Land of Sherry Wine and Spanish Horses (Day 328)

After I'm done with the two games I'm currently playing, I'd really like to move on to something more relaxing. Of course, my selection is somewhat limited since I'm trying to restrict myself to only games that are in my backlog. Granted, there's about 30 of them so surely I can find something easy and relaxing to play. I enjoy New Mystery of the Emblem a lot but it is quite difficult and micro intensive. Vagrant Story is frustrating in different ways that I have discussed at length on this blog already. However, both of these games absolutely will be finished, most likely on my three-day weekend coming up on the 6th. After that though, I wonder what I could work on?

My original goal was to move on to the other PlayStation games still left to be finished and I might still do that. The only two remaining after Vagrant Story are Tales of Destiny and Front Mission 3. I don't recall Tales of Destiny being very challenging, but it is very grindy and time consuming. The series also tends to throw in a lot of mazelike dungeons and puzzles as well as a lot of pretty tedious dialogue. I'm sure I'll get to it, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for either. Front Mission 3 is reasonably difficult and requires a not inconsiderable amount of strategy--as well as a large amount of planning before missions. One of the main things I like about the series is the level of customization it gives you on your mechs. Finding just the right parts to upgrade your units is generally pretty rewarding, but it also takes a lot of preparation.

As I look through these games left unfinished, I'm running into a lot of similar themes. There's generally a pretty notable reason why I left off on them in the first place. Most of these games were frustrating enough in some way to cause me to lose interest. I couldn't accurately describe a single one of the games remaining as "easy." Vandal Hearts was definitely not a challenging game, but it's out of the way now. I still have plenty of time to think about this, but after a quick look at the selection, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story seems like it be a decent choice to tackle next. Despite the surprising difficulty of Superstar Saga, I don't recall the third game in the series being quite as difficult--and I'm not altogether sure why I stopped playing it in the first place. I'm sure I'll figure that one out pretty quickly.

If I were to be perfectly honest with myself, I'd admit there are other games not on my list that I'd still like to finish--but to satisfy some obsessive tendency of mine I've chosen to tackle all of the games on this list first before attempting anything else. Whether or not I stick to this plan is certainly up in the air, but at the very least it gives me plenty to play for a long time and it forces me not to waste money on new games. The only exception I might make to this rule is if I have the opportunity to play a game with a friend, like I was doing a lot earlier this year. I wouldn't have played through Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3 if not for that. I'm planning on ordering a video card when I get paid on Friday. A friend of mine graciously gifted me a copy of Borderlands 2 on Steam so I'll definitely be investing some time into that once the card arrives.

Anyway--as much as it pains me to add another game to this unfinished list, it helps considerably that I feel pretty confident I'll finish it if I have someone to play co-op with. Also, once I have that card, I'll have a great excuse to finish up Torchlight II, which I haven't really played since my last card died. PS2 emulation will also be a lot more feasible, so I can pick up on games like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga, and (in the distant future) Front Mission 5.

Humanity is False (Day 327)

I am currently dividing my time between Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem (I'm referring to it by the English name from now on. . .) and Vagrant Story. For the past few months I've been trying to maintain a pretty strict "one game at a time" policy to encourage clearing out more of my backlog, but man, Vagrant Story can be so tedious sometimes! If I hadn't already made so much progress on it, I doubt I'd be considering it a priority even now. Of course, that's not the only thing that keeps me playing. It actually has a fantastic script and great music--even if I'm not as absorbed in the story as I might otherwise be if I were enjoying the game more.

I've put about 15 hours into Vagrant Story and I still don't feel powerful. In RPGs, I feel it's pretty important to feel like you're gradually amassing more and more power until weaker enemies can be destroyed easily. I regularly come across frail-looking skeletons who somehow take 0 damage from spears and giant war hammers just because of some arbitrary affinity system. I think the system looks really good on paper and I can't really find much fault with it in theory. However, in practice it's exceedingly tedious. The interface could definitely use some work--and despite the pseudo turn-based combat being central to the gameplay, I almost wonder if the game would have been a lot more fun if it had been more of an action RPG.

In order to be consistently successful against most opponents you come across, it's important to have a good variety of weapons tailored to specific situations. However, analyzing enemies is a slow and tedious process and even when done often doesn't guarantee that you'll have the weapon you need to exploit those weaknesses. Even if you do have an air-elemental blunt weapon, it might turn out that that weapon is lower quality than your current weapon and thus infers no particular superiority over your current options--meaning that no matter what weapon you choose to use, you'll be dealing out 2-3 damage per hit while racking up ridiculous amounts of Risk, a bizarre statistic that decreases your accuracy and increases the damage you take from enemies. It decays very slowly on its own or you can reduce it by using certain items.

Vagrant Story's combat system is a hodge-podge of interesting mechanics that don't end up working very well when combined together. Throw in a clunky interface and the necessity to switch weapons frequently by navigating through slow-loading menus and you end up with what is a supremely frustrating experience. It's doubly irritating because the game shows so much promise. If a few different design decisions had been made in the interest of usability, the game would be absolutely fantastic. If ever a game needed an enhanced remake, it is Vagrant Story.

I still intend to finish it. I've put 15 hours into the game and have built up a not inconsiderable amount of momentum. I'm not looking forward to the endgame grind and the toil required to forge weapons suitable for the final areas of the game, but perhaps once I've conquered those final areas I'll gain a new appreciation for the game. Maybe I won't--but regardless of whatever the flaws present in Vagrant Story, I think it's a game that is worth my time all the same.

Minstrel in the Gallery (Day 326)

I am typing this from an Asus touch screen laptop my mother let me have. She bought it some time ago thinking she would use it all the time but ended up having no particular use for it. As many gadgets and devices I have to access the internet, I could never seriously turn down having one more, so I decided I'd accept her offer to take it off her hands. It does remind me how much I hate laptop keyboards, though. It makes me appreciate my desktop's mechanical keyboard all the more.

I'm a little wary of Windows 8, but it appears functional enough so far. I was able to pretty easily change the primary account on the computer and sync up my Microsoft and Google accounts. There is this interconnectedness in technology these days that I really enjoy. The fact that I can just pick up my smartphone and instantly have access to dozens of contacts just because I linked it to my Facebook account is really cool. There is of course the argument that these features violate your privacy somewhat, but I guess I've just never been overly concerned about that kind of thing. I've always been the kind of person that shares everything about myself on the internet. It's one of the few places I can really be me. I mean, I guess it's the only place.

I'll probably be writing blog entries on this thing a lot more than the desktop. I am doing so now while catching up on today's LCS matches. It feels easier and more natural to do so on this laptop instead of typing on my alternate monitor which is placed pretty far away. Its primary use has recently been for Netflix while I use my main monitor (a 46" Sony LED TV) for a game. I think I'll start using this laptop for Netflix sometimes when I would rather just lie in bed. I always had the option to do this with my phone, but this laptop's screen is quite a bit bigger--and I don't have to hold it.

Come to think of it, I should check to see if this laptop's USB port can charge my new phone. My old hilariously broken laptop will charge it, but only very slowly. The USB port on my car stereo won't charge it at all. The only two ways I've found that charge it appropriately are of course the wall outlet adapter and the USB port on my desktop. I imagine it must have something to do with the more powerful power supply.

Challenger Deep (Day 325)

It's possible I'll play a little Vagrant Story tonight, but what's on my mind for the moment is this Fire Emblem game. Now that I've made a little progress (I'm on mission 3x), I feel like I can start making some choices on characters I'm going to use in my final roster. I think I've already pretty much decided that I'm going to use all of the pegasus knights the game throws at me. I've always really liked the class thematically and functionally. I enjoy hard-hitting highly mobile units that nevertheless drop to a stray breeze and pegasus knights fit that archetype to a T.

At the moment I only have Palla and Catria, but I've heard of a third by the name of Est and of course there is Marth's fiancee Caeda who has already appeared in the prologue missions. I can only assume she'll eventually become a permanent fixture of the squad. I'd also really like to use Cecille as my only cavalier/paladin. This has traditionally been one of my least favorite classes, but I do tend to find female paladins more interesting. Marth himself is a requirement but I'm sure I'd be using him regardless--and there's also the character the game tasks you with creating. I named her Brea and made her a myrmidon. It has proven thus far to be a decent choice because myrmidons have so far been in relatively short supply. Then again, I haven't come across any mercenaries either.

I'd like to have a good fighter or two because I've always really enjoyed axe-wielding characters because they hit ridiculously hard and can take some punishment. However, I find Cord and Bord to be incredibly boring. Barst from Shadow Dragon evidently returns for this game, so I'll probably end up using him. It does make me wish I could have made my "main" character a fighter though, but unfortunately that option is not available for female characters and I was unaware of that at the time. I should have known though, considering there has never been a female fighter in the history of the series--nor a male pegasus knight, for that matter.

As for archers, I think I'm definitely going to use Warren, mostly because he has the unusual Hunter class. Although similar classes would resurface in future games, that exact class has not been reused since. Hunters evidently promote to mounted archers, which is nothing really all that special when you consider nomads from the GBA games and bow knights from the Gamecube/Wii ones--but it's still pretty cool. Warren also seems to have a bit higher strength than his standard archer counterparts.

New Mystery of the Emblem is supposed to be pretty short at only 24 chapters, but considering the amount of time I've spent on just the first three, I can't imagine I'll get through it at less than 20 hours. I could easily be wrong here, but I guess we'll find out.

Night Rhythms (Day 324)

With Vandal Hearts finally under my belt, it's time to resume Vagrant Story, a game that I greatly admire despite its infuriating tendency to mercilessly obfuscate its own mechanics. I was enjoying the game but I hit a brick wall in the Snowfly Forest, an area of the game that has evidently caused many a lot of trouble. I've always really despised mazes in video games, especially when they involve respawning enemies and nonsensical layouts. The Snowfly Forest has this in spades--unless you know exactly where you're going, in which case it takes very little time at all to traverse.

Not ashamed to say I used a guide to get through

I've spoken about this game before, but this time I'm determined to make it all the way through. After getting through the Snowfly Forest, I've finally progressed further than I ever have before. I continue to be impressed by the art direction, Hitoshi Sakimoto's score, and the excellent dialogue. The gameplay is also very unique, though certainly not without its share of frustrations. Chaining combos together is fun but repetitive--and in my case, also pretty difficult. I've elected not to use certain types of weapons because no matter how hard I try, I can't get accustomed to their animations, meaning I'm unable to press the designated button at the right time consistently.

Another pressing concern is the way affinities work. Every enemy in the game has a set of resistances and weaknesses. Some enemies might be highly resistant to edged and piercing weapons but vulnerable to blunt weapons--while also being resistant to air and fire, but vulnerable to physical. You might happen to have a blunt weapon on you but if it's not physical, you probably won't do very much damage with it anyway. Another factor that plays into this is the enemy's type. Suppose this enemy is a Phantom and your blunt weapon has negative Phantom affinity. It's likely you won't do any damage at all with your weapon despite the fact that this particular enemy is vulnerable to blunt weapons.

The interaction between the various different affinities is pretty interesting in theory, but switching weapons in the middle of combat is often a slow and tedious process, as is the act of analyzing every enemy that you come across. Let's not forget the fact that the Analyze spell can and will frequently miss for no good reason, especially if you've built up a lot of Risk. The obvious solution is to carry around a huge arsenal of different weapons tailored to every possible situation, but unfortunately this is impossible because of the inventory limit the game imposes on you. It is only possible to carry five or six weapons at a time and it's generally a good idea to keep a few slots open if and when you find new weapons dropped from enemies.

Hey, thanks!

I really like the style and production values of Vagrant Story, even if the blocky PlayStation graphics haven't aged terribly gracefully. They still certainly get the point across but I must admit this game would be a fantastic candidate for an HD remake. With its art direction there would be a lot to work with and expand on, especially compared to a game like Vandal Hearts, which wouldn't likely look great no matter how much the graphical fidelity were to be improved. 

9 hours in and only that much of the map completed. . .

I think Vagrant Story is going to take me some time to finish. I'm pretty bad about getting lost in games like these but beyond that, the combat system can be pretty time consuming, especially without optimal equipment and when you're not very good at maintaining combo chains (like me). I've also heard that some of the later sections of the game are pretty difficult. Considering the level of difficulty I've experienced so far, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that--but I'm going to try my best to make it through.

Rhayader Goes to Town (Day 323)

 I finished Vandal Hearts right in at around 14 hours, making it one of the shortest strategy RPGs I've ever played. The only other game in the genre that I can think of that's shorter is Arc the Lad, which serves as sort of a prologue to Arc the Lad II, which is reportedly about a 60 hour long game, so I'm not sure how much it counts. Anyway, Vandal Hearts is a short and fun SRPG that is nonetheless riddled with flaws.

Unlike most SRPGs, Vandal Hearts is very easy. Most missions require very little planning beforehand and can be conquered in just a few minutes. Many enemies can be one-shotted, especially if their weaknesses are exploited. Archers deal heavy damage to flying enemies, whereas melee combatants are strong against archers. Magic users also deal heavy damage to heavily armored enemies--as well as just about everything else, it must be noted. The Sorcerer class in Vandal Hearts is undoubtedly the strongest unit available with powerful spells like Phase Shift and Salamander that hit very close to the entire map.

Pretty cool spell

 By contrast, the defensive Guardsman class is close to useless. In close combat they are competent, but their low range of movement makes it unlikely they'll actually ever get to an enemy to attack them. I'll admit that because I was rushing through this game I frequently used these units as little more than fodder. The game does penalize you for losing allied units, but never at any point did I not have enough money to buy all the equipment and items that I needed, so it barely affected me.

Archbishops promote from Bishops which promote from Healers. I had only one on my team and it was pretty much all the healing I needed--especially once I'd acquird the powerful Perfect Healing spell. At the hefty price of 40 MP, it was capable of healing every ally on the entire map for their entire health bar. Although these flashy spells trivialized the game's difficulty, I have to admit they were pretty fun to use.

Evidently what the game is named for

Although Vandal Hearts posed no real difficulty, it was still reasonably fun to play through and had a few interesting mechanics. I enjoyed casting the Sorcerer's massive AoE spells even if they were overtuned--and I also liked the class-branching system even though I would have really preferred the classes to branch a second time for the sake of variety. I have to wonder if Vandal Hearts: Flame of Judgment, the recent revival to the series, features many of these elements.

Always the adventurer

 I recall playing Vandal Hearts II briefly, but I don't remember it very well. What I do remember is that I thought it was pretty bad and possibly even broken in some pretty important ways. I don't imagine I'll be tracking it down to play it anytime soon, but I most likely will do some research on it. Instead, I'll be moving on to another PlayStation game in my backlog, which will be Vagrant Story, Tales of Destiny, or Front Mission 3. I'm hesitant to play Front Mission 3 because I've recently learned there's a fan translation available for Front Mission 2 and I'd like to play that first--but at the same time it's not really part of my backlog. The idea of clearing out my backlog entirely is pretty appealing to me so I'm conflicted. We'll see what happens.

Mosikiiton Wa Mou Kikoenai (Day 322)

I've been playing Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo very infrequently on lunch breaks at work so I only just today got through all of the prologue missions and finally got to play the first real mission of the game. I'm playing it on hard mode and the training wheels are now off--any characters who die in battle will die permanently. I hadn't let anyone die in the prologue missions either because I thought it might be important for some reason. I made my "main" character a myrmidon and her Speed and Skill are progressing about as well as I'd expect for the class. Unfortunately, her Strength hasn't gone up at all. If that trend continues, I'm hoping I'll be able to get my hands on some stat increasing items so she can become more of a legitimate threat.

The gameplay of Shin Monshou no Nazo is pretty much identical to Shadow Dragon, which is probably a big part of the reason it never received an official localization. That is not to say that the gameplay, art, or storyline is bad, but it's certainly not as eminently playable as Fire Emblem: Awakening or even the three Fire Emblem titles on Game Boy Advance. I really miss the slick animations from the GBA iterations of these games, but it's looking like at this point, they're not coming back. Awakening was an improvement on the DS Fire Emblem remakes in just about every respect, but Intelligent Systems chose again not to return to that stylish 2D art style for reasons that are completely unknown to me.

On the Android DraStic emulator

Still, Shin Monshou no Nazo is a Fire Emblem game, and for that reason, I feel obligated to play it. To be fair, it does seem like it's pretty fun, but only time will tell if it improves on Shadow Dragon in any significant aspect. It was a decent game, but definitely my least favorite of the series that I've played. (I haven't played Seisen no Keifu or Thracia 776 enough to make a fair judgment.) The mechanics are obviously identical, so the burden lies primarily on the story and characters--and admittedly, this is a big aspect of the series that pulls me in. Many of the newer Fire Emblem titles feature huge casts of fun characters that interact with each other in interesting ways. Couple that with traditional (but well-polished) gameplay and you have some pretty addictive games.

I felt Shadow Dragon was significantly lacking in the plot and character development departments. Beyond that, the graphics lacked the stylistic flair of the GBA iterations without the polished art present in the GameCube and Wii titles to make up for it. As a package, it was mediocre--especially when considered as part of a really solid series. Despite all this, I still consider it a solid title, and I'm sure the same will be true for Shin Monshou no Nazo. 

Perfect Prime (Day 321)

It's worth noting that this is actually my 365th entry in this blog, although only the 321st since I started updating daily. Many of my early blog entries were a part of the League of Legends Ranked Matches project, which was interesting and fun at the time, but of no real lasting value. I enjoy the game, but I'm never going to be the kind of person that grinds out games every day trying to be the best--and I shouldn't pretend that I'm that person. Other early entries were similar to the kind of thing I'm writing today, but spread out over much longer periods of time. I recall writing about Persona 4, Fire Emblem, and yes, some angst.

Once I actually reach the one year mark on this project, I imagine I'll do some sort of retrospective. I'll do as brief a summary of what I've written so far as I can and talk about what I'd like to do in the future. Who knows, maybe I'll expand this project in some way. I'm not sure at this time how I could take this exercise to the next level, but I have considered some possibilities. I've been trying to include more images in my blog entries lately, but what about video? What if I started a YouTube channel and started posting weekly video clips? That would really expand the scope of this blog and allow me to be creative in different ways as well.

I also really like the idea of doing commentary on video games while I play them. Unfortunately, streaming games live is often pretty difficult due to a combination of factors involving my subpar internet connection and integrated graphics. I'm planning on changing the latter soon and the former isn't entirely set in stone either. The possibility of upgrading my internet connection would depend heavily on whether or not I maintain my current job.

One of the main issues I have with streaming or recording myself is my crippling lack of self esteem. The idea of exposing myself like that for people to see and judge is a little uncomfortable for me, but I think that's part of why it might be a good idea. As unpleasant as escaping my comfort zone can be, its an important thing to do on occasion to break down those barriers that prevent you from getting things done. Besides, it's not like these videos would be exposed to a particularly wide audience. I'm definitely interested in experimenting more with this blog to see what I can do.

Ring Out, Solstice Bells (Day 320)

Vandal Hearts is a little known strategy RPG from early in the PlayStation's life cycle. I've never been a fan of developers' early attempts at 3D graphics on consoles, and the garish blocky backgrounds in this game can certainly attest to that. However, most of the game's graphics are 2D sprite-based and not particularly pretty to look at either. Despite some reasonably slick animations and fountains of gratuitous blood, the artwork and character designs in this game are mostly awful. Fortunately, the gameplay itself is very solid.

Vandal Hearts could best be described as a hybrid between strategy RPGs like Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics with a class system more reminiscent of Fire Emblem or Seiken Densetsu 3. Each character recruited to your party in Vandal Hearts corresponds to a certain class such as Soldier, Healer, or Archer. At level 10, you are given the option to promote to a new class. Like Seiken Densetsu 3 or Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, you'll be afforded the opportunity to choose between two possible classes to which you can upgrade. For instance, a Soldier can become the more offensive Swordsman or the defensive Guardsman, who wields a large shield and an axe.

Although I haven't made it that far yet, I've read that you can promote again at level 20. I can only assume each class again has two options to choose from. If Vandal Hearts follows in the foosteps of Seiken Densetsu 3, this will be the case. In the case of that game, each class had a light and dark upgrade, so each character ended up with a wide variety of different choices for class advancement.

Another similarity that Vandal Hearts shares with Fire Emblem is the fact that each unit in your party is a unique character. There is no such thing as a generic unit as in Final Fantasy Tactics. However, I can't speak for any depth these characters might have. The plot so far seems mostly forgettable, but that could easily change later. The only thing really keeping me interested at this point is the desire to see all of the different classes and spells I can unlock. It's a solid game, but I can't call it essential by any means--at least not so far.

Meridian Arc (Day 319)

Lunar 2 has been finished! This one only took me 9 days, but I feel I definitely could have finished it in a much shorter period of time if I'd really buckled down. Alpha Gaiden took a month and a half by comparison, but I feel that was actually completely warranted not only due to the sheer number of missions but because it was reasonably challenging as well. The final two missions alone took me several days to get through. But anyway, I'm sick of talking about that game. Let's wrap up on Lunar 2.

That must be so rough for you

Lunar 2 follows in the tradition of RPGs like Breath of Fire and Grandia in that it features simple but likable characters, traditional turn-based combat, and a light, adventurous tone. I could see how someone might consider these traits trite and uninteresting, but I really enjoy it when it's done well. In the case of Lunar 2, it's done quite well. I would consider it a worthy successor to the original game, although I must admit I probably liked it a little more. It's been many years since I last played it, but I have fond memories.

It is a game not without its share of flaws, of course. The artwork is good, although inconsistent. The quality of the animated sequences leaves much to be desired, although I think technological limitations play a large role there--and I'm sure the original Lunar had the same issue. Still, it's painful to be assaulted by glaring compression artifacts when playing on a large 46" HDTV. This is really part of the curse of playing much older games on newer televisions, especially when it comes to early polygonal graphics. Lunar 2 is almost entirely 2D and it looks pretty good for the most part, but the video sequences were definitely not optimized well. Despite their poor quality, the game sprawls over three discs despite taking less than 30 hours to finish.

Determined Lucia

I just can't deny the charm of Lunar 2 though. It is bright and cheerful and tells a very well-trod story, but it does so in an engaging way. Each character has their own story and personality and is meaningful to the plot in some way. I can't make the case that Lunar 2 is a game of stunning depth, but it definitely works for me. The very fact that I can remember details about each character and that they stick in my mind is testament enough to that.

Ronfar is a former priest turned gambler, whose lover Mauri was corrupted by Zophar thanks in no small part to a potion administered by Ronfar himself in an effort to cure a mortal illness. Jean is a dancer who was abducted as a child by a cult who taught her a deadly martial art that she vowed never to use once she grew up. Inevitably, she learns to hone her art into something more pure and use it to conquer evil. Lemina is a mage from the legendary city of Vane who has little else on her mind but the acquisition of money--for herself and for her city.

Jean in her dancin' clothes

If the characters in Lunar 2 are examined, it's pretty clear that the story's protagonist is its least interesting character. Hiro's primary trait is a desire for adventure and the only real plot point relevant to him is his interest in the enigmatic Lucia of the Blue Star, whose entire purpose in the story is to harness the power of Althena and destroy Zophar. She is interesting because she is unfamiliar with normal human customs and there are some funny segments of dialogue because of that. Hiro himself is unfortunately rather boring!

 Zophar himself ended up being pretty challenging, but he only took me a few tries. I can certainly thing of more difficult final bosses. In fact, the boss of the original Lunar was probably harder than this. I recall it taking me no fewer than six tries. Other bosses have been very difficult but also extremely time consuming. In this case, it was over relatively quickly, but I did have to rely on luck in a few instances to get through it.

His final form was a pushover, though

Overall, Lunar 2 is a great classic RPG, one of few that I'd never played all the way through before. I can't help but make comparisons to Grandia, which is very similar in theme, although it is much, much longer. Once I've polished off my backlog, I might consider looking into some other PS1-era RPGs that I haven't played. Wild Arms springs immediately to mind because it's a series I haven't tried at all. There's also Dragon Quest VII, but it's intimidating length scares me a bit and I'd also like to go back and finish the older titles in that series. If I follow through with my plans, though, it'll be a long time before I can start looking around. I do so have problems with sticking to my plans, however. 

Burial (Day 318)

Welp, the final boss of Lunar 2 is a huge pain in the ass, as I expected. I got to the final encounter last night and had some ambition that I'd just power through and finish it before I had to go bed. After failing in this task twice in a row, I decided to call it quits and get some rest. This was wise of me considering that I had to work today. I'm home now though, and after I finish watching the LCS, I'll get back to work on taking the final boss down. I probably won't do any postgame content unless I really feel like I'm in the mood for it. I think I'd much rather start up Vandal Hearts. It's a short enough game that I could conceivably finish it this weekend.

I really enjoy difficult boss battles in RPGs, but sometimes there are mechanics that are needlessly frustrating and random. The final boss of Lunar 2 has a nasty habit of draining MP from random targets and I only have so many MP recovery items. I think I have 5 Silver Lights to play with and those only work on a single target. This boss has three different forms and a ton of HP. Lemina is pretty much relegated to casting White Dragon Protect every turn for 50 MP or my entire party will probably die. (It allows each party member to absorb a single spell.) When the boss starts draining mana a lot, it makes it close to impossible to keep up the fight. Let's not forget that he often heals himself as well.

Even more annoying is the final boss's unfortunate tendency to occasionally one shot one of my party members. I've invested heavily in defense on one of my party members but even she goes down when hit by one of his attacks. It deals over 2000 damage even to her and the maximum possible HP is 999. The only possible way to avoid being taken out by this spell is to make sure White Dragon Protect is up, but since Lemina is so slow, she'll frequently not cast it in time for it to matter. Giving it to Jean is an option (she's the fastest party member by far) but her mana pool is much smaller than Lemina's. She could only cast the spell three or four times before she would be completely out of mana, meaning I'd have to concentrate all of my Silver Lights on her. She would also miss out on casting her powerful offensive spells, meaning I'd most likely take a lot longer to kill the boss.

I dunno though; I'll figure something out. I think in some ways I'll just have to get lucky with RNG and not get one shotted that often. It'll definitely get done tonight, that's for sure.

Dreamlands (Day 317)

I was thinking I might finish Lunar 2 tonight, but I forgot that the LCS started today. I'll probably still play a bit, but I feel like prioritizing the LCS. I think I only have one dungeon left to go, but there's also a ton of postgame content to tackle if I felt like doing so. I don't usually go out of my way to complete optional content in RPGs, but I'm considering it in this case just because the main game is reasonably short. There's still a fairly decent chance that I'll choose to forego that content and move on to Front Mission 3 in the interest of clearing out my backlog.

Now that I think about it, there are probably better games to pick up on if I'm interested in completing as many games as quickly as possible. Front Mission 3 is probably not nearly as long as the game that followed it in the series, but it's still a relatively slow-paced strategy RPG. I'm pretty sure the only reason I didn't finish it in the first place was because of how long it was taking to finish. At the time, I did not feel as motivated to finish every game I played so I frequently got distracted and moved on to other things.

I've already made quite a bit of progress on Vagrant Story and I do like the game a lot. To be honest, I"m not really sure why I stopped playing it in the first place. I don't remember writing about it very much if at all, but it has interesting gameplay and excellent dialogue. The graphics can be a little painful to look at, but I can at least appreciate the style they were attempting to go for. The game is difficult and can be punishing if you don't properly maintain your gear. Come to think of it, that's probably what made me lose interest. It was important to keep a good stock of weapons tailored to fight specific enemies or you might find yourself dealing 1 damage per hit or missing every single time.

According to HowLongtoBeat.com, Vandal Hearts should only take me about 17 hours to finish. Maybe I should try that? It's a really fun game marred only by hideously awful graphics. I'm a big fan of 2D sprite graphics, but in this case, they were really just terrible in quality and art direction. I have nothing good to say about them other than how funny the blood gushing animations are. Despite this, I recall that the gameplay and class promotion system were really engaging.

The only other PS1 game I still need to finish is Tales of Destiny, which I've discussed on this blog before. It's a solid game, but it's really an average entry into the series. If not for it being a part of the main Tales series, I probably wouldn't make it a priority to finish, but I've spent a lot of time on it already and I'd like to follow through. Still, it's a Tales game and as a general rule these games are unforgivably long. If I still have my original save data from when I was playing the game alone, I might be able to power through the rest of it.

Journey to the Plains (Day 316)

I spend a lot of time bottling up my emotions. Even though I have a blog in which I write every single day, I still find plenty of things to avoid talking about. I worry about things constantly and it makes me a nervous wreck sometimes. It's easier for me just to ignore it all so I can arrive at even a semblance of coping. This works for me a lot of the time, but other times it just causes problems. When I block out everything around me, I find I have a harder time being honest with myself.

The truth is that I'm scared. I'm scared very often. I don't like to talk about it because I can just feel it getting ready to overwhelm me whenever I do. It would be so much easier to deal with if I just had someone I could talk to--really talk to--but I don't really have anyone like that in my life at the moment. I don't know where to being to look for that kind of person either. My job is not a great way to meet people so far, as it turns out. I like my coworkers pretty well, but they are all at drastically different stages of life than I am--and we don't really have a lot in common.

I'm scared that I'm wasting my time in every conceivable way. I get scared when I think about how much time I've wasted already. I get scared when I think about the fact that I'm 26 and I've been out of high school for 8 years. I want to think about ways to move on from this situation, but as of right now I'm overwhelmed simply with the idea of getting by. I don't make very much money as it is and I would be lying if I said I was confident that I'd be keeping this job for a long time. I think I'm good at my job and I think I have the ability to get even better, but I can't help but feel overcome with despair. I worked at Wal-Mart for four years and I was so scared of getting fired every day that I quit out of misery. I don't want that to happen again, but I'm more anxious about the idea of getting fired again than anything else.

I hate when I don't perform tasks up to my expectations. I know what I'm capable of but I watch myself fall short over and over again, even when I know I'm jeopardizing my own wellbeing. I had a job last year that wasn't a great job--but it helped to pay the bills. I didn't try hard enough and I was let go. If circumstances had been different I might have been able to stay on anyway, but that's not the point. I did not perform simple tasks as they should have been performed and as a result I lost my job and my only source of income. Instead of treating this hardship as a learning experience, I instead spiraled wildly into depression and didn't find another job for over six months.

The sad part is that it's not the first time that's happened. I quit my job at Wal-Mart because it was making me miserable and I had enough money saved up to give me time to look for something else--or so I thought at the time. I instead decided to take that free time as an opportunity to gradually destroy my relationship and settle firmly into one of the biggest ruts of my life. Luckily for me, that experience led to me moving to Austin for four months, which I can look back on as a positive time for me. I'm really glad that I went, even if the circumstances that led up to it may not have been the best.

My point is that I don't want to fall into an endless cycle. I don't want to be that guy that can't hold down a job and whines and moans about how unfair his life is. I worked at Wal-Mart for four years. As crappy as that job might have been, the stability inherent to the position was very nice. I shouldn't have given it up as soon as I did. If I had continued working there until I'd found something else, I think the course of my life would have changed considerably. Hell, I might still be working there. I can't say I'd be happy with it, but I wouldn't be in nearly as much debt and I'd probably have a few more friends than I do now.

It's useless for me to dwell on the past, but I don't think there's much harm in looking back on it and trying to learn from it. It's better than shoving it all deep inside me somewhere and trying as hard as I can to forget about it. If there's anything that can combat the anxiety I experience on a daily basis, it's a genuine willingness to try as hard as I can to succeed. If for some reason I don't make full status at my job, I can't imagine I'll be terribly upset if I genuinely tried my hardest. I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself if I half-assed it for three months and then got the boot. I can't sabotage myself like that anymore. I just can't.

I Was on the Back of a Nightingale (Day 315)

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete is, like its immediate predecessor, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, a remake of a Sega CD game which I have not played. According to what I've read, the improvements on the game are numerous. Full Motion Video scenes have been extended and graphical quality has improved. The graphics in this remake look dated by today's standards, of course, but I still find them quite pleasing--and considering the number of old RPGs I play, I'm more than accustomed to 2D graphics.

Right away, Lunar 2 forces you to engage in an epic battle with insects

 For the most part, the mechanics in Lunar 2 adhere closely to standard old school Japanese RPG tradition. Like only a few others, the first two Lunar games allow you to field a party of five characters, a trend that I wish was more common in RPGs of the time. I always really enjoyed having five characters in my party in Final Fantasy IV and I always wondered why Squaresoft didn't continue the trend. In the case of Lunar 2, having five party members is interesting because of the way formation works. The player's side of the field is essentially an invisible grid--much like some of the earlier Tales games. In this case, combat is still very turn-based, but your characters' positions in relation to your enemies affects how vulnerable you are to enemy attack and how far you have to travel if you must attack in melee.

Some characters have poor range, meaning they may not be able to move and attack in the same turn. Ronfar, the disgraced former priest turned gambler, is particularly short range, meaning that it can be a good idea to place him closer to the front row. However, he also serves as the party's primary healer, so it's important to keep him safe for boss battles. Following in the tradition of more Western RPGs, Ronfar assumes the role of a sort of battle cleric, wielding maces for decent physical damage. It is up to the player whether Ronfar is used more physically or defensively.

Jean is one of my favorites

Each character has access to a variety of unique spells and/or attacks. The protagonist, Hiro, learns sword skills and wind-elemental magic, whereas Jean learns dances that inflict status ailments. The success rate of these ailments depend entirely upon the enemy in question. The developers were kind enough to include an indicator that lets you know just how likely a certain ailment is to land. Some enemies might be susceptible to Sleep whereas others could more easily be poisoned. Jean is a dancer who was kidnapped as a child and taught a deadly martial art--which she of course later swore not to use to hurt others. It's a pretty common mishmash of tropes, but I feel it's done fairly well in this game.

Brains? Brains, right?

There's nothing particularly original about the characters in Lunar 2, but I feel they're reasonably well-written

and likable. The dialogue is often pretty entertaining to read, too, which is saying something. In most JRPGs like this, reading dialogue is a very tedious process. The Tales series is pretty bad about this; I often have to resist the urge to skip the dialogue completely and get on to the entertaining combat system. In Lunar 2, I may not always be enraptured by conversations the characters are having, but I seldom feel the urge to skip.

Lunar 2 is also a reasonably challenging game. I'm only about halfway through (as far as I can tell), and I've already had to reset on a couple of different bosses. If I search my memories, I can just barely recall that Silver Star Story Complete was similarly challenging, particularly in the case of the final boss. I'm not sure if it's true here, but in that game, bosses scaled with the level of your party, making it impossible to power level to defeat them. I really enjoy this mechanic because it requires you to think about strategy when it comes to bosses, regardless of how much time you spend cheesing out levels.

Ruby can see your true intentions

Overall, Lunar 2 is a really cool game and a great way to kick off a marathon of uncompleted games, if that is indeed what I'm doing here. I still haven't decided if that's really what I'm going to do. It's going to depend highly on how I feel after I complete this one. If I jump right into another game and feel like I'm making progress, I think we'll have a genuine marathon on our hands. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Deus Ex Machina (Day 314)

A couple of years ago, I decided to go on a marathon of playing games from my backlog. It was somewhat erroneously titled the Backlog Eradication Marathon because it did no such thing. I did however manage to complete about ten games that I'd left off somewhere near the end. In a lot of cases, it made me wonder why I'd stopped playing them in the first place because for the most part they were really enjoyable games. Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga was really fun and had a surprisingly difficult final boss. Golden Sun had fantastic gameplay but really tedious dialogue. The last game that I completed as a part of that marathon was Front Mission 4. HowLongToBeat.com tells me the game should take roughly 37 hours to finish but I have no idea where they got that figure because it took me well over 80, not counting all the times I had to repeat missions.

I am currently flirting with the idea of doing another one of these marathons, although I can't imagine I'll make progress quite as quickly as I did last time considering how comparatively limited my free time is these days. After pruning some games I didn't feel needed to be completed from my Unfinished list, I've ended up with a still relatively sizable list of 39 games, the vast majority of which are relatively lengthy RPGs. If I wanted to pad my statistics a little bit, I'd go ahead and tackle Catherine and Limbo after I'm done with Lunar 2, but we'll see if I end up being in the mood for that.

Some of the games on the list are difficult for me to play at the moment. My PS2 is broken and PS2 emulation has thus far been relatively unreliable. I'd really like to pick up on games like Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga and La Pucelle: Tactics, but it can be a pain to get them to work correctly. PSP games have similar issues, although I did manage to play all the way through the remake of the original Persona game on a PSP emulator. I haven't had similar luck with Persona 2: Innocent Sin, unfortunately.

It might be smartest for me to focus on PlayStation games for now as there are a few games left for me to finish there and I feel like I could probably be in the mood to play any of them. After Lunar 2, I could pick back up on Vagrant Story, Vandal Hearts, Front Mission 3, or Tales of Destiny. I think these are all pretty decent games that deserve to be completed. There are a few other PS1 games that I wouldn't mind finishing that are not currently on this list as well, like Breath of Fire III, but I'm going to try avoiding that until I've finished other games that are higher priority.

Clearing out my backlog doesn't really accomplish anything meaningful, but I think it would satisfy some of my obsessive tendencies while also giving me quite a bit to write about. Still, this stuff is really time consuming. It took me an extremely long time to get through Super Robot Wars: Alpha Gaiden and some of these games are likely even longer than that. I'm thinking of Front Mission 3 in particular. I think there's a decent chance I finish or come very close to finishing Lunar 2 tomorrow night, but maybe I'm being too optimistic. I do have this habit of getting distracted. 

Rebuilding the Temple of Artemis (Day 313)

Today is the first day of my three days off. It's 1:36 PM and so far I have done very little of note. I plan on watching the last day of LCS this week (that's four games) and probably play some Lunar 2 while doing so. I've been thinking about what I want to do with Strands as well. I was not at all satisfied with my last entry but I felt like I had to get something out there. It's confusing and inconsistent even with itself, but it's something that I can hopefully refine and make into something decent.

I've not been having an easy time with being creative lately. Part of the problem comes from constantly writing myself into corners, but that's certainly not the only factor in play here. I'm okay with going long periods of time not contributing to Strands, but I'd like to write something good during those off times. I haven't really been making any interesting observations lately. Even when I write about video games, there is a certain energy and enthusiasm that makes that really enjoyable to me and I end up proud of the result. I'm just in a lull right now. I haven't fully committed to what I'm playing now and there's very much the feeling of dealing with unfinished business. I want to go back and finish games that I haven't played in a long time, but it's hard to form new impressions about these games.

I guess I'm feeling a bit out of sorts lately. I should be more excited that I have three days off in a row because it gives me a lot of time to play games, to think up new ideas for the story, and to write in general. Unfortunately, I can't help but dwell on the things that have been bothering me lately. I'm not making as much money as I would like and I'm able to spend only a small amount of what I do make. There are tons of things I'd like to buy but it isn't feasible for me to do so and it feels unlikely I"ll be able to save up any significant amount of money in the near future. Maybe I'll go full status at work and start making more money. That's possible, but I'm not banking on it either. I have very little confidence in myself even though I know I have the ability to do my job well. By default I assume that things will remain the same--or worse, I'll lose my job and be put in the supremely uncomfortable position of finding something new.

Adjusting to my new situation has been difficult. In most respects, my life is improving. I was unemployed for a number of months and I was really letting myself waste away. I let my hair and beard grow wildly and I stopped taking care of myself in general. After a time, I really started to look like some kind of drifter. My house also devolved into a colossal mess. Unfortunately, that still hasn't changed. Some combination of laziness and depression is preventing me from mounting the unenviable task of cleaning the house. Admittedly, I have no method of disposing of trash currently. The trash bill will have to be paid for them to start collecting it again and that's just not something I can afford right now.

On the other hand, though, I'm doing reasonably well at my new job. I got a haircut and my beard is as well-groomed as it could be under the circumstances--though I could certainly stand to buy a new razor. I finally have a working cell phone and I'm falling in love with it. It's an HTC One M8. I had an iPhone for years, but so far I really prefer Android. We'll see if it proves to have as much longevity, though. After four years, my iPhone 4 still functions really well.

I'm not sure how to transition from here. I'm in this position where I'd like to make new friends or at least reconnect with old ones but at the same time I have this crippling social phobia. Do I really know what I want? I think it would be cool to have someone to go with the movies with sometimes--or maybe some folks I could hang out with and play games. The only real social interaction I have these days is with online friends on League of Legends, but that's becoming an increasingly uncommon thing. I remember we used to play just about every day, but people have lost a lot of interest in the game or would rather play with other people. I know I personally don't play it very much myself.

I know I can't just expect things to fall in place, but I really have no idea what to do to be happy. Cleaning my house would certainly increase my happiness level, but I currently have nowhere to dispose of trash and the motivation to do so in the first place is pretty difficult to come by. I would also feel a lot better if I started going on daily runs/walks. The weather is beautiful lately and I could certainly stand to get a little sun and build up some endurance. I have a job in which I mostly sit down all day, so I'm getting very little exercise there.

In the end, words are meaningless. I need to take action. I need to find the strength to take action. How and where do I find that?

Below the Sky (Day 312)

Jiendo is a city of sorts constructed in a large canyon in Caranda Plains. The canyon is ringed by a partial fence laid out with metal plates adorned with various decorations and artwork. The purpose of this fence is unknown since it would do very little to deter potential intruders. There are many gaps and openings in this fence that allow for easy access to the canyon, although the plates do provide a not insignificant amount of shade to the canyon's inhabitants.

A series of earthen pathways ring the canyon in a loose spiral pattern all the way down to the bottom where a few ramshackle cabins lie. Wood is reasonably hard to come by in Caranda, so wooden buildings are only rarely constructed. Most of Jiendo's citizens opt instead to live in hollowed out segments of the canyon's walls. Many of these rooms are very large and elaborate, although most are simple in design.

Many well-worn rope bridges are strung from pathways on opposite sides of the canyon. Despite the traffic these bridges experience on a daily basis, they hold up quite well. This is a testament to the woven glythe hair the ropes are constructed from. The bristly beasts are fearsome to behold but their fur commands quite the premium. Caranda is not exactly a land rich with natural resources, so the glythe is highly sought after by aspiring hunters due to its value as a item for trade--both domestically and for traders hailing from Kuroc, a large city to the south.

The people of Jiendo are peaceful, no-nonsense folk. They experience little conflict (or indeed any interaction at all) with surrounding cities due to the remoteness of Caranda. It is unclear to an outside observer how Jiendo has continued to prosper considering the harsh conditions under which its people live. A natural born citizen of the settlement might tell you that they stay out of tradition, out of a sense of loyalty to their families and to the old ways. Others will express discontent with their situation, but few actually end up leaving. The journey to Kuroc is a perilous one and any further is more dangerous still.

Although conditions are not ideal, Jiendo is livable, and home to a great number of content citizens. They survive by shielding themselves from the harsh rays of the sun, dressing light, and trading with the far-away city of Kuroc. Although it is difficult, it has proven to be a sustainable system for prosperity. Still, it is clear that the younger generation's discontent is growing. In the years to come, change might finally start to happen. Perhaps there will be a great migration to the south. Some have even suggested further exploration of the Stakes, an idea that had been forbidden only a few years before.

All these things are on Brea's mind as she finds herself leading a potentially dangerous stranger to the Jiendo settlement. This woman from an unfamiliar land--she'd seen the outside world. Who knew what sights she'd seen or how she had lived? There was only so much Sarah would tell her and Brea wasn't about to press. What if Casnie were willing to divulge more information? What if. . .what if. . .? She wasn't ready to think about that yet. She didn't know anything about this woman. Sarah seemed to believe she was a dangerous sorcerer. As ludicrous as that seemed, Brea wasn't yet prepared to discount the possibility.

From Roots to Needles (Day 311)

Today was a very stressful day for me. I can't say I excel in situations where I lack the proper knowledge to deal with a certain situation and I have no guidance on how to proceed. I'm good at following directions and completing familiar processes, but improvising can be tough, especially when it's so important that proper procedures be followed. I think when I get stressed out I have a much harder time internalizing and applying information. It's especially stressful when I feel like I'm not receiving enough assistance to appropriately get my work done. I guess I'll just have to learn some of these things by trial and error, but I'd rather be told straight up what I need to do than have to figure it out myself. That opens up the possibility that I mess something up which could result in someone being charged for the wrong thing or not getting what they thought they were supposed to get.

Anyway, I'm over it. I'm exhausted because I had a really hard time getting to sleep last night. This is very, very common and I have talked about it a lot on this blog. Unfortunately, I never seem to learn from my mistakes. Generally once I'm engaged in some process that requires me to exercise my mind, I forget about how sleepy I am. Now that I'm at home, it's definitely hitting me. I'm tired. I want to go to sleep, but I also don't want to waste my free time after work. I'm considering downing some coffee and catching up on the LCS while playing Lunar 2, but simply going to sleep also seems like an attractive option.

I have to work tomorrow, but after that I'll be off for three days in a row. I don't have any specific plans for these days, but I can only hope that I'll get something done creatively. I haven't updated the story lately--not because I don't have the time to do so, but because I'm drawing a blank and I don't want to phone it in. I have a lot of ideas on how to progress but I've written myself into a corner again. It's not so bad as the last time, of course. There are definitely ways to progress from here but I'm having a hard time figuring out interesting things that can happen. I think once I have a few days off in a row I'll be able to clear my head. My goal is to crank out at least two solid writing entries over this little break, so hopefully that works out.

I'm finding it difficult to muster up anything resembling real insight at the moment. It's like there's a storm cloud in my brain and my thoughts are having a hard time getting through properly. I imagine I'll have more to say pretty soon about Lunar 2 and maybe Fire Emblem, despite how slowly I'm progressing through both. I won't have much to do but sit at home and play video games over my three days off, so I'll probably throw some screenshots out there and talk about some of my initial impressions. I've played Lunar 2 before but it's been so long that it feels like the first time anyway.

Courland Aa (Day 310)

I'm sort of at a loss as to what game to play next after finishing Alpha Gaiden. I spent a month and a half on it and now that it's finished, I feel a tad directionless. For some reason, I'm not eager to start up Final Fantasy X again although I desperately want to finish it at some point. I think my final decision will probably be made Saturday night because I have the three days after that off. As nerdy as it is, I'll probably spend the vast majority of that time hanging out at home and playing video games--or failing that, I"ll spend that time trying to figure out what game to play. . .

I've tried to establish a trend recently of focusing on finishing games in my backlog instead of taking on new ones. There's no real tangible reason for this other than making my stats on Backloggery look good. I also feel that all of the 39 unfinished games listed there deserve to be played and completed. If I could one day get to the point where I only have 2-3 unfinished games at a time in my backlog, that would be amazing. A pretty sizable portion of those games are reasonably time-consuming to complete though, so I imagine it's going to be some time before that happens. Plus, let's face it--I'm not great at following my own rules about not playing new games. Sometimes games come out that I just have to have.

One game that's been on my mind a little bit is Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. It's a game that I haven't touched in many years. I really liked the PlayStation version of Lunar: Silver Star Story and figured the sequel would be similarly good. It turned out to be a really good game if I'm remembering correctly, but I also ran into some issues emulating it. I believe I ran into some framerate issues in a certain dungeon and I lost motivation because the dungeon also had a really difficult boss. Unfortunately, I can't remember a lot of the specifics. I'm wondering now if newer versions of ePSXe might have fixed those issues or if maybe I could use a different graphics plugin to circumvent the problem.

The idea of playing a classic RPG from that era sounds pretty good to me right now. There is the option of Dragon Quest III or Lufia II but I think I'm in the mood for something slightly more plot-driven. I recall really enjoying the funny dialogue in the Lunar games and I feel like I don't see that enough these days. I don't have a problem with voice acting, per se, but if it's not extremely well done it can detract from the experience. Some of the voice acting in FFX is stilted and awkward, for instance. All the same, though, I miss being able to read dialogue aloud. It's something I did a lot when I was a kid while playing games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. It was always a lot more fun to do in games with well-written dialogue.

Reading dialogue aloud is not something I do very often anymore. I remember having this aspiration to be a voice actor before I realized that I don't have that great of a voice and it's not a realistic goal to have in the first place. Aside from that, I rarely give a game my undivided attention these days. I multitask a lot while playing games--and if I'm being honest, it does detract from the experience a bit. I think if I paid more attention to games I would enjoy them more, but sometimes my brain doesn't let me. I either get bored or I grow dissatisfied with how little I'm getting done with the time I'm using. I voraciously consume all different kinds of media, so devoting my time to one thing when I could be doing multiple things seems like an inefficient use of my time--even though efficiency shouldn't matter when all I'm trying to do is have some fun.

Having fun isn't the only goal for me though, now that I think about it. There's more to it than that. I like to absorb all of this information and digest it so I can compare it to other things, so I can write about it, and so I can talk about it. I like the idea of being really knowledgeable about a lot of different pop culture phenomena. For instance, I became fascinated with the idea of watching through the entirety of the original Star Trek series. I wasn't particularly interested in Star Trek and I can't say I derived a great deal of enjoyment out of what I did watch, but I loved the idea of being knowledgeable about it and being able to use that information to relate to others and understand more about popular culture.

In this case though, I just want to work on a game that's really fun to play. Of course I'll write about it and draw conclusions about it--but mostly, I just want to have something to play that's fun. We'll see how Lunar 2 goes.

We Crave What We Lack (Day 309)

I'm so happy that I finally finished Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden. I really like the game, but those last missions were difficult and time-consuming. Although I'm not eager to play it a second time just yet, I'd definitely make some different choices as I progressed. One thing that I should have done a lot more is focus upgrades on one unit at a time. I liked to have a balanced squad so no one really got too far ahead of anyone else. This isn't actually very much of an issue in Alpha Gaiden though because of how leveling works. If an underleveled unit destroys a much higher level unit,. it gets a massive boost to experience and might gain six or seven levels. It's really easy to catch up any units that might have fallen behind.

I left off yesterday with the three Gundam Wing characters in my squad. We'll pick up with the characters that I used from After War Gundam X.

Garrod Ran and Tifa Adil in Gundam Double X (After War Gundam X)
Gundam Double X was one of my strongest units thanks in no small part to the arsenal of spirit commands available to Garrod and Tifa. Both pilots had Alert, so attacking powerful bosses was never an issue. The unit's evasion was also low enough that using Alert wasn't always even necessary. Twin Satellite Cannon was tied for strongest attack out of all my units with Daitarn 3's Sun Attack, both of which were right at 5000 power. Unfortunately, it was only available to be used every few turns or so--but the presence of the extremely powerful and long range G-Bits attack more than makes up for that.

Jamil Neate in Gundam X (After War Gundam X)
Gundam X also has access to the ever useful G-Bits attack, which has a range of 9 and a power of around 3800. Gundam X and Double X were often perched in the very back lines, evading most attacks thrown their way and tossing out extreme amounts of damage. I didn't invest as many upgrades into Gundam X as Double X though, so Jamil went down a lot more often.

Caris Nautilus in Vertigo (After War Gundam X)
Vertigo is interesting because it also has a long range Bits attack. It has less power, but the Vertigo itself has a tremendous amount of HP. It served as a decent defensive artillery unit for the last couple of stages.

Loran Cehack in ∀ Gundam (Turn A Gundam)
I'm not really sure what Loran's deal is. He's a very effeminate male with a female name. When you first meet him in the course of the game, he's dressed like a woman. This isn't really explained at any point in the game. He also pilots a Gundam with a giant mustache. I'm just not sure what's going on at all, but I guess I'd just have to watch the anime to figure that out. As far as his combat performance goes, he's solid. I didn't invest as many upgrades into ∀ Gundam as I should have because I didn't anticipate that he would end up with the powerful Moonlight Butterfly attack. If I play again, I might give this guy another shot.

Banjou Haran in Daitarn 3 (Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3)
Daitarn was a late inclusion to the roster when I realized I could field 17 units for the final missions. He's one of the very few super robots in my roster. He has sky high HP and solid attacks, although his mobility is obviously terrible and his accuracy leaves something to be desired. I generally don't like super robots much, but he did his job as a tank in those final missions and did it effectively.

Mari Sakurano in Blugar (Raideen the Brave)
I don't know very much about the anime Mari comes from, but Raideen itself is a pretty solid super robot that  I did not use very often. I decided to use Mari because the Blugar is a fast and evasive craft with repair and resupply capabilities and Mari herself had a solid set of spirit commands.

Chikara Jinguji in Blugar (Raideen the Brave)
I felt like I needed as many support units as I could get.

Masaki Andoh in Cybuster (Banpresto Original)
I absolutely loved Masaki (and Ryune) in Super Robot Wars Original Generation, so it was only natural for me to use him in this game. His moveset is largely unchanged between the two games, although he actually has an attack here that he doesn't retain in Original Generation in Discutter Rave. His Cy-Flash map attack simplified many maps. Probably in my top three most useful units.

Hwang Yang Long in Granveil (Banpresto Original)
I'm 80% sure that this guy was in Original Generation using a different but similar robot. The Granveil is a relatively bulky robot that can still dodge slower attacks. It has a good variety of close and long range attacks as well as a unique map attack that can hit enemies in a straight or diagonal line.

Cenia Grania Bilseia in Nors Rei (Banpresto Original)
I was initially attracted to this character because her robot is highly evasive with decent attacks. As far as damage goes, she was massively outscaled, but she remained useful due to being able to repair. If only she could resupply also...

Sleepyhead Symphony (Day 308)

As of this writing, I have not yet finished Alpha Gaiden, but I am on the final part of the final mission. The game's definitely not making it easy on me. I have encountered few mission in strategy RPGs that have put me through so much. I'm reminded of SRW Original Generation and of course Front Mission 4, which took me years to complete due to the game's glacial pace.

I fully expect to finish this tonight, but for the moment, I'm playing some League of Legends with some friends. I thought I'd take some time to discuss my final roster like I did for Super Robot Wars J. 

From top row, left to right: Cenia in Nors Rei, Marbet in White Ark, Diana/Milan in Soleil, Mari in Blugar, Jinguji in Blugar, Kamille in Zeta Gundam, Jamil in Gundam X, Garrod/Tifa in Gundam Double X, Yang Long in Granveil, Masaki in Cybuster, Zechs in Tallgeese, Trowa in Gundam Heavyarms Custom, Caris in Vertigo, Judau in ZZ Gundam, Usso in V2 Assault Buster Gundam, Heero in Wing Gundam Zero Custom, Banjou in Daitarn 3, and Loran in ∀Gundam

All of these units fall into certain categories in my strategy. We have our skirmishers, tanks, and damage dealers, as well as our medics. Unlike Super Robot Wars J, I really mixed it up when it came to which anime series' characters I used. In a lot of cases, I only used one character from a certain anime, although I did use as many as three. In Super Robot Wars J, you only had access to Gundams from two different series. In Alpha Gaiden, there's something like eight different series to choose from. As a result, my final team was very Gundam-heavy. I'll start with them.

Kamille Bidan in Powered-Up Zeta Gundam (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam)

Kamille was likely my strongest character for large portions of the game, likely due in no small part to the huge number of upgrades and parts I sent his way. There has to be something else at play there, though, because his evasion in particular became staggeringly high at a certain point of the game. After his upgrade in mission 39, his combat capabilities shot through the roof and he was regularly doing 9000 damage to some enemies without any boosts. I'm also currently watching the series he's from!

Judau Ashta in ZZ Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ)

As the protagonist of the series directly following Zeta Gundam, you'd expect him to be a real powerhouse as well. Unfortunately, I've had mixed results from him. His Spirit Command setup is strong, especially since he has Soul, the x2.5 damage ability, but his Gundam's skillset leaves something to be desired. Although ZZ Gundam has an incredibly strong map attack, it suffers from friendly fire, a con that Cybuster's far superior Cy-Flash does not share. ZZ Gundam is highly evasive, however, and very mobile in flight mode. I'm suddenly wishing now that I'd switched Judau to a different Gundam. This is something I easily could have done but never thought to do.

Usso Ewin in V2 Assault Buster Gundam (Mobile Suit Victory Gundam)

I don't know much about the series he's from at all other than the fact it takes place during the Universal Century timeline established by the original series and the two Zeta series. Usso is a 13-year old kid who apparently has the traditional series robot Haro as his co-pilot. I'm not sure if it's the same one as from the original series, but it must have been important to the plot in this case. Usso is one of my less powerful characters, but he's solid all the same. I think I mostly kept him out of loyalty to my Gundam-centric squad.

Marbet Fingerhut in White Ark (Mobile Suit Victory Gundam)

Marbet, on the other hand, has been with me since the very beginning. She has been my primary repairer/resupplier for the entire game. Her craft is decently evasive but also quite tanky, a fantastic combination for a support unit. She also has access to Rouse, one of the best late game Spirit Commands. It allows you to beef up your units so they have access to their more powerful abilities earlier in the mission. I had three units in my final roster that could use this ability.

Heero Yuy in Wing Gundam Zero Custom (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing)

This was the character that was most recognizable to me the first time I played this game. It's been many years since I watched Gundam Wing, but I still remember the characters pretty well. Wing Zero had access to some really powerful map attacks, but like ZZ Gundam, friendly fire was an issue. Unlike ZZ Gundam, ZZ Gundam has a decently strong single target attack in Twin Buster Rifle, so it was generally more versatile. Heero unfortunately does not have the Alert Spirit Command, so he was sometimes useless against bosses that could one-shot him.

Trowa Barton in Gundam Heavyarms Custom (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing)

If I could do the game over again (and it's possible I will at some point), I would probably not use Trowa. Although he has access to a decent variety of powerful attacks in Heavyarms, he has terrible mobility and isn't very durable. His most powerful attack also has only 3 ammo, making it mandatory for a Resupplier to travel closely behind him at all times.

Zechs Marquise in Tallgeese (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing)

I would also most likely not use Zechs again, at least not in my final squad. He was very powerful for a large portion of the game, but was eventually outscaled as my other characters received upgrades to their units and I acquired more powerful characters. His ultimate attack, Mega Cannon, is decently strong, but it chips away at his Energy pretty quickly.

I'm going to go ahead and save the rest of the roster for tomorrow, because this is getting ridiculously long.

College (Day 307)

Yikes, I am tired. I should have gotten a lot more sleep last night but I became obsessed with the idea of completing Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden. It was all for naught though because I didn't finish it. I'm on the last mission--but I'm not done. It's already ten o'clock now and I've pretty much just gotten home. It seems unlikely I'll actually finish the game tonight considering how tired I feel, but I expect I'll give it a try anyway. The cooler thing that happened tonight is the fact that I finally bought a new phone!

I haven't had a working cell phone since October, although I have nonetheless been inseparable from my iPhone for other reasons. It has been my quintessential music device for car listening as well as a great companion for reddit/Twitter/Facebook browsing while away from my computer. If we're being honest here, that's probably going to be the main function for my new phone, but the fact that I can actually send and receive calls now is a definite bonus. Plus, it's just a really nice phone. I had an iPhone for years, but I decided to try out Android this time around and bought an HTC One M8 after reading several glowing reviews of the phone. I haven't had much time to experiment with it yet, but so far I'm pretty impressed.

Right off the bat I'm really fond of the smooth shape and 90% metal body. It has a lot of weight to it and feels much more like a quality product than something like the Galaxy S5. I think both are good phones, but the HTC One M8 feels a lot sturdier and more solid. The screen is only a tiny fraction of an inch smaller than the S5's as well. I think I probably would have been mostly satisfied with either phone, but I'm thus far not regretting my choice. We'll have to see how I feel in the coming months. I was satisfied with my iPhone for the many years that I had it and I think it'll be hard to replicate that kind of longevity. I have to admit I'm somewhat afraid I'll damage the phone before I have it completely paid off. I ended up buying a case for it even though one of the major selling points of the phone for me was how heavy and sturdy it was without any kind of protection.

One thing I'm really interested in doing is trying out the Android versions of Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI. Let's set aside for the moment that I have played other versions of these games to death already. I really like the new graphical style the Android versions have, aside from a few of the overworld sprites. I generally always enjoy replaying these games, although I'm ambivalent about the $15.99 price tag for each. Considering the age of these games, a price of $9.99 would be a lot more appropriate. It's true they're classics, but I think Square Enix is pushing it a little with those prices. This is pretty much the only reason I'm not snapping up Final Fantasy VI right away.

It appears that there may be compatibility issues with my car stereo and the USB cable included with the HTC One M8. This is a little annoying considering how often I listen to music from my phone in the car--not to mention the convenience inherent to charging my phone via USB. My lighter no longer works, so a specialty car charger isn't even an option for me. I don't know if the incompatibility has something to do with USB 3.0 or if I can just tinker with the phone's settings to make it work. Let's hope it's the latter--and also that I can at least communicate between thw two devices with Bluetooth.