Why?

It’s not my job. I love my job. Stressed as I may be because of it sometimes, it is a job I enjoy going to. I’m happily married. I play games a good amount of the time. I’m freshly washed. I can’t pin it on anything else but driving.

Driving may  be the most mundane task we have to go through in the day. At least washing dishes can be therapeutic if you get the right soap. Driving requires all of your attention and yet it offers no stimulation whatsoever. Worse so as you have a route to go through as you see the same sights every single day. I wish music was enough to quell the dull task, but it never has been enough for me. A good forty minute drive just kills all energy and excitement I have.

Why?

Is it just me?

I put on the Mother 2 soundtrack this morning in an attempt to keep my energy up. Mother 2 has always been the game that rejuvenates my gaming interest should it ever dip. I think it’s about time for a replay. But anyway, while that helped it just didn’t keep me going. It’s just that long stroll of no real stimulation that kills me. I can’t do anything at all productive during the time I drive.

Hopefully for my next job I’ll at the very least be able to take a train.

If you’ve not played the game, my following paragraphs might have some spoilers, so beware. But I think all you really need to know is that it is a good Point and Click with a great story that is more than worth your time. Spoilers from here on out.

Okay, so now that everyone with me has finished the game, what the hell was the ending? That was kind of a bummer, right? I mean that was Robert Foster taken by a clone army of himself to have him run LINC, right? Where the hell did that come from? And it looked like he was walking in the city, but I thought there was a note saying time had passed. Or was I seeing things?

Anyway.

While I loved the story, the puzzles were pretty confusing at times. Thank goodness for the hint system which gave a good amount of a push with the title of the hint section. The worst one for me was after you convinced Mrs. Piermont to sponsor you for the club. Going to the club did nothing at all, and I wandered around trying to find out what the hell to do before I had to rely on the hint. Finally giving in, the hint is “How do I get the dog biscuits?” which confused me even more. I just got made the member of a club, why do I need dog biscuits?

There were a few too many moments like this which made the game a bit irksome. I felt like I had to rely on the hint system and this made me feel dumb. But I was enjoying the story enough to let myself feel a bit stupider than usual. There are a few times where going into the hint system is no help at all, although, because for some reason at these times the game assumes you need no push whatsoever. Annoying, but I made do.

The story is a good cyberpunk stroll through a surprisingly colorful world. The name and box art may fool you, but the inhabitants and decor of Union City are surprisingly warm. Robert Foster and his robot pal Joey prove to be an entertaining pair sprinkling humor throughout the grim story line. A shame about the puzzles being a bit weird or unclear at times but in the end I made my way through and had an awesome time with the game.

Now to find another point and click to scratch the itch.

1. It has a funny name.
2. It is a larger iPhone that is missing features people wanted.
3. You will buy one.

Let’s talk about each in turn, shall we?

1. Funny name, Turd Fergison
If you can recall The Simpsons episode featuring Homer in the B-Sharps, when deciding on the name it was said that the name needed to be funny at first but less so each time you say it. Nintendo struck gold with this method because talking about playing with your Wii is now socially acceptable. The iPad will get its fair share of menstrual jokes but at the end of the day it is a good name. It flows with the Apple iThing naming standard, of course, but also describes it perfectly. It is a fancy notepad. Some have said they preferred the name “iSlate.” Now, I got a C in marketing but even I know that sounds like a rock.

2. It sucks.
I’ve only been a fan of Apple for the past six years, but I cannot recall a time when Apple has made an announcement and the Internet has not had a hissy fit. I’ll be honest, I’ve not looked at the specs of the iPad, but do I really need to? Apple has had a trend of not putting in things that seem obvious but in the end I end up not missing them. This has happened over and over again with Apple products that I’ve bought that it almost frighteningly feels as if Apple knows what I want more than I do. It seems Apple realizes that we as people are much more flexible than technology. We develop our patterns and around technology and not the reverse. What we want and what we actually need are so similar and thus so hard to distinguish. I almost feel that whenever something is left out, after us of the product I find myself wondering why I wanted what I did in the first place. It’s bizarre to be sure, but it has happened far too often at this point to simply dismiss. Were it only Apple products I could dismiss it as fanboyism, but that hasn’t been the case. Whatever it is Apple packs under the hood of the iPad, I’m sure it will deliver the experience Apple wants me to have and the product and I will work out to find the pattern of usage that works for us.

3. You’re gonna buy this thing, like it or not.
I say you and not I because I am poor right now and cannot afford the thing. Now, you may be the kind of person who absolutely refuses to buy Apple products and do not hesitate to tell anyone that you don’t while you boast your Linux running toaster and open software fueled hat. And I’ll never understand you, but I suppose it just wasn’t meant to be. But I say “you” to mean the general public because this will be purchased. The iPod taught us that simplicity is key, and the iPhone has taught us that simplicity can be poweful. And while I will not proclaim the iPad to be a smash success, I am confident that it will, like many Apple products before it, change the way many people do certain tasks.

I don’t know why. I just wasn’t feeling up to it. I guess I don’t have to dedicate every day to writing, but I want to. In fact, there’s just so much that I want to do that I’ve overloaded myself to the point where I’m not sure where I am. I need to get my shit organized, but I can’t force myself too hard in my hobbies because otherwise I won’t get anywhere. Or something. I need to get some sleep, I think.

Robot Ponkottsu 64 (N64) – ¥38

There’s a robot dolphin on the cover. In fact, everything is a robot, even the samurai, the fencer(?) and even the title is a robot.

Pokémon Snap – ¥28

If you ask yourself why I bought this, you clearly don’t know the joys of throwing apples¹ at wild animals until you can take their photograph. The only reason we got what critics are probably calling a beautiful game like Afrika is because Pokémon Snap paved the damn street. Sadly the previous owner did not write in their name and telephone number in the space provided, so I’ll have to keep this instead of going on an Améile style hunt for the previous owner, which honestly would probably be better worth my time.

ZORK I – ¥38

Not only do I dream of playing text adventures in Japanese, I dream of doing it with a Sega Saturn controller. Hell, people argue that it is the best console controller we have, nay, will ever see, so if you chose one Japanese console port of Zork I, clearly this should be it. The back claims it is a “Super Remake” so I highly anticipate the chance of getting eaten by a グルー².

Policenauts Pilot Disk – ¥30

The only item I picked up that I’ll probably never play, but it just looks badass. If you’ve got a Japanese 3DO that you want to give me, let me know. This disk seems to have a shitload of cool stuff on it, though. Shame that I don’t have a 3DO but I cannot think of one game I’d want to own for the system.

Dragon Force – ¥18

Did you know a search for Dragon Force on Wikipedia brings up the game and not the band? That’s because the band has no space in its name. I learned something today and I learned it thanks to a video game.

Ogre Battle 64 – ¥10

If you’ve talked to me about games you know Matsuno is not my favorite gaming related guy. But to buy a ¥10 game that  has a ¥200 off sticker on it is funny enough for me to spend that ten yen.

Eltale Monsters – ¥78

If you can’t quite remember why the protagonist on the cover to this game looks familiar but the name Eltale Monsters does not ring a bell, that’s because my dear friend, this game was better known in North America as Quest 64, and yes, that is Brian wielding his staff in a not so menacing way. Being the RPG buff that I am and owning a Nintendo 64 pretty much means I must own this game. The sad thing is I paid more for this game than significantly better games appearing in this list. Still, for almost half the price of a can of soda, I have the game that redefined the meaning of “It’s not that bad.”

Shigesato Itoi’s No. 1 Bass Fishing – ¥78

Did you know the man behind the Mother series also had a bass fishing game series as well? Well, now you know.

Funky Fantasy – ¥18

Incase you can’t see it, underneath that pentagram is carved the word “funky”. As if the title wasn’t enough for me to buy this instantly. I didn’t even bother looking at the back of the case until now. Doing just that, I noticed that it pimps “High Quality CG Movies”, “Flashy Card Magic” and “Characters Rich in Personality” in an ugly red font that covers most of the tiny, incomprehensible screen shots.

Virtural Hydlide (SS) – ¥20

Ever since we did the Famicom version of Hydlide for Let’s Playing, I had a fear deep down within my soul that I’d have to pay money for Virtual  Hydlide one day and own the game. Thankfully it was much less than I expected.

Space Channel 5 – ¥38

I remember seeing commercials for this game when it came out and thought it looked ridiculous. I was right. But the game is also awesome. And now I finally have a copy of my own.

Bangai-O (N64) – ¥598

Unfortunately, this cost me 60% of my budget. I had to put back games to be able to get this, but fuck. The cart only is going for nearly 8 times as much on Yahoo! auctions. The fact that it is an awesome Treasure game on top of that is just sweet buttered biscuits.

You  may have noticed the prices on the photos not matching up with what I’m saying. Here’s the receipt:

Yep, nine hundred ninety two yen. Should have been ¥9920, but everything was ninety percent off. I just ruined any progress I hoped on making to my backlog this year, and that is ignoring the stuff in this pile that I won’t ever actually play. Oh well, it was fun. Hopefully I’ll have another chance to take the ¥1000 challenge in the near future.

1. Was it apples? I forget.
2. Grue

We’ve still got a few thing to pick out for the new place but the big ticket items are done. That is a huge weight off my shoulders, to be honest. It is also nice since I have always bought second hand. Moving into a fairly new apartment and getting new goods which should hopefully last us a long time is really exciting in a way. Hard to believe that a year ago I was dreaming of these sorts of things. I may be worse off in the wallet but o couldn’t be happier.

What was pretty brilliant about the movie is that they front loaded the tears. Sure, there was a part later on that got me a little misty eyed, but the beginnig was pretty damn powerful. Especially since I’ll br married myself in a month’s time. Unfortunately the rest of the movie wasn’t as brilliant as the opening, but it was still an enjoyable flick.

I haven’t seen many of Pixar’s films, but due to their general acceptance I’d assume most films fall under the “a little bit for everybody” category. I don’t know if Up! falls under this category, but I do know it is a film that any couple in love should go see.

Went out with John tonight to do some poking around at the card shops. Found a bunch of good stuff for good prices. Very happy with getting the leftmost card for around a dollar considering that I’ve usually seen the card go for around approximately $10.

The rarity of the cards in Yugioh is still something I haven’t gotten used to. Magic The Gathering had three. Common, uncommon, rare. Then they introduced foils and they were harder to get, but still the same concept. Three different types, common, uncommon and rare.

Yugioh has about 500 rarities as far as I can tell. First Editions, Special Editions, Common, Rare, Super, Ultra, Ultimate, Fuck you it’s expensive because it is. Some cards could only be gotten in certain ways like buying a book or a game or a $60 toy. And maybe sometime later Konami feels like printing the card again to make it easier to get but often not. It’s confusing and leads to some cards being pricy as fuck, and I’d like to stay away from said pricy as fuck cards.

I get the idea of rarities. It gets people buying more cards. What I don’t get with this game is the popular cards that were only available in limited ways. Put them in a pack and people will buy that pack to get the cards. The secondary market suffers but I’m not sure how that would hurt Konami as they don’t make money off that. And if people are buying packs, the stores are making a bit of profit, albeit not as much. Could keeping the secondary market healthy mean stores are willing to buy more product? Perhaps that’s the key.

Either way, I think I’m going to keep my deck ideas steered away from those $40. Thanks, but no thanks.

Now I’ve finally unlocked the ability to pick my party members and I’m trying to find a threesome that works for me. I’ve always enjoyed playing more “untraditional” party groups in games. Partially for the difficulty boost and partially for being able to say I went a different path. I’ve settled on Fang, Sahz and Vanille for now, but I’ve been having some troubles with normal battles, so perhaps this may not be the best group in the game. Fang is one of the two characters who has the Defender class, but her Hit Points are so low right now that I’m confused as to how she’s supposed to properly utilize a class that is supposed to take the bulk of your battle damage. Sounds like a challenge.

And that sounds perfect to me.