Gamendum Est!
Ugh.So......much......to.......write.
So.....little.......time.
It HAS been awhile, hasn't it, and I'm not really in the mood for writing a long story, I NEVER am, but some people want to make sure I'm still alive, so there you go.
I'll keep it short and to the point and random:
- I am the proud owner of an Enamel Navy DS Lite! woohoo! Finally!
After checking, like, a THOUSAND stores where they were ALL sold out, I found an out-of-the-way Game store that, as irony would have it, had a whole BUTTLOAD of the things lying around, so I bought the color that was least gay, and also easiest to get dirty by touching it. Fatty fingerprints anyone?
I gotta stop eating french fries while gaming ;)
So I bought New Super Mario Bros as well of course, the main reason to get the bloody thing in the first place, and, yes, it is as good as everyone says.
Pure classic Mario goodness. It shows that Nintendo can still make games like they used to, it's just that they can't be bothered most of the time.
It IS really easy though, and there's a lot of "been there, done that" moments, but still good.
Also bought Mario & Luigi RPG 2x2, which is as much fun as the original, which is good.
- Finished Final Fantasy XII, like, one month ago or something, and I can safely say it is NOT worth all the clamoring it's getting. It is seriously one of the most boring installments since....well....Final Fantasy 1 probably.
Graphics are nice, FMV is INSANELY beautiful, as we've come to expect, but the story is boring, characters are dull and without personality, there's no build-up whatsoever, dungeons are straightforward and eventless, and Vahn is an annoying little shithead.
I did like the Mob-system, and the game is REALLY long if you bother with all the sidequest, but the question is if you want to bother with the main quest in the first place. To be honest, I don't see myself picking this game up again anytime soon making this the first FF EVER that I wouldn't want to replay. That's NOT good.
Shit, I even played FF8, like, 5 times or something.
I have no clue why this game is getting rave reviews, but then the same thing happened with Dragon Quest VIII, so maybe I'm just becoming a boring old biddy (10 points if you know where that quote's from)
Seriously though, don't bother.
- I finally bought the sequel to one of my favorite games of ALL time: Valkyrie Profile. God how I loved the original. I want to have Lenneth's babies!
Um.
Right.
Anyhoo, Sylmeria (the sequel) stays true to its roots by playing entirely in 2D, although this time round it sports eye-poppingly beautiful (GOD I HATE TYPING THAT WORD, CHANGE THE GODDAMN SPELLING! Personally, I blame the French) 3D backgrounds.
Technically very impressive, but so far, rather easy and lacking the open-endedness and variety of the original. I wasn't expecting this to top its predecessor, and it definitely looks like that won't happen. Even Sakuraba's soundtrack, which I was really looking forward to, lacks his normal OOMPH. The original VP had some kick-ass Dungeon Themes (almost all of them), but the OST is kinda lacklustre so far.
Still nice game though, cos it's goddamn Valkyrie Profile, and I had to wait 6 years for a friggin' sequel.
- Saving the most positive for last: I finished Shadow Hearts II last week, and I absolutely LOVED every second of it. I'll play the Third game in the series once I finish VP Sylmeria, but Shadow Hearts is rapidly growing into one of my favorite RPG Series EVER at this rate.
The first game had a great dark and moody atmosphere with unique presentation and a really unorthodox setting for a Japanese RPG, and the sequel maintains the great atmosphere, although it's a lot less dark now. There are still a couple of shocking moments though, but it's often very lighthearted as well.
In fact, this game's got one of the most delightful senses of humor I've found in a game in a LONG time. It's EXTREMELY Japanese at times, but done very well, it likes to poke fun at itself, which is always good in my book, and Yuri is simply one of the funniest and most likeable Main Heroes I've seen, well, EVER.
In fact, I liked almost every cast member, Rasputin is one of the coolest Badguys this side of Sephiroth (shame he wasn't actually the final boss), and the person who DOES turn out to be the final boss is great as well. I won't spoil it for you, but I didn't really see it coming, and it's great to have a Bad Guy who's not single-mindedly evil (*cough*Kefka*hack*) but actually has a personal past and most amazingly, it felt really nice to have a final boss whom you're not so much angry with as you feel kinda sorry for.
Everything about this game just felt totally great. It was rather too easy, but that has never been a major point of criticism for any game for me. The encount rate was amazingly LOW for a Japanese RPG, or any RPG for that matter, making it very relaxed and non-stressful. Great humor, likeable, funny characters, great story with a beautiful touching ending, a shitload of Side-quests, a lengthy main quest with a LOT of variety, greath graphics, nice soundtrack, so in short, THE ENTIRE PACKAGE.
Also, it's tied in very closely with the original, which is rather rare in RPG's, so you'll have to play the original if you want to follow the story, but believe me, it's worth every frigging second.
This is what I play games for!
And now I am going to eat. Otherwise I'll die.
posted by Ingen! @ 11:03 AM
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