So today's the last day of the year and I'm still questioning whether or not I'll survive the year. I just can't get rid of this nasty cough. Oh well. This cold/mono/whatever has really whipped my ass. I got sick the week of Thanksgiving and I've been sick ever since, to varying degrees. It's the cough and extreme tiredness/exhaustion that I'm having the hardest time with.
But the sun keeps coming up and life goes on. And tomorrow is a new year.
With a new year comes New Year Resolutions. I make them every year, but I don't always complete them. Some last almost the whole year. Some are forgotten or given up on before the end of January. Either way, I like setting goals. It's fun and gives me an idea of what I want to accomplish in the next 12 months.
For starters, I have a lot of games. 854 to be exact. And that doesn't count my PC games, just console games. I have a really good inventory system. I kind of have to with all those games. Of all those games 435 are Xbox, Xbox Arcade or Xbox One games. Of those 435 I don't have any achievements in 167 of them. That's 38.39% of games with no gamer score. So one of my New Year Achievements is to get at least one achievement in all the games I own. That's a lot of games to play. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get an achievement in all of them. I know, because I've tried in some of those games. Either way, I'm going to try.
Speaking of gamer score I think I want to get my gamer score at or above 40,000. I currently have 32,637 and I hope to get a couple more tonight before the new year rings in. That means I have to get 7,363 in 12 months. That's an average of 614 points a month. I think that's very doable. Especially if I'm going to be playing a lot of games. I know a lot of people don't care about achievements and gamer score, but I like to see what I've accomplished in the year besides just knowing I spent X amount of time playing video games. Besides some of those achievements might be hard to get.
I'd also like to complete (i.e. get to the end credits) of 12 games. That's one a month. Might be doable, but it will take some effort and planning to achieve. I'm not sure what those games might be, but I know that a couple of them should be Summoner (PS2), Jedi Outcast (Xbox), Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube) and Final Fantasy VII (PS) since those were the games that started this blog way back on March 2nd, 2007. That's a long time . . . 8 years exactly . . . and I still haven't finished those games. I have noticed that since I started my YouTube channel I've finished several games. That's promising.
The games that I'm the closest to finishing are:
Fable III
Final Fantasy XIII
Gears of War Ultimate Edition
Lost Odyssey
Psychonauts
Rayman Origins
Tomb Raider
Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP)
I think finishing these are doable. I wonder what other ones I can finish before the end of the year. Is there any games you'd like me to play and finish? I'm taking suggestions for my channel and for my New Year Resolutions. Just name something in the comments and I'll let you know if I've got it. If not, I might be able to pick it up. I did get a lot of games through Xbox's sale the last 2 weeks. Not that I needed more games. But they were cheap and I video games are so much fun.
Do you have any New Year Resolutions? If so, let me know in the comments. Maybe there will be something we can work on together.
Showing posts with label Final Fantasy Tactics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Final Fantasy Tactics. Show all posts
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
September YouTube schedule
So, now that Lego Star Wars is complete I can finally focus on some other games. The problem is I'm not sure exactly which game to focus on. For completing the story or earning all achievements/trophies. So for the month of September I'm trying a few games out.
I'll still be playing and posting Rayman Origins. I think I'm getting close to the end on that one so I want to see it through. Those videos will continue to be posted on Thursdays.
For Monday's I'm posting some Dark Cloud videos. This is an old PS2 game that I had almost finished before my stuff got robbed. I loved the game so I would really like to see if finished (even though there are no achievements or trophies to earn). This can be a really long game and I don't know if I want to tie up Mondays with this game for a very long time. We'll see how it goes and if anyone watches those videos and says anything.
For Tuesday's I'm posting Halo videos. I have a confession to make about Halo. I've played Halo in the multiplayer a lot, but I've never completed the campaign in any of the Halo games. So . . . I thought this game might be a good one to keep myself on track and finally finish the campaigns in all the Halo games. Kind of like what I did with Lego Star Wars. This too might take a while but at least I can finally say I've played them. Even though I own all of the versions for the first Halo game I am playing the one in the Master Chief Collection on my Xbox One. It looks pretty.
On Wednesdays I'm trying out some Prototype 2 from my PS3. This isn't a game that I would normally pick up and play but it was a free PSN download a while ago and I tried it and liked it. It's vastly different than any type of game I've played so far. And while I'm loving the game I'm having a hard time going back to it. I can't seem to remember the controls and I fumble around trying to do things that came naturally the last time I played it. I just might need more practice in the game. This is one I'm not sure if it will be a full play or not. I'll have to wait and see what people think before I decide.
On Fridays I wanted to do something special, but I couldn't decide what . . . or exactly which game. I'm going to do "Final Fantasy Fridays" and post videos from Final Fantasy games. The problem is I can't decide which Final Fantasy game to play. I like so many of them. I want to finish FF X-2 because I'm curious about the story because I've finished FF X. But I was almost finished with FFIX when my stuff was stolen and I REALLY liked that game so I want to finish that game. Plus, I really like Final Fantasy Tactics and FFVII is a game that started this whole blog so I should really try to finally finish that game. Maybe I'll rotate and do a different game per month. We'll see.
As for October, I've got some Halloween inspired games that I'll like to post so anything that I post in September might take a break for awhile. I hope you don't mind, I'm just trying new things out here. I'll keep you posted.
Is there any of those games that interest you? Have you played any of them yourself? What game would you like to see me play instead of those? I'll take suggestions. If I don't have the game I might be willing to go out and get it so I can post videos of it on YouTube. Just let me know in the comments. And check out my YouTube channel to watch me play games, die (a lot) and generally make a fool out of myself. That's me.
I'll still be playing and posting Rayman Origins. I think I'm getting close to the end on that one so I want to see it through. Those videos will continue to be posted on Thursdays.
For Monday's I'm posting some Dark Cloud videos. This is an old PS2 game that I had almost finished before my stuff got robbed. I loved the game so I would really like to see if finished (even though there are no achievements or trophies to earn). This can be a really long game and I don't know if I want to tie up Mondays with this game for a very long time. We'll see how it goes and if anyone watches those videos and says anything.
For Tuesday's I'm posting Halo videos. I have a confession to make about Halo. I've played Halo in the multiplayer a lot, but I've never completed the campaign in any of the Halo games. So . . . I thought this game might be a good one to keep myself on track and finally finish the campaigns in all the Halo games. Kind of like what I did with Lego Star Wars. This too might take a while but at least I can finally say I've played them. Even though I own all of the versions for the first Halo game I am playing the one in the Master Chief Collection on my Xbox One. It looks pretty.
On Wednesdays I'm trying out some Prototype 2 from my PS3. This isn't a game that I would normally pick up and play but it was a free PSN download a while ago and I tried it and liked it. It's vastly different than any type of game I've played so far. And while I'm loving the game I'm having a hard time going back to it. I can't seem to remember the controls and I fumble around trying to do things that came naturally the last time I played it. I just might need more practice in the game. This is one I'm not sure if it will be a full play or not. I'll have to wait and see what people think before I decide.
On Fridays I wanted to do something special, but I couldn't decide what . . . or exactly which game. I'm going to do "Final Fantasy Fridays" and post videos from Final Fantasy games. The problem is I can't decide which Final Fantasy game to play. I like so many of them. I want to finish FF X-2 because I'm curious about the story because I've finished FF X. But I was almost finished with FFIX when my stuff was stolen and I REALLY liked that game so I want to finish that game. Plus, I really like Final Fantasy Tactics and FFVII is a game that started this whole blog so I should really try to finally finish that game. Maybe I'll rotate and do a different game per month. We'll see.
As for October, I've got some Halloween inspired games that I'll like to post so anything that I post in September might take a break for awhile. I hope you don't mind, I'm just trying new things out here. I'll keep you posted.
Is there any of those games that interest you? Have you played any of them yourself? What game would you like to see me play instead of those? I'll take suggestions. If I don't have the game I might be willing to go out and get it so I can post videos of it on YouTube. Just let me know in the comments. And check out my YouTube channel to watch me play games, die (a lot) and generally make a fool out of myself. That's me.
Monday, November 12, 2012
A little bit of this, a little bit of that and whole lot of boredom
I've been playing a bunch of things lately. I got bored trying to learn things in FFTactics so I switched to Final Fantasy II. I finished the first one on the PSP but I honestly can't remember anything about the game. FF2 is different and I'm having a hard time getting the hang of it. If you attack physically those stats go up (but magical stats go down) and the reverse is true. My problem is I get into dungeons and I don't want to use up my magic points because Ether is so damn expensive so I use a lot of physical attacks. I know I'm going to be screwed later on in the game when I need that powerful mage and I don't have one.
I also dusted off the old Xbox system and hooked it up for awhile. I restarted Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. It was one of the games dain and I decided to "finished" a long time ago. Actually since 7/16/2006 to be exact. I could have played it on the 360 but I didn't want to. I know the exact date that started all this because I printed the email and apparently I've been using it as a page marker for the strategy guide. I stopped playing because I got lost in the game and the guide was no help. Strategy guides have come a long way since then. I figured the best thing to do was start over (with the cheat code BUBBLE entered - - I don't take any damage). I played for awhile . . . and got bored.
So, I reconnected my PS2 and put in Summoner. That's another one of those "let's finish them this year [2006] games. This time the guide helped and I feel better about how to play the game. But I got bored because I'm just replaying the stuff I had already done since my stuff was stolen.
So, I went back to my 360. I tired some zombies in the Dr. Ned DLC for Borderlands since I've finished the game (I'll do a review of it later). But the zombies don't make any noises when they come up on you and I got tired of being jumped when I'm trying to do something. Although those flying things are more annoying.
So, I decided to play some online stuff by myself. It's really hard to find friends to play with these days. But that's okay I play better without them. It's true. It doesn't matter what game we play but when I play with friends I end up sub 500 on my kill/death ratio. I'll die 2x at least for every kill I get. I don't know why this happens but it does. Because I've been playing solo mostly (except when Natra sends me an invite) I've noticed that my skills are getting better. I've only had one match with a 1/2 kill/death ratio; everything else has been much better than that. I've even gone positive once or twice. I'll usually finish with about 10 kills to 12 deaths or something like that. Just over this weekend alone my kill/death ratio went from .551 to .571. Not bad considering I've got a lot of deaths under my belt in that game. I'm also finding the game more fun to play now that I'm doing better. I don't get frustrated as much and I don't let a death discourage me. I do have moments of panic when I'm under that .500 threshold but I always seem to find a way to do better before the match is over. And I'm finally getting some of those maps. I guess I now need to try playing with friends to see if I can translate this success when I play with them. Any volunteers?
So that's about it. A little PSP, Xbox, PS2, and 360 gaming all in the same week or two. I've even been tempted to pull out my GameCube to work on that "let's finish" game (Super Mario Sunshine). And I've got an itch to play my old N64 as well. I've either got too little of an attention span or too much boredom. You decide.
I also dusted off the old Xbox system and hooked it up for awhile. I restarted Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. It was one of the games dain and I decided to "finished" a long time ago. Actually since 7/16/2006 to be exact. I could have played it on the 360 but I didn't want to. I know the exact date that started all this because I printed the email and apparently I've been using it as a page marker for the strategy guide. I stopped playing because I got lost in the game and the guide was no help. Strategy guides have come a long way since then. I figured the best thing to do was start over (with the cheat code BUBBLE entered - - I don't take any damage). I played for awhile . . . and got bored.
So, I reconnected my PS2 and put in Summoner. That's another one of those "let's finish them this year [2006] games. This time the guide helped and I feel better about how to play the game. But I got bored because I'm just replaying the stuff I had already done since my stuff was stolen.
So, I went back to my 360. I tired some zombies in the Dr. Ned DLC for Borderlands since I've finished the game (I'll do a review of it later). But the zombies don't make any noises when they come up on you and I got tired of being jumped when I'm trying to do something. Although those flying things are more annoying.
So, I decided to play some online stuff by myself. It's really hard to find friends to play with these days. But that's okay I play better without them. It's true. It doesn't matter what game we play but when I play with friends I end up sub 500 on my kill/death ratio. I'll die 2x at least for every kill I get. I don't know why this happens but it does. Because I've been playing solo mostly (except when Natra sends me an invite) I've noticed that my skills are getting better. I've only had one match with a 1/2 kill/death ratio; everything else has been much better than that. I've even gone positive once or twice. I'll usually finish with about 10 kills to 12 deaths or something like that. Just over this weekend alone my kill/death ratio went from .551 to .571. Not bad considering I've got a lot of deaths under my belt in that game. I'm also finding the game more fun to play now that I'm doing better. I don't get frustrated as much and I don't let a death discourage me. I do have moments of panic when I'm under that .500 threshold but I always seem to find a way to do better before the match is over. And I'm finally getting some of those maps. I guess I now need to try playing with friends to see if I can translate this success when I play with them. Any volunteers?
So that's about it. A little PSP, Xbox, PS2, and 360 gaming all in the same week or two. I've even been tempted to pull out my GameCube to work on that "let's finish" game (Super Mario Sunshine). And I've got an itch to play my old N64 as well. I've either got too little of an attention span or too much boredom. You decide.
Monday, October 15, 2012
I'm still gaming
Just for the record, I'm still gaming. Just not in the place where I use to be for the most part. Since I've had a hard time getting friends to play with me on Xbox360 I've started getting back into my PSP. Specifically Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions.
I've been playing this game on both the PS and PSP but I seemed to be a little further ahead on the PSP so that's where I decided to focus my time into playing the game. I like the game because I can pick it up and play it for a half hour at a time and actually feel like I'm making progress. In that half and hour I can win 2 battles and maybe 3 if I get to strike first with some of my heavy hitters.
One of the things I realized after I picked this game up again was that I had duplicates of some of the Zodiac symbols with some of the characters and not having characters with some of the other symbols. Since I wanted a full and complete and balanced team that meant dismissing some of my characters that I worked hard to level up and learn things and then hiring complete noobies.
I charted out which characters/symbols I had and which ones I needed and then make the sad choice to let some of them go. I had spent many hours leveling those characters up and learning skills but some of them had to go. I also spent a lot of time looking at all the options in the Warrior's Guild to find just the right Brave/Faith level character with just the right Zodiac symbol to join my team. Once that was done I was left with a big problem.
THEY WERE ALL LEVEL ONE NOOBIES!!!!
It doesn't matter what level the other characters are on your team whenever you hire a new warrior they start out at level 1. That means when you take them into battle you'll be fighting level 22 baddies with level 1 characters. Do you know how many times my characters died. Were revived. Then promptly killed again before they could even take a turn to run away. And if they don't fight they don't level up. I can't tell you how many Phoenix Downs and Potions/Hi-Potions I went through just in one battle alone. And because I had about 6 noobies to level up I had to go through this a lot.
I didn't take them all into battle at the same time (learned that the hard way). I would take 2 noobies, one really good healer and 2 heavy hitters. The heavy hitters would knock the HP down to a reasonable level and the noobies would move in to finish them off (you get an EXP bonus for finishing off a character). If anyone got in trouble my healer would step in and help out (a healer with a long range weapon is wonderful). Even though this method worked it took a lot of grinding away at battle after battle just to get these new characters up to a level where they could hold their own in a battle and not have a healer hold their hand all the time.
I did have to replace one of my noobies because there was something about them that wasn't working. I don't know if it was their power or speed or whatever, but I didn't like it and it wasn't helping me. Because I got rid of them I had to find another Zodiac of the same symbol to replace them. Which meant another level 1 noobie. While this last noobie is now a level 17 and the rest of my characters are in the 30-40 level range at least he can hold his own in battle. He can take a couple of hits before he has to retreat and heal, but that means he can give a couple of hits too. And he's not bad. And a lot better than the wimp I let go to get him.
But during all that grinding I was getting bored. I knew it would be for the better in the long run but fighting battle after battle just to increase the level of one characters didn't seem worth it. So what did I do?
I started a new game.
Just to see if it would be worth it to stock my roster with the perfect team of a variety of Zodiacs right from the outset of the game I started over from the beginning. When you finally get a squad a characters to play with I was disappointed. I don't remember my other game starts to be witch such low Brave/Faith levels for all the characters. Unfortunately in order to hiring better characters I need to win battles and earn money. By winning battles and earning money I was leveling up characters I knew I wasn't going to keep. Once I had the money to buy new and better warriors I had win battles and earn money to buy even more warriors and equipment and potions and such before I could finally get a decent team together. And since it was the beginning of the game there was only one map point where I could get into a battle.
So in order to avoid grinding on my main game to level up characters I started a new game so I could grind and win battles to buy different characters so I could grind and level those up. It made sense to me at the time. Once I figured things out though, I went back to my main game.
So anyway, I'm still gaming. Just not always on the Xbox360. Oh, every now and then I get back on the Xbox360 to play some Borderlands and recently I've been playing some Modern Warfare 3 just for the social aspect (hell, if my friends won't play with me then maybe strangers will). I might even turn it on to play something silly like Peggle or Rock Bank Blitz while I'm eating dinner. Once dinner's done I'll turn it off and pull out the PSP. Who knows, maybe once I'm done with my PSP game I might dust off my Nintendo DS Lite. It's still gaming.
I've been playing this game on both the PS and PSP but I seemed to be a little further ahead on the PSP so that's where I decided to focus my time into playing the game. I like the game because I can pick it up and play it for a half hour at a time and actually feel like I'm making progress. In that half and hour I can win 2 battles and maybe 3 if I get to strike first with some of my heavy hitters.
One of the things I realized after I picked this game up again was that I had duplicates of some of the Zodiac symbols with some of the characters and not having characters with some of the other symbols. Since I wanted a full and complete and balanced team that meant dismissing some of my characters that I worked hard to level up and learn things and then hiring complete noobies.
I charted out which characters/symbols I had and which ones I needed and then make the sad choice to let some of them go. I had spent many hours leveling those characters up and learning skills but some of them had to go. I also spent a lot of time looking at all the options in the Warrior's Guild to find just the right Brave/Faith level character with just the right Zodiac symbol to join my team. Once that was done I was left with a big problem.
THEY WERE ALL LEVEL ONE NOOBIES!!!!
It doesn't matter what level the other characters are on your team whenever you hire a new warrior they start out at level 1. That means when you take them into battle you'll be fighting level 22 baddies with level 1 characters. Do you know how many times my characters died. Were revived. Then promptly killed again before they could even take a turn to run away. And if they don't fight they don't level up. I can't tell you how many Phoenix Downs and Potions/Hi-Potions I went through just in one battle alone. And because I had about 6 noobies to level up I had to go through this a lot.
I didn't take them all into battle at the same time (learned that the hard way). I would take 2 noobies, one really good healer and 2 heavy hitters. The heavy hitters would knock the HP down to a reasonable level and the noobies would move in to finish them off (you get an EXP bonus for finishing off a character). If anyone got in trouble my healer would step in and help out (a healer with a long range weapon is wonderful). Even though this method worked it took a lot of grinding away at battle after battle just to get these new characters up to a level where they could hold their own in a battle and not have a healer hold their hand all the time.
I did have to replace one of my noobies because there was something about them that wasn't working. I don't know if it was their power or speed or whatever, but I didn't like it and it wasn't helping me. Because I got rid of them I had to find another Zodiac of the same symbol to replace them. Which meant another level 1 noobie. While this last noobie is now a level 17 and the rest of my characters are in the 30-40 level range at least he can hold his own in battle. He can take a couple of hits before he has to retreat and heal, but that means he can give a couple of hits too. And he's not bad. And a lot better than the wimp I let go to get him.
But during all that grinding I was getting bored. I knew it would be for the better in the long run but fighting battle after battle just to increase the level of one characters didn't seem worth it. So what did I do?
I started a new game.
Just to see if it would be worth it to stock my roster with the perfect team of a variety of Zodiacs right from the outset of the game I started over from the beginning. When you finally get a squad a characters to play with I was disappointed. I don't remember my other game starts to be witch such low Brave/Faith levels for all the characters. Unfortunately in order to hiring better characters I need to win battles and earn money. By winning battles and earning money I was leveling up characters I knew I wasn't going to keep. Once I had the money to buy new and better warriors I had win battles and earn money to buy even more warriors and equipment and potions and such before I could finally get a decent team together. And since it was the beginning of the game there was only one map point where I could get into a battle.
So in order to avoid grinding on my main game to level up characters I started a new game so I could grind and win battles to buy different characters so I could grind and level those up. It made sense to me at the time. Once I figured things out though, I went back to my main game.
So anyway, I'm still gaming. Just not always on the Xbox360. Oh, every now and then I get back on the Xbox360 to play some Borderlands and recently I've been playing some Modern Warfare 3 just for the social aspect (hell, if my friends won't play with me then maybe strangers will). I might even turn it on to play something silly like Peggle or Rock Bank Blitz while I'm eating dinner. Once dinner's done I'll turn it off and pull out the PSP. Who knows, maybe once I'm done with my PSP game I might dust off my Nintendo DS Lite. It's still gaming.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
I'm a Serial Starter
Since I was having a hard time getting people to play with me on Xbox Live I decided to take a break and go old school. Like Playstation old. I fired up Final Fantasy VII and played for a bit. After all, that is one of the games that started this whole blog thing about 3 or 4 years ago or however long it's been.
While I'm still not up to playing any new part of the game, I am further along with my characters. With this play through I'm taking my time to level up my limit breaks and all the Materia I've collected. I've been grinding away on the world map and getting into any battle I could when I enter an area. Right now I've got Aries's Limit Break up one level higher than where I was before my stuff got stolen and I've still got a lot of game left to play before I start seeing anything new. My only problem is keeping a consistent rotation with my third party member. And now that I've just picked up Vincent I've got another one thrown into the mix.
After playing Final Fantasy VII for several hours I decided I needed a break from that game. I wasn't in the mood to go back to Xbox so I flipped through all my games to find something new to play. Since my games are alphabetical and I started at the top I didn't get far before I decided to put in Chrono Cross.
This is a game that I've started several times even before my stuff got stolen. I'd start and play for 10 hours or so and then put it away for awhile to play something else (or several something elses). When I pull the game out again I couldn't ever remember where I was in the story. And worse . . . what world I was in (if you've played the game, you know). When I would flip through the strategy guide to see if I could jog my memory about what I needed to do I would find that I missed recruiting several characters along the way because I forgot to do one simple thing. Since I was past that point it usually meant that I wouldn't get to add those characters to my party. After a little bit of soul searching about the time I had already spent playing the game (okay, maybe not that much soul searching) I would restart the game and make it a point to collect those characters. After a couple of days (and another 10-12 hours of the first part of the game) I would put it away for something else. And thus the cycle would begin again.
As it did Sunday night.
I put the game in and instead of rushing through the first part that I've played a million times (at least it feels like a million times) I decided to take my time. If I can get further along in Final Fantasy VII while still being behind, perhaps it could work for Chrono Cross as well. And it has.
That big bird boss in the valley where you pick up the talking skull (weird game by the way) use to give me fits every time I played the game. This time it was a piece of cake. There are other areas that use to be hard but now they're kind of boring because they're so easy. I've probably played the game for 10+ hours but in reality I've probably only progressed 2 hours in the story. It sure makes things easier, but it does get kind of boring grinding most of the time. That's why I put in another game.
That game was Final Fantasy Tactics. It wasn't another start, but it's another game that I've started many times. I guess you could say I'm a serial starter. If I ever get to finish one of these games I think it will be a miracle. Now, if you'll excuse me I've got a game to start.
While I'm still not up to playing any new part of the game, I am further along with my characters. With this play through I'm taking my time to level up my limit breaks and all the Materia I've collected. I've been grinding away on the world map and getting into any battle I could when I enter an area. Right now I've got Aries's Limit Break up one level higher than where I was before my stuff got stolen and I've still got a lot of game left to play before I start seeing anything new. My only problem is keeping a consistent rotation with my third party member. And now that I've just picked up Vincent I've got another one thrown into the mix.
After playing Final Fantasy VII for several hours I decided I needed a break from that game. I wasn't in the mood to go back to Xbox so I flipped through all my games to find something new to play. Since my games are alphabetical and I started at the top I didn't get far before I decided to put in Chrono Cross.
This is a game that I've started several times even before my stuff got stolen. I'd start and play for 10 hours or so and then put it away for awhile to play something else (or several something elses). When I pull the game out again I couldn't ever remember where I was in the story. And worse . . . what world I was in (if you've played the game, you know). When I would flip through the strategy guide to see if I could jog my memory about what I needed to do I would find that I missed recruiting several characters along the way because I forgot to do one simple thing. Since I was past that point it usually meant that I wouldn't get to add those characters to my party. After a little bit of soul searching about the time I had already spent playing the game (okay, maybe not that much soul searching) I would restart the game and make it a point to collect those characters. After a couple of days (and another 10-12 hours of the first part of the game) I would put it away for something else. And thus the cycle would begin again.
As it did Sunday night.
I put the game in and instead of rushing through the first part that I've played a million times (at least it feels like a million times) I decided to take my time. If I can get further along in Final Fantasy VII while still being behind, perhaps it could work for Chrono Cross as well. And it has.
That big bird boss in the valley where you pick up the talking skull (weird game by the way) use to give me fits every time I played the game. This time it was a piece of cake. There are other areas that use to be hard but now they're kind of boring because they're so easy. I've probably played the game for 10+ hours but in reality I've probably only progressed 2 hours in the story. It sure makes things easier, but it does get kind of boring grinding most of the time. That's why I put in another game.
That game was Final Fantasy Tactics. It wasn't another start, but it's another game that I've started many times. I guess you could say I'm a serial starter. If I ever get to finish one of these games I think it will be a miracle. Now, if you'll excuse me I've got a game to start.
Monday, February 7, 2011
12 Games in 12 Months
So my friends tease me and give me a hard time because I can't seem to finish games that I start . . . at least not in a reasonable time frame. And although I've decided not to set specific New Year Resolutions for myself (they always lead to disappointment) I couldn't get the idea of "12 games in 12 months" out of my head.
What that idea is, is for me to finish the story lines of 12 games within a 12 month period. That doesn't mean I get all the achievements for those games that have them, but that I actually get to the end credits of the story so I can now talk about it with my friends. By saying "12 games in 12 months" I'm also giving myself a whole year to work on all games. I'm not limiting myself to 1 game a month. If the end of February comes along and I'm not close to finishing a game I don't want to get down on myself.
I got this idea when I finally finished the story in Gears of War 2 in December. I was at the start of Chapter 5 when my stuff was stolen so I had to spend some time retracing my steps before I could get to things I hadn't seen yet. The good news was this allowed me to work on several achievements that I hadn't gotten before. The bad news was by the time I finished the game and wanted to talk about it my friends couldn't remember what exactly had happened when in the story any more.
I plan on finishing games over several consoles and hand-helds. I keep throwing around a list every week or so but I'll let fate and my current mood decide which games I'll work on at the moment.
One game that I know I want to finish is Puzzle Quest 2. I think I'm getting very close too. I hope so any way. I love playing this game but I get bored of the battles rather quickly. After I've won my third battle I just want to play something else. It doesn't help that 3 battles might only get me to the other side of the room and not very far in the story. I've played that game so much that I've dreamed of it at night and heard that little beep that indicates your turn everywhere. I can't wait to finish the game.
Some other games I'm considering are:
Eternal Sonata
Final Fantasy Tactics (for PSP)
Ratchet and Clank
Dark Cloud
Lost Odyssey
Obviously I'm going to need more games and those games listed might not even be ones I try to finish either. It's just a list of the games I'm interested in playing right now. I could throw in the story modes for some of those online shooters I'm always playing. I hear those stories are kind of short. I could throw in a long game like Fallout 3, Blue Dragon or Borderlands and work on it over the entire 12 months.
I guess that really is only 11 months now because I got this idea in January and decided to go for it then. Yes, I know I'm a little behind in posting about it. I just hope I'm not behind in finishing games and have 10 or so to finish once December rolls around. If you have any suggestions for those "must play" games that you think I should play, let me know. I make no promises but if I do finish them we'll have one more thing to talk about.
What that idea is, is for me to finish the story lines of 12 games within a 12 month period. That doesn't mean I get all the achievements for those games that have them, but that I actually get to the end credits of the story so I can now talk about it with my friends. By saying "12 games in 12 months" I'm also giving myself a whole year to work on all games. I'm not limiting myself to 1 game a month. If the end of February comes along and I'm not close to finishing a game I don't want to get down on myself.
I got this idea when I finally finished the story in Gears of War 2 in December. I was at the start of Chapter 5 when my stuff was stolen so I had to spend some time retracing my steps before I could get to things I hadn't seen yet. The good news was this allowed me to work on several achievements that I hadn't gotten before. The bad news was by the time I finished the game and wanted to talk about it my friends couldn't remember what exactly had happened when in the story any more.
I plan on finishing games over several consoles and hand-helds. I keep throwing around a list every week or so but I'll let fate and my current mood decide which games I'll work on at the moment.
One game that I know I want to finish is Puzzle Quest 2. I think I'm getting very close too. I hope so any way. I love playing this game but I get bored of the battles rather quickly. After I've won my third battle I just want to play something else. It doesn't help that 3 battles might only get me to the other side of the room and not very far in the story. I've played that game so much that I've dreamed of it at night and heard that little beep that indicates your turn everywhere. I can't wait to finish the game.
Some other games I'm considering are:
Eternal Sonata
Final Fantasy Tactics (for PSP)
Ratchet and Clank
Dark Cloud
Lost Odyssey
Obviously I'm going to need more games and those games listed might not even be ones I try to finish either. It's just a list of the games I'm interested in playing right now. I could throw in the story modes for some of those online shooters I'm always playing. I hear those stories are kind of short. I could throw in a long game like Fallout 3, Blue Dragon or Borderlands and work on it over the entire 12 months.
I guess that really is only 11 months now because I got this idea in January and decided to go for it then. Yes, I know I'm a little behind in posting about it. I just hope I'm not behind in finishing games and have 10 or so to finish once December rolls around. If you have any suggestions for those "must play" games that you think I should play, let me know. I make no promises but if I do finish them we'll have one more thing to talk about.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Days 1 and 2 of Xbox 360 Purgatory
So my Xbox 360 died and I had to send it back. This leaves me in some kind of purgatory. Do I wait until my console comes back? Do I buy (another) back up because it's going to be awhile? You knows.
What I do know is that the first time I had to send my original console in for repair all my friends who had done them same said it took them 1-3 months before they got their system back. I couldn't wait that long. So I bought a back up. Who knew that I would get my original system back a week and half from the date I dropped it off at the UPS store?
It worked out to kaiakapero's advantage when I let him borrow my original, while I played on my backup. Then within in the last couple of months kai's died (again) and I had to make arrangements to send that back. That time also only took a week and half to two weeks for the total turn around time (even though he was out of a system much longer because I didn't send it in right away).
So how much time will it take this time?
Who knows.
This time it's a different error. The dreaded "E 74" error. And probably related to the graphic chip set. This isn't going to be an easy fix. Will they repair my console, which could take awhile, and then ship it back? Or once they receive my console, ship back a different one that they have already repaired? I hope not. In the mean time I'm left to wonder how long it will take before I have an Xbox 360 back to play on.
In the meantime I've decided to pull out my PS2 and catch up on some old games. It hasn't gone well so far.
Day 1:
After watching TV and eating a relaxing dinner I pulled out my PS2 and dusted it off. Then I had to hook it up. Apparently that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. The TV cable wasn't connected in the back and I didn't feel like moving everything around to get back there to connect it. The multi-cable system I had in the front didn't seem to want to connect all the way in. I couldn't figure out which TV a/v input channel to put the TV on. I had a hard time finding a controller. But finally I got to turn it on and start the gaming. At least that's what I thought.
I realized that I needed a game disk in order to play something on the PS2. I know that sounds funny, but with all the Arcade games I own on the 360 there's tons of games I can start playing immediately without having to bother with a disk. And don't get me started on carrying around a CORDED controller again.
I pulled out my binder with all my PS and PS2 (and original Xbox) games and had to dust that off as well. Then I started flipping through all those pages of games. So many choices . . . so little time. I finally decided on Bust-A-Move '99. Why? because it was towards the front (alphabetically) and it would be a quick, easy transition into the Dual Shock controller. Except that it wasn't quick.
The load times were terrible. I think I sat and waiting for screens to load longer than I actually played the game. If this was what the system was like for a simple bubble popping game what would an RPG or FPS be like? I couldn't remember.
After my frustrated warm up I decided to put in a game that would give me a greater sense of achievement (unfortunately without the beep and a little pop up box). I pulled out Final Fantasy Tactics. I loved that game and I've played it recently on my PSP so the game mechanics were familiar to me even if I hadn't played it on the PS since 2007 (according to the save game file). Even though I didn't spend a whole lot of time getting familiar with my current cast of characters I picked some out and jumped into my first battle. Big mistake!
On the map there was a high wall that separated my team from the enemy. Unfortunately I didn't have anyone with a high enough jump skill to get on top of that wall or anyone with a range to cast a spell past that wall (or more than a couple of squares away). Within three rounds my whole team was dead except for one and he wasn't going to last until his next turn. I killed the power, called it night and went to bed.
Length of gaming session? 30 minutes (at most)
Day 2:
This day I was going to be prepared. I thought long and hard about what I was going to do and I had a plan. I was going to play Half-Life. I've started it several times (like so many of my older games) but hadn't gotten very far. If I just focused on that game and played it every night for a week and a half (based on past experiences) I could be well into the game to continue once my system was back . . . or will have finished the game by then. And if I finished? I could play Half-Life 2 on my Xbox 360. Win-win situation right? Not so fast.
After putting the disk in I got a message that it couldn't read the disk. Oh great. Is my PS2 going to die too? Or maybe there's just too much dust collected inside for it to work properly. I took the disk out, made sure there wasn't anything on it and blow into the disk tray. I put the disk back in and after a very long time for the system to be "reading the disk" it finally loaded up. Yeah!
Then I was left with a decision. I had a saved game file but I didn't know where I was in the story (and I couldn't remember the controlls or story line). Do I start over? Or pick up where I left off? I decided to start over.
I rode the tram through the facility and listed to the announcements and sat through annoyingly frequent load screens. I finally got to a put where I could move around and I started off on my merry way. Got my hazard suit on. Headed down the hall. Tried to access a terminal. And got stuck. Literally.
Apparently I tried to access a terminal at the same time a NPC walked up and stood right in front of it. When I tried to walk away my character couldn't move. When I tired hitting the access button all it would do was talk to the NPC. So I decided to wait until he moved off. Surely I could move then. Unfortunately he couldn't walk away because I was stuck right behind him. Great. I can't move until he moves. But he can't move until I move. I'm having so much fun.
NOT!
I decided to load the save file and see where that put me. Apparently I didn't make it through the training the last time I played.
Power off.
And goodnight to ya all.
Length of gaming session? 30 minutes (at most)
I think this is going to be a long week and a half. And for my own sanity I hope it doesn't take longer than that before I get my Xbox 360 back. If any of you have any suggestions of other, more productive, things to do with my time let me know. Or if you have older games you'd like me to play and review/chronicle my woes in drop a line in the comments. Who knows what I'll play tonight. If I get to play anything at all.
What I do know is that the first time I had to send my original console in for repair all my friends who had done them same said it took them 1-3 months before they got their system back. I couldn't wait that long. So I bought a back up. Who knew that I would get my original system back a week and half from the date I dropped it off at the UPS store?
It worked out to kaiakapero's advantage when I let him borrow my original, while I played on my backup. Then within in the last couple of months kai's died (again) and I had to make arrangements to send that back. That time also only took a week and half to two weeks for the total turn around time (even though he was out of a system much longer because I didn't send it in right away).
So how much time will it take this time?
Who knows.
This time it's a different error. The dreaded "E 74" error. And probably related to the graphic chip set. This isn't going to be an easy fix. Will they repair my console, which could take awhile, and then ship it back? Or once they receive my console, ship back a different one that they have already repaired? I hope not. In the mean time I'm left to wonder how long it will take before I have an Xbox 360 back to play on.
In the meantime I've decided to pull out my PS2 and catch up on some old games. It hasn't gone well so far.
Day 1:
After watching TV and eating a relaxing dinner I pulled out my PS2 and dusted it off. Then I had to hook it up. Apparently that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. The TV cable wasn't connected in the back and I didn't feel like moving everything around to get back there to connect it. The multi-cable system I had in the front didn't seem to want to connect all the way in. I couldn't figure out which TV a/v input channel to put the TV on. I had a hard time finding a controller. But finally I got to turn it on and start the gaming. At least that's what I thought.
I realized that I needed a game disk in order to play something on the PS2. I know that sounds funny, but with all the Arcade games I own on the 360 there's tons of games I can start playing immediately without having to bother with a disk. And don't get me started on carrying around a CORDED controller again.
I pulled out my binder with all my PS and PS2 (and original Xbox) games and had to dust that off as well. Then I started flipping through all those pages of games. So many choices . . . so little time. I finally decided on Bust-A-Move '99. Why? because it was towards the front (alphabetically) and it would be a quick, easy transition into the Dual Shock controller. Except that it wasn't quick.
The load times were terrible. I think I sat and waiting for screens to load longer than I actually played the game. If this was what the system was like for a simple bubble popping game what would an RPG or FPS be like? I couldn't remember.
After my frustrated warm up I decided to put in a game that would give me a greater sense of achievement (unfortunately without the beep and a little pop up box). I pulled out Final Fantasy Tactics. I loved that game and I've played it recently on my PSP so the game mechanics were familiar to me even if I hadn't played it on the PS since 2007 (according to the save game file). Even though I didn't spend a whole lot of time getting familiar with my current cast of characters I picked some out and jumped into my first battle. Big mistake!
On the map there was a high wall that separated my team from the enemy. Unfortunately I didn't have anyone with a high enough jump skill to get on top of that wall or anyone with a range to cast a spell past that wall (or more than a couple of squares away). Within three rounds my whole team was dead except for one and he wasn't going to last until his next turn. I killed the power, called it night and went to bed.
Length of gaming session? 30 minutes (at most)
Day 2:
This day I was going to be prepared. I thought long and hard about what I was going to do and I had a plan. I was going to play Half-Life. I've started it several times (like so many of my older games) but hadn't gotten very far. If I just focused on that game and played it every night for a week and a half (based on past experiences) I could be well into the game to continue once my system was back . . . or will have finished the game by then. And if I finished? I could play Half-Life 2 on my Xbox 360. Win-win situation right? Not so fast.
After putting the disk in I got a message that it couldn't read the disk. Oh great. Is my PS2 going to die too? Or maybe there's just too much dust collected inside for it to work properly. I took the disk out, made sure there wasn't anything on it and blow into the disk tray. I put the disk back in and after a very long time for the system to be "reading the disk" it finally loaded up. Yeah!
Then I was left with a decision. I had a saved game file but I didn't know where I was in the story (and I couldn't remember the controlls or story line). Do I start over? Or pick up where I left off? I decided to start over.
I rode the tram through the facility and listed to the announcements and sat through annoyingly frequent load screens. I finally got to a put where I could move around and I started off on my merry way. Got my hazard suit on. Headed down the hall. Tried to access a terminal. And got stuck. Literally.
Apparently I tried to access a terminal at the same time a NPC walked up and stood right in front of it. When I tried to walk away my character couldn't move. When I tired hitting the access button all it would do was talk to the NPC. So I decided to wait until he moved off. Surely I could move then. Unfortunately he couldn't walk away because I was stuck right behind him. Great. I can't move until he moves. But he can't move until I move. I'm having so much fun.
NOT!
I decided to load the save file and see where that put me. Apparently I didn't make it through the training the last time I played.
Power off.
And goodnight to ya all.
Length of gaming session? 30 minutes (at most)
I think this is going to be a long week and a half. And for my own sanity I hope it doesn't take longer than that before I get my Xbox 360 back. If any of you have any suggestions of other, more productive, things to do with my time let me know. Or if you have older games you'd like me to play and review/chronicle my woes in drop a line in the comments. Who knows what I'll play tonight. If I get to play anything at all.
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