My Eyes Hurt So Much

I have been gone for so long.

I lost interest in keeping up this blog.  I had said fuck it and walked away from it.

I was unable to be creative enough to maintain it even weekly, biweekly, monthly.  You name it.

So I walked away and said let it sit on the decaying fields of the internet to one day be seen by someone who could give more than I could.

Then I had a kid 2.5 months ago and I really forgot about this thing.  I moved my bookmarks on chrome so I would have to go hunting to find my Blogger icon.  I was through with things.


Then I was sitting here tonight and thought maybe I should toss a post up.  Maybe I could talk about something short and sweet.  See what the response would be from it.  I am pretty sure this blog has been a nest egg for bots on blogger more than human beings.

I am ok with feeding my future overlords.



I finally got a new desk for my computer.  A nice large, L shape desk.  My computer area is going to look so nice.  Hell I will finally be able to get my third monitor up and going again.

Its this thing

Its a nice desk that will have a lot of room and allow me to actually get work done at home.


And I see that I could have gotten a better deal on it from another store.  Almost $40 better.


Damnit

Things That Have Occurred

Damn you!!

You disappeared on us again!!!

That is true.  I did fall off the map but my life has been crazy hectic as of late.

We were preparing for the baby and everything.  I was working extra shifts plus my soccer teams were kicking ass so I was travelling a lot.  Then suddenly the landlord came and said he needed the place back.

BLAH

So we found a new place, applied and got it, packed and moved (luckily with help from friends since the wife is preggo) all within the last 2 weeks.  The move took about 3 days.  All while I was still working my two jobs and the wife is departing for her baby shower this weekend.

So things have been crazy but I will have more posts up soon.  

Its That Time For a Weekend Update (Not SNL Style)

Going to try this out and see how it works:

Currently Playing:
Star Ocean: First Departure - PSP
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - PS3
Final Fantasy XIV: ARR - PC

I think for each Sunday post that I do I will start of with these "stats" to give just a gist of what I have played this week.  There are plenty of other games that I am currently playing, however these are just the ones I have touched this week.  Maybe even to make it "SPARKLE" we can do this:

Currently Playing:

Star Ocean: First Departure - PSP




                  Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - PS3

Final Fantasy XIV: ARR - PC

I think that adds a lot of color to the blog?  Pictures are fun!!  Some concerns that I have had is the fact that I don't put too many pictures or images in my posts, but this is usually due to me not having screenshots available for the games.  That or sheer laziness.

I think I will also start working an extra post in here or there on top of my Sunday updates.  I am debating if I should do my Sunday posts where I talk about my take on issues with games or my random thoughts (somewhat philosophical) while giving an overview of my progress through the week.  This would allow me to talk about individual games I am playing during the week when I have thoughts about them.  If it is something that I can hold myself to then I think it will work out perfectly.  My game coverages are going to decrease after tomorrow since my teams only have State Playoffs left and those are once/twice a week starting in May.  We probably won't even go that far and then I will have a lot more time to concentrate on thinking.  

This post will be different though and we will start things up next week.  Today I just wanted to let you all know of these changes since I announced stuff last week.  Changes are a comin.  Let everyone know!!

Times They Are A Changing

So my friend over at Random Nerdom changed their blog up with a new site to host, new template, and new entries!!!!  I wish them a lot of luck and I will definitely be following them.  I urge you all to do so as well.

This new change has me thinking about things as well with my life and new directions.

To announce, the wife and I are having a child!!!!

YAY

And we are having a boy!!!!

YAY

So there are changes coming.  Around August 27th.  Woooo!!!

If I go silent for awhile around then then thats most likely why.

So I am planning on changing the feel of my mission statement for this blog.  First I need to identify one before changing it I guess.  I have used this medium as my journey through my past games as only a means to talk about that experience.  I will be honest and say I just wanted to get through things so I would not feel guilty when I bought new games.  I thought this would be the best way to keep track of things on the internet and it was some cutting edge idea.  Then I found the Backloggery and thats when I realized it wasn't such a brand new thought.  So I started to slack on writing.

Then I saw that some ads had brought me a very small amount of money and I realized that maybe I could try and make some extra cash with this blog.  People do it all the time so why can't I??  Well these people are very dedicated to this and may not be working 2 other jobs and balancing family life.  So I started to slack again.

Then my wife and the We$$ suggested I should keep a journal and track my experience as I found out I was having a kid and each day passing.  I tried to do that but it didn't stick either because there were days when the mundane would happen and I didn't feel like having to write about that.

This all led me to my new vision for this here blog.  It is still going to be "Getting Through the Games", however I am going to get through them because I want to enjoy video games before the baby comes and things will be cut down in terms of my playtime and what I can play.  I am going to try my best to not do game reviews, however I can't guarantee that.  I like talking about what I enjoy with games and that element to each particular one that makes me love/loathe it.  To add to this though I will talk about how I am going to be gaming while preparing to become a father, and then eventually being a father.  I know that there are probably lots of blogs about those concepts, however different points of view and advice don't always hurt.

I am looking at changing the template to the site (you may have noticed something new) until something sticks.  I am also looking at moving it from Blogger to a different hosting site.  That decision will relate to traffic and revenue brought in. 

I am going to make this endeavor easier to read and enjoy but that will take time and I ask please for your patience and support.  Things will get better from here!

Hesitation

I think I am hesitating to play one game in my collection the most out of any of the others.  I have made a lot of headway in my handheld collections on the 3DS and the PSP.  With my PSP I only have 4 games that I need to finish, and I am currently playing one of them now, Star Ocean: First Departure.  When I was trying to figure out which would be next on my PSP from the list I went with Star Ocean because I was timid to play the one game.

Final Fantasy VI.

I think I am worried that a game that I hold as my personal favorite in the entire series won't be as great as I think it is.  I love FFVIII.  I love FFIX and FFVII (thats right, in that order).  But I consider Final Fantasy VI to be the one that hits me right in the heart.

Its the one I first played and stuck with me when I was young.  I rented it over and over again for the SNES (it was FFIII then), just like I did with Mega Man X2.  I did not get that far into it when I was young.  

I tried again when I bought the game as part of the FFV and FFVI collection (Final Fantasy Anthology), yet still I ended up only getting to the same point (which I believe was after the opera house).

I then picked up FFVI on GBA and went farther than I ever had.  I made it maybe 2/3rds of the way through the game, but then put it down.  Not for a specific reason but something in me just wanted to put the game down then and there.  I had the guide and knew exactly what was going on and what I needed to do, yet I just could not commit to it.  I ended up most likely playing Pokemon or something which distracted me more than anything.

Recently after getting a gift card for the Playstation Network I picked up FFVI on the cheap during a sale so I could play on the PS3/PSP.  I have it sitting on my XMB on the PSP right now but I have yet to start it.  I have my guide all ready to go and play it from the beginning, but I just can't push the button.

I am not afraid to play the game from the beginning.  I can't wait for that.  I can't wait for the level grinding and the exploration of such a superb game made almost 20 years ago that it still is listed in the annuals as one of the greatest RPGs and Games of all time.

I am just afraid to live this adventure and not be able to spend the time with Terra, Locke, and company again like the first time.  Its exciting knowing how the book begins and how it goes through the middle, but if you never get to the end you can still revisit things with that same sense of newness each time with the addition of a page here and there.  I don't think I want that to end.  

However we all have to grow up sometime and not be afraid of that which does not hurt us.  So I promise that once I get through Star Ocean: First Departure I will get my life ready to accomplish a feat 20 years in the making.

Frequent Rental Completed, YAY Mega Man X2

Back in the day when Blockbuster and Movie Gallery stores were everywhere and it was normal to go rent a movie or game for the night or weekend.  Back in the good ole days where it felt almost like a rite of passage to get a rental ID as much as a driver's license.  And when you would rush back to return something so you didn't get the fee, however would forget to rewind the movie (for those youngsters out there, google VHS tapes).

Those were the days of my youth, and I would spend a lot of time and money on renting video games from rental stores.  I may not have had the money to buy the game, but I could easily rent the game over and over again.  My biggest concern though was someone renting the game when I wanted to get it, or if someone saved over my file.

This trip down memory lane has lead me to a game I frequently rented titled:

MEGA MAN X2

I had grown up playing the old school Mega Man games.  There difficulty coupled with this new idea of gaining a bosses ability and being able to use it in battle was exciting.  It was like a weird game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors".  The thing is after awhile with the original series things started to get a little stagnant.  It was always you against Dr. Wily.  You had your weird friend but enemy ProtoMan (which my friend Chris and I used to play Mega Man and Proto Man all the time in the front yard as kids.  I was always Proto Man which is cool since he has shades and a kick as whistle intro).

Thats where the X series was a great breath of fresh air.  I have completed X before, but X2 as always the game from my past that struck me the most.  I most have spent about a hundred dollars on renting it between GA and Massachusetts (where my father and mother lived respectively).  Because it was different places I had to get a different cartridge when I was at one house or the other.  I loved my SNES and how easy it was to travel with it.  However paper is usually pretty easy to travel with too but I would always lose the page that would have the number code on it you would get from Mega Man.

Thats right kids.  Back then MegaMan didn't let you save the game.  You would get a 12 digit code that you could input to continue your game.  It was nice and all, however it would be a pain when you could have many codes on one piece of paper.

Back to the matter at hand.  Its hard to really go too much into the detail of the X series storyline.  It is not as founded and established I feel as the original series.  Thats ok though because it is a rebirth.  Its great being able slide and climb walls.  Its great to be able charge up your blaster.  And the upgrade system rocks.

The big draw with the X series is the upgrades that MegaMan X can get.  Dr. Light made X but sealed him away long ago.  He also made capsules that when X walked up to would upgrade his abilities.  In X2 the ability to slide in the air, decreased damage, charge any weapon, and the "find the secret" helmet are pretty damn cool.  These are what made me as a young child gravitate to this game because I found something from when I was really young but didn't understand it that much upgraded.  It wasn't completely brand new in every way, just updated for more modern times.  Thats what I loved.

So go and play Mega Man X2 if you can.  Its worth it.  Trust me.  The whole X series is great.

In fact, before I finished this entry I also completed X3.  Great game too, however doesn't hold as close a spot in my heart as X2.  It is nice being able to play as Zero and getting more into that backstory.

Maybe I should do a Mega Man X series playthrough.  Might be fun on Twitch.

Updates On Handheld Gaming

So earlier in the lifetime of this blog I wrote a post about handheld gaming and how I believed that the mobile platform would not be taking over things.

You can find it here.

I am glad to see that some gaming website are starting to agree with me as time has gone on.

The mobile phone platform for gaming is a model that wouldn't work for serious games.  Companies have tried, and will keep trying.  However the phone seems to be a place for the Candy Crush and Angry Bird games still.  Games that you can just do repetition over and over again (there is some strategy involved but there is nothing extremely story driven) to pass the time seem to do best on mobile phones.

Its a world of micro-transactions and linking up with your social network so you can get more lives or get through levels quicker.

I admit there are RPG games, action games, platformers and the like no the app stores.  Heck SE has remade many Final Fantasy games for the mobile platform.  Yet selling games for $15 can be a deterrent.  I don't want to spend that on something that I confines me only to a small screen that will smudge up constantly and get interrupted because of phone calls or texts coming on the screen (I have it set like that because I use my phone a lot for work).  When most other mobile games are 5.99 at the most, something in the $15 range is crazy.

Yet we were predicting almost 2 years ago that handhelds would be swept away by mobile phones and their game playing capability.  Watching the ads and all the reviews it seems smartphones are more concerned about their display and the pictures they take then gaming.  Yes, they sometimes show in their ads gaming, but that isn't pushed very hard.  It is still mostly cameras and speed.

With the 3DS the most popular handheld right now, and selling like hotcakes, I believe that handheld gaming is here to stay.  What Sony is doing with the Playstation Vita and the Playstation 4 in terms of remote play of any PS4 game on the Vita virtually anywhere is the future.  If the internet infrastructure of America upholds (not too hampered by crazy corporate America, but you never know), and is improved on I see this becoming the new type of handheld gaming.  The ability to start a game anywhere and play it anywhere almost seamlessly.

I think I will check back in on this in about 6 months and see how we are doing.

My Thoughts On Genre

So to start things off, I have been playing lots of Pokemon Y and Ni No Kuni.  Tossed some Diablo in there (wow, thats been a while since I got that going) and things have been good.  I think that Pokemon has seen the largest gains out of the three.  The game has gotten a little better, but there is still that same ole same ole rut that Pokemon games seems to have.  Got my 7th badge and now going into villainous organization's lair.

The only thing that is challenging is just trying to get the right load out for my party.  Got my grass starter, got my Pidgeot, got Charizard, Lapras, and a nice steel/dragon.  Pikachu was helping me out but he is almost worthless now.  I need a new damn electric pokemon.  Maybe also will change out for a psychic or fairy.  Or maybe psychic/fairy (if there is one).

 With all of these different games I have been playing, my best bud We$$ sent me a message earlier asking if The Sims could be considered a RPG.  This got me thinking about the current state of video games with genres and the ever increasing blurring of the lines.

I remember when I was growing up (hopefully this doesn't sound like an old man on the porch kind of thing) genres for games were pretty split.  Action and Adventure kind of went hand and hand, but something was a Fighting, something was FPS, this was RPG (didn't really have this fancy JRPG and WRPG war really going on (I am pro JRPG)).  Some games you might scratch your head on but not often (what is Zelda?).

Nowadays we have games that combine elements to attract more consumers to the goods.  Am I upset about this?

Not really.  Business is business. Making money is essential not just for the stimulation of video games, and really for any type of product out there (capitalism can be a good thing).  It is also important to support the creators of the product.  People do need to eat.  And buy things.  And pay taxes.  

Screw taxes.

I am excited and happy with some combinations.  Ideas like a FPS mixed with a RPG sounds interesting (haven't really found one that seems actually good).  There are more than just this example but I don't have any other ideas right now.

What does piss me off is the mislabeling of games into a genre because of one single element in them.

The Sims might seem like a RPG because you do have a "role" of a sort that you can play your character literally however you wish.  However there is a problem when you compare it with Dungeon's & Dragons which is what I consider the pinnacle RPG.  Its the foundation of what you base a genre that I have such high regard for.

The D&D test that I use is like this (by all means this is not official and is just my opinion):
1. The game must have a character(s) in which you take control of
2. Character(s) from 1 must be able to be customizable almost 100% without there being a problem to playing and completing the game.  I use Cloud from FFVII as an example.  You can play him as a PLD type, a WHM type, an attacker, whatever.  None of this will affect the game nor will it punish you for doing so.
3. With 1 and 2 in play, the character(s) must follow an overall storyline that is present in the game.  Regular life is not an acceptable storyline.

There are many different games that fit these 3, and there are a lot more than fit some but not all.

In the end all genres are unique to themselves and one is not better than the other.  A First Person Shooter is not better than a Strategy game.  Some people just like the former and others like the latter.  Hell, some might like them both.

Play what you want.  Accept crossover.  Don't accept crap that fails to respect the artform.

The Game Is On

So the second post of the reincarnation of the blog.  I guess this is a defining moment.  Who knows.

Please mind the fact that this entry might be a little short to the point and off.  I have been reformatting my wife's old net book to use as an auxiliary device.  The keyboard however is much smaller than I am used to so things are a little weird using it.  I shall conquer this!!

Things have been good this week with my advancing through the drudge that is my backlog.  I haven't beaten anything this week, just playing.  Lets go through things:

Pokemon Y:

I keep getting suckered back into the Pokemon series.  I loved Red.  I loved Silver and Gold and Yellow and Emerald.  I think they were great games because I was young and I could memorize all the damn Pokemon in the game and feel really cool.  Things weren't overly complicated.  That was the key.  Now though things are just crazy.

The story is similar as all the others.  If you have played one Pokemon game you have played them all.  8 gyms, 8 badges.  Elite 4.  Legendary Pokemon.  Some evil team trying to take over things/the world.  They add the element of a new region for each game and that helps to somewhat change things up if not just a bit.

I will say that "Y" is better than Diamond/Platinum (the last Pokemon games I played).  Mega Evolution is kind of fun during battles to get that instant boost of kickassness.  I like how the boring flow of the game from town to town is broken up at times with random little excursions.  And as always, the collecting of Pokemon is always entertaining.

I think that my problem with the game besides the sheer massive amount of Pokemon is all the little ways that you can level up your Pokemon so that you can battle against people online.  I haven't used the online element that much on here and I don't see myself becoming a huge collector and battler on it.  I will say that if you cut away all of that "fluff" that the game does do pretty well.

I find myself done with the power plant and back getting ready to take on the electric trainer's gym (can't remember the gym right now since I don't have my 3DS near me).  Besides having 5 badges, I have spent a lot of time just leveling different types of Pokemon to round out my team.  The problem though is that where I am I have't found a good spot to just level.  Its quite a pain in the ass.  I might just push through and beat this game this upcoming week.  Gotta a nice little trip for work I am doing, so lots of play time.  

It just blows my mind how many Pokemon I have seen/caught so far.  I think its when I look at this that I begin to realize the crazy amount in the game.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch:

I first heard of Ni No Kuni while listening to the Official Playstation Blogcast podcast.  At first I wasn't too impressed with what they were saying about things.  Just wasn't drawing me into the game.  They made the comments that it was a great JRPG that was very different from others and it had a great sense of humor and story to it.  I just didn't pay too much attention to things.

Then after a couple of months I saw that there was a demo for it and I decided "Why the hell not.  Lets give this a try".  Downloaded, explored the forest, defeated the monster, and still was not too horribly impressed by things.  Sometimes demos hit me really well but sometimes they don't.

After even more time had passed I was looking for a good game for my birthday and I just thought that maybe I would toss it on a list and if I got it I would try it out.  Maybe a new RPG to my routine would spice things up.

Damn.  I am really happy that I got the game and have been playing it.

Ni No Kuni is a title that seems to get a lot of things right, with some things wrong (more things right though).  The animation and drawing is amazing, but nothing less can be expected from Studio Ghibli.  The voice acting is perfect.  Using British actors was the perfect choice.  American voice actors I think wouldn't have been able to tell the story as well because there ain't anything special about our voices.  Please don't get me started on what the hell a Boston accent is from.

The story though takes the cake.  There are typical J/RPG elements with magic and rescuing and exploring.  There is a world to save.  There is leveling to do and friends to make along Oliver's journey.  You even have a quirky Lord High Lord of the fairies that helps you out.  What takes the cake is the reason behind the journey.

MILD SPOILER AHEAD.  INTRO SPOILER!!!!



All good adventures have a starting point.  A reason for you to cross that mountain and see what is on the other side.  Without this you are just on a stroll with no purpose.  Oliver doesn't start his adventure because he wants to free the world from tyranny.  He doesn't want to save crystals.

He wants to save his mum.  His mother dies and he discovers that by going on this journey he will be able to bring her back.

BAM!!  Thats it!!  Saving the world is secondary to his mother.  Through the journey he keeps saying that he needs to accomplish what he set out to do.  This is something that will pull at anyone that loves their mother.  I would have done anything for my mother when I was young, and heck I still would now.  That is the beauty of this.  I plan on playing this game when I have kids and have it as an interactive story.  There is nothing offensive in it (except for fantasy violence) and its something that they will really enjoy.

Yes its a game that still requires 40-50 hours to play through, and the familiar system is daunting and confusing.  Sometimes the combat system is off as well.  The thing is that that doesn't really matter.  I want more when I play it.  I want to hold Oliver's hand and get him to the end and see what happens.  I want him to save his mother because its not just his mother.  Its mine as well.  Its your's.

I strongly recommend that people pick this title up and give it a try.  It may be a little slow at the beginning but keep with it.  Its worth it I promise.  I find myself currently in Hamelin and you will laugh when you get there.

I only suggest that you think like a child when you play.  Relax and let yourself be young.

The ReIntroduction

(tap tap)

You all there??

Hello??

Can you hear me??



I know I have been gone for awhile but its ok.

Things have been busy as always at work.  Working a Full Time job and then a Part Time job as well is tiring.  I also spend a lot of time with my wife and the dog because I love them.  Add to that playing games when I can and it can feel like I have to choose between sleep and blogging.

Most sane people will choose sleep.  Sleep is an amazing thing.  It is the creme on top of the dessert that is daily life.  The ability to shut one's eyes, dream and relax, and then wake up hopefully refreshed is an amazing thing.

Have I told you how much I love sleep??

It truly is a magnificent thing.

Back to the point though.  I have been really busy just trying to get mine and my family life in order.  Gotta make sure that the bills will get paid.  I love my job and working as an Athletic Trainer, however I have yet to find a way to play games and make money from that.  Once I do I will let you know.

Also, if you know how to do this, please let me know!!



I plan on getting back into blogging though because it will help me express my thoughts on games.  Reading the blog Random Nerdom has definitely helped to rekindle my writing talents, or lack there of.  I suggest you take a look at it.  It is written by a wife and husband who actually have writing background unlike me.  They explore more things than just video games, and currently Stephanie is doing a 30 day blog writing challenge that is very personal and worth it.  I have read everyday so far.


In terms of this blog I have already gone ahead and changed the format of the page.  Makes it flow better that way.  I think I will remove The List and other pages.  I keep forgetting to update The List, and when I get to it I am so far behind it gets very confusing.  I have another method that I will use to track things that correlates with The Backloggery website.

For now I am going to work on weekly posts, doing a summery of the week.  As the weeks go by and work changes I can easily increase to twice a week.  I won't be going back to talk about the games that I played while I was gone.  Doing that might cause me to just putter out and go away and I don't want that to occur.

So please tell your friends to come back to the site!!  The fun is on!

Catching up is hard to do

Work life, personal life, all life has been busy.  Thats no real excuse, however it will have to suffice for now.

I am in between seasons at work (which is nice) and I have been running around like a mad man catching up on work and playing some games.

Add to the fact that I just had my birthday (yesterday, 10/26 to be exact) and I got some cool things for it, I am going to update this here blog.

I am also impressed and found some drive to do so from a blog I found through a person I met through Twitter.  Seems like a decent man (still haven't ruled out the whole serial killer angle, but who knows).  Him and his wife have a blog over @ http://randomnerdom.blogspot.com/ and I think everyone should check it out.  I am impressed by it.  They actually have taken time to design things and make it look pretty.  Unlike me and my "Just throw it up there and the people may come".


Anyways, stay tuned

Bang Bang, Your Dead, I Complete

I love completing games.

Its a great feeling of accomplishment when I complete an older game.  I usually find these some of the harder ones to get through.  This tends to be because they have sat for so long in my collection I tend to file them always in that "They are already there and I will eventually get to them" part of my brain.  Yet when I do finish playing them it does provide me with a great moment of checking them off.  

Add the element of being on the handheld platform and that is even better.  I tend to have more difficulty getting through handheld (however that might be changing with my current playing trends) that completing each one is fantastic to me.

So I had talked about Wild Arms in an earlier post when I was about a quarter of the way through the game.  That was about a month ago, so I think I did pretty well, considering I completed the game in ~39 hours.  That includes overleveling (as always) and taking care of all the side quests and optional bosses.  

I like the Wild Arms series.  I know I have mentioned that in the past, but its a good series.  Its nice to get away from the big mainstream RPG games to see what things are like.  There are a lot of gems out there that tend to have more depth and emotion to them than the big AAA games that are just

Its nice when the idea of making sure hair is perfect, and boob physics are perfect, is placed second to a story that flows.

Wild Arms brings story to the game.  Yes, I will admit it.  The translation can be a bitch.  I expect that due to when the game was made and the fact that localization has gotten better over the recent years.  Sometimes there are weird parts of the story that just make it a little chuggy with how it reads out, but it still for the most part ties things together.  This is more than what I can say with FFXIII.  I had problems with the flow of that cause it seemed things were just thrown in suddenly near the end.  Alas, that is different.

Sometimes an RPG can try to show multiple characters all being the main protagonist, however ends up focusing on a single or pair of persons.  You see this a lot of with Final Fantasy games.  Its something that can be hard because people tend to like a certain character for elements that are out of the control of the developers.  Its ok.  Wild Arms though makes you think that Rudy is the main character.  Then you work with Jack a lot and his quest for "Absolute Power".  Then to Cecelia and her overcoming her royalty pains.  You find that in the end of the game, there really is not one main character.  They went into this thing as a team, and you see that in the end.  Switching between characters to use the different tools that they have helps to keep this feeling.  Sometimes I would like to have Rudy on the screen.  Other times I liked to have Jack on there.  I never found myself sticking with one character all the time.  Hell I tried to keep Rudy as the highest level character, but in the end they ended up only being a couple 1000 xp away from each other (which isn't bad when I finished the game at level 58ish).  The fact that Rudy really does not speak at all throughout the game, however you discover his story and the importance of him being a dream chaser; all of this really draws you in.

One of my favorite images from the game

Wild Arms has lead me to want to discover other RPG games, like the "Tales of" series (I have one already in the my collection).  I want to break free from just FF and Kingdom Hearts.  Experience something new.  I want to play Wild Arms 2.  This is something important in a game.  You should enjoy a medium in a way that makes you want to explore new things about your tastes and what you like.  If we only stick to what we know and enjoy, what the big companies say we should like, then we will all be on the same route without ever enjoying the beauty that is off the beaten path.  I am going to talk more about this later I think.  It deserves its own posting.


Wild Arms.  Definitely a great game to play.  Having it on the PSP or Vita cranks up the enjoyment in my book.  Its easy to start up anywhere, play a little, and then do stand by.  Plus it doesn't kill your battery.



So go and get it.

Now.


I am watching you!!!

You are not going to get it!!

Here is the link to the PSN page

Use it.  And then tell me what you think

Total time: ~39.5 hours

This Is Not a Version Update Part 2: Flinging My Arms

Many games being played at the same time.  This can sometimes lead to disaster.  Unless you are able to organize your time and priorities properly.  Somehow with my crazy life and work I am succeeding in this crazy feat.

At the moment I am playing the following games:

There are more to these, however I have been playing these the most so I will only speak of these to save time.  I am going to split each game up into its own post so as not to make this too long.

Wild Arms:

Well, at the current speed that I was playing the game when I was going to post these updates, I was not really close to beating the game.  Damnit though do things change.  

I finally completed the game last night, and knowing that I needed still write this post, I am doing this quick filler and will be inputting a link to the final review page (coming soon) once I finish it.  I will have more parts up too.

Here is the link

This Is Not a Version Update Part 1: The Dream

Many games being played at the same time.  This can sometimes lead to disaster.  Unless you are able to organize your time and priorities properly.  Somehow with my crazy life and work I am succeeding in this crazy feat.

At the moment I am playing the following games:

There are more to these, however I have been playing these the most so I will only speak of these to save time.  I am going to split each game up into its own post so as not to make this too long.


Azure Dreams:
Reliving this game from when I first played it in middle school has been fun.  I first rented this game from my local Blockbuster (oh God, those were the days).  I was on a big Pokemon kick and I saw this game for Playstation.  It seemed similar to Pokemon so I decided to try it out.  I am glad that I did.

I kept playing it and playing it, returning it and then checking it out again.  I eventually bought a copy off a kid at school for 20.00 (a good deal now I believe).  After playing it for awhile I decided one day I would attach a gameshark to Azure Dreams to help me out.  The game became a little buggy and I was never able to play properly again.  To say I was pissed off is an understatement.

As the years went by I tried my copy of Azure Dreams on my PS2, which it worked for a little while but then started to glitch up on the opening cutscene.  Then when I got my PS3 I thought "THIS IS GOING TO BE IT".

I was so wrong.  Still with my PS3 I was unable to get through that damn cutscene glitching problem.  I tried cleaning the disc, doing all different things.  Alas nothing worked.

It was not until I finally got my emulator program running on my PC that I was able to do an image copy of the disc that I own to my computer that I finally was able to get through that damn glitch.  Since then I have been smooth sailing with the game.  So many memories are flooding back to me.

To sum up this game that maybe not a lot of people know about, your father dies and when you come of age you are allowed to climb up this tower that has 40 floors.  All floors are filled with monsters, with floors that change to random designs each playthrough.  You have to collect monster eggs and either sell them or hatch them to get monsters to fight with you.  Your level does not mean anything in the game.  You will pretty much always be weak unless you spend a hell of a lot of time leveling up your weapon.  The real strength is with your monsters.  The stronger they are the better your chances of survival are.  It takes many, many journeys into the tower to get just one monster levels up enough to be useful.  It takes more to do at least two.  You can also fuse monsters together to change their element and their magic, as well as give them hidden abilities.  Something for the true completion players.

The other thing you do is gather money to help rebuild the town (to benefit you and others), complete some quests, and to make girlfriends.  Many girlfriends.  Each girl requires different things you need to do to have them fall in love with you.  Once you make girlfriends (funny, in Japan they are your wives, however because the character is 15, you can't get married in the good ole USA at that age, they say) you can get some fan service and see them in their bikinis at the pool.  There is a secret girlfriend, however you won't know who that is until you conquer the tower.  OOOOHHHH  mystery.

I will admit that there are translation errors to the game.  Not surprising.  That the story is ok, but there is definite room for growth.  The fact that you can't enter the tower with more than 5 items is a pain in the ass, but the limitation provides for you to think ahead and take risks.  Things like these are maybe the reason why this is never Game of the Year material, however Azure Dreams is a great game to just play and have fun.  Its a nice "rare" gem of a game that is off the beaten path from the big AAA games.

I find myself with almost my first girlfriend (DO NOT LAUGH.  I AM HAPPILY MARRIED), and at least one monster that may be strong enough to take me all the way to the top, not including Kewne.  I currently find myself working on gathering supplies to fix up the town, but once I am ready to conquer the tower I will probably switch gears real quick.

I do believe that Azure Dreams deserves a remake, or at least a release on the PSN.  It would be real fun to play on a PSP or Vita, that is for sure.  Almost perfect for them in fact.

Goals Page Update 7/22/2013

I added goals for Azure Dreams to the goal page.  Just a simple update blog post

Goals Page

I keep little lists on my desk, in my bag, my pants pockets, car, office, etc.  I write things I need to remember or plan to do on these things.  Most are for work or about patients, however those about gaming I always tend to lose.

I will be playing a game and a thought of what I want to accomplish pops into my head.  Maybe a quest or mission I want to complete.  Attain a certain level before pursuing the story more.  Stuff like that.  

Now for quests and all these are usually listed in the game so I can remember which ones I have to work on.  However my mind is a scattered mess, thus that relates to my game playing as well.  I like to do quests out of order, and this tends to me forgetting which ones I am on, and how far along I am on them.

Now we get to where I wanted to be.

I am going to be creating a new page titled "The Goals".

This page will have games as I play them and under each game I will include a to-do list of sorts for me to follow as well as all of you.  It just helps to organize things more and it might help shed a light to all of you on how my brain works.  I will mark off goals as I complete them on the list.

Thats really it.  I got nothing else at the moment.

How the West was Played

Time for a good ole fashioned western.

Thats right.  Time for:

Cowboys:

Guns:

Desert:

Magic:

Wait.  Magic??

That doesn't make much sense?  How does a western have magic in it?

Well, if its Wild Arms, then there you go.
The Wild Arms series has been around since 1996, and has gone unnoticed by the major media here in America.  There have been multiple sequels to the game, as well as a remake of Wild Arms (known as Wild Arms: Alter Code F, which is on the list).

I like how it is an RPG that takes the normal standards of the genre and and tweaks them a little.

Moving around, each character has 3 "tools" that they can use to interact with their surroundings.  You have bombs, radar, Hanpan, grappling hook, lighter, etc.  These are not key items, or one time use things.  You can use them over and over again and they are needed to progress the story as you go along.  They don't give you any advantage either with battles.  Just there to help you move around.

With stats and battles, you still have HP and MP, STR, VIT, etc.  Those things are there as well.  However each character has specific skills.  Only one person, Cecilia, can use magic.  She doesn't learn magic as she gains levels.  You have to find crest graphs and then take them to magic stores and select which spells you want.  So there is a strategy element to that so you have to think how you will use all of your spells together, and not just rely on one main spell to go through each battle.  Jack can use MP, but he does so for sword attacks.  He learns these sword attacks, called "Fast Draws" through planned and random events in the game.  Then you have to keep using the fast draw in battle until you master it so you can get the action each time.  Rudy doesn't use magic, however he uses ARMS, which are really just guns.  There are different types of guns that do different things.  You can upgrade the ATK, the ACC, and even the capacity for each one separately, however once you run out of ammo for that weapon you are unable to use it until its refilled...for a fee of course.

All three characters then have things called Force Abilities.  As you attack, defend, get attacked in battle, your force bar builds.  You have 4 levels on the bar, corresponding with 4 actions per person.  You start off with 1 ability, then you get the second one once you are able to use guardians (more to come on that later).  You gain the others as you progress through the story as per other elements to the game.  Guardians are like summons with other RPG stables (Final Fantasy being one that comes to mind).  These are beings that control different elements to the world, and you equip the corresponding runes for each guardian.  Each rune will make changes to your stats as well.  Using the guardian ability, as well as any force ability, doesn't use MP.  That is the unique part.  It just uses the force bar.  This new variable makes for extra planning and benefits.  Things I enjoy in a good RPG.

Something else I like about Wild Arms is the flow of the game.  A lot of times RPG's can present you with a lot of choices to do at one time that don't have anything to do with the main storyline.  So you have the lulls in the game where you are spending hours and hours progressing through sidequests instead of working on progressing the main story.  I love sidequests, don't get me wrong.  But Wild Arms has you going along the main storyline at a good pace without much of a lull between things.  There are some sidequests, however they don't take hours to complete.  Everything revolves around progressing the main narrative to the story.  I am playing this game on my PSP and I like advancement like this in my handheld games.  Let me explore, but also let me get a since that I accomplished a lot between battery charges.

Weird to measure progression on a device in the time designation of "between battery charges".  For my PSP, that is usually about 3.5 hours for memory card based games (thats a pretty conservative estimate).  Less when I am playing through the UMD.  I tend to play my UMD's more when I am close to an outlet.  That way I won't freak if I start to get low on battery and I am, for instance, up in a plane.



Status update for me on Wild Arms, I am currently fighting along on the Ghost Ship.  I am maybe 25% of the way through.  Hard to really tell.  About 11 hours in as well.  I think if you want to try this game out you should.  Its pretty cheap on PSN, and I think worth the money.  You just have to keep in mind that the game was made in 1996, so the graphics are not as intense as they are nowadays.

Updates!!

I talked about updating the site yesterday, and in no time at all there have been some major revisions.

First up, the overall theme for the site.  I went with the dynamic theme to help cut down on the clutter that was on the page.  Yeah, the fish are gone, however things seem to have a much better flow to them.  It is a little cleaner as well.  My one gripe with things is the fact that it shows all of my posts on the front page.  I wish it only did one at a time, but the other themes that contained that concept didn't have as much of a straightforward appeal to them as I wanted.  So I will do some minor retooling of the site.  One thing that I might do as well is look up a free online class on basic html so then I know how to really work around with the interwebs.

Second, the List Page.  I went through and retyped every single game that I had on Backloggery to the page.  I had some games that never made them onto The List, as well as never made it onto the Backloggery.  Now things are matched up.  I moved FFXI off the list because it was a continuous played game, and I will have an update on that since I am pondering somethings with it and other MMORPG's.  With each game is its value based on what I could find on the internet/steam/PSN/what I paid for it.  This will work with the bank of credits that I will gain to buy new games.  I also have each game that I am currently playing highlighted in red so when going through the list you can find the games being worked on quicker.

My next task will to work on The Completed List.  I haven't updated this page with all of the games that I have been going through as of late.  I don't know if I will be able to find that list, so I might just take off those games, reset the accumulative time, and start from scratch.

It's Been a Long Time Since I Saw You Around These Parts

Damnit.

It has been a long time since I have been around these parts.  By these parts I mean this blog and not where you are currently.  That would be a little sketchy and weird.  I swear I am not a stalker.

Work and Life get in the way of things that don't have to pay the bills.  Whenever it comes down to why people start blogs or websites and then abandon or step away for awhile that is the reason.  If this isn't their main source of income then they have to the primary job to pay the bills first.  Then when they have time that isn't dedicated to work, eating, sleeping, spending time with the spouse then they can work on the good ole blog.  That has been the case with me.  

I have been working two different jobs.  My primary one I had to travel with teams, cover special events, then set things up to end the school year with.  When I haven't been working then I have been at home helping around the house, spending time with my wife as she has had a hectic end of the year with getting things settled, and then sleeping.

The past two weeks however I have been away travelling.  I had my national conference for my profession in Las Vegas, so the wife and I flew out there after dropping the pup off at my mother's in NC.  After spending four days in Vegas we rented a car and drove from Nevada to Montana to spend about 3 days with my mother-in-law.  It took a 13 hour drive plus a quick stay over in a motel cause we were exhausted to get there, but we made it.  We had a wonderful time in Montana, especially seeing the mountain and going whitewater rafting down the Gallatin River, but then drove all the way back to Nevada on Monday to fly back to NC.  We drove through Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana both ways.  Was so beautiful.  I had to put down my PSP several times to just take pictures.  hahaha

We then got back to my mother's house and spent the rest of the week there just relaxing, catching up on sleep, and spending time with her and the rest of my family that is in the area.  We then came back home yesterday.  It has been a whirlwind for sure.  I think that everyone should try and go through those states in a car.  You really get to appreciate the beauty that is America when you do that.  Its just so breathtaking seeing expanses of green plains and huge mountains, some with snow caps still.  Here is just one of the pictures I was able to take:

MONTANA!!

I decided to sit down after getting back and really work on updating things today, while playing some games.  I have gotten many things accomplished over the past 2 months, and especially over our trip.  I mean, when you spend 24 hours in a car and you drive ~12 hours of that, you need something to do besides just talking and looking at everything around you (p.s. I love talking to my wife.  I was just saying I could talk and click buttons).

So in the past 2 months I have been able to Beat a couple of games.  Mass Effect, Mass Effect, 2, and then over my trip I Beat Parasite Eve 2.  My wife commented that I have been on a roll lately, and I didn't realize it until I sat down and checked my Backloggery that she was right.  I have been blowing through games and that makes me really happy.  After watching all the craziness that went down at E3, plus getting into the beta for FFXIV, I set my mind into overdrive to start getting through games.  I need to get things out of the way so I can justify purchases that will occur in the future.  KHIII, FFXIV, FFXV, a PS4, a Vita, a 3DS; there were a lot of things that I instantly put on my wishlist in my head.  However sitting on almost $1000 worth of unfinished games makes my conscience hurt when I want to buy more.  Plus doing a budget everyday/every month,  I can't validate making purchases on things that won't get completely used.

So I did some upgrading of things.  

First: I got all the games that I already owned on disc off of PSN if I could for my PSP (I had a gift card that really helped me).  This enables me to play more games on the go, or just not in front of a PC/TV.  

Second: I finally got my emulators going for PS and PS2.  I used the bios off my machines, and I only use the discs that I own to play.  This will help me play games when my PS3 is being used, or if the worst case scenario happens with it.  

Third: I am doing my best on not playing series back to back as best as possible.  Sometimes it can make things dragging if I did Parasite Eve, Parasite Eve 2, The Third Birthday.  I would just scream "GIVE ME SOMETHING MORE THAN AVA DAMNIT!!".  So for instance, I beat Parasite Eve 2, and now I am working on Wild Arms and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep on my PSP.  Once I get through KH, I wont' go straight to Chain of Memories.  I will probably move over to FF Tactics, or whatever.

Fourth: I am going to redo my "buying a new game" credit system.  I used to have it based on when I beat 5 games I will buy a new one.  That made sense at the time, but the changes I have planned will make it either harder or easier for me to get new games.  Hell, it could make it the best system.  The idea is to base the credit system not of the quantity of games beaten, but the value of the game.  So if I buy a game for $60 and beat the game, then I will put $60 in the "till" for me to use when I want to buy something new.  A lot of times I will buy a game new, but will work on another game first before starting it.  So I won't be getting lots of money in the till all of the time.  It will take some time to build up credit.  I could change it for new games as well and make it when I Beat a new game (that I know the price of) I only get 75% of the full price in the till. When I Complete a game, then I get 100% in the till.  Now games like Parsite Eve 2, which I have a disc for but I bought the PSN version, I will base it off the price that I bought it off of PSN, which I believe was 5.99.  When I have a game that I bought a long time ago but can't remember the price, then I will use ebay and/or amazon to find an average value to the game.  This value will then be used for the price of the game.

I plan on redoing the List and Completed List page, and I will include values to the games with each one.  Trilogy packs (like Mass Effect Trilogy) I will take the price of the game and then divide it by how many games are in pack.  I will also look into adding a Beaten List Page to go along with my Complete List page, but that will have to do with how things flow.

Fifth: I am taking some breaks to watch things on Hulu and Netflix so as to not burn myself out on my games.  It can take me sometime to figure out what I want to play just because I have so many damn choices.  Once I watch some queued episodes of whatever I have then I can concentrate on a specific entry.

Sixth: I started to do a Breath of Fire series play through on emulator.  I call it my BOFathon.  I won't always do this, however I found that when getting through my much older entries, something like this makes things a little fun.  So expect little many -athons in the future.  I will eventually need to come up with a good list of games for my extra-life campaign (please go and donate!!).

With all of these changes you can expect changes to the blog as well.  I am going to update the format.  Most likely the fishes will be going (I love those guy), but I want to try and clean up the pages some.

You can also expect for entries on the games that I mentioned on this blog to appear, plus other game entries as well.  I will add links in this post for when I make those entries.  I have a lot of drafts sitting in my posts waiting to be updated and worked on.  So don't think I am just sitting around and doing nothing.  

Arty Dragon

I have never played Dragon Fantasy.  Hell I don't even own it.  I have thought about buying it but that will have to wait (need to get through the list some).

So why am I talking about it on here??

It has to do with video games and them being art.

Over the many decades that video games have been around they have progressed from white dots on a black screen, to 16-bit, to the beginnings of the 3D images, to what we have now with almost complete realistic images of people and things.  Because of this the art of games has had to change with its advances to keep up.  This means gameplay/interaction, story/plot, and characters.  Story and characters are the most important change I believe because pong would not be that fun even in full 3D with surround sound.  You have to have something more.  Its plot and characters, the experience itself that drives evolution of the medium.  When there is no evolution of the medium, no betterment of the type of experience you have, then stagnation settles in and that is a killer.

Stagnation in the game industry happens here and there.  Small parts of the whole fail to do any form of progress. This to me usually is seen with game series and/or companies failing after being overly successful (you can see SE as one).  You can create a great product that people have never see before.  Something that makes huge rifts in the water.  Some good examples of this are Assassins Creed I and I, the entire FF series, Call of Duty.  Amazing games (I just tossed CoD in there.  I have never played it, nor do I think I ever will) that made instant classics of themselves and either changed or created the genres that they are in in ways that are still being felt.

However when you come to the most recent CoD games, ACIII, and FFXIII/XIII-2, that newness and revolutionary way of things has died down.  People are starting to doubt the series and the companies that make them.  Is this what they think the art is?  Is this where we want it to go??

NO!

We as gamers want something that is personal and deep.  Something that makes us tear up at the end (I hear Xenogears will do that).  Thus where Dragon Fantasy comes in.

Art is sometimes a memorial to a person.  A tribute to the life they led and how the artist wants to celebrate that life.  Now all of my info is based on what I have read from a Kotaku, a discussion they did on the Official Playstation Blogcast, and things that I have found on the internet.

One of the creators of the game, Adam Rippon, paid homage to his father through the main character of the first chapter of the game, Ogden.  Ogden is a washed-up former hero who had to get back into the game of saving the world.  However his sprite is designed to look like Adam's father, and that to me rocks.

Its a tribute in a game in a ways that I have never heard of before.  They do other tributes to other old school games that people have loved, and they themselves.  But they tied it all together using this representation of his father.  His dad getting back into the game.


Maybe I am blowing this out of proportion, but this is just a cool idea to me.  I love it.  And you can think I am mad.  You can think that I spent more time using this entry to talk about art and not Dragon Fantasy (and that might be true, but when I play it I will change that).  However I love this game.  Maybe I will just go ahead and buy it now.  YOU CAN'T STOP ME!!