So, I was doing the Friday routine: MWF Webcomics (Penny-Arcade, Sam and Fuzzy), Daily Webcomics (Questionable Content, Least I Could Do, Sinfest), the Friday comic (A Softer World), ANN's "Hey! Answerman". Finished up the core routine and expanded onto the usual activities, Google News, Thottbot News, GameFAQs. So I find that the user-created Top 10 list on GameFAQs is at least a topic I might be responsive to, Video Game Relationships, and unlikely to be 100% Final Fantasy fanboying, so I read it. Lo and behold, #10 at the top. Koudelka / Edward. I mentally-hang for a moment, trying to remember who's who in that game. Piece it together and read the entry:
"This one is a bit tricky, because no signs of a relationship show until the end. During the entire main game, Koudelka often spits out harsh words at her two companions, and while she's really not as harsh on Edward as she is on James, her actions lead you on that she really doesn't care about the two in any way whatsoever. But they still manage to stick together, and help each other out. However, Koudleka and Edward seemed to have formed something, after Edward plows Koudelka in a tent in one of the endings."
At which point my brain fires off the following; Wait, what?! Koudelka had multiple endings? Wait What?!?!.
So yeah, I guess I've gotta dig it out again and coax the PS2 into playing, because reading about multiple ends inspired me to look at it again. For those who don't know, Koudelka is loosely tied into the Shadow Hearts (sometime during the original) series. It's got lovely FMVs and a title song worthy of my winamp playlist, but this also appears to be where about 80% of the game's funding went. It runs slow, it has no music to speak of outside of battle and the occasional FMV. But it does support one of the RPG-core theories, which involves insta-death at a particular part of a game if you don't have a certain item with you.
Anyways, speaking of moments of sheer 'What?!' finished off Black Lagoon since Shinsen put out 12. And, uhh, stoner Legarch doesn't make any more sense than last time. The episode boils down to his hallucinations and Rock's melancholy while Levy and Shenhua trade profanities while wiping out their meager opposition. It doesn't feel like a closed-case in the least, so even without knowing that there is a second season you know there is. Closing question, was Captain Picard and Klingons really the best thing for him to be shouting about, how recoignizable is that sort of thing in Japan?
