Must play games for Playstation (original) (that I own)

I've been thinking a lot about a couple of things.  Namely time and the shear number of video games I own.  I would love to completely play them all but realistically it's not possible.  So how do I decide which ones to play all the way through and which ones I play whenever with no expectation of finishing them.

I've been looking through my list of games and based on the influence a game has had on the industry and my experiences with it I've come up with a list of games that I own that I feel are a "must play" game.  Meaning, this is a game that I want to tell everyone "I played that and finished it".  I'm going through this one system at a time so some lists will be shorter or longer than others depending on how many games I own for that system.  Maybe some day I'll make a list of must play games for games that I don't own (but will probably own them some day - I just can't stop buying them).  But right now this is based on games that I OWN.  Keep that in mind as you read this list.  I've made some comments on some of them just because I can.

Playstation (original)
Abe's Oddysee
The beginning of the Oddworld games and their wonder irreverent style of gameplay.  Farting and burping have never been as fun . . . or productive in video games.

Chrono Cross
Some people would say Chrono Trigger but I started playing this game first and I love the shear number of characters you can recruit and have in your party.  It adds some strategy to what seems like a typical RPG.  And the enemies can really mess with your strategy.

Crash Bandicoot
This mascot has been in quite a number of games.  It should be interesting to see the game that started it all.

Descent
A Doom clone but this time you're in a ship.  The game has true 6 axis movement which blew my mind when I played it for the first time.  I don't know why I struggle to play the original Doom games but don't really have any problems navigating this game.  It's the first game that made me think of games in a real three dimensional environment.

Final Fantasy Tactics
I have this game for my PSP and I actually like playing it more on that system than on the Playstation.  I'm not sure why.  But I first started playing it on this system and I love the amount of customization that you can do for your group as a whole and each individual character in your party.  This is a game that I love to sit and just do random battles and not advance the story because I love it so much.

Final Fantasy VII
Everyone says this is the best Final Fantasy game.  I disagree but you can read about that below.  It has had such an influence on gamers and is being remade so it's definitely one that every games should play.

Final Fantasy IX
This is my favorite Final Fantasy games.  Ever.  The only one that comes close is Final Fantasy X and that isn't close to over take IX.  I got so close to finishing this game before my stuff was robbed that I was heartbroken to have all that progress lost . . . until I realized that it meant I had to play it again and I was happy.  One of the few games I was willing to say that about.

Grandia
This is an epic RPG that showed Final Fantasy didn't have a corner on the market for RPG games.  And it spawned a couple of sequels in the franchise.

Legend of Dragoon
This is the first solo campaign that finished and got to the end credits.  It was simply beautiful.  And I cried.  And it deserves a sequel more so than any other game I can think of.  Somebody please make that happen.

Legend of Legaia
Discovering all the hidden special moves made this game really fun.  It's so satisfying to see that you unlocked something just by pushing random button combinations.  It helps give you a different take on combat too.

Metal Gear Solid
This is a game everyone should play.  You can't deny how much of an impact it has had on the industry.  But someone please explain to me the whole Metal Gear lore.  I'm lost and clueless about it.

Rayman
Another mascot that has spawned several games.  One of those games I'm playing and capturing now and it's killing me.  Literally.  Still fun.  Another one where it's nice to see where everything started.  And I remember when it came out and everyone was upset that he didn't have any legs or arms, but had hands and feet.  Weird.

Spyro the Dragon
Another franchise game.  Fun.  Simple.  I just wish the camera controls were better.

Threads of Fate
I think this is the first game that I played that switched between 2 main characters.  I found it innovated.  Probably wasn't the first game to do this, but it was the first for me that I remember.

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Not the first Tomb Raider game but it's the first one I played.  The controls have gotten much better since this one.  It was nice to have a female protagonist instead them always being the damsel in distress, even if her boobs are unrealistically too large (this was before the age that plastic surgery and boob enhancements went wild).  That girl must have so many back problems.

The only one on the list that I've actually finished is Legend of Dragoon.  The rest are on my wish list to capture and post to me YouTube channel . . . some day.  I might even replay Legend of Dragoon.  It's that good of a game even if it doesn't hold up graphically very well these days.

What are the original Playstation games that you would say are "must play"?  Maybe our lists have a couple duplicates.  Tell me in the comments and why I should play them.  Maybe if you're convincing enough I might go out and try to find a copy and play it.  Influence me.  I dare you.

Must play games for Playstation (original) (that I own)

I've been thinking a lot about a couple of things.  Namely time and the shear number of video games I own.  I would love to completely play them all but realistically it's not possible.  So how do I decide which ones to play all the way through and which ones I play whenever with no expectation of finishing them.

I've been looking through my list of games and based on the influence a game has had on the industry and my experiences with it I've come up with a list of games that I own that I feel are a "must play" game.  Meaning, this is a game that I want to tell everyone "I played that and finished it".  I'm going through this one system at a time so some lists will be shorter or longer than others depending on how many games I own for that system.  Maybe some day I'll make a list of must play games for games that I don't own (but will probably own them some day - I can't stop buying).  But right now this this is based on games that I OWN.  Keep that in mind as you read this list.  I've made some comments on some of them just because I can.

Playstation (original)
Abe's Oddysee
The beginning of the Oddworld games and their wonder irreverent style of gameplay.  Farting and burping have never been as fun . . . or productive in video games.

Chrono Cross
Some people would say Chrono Trigger but I started playing this game first and I love the shear number of characters you can recruit and have in your party.  It adds some strategy to what seems like a typical RPG.  And the enemies can really mess with your strategy.

Crash Bandicoot
This mascot has been in quite a number of games.  It should be interesting to see the game that started it all.

Descent
A Doom clone but this time you're in a ship.  The game has true 6 axis movement which blew my mind when I played it for the first time.  I don't know why I struggle to play the original Doom games but don't really have any problems navigating this game.  It's the first game that made me think of games in a real three dimensional environment.

Final Fantasy Tactics
I have this game for my PSP and I actually like playing it more on that system than on the Playstation.  I'm not sure why.  But I first started playing it on this system and I love the amount of customization that you can do for your group as a whole and each individual character in your party.  This is a game that I love to sit and just do random battles and not advance the story because I love it so much.

Final Fantasy VII
Everyone says this is the best Final Fantasy game.  I disagree but you can read about that below.  It has had such an influence on gamers and is being remade so it's definitely one that every games should play.

Final Fantasy IX
This is my favorite Final Fantasy games.  Ever.  The only one that comes close is Final Fantasy X and that isn't close to over take IX.  I got so close to finishing this game before my stuff was robbed that I was heartbroken to have all that progress lost . . . until I realized that it meant I had to play it again and I was happy.  One of the few games I was willing to say that about.

Grandia
This is an epic RPG that showed Final Fantasy didn't have a corner on the market for RPG games.  And it spawned a couple of sequels in the franchise.

Legend of Dragoon
This is the first solo campaign that finished and got to the end credits.  It was simply beautiful.  And I cried.  And it deserves a sequel more so than any other game I can think of.  Somebody please make that happen.

Legend of Legaia
Discovering all the hidden special moves made this game really fun.  It's so satisfying to see that you unlocked something just by pushing random button combinations.  It helps give you a different take on combat too.

Metal Gear Solid
This is a game everyone should play.  You can't deny how much of an impact it has had on the industry.  But someone please explain to me the whole Metal Gear lore.  I'm lost and clueless about it.

Rayman
Another mascot that has spawned several games.  One of those games I'm playing and capturing now and it's killing me.  Literally.  Still fun.  Another one where it's nice to see where everything started.  And I remember when it came out and everyone was upset that he didn't have any legs or arms, but had hands and feet.  Weird.

Spyro the Dragon
Another franchise game.  Fun.  Simple.  I just wish the camera controls were better.

Threads of Fate
I think this is the first game that I played that switched between 2 main characters.  I found it innovated.  Probably wasn't the first game to do this, but it was the first for me that I remember.

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Not the first Tomb Raider game but it's the first one I played.  The controls have gotten much better since this one.  It was nice to have a female protagonist instead them always being the damsel in distress, even if her boobs are unrealistically too large (this was before the age that plastic surgery and boob enhancements went wild).  That girl must have so many back problems.

The only one on the list that I've actually finished is Legend of Dragoon.  The rest are on my wish list to capture and post to me YouTube channel . . . some day.  I might even replay Legend of Dragoon.  It's that good of a game even if it doesn't hold up graphically very well these days.

What are the original Playstation games that you would say are "must play"?  Maybe our lists have a couple duplicates.  Tell me in the comments and why I should play them.  Maybe if you're convincing enough I might go out and try to find a copy and play it.  Influence me.  I dare you.

1 minute Dragon game

So I’ve got another “1 minute” game for you.  This time, here there be dragons.  Yep.  Those big winged flapping lizard-like creatures.  You have 1 minute to list as many video games that have dragons in them.  Be they bosses, pets, or just in cut scenes.  It should be easy, right?  So . . .

On your mark . . . .

Get set . . . .

Go . . .

You got started off really fast.

You’ve named a couple but are you sure they really have dragons in them?

Oops, is that a duplicate?

Come on keep going.

You’ve run out of ideas already?

Okay . . . and time’s up.

How many did you get?  Here’s my list.  I have a few maybes on it and I’ll have to explain those.

 

My list:

Legend of Dragoon

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy VII

Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age 2

Skyrim

Spyro the Dragon

Spyro the Dragon: Ripto’s Rage

Sypro the Dragon: Enter the Dragonfly

Blue Dragon

My maybes:

Dark Stone

Balder’s Gate

Champions of Norath

Summoner

Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade

Gauntlet

So I got 10 that I know of for sure that have dragons.  I could have probably listed all of the Final Fantasy games but I wasn’t sure if they all had a dragon in them.  I’m not even totally sure with FF7 but I’m hedging my bet that it does.  And I'm know there are more Spyro games that what I have listed but I can't remember any more than what I put down.

As to the maybes I have various excuses or doubts about including them.  I might have to do some research to see if I’m just imagining things with these games or I got it right.  Unless someone wants to do it for me and put it in the comment’s section. 

It’s been a very long time since I played Dark Stone and then I didn’t even get very far in the game.  I’ve been meaning to go back and what I remember of the game it’s perfect to have a dragon.

It’s also been a very long time since I’ve played both Balder’s Gate and Champions of Norath.  They are also a couple of games that have got to have a dragon or two.  I’m pretty sure that my brother dain and I have finished both of those games but nothing comes to mind specifically about dragons.  Even if not a boss but just something terrifying to look at in a cut scene.

Summoner is the game dain and I are supposed to be finishing for the PS2.  When I think of “summoners” I think of magic and summoning dragons.  So there’s got to be a dragon in that game right?

Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade is a game I’ve been playing on the PSP.  It’s another game that I’m not very far in but seems perfect to having a dragon in the game.  If not a boss, then some eye candy instead.  There’s another game in the Untold Legends series that I have but I can’t remember the name so I didn’t count it.  Warrior’s Code.  Or maybe, Warrior’s Guild.  Or something like that.  Since I can’t remember what it’s called, I’m not counting it.  Even as a maybe.

Gauntlet is a game my brother dain and I have finished a couple of times.  On the N64.  On the PS.  And on the GameCube.  And maybe more systems and versions of the game.  I can’t remember if there are any dragons in the game.  If there are they’re probably fought while on the ground.  At least I don’t remember any aerial combat battles in any of those games.  And since I can’t remember any subtitles for any of those versions I’m only counting them as one game.  And that’s only a maybe too.

Personally I’m disappointed with myself.  I thought I would have done better than that.  Especially since one of my favorite genres of video games is RPGs and those are usually fantasy games.  And aren’t dragons, in one form or another, a requirement in fantasy games?  Maybe if I played more of those games . . . or at least played more IN all of those games that I have I could have done better.  How well did you do?  Leave your results in the comments.  And if you’ve got some ideas for more “1 minute” game ideas leave those in the comments as well.  I’ve got a few more ideas I want to explore but it won’t hurt to have more.

The Decline of RPGs

The first video games I played were Tetris and Mario Bros. A puzzle and platform game respectively. But my love of video games in general came with RPGs. Those Role Playing Games that allow you to customize your character's strengths and weaknesses and battle enemy foes using physical attacks and magic. There was strategy involved but you were not scripted to playing the game a set way.

If any series cemented what RPGs were all about it was Final Fantasy. Although there were RPGs before the first Final Fantasy game was released no other series has done it better than developer's Square's (whether they were Square Soft, Square Enix or just Square) long loved series. But I'm beginning to wonder about the health of RPGs in today's gaming environment and whether or not Square has given into the pressure of making the games more action oriented and faster paced.

In order to see the decline of the RPGs, let's start at the beginning. Most of the very first RPGs had a similar system of battle. You had three or four characters standing in a line facing any number of foes (also standing in a line) and you each took turns in the battle. A menu would pop up of available moves and the player entered whatever commands they wanted to see their characters preform. Playable characters also had designated jobs or job skills and no matter how much you wanted that magic user to use a sword they were never going to be very good at it. Your warrior would always be your muscle man. Your healer would always be a girl. Your black mage would always be the shy dorky one.

One problem with early RPGs was that you wouldn't always know when your characters would take their turn. There was nothing more frustrating than having a character with low hit points get killed off before one of your other characters could heal them and all because of their turn order. That curative spell now gets redirected to a character that doesn't really need it and it's a waste of magic points.

Then along came "attack gauges" or "turn order line ups". These allowed you to see when in the order of battle which characters would act first. If you notice that all the enemy are going to strike before you even get a turn then there's no point in trying to save a teammate if they're going to get struck down before you get a chance to heal them. You turn(s) would be better served striking at the enemy with the characters you do have or shoring them up for the next turn. It was a balancing act of attack and defend. There was strategy involved and the player had to think ahead in order to survive some tough boss battles.

So now players had "turn order" displays to better help them battle enemies, but characters where still standing in a straight line at the start of battle. In the 'guise of making RPGs better, developers now instituted what I call a "roaming" nature to the battle. Instead of drawing a line in the sand of where each team would stand and fight from,characters now roamed about the battle field. But enemies roamed around as well. At the start of a battle a character might be in front of the enemy but later on they could isolated and surrounded by the enemy. While this did make the battle systems more "active" and faster paced because you not only had to keep track of commands issued and the order they would be performed you had to keep an eye out for enemy movement so no one character gets in trouble. The problem with all this movement was that a lot of information was being displayed on the screen and a battle could get very distracting to a player if they paid attention to every blip and dot that showed on the TV.

Some time after "roaming" was introduced to RPGs developers decided that it was just too much for games to handle so they started to create games where the computer controlled the movements and commands of some of your party members. No longer would players have to concentrate on keeping three or four characters alive and active on the field. Now they only had to concentrate on one. Those characters that were previously designated as "healers" "warriors" or "magi" were now locked into those roles and that was the only thing they could do. The gamer had one character they could customize and grow however they wanted to. Everyone else's destiny was written in the programming code.

You would think that RPGs could go no further in eliminating the human player from the game, but they have. Final Fantasy XIII is a perfect example of that. When a battle starts there is an "auto battle" option available. What this command option does, is have the computer pick the best attack options and programs them in for you. One click of a button and your character will execute three preprogrammed commands. And your other characters are left to whatever commands the games programmed them for. But there's a twist. If you team is in need of healing, you either have to use potions yourself or you have to switch your whole team to a different "paradigm" in order for one of the AI controlled characters to heal you.

What a "paradigm shift" is, is a pre-programmed set of class skills for your party. Unfortunately, you might be in a position to want to throw a lot more fire power at an enemy at the same time you might need someone to heal the group. Having a paradigm shift that gives you both is impossible. Instead of three strong attackers you now might have one attacker, one support person and one healer.

For me, all of these changes have created a disconnect with RPGs and the characters that inhabit them. I don't care as much about Lightning or Hope as I did about Cloud or Vivi. Vanille is more annoying than Rikku ever was. And I don't care if Snow gets to save Sara as much as I cared if Tidus got to save Yuna. The games are still RPGs. You can still customize your characters (albeit down a very limited, straight forward path).

RPGs were like Chess games for gamers. There was thought and planning involved. They took hours to play and had a story line that merited the time invested in the game. Now a days is seems it's all about throwing the player right in and GIVE THEM ACTION ACTION ACTION!!!!

Maybe you don't think RPGs have changed. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's me that has changed. I'm older. I've got more things and responsibilities going on in my life so my expectations for RPGs might naturally have changed. But there's one problem with that. I've finished Final Fantasy X but I still love to go back and play it. It stills brings the same emotions and excitement out in me as when I played it the first time. Now some scenes in the beginning are more poignant than they were the first time around because I know what's going to happen. With newer RPGs I'm just not feeling that. It's like developers are saying "we've got to hook 'em first with action and make the game easier to play to they'll stick with it". To be honest that's not usually why gamers get involved with RPGs.

I will probably always love RPGs. They haven't messed them up enough where I'm turned off the genre as a whole. I have learned to be more cautious with my expectations and purchases for games in that genre. That didn't use to be the case. I would buy any and every RPG I could find. The first game I finished to the end credits was Legend of Dragoon. That is an RPG worthy of (and set up for) a sequel. I have since gone back and restarted that game as well because I miss it.

There is a saying that "if it's not broke, don't fix it". I wish developers would have listened to that as they have evolved the RPG style of game. While, attack gauges and turn orders are nice they still keep the integrity of the RPG experience intact. When the game starts to control more characters than the human playing it, I think they've gone to far. Hopefully this is only a trend and this "decline of RPGs" is only a pothole on the road to some great RPG games to come out in the future. Long live Vivi!

Poll Results - Organizing my games

Here's the poll results for organizing my games:

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.

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.

What I hate about RPGs

No, I'm not talking about Rocket Propelled Grenades (noob tubes in Call of Duty 4), which I do hate, but Role Playing Games. I really do love that type of game play but there's one thing that annoys me to no end.

I hate it when you do something in the game that advances the story but locks you out of a certain area at the same time. For instance, I was playing Lost Odyssey the other night I spent some time just exploring the Crimson Forest before venturing back to Numara. Once I got back into the city, before I did anything else, I walked up to the fountain area which triggered a cut scene about the smear campaign that my characters are now up against. I didn't know that activating that cut scene would prevent me from getting into the city itself. I've got crystal shards for a side quest that I've got to deliver. But I can't do that.

Of course I didn't know exactly what was going on until I pulled the strategy guide out and found where I was in the story. Then I knew. Unfortunately I don't have a previous save to go back to so I can complete my side quests BEFORE I trigger the cut scene.

I'm not much of a fan of having multiple save of a game while playing it. Yes, it would have helped in this situation, and many others I've encountered, but I think it just gets too messy. Some games store the most recent game at the top of the list, others at the bottom. Sometimes those game descriptions are hard to figure out where you are in the game play. There's nothing worse than loading a prior save and finding out you're further back than you wanted to be. Plus then you've got to go and pick up those things you've already picked up in another save file. I've used them before but they take up too much room on a memory card (PS2) and I've accidentally delete the wrong save file when I'm cleaning things up.

I did use multiple save files while playing BioShock. I saved every chance I could get. I did this for various reasons. I hated getting into a new area and finding out I had the wrong plasmids equipped to deal with things. Going back to a previous save (usually by a gene bank) allowed me to make the necessary adjustments and continue on. And even if I had the right equipment in a new area I might not be prepared to face a Big Daddy or a bunch of splicers that come on me unaware. It was nice to see what was coming, back out to an earlier save, and then jump into the action. Is this cheating? Perhaps. But it's better than being frustrated and putting the game away when you have difficulty.

But losing access to an area in an RPG game is frustrating. Especially if you're working on side quests. Now, all of a sudden, that area and those completed quests are no longer available until when? Who knows. It could be until the very end of the game or maybe never at all. Legend of Dragoon did this, Final Fantasy does this and every other RPG game I've played has this in there to some extent. When Numara opens up again for me will I remember to go back to that artist and deliver those crystal shards? I hope so but depending on how soon that happens probably not.

There are other things I might not like about RPGs, like few and far between save points in some games, but there's really not much that gets under my nerves. That's probably why that type of gaming is my favorite. I might play a lot of shooter games with friends, but my heart belongs to RPGs even if they lock me out of places I want to go. Hey, it could be worse. They could be leaving the toilet seat up.

A picture is worth a thousand words

There are just some creatures that make you smile: Pikmin, Mendokans, Chocobos, Moogles and Raving Rabbids. You'll have to click on the link to see the picture since I couldn't resize it small enough without distorting the image.

I am a genius

I am a genius. Which is probably why I don't work for Microsoft support.

We had a dashboard update recently and my brother dain's system tank after he updated and rebooted. The first time he tried to update it stopped before it was over and gave him a message that he couldn't finish. The second time it worked but he was unable to get to the dashboard on his 360.

He called Microsoft and after talking to several different people they said he needed to send his console and power supply back to the repair shop. Needless to say this didn't make him very happy. This is a replacement system for his first console that got the red ring of death. He had a lot of problems with arcade games with the new console and he wasn't looking forward to that again with new console they might send him.

I met him at my parent's house on Saturday and after trying a few different combinations between his system and hard drive and my system and hard drive we still couldn't get anything to work on his console. Although his hard drive did work in my system. I asked him what happens when you format the hard drive since he's done it before. He told me that everything on the drive gets wiped out. I suggested he try that and see if it works. He moved his profile and some of his game saves that he didn't want to redo (like Portal) to a memory card and reformated the drive.

This is where I'm a genius.

It worked.

When he connected his hard drive back up to his system he could get to the dash board and log in. Something must have happened when the first update failed to finish that made it so when the second update finished it wouldn't recognize anything. And after I got a message from another friend today who hadn't been on in a couple of days it sounds like he might have had the same thing happen to him.

Why couldn't Microsoft figure this out? What ever happened to quality control? Don't they have someone who's job it is to try and break things so they know what's wrong with something so they can be prepared to fix it? I've been a tester on a new system at work. We were told to do everything we normally do and then to try things that we wouldn't normally do. We were suppose to run the program through the gambit of things that we might want it to do even if we never have the chance to do it. I then had to write up a report saying what I was trying to do, what I wanted it to do and what the system actually did. We're now using this system live for our work and although we didn't get the system to do everything we wanted there have been very little surprises when it comes to actually using it. For a computer company I would have thought that someone would have asked 'what will happen if the update fails to complete?' And then they could figure out a way to fix that. Like, I don't know . . . maybe reformating the hard drive perhaps.

It baffles me sometimes the level of quality control that goes into a lot of things, not just Microsoft and their Xbox 360. It's like 'just get the product out there' is the motto of some places. With games some are released way before they're ready. Their glitchy, unfinished and just plain difficult to play. Or maybe they promised you a certain game play feature would be included, like co-op or multiplayer and when the game's released it doesn't have it. I would rather wait much longer for a better polished and finished game than to have a poorly made game rushed to market to meet a deadline. Final Fantasy games are notorious for the "pushed back" deadline. They take their time to finish the game the way it should be. And it shows in the game play and loyalty the fans show for the series. Yes, we might grumble when the next game is pushed back month after mont or year after year but in the end it's worth it.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only smart person out here. I'd rather have quality than quantity. And I'd rather have a support and service team who knew what the problem might be because it's come up in testing. Just because they found a bug in testing doesn't necessarily mean it's going to come up in a live environment, but it's nice to know that someone has thought it through and come up with a solution. Otherwise we're left to people like me to be the geniuses in solving the problem and that could be a very scary thing for the rest of you.