Holy sh*t!

This is why I love a good shooter. Oh. My. Lordy. Lawd! Rage is SICK!

Doom 3 sucks. That goes without saying for me. Anyone that knows me knows that I found the game to be EXTREMELY repetitive. Yeah, it was a solid enough game to be played through, it was graphically impressive and the gunplay is solid. But really, let's face facts, running through corridor after corridor for hours on end to kill a handful of monsters in a slow-paced shooter eventually got to me. Doom 3 wasn't too scary, though it was tense. But that tension was diluted by the fact that everything was so repetitive. It got to the point where I'd know to run into a room and than quickly turn around and shoot the one enemy that suddenly popped up behind me.

Rage is different. Rage is faster-paced, meaning the gunplay takes center-stage. It helps that each level is really quite unique. I thought the level where I had to destroy the explosives facility the bandits had made was one of the best instances of pure shooter design I have played through in a long while. Than I got to Dead City. Holy crap.

Yeah, this is a true Id-shooter. I can't even begin to tell you just how smooth the actual gunplay is. This is solid, hefty stuff that's reminiscent of the Quake games. But the atmosphere, the level design, the enemies and gunplay it's all so damn good!

Is there a story to Rage? I don't know and I don't care. Is the empty open-world area good? Not really, it could use some work. But let me tell you this, Rage nails the important aspects of the gameplay where it matters. I love it, and there's a sense of dread that I feel in Dead City that I haven't felt in a non-"horror" type game in years. It's a good feeling and I love it. Id, this game better hold up all the way through, because as it stands, it's one of the best playing shooters I've touched and a sign of the Quake and Quake II era of quality.

I don't know if the game's initial release is as bad as people said, nor do I care. The product available to me right now works flawlessly and it leaves me to enjoy a spectacularly designed shooter.

Today's plans all went to sh*t.

Plan A- Party

Been planned for a week or so, but then the main hostess gets sick. Cancelled.

Plan B- Clubbing

So my friend tells me that I should go out with her and another girl tonight because she can get us on the guestlist. Well... FIIIIIIIIIIINE! If we can't party with everyone we might as well party with each other and a bunch of strangers. Two hours later, "Hey, I'm actually gonna visit my parents today."

Plan C- Batman

So I call my buddy up and ask him to go see Batman with me. I figure it's the best type of bronze medal alternative around. Three hours later, "Hey, my dad asked me to help with some work today."

Plan D- Loser it up

So I default to Plan D. Playing games. :/

I played Rage. For a solid two hours today. I have to say, I love this game. It's a major step up from Id's last game, Doom 3. It's not without faults though.

The whole "open wasteland" nonsense is all filler and that's obvious like two hours in to the game. Literally all you do is drive from one location to another to kill stuff. I just want a constant stream of killing stuff, thank you. There are races and vehicle combat is fun, but let's be real, I want to take my shotgun and blast bandits and mutants in the face at point-blank range.

The other issue I have is that it isn't REALLY an open world. It's quite lifeless (I know it's post-apocalyptic, haha, whatever). There's nothing to really do other than drive to a place and kill stuff. Which makes me wonder why they didn't just make it a game that involved killing stuff. Metro 2033 is proof that you can do a linear shooter with excellent combat and still have towns in it. Rage should have just gone that route. As it stands, the towns are nifty and all, but I keep going back to town to get a job/quest/mission/whatever only to drive out to that location from town to do the actual killing.

The good news? The drives are fairly short and combat with the vehicles is fun.

But aside from the open-world being just filler in-between the levels, Rage is excellent. Like, freaking sterling excellent. The gunplay is the best I've seen in a shooter for some time. It's solid and feels heavy. That's an Id trademark for sure. Once you enter the actual shooting portions, the game is just a ridiculous amount of fun. It's your typical corridor shooter, no real innovation involved, but when the actual gameplay mechanics are this solid you don't need innovation or freshness. Rage is a cIassic shooter in every right, pulled straight from the 90's and given a pretty makeover. It didn't need the openworld portion, but that's no big deal. It doesn't detract from the game.

But like cIassic shooters, don't expect there to be great enemy AI. I'm playing Rage on Hard and it's kind of a cakewalk. Halo this isn't. F.E.A.R. this isn't. Doom 3 this is. Now the problem I had with Doom 3 was the monotony of the levels combined with the braindead enemies that were typically scarce too. In Rage that isn't an issue. You're blasting away without mercy. The gunplay is fantastic and the more enemies that are around you the more frantic it all gets. Plus, the faster pace as opposed to Doom 3's slow crawl with the flashlight (that's how I played at least) is more reminiscent of cIassic Id shooters and the games of that era (Duke Nukem 3D anyone?).

The graphics are great, the characters are all interestingly designed, though I do have a slight issue with how friendly everyone is towards you despite the setting of the game. Even when you're told to "keep to yourself" everyone still offers you advice. I don't get it. Whatever. The sound design is sick though. I love how everything sounds. Voice acting is wonderful, sound effects are cranked to the max and the music is actually quite good!

I'm really enjoying Rage. I know people had complaints about the game around its release, particularly on PC. I haven't encountered any issues myself, so either things have been fixed, people over-exaggerated or I'm lucky. Either way, I don't give a crap. This is an awesome shooter and I love every moment of it so far. More shooters need to play like Rage and less like Call of Duty. Is it too much to ask that I do my aiming by myself? Anyway, solid design. Great game. Play it.

The perks of quitting a lousy internship? You don't have to give two weeks notice. Anyway, the new internship sounds so dope and I'm excited to start it up! Stupid internships need to pay though man. I hate working nights.

Coincidentally, I guess it would be kind of cool to tell you guys that I'm also an intern at an audio house. This place did the audio, primarily voice-work, for shows like Gurren Lagann and other anime as well as videogames like StarCraft II, Diablo III, World of Warcraft, Sly Cooper Thieves in Time, Magna Carta 2, League of Legends and others. Free? Yes. Badass? Yes. They do predominantly anime, but Blizzard, Sony, Square-Enix and Microsoft (amongst other game studios) are all clients for them as well.

I honestly think it would be cool to do a videogame internship as well. Maybe next year. I'm really close to EA LA, Sony Santa Monica, Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Respawn, Infinity Ward and a ton of studios. Like, within short driving distance really close man. I've got the talent agency under my belt and I learned I hate unprofessional environments and people who don't dress up (so maybe I wont fit in at a gaming studio ). I'm doing the audio place which focuses predominantly on voicework and dubbing for anime and videogames. I'm starting marketing at NBC Universal. But once these are over with I think even trying a videogame internship would be cool too. I want to work in entertainment regardless, so videogames are an option as well. I already applied to Sony for the Fall, but it's more for Sony Pictures. But at least Sony pays. I'm just saying. I still really wanted to be an intern for The Soup though.... that would have been awesome.......

Dropped roughly $4000 for tuition and another $10 for Rage on the Steam sale. I installed Jamestown as well, nifty little shmup from Legolas. Dude's on a gifting spree on Steam, but I'm not complaining.

So the last blog I posted late before going to sleep for one of my internships. So I made it brief. But here's a basic explanation of everything. So some of you can say, "We knew that bro!" or "Well... OK...... fine!" or "lol I thought you were leaving but you post another blog drama queen!"

1. Bye Neon, we'll miss you!

-Go to hell.

2. It's your loss.

-No it isn't.

3. Keep the PS3 for exclusives!

-OK... you've never read any of my blogs before. Got it.

4. There has to be a deeper and emotional reason why you're doing this.

-No there isn't.

5. I respect your decision.

-Thanks man, and I respect you too.

6. I don't understand.

-Allow me to explain right below.
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OK, so some of you may know, my Xbox 360 is broken. It doesn't work and I'm out of warranty. That leaves me with two options. 1. Pay MS to fix it or 2. buy a new 360. I chose none of the above. Why? Because I haven't played my 360 since August of 2011. I haven't turned it on since than and I figure if I've gone this long without it I'm OK without it for the future.

That left me with the Wii. A platform I haven't purchased a game for since Sin and Punishment over a year ago. I hated it and sent it off to hart. Yeah I was using it to get through Majora's Mask and Final Fantasy IV and VI. But I've been finding it difficult to sit down and play my Wii on a regular basis. The only purpose the Wii was truly serving was to allow some of the family's children to come over and hog the TV during family gatherings. Aside from myself and two of my cousins no one in my family plays games anyway beyond the smaller children. One cousin is a Call of Duty whore, the other is an Old Republic whore and I'm an iPhone whore. So keeping it for others to use isn't even an option at this point.

Now I would have just left it hooked up, but there's a reason why they're out. It's nothing emotional. It's called a new TV and new furniture. This new TV and new furniture meant something along the lines of spring cleaning. I want it to look clean and slick. I haven't used my consoles for about a year so why keep the dead weight?

Does this mean consoles are ruled out forever? No. If something next-gen impresses me I might purchase a new console. If nothing impresses me I won't purchase a new console.
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"But Neon, what's with your sudden shift to mobile and PC? Consoles have great games too!" Let's go over something really quickly. Last console game I purchased was El Shaddai in 2011. That year I played El Shaddai. It was one of three games I purchased for my consoles in 2011. The other two were Sin and Punishment and Lords of Shadow.

Now, since the acquisition of my iPhone 4S in late October I have purchased:

100 Rogues
Angry Birds
Angry Birds Seasons
Beat Hazard Ultra
Chaos Rings
Chrono Trigger
Crimson: Steam Pirates
Cut the Rope: Experiments
Dark Nebula: Episode 2
Espgaluda 2
Final Fantasy III
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Infinity Blade
Jetpack Joyride
Land-a Panda
Osmos
Paper Ninja
Peggle
Pocket Academy
Puzzle Quest
Secret of Mana
Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed
Sonic and Sega: All Stars Racing
Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery

Some of these were on free promos (Angry Birds Seasons, 100 Rogues, Jetpack Joyride), some I bought on sale (GTA: Chinatown Wars, Game Dev Story, Espgaluda II), some I paid full price for (Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana). Either way, I came out playing 25 games.

Sure, some are what people would call casual pick up and play, but many are legitimate games that really hold your attention for long periods of time. Chrono Trigger is one of the greatest games I have ever played, and if people knock mobile gaming than that's their decision. But through it I discovered the adventures of Crono, Lucca, Marle, Frog, Robo, Ayla and Magus. And it was the most spectacular journey ever.

But than there's the PC side of things. What PC games have I bought/downloaded/received in the time period of purchasing 2 Xbox 360 games and one Wii game? Let's have a looksy!

Retail-

Diablo III
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
King's Bounty: Armored Princess
Alpha Protocol
Fallout: New Vegas
Crysis 2
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Torchlight

GoG-

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena
Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creators
Demon Stone
Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate II
Planescape: Torment
The Temple of Elemental Evil
Guilty Gear X2: #Reload
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
Painkiller: Black
Duke Nukem 3D
Shogo
Far Cry

GoG free games-

Fallout
Treasure Adventure Game
Broken Sword
Empire Earth
Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire
Ultima Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Teen Agent
Beneath a Steel Sky
Lure of the Temptress
Tyrian 2000
Dragonsphere

Steam-

Bastion
Deus Ex (influenced by hart704, obviously)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
LA Noire (gifted by Legolas_Katarn)
Metro 2033
Sonic Generations
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

That's over 40 PC games.

This isn't a matter of hating on consoles. I have no intention of telling anyone that they're wrong for liking a console. But comparing my purchases on these machines between my consoles and my PC and phone it shows a massive preference for one over the other. I don't need the consoles to take up space when I'm not touching them.

Now, I am keeping the original Xbox and one of the GameCubes in storage. If I feel like busting those out I may do so as I don't want to give up those games. But I'm not connecting them to the TV, I'll just bust them out when I get the urge to play them. But with a broken Xbox 360 I have no need for the library of games. Will I miss Bayonetta, Vanquish, FFXIII, Tales of Vesperia, etc? Sure. But I wasn't replaying them anyway. The decision to not hook the Wii up was for a similar reason: I'm not playing it.

Compare the 2 VS 2 for me from a games standpoint: over 60 against 3 and only one of those 3 impressed me to boot. We're reaching a point where most of the publishers are releasing their games for the consoles and the PC. Dark Souls? I won't be missing out on it. MGR: Revengeance? I won't be missing out on it. I can pick up BlazBlue for the PC if I get a hankering for some Noel ass whoopings and more.

hart704 described me best. I'm not a "Console guy" nor am I "PC guy." I've always viewed the platforms as just a way to play the game. But when so many of the games are shared between the consoles and the PC why should I keep the alternative when I'm not using it? Use the 360 for the exclusives? Please, I fell asleep playing Gears of War 3. I wanted Halo to end and it has a new trilogy. Fable fell off the face of the Earth almost as quickly as Rare did. Use the Wii for first party games? What's left? Xenoblade? Yeah, it looks cool and all, but if I decide to get a WiiU I can just pick up Xenoblade than and play it.

In short, there's no drama. I'm doing this for two reasons: new paint, new furniture, etc. Seeing that made me reconsider hooking up everything I had again. But why bother when I don't use it? Can you blame being sensible? I mean, I have 60 games to play on two platforms and with Platinum releasing their games on 360, PS3 and now PC I'm going to be more than OK.

Maybe when this time in my life is over, when I'm not working at three places and going to school and I find time to sit on the couch and think, "Man, today will be a great day to start up those old cIassics again!" I'll go and buy a PS2 or a Sega Genesis or a Super Nintendo. Assuming all of those games aren't re-released for whatever new platforms there are available. Until then, my PC and phone keep me covered. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Water Temple to go to in Secret of Mana.

And the consoles are out. Finished. I looked at my Wii trying to determine whether or not I gave enough of a crap to plug a console into the TV. And I realized that I've been at this for too long. Like the trashing of the 360, I looked at the Wii, not tossing it away since it worked fine, but realizing that I just didn't give a crap about consoles anymore.

And with that it was over. The new entertainment area looks cool with the TV, Dish receiver and blu-ray player (non PS3 variety because I don't want people playing games on the TV). It's over. I'm done. The transition to PC and mobile is complete. The plastic toys are out. What does this mean about Final Fantasy VI? I have no idea. Ask me later if you want. :/

Nothing like waking up with a hangover, but it led to the smashing and trashing of my 360. The system has been reportedly broken for months as my cousin told me, but I never bothered trying to turn it on to find out. He wasn't lying. So I unplugged it and tossed it out. I'm out of warranty, and haven't played the system since last August when I bought El Shaddai.

I still have my Xbox and will be keeping those games, but the 360 is gone. I'm getting rid of my two GameCubes (I ended up with an extra one) since my Wii fits the bill as a GC machine. So now the only system that will be plugged into the TV. No other consoles. I think my little legacy of "I'm going to buy a PS2" is over too. I'm not going to buy one. That much is obvious. If I was I would have done it already.
---

Purchased The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena off of GoG. I was originally just going to get Escape from Butcher Bay for the Xbox since the local shop sells it for $3 and I have little interest in Dark Athena, but GoG got the game for $15. And due to their Battle of the Games promotion where each day they pitted two games against one another, the winning game getting a 60% discount, the losing game getting a 40% discount, it led up to their two newest releases: Riddick and Torchlight. Of course I have Torchlight and it's spectacular, but Riddick came out as the winner with the 60% discount, so I got it for $6. I figure I'll play both eventually.

Battle of the Games also led me to buy Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creators at like $2 or something. It's a game I've been interested in trying out so good to see it at such a low price.
---

Square-Enix is releasing Final Fantasy VII for PC as I learned from TheDuskwalker. This means I'll be able to go into FFVII after FFVI and see what all the fuss is about without having to worry about another clunky piece of plastic in the house. So hooray for Square-Enix!
---

Yesterday was rad. Met a new girl, she's a wild-child and will likely get me physically hurt at some point in time. But I like the sense of adventure. Got her number and that's all that matters. I could do without the frat boy wannabe trying to court her too, but let's face facts, I'm the man, that little runt wishes he was as cool as me.

"Everything I have is tiny."

"Well everything I have is big."
---

Saw The Amazing Spiderman. Not so amazing. Though not bad either. Spiderman and Spiderman 2 were better in every way, but it was a significant improvement over Spiderman 3. The Dark Knight Rises happens soon. And if that movie sucks I'm not watching another movie in theaters for the rest of 2012. That's a promise!
---

Going golfing. Need to feel like a cIassy motherf***er and golf is a good way to relax after last night.

I don't get the whole "I can't play games because I'm studying for my cIasses" excuse so many people use. I'm working two internships and a job this summer, 30 hours at work, 12 at a talent agency and 20 at an audio studio. That's roughly 60 hours. Once school starts in September I'll be dropping one of the internships to make way for school, but for real, even at school I still had time to play through Chaos Rings and Final Fantasy III, both of which were long and deep RPGs, while maintaining an unhealthy addiction to Jetpack Joyride and plowing through Majora's Mask. That was until I got bored with gaming for a bit and stopped for a few months.

But the whole "I have school so I'm going to post a blog because my studies are important to me" blogs are stupid. The "I'm going to enjoy my life and not play games" blogs are also stupid. This week I beat Chrono Trigger, put two hours into Secret of Mana, another hour or so into LA Noire, I still worked all of my hours, I went and saw the new Spiderman movie with some friends, went to lunch with a girl, and went hiking with another group of friends. Sure I have work tomorrow until 10PM which means I likely won't be doing anything on Friday, but I still have a party to go to Saturday night and have plans with another group of friends for Sunday afternoon. Did I mention I intend on playing videogames through all of this as well?

I expect you to be busy, you should be busy and if you're complaining about being busy than you're a lazy-tard. And if you're retired, a grade-school student or a college student without a job you don't get to say that you're busy. Do something productive. Otherwise, please stop complaining about how you have no time. It's a freaking hobby, not a commitment. When I have no interest in games I don't play them. When I'm interested in games I play them. Also, I exercise. Did I mention I'm kind of active on this site too? Oh, and I use Facebook. And I'm constantly reading up on the NBA free agency. Yeah, you can do that stuff without making it seem like work. Go figure.

When you write that you don't have time to play games because you want to "live your life" it's a sign that your life sucks ass. Get out there and work, socialize and enjoy your hobbies. You can tell me you don't have time for videogames when you have children. And even then, my buddy is still asking to borrow my games. You know, because kids sleep too, and if you're smart about it, that means they have designated bedtimes.

You suck. Game is fun.

Finished the first four cases in L.A. Noire which got me promoted to Detective. A lot of people say it's a bad game, but I think it's interesting. The gameplay itself is lacking but the concept is cool. So long as it remains interesting it should be cool for one playthrough just to see what Team Bondi attempted.

Just finished Chrono Trigger. It's one of the greatest games I have ever played.

All of the characters are amazing. The writing is amazing. The game is ridiculously fun. The potential to get different endings is awesome. Everyone's journey that I witnessed is freaking sweet! I can't wait for replays to see the alternate endings. This is not only an amazing game, it might be my favorite game. Though I'm not making that judgment call yet. Symphony of the Night is my favorite and I don't know if it can be replaced. But so far out of all of the games I have ever played, Chrono Trigger is the closest, and the greatest.

Eh? WTF is this? A new game on Steam? Gifted from my good man Legolas?

So yeah, I have a copy of LA Noire now.

Thanks Legolas!

I came across a Japanese movie with a Godfather-esque cover. Turn the box over and see a quote from the author of Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film comparing it to The Godfather and The Wild Bunch.

The Wolves didn't remind me of The Godfather based on what it tried to show, but it did remind me of The Godfather in that it's one of the best gangster movies I've ever seen, and likely the finest Yakuza movie I've come across. Starring Tatsuya Nakadai (remember Unosuke from Yojimbo? The crazy guy that fought Sanjuro with the pistol? Yeah, that son of a gun is the lead!), The Wolves tell a story about a handful of men in a criminal world, dealing with the deaths of their Yakuza bosses and trying to come to terms with their way of life.

The movie is pretty savage in its themes. It deals with what you expect from gangster movies, a sense of chivalry (the main badasses), betrayals, double-crosses, back-door deals, violence and sex. There's even a bit of a love story tossed in there (and what good gangster flick doesn't have one of those?) though thankfully it doesn't involve Iwahashi or Ozeki (the two badasses).

Most of my praise for Japanese movies tends to fall on Samurai films like Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, anything by Kurosawa really, Twilight Samurai and more. But The Wolves is a masterpiece and is one of the best gangster movies I have ever seen. It's well worth watching by fans of good movies. As the plot unravels the deeper you get involved with the characters and just grow to appreciate the various poignant scenes in the movie.
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I'm almost finished with Chrono Trigger. I completed the sidequests and I've bulldozed my way through the Black Omen (so far). I still have a bit more of the dungeon to do, but I'll likely play it during the weekend unless I can find time tomorrow. But tomorrow is the day that Miami might just walk away with the championship, so I'll be away from my time-traveling adventures and just deal with the whiskey that's in my glass while I watch either Lebron James heave a sigh of relief for finally winning or Kevin Durant heave a sigh of relief for not getting eliminated. Also, let's get this free agency stuff out of the way. I'm dying to see who ends up on which team.

Also, I bought The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Store was selling it for $30 with the Enhanced Edition next to it for $50. I mean, seriously people? It's a free upgrade to enhanced edition, so it doesn't matter which copy you get. Derp. Oh well. It's $40 on GoG right now and I love the bonus stuff included for free. I never buy special editions because they're freaking lame. But The Witcher 2 includes a game guide, bonus DVD, official soundtrack and some geeky sh*t like a map and letter with a coin. I don't know the significance of the coin, but judging by the letter someone REALLY wants to kill the king.

Will I watch the bonus DVD? Probably not. Will I put the soundtrack on my iTunes? Probably. Will I use the game guide? Maybe. I mean, it is right there. Will I ever open the map again? Nope. Will I ever open the letter again? Nope. The only thing I'm curious about is the fold-out papers that you're supposed to, you know, fold and make stuff with. WTF is that? Whatever. Free crap with a game. You know what you usually get for $60 these days? A disc and a 9 page manual that's in black in and white. I just got a freaking game guide from the developers for free and there's a thick-ass instruction booklet there too. Unlike with Diablo III's piss-poor packaging. What is this, 1999? You couldn't give me a DVD case? I get a cardboard box and a paper sleeve for your damn disc?

I figured I'd need a great RPG to keep me happy with Chrono Trigger coming to an end, and The Witcher is one of the best RPGs I've played so I figure its sequel can't be too shabby, and at $30 I'm not complaining.

Chrono Trigger is not a good game.

It's an amazing game.

I only feel this way about a select few games: Diablo II, Metroid Prime, Halo: Combat Evolved, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It's such a well-done experience that I wish I was old enough to have appreciated it when it first released. It's a one of a kind experience and I'm near the end.

I can either go to the final boss, with which there are three different ways to approach him, meaning that right off the bat there are three different endings for getting to the guy.

But there are also six missions I can accomplish before heading out for that final showdown. I certainly won't be leaving these missions unfinished which gives me more playing time. But as excited as I am that I'm near the end of this amazing experience I'm also kind of bummed out because Chrono Trigger is so good that I don't want it to end.

I've got Final Fantasy IV still waiting, with a showdown underground, but it took a little while for FFIV to grow on me, particularly after FFIII's spectacular job system. But FFIV is the more meaningful game and ultimately the better all-around package. But with Chrono Trigger it was like love at first sight. It's a hell of a game and they certainly don't make games like this anymore. The last game to feel like these old-school RPGs was Tales of Vesperia, and while I have always maintained that Vesperia is the finest RPG of this generation, it's already four years old. They certainly don't make them like they used to.

I had to use a GameFAQs guide. It's not because I couldn't figure out what to do, it's because I forgot where I was.

Earlier in the year I proclaimed that 2012 was going to be the year that saw me go through the older Final Fantasy games and The Legend of Zelda series.

I started strong by finishing Final Fantasy III, getting about 3/4's of the way through Majora's Mask and making a decent dent in Final Fantasy IV.

I was then hit with the demands of my schedule. With an intense semester filled with time-consuming projects and massive marketing reports combined with a full-time work schedule and a social life that I refused to put on hold I completely ran out of time for videogames. The year that was dedicated to old-school FF and Zelda came to a crashing halt.

But the year's not over yet and with the summer comes new life. So as I played Chrono Trigger I was hit with a wave of inspiration. Not a productive inspiration, but the kind of inspiration that comes over you with the "man, I have to go help this guy move in like four hours and I really feel like playing some Final Fantasy....." That kind of inspiration. And when that inspiration hit I moved to GameFAQs and looked up where I was supposed to be. I short-guessed myself, reading the guide and spending money on equipment that I had already passed the need for. And then I found the sweet spot. Where I was supposed to be, and the Enterprise descended into the land of the dwarves.

I'm back at it! With Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV both in progress I'll be able to swiftly move on to Final Fantasy VI, the entire reason why I started this journey and maybe even look into Secret of Mana. The Year of Final Fantasy just became the Summer of Squaresoft. And maybe Nintendo. I might take a short break to finish that final dungeon and endgame of Majora's Mask before diving into Final Fantasy VI. But I've been waiting a long time to meet this Kefka fellow. And I'm getting impatient.

I just had to read a statement from the ASA that used the words "Effective Military Strength score."

I hope you're all happy, because you're a bunch of little f*ggets.

I'm posting this. For you. Relish it.

Chrono Trigger- F*cking mind blowing.

Diablo III- F*cking mind numbing.

People seem to think I'm a massive hater, so here are some of the games I really liked and one that I can't wrap my head around.

Good Looking games at E3

South Park: The Stick of Truth- YES!

Dust: An Elysian Tail- I've been waiting years for this game. It's finally starting to shape up nicely. This is what Shadow Complex should have been had it been in the hands of a competent developer.

Hawken- It just looks freaking cool.

Sleeping Dogs- I want this game more and more. It looks spectacular!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance- Because it's Platinum Games, b*tch!

Project P-100- Because it's Platinum Games, b*tch. Because Kamiya is directing. Because it has a sense of charm and whimsy that just works with Nintendo. Because it looks fun.

Metro: Last Light- Because it looks better than Metro 2033 and that's a hard thing to pull off.

Halo 4- Just watched the campaign video. I have a few concerns, like why there are still Covenant enemies. But I loved the Metroid Prime-esque look to the game world and than the switch to the visor as well. The multiplayer and episodic content sounds like what Bungie tried to do with Reach, only significantly more substantial. Call me crazy, but I'm a believer in Halo 4's potential to not suck, which is a huge step up from before where I only thought: man, this is going to suck.

Dishonored- It looks freaking awesome!

Games that look like crap and get too much attention

Watch Dogs- WTF was that sh*t? Seriously internet? Seriously? This is the game everyone's talking about? F*ck you and your sh*tty taste.
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While waiting for 12 days to pass in Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP I decided to not attempt the time paradox and just do as the game wanted me to. So I purchased Chrono Trigger to help pass the time. My God this game is sick as hell and I can't believe that JRPGs are not made like this now. Holy crap, the amount of choices present in the game and all of their consequences is so ridiculous that it makes it seem like modern WRPGs are busy playing catch-up.

I'm only a few hours in, but at this rate Chrono Trigger is going to easily surpass both Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV for me. But it just makes me more and more excited to play Final Fantasy VI and see which game I end up favoring more. All I know is that playing Chrono Trigger confirms a few things:

1. It's one of the greatest games ever made. Period.

2. Games today suck balls.

3. If Final Fantasy VI is anywhere near the level of Chrono Trigger my gaming time will not be spent in vain.

4. Diablo III is still a boring ass game. Apologists need to grow the hell up. Torchlight stomps all over it. No, this point is not really related to Chrono Trigger. No, I don't care.

Also, Legolas discovered a video that apparently covers all the bases of E3 perfectly. Let's just say I'm glad I not only didn't watch the press conferences but that the only trailers I viewed were for this game and Metal Gear Rising Revengeance.

Now let's get back to the important things in life, like how OKC will destroy whoever they compete against.

Screw you Superbrothers, screw you. I need to either figure out how to do this damn time paradox or wait two weeks before continuing? The game is too damn good.... That's what makes the wait so excruciating. Ugh.