Summer of 2004

Yeah... I got a computer in my room that summer, and neglected to finish Grandia.  If I never got a computer... well actually, if I never got into Golden Sun that led me to be addicted to Gamefaqs, I probably could have finished Grandia...

But maybe it's only now that certain lines of dialogue struck me, like rereading a book, you see things you do not see the first time you read them... I was still a little kid back then, so I probably wouldn't have thought about it too much as I am now...

The part of Grandia I am referring to, that I missed when I was still a kid, but could have saved me so much from life's troubles is the quotes of mutherflippin GADWIN.

First of all, he's 38!  Yes!! Older than me!!!  His work ethic inspires me...

And of course, my two new favorite lines of Grandia:

"Justin... you've grown a lot as a result of your work in overcoming obstacles.  Now you've succeeded at the toughest challenge, which is to leave your friends behind."

I like the next one better though... it goes:

"Yeah well... a man must learn to handle good-byes.  When you can handle hard stuff like that, then you're a real man."

Real man... but... I... I'm a fake man!  Nah, I'm a man, manly man man.  Anyways, I'm on disc 2 now.

I finished Dragon Quest VIII...

There's stuff to do after the game, but I won't be doing it... yet.  I will get around to it someday when I'm craving for some more DQ.  Maybe I'll 100% it when there is DQXI hype here in North America.  The ending... made me want to find a Princess of my own LOL.  Actually, I found her, in Keyakizaka46's SUGAI YUKA.  She's so pretty, and her episode in the outdoors with Habu Mizuho was my favorite episode of Keyaki tte, Kakanai EVER.  They were just too cute.

She's the one on the left....

...

...

Okay, fine.  Here's her face.

So since I finished DQVIII, there was another game I played a long time ago... right before I got a computer with cable internet.  It was right before this online addiction, before MapleStory, before online friends, before... losing my life!  It was during the time when I was so cool, and there were like five girls in school that had a crush on me at once.  

That game was GRANDIA for the Playstation1.  

My mom took me and my bro to Gamestop.. or was it Funcoland at the time?  I forgot, but I was allowed to pick up a game, and it was this one.  There were a whole bunch of scatches and the disk case was a bit broken, but it still worked, and it was complete with the instruction manual.  There was a part where the screen froze, but I just left it on, and it proceeded after about 30 minutes of worrying and waiting.  

Anyways.. the instruction manual!!!  I was a 13 year old at this time, and it was the first time I had in my room, a picture of a super cute girl.  It's this picture right here, of Feena!

When I knew I was alone in the house, or just alone and everyone in the house was doing something, I would just get out the instruction manual of Grandia and just stare at her.  Just stare, because that's all I knew.  I wouldn't do anything else, just stare at her because she was so cute.  (No, I did not do that! Because I didn't know about that until two years later.)

I remember playing this and my cousin and her boyfriend (now husband) stayed over at my house to attend one of their friend's wedding.  He was also the one who helped install the cable modem, networking my computer to the modem or whatever it was, and I would be playing this game.  It turns out, he played this game too along with his brother back then and told me to just keep going... like, I guess I do not need to grind (because I was grinding a whole lot).  But after that day, I stopped playing it, because well, internet addiction starts. The Golden Sun message board on gamefaqs was what I was addicted to at the time... which led to... all of this. 

TWENTY SEVEN

On August 1st, I turned 27.

So what do I do?  Of course, I compare myself to other 27 year olds!! Or those around my age at least...

This gay guy. From FFXII.  He's the same age as me.  Supposedly he's the main nemesis I think.  Him or Basch's brother.  I never finished the game, I got to around 40 hours and I got stuck on this Bomb boss.  I just found out a couple of weeks ago that the boss I was stuck in was optional. I'll be getting back into that game after I'm done with Grandia,  Dragon Quest VIII (having a blast with this game.

Speaking of Dragon Quest VIII, I never understood it, and I found it extremely boring when my brother bought it for me back in 2005ish.  It is a Godsend to me now. The key to having fun with this game is to treat it like an Open-World game and utilizing the Tactics option so that battles do not take so long. Also, do not rush this game!  Just marvel at the graphics... (well, I can marvel at the graphics because the PS2 was my newest console until I got a Wii U last month).  I am 90 hours into the game and supposedly at the last dungeon.

I also started playing Xenoblade Chronicles X.  I actually wanted to just try it out, because there's a backlog of games I wanted to finish before I play it... well, I got hooked and I'm 40 hours in that game. Anyways, I'm glad that Elma is older than me, she's 29.

I love this game so much, it's giving me Xenosaga vibes. The artwork and the setting, the game definitely feels like Xenosaga's succesor. Elma reminds me of Kos-Mos, and the little girl reminds me of MOMO. I see that people have issues with the story, but right after finishing... either chapter 5 or 4, I forget, I was totally mind-blown.  I went into this game treating it like an Open-World game too, so that's probably why I like it so much compared to others... also, I did not play the first Xenoblade Chronicles, and of course, I'm coming back into gaming after the PS2 years (skipped the 360, Wii, and PS3 generation) so of course the graphics stand out to me, it's a surreal experience, coming from playing a game where the characters have fat blocky fingers to... these graphics. So yeah, that's probably why I think this game is so great. Anways, she's 29!

Older than me!  Yippie!!!!

Honorable mentions ... of characters also the same age as me.

Skies of Arcadia person.  I'm currently playing this game as well.  I finished the first dungeon I think, but I had to unplug the Dreamcast for a bit and haven't plugged it back in since.  

And some Suikoden characters...

This guy should be 27 when Suikoden II takes place.  Also Flik, maybe, but, psh, Flik is overrated.  But you know who I am older than?  This guy!

Wild ARms

So I just finished Wild Arms for the PSX.  My brother bought it for me for Christmas, so it took me like seven months to complete it off and on.  I did not 100% complete it.  Looking at Gamefaqs, there are like two sidequests left.  I tried one and died in three turns, so that's that.

Did I like it?  
Absolutely!  The Tools system reminds me of my beloved Golden Sun series.  Though the story is simple and has been done before, it gets its job done.  The three characters who band together are likable, and certain side characters like Jane can leave an ever-lasting impression.  It also helps that one of the main characters is the same age as me.  The villains stood out (Mother's laugh echoes in my head), but they were generic for the most part.  My favorite part of the game is the music.  It gets really repetative though, but the tracks are likeable.  Also, the localization was subpar.  They used the wrong "your" a couple of times, and they spelled "quiet" as "quite" a lot.  But overall, you can tell that they tried their best in translating from the original Japanese.  It is a video game in the mid 90s after all, and it is not translated by Ted Woolsey.

The battle system is like any other traditional JRPG with an easy to learn add-on.  It's not overly complex like what I experienced in Xenosaga (it took me two playthroughs to understand the battle system, and even then, I am not 100% certain what things are for).

THINGS THAT I WILL REMEMBER:
-The opening scene, "she" questions umm, the guy, about courage...
-If you are destined to be with someone, you will find... that person again.
-The music.  The battle theme especially got me pumped up each time.

It never got old. Also, the opening anime scene, I always let the guitar play until the whistle, then I press start to play the game.  The guitar (Hiroshi Imaizumi) strumming was just eargasmic.
-Outcast pride.
-Jane was cool.
-Cute graphics.  It was a month before the release of FFVII.  The graphics are like an enhanced FFVI.  Did you ever look at the N64 trailer for FFVI?  It kinda reminded me of that.   Only bad thing was that the color on my screen was kinda dark.  I don't know if it was just my TV, or my eyesight, but the resolution felt off.  Maybe I just played it on the wrong TV though.

I give it an 8/10.

Now I'm going to finish up Grandia.  I started it... spring of 2004. Right before I got a computer, and I am picking up where I left off, I'm not starting a new game, Lol.
I am also playing, on and off: Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Shovel Knight, Pokemon Trading Card Game 2, Tales of Phantasia, Steambot Chronicles, Persona 2 (Innocent Sin), RPG Maker FES.

My Kami-Oshi graduate just followed me... I am going to die.   *collapses*

THIS IS IT.  THIS IS ALL I WANTED. THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR. Lol.

'Tis been a rough week...

I got to rank 150 in FFBE, so I don't feel like playing that now.

Riona finally announced graduation, so I don't feel like checking Facebook or keeping up with the 48G anymore.

ANNND... Warriors beat the Cavs.  The locals are annoying, especially Lebron-haters.

So yeah, this week, I have no energy...

JUST GOT A WII U.

I was thinking of Plato's Master-Slave morality.  Was it Plato who said this?  Anyways, basically there are only two types of people, masters and slaves.  The names should be self-explanatory, master, slave.

But you know what I think?
We're all slaves, and this concept of money is the master..  The concept of power is the master.