Working On The Backlog

I've spent the greater part of the last week working on my ridiculous backlog of games.

• Metroid: Other M (Wii) - After waiting nearly two weeks for my Wii to return from repairs, I dove right into this game. I've been a fan of Metroid for about fourteen years now, so when this game was announced, I was ecstatic. I finished the story content at around 9 hours and collected all of the items around the 12 hour mark. It's a bit on the short side, but that's quite a lot of content for a Metroid title. Unfortunately, this game is the weakest in the franchise. The narrative is rather weak and the item collection is a joke. For those out of the loop, you start the game with all of your power ups, but you're ordered not to use any of them without authorization. It fits the narrative: You intercept a distress signal and you're there to assist a platoon that is attempting to recover survivors. Running in, Plasma Beams blazing, dropping Power Bombs all over the place isn't exactly the proper way to handle the situation. However, it gets ridiculous at times. A rather notorious example is when you're traversing Sector 3, a replica of what could be considered Norfair (Basically an environment for organisms that thrive in high temperature environments) without the Varia Suit. After exploring this region for what seems like ages, you are finally given the authorization to use your Varia Suit (which, if you think about it, doesn't make sense. What's the point in not authorizing a purely defensive mechanism?). Final Verdict: 2.5/5
• Shank (PSN / XBLA) - Not much to say about this game. Brodude and Dynas showed it to me and I was genuinely intrigued. When the game was released, I tried the demo and didn't like it. I had no intentions of buying it citing excuses involving the "clunky" control mechanics. However, since my little issue with PSN not accepting my new debit card (I've still been too lazy to call either Sony or my credit union), I've resorted to buying PSN cards. Castle Crashers was released a week later, so I bought a $20 card for that and had the extra money left over, so I bought it against my better judgment. After sitting down with the game, the "clunky" controls I complained about weren't very "clunky" at all. After analyzing the controls and getting a feel for the game, I quickly learned that Shank was not a game that relied on relentless button mashing. If used properly, you can bob and weave through your arsenal of weaponry and create seamless combos to take down even hoards of foes with ease. Final Verdict: 3/5
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game (PSN / XBLA) - What to say about this? When I first saw the trailer for the movie, I thought it looked unique, but I had no interest in it. At the end of July, I'd officially become obsessed with the Scott Pilgrim universe. When I learned of the game: a homage to old school classics like River City Random and Double Dragon with music performed by the chiptune band Anamanaguchi with 32-bit sprites, I knew I needed this game. There's not much more I can say. Just download the demo and give it a try. Final Verdict: 5/5

The next games I plan to work on include Mass Effect, Castle Crashers, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Revival

Long time, no see.

I haven't felt passionate about posting information regarding FFXI because, well, everyone that read the blog communicated on me on a daily basis. However, with FFXIV on the horizon (Less than a week), I thought now would be a great time to revive the blog.

I was initially going to wait on FFXIV until the PS3 release until I was told that old members of YuckFou, including our founder, would be jumping into the fray. I was genuinely excited. No offense to Auriga, Anduril, or the Lakshmi 10k, but my happiest days of FFXI were back during the dark ages when YuckFou was not only alive, but active. However, the master plan seems to be falling apart. Everyone, with one exception, has bailed on the idea of playing at launch for one reason or another. However, that hasn't stopped me from wanting to play the game. Outside of a few issues that SE commented on and plan to remedy for the retail release, I love the game.

Now, the fun part will be juggling both at the same time. I'm already failing in this regard. I know it's only in Beta, but I feel a bit guilty for neglecting it for FFXI. Though, you could argue that I have a legitimate excuse with the level cap increase and all.

Anyway. I'll wrap this up. May the Twelve be with you.

WHOA NELLY!

REVIVAL IMMINENT.

CHECK BACK LATER.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Between work and school, I haven't had much time to do, well, anything, but I am attempting to make some progress.

For those wondering about work, I am enjoying it. It is a lot better than my old job. There is a very strong relationship between the employees and the employer here, and that is pretty nice compared to my last job where the employees were treated horribly.

School is coming along... I am quite ready for this semester to be finished. The semester will be over in about four weeks. After that, I'll have a small break before having to jump into the fray again for a summer semester. Once the summer semester is over, I will be ready to graduate with my associate's degree. I am looking forward to it! I plan to work on finding a better job over the summer. Hopefully there will be a place that will be willing to hire me considering how close I am to completing my degree.

As far as video games are concerned, I stopped playing XIII. I just sort of lost interest. I still intend to finish (and get the platinum), but right now, I am not up for it. I also bought Little Big Planet, but I have not played it much at all. We should play together sometime!

In Final Fantasy XI, I have been pretty bored. For the last couple of weeks, I have logged in only to find myself logging out shortly afterwards due to having nothing to do. After I obtained my new avatars, I felt there was little purpose to continue playing. For the time being, I've been leveling White Mage. I got an invite to a colibri party last night and managed to go from 37 to less than 1k to 41 in a matter of about two hours. Pretty nice.

To-Do List

Went out and camped Chonchon today. No competition at all... Got the drop on my third attempt.

Next on my agenda is to go after the Cassandra's earring and the Helenus's earring. Also, I really want a Sarissa. You guys can make that happen, right?

...

No Mumorpuger Means...?

I've been quite busy as of late. I canceled my WoW subscription because I was out of money. Now that my super check has arrived, I have not had a desire to resubscribe. Why? A number of reasons.

For one, I have been increasingly busy with real life lately. I was terribly behind in statistics (As Jil puts it, the "Devil's math"). However, I have caught myself up with help from my instructor, but this only means that I'm falling behind in my other classes. This week will prove to be a little busy as I scramble to get myself back in the routine of things. This should be easy enough, as I have said once before that I'm taking math and science (with a little bit of Accounting thrown in) this semester.

Second, my goodies arrived. I used my super check to buy a few things I have been wanting. I believe I have spoiled myself... but considering the drama I put up with in this family, I think I deserve something nice... so I bought a HDTV (Samsung 32" 720p), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and Assassin's Creed II (despite ragequitting Assassin's Creed I because of the enemy AI and repetitive mission structure). Advent Children Complete was quite enjoyable. The additions were worth it and the story is actually coherent if you've played through the original (I had to play Crisis Core and Final Fantasy VII back-to-back to really get the original version of the film). Overall, I felt that the original version was incomplete. It seemed as if it relied too much on Crisis Core (Which I do not even think existed when the original film was released). Spirit Tracks is a great game. If you have a DS, I highly recommend it if only for its wonderful overworld theme. And, of course, Assassin's Creed II is great. It really was what the first game should have been. It's just a shame I'm a bit too busy to play it at the moment.

Perhaps what is one of the biggest factors of my inactive WoW account is Blizzard's oh-so-wonderful method to level caps. You see, unlike Final Fantasy XI, which kind of coaxes you into buying the expansions... WoW forces you to buy them if you intent to level up past the level cap. Think of it this way: You go to Maat for G1-G5, and he asks for $30-$40 each time you want to break the level cap.

So, yeah. I'm mumorpuger-less at the moment and I am enjoying it. Now that the new TV is here, I can actually get around to playing my games. I can't wait to start on Eternal Sonata!