it after we landed, and even entered it to see if anyone was living there. All we found was dust, spiderwebs, and many stairs leading up. Being extremely tired from the days events, we decided to leave and come back another time.

Our day was not yet over, and we still had a little bit of food left in the storage. We continued sailing, this time turning south again, hopefully finding a route to the southern seas. Any new trade routes would earn us quite a bit of en, and we needed it badly right now. For hours all we found were more rapids and whirlpools, and even another pirate ship. Luckily the pirates did not see us, and we made for a different direction just in time.

What we found was even better than a new trade route. We had found yet another portal! Who would have thought that us, the RedWings, would be the first to find all these portals across the ocean? We could see it gleaming on the horizon, and we all hugged each other, happy as can be that our day was looking up. However, Nate pointed out that our rations were running dangerously low, and that there was a good chance that we wouldn't have enough food to make it to the portal. After spending time calculating the distance, rations, and weather, I deemed Nate to be correct. It was sad having found another portal, but not being able to reach it. We turned back towards port, hoping that one day the Epoch could reach that portal. Fortune was not with us that day.

Capuchin 26, day 117 at sea

Lucca, Marle and Rahil all continue to urge me to sail towards the portal, but Nate and I continue to point out that we cannot make it. They don't understand our math and how we just don't have enough rations or a good enough sail. The owner of the marina is pleased with our findings, and promises and new and larger sail, but it's just a promise. Even if it is true, I've seen in the past how it can take months to gain new equipment for my boat. Best to continue on, finding more discoveries during the time I wait.

Today we took the path towards the giant red tower that we had found yesterday, but instead of heading south, we pointed west. We found many more pieces of land, but of course all were bare. A familiar sight approached and passed us, with rapids gliding beside our ship. But unlike other rapids we've seen, these one seemed to stretch on and on for what seemed like eternity. And the most unusual part was that they were only about as wide as the ship, with calm waters on the other side. I don't dare try to pass, knowing full well that we'd get stuck sailing down the rapids, most likely into a whirlpool. But we followed the rapids, hoping to find either a break or the end. After many hours, we did find the end: a whirlpool. Strangely enough, the rapids continued into the whirlpool coming from the other direction, just as thin as before. It was almost as if the rapids were purposefully surrounding something, guarding it. I instinctively took out my telescope and peered past the rapids into the distance, and found something beyond my wildest dreams. I couldn't believe my eyes, so I passes the telescope around, and everyone agreed on what they saw without telling anyone else. We had all seen an island floating in the sky. Was this a mirage? And why was it being guarded? Our rations were running low, so we decided to turn back. I will come back some day, and I will find out if the island is real.

Etrian Odyssey III, continued

Okay, so I've spent a considerable more time playing Etrian Odyssey III, and I can honestly say that I'm loving it. I can't remember the last time I was this drawn into an RPG. Maybe back when I was playing Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, or Pokemon Gold? As you can see, I'm a much bigger fan of RPGs on handheld systems versus consoles, even with less cutscenes and nice graphics.

I've come to realize drawing the map is much more interesting than I originally thought. By giving the player the map right off the bat, the player would already know where to go to find the staircase, boss, event, etc. But by not giving the player the map, the development team created an old school dungeon crawler, which is extremely rare to find these days. I'm talking about games like Phantasy Star, Shining in the Darkness, and others just like them. I'm betting two guys from the development staff sat down a decade ago thinking, man, I think it's about time the dungeon crawler came back, or better yet, the text adventure! But the other guy said, "Guys, no one wants to play those games, because they're too hard. Who wants to get frustrated trying to figure their way around a dungeon, the whole time also trying to remember the whole dungeon layout?" They all agreed that the smartest players would draw the map out on paper, space for space, and the same thing with text adventures with each "room". So the game never got made. In 2006, the DS came out, and it had a touch screen. At that point, I bet it hit those developers hard, the possibilites of having a bottom screen which could be drawn upon. The dungeon crawler was reborn, and as bonus, they added plenty of text adventure flavor to it as well. I love randomly coming across a plot point, asking if I want to do something or not, with having an outcome to either my characters or the story. As an example, I've been helping a kid (although I think he's a kid...) through the floors, and he's been happy for it. The past time I ran into him, he wanted me to help him defeat the boss of the first stratum, but unfortunately I was not prepared yet for that battle, so I turned down his offer. He didn't seem very happy, but I was being honest, and knew that if I tried to help him and failed, it might have an effect on the game. Being honest can really have an effect on the gameplay, which is really cool. Maybe not that situation, but I played it as though it did. Not many games can get me to role-play along with them. I know I'll see that kid later.

My characters are leveling up nicely by the way. I spent quite a bit of time grinding yesterday, because that boss was hard. I felt GREAT after I beat that boss. It was the same feeling that one gets after beating a tough final boss of a video game, except that it's actually the first boss of the game. Like a friend told me, the game is tough, but it's not unfair. I lost the first time I fought the boss, but I learned what my mistakes were, and what I needed to do to defeat it. I leveled up each character about 3-5 levels, gained some important abilities (revive being one of them), and brought along a TON of items. My Wildling summoned the insect, and while it didn't hit poison very often, it took quite a few hits instead of my other characters, which was nice. All my others just became more powerful, thanks to buying all the best weapons and armor. As for my "idea" of how to break the game, it's pretty simple. My hoplite has learned an ability called provoke, which draws all enemy attacks to him for three turns. He's also learning two other moves, which may nullify all physical and elemental damage... if those passive abilities work while having all attacks aimed at him, then my team will be a force to be reckoned with. We'll be untouchable, depending on those abilities working. And then I'll have a subclass to add onto the Hoplite. Right now I'm thinking Buccaneer, though that could change. With Buccaneer abilities, I could have my Hoplite hitting enemies multiple times on one turn. I'll have to research all classes though, to decide what's the most appropriate.

I'll also say that I'm on the 6th floor, halfway through the second stratum. I'm really enjoying the second stratum, with the water currents pushing in different directions. It gives a new level of thought and difficulty to the game, just like mud did in the first stratum. Enemies are also considerably more difficult, but that's not surprising. Finally, I've spent a bunch of time sailing on the ocean, and I'm very happy they added that to the game. It's a nice sidequest kind of idea, and it brings in quite a bit of money. I'll blog more as I get further, though I doubt they'll be this long.

Etrian Odyssey III

So thanks to a mishap with a friend's game (wasn't the first time, unfortunately), I came into possession of Etrian Odyssey III. While his game was probably worth more than $10 (just the cartridge), he was "kind" enough to "make" me buy Etrian Odyssey III, and giving me $10. So instead of paying him around $20 for the other game, I "had" to buy EO3, basically so I would play with him, and I might enjoy it as well.

Turns out that I love the game. It's been quite a long time since I've become this engrossed with an RPG. I really enjoy being able to customize each character, even if there really aren't that many abilities. RPGs in the Final Fantasy series, along with others I've played, offer many more abilities to many more varieties of classes, but none of them feel like they have as much of an impact on the gameplay. What I mean is that in most RPGs I play, I really don't care about protective abilities, like reflecting magic, powering up agility, defense, power, etc, and basically all non-attacking abilities. Those abilities are neat, but honestly aren't needed much, or are only needed in like one or two battles in the game. They feel tacked on, because the developers know that they need to put those abilities in the game. The original Final Fantasy games made sure those moves were useful, and needed to be a smart player. I feel like since then, they've just been adding those abilities in just for the sake of being a Final Fantasy game (or other RPG game, following the trend).

The map making in the game is nothing of what I expected. What I had originally imagined was something along the lines of a game where you physically make the map, deciding where certain map "pieces" go. It sounds bizarre unless you've played Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories... which means I'm one of the few people in this country who understands what I'm talking about. Kingdom Hearts deserves its own post, not now. The level is already laid out, except the game doesn't give you a map. I like having to draw where all the walls are and where certain events and enemies appear. Sure Atlus could have given the gamer the map, and the gameplay wouldn't change a ton, but it wouldn't feel as involved. I dunno, I don't know how to explain the feeling.

But back to the abilities, and the fighting alongside them. The fighting to me isn't that revolutionary, it comes across as many other dungeon crawlers do. It feels different though, and I think it's because of what I mentioned before, the abilities. Right now I'm fighting with a Hoplite (Kyle), Monk (Lucca), Buccaneer (Marle), Arbalist (Nate) and Wildling (Rahil). Yes, the names come from friends and game characters. It will remain that way with new characters as well. Now that I'm nearing the end of the first stratum, my team is starting to come together. I'm beginning to learn how to use moves in conjunction with each other, and how characters can help each other out. It reminds me of games like Chrono Trigger, how characters can use moves together. However in this game, they do not have team up abilities (discounting Limits), but have moves that change with how other characters fight. I love it, and I feel like it makes sense, that finally a developer figured out how a battle should work, and how characters should team up and change tactics according to how others fight in battle.

As far as leveling up goes, I've begun to look down the line to what abilities I want my characters to have, and it's looking bright. Most characters are leveling up nicely, and my Wildling is finally becoming a force to be reckoned with. I never summoned creatures with him because in the first two floors, I never came across battles that would last long enough to summon the creature and do enough damage to be worth the TP. But now that I'm on the third and fourth floors, I'm coming across some more difficult enemies in packs, leading to longer battles. I love my insect. It only does about 1-2 damage per hit, but the physical attack is not what the summons are for. Three quarters of the time the hit will also land poison on the enemy, and on average the poison does 86 damage to that enemy at the end of each turn. That's quite a bit of damage per turn, not even including the Wildling itself doing 60 damage a turn, and the insect taking damage instead of my other characters. And this is an insect that's level 3/10. I can't wait to gain other summon abilities, specifically the lion, which is what I'm aiming for. Once the lion wakes up, it stuns and paralyzes the enemy. That sounds fantastic for bosses. I should also mention that one of my five characters will be breaking the game in about 15 levels or so. If my thinking is correct, I'll have one character who will have abilities that will basically break the game, potentially making tough battles a breeze. And then I'll be able to add a subclass to this character, which makes my head spin with the possibilities to how powerful this character could be. Unfortunately I can't post what I plan to do, because I don't know if it will work, and don't want to sound like a fool getting my hopes up. Oh who am I fooling, I'm definitely getting my hopes up and excited to where this game is headed.

Metroid: Other M, Completion

So I finally finished Metroid: Other M a few nights ago. I waited a couple of days to spend some time gathering my thoughts on what to make of the game. This was not a typical Metroid game, but it definitely had the Metroid charm still intact. I also had to keep thinking about how I could even write this blog, avoiding all spoilers.

Unlike many reviews out there, I found the story to be quite interesting. If there are any problems with it, I would say it's that I'm still not a big fan of making Samus look weak and fragile, and that some of the cutscenes are a little lengthy. I like the cutscenes, as they add depth to the story, it's just that it can be a bit odd setting down the controller in my lap to watch a five or so minute scene, after an intense battle.

And boy were some of those battles intense. The developers did a great job with spacing out the battles, and boss battles came as a surprise. In other Metroid games, you knew when a boss battle was about to begin, after entering a rather large room with low music. But many times in Other M, you could enter a giant room only to find it empty with a few common enemies, only to enter a much smaller room not much further on containing a boss/mini boss. Boss battles also aren't rewarding, like other Nintendo games. There usually aren't health, weapon or suit upgrades after battles, which I think is awesome. It's pretty much like saying that the enemy just fought was just part of the game, and nothing more. Why should a larger enemy be so much more special than the common enemy just before it?

That's not to say that the developers did not value the boss battles. Let's just say one battle later in the game is probably one of my top five favorite boss battles in all the Metroid games I've played. They played out that scene perfectly. The atmosphere, cutscene, music, and a very fun battle all combined to form something awesome. It also wasn't until I was later viewing the artwork gallery (common with all recent Metroid games after completion) that I found that a later boss was big fanservice, bringing back a less common boss from a previous Metroid game. Was it the same boss? Of course not, the two bosses had totally different attacks, but unless I'm mistaken, their design is eerily similar.

Oh, and to the reviewer who said that the story was very predictable? I disagree. I kept trying to guess what was going to happen throughout the whole game. The game actually forces the player to do so, with one part of the story arc. On one hand, I was right with how the game ended. On the other hand, I was way off, and the developers did a fantastic job throwing in some twists. One twist I will fondly remember, and it makes me smile every time I think about it.

Overall, I would give the game anywhere from a 8.5 to a 9.0. Yes, my scores went up a little bit as a finished the game. Was it still brutally difficult? Definitely, but the game is really about figuring about the enemy's pattern, and perfecting Samus's attacking forms. That doesn't mean I'm about to start playing Hard Mode. No thanks, I'll pass, unless it unlocks more cutscenes (very doubtful). And to the developer who said about a month ago that even the hardcore gamers wouldn't find more than 30% of the items in the first playthrough? I finished at 100%, so don't go thinking that the items are THAT hard to find, because they aren't. I would say every Metroid game, besides Corruption, have harder items to find, so chew on that.

Finally, thanks to dialogue, I learned that Aran is actually pronounced like the name Aaron/Erin. Even more surprising, Zebes is not pronounced like "Zeebs" as I originally thought. It is pronounced more like Crevice...I was way off.

Baby's Cry...

So last night I gave in and purchased Metroid: Other M for the Wii. It actually came out at 12:01 AM today, so I had to go back out to Meijer to get... I love 24 hour Meijers. Before I begin on said game, I should at least discuss the lesser interesting details of my gaming. Since my last blog post, I finished Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Great game, loved playing through it, and playing online with a friend was a blast. I'm really looking forward to download content, though I hope it's more than just one level and two characters (which is what it is rumored to be at the moment). As I said in that post, HD got me in the mood for other Castlevania games, so I'm still slowly working my way through Symphony of the Night. Maybe when I finish a few more games I'll put some serious time and effort into that game.

Also since my last blog post, I started playing and entirely beat 100%, with all achievements (ugh, did not like the grinding though), Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. I don't know why I love the Lego games (made by Traveler's Tales, I haven't played any of the many other Lego games), but they're just fun for me. Maybe it's because they're pretty easy and relaxing to play. It's fun for me to collect stuff in games. And on the topic of collecting items in games, I found Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge for $4.50 at a GameStop last week, so I snatched that up. Not really a rare game, but definitely hard to find on store shelves. I remember it received so-so reviews when it came out, but I'm enjoying it so far. I haven't looked at any old reviews, but I can say that my biggest complaint is with the camera. It's a fixed position (which leads to pretty nice graphics for a GBA, without a moving camera), so it can be very difficult to determine where a platform is in comparison with Banjo. Other than that I wasn't expecting much, so I'm happier than I thought I was going to be. Great music, a funny, lovable, typical Banjo-Kazooie story, and otherwise great play mechanics make for a decent game. A little short, but that's not surprising. I need 7 more Jiggies, 14 more Notes, one more Jinjo and one more Honeycomb and I'll have collected every item in the game, and will then move on to defeat Grunty.

Finally, I'm playing Pure on the side, and I'm loving it! It feels like a mix between Excitebike 64 and SSX Tricky, which is a good thing. I'm not normally a fan of racing games, but this one is pretty fun. I'll blog more on it later as I put more time into it.

Okay, Metroid time. I actually bought it partially because it received mixed reviews. That piqued my curiosity further than what I originally felt about the game. What I got was actually pretty close to what many reviewers have already stated. And for those worried, I will avoid spoilers as much as possible. Anything stated in here is either a) in the manual or b) obvious.

I'll start with the story. Other M takes place directly after Super Metroid, with Samus recovering from the events that had just taken place. She receives a distress call from a space station and goes to investigate...surprise! But seriously, I actually don't mind that cliche plotline, it's what makes a Metroid game. The Galactic Federation has already mysteriously arrived, and Samus runs into a platoon of familiar faces. Supposedly Samus was part of the Federation as a soldier before she became a bounty hunter of her own free will. I don't know, I'm okay with that story so far... Anyways, most of the faces are random people who get fleshed out a little as the story progresses, but two stand out. One is a friend of Samus's from when she was still a part of the Federation, and the other is her old commanding officer, Adam.

Adam plays a HUGE role in this game, and at times it really, really pisses me off at Nintendo for letting Tecmo/Team Ninja change common Metroid traits. First off is that Adam was like a father figure to Samus after her parents passed away...wait, after her parents passed away?! I'm sorry, I thought Samus was born with and raised by the Chozo? Whatever, maybe Samus did have parents that she was raised by at some point. I mean, Nintendo DID leave some plot holes in the series about Samus's past, specifically during the Metroid Prime stories. As long as the Chozo get mentioned, or Tecmo/Team Ninja leave more plot holes in her past, then I'll be okay. The other qualm I have with the story is that Samus is portrayed as weak and fragile, and almost confused on life. That Adam was once there for her, and now he's around again, and she's not sure how to feel? Once again, whatever, I still have plenty of story to go through, so I'll see what happens. Oh, and the cinematics during the cutscenes are pretty sweet. Those were well done, especially the opening cutscene.

But once again, we come back to Adam...oh it's all about Adam. Samus actually arrives at the space station with her full arsenal. Every weapon and upgrade that she could acquire (we're talking almost every upgrade found in the Metroid series), she already has equipped and primed to go. Sounds pretty cool and a little different for a Metroid game, huh? Oh, but of course, being a Metroid game, she has to lose all of those abilities. No surprise, finding them again makes the games interesting. It's how she loses them, that pisses off a TON of people out there, and I can't blame them. She...wait for it...wait for it...just wait for it a little longer... ... ... isn't allowed to use them. I'll let that sink in for a moment. Has it sunk in yet? No? Okay I'll repeat that again - Samus can't use all of her abilities and upgrades because she's not allowed to. And who told her that she can't? Oh right, Adam of course. *Sigh* Adam basically rules the plot of this game. Now here's the thing. Part of that plotline actually makes sense. Samus lands on a volatile ship that's basically falling apart, and self-destructing in some sectors (ha, sectors in a Metroid game, typical). Adam explains that missiles are not allowed, too powerful and could tear the station apart. Power bombs cause extreme heat and explosions to a wide radius, and could easily obliterate any humans within range - way to dangerous for a recon mission. The writing for that plot piece was actually brilliant. I started to wonder why Samus was allowed to do whatever she wanted on other planets and space stations, even for being a bounty hunter.

Ironically enough, the example I'm about to use is the exact same example that one review online gave, and damn it makes people HATE Tecmo/Team Ninja. I was moving from one sector to another, just trying to find out where to go next. I laughed at first, wondering why the reviewer had such a hard time with this scene (I had a feeling it was the same spot, which it turned out it was). The player must run through a lava filled room, jumping from platform to platform, which is very easy (it's impossible to fall off most ledges or platforms, and it makes sense and works while playing). I had 297 health total, three full bars, slowly decreasing from the heat. Of course there were enemies at every other platform, and stopping to just try to fight them is chaos, no point when I know that all I have to do is get to the other side of this long room. But then I get to another giant round room, and the lava at the bottom begins to rise! So I hurry up to the top, and what happens when I finally reach the top? A giant monster boss appears from the lava! Honestly, it could have been the brother or cousin from the lava boss in Super Mario Galaxy, I swear the scene is identical. Anyways, the battle is HARD. I mean it's TOUGH. I'll get more into the fighting and enemies in a minute, but let me tell you one has to be almost perfect to beat this boss, and this is still pretty early in the game. Mind you, health is still slowly depleating while fighting it. After about five or six long tries, I defeat him. Adam chimes in. Close to what he actually says: "Samus, I've determined that the area you're in is dangerous, so I'm allowing you to use your Varia suit." Really Adam? Really Tecmo/Team Ninja?! FUCK YOU. That makes absolutely NO FUCKING SENSE. I'll forgive the powerful weapons until it's determined it's okay and needed to use them. But SERIOUSLY?! Please developers, Samus may be confused in this story, but she should not be an ignorant idiot. If it's hot, then yes, you should use your varia suit. Oh and Samus, back in the area with the water, you should just ignore Adam and turn on your gravity suit, since I now know you have it...idiot.

The one thing drawing me back to the game is the fighting, which is awesome. I too was wondering how the hell fighting could be performed with just the Wiimote held sideways, or sometimes pointed at the screen. But wow, I'm impressed. Just like the reviewers said, it's surprisingly complex for basically just four buttons. The d-pad moves Samus around, 2 jumps, 1 shoots, and A turns her into her morphball. In morphball form 2 hops and 1 lays a bomb. While pointed at the screen, it is true that movement is disabled, but B locks onto a target or moves the screen around, and A fires her cannon, or missiles if she's locked on. A charged shot is done so by just holding the 1/A button (sideways/pointed), and the same for the morphball power bombs. It works extremely well while in combat, and it's fluent, fast, and intense. What makes things even more intense, is that all pick-ups have been removed from the game. Upgrades still exist and are hidden well just like all other Metroid games, and have even added Health bar "parts" - collect four to form an extra Health bar... Zelda anyone? But no more dropping health balls or missiles. Missiles can actually be recharged by holding the Wiimote upwards and holding A for a few seconds. Health? Good luck, because besides one small option, the health on Samus is the only health she has until she gets to another save station. That one small option exists only when her health reaches dangerously low levels, around 30 health left on her last bar. At that point the health bar blinks red, and Samus can recharge her health (back up to 99 health, so to one bar) by once again holding the Wiimote upwards and holding down the A button. This takes a few seconds, which are very tense, since getting hit by an enemy or attack interrupts the charging. Luckily, her health will never go from 10 to 0, 30 to 0, or even 50 to 0 (yes, some common enemies can do 50 damage hits, ugh). It hits 0, but flickers between 0 and 1, which basically gives the player that once last chance to charge her health back up. A nice touch, considering even the most basic enemies can be brutally difficult.

But that difficulty makes the game so much fun to play. Yes, I've gotten very frustrated at this difficulty, but it makes me try that much harder to figure out the enemies patterns. I can't even explain the fighting, but I can say that multiple ways to kill enemies exist, with just a few buttons. It can change a basic common enemy battle from 3 minutes to 10 seconds, and that comes from personal experience. The other control option I must add is dodging. Samus can dodge by either a) pressing on a direction on the d-pad just before an attack hits her, or b) switching back from pointer view to sideways view, automatically triggering a dodge. The dodge is the most important thing to learn in the game, since health is always critically low, even with full health. The one problem I have with the dodge is that during intense battles (which is often), I'm not holding down on the d-pad to move, but rather quickly pressing the d-pad in directions I want to move, to trigger a dodge if an attack gets close. With lasers flying everywhere and enemies attacking from all sides, she's dodging all the time. Just holding down on the d-pad will not trigger a dodge, one must tap the d-pad, which is much easier than it sounds. But my hand and thumb actually start getting sore during these battles, from tapping so much, and not just in one place (like tapping the 1 button repeatedly, it's in the same spot so the right hand isn't moving). It's like tapping up up up up down right left left left left right up down down... and so on, times a 1000 or so times. And there's no letdown, these enemies will not back off until Samus is dead.

But besides my issues with the game, I'm enjoying it so far. If I had to give it a score like on websites, right now I'd give it about a B+ or a 8.0, somewhere in that range. Who knows, that score might go up as I proceed through the game, but there's just a high of a chance that the score could drop.

You Too, Shall Be My Puppet!

Oh man, have I been addicted to Castlevania this past week! I was kinda excited for Harmony of Despair to come out, but I didn't think I'd be playing it this much! I mean, I'm on the fence on Castlevania games, just finding that they can be unforgiving in difficulty and don't offer a whole lot of options. Like being able to level up or choose a whole lot of ways to traverse the castle, like how Metroid games are developed (not including sequence-breaking).

But both Harmony of Despair and Symphony of the Night have opened my eyes, each in different ways. HD has shown me that you can "level up" without having to actually level up, and that collectibles and other items across the areas can work out to be the same, as they continually alter the players' stats. I'm not going to assume that the alternate paths are like all Castlevania games, since this one was designed with multiplayer in mind. Different players should take different paths. SotN on the other hand though, has opened up more now that I have defeated the most recent boss. I now have the option to take different paths through the castle, though obviously only to an extent, before I obtain the next best item and reach the next boss. It's still much better than many extremely linear games out there. So yeah, I'm definitely enjoying both of these games.

I should say that I wouldn't be playing SotN if it weren't for HD, and I wouldn't be playing HD if it weren't for the multiplayer. Playing it online with a friend is a blast. Originally I thought that having only six levels would be a very short game, even knowing that one must play through the levels multiple times to beat them (and have a time limit of just 30 minutes). But I've probably played all the levels combined around 30 to 40 times, not including the first level another five times on hard mode. And being able to play with different characters from different Castlevania games with each other is pretty cool. Each players' powers lend a hand to defeating enemies. I just wish there were certain areas of levels that are only accessible to certain characters, but I can let that one go. I'm playing as Shanoa, who's special power is basically a magnet that lets her attach to and fling around to other magnets. Pretty cool, but her magic powers are awesome. It wasn't until I acquired her other powers besides fire that the gameplay opened up for me. I now have her fire at level 6, electricity at level 6, ice at level 5 and beam at level 4. She is extremely powerful. Luckily the game is pretty tough on hard mode, and is brutally fun. Definitely worth the $15 purchase, and I can't wait to play more online, hopefully completing hard mode within the next week.

As for Symphony of the Night, it became more enjoyable after playing HD, as I saw that it's really not as difficult as I once thought. It really just plays like a Metroid game, except that more thinking and jumping is required, and less attacking. All enemies must be studied and known how they attack, and health is critical and hard to find, unlike most Metroid games. And different items are great for different enemies and situations. You can't just run into a fight with a sword swinging, and backing down from a fight is not a bad idea. In a Metroid game, once you see an enemy, you usually don't back down until the fight is finished. I don't know which I'll finish first, but right now all I'm playing are Castlevania games. Hell, if I enjoy both of these this much, I might just have to borrow some other Castlevania games, and put those on top of my playlist before a bunch of other games. And to be clear, I think I can count at least six unplayed games I have on that list, not including two or so being played at the moment, so that'd be a pretty big feat to put something else first. But that has yet to happen, and won't be for a while, so we'll see.

More Persona

Okay, so I need to get back to the Persona topic. I apologize if my last post seemed brief when discussing the game, as I was just dead tired after running, and couldn't stay awake for the life of me. But I didn't want to have a complete post talking about GameStop without covering any actual gameplay. Tonight's full post will be completely about gameplay in games, and no buying or stores.

I want to go into more detail about my Persona 3 FES goings. I find it refreshing to be playing an RPG that has two types of gameplay. On one hand, it has actual RPG elements, such as turn-based combat, leveling up, grinding (when needed), and other common RPG themes. And then on the other hand, a completely different social aspect to the game, such as making friends, hanging out with different people, and just doing things like a normal teenager would do. It's nice being able to do one if the other becomes a little boring. And just when that gets boring, it's time to switch back to doing the other aspect of the game. Fighting at night, and being social during the day.

While there's only one dungeon, I find that to be okay. Normally I like to have very different dungeons to explore, to keep things changing and interesting. Maybe it's the fact that every floor is a different layout every time one enters the dungeon. I'm on the 38th floor right now (I believe?), though I cannot progress any further due to another barrier. So it looks as though I've only beaten one story boss, with the next one coming up in about 8 days.

That's another part that's interesting, that the story automatically progresses, no matter how far along one has leveled up the characters. I was very nervous at first that I wouldn't level them up enough to be able to beat the boss/story scene, and would get stuck on that day of the month. But I've learned how to level up my characters enough, when it's normal to grind a bit, and when my characters are probably strong enough for that cutscene. Either way, I go to Tartarus almost every night to level up at least a little bit. Plus I've got to consider my Personae (?) alongside my characters, which are just as if not more important than the main characters. Oh the Personae!

The Persona fusing becomes much more fun as the game progresses, since with higher character levels means more Personae are available to use. And with more Personae, more fusing options become available. I would almost say that using and fusing the Personae is more fun than Pokemon leveling. Yeah leveling Pokemon is addicting, trying to gain more abilities and evolving them, but Pokemon can't be fused. It would be awesome if one could fuse Pokemon to gain abilities from each other, and change forms. But until then, Persona does this in a more unique way. So they each have their addicting gameplays. I'd put down what Personae I'm currently using, but I honestly can't remember, and they switch every few days or week in the game. So by next post, I'll already be using different Personae...which is awesome, totally different from every RPG I've played. I can say, however, that between all my Personae that I'm actively using in battles (which is actually only like 3 or 4 right now), I have Zio, Agi, Bufu, Garu, Mabufu, Hami (my only light skill, kinda sucks), among other non-magical or non-fighting skills. So I've been making sure that when I fuse, I keep the four main magical skills somewhere within my active Personae, which has been extremely helpful. About a week ago game-time wise I didn't have Zio, which was very frustrating, because I didn't have Akihiko yet, and when I did, he didn't always use Zio at the best times. Oh and before I switch subjects, I also love being able to knock down enemies, a very fun and strategic battle consideration.

I don't take the social gameplay very seriously, but it can be a fun distraction when I get bored of fighting. Plus fighting still gets stressful when I have teammates who get tired. Happens less often, but it's still there. But anyways, I think I have found 7 or 8 different social links, and leveled each of those up to level 2. I have leveled three of them up to level 3, being the Fool, Justice and one other Arcana. It can become addictive, however, on those days when I spend quite a bit of time looking at Personae and fusing possibilities. Then I start to think of who I should be hanging out within the next week, to level up the social link. I'll continue to blog about Persona 3, though I doubt the posts will be this in depth. This one was long because I haven't really posted about the game yet.

I also popped in NCAA Football 08 yesterday, just to play something different for an hour. Wasn't in the mood for Persona or Futurama, and c'mon, it's almost football season! I played as Michigan State (obviously) at a home game against Central Michigan. Ya know, kinda like a rematch from last year. While nothing will ever change the embarrassing home loss against Central Michigan last season, it felt good to win a rematch 70-10. Even the commentators were saying such things as "This coach should really start acting like he's been here before," as I ran up the score in the final minutes. Well you know what, it was a well deserved beating, those fake commentators have no idea. Last year was just painful.