Other unrelated stuff
Catching up on gaming stuff:
DS - Mostly Animal Crossing. Today, I finally got the last regular Nook item. Wasn't from his shop, though; it was from a present I shot down at 11:34 today. Up yours, Nook. That's what you get for not stocking a radiator when it's cold outside; you lose business. :P
PSP - Finally finished Wild ARMs XF yesterday. Word of warning: this game isn't just long, it's Arc the Lad 2-caliber long; it took me 39 hours. I really liked the varied win conditions as opposed to normal TRPGs, and I also liked the variety in class abilities. What I didn't like was the railroading that some battles did (i.e. "use X class or you're basically screwed"). It doesn't leave a whole lot of room for variation in strategy, particularly in the larger maps.
Music wasn't terrible, but only one track made me say "wow, I need to get that track" (the pre-battle formation music). Voice acting was bad. Plot was just kinda there, but had a couple nice moments.
That, and battle 2-4 can go die in a fire. The playtesters either didn't get that far in the game or had selective memory when giving their feedback, because that battle is straight-up unfair. Ridiculous win condition, stupefying loss conditions, AND a time limit? Choose any two and the battle would be annoying enough, but all three? Ugh. It's no wonder that at least 3 hours of my gameplay was JP-building by stomping Hayokontons Hyulkontons Creeping Chaoses until I'd mastered some broken skill combos (a finite, but potent, speed setup that tended to give my party about 20-30 consecutive actions).
I did not try to fight Ye Standarde Wild ARMs Optional Boss. When I started the battle, the turn order was Ragu - Ragu - Ragu - Ragu - Ragu - Levin - Ragu - Ragu. Uh... yeah. I'm not trying a battle that I can't even get a turn in without putting together the next best thing to The Quickening.
360 - Finished Lost Odyssey right before my 360 red-ringed. Better than Blue Dragon in just about every way. Not a stellar game, but it was worth playing. The load times for random battles really sucked, but the plot had some nice moments.
PS3 - Gaming? I've been running Folding@Home on the sucker... I saw Fallout 3 Collector's Edition for $40 at Meijer a couple days ago and thought about it. If anyone has thoughts, let me know. (360 version's still $80, so no go on that.)
Wii - I keep getting stuck at the final boss of Castle Shikigami III. At least, I think it's the final boss. Also, finished Ys I&II and Phantasy Star IV from Virtual Console. Tasty goodness on both. The only VC game I haven't finished now is Mario RPG.
On PSIV (c/p'ed from an earlier, locked entry): Wow. I knew it was short, but damn. My total playtime was 9:20, and that includes a loss in the Air Castle (at least 10-15 minutes getting back to the midpoint) and a little bit of unnecessary sidequesting. I'm really surprised there's no speedrun of this game up on SpeedDemosArchive.
I really need to update my List-o'-RPGs... it's been at least a year and a half.
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In Real Life stuff - sort of - I signed up for Facebook and have had some communications regarding my upcoming 10-year high school reunion; looks like it'll be in early May.
I know I could cover more, but I'm kind of burned out on writing right at the moment.
DS - Mostly Animal Crossing. Today, I finally got the last regular Nook item. Wasn't from his shop, though; it was from a present I shot down at 11:34 today. Up yours, Nook. That's what you get for not stocking a radiator when it's cold outside; you lose business. :P
PSP - Finally finished Wild ARMs XF yesterday. Word of warning: this game isn't just long, it's Arc the Lad 2-caliber long; it took me 39 hours. I really liked the varied win conditions as opposed to normal TRPGs, and I also liked the variety in class abilities. What I didn't like was the railroading that some battles did (i.e. "use X class or you're basically screwed"). It doesn't leave a whole lot of room for variation in strategy, particularly in the larger maps.
Music wasn't terrible, but only one track made me say "wow, I need to get that track" (the pre-battle formation music). Voice acting was bad. Plot was just kinda there, but had a couple nice moments.
That, and battle 2-4 can go die in a fire. The playtesters either didn't get that far in the game or had selective memory when giving their feedback, because that battle is straight-up unfair. Ridiculous win condition, stupefying loss conditions, AND a time limit? Choose any two and the battle would be annoying enough, but all three? Ugh. It's no wonder that at least 3 hours of my gameplay was JP-building by stomping Hayokontons Hyulkontons Creeping Chaoses until I'd mastered some broken skill combos (a finite, but potent, speed setup that tended to give my party about 20-30 consecutive actions).
I did not try to fight Ye Standarde Wild ARMs Optional Boss. When I started the battle, the turn order was Ragu - Ragu - Ragu - Ragu - Ragu - Levin - Ragu - Ragu. Uh... yeah. I'm not trying a battle that I can't even get a turn in without putting together the next best thing to The Quickening.
360 - Finished Lost Odyssey right before my 360 red-ringed. Better than Blue Dragon in just about every way. Not a stellar game, but it was worth playing. The load times for random battles really sucked, but the plot had some nice moments.
PS3 - Gaming? I've been running Folding@Home on the sucker... I saw Fallout 3 Collector's Edition for $40 at Meijer a couple days ago and thought about it. If anyone has thoughts, let me know. (360 version's still $80, so no go on that.)
Wii - I keep getting stuck at the final boss of Castle Shikigami III. At least, I think it's the final boss. Also, finished Ys I&II and Phantasy Star IV from Virtual Console. Tasty goodness on both. The only VC game I haven't finished now is Mario RPG.
On PSIV (c/p'ed from an earlier, locked entry): Wow. I knew it was short, but damn. My total playtime was 9:20, and that includes a loss in the Air Castle (at least 10-15 minutes getting back to the midpoint) and a little bit of unnecessary sidequesting. I'm really surprised there's no speedrun of this game up on SpeedDemosArchive.
I really need to update my List-o'-RPGs... it's been at least a year and a half.
---
In Real Life stuff - sort of - I signed up for Facebook and have had some communications regarding my upcoming 10-year high school reunion; looks like it'll be in early May.
I know I could cover more, but I'm kind of burned out on writing right at the moment.