Okay, so yes, I did play a fairly large amount of Persona 3 this week. I’ll get back to that. First, though, I want to talk about Rhythm Heaven, a game at which I should not have any sort of talent at all. I mentioned last week that I was doing pretty well at the game, but I didn’t really elaborate. Now, though, I think it’s fair to say that I qualify as a Rhythm Heaven savant. As Elaine put it, I am the Rain Man of Rhythm Heaven; the evil got into my hand and…. well, made it really good at Rhythm Heaven, I guess. (Kind of ran out of comparisons there…)
What’s so bizarre to me about playing Rhythm Heaven is that it’s almost a transcendent thing. (Beginning to see why I thought this would sound weird?) If I think too hard about it, I can’t do it; I just have to shut down the part of my brain that wants to make conscious connections and work on pure reaction. The best example I can think of for that is in the way that the minigames are set up. In general, save for the remix sections, you get a practice session before the game actually begins. Some of them are, of course, harder than others, and I imagine which ones are the most difficult varies from person to person (for me, the bane of my existence was the one called LockStep….). When I would run into one of the more difficult games, it would sometimes be a struggle for me to figure out what exactly they wanted me to do; the explanations aren’t always that great, and even when you think you know what they’re looking for, it can still be tricky to pull off the first few times. The result of this would often be that I would try to get the hang of something on purpose, get frustrated, stop trying as hard, and then have something click in my brain that meant I just suddenly GOT it. When that part of my brain takes over, I become scary good at it, almost like it’s not even me playing. I’m in the zone, as it were.
As of now, I’m counting Rhythm Heaven finished; there are a few of the second-level games (the ones that you open up once you complete all of the others through Remix 6) I haven’t gold-framed yet, and the perfectionist in me will probably ensure that I go back and work on that eventually, but I did get Superb ratings on all of the regular levels, and completed the rest of them as well. Scary good, I tell you. Oh, and a hot tip: if you’re having trouble clearing a level and you find you’re just a teeny bit off, close your eyes and play. Seriously. It worked for me!
Persona 3 continues to be a bundle of fucked-right-up-fun; I’ve maxed out one of my social links (the one you get from the chick you play an MMO with), and I’ve created a couple more. Just need to get that Academics stat up so I can link with Mitsuru. I really feel kind of wrong talking about this. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop, though. Maybe by next week I’ll be able to report more progress with the ladies.
Recap:
Current backlog total: 115
Now playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES(PS2); N+ (PSP)
New games added: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha versus King Abaddon (PS2) (and yes, I did need the full title there)
Games completed: Rhythm Heaven (DS)
