So I think last time I said something about how I got Lost Planet for $60? Yeah, well, just saw it last week for $40! Man, thats $20! At Best Buy you can get 2 DVDs for that... You could get an anime DVD! *Sigh* Oh well. Lost Planet was fun at least, though now I think I have to play Xenosaga 2 since I bought it like... A year ago and that only I've done with it is popped it in to make sure it works.

Oh, but if you're interested in La Pucelle I wrote a half-interested review of it. I hear if you liked Disgaea you'll be interested.

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Anyway, my gaming library has expanded to include games like Shadow of the Colossus, WTF, Puzzle Quest, Gunpey (On PSP), and Lost Planet.

I must say, WTF is a reason I'm happy I have a PSP, its so innane and random in the tasks it asks you to perform, and I found it for $15! If I knew it was this fun I would have happily paid like.... $20. Sorting Chicks, Capping Pens, Destroying coffee cups and robots with your fist, or just pollinating flowers. Its very fun.

Shadow of the Colossus is a great game, if you don't have it, you should. Its only $20 on PS2 and don't give me some nonsense like "I don't have a PS2." because I know you do, or you should since most of the good games of last generation came out on it.

Puzzle Quest is a good buy on PSP or DS, though I think the stylus isbetter than moving a selector with a control even if the graphics aren't as nice. If you like Bejeweled then you should like Puzzle Quest, its like Bejeweled with a purpose.

Gunpey I just got and it is very strange. I was hoping that my mad Lumines skills might help me here, but no. Its so much different from ever other type of puzzle game I've played! Its interesting and frustrating at the same time.

Finally Lost Planet. Wait to find this one used or reduced price. I only got it nowbecause I had Best Buy gift cards to use on it, but its definitely not worth $60. $50 yes, but not $60. Its a very fun and good looking game, but some of the later levels aren't as fun as earlier ones, and really my major complaint is that the one time I've tried online VS so far I get booted out of almost every game because people don't want someone new to play. How am I supposed to get those achievement points if I can't play VS? Oh well, maybe I was playing too late at night and just no one was up except high level losers who just want to play with themselves.

Anway, I don't know what my next game will be. I've been buying a lot of anime lately since new volumes of "PaniPoni Dash!" and the all-new super excellent "Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" are coming out and there haven't been any games that I'm like "Oh, gotta get that!", at least not since Shadowrun turned out to be such a disappointment. Gosh, all multiplayer games suck, and so do games that do so little with awesome source material.They took about as much advantage of the source materialas the people who made "Magic the Gathering: Battlegounds". It was just very disappointing, fun admittedly, but disappointing.

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Oh, I'll put up a review soon too.

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I'm going to write up a review for both of them.

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Number 1 on my list of games to play through: FFXII.  I haven't had nearly enough time to work on it properly, its sad.  It makes me sad, it makes other people sad....  The Moogles are sad.  I mean, you don't want to see a sad Moogle, its pretty much like "Whoa, pit of sorrow."

I'm also really tired which is why this post is so incoherent.  But, soon I shall bask in the fun of my Wii and PS2 for a time, and again a time. 

Time...  To sleep.

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Honestly, I don't think I own any other handheld game that I can pick up and truly enjoy the whole time I'm playing (Well, until I lose, thats always kinda depressing) like Lumines.  It is truly the Tetris of the PSP and if the thing weren't so insanely expensive (And the DS weren't better in general) then people would probably be buying more PSPs just for this game...  Well smart people interested in quality gaming anyway.

Seriously, the look of the game is great, the little animation character icon things are fun (I just recently discovered one is a tree, thats cool right there), and almost all the music is enjoyable ("Shake your Body" needs to die and "Just...." could probably be excommunicated).  And of course the gameplay is solid (Whatever the heck thats supposed to mean, but game critics say it, so whatever) and very fun.  Its pretty much the best puzzle game since Tetris, and probably still the best game on PSP.  Valkyrie Profile is cool, and I really like it, but I don't think it'll be something I wanna play too much after beating it...  Not for a while anyway.

I guess I'll just have to get Loco Roco at that point....

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This is my quick analysis of this very fun game. 

Good things:  Cooking made fun and easy without messy cleanup.  Mama is the bomb (Flaming eyes of wrath!).  Gameplay is simple without being overly simplistic (Oi, I sound like a reviewer).  Graphics are what they should be (The food looks like food!).

Bad Things (Mostly nit-picky):  No discernible reason to get all gold except for fun.  Mama is not nearly wrathful enough for your failings (Her eyes burn, but her words are comforting).  Where's the Iron Chef showdown versus mode?

Overall:  The reasons you aren't getting this game are:  1.  You don't have a DS.  2.  You can't stand games that don't involve killing something.  3.  You can't stand cooking.  4.  You're Barton.  5.  You can't stand things that go against the status quo of gaming (Also known as awesome games).  6.  You can't shell out $20 for a decent and fun game (The average DS title is $35 FYI, and a GOOD console game is generally $50).  7.  You suck at life (Not the board game, thats Life with a capital L)

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Anyway, this my totally SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER filled "critique" of the games story.  So if you don't want SPOILERS. then don't read it.

So, this whole Deepground thing?  I can totally dig that.  Good idea, Mako reactor 0 sort of the old city buried beneath the present.  Totally liked the set up.  Reeve and the WRO, they're cool.  Vincent is awesome as always.  Adding some mystery to Cid's new airship line with this "Ancient black box technology" was pretty cool.  That G guy at the end?  Y'know, after "The End" comes up and you hit X and Veiss gets picked up?  Yeah, I think he's like Sephiroth's other half or something, since he's got one wing too....  On the opposite side.  And in the G Report it talks about "G" and "S" and the description of "S" matches ol' Sephy pretty well.  Also we find out more about Lucrecia, and how she was actually the one who put Chaos in Vincent.  We also find out that Vincent did, in fact, have a father (But really, Grimoire?  Isn't Vincent gothic enough?).  Ah, it was all really rather good....  So here were my problems.

This whole "Lets give Vincent a girlfiend" vibe that radiates from Shelke.  At the end where she's wearing the nice summer outfit?  I was just like....  Oi.  For some reason they're trying to make Vincent lose cool points.  (Brief detour, in that same scene, what was up with the Omega weapon ruins floating in the sky?!?  Totally ominous/creepy/unnecessary/ruining the mood!)  Also, Yuffie seemed to have a crush on Vincent throughout the game, or maybe I'm mistaken on that?  So...  yeah, I think they were just giving the doujin manga writers fodder to work with. (No doubt there have been at least 13 hentai doujins out by now featuring Vincent and Shelke, 25% of which have Vincent either in Chaos form or going it Chaos form at some point.....)

Next point....  Where was Aeris?!  The Lifestream is going crazy, is she on vacation or something?  .....Okay, so maybe I just wanted to see Aeris again, but still, I think its a semi-valid point.

I didn't really like the supposed relationship of Chaos and Omega Weapon.....  It was kinda like....  Why?  I mean, I guess it makes it kinda interesting, but it was still kinda sketchy.  I guess because it made Vincent seem like he has some great evil in him or something.  Also, Omega Weapon in general....  You'd think it would be harder to trick it.  Also, how many people did Deepground "Send back to the Lifestream" anyway?  It seemed like an awful lot.

My final and most important grievance.....  Freakin' HOJO!!!  Dude, if that guy EVER shows up again!....  I dunno.  I thought he was just kinda pesky in FF7, but now I just really hate him, and mainly because of his voice and way of acting like he's the best thing ever when he totally sucks.  I mean, sure, thats how you figure out how Deepground found out about Omega, but still, they could have had them just happening upon the information, they've been down there quite a while.  I just don't know....

Anyway, I did like the story overall, it just wasn't up to the usual Final Fantasy standards in my opinion.  Vincent being awesome and Cloud randomly showing up to blow up another Mako reactor and fight Rosso made up for anything I might have disliked, made up for Hojo at least.

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Anyway, I got Dead Rising.  I must say it is probably the best zombie game ever.  No other game quite so perfectly captures the joys of slaughtering mass quantities of the undead hoardes.  The visuals are nice too, but really nothing quite compares to cranking up the lawn mower and mowing some zombie....  Well unless its grabbing the Chainsaw and tearing through about 50 of them that have foolishly congregated outside the tool store.

Now as fun as the game is, it is also frustrating.  The save system is harsh, if you plan on having a different file than your little brother, tough luck.  I really don't understand why they made it this way, but whatever.  Its still incredibly fun to just run around and kill zombies, and the storyline is pretty fun. 

The bottomline is that if you liked "Dawn of the Dead" and have always wished there were a game that truly captured its spirit, then this is that game.  I mean, you even enter the mall via helicopter.

Load up on Mannequins and roll out.

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The storyline of 4 was actually pretty good, but you can tell it was held back by the times.  Also the dialogue could stand to be de-"E"itized (in other words, use some more complex dialogue)  I liked the characters in it.  Cecil and Kain were cool, Rydia is the now classic "magical female" of the game that I always like, Rosa is a pretty good character despite her somewhat peripheral feel at times (Like she's just there because no one else is a White Mage), and Edge is fun.  I didn't like this incarnation of Cid as much as some, but he was still pretty good.  Tellah...  Can't say I was sorry for his passing.  Yang was your standard stoic martial artist character (Though his overprotective housewife was kinda amusing).  The twins were pretty good characters, though the boy got a little annoying always saying "Bro" (So 90's).  Oh, and that Spoony Bard!  Edward wasn't really a major character for very long, but that Spoony Bard line is classic.  If they ever do a retranslation and change that....  I would be sad.

Overall I think the characters are great (Way better than 9's cast) but that the story and dialogue were held back by the limitations of when it was made.  Also the damage range is incredibly wide and inconsistant, which should be fixed (An enemy would do 1 damage one turn and 600 the next, with no apparent reason).  Also, fixing the element susceptibility might be good, so that the ice dragon is more damaged by fire rather than absorbing it.  However most of these are just the fun little things that can make old games fun to play. 

The numbers: (Out of 5)

Graphics (Relative to release): 4.25

Sound: 4.5 (I love the boss fight theme, and its got the Crystal Theme which you can never go wrong with)

Gameplay: 4.5 (The ATB is actually really intense in this game since you can't tell when the next persons turn is.  Actually my only complaints have to do with inconsistant damage and not being told what certain rather useless items do exactly)

Story (Relative to release): 4.5 (I never played it when it first came out, but I imagine there wasn't much of anything out on consoles at the time with a story like this.  Even then, some of the dialogue is...  Blah, overly Americanized and trying to appeal to a certain audience.)

Characters: 5 (The characters you have in your final party are good characters.  Some of the others along the way can be kinda so-so, but the main cast is really good.)

My own opinion: 4.25 (I liked it a lot, but the final boss taking 6 hours of leveling to beat was kinda...  Tedious.  Also I felt the dialogue was being held back.)

Total Final Fantasy Rating: 4.5

Heh, I should rate all the Final Fantasy games like this.  Though then I'd have to go back and play them all....  Oh the sacrifices.

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Why Dreamfall?!  WHY?!?  Why did you end before your story was complete?  Are we going to have to wait 6 years to find out what happens to Zoe?  Will Kian even be in the next one?  April isn't actually dead is she?!  And what the heck was up with the bit after the credits?!

...Need...  Sequel confirmation....

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Overall its good game and worth it for the FF: XII demo if nothing else.  But seriously, even if it did take me 80 hours to beat it there were rare moments that I didn't like the game.  The only thing I truly hate about it is the Ice Wave ability that some bosses have that totally messes you up.  Oh, many a battle was prolonged because of that....  Anyway, go buy it!

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