I know I haven't blogged for awhile but that's because I've had a lot of stuff going on in my life that has made blogging (and sometimes gaming) very hard to do. For starters my birthday was this month (the 15th). I've gotten to a point in my life that another birthday is just another day in my life. But on the other hand I've been feeling a little blue lately that having someone actually acknowledge it's my birthday and want to celebrate with me would be nice.
On top of all of that my supervisor went out on maternity leave this month and I've had to tag along to a bunch of her meetings before she left so I can step in to her shoes and fill in for her while she's out for the next 3 months.
On top of that I've had problems with my AC unit. Right when the temperature starting hovering around 108-110. I called the guy out the first time and he couldn't pin point what was wrong with the unit, but admitted that it wasn't functioning correctly. He suggested either the thermostat, the compressor or the blower motor. The cheapest fix was the thermostat, starting at $200. My dad suggested I go to Home Depot and buy one myself. I got one for $25 and he helped install it. Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. After getting another guy to come out and have a look he found out it was the starter relay for the compressor and the compressor wasn't running efficiently. The bad news is I ended up spending $1,116 to fix the relay and compressor. The good news is I finally have cold air in my house again.
So with all those things (and a general disgust with how things have been happening while playing) I haven't blogged or felt like playing for awhile. I did buy 3 new games though. It was my birthday present to myself. And I needed some cheering up. I got The Darkness 2, Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Got 'em used and cheap at Gamestop (although I found out later I could have gotten SC:B even cheaper on Amazon . . . and new too). I should probably stop buying new games and just focusing on the games I already have.
If I hadn't had to spend so much money to fix my AC unit I would have gotten a PS3 bundle. There's a The Last of Us PS3 500GB bundle on sale for $269. Unfortunately I'd rather have cool air than a new system right now. I'm hoping it will still be available next month or August after I've financially recovered from this.
But until then I have a new "1 Minute" game. This time (ha ha) it's with time travel. You have one minute to list every game you can think of that has time travel as an element of game play. Your character either travels through time to another point in the time continuum or your player plays in two different time periods. I'm going to rule out the Fable games. Starting as a kid for the "tutorial" parts and then playing as an adult for the main game doesn't count. That's just a gimmick to help you learn the mechanics of the game before getting in to the real story. So Fable games are ruled out. For me and for you.
So now lets get to your list.
On your mark.
Get set.
Go.
Time travel.
Don't be cute and try to reset the timer. That doesn't count as 'time travel'.
If you can get one in a certain franchise you should be able to get all 6.
And no, I'm going to give you a hint.
You better hurry. You're running out of time.
(hee hee)
And STOP!
Okay how many did you come up with?
Here's my list:
Chrono Cross
Chrono Trigger
Time Splitters: Future Perfect
Assassin's Creed 1-3, Brotherhood, Revelations & Black Flag
Gears of War Judgement
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Final Fantasy X and X-2
Blink: The Time Sweeper
Civilization Revolution
That's a total of 14 games. I'm very disappointed in myself. I thought I could think up more than that. There's got to me more, right?
I wasn't going to included Gears of War Judgement because I was thinking it was all flashback story telling but then I remembered that you actually play in the present when the Locus storm the courtroom place. It's not stereotypical "time travel" but you are playing in two different time periods and I said that would count.
I haven't played Blink for so long but I remember it has something to do with time. I could be totally wrong about that game. I think I might have to go look up the story for that game and see if I'm way off.
I will admit that Civilization Revolution was also a stretch. But since you play in multiple time eras and things change as you play I'm counting it. Hey, it's my game so I will allow it.
As for the Final Fantasy games I'm saying they count even though I don't understand exactly how or why. I'm not even sure I can explain to you my reasoning in a way that you'll be understand, even if you have played the games. I understand all the Summoners and Sin stuff (to a point with Sin anyway) but where (or maybe when) Tidus comes from and how and what Yuna does in the second game to find him is still pretty hazy to me. I'm working on another play through of the first game and I'm slowing plodding my way through the second game (when I can get my system to load it). Maybe when I finish the second game I'll have a better understanding.
So tell me how many you got in the comments. Was there an obvious game I missed? Did I have some that you think you should have gotten? Did you cheat and read my list first? Shame on you.
Showing posts with label Chrono Trigger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chrono Trigger. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Monday, May 3, 2010
Poll Results - Organizing my games
Here's the poll results for organizing my games:
The way I had things organized before I got robbed was alphabetical regardless of system. This had some ups and downs. When looking for a particular game I got easily distracted by other games. If I wanted to play a PS game I might find myself pulling out a PS2 game instead. And there was the whole alphabetical problem. How do you file all those Star Wars games. Since "Star Wars" is usually first they would all go together. But I don't think of Bounty Hunter as "Star Wars Bounty Hunter". Those games were all filed by the game title; I left the Star Wars out of it. And that was the same for the Lord of the Rings games.
Some sequels had alphabetical problems as well. Chrono Cross is a sequel (of sorts) to Chrono Trigger, but alphabetically Chrono Cross would get files first. Of those games that had the sequels close in name to the original (Abe's Exodus vs. Abe's Oddysee another example) I filed those chronologically instead of alphabetically. But that created a problem with Final Fantasy Tactics. It's not a sequel to any Final Fantasy game, and is, in fact, a different type of game entirely. where does that one go? I could have put it after Final Fantasy XII (the last one in number order that I owned) but that didn't seem right to have an original PS game after the newest PS2 games. I could have figured out when that game came out in the series and put it there but I didn't want to bother. So Final Fantasy Tactics was filed first. Of course I do have a couple of games that when I think of the title I think of it differently. Like "The Legend of Alan D'ar" I only think of as "Alan D'ar". Makes it hard to find sometimes.
What I liked about filing alphabetical regardless of system was that all games of the same story could be filed together no matter what console you played them one. That way Serious Sam I and II for the original Xbox could be filed with Serious Sam: The Next Encounter for the PS2. The two Hunter: The Reckoning games for Xbox could be filed with the abysmal one for the PS2. If I was in the mood for a particular game world I could flip to those pages (I keep all my games in a disk binder) and then decide which version I wanted to play.
This time however I'm filing them alphabetical by system. Hopefully this might encourage me to play some of my older games for the Playstation since those games are filed first. Unfortunately I'm still replacing games so my filing system isn't accurate. I leave spaces for some games but forget to for others. I guess I'll wait until I've gotten everything back before I put things in their proper place. But then I have to decide what to do with the duplicates. when I started rebuying games I didn't have a good enough system to keep track of ebay auctions bidding/won/paid for so I ended up with several duplicate games. I'll probably sell them back to Gamestop for credit to buy more but I'm really not going to get much for them. One of them will go to kai to try out (Rainbow Six: Vegas 2) and maybe we can get a match together sometime along with anyone else who wants to play.
I have picked up some new games that I didn't have before but I'll wait to list those once I'm done shopping. And I've started the process of redownloading all my Arcade games to my new hard drive. Unfortunately I've got DRM issues with some of them so I have to change the rights to my new machine. But if there's anything you guys want to play with me just send me a note or an invite. If I've got, I'm game.
How should I organize my games?
alphabetical (regardless of system) = 1 vote
alphabetical (by system) = 5 votes
52-card pickup = 0 votes
alphabetical (by genre) = 0 votes
The way I had things organized before I got robbed was alphabetical regardless of system. This had some ups and downs. When looking for a particular game I got easily distracted by other games. If I wanted to play a PS game I might find myself pulling out a PS2 game instead. And there was the whole alphabetical problem. How do you file all those Star Wars games. Since "Star Wars" is usually first they would all go together. But I don't think of Bounty Hunter as "Star Wars Bounty Hunter". Those games were all filed by the game title; I left the Star Wars out of it. And that was the same for the Lord of the Rings games.
Some sequels had alphabetical problems as well. Chrono Cross is a sequel (of sorts) to Chrono Trigger, but alphabetically Chrono Cross would get files first. Of those games that had the sequels close in name to the original (Abe's Exodus vs. Abe's Oddysee another example) I filed those chronologically instead of alphabetically. But that created a problem with Final Fantasy Tactics. It's not a sequel to any Final Fantasy game, and is, in fact, a different type of game entirely. where does that one go? I could have put it after Final Fantasy XII (the last one in number order that I owned) but that didn't seem right to have an original PS game after the newest PS2 games. I could have figured out when that game came out in the series and put it there but I didn't want to bother. So Final Fantasy Tactics was filed first. Of course I do have a couple of games that when I think of the title I think of it differently. Like "The Legend of Alan D'ar" I only think of as "Alan D'ar". Makes it hard to find sometimes.
What I liked about filing alphabetical regardless of system was that all games of the same story could be filed together no matter what console you played them one. That way Serious Sam I and II for the original Xbox could be filed with Serious Sam: The Next Encounter for the PS2. The two Hunter: The Reckoning games for Xbox could be filed with the abysmal one for the PS2. If I was in the mood for a particular game world I could flip to those pages (I keep all my games in a disk binder) and then decide which version I wanted to play.
This time however I'm filing them alphabetical by system. Hopefully this might encourage me to play some of my older games for the Playstation since those games are filed first. Unfortunately I'm still replacing games so my filing system isn't accurate. I leave spaces for some games but forget to for others. I guess I'll wait until I've gotten everything back before I put things in their proper place. But then I have to decide what to do with the duplicates. when I started rebuying games I didn't have a good enough system to keep track of ebay auctions bidding/won/paid for so I ended up with several duplicate games. I'll probably sell them back to Gamestop for credit to buy more but I'm really not going to get much for them. One of them will go to kai to try out (Rainbow Six: Vegas 2) and maybe we can get a match together sometime along with anyone else who wants to play.
I have picked up some new games that I didn't have before but I'll wait to list those once I'm done shopping. And I've started the process of redownloading all my Arcade games to my new hard drive. Unfortunately I've got DRM issues with some of them so I have to change the rights to my new machine. But if there's anything you guys want to play with me just send me a note or an invite. If I've got, I'm game.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Day 3 and beyond of Xbox 360 Purgatory
So, my first couple of days didn't go so well back on the PS2. It's certainly not the consoles fault. I'm just a little rusty with the system. Everything will go much better now. Right?
Not exactly. I gave up on Half-Life. I just wasn't in the mood to replay the opening part again for at least the 4th time. Time for a new game. So I put in SSX Tricky. If there's any game that could get me out of this funk that would be the game to do it.
Except I couldn't get my controller to activate. No matter what buttons I pushed or how many times I plugged the controller in and out it just wouldn't do anything in the game. So I took the game out and put in another one. After all the controller worked during Half-Life so that couldn't be the problem. Right?
I put in TimeSplitters. If SSX Tricky couldn't do anything for me TimeSplitters should be able to pick up the slack. When the game booted up my controller wouldn't work in that game either.
Maybe there's nothing wrong with the game, but something is wrong with my controller.
So I now I had to figure out where my extra Playstation controllers were kept. I still have boxes I haven't unpacked, could they be in one of them? Or maybe there in a box or plastic crate that I have opened up, but just haven't done anything with. And then it hit me. I unpacked a bag of extra controllers for all my systems, along with extra cords of all kinds, and placed it behind the TV. After pulling out the bag and rummaging around for a Playstation controller I finally found one and plugged it in. I was ready to play. And it worked.
I played through the first mission in the story mode of TimeSplitters before I got bored (it's just not the same playing by yourself) and then went back to SSX Tricky. I picked the character Zoe (because of my dog) and headed down the first mountain as a refresher course. I was starting to hang of it so I started the second race. That was when the real Zoe decided the only place she wanted to be right then was sitting on my lap. And the only thing she wanted to be doing was licking my hands. I couldn't get her to stop. And I couldn't play while she did it. So I turned the system off, turned the TV on, and let my dog get comfortable in my lap. Twenty minutes later she was off to play with her Wubbie, but I was too tired of hassling with things just to play a video game that I didn't bother turning the system back on.
The next day, after work when I had a chance to play again, I decided I was going to play an RPG. And old RPG. The kind of game that got me hooked as a gamer in the first place. So I took some time and flipped through my book of games trying to decide which game to play.
I wanted a game to get lost in the story. If it was something I had already started I didn't want to be too far along in the game because I either wouldn't know what was going on or I would have to restart it and play through parts I had already done. That left a lot of the Final Fantasy games.
I also didn't want to play a game that was on 4 disks. I wanted something quick and not something that would take months to play through. That left out .dot Hack, the Final Fantasy games (again), Xenosaga (even through their multiple "games" it's still one story line to me) and number of other games as well. I also eliminated the Grandia series even though their not 4 disks in length. If I played the first one I might very well want to move on to the later ones as well and then when would I play my 360 when I get it back?
After a couple of other elimination rounds I had it narrowed down to my two Arc the Lad games or Chrono Trigger (and then Chrono Cross if my system was out that long). On the one had I had played through Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits and I think I got to the end but I couldn't beat the final boss. I didn't have the right armor or weapons and I was caught in an area that wouldn't let me leave to go find them. So I had restarted the game (see, I'm always restarting games) making sure I keep the required weapons/armor for that final boss. And then stopped about a quarter of the way through the game. I didn't want to start from scratch again, but since I've already played the game it didn't have that much appeal for me this time.
On the other hand I really wanted to play Chrono Cross, but that's a game I've started at least 3 times that I can remember. I love that game. But I have a problem with that game. I'm a completionist at heart so I want to collect every single playable character there is in the game. But once I have them in my party I have a hard time managing all their skills and growth. I get overwhelmed. Find out I missed picking up another characters. So I restart the game with a specific game play in place for when I pick up new characters. I love working with the battle system and field effects. But I have a hard time picking the right characters for the right battles. If I played this game I know I'd want to start all over again, but the first 2-3 hours of that game are boring because I've played them so many times.
So after looking at all the pros and cons I decided on playing Chrono Trigger. It's a game I don't think I've played (although the first 10 minutes looked a little familiar, but maybe I just watched dain play the game) and I didn't have a saved game file for. I could start fresh. Yeah!
I put the disk in, played for 41 minutes (according to the save file) before I got to a good stopping point before going to bed. But before I went to bed I remembered I had the strategy guide for this book and I should probably get it out to have handy just in case I get stuck. Once I got it out I started flipping through it and found out that I had missed exploring half of the opening area, missed out on half of the mini-games at the fair, and didn't do one of the things I would need to do later on in the game. Great. Re-start anyone?
I went to bed debating whether I should re-start the game (great, another re-start) or just make do with what I've done so far. One of the things I failed to do (win a clone of yourself) I could do later on in the game but would be harder to get. Plus I had spent all my meager gil on items that I didn't have enough to fully equip myself when I set out. If I had explored the other areas mentioned in the book I would have had the money to get everything I wanted and I would be better prepared for battles to come. What to do?
After a long day at work I decided I would re-start the game, explore all the areas available to me, have a hand at all the mini-games in the fair and win myself a clone. Like I said I'm a completionist at heart. When I got to the same point where I had saved before it had only added 20+ minutes to my game, but it was well worth it. I had enough gil to buy anything and everything I wanted and I had mastered two Techs, whereas the book recommended one. And every since then that is all I have been playing. When I get further into it I might post a review.
I should have my 360 back by this weekend, if not sooner. Until then I'll keep playing Chrono Trigger and maybe I can finish it. And maybe I'll just keep my PS2 out so I can play other games. Every now and then.
Not exactly. I gave up on Half-Life. I just wasn't in the mood to replay the opening part again for at least the 4th time. Time for a new game. So I put in SSX Tricky. If there's any game that could get me out of this funk that would be the game to do it.
Except I couldn't get my controller to activate. No matter what buttons I pushed or how many times I plugged the controller in and out it just wouldn't do anything in the game. So I took the game out and put in another one. After all the controller worked during Half-Life so that couldn't be the problem. Right?
I put in TimeSplitters. If SSX Tricky couldn't do anything for me TimeSplitters should be able to pick up the slack. When the game booted up my controller wouldn't work in that game either.
Maybe there's nothing wrong with the game, but something is wrong with my controller.
So I now I had to figure out where my extra Playstation controllers were kept. I still have boxes I haven't unpacked, could they be in one of them? Or maybe there in a box or plastic crate that I have opened up, but just haven't done anything with. And then it hit me. I unpacked a bag of extra controllers for all my systems, along with extra cords of all kinds, and placed it behind the TV. After pulling out the bag and rummaging around for a Playstation controller I finally found one and plugged it in. I was ready to play. And it worked.
I played through the first mission in the story mode of TimeSplitters before I got bored (it's just not the same playing by yourself) and then went back to SSX Tricky. I picked the character Zoe (because of my dog) and headed down the first mountain as a refresher course. I was starting to hang of it so I started the second race. That was when the real Zoe decided the only place she wanted to be right then was sitting on my lap. And the only thing she wanted to be doing was licking my hands. I couldn't get her to stop. And I couldn't play while she did it. So I turned the system off, turned the TV on, and let my dog get comfortable in my lap. Twenty minutes later she was off to play with her Wubbie, but I was too tired of hassling with things just to play a video game that I didn't bother turning the system back on.
The next day, after work when I had a chance to play again, I decided I was going to play an RPG. And old RPG. The kind of game that got me hooked as a gamer in the first place. So I took some time and flipped through my book of games trying to decide which game to play.
I wanted a game to get lost in the story. If it was something I had already started I didn't want to be too far along in the game because I either wouldn't know what was going on or I would have to restart it and play through parts I had already done. That left a lot of the Final Fantasy games.
I also didn't want to play a game that was on 4 disks. I wanted something quick and not something that would take months to play through. That left out .dot Hack, the Final Fantasy games (again), Xenosaga (even through their multiple "games" it's still one story line to me) and number of other games as well. I also eliminated the Grandia series even though their not 4 disks in length. If I played the first one I might very well want to move on to the later ones as well and then when would I play my 360 when I get it back?
After a couple of other elimination rounds I had it narrowed down to my two Arc the Lad games or Chrono Trigger (and then Chrono Cross if my system was out that long). On the one had I had played through Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits and I think I got to the end but I couldn't beat the final boss. I didn't have the right armor or weapons and I was caught in an area that wouldn't let me leave to go find them. So I had restarted the game (see, I'm always restarting games) making sure I keep the required weapons/armor for that final boss. And then stopped about a quarter of the way through the game. I didn't want to start from scratch again, but since I've already played the game it didn't have that much appeal for me this time.
On the other hand I really wanted to play Chrono Cross, but that's a game I've started at least 3 times that I can remember. I love that game. But I have a problem with that game. I'm a completionist at heart so I want to collect every single playable character there is in the game. But once I have them in my party I have a hard time managing all their skills and growth. I get overwhelmed. Find out I missed picking up another characters. So I restart the game with a specific game play in place for when I pick up new characters. I love working with the battle system and field effects. But I have a hard time picking the right characters for the right battles. If I played this game I know I'd want to start all over again, but the first 2-3 hours of that game are boring because I've played them so many times.
So after looking at all the pros and cons I decided on playing Chrono Trigger. It's a game I don't think I've played (although the first 10 minutes looked a little familiar, but maybe I just watched dain play the game) and I didn't have a saved game file for. I could start fresh. Yeah!
I put the disk in, played for 41 minutes (according to the save file) before I got to a good stopping point before going to bed. But before I went to bed I remembered I had the strategy guide for this book and I should probably get it out to have handy just in case I get stuck. Once I got it out I started flipping through it and found out that I had missed exploring half of the opening area, missed out on half of the mini-games at the fair, and didn't do one of the things I would need to do later on in the game. Great. Re-start anyone?
I went to bed debating whether I should re-start the game (great, another re-start) or just make do with what I've done so far. One of the things I failed to do (win a clone of yourself) I could do later on in the game but would be harder to get. Plus I had spent all my meager gil on items that I didn't have enough to fully equip myself when I set out. If I had explored the other areas mentioned in the book I would have had the money to get everything I wanted and I would be better prepared for battles to come. What to do?
After a long day at work I decided I would re-start the game, explore all the areas available to me, have a hand at all the mini-games in the fair and win myself a clone. Like I said I'm a completionist at heart. When I got to the same point where I had saved before it had only added 20+ minutes to my game, but it was well worth it. I had enough gil to buy anything and everything I wanted and I had mastered two Techs, whereas the book recommended one. And every since then that is all I have been playing. When I get further into it I might post a review.
I should have my 360 back by this weekend, if not sooner. Until then I'll keep playing Chrono Trigger and maybe I can finish it. And maybe I'll just keep my PS2 out so I can play other games. Every now and then.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Games I own, but haven't played
Until someone decides to pay me for doing nothing so I can stay home and play video games all day and not have to go to work, I think I'll always own some games that I've never played.
I'm not just talking about sequels I haven't played because I haven't finished playing the original, but other games. Games like Tomb Raider: Legend, Mass Effect and Enchanted Arms for Xbox 360; Doom 3, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Stranger's Wrath for Xbox; Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth for PSP; Deux Ex: The Conspiracy, Half-Life and Onimusha for PS2; Chrono Trigger, Dragon Warrior VII, Grandia and Medal of Honor: Underground for PS. I have dabbled a little bit in all my Game Cube games but I think that's only because I don't have that many to begin with.
I made the mistake of admitting to some friends that I owned Mass Effect but haven't played it yet and boy did they rip me up and down for that. Okay, I get it and I'm sorry. That game is going to take some time to play instead of 20-30 minutes here and there. Right now that seems to be all the attention span I can handle for any one game. And then there are my friends who keep sending me invites to Call of Duty 4. I suck at the game. My deaths are 2x or 3x my kills, but I still enjoy playing with my friends and finally figuring some of the maps out.
So someday I need to just sit down and pick a game or two and start playing it. You would think the weekends would be perfect for that, but they're not. There's laundry to do, bathrooms to clean and dishes to wash. It's just as much work sometimes at home as it is in the office.
Eventually I will play those games and they can go from "owned, but not played" to "owned, but not finished". That's not much better but it's the best I can do.
I'm not just talking about sequels I haven't played because I haven't finished playing the original, but other games. Games like Tomb Raider: Legend, Mass Effect and Enchanted Arms for Xbox 360; Doom 3, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Stranger's Wrath for Xbox; Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth for PSP; Deux Ex: The Conspiracy, Half-Life and Onimusha for PS2; Chrono Trigger, Dragon Warrior VII, Grandia and Medal of Honor: Underground for PS. I have dabbled a little bit in all my Game Cube games but I think that's only because I don't have that many to begin with.
I made the mistake of admitting to some friends that I owned Mass Effect but haven't played it yet and boy did they rip me up and down for that. Okay, I get it and I'm sorry. That game is going to take some time to play instead of 20-30 minutes here and there. Right now that seems to be all the attention span I can handle for any one game. And then there are my friends who keep sending me invites to Call of Duty 4. I suck at the game. My deaths are 2x or 3x my kills, but I still enjoy playing with my friends and finally figuring some of the maps out.
So someday I need to just sit down and pick a game or two and start playing it. You would think the weekends would be perfect for that, but they're not. There's laundry to do, bathrooms to clean and dishes to wash. It's just as much work sometimes at home as it is in the office.
Eventually I will play those games and they can go from "owned, but not played" to "owned, but not finished". That's not much better but it's the best I can do.
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