core dump | 6:08 PM >

Lots going on, so this one won't be short.

Got well, then got sick again, so I spent the weekend in the apartment, literally. I vowed not to set foot outside my building and managed to stick to my guns. This is something I don't normally do when I'm sick, and I think the fact that I'm feeling a hell of a lot better today means I made the right decision.

The mistake I made, you see, was in thinking that two days at home would be enough time to finish Final Fantasy XII.

You see, I've had the game almost since it came out, but circumstances have kept me from getting to the end. I had a vague notion earlier this week that I'd put the controller down all those months ago (over half a year) because I'd run out of time, but getting back into the game I remembered why I really switched to other games for my entertainment: because the people who made the game are bastards.

Let me explain.

When I say they're bastards, I don't mean in the, "utter bastard" sense of the word. This game is enjoyable. It's not a game like Conker's Bad Fur Day, where I finished it so you don't have to -- quite the opposite. The story is good, as I've mentioned before, and the voice acting and characterizations are all top notch. The problem is that between story bits, the game design has you walk through long-ass areas of terrain that're, essentially, level up zones. Now, usually I would consider this a normal situation in an RPG. However, the FFXII makes the mistake of upping the strength of the enemies in the zone after a boss fight by 5-7 levels. Even with the Gambit system allowing you to automatically resurrect a downed comrade with no effort on your part, the fact remains that you end up dying. A lot. At the hands of enemies that should not be able to take out one of your party members, let alone all three.

So, in order to make progress, you're forced to spend time leveling. By spend time, I mean that I spent the whole weekend getting to a level that made the boss afterwards doable. This pisses me off. The main storyline should not force a player to sit and level up just to get to more story. I can understand having super-strong monsters roaming the world that require long level-up sessions to defeat, if they're not part of the main story line, but the fact that the game designers artificially extended the game's length in this manner is just absurd. I'm the kind of person who goes to every place on a map in games like this, and if you go to every place on the map once, you should be able to proceed without going to every place on the map again sixteen more times.

*Sigh.* Okay, that's done with.

As far as games go that I've enjoyed lately, I was totally bowled over by, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is at the top. I finished it a few weeks ago. It's probably the first game on the DS to move from cross pad to touch screen and pen almost exclusively that didn't make me feel like I'd been forced to use a control scheme just because it's the system's gimmick. In fact, the control system is almost perfect. From the moment I started playing, I never once said to myself, "God, I wish they'd just used the cross pad." The whole experience is very fluid and all the tools included in this version of Zelda work great with the touch screen.

Also, as I've mentioned before this game fixes nearly all of the problems with its predecessor, The Wind Waker. The boat rides no longer suck. There are eight total dungeons, and they're of decent lengths. You don't waste ten hours searching the sea for goddamned Triforce pieces. Basically, if the DS has a system-seller, Phantom Hourglass is it. I only have three qualms with the game. First, the gesture for making link do a barrel roll and crash into things almost never works, or works when you don't want it to. Second, there was one puzzle that was totally illogical, having to do with the order in which you pull some switches. Third, and probably most important, while the story is great we're still saving the princess. I'm sick of that. I hope that one of these "Legend of Zelda" games actually has Zelda making the legend!

Another game that really grabbed my attention recently was Orcs & Elves DS. It's about five hours long with all secrets, which is short, but it's totally enjoyable. It hearkens back to Eye of the Beholder, Doom, and even a little Ultima Underworld for good measure. It may be quick, but it's fun all the way through, and you can get a ring of permanent inebriation!

Serious stuff: I got accepted to Animation Mentor. It's all set, so as of this January I'l be a student again. I can't relate how elated I am to finally being on my way to becoming a real animator, to starting a career. I still don't want to talk too much about it, as I don't want to jinx things, but believe you me I'm excited.

Alright, that's enough for now. I'll leave you with a moment of zen: