Technically for the above to be true, I'm a day early. But given that Feburary is short anyways, I think I have all kindas of early written out here.
Well, I can think of a dozen ways to take this, but as per my norm, going down one means delaying others, so I don't choose which lets me keep them all without using any. I hate consumables, in anything (gaming context mostly, though it spills over), I never use them.
So I think Pandora isn't for me, I spend too much time skipping songs that I don't really want to hear, but I think might adversly affect my list to Veto. I'm not really playing the Genetic Engineering card with the whole setup quite yet, though I'm really beginning consider trying for certain themes in a starting set, rather than certain artists, and then crushing expansion to see if I can create a narrowly defined box of music. Probably alot harder than it sounds, since Pandora doesn't tell me all the genes of a given song, but it's the best I've got to work with at present, with Last.fm asking for a download, and Di.fm being, well, not something to listen to at work, with all the distractions and interruptions. I can't settle into that genre with distractions like that.
Beat Kingdom Hearts 2. 57 hours of play between a Wednesday afternoon and the following Tuesday evening. 94% of the Journal, 86% of Gummi Ship things (I never did the Class C of the final area, Juggernaught, didn't ever upgrade my ship past what I created at around the same time that I got Falcon 4). Most used, Valor Form, 57 times. 11 Drives into Anti-form. I didn't drive all that much, I admit. 2 Deaths, Shang-Yu when I first did Mulan (Aka, I had no life and barely any abilities) and the Nobody with the Lances when you return to Re-Lock Beast's Castle (I still don't get how to avoid him). Mickey is hax, not very useful cause I spent more time saving Sora with him than actually fighting, but hax none-the-less. All but 1 of the treasure chests (Somewhere in Twilight Town it sits, mocking me), which will be a real challenge given that it took me almost an hour to find the last one I was missing in Aladdin (Hint: The Huge one that contains the map to Jafar's little tower, still took me awhile even after I figured out I was missing that map as well)
The ending actually ends, which is a plus after KH, though the Bonus Ending was, O.o
Seriously, completely not what I expected, art style and all.
To fill the D2 Niche I've been nursing with Eastern Sun while I'm at home I borrowed Dungeon Siege 2 from Jiaz. I still really don't support the game at it's core, the leveling system is alright (Skills increasing faster than Levels but being capped by Level isn't so helpful though). The never look back system is a bit unfortunate, as the first time through it's hard to say what you want. Probably doesn't help that I'm taking advise from Jiaz about what to choose rather than being impulsive (Impulsive generally lands me with much more spread abilities, being generally far weaker), but Dungeon Siege 2 kinda calls for that sorta thing in order to survive. It does a better job of allowing me to handle multiple characters with special abilites without feeling like I'm not up to full potential than the first did, but it feels like a hollowed mix of Baldur's Gate and Diablo, which isn't a complaint, just I happen to like both parts of the mix, and thus would enjoy either part in purity better than the mongrel that comes from the pedigrees. Still, I think I'll beat it, and then play through with a bit more abandon (throwing weapons and 2-handers and pets for all!). The limited Autocast list is troubling, as I really would like to have a Summon and both Buffs in my Nature Mage's slots, but I make do. They do have obscenely long durations.
Also been playing Burnout: Revenge since it was used and very inexpensive compared to the price the Xbox 360 version of it is asking. Pretty enjoyable. The Traffic Checking changes are a signficant upgrade over what Burnout 3: Takedown offered. Also makes for a nice tradeoff. As Checking offers very little boost for the effort, less than I'd get for simple same-direction "Near Miss" and far less than either "Oncoming" or "Oncoming" with "Near Miss" on the other side. Also makes takedowns a bit harder, as while I can land "Traffic Check" Takedowns fairly easily, but I can't actually knock a car into another, as they'll just Check it themselves. Crash is alot nicer without the Multipliers, quite a bit more tactical, and the inclusion of "Choose your Weapon" with the variety of cars is really enjoyable. I'm not great at Crash yet, Burnout 3 has made me soft, but I'm getting pretty good. Crashbreakers in the other modes is kinda awkward, makes it almost too easy to keep a lead. The Checklists bother me, as they're mutually exclusive at times. Ie: Crashless-Race an d X Revenge Takedowns in a Race (which require you to have been takendown to get a Revenge Rival), but perhaps that's just my inability to either not crash, or crash by something other than my own poor driving, speaking there. And yeah, burning lap and preview events, still suck.
I'm thinking I should get Atelier Iris. Not only is the name pretty alluring (everyone loves Atelier), but there's a II coming out the end of this month, and with Disgaea beaten, Phantom Brave winding down (I can't bring myself to go for the endgame here, I'm not going to Level Characters to Fuse to Characters and Level Weapons to fuse to Weapons and level Titles to put on Created Dungeons to empower the Titles for each of my major players just to go for it. The game is too damn complex) and Disgaea really really ending now: Uber Prinny is next. Ultimate Sword, almost a second once I get the levels to steal it. Ultimate Spear, and working on the Ultimate Fist and Bow. Phantom Kingdom still holds interest for me, that I'll probably play through all the extras, it'll amuse me throughly, and there's alot more endings at stake, unlike Phantom Brave, which doesn't hold a whole lot more to offer.
So I got this glorious question in my head the other day. What game would you advise as a method for getting or keeping someone interested in gaming. Actually, the original question was "What Final Fantasy would you reccomend as a starting point for someone new to the series?" (I pick X btw, more on that in a future rant) I think God Mode Online is partially to blame for the idea, as reading that comic does tend to get me in the Gaming-Thought Mode. Logically, the answer boils down to audience and intended subject. You can't very well introduce someone to the wrong genre, just like Pokemon probably wouldn't be a wise choice for introducing a teacher or parent to the joys of gaming. Platform probably plays a role as well. I'm not so certain that Xbox based Morrowind holds the same sway as CPU based, especially for those who prefer the control offered by a mouse rather than Analog Joystick. Obviously, games with the "Othello" motto/slogan are probably best for this. You know what I mean, the whole 'A minute to learn, a lifetime to master' deal. So, some of the big games on the list, coming from personal experience obviously:
Civilization (Probably 2, or 4 if it's any good. 3 wasn't), not really a console alternative.
Bomberman (None of this 3-d, Revenge, or whatever other fluff, just the pure stuff)
Secret of Mana / Tales of Eternia (Multiplayer RPG goodness)
Starcraft/Warcraft (I really do find these to not only be peak of RTS, but best at user created additional maps), again, not worth trying for the Console gamer.
Chu-Chu Rocket and Tetris, preferrably Tetris Attack (Substitute most of the SNES puzzle games as an additive; Wario Wood)
Mario Party probably takes the cake for multiplayer games of that genre, Fusion Frenzy wasn't quite as good, though also amusing.
Smash Brothers, probably closely followed by a mix of DoA, Marvel vs. Camcom or SNK, Guilty Gear, or Soul Caliber, depending on specific interests.
Halo still dominates my opinion of multiplayer shooting, probably the Duo and Single player as well, unless Perfect Dark: Zero was better than everyone told me, but I doubt that.
Burnout or Gran Turismo or some variety of Twisted Metal for the driving game series. Or Crazy Taxi if you kinda prefer a mix.
GTA probably rules supreme over it's domain, pick one of them. All the knockoffs aren't any good really. The Getaway comes to mind, and that was horrendous.
Splinter Cel and maybe something Rainbow 6 for the more realistic shooters, Stealth and less-Steath respectively.
Unreal Tournament or Quake, kinda a preferance call on that kind of CPU based carnage.
And, what I've come to realize as the god of beginner's games, Animal Crossing.
Seriously.
Not kidding.
You can't lose, tons to explore and do, always something to keep you busy. Things to collect, travel to other towns, meet new people, grow plants, visit the island, upgrade the shop, donate to the museum, storage space, shirts, extras, holidays. This ranks up there pretty highly.
