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.

Poll Results: What upcoming game are you most excited about?

So here's the results from my latest poll:

What upcoming game are you most excited about?

Gears of War 3 = 4 votes
Modern Warfare 3 = 1 vote
Mass Effect 3 = 1 vote
Elder's Scroll: Skyrim = 3 votes
Batman: Arkham City = 1 vote

I'm both surprised and not surprised by the voting. I'm not surprised that Skyrim got a bunch of votes. I am surprised that MW3 and ME3 didn't get more votes. And I'm surprised that GoW3 got as many votes as it did. Why? I'll tell you.

I have friends that live (and die) for Modern Warfare 2. They won't play anything else besides that. I would have thought the new game would have gotten more votes.

I also know how much critics and fans liked the Batman: Arkham Asylum game and that there's great anticipation for the new one. Several of my friends talk about looking forward to that game so why didn't they vote for it?

I guess I could say the same for Mass Effect. I have friends that have played both previous games several times just to see how changing one thing can impact the game. They can't wait to get in and finish the story and see how their character choices pan out after three games.

As for Gears? Well, I love the game and I can't wait to finish the story. I have several friends (usually the Call of Duty lovers) that have said they're not interested in getting the next Gears. I find that hard to believe, especially with how the voting turned out here. Granted, not all my friends are voting in my poll.

I'm excited if they do get Gears and I look forward to playing with them. The first two Gears games are a couple of the few games I've finished the story on. Since I don't finish games often you might guess that I can't wait for the game to come out. So that's why I voted for it. Of course I will be getting all of those games on the list, I'm just looking forward to the new Gears most of all. I think I'm even going to take some time off work just so I can play the story mode during the day so I can play the multiplayer mode at night.

Now, as for the games NOT on the list . . .

Battlefield 3:
I have several friends who have this game but I only know of one that is really looking forward to this game. While I'd like to play it, it doesn't rank that high up on my "looking forward to" list. Since I know it would only get one vote (if Genghis would ever vote in my poll) I didn't include it.

Halo 4:
I'm a sucker for series. I have all the Halo games (except Halo Wars) and I'll probably get this one too even thought I haven't finished the first one. I just don't like the idea of having the story unfinished. As far as looking forward to it . . . not really. Besides it doesn't come out until next year so I've got time to wait.

BioShock: Infinite:
This is a game that I'm REALLY looking forward to, but it doesn't come out until next year so that is why it wasn't on the list. I read online that this game swept four of the most sought after awards at E3 this year. I've been intrigued ever since I saw the first teaser for it. I can't wait to play it. Maybe my next poll "upcoming" poll will have it, but then again you already know how I'd vote.

Saints Row the Third:
I've heard some good things about this game, but since I've never played the first two and I really don't have any interest in this one, it wasn't on my poll. Sorry Zen (I think you were the one who mentioned it).

So now you all know what games I'll be buying this holiday season . . . and which one I'll most likely be playing. What games are on your wish list and ones that you're looking forward to? Which ones will you pre-order vs. just getting whenever? Leave a comment and let me know.