I think I’ve mentioned before that I really used to have a problem with quitting a game once I had started it.  Come hell or high water, once that disc (or cartridge, or whatever) had breached my system, then I was going to play it to completion, no matter how angry or frustrated it might make me, and regardless of whether I was actually having fun or not.  I’ve since come to realize that this is sort of a silly policy.  These games are what I do in my downtime; they’re supposed to be recreation, yet I was willing to make them into work due to sheer stubbornness.  Lately, then (or really, since Star Ocean: Till The End of TIme, which was the one that sparked this realization), while I still want to make sure I give every game a fair shake–after all, they’re not exactly cheap, and I don’t want to chuck something on a bad first twenty minutes–if it’s still not fun in a reasonable amount of time, I’m going to let it go and move on.  The backlog beckons, after all.  I gave Crimson Gem Saga six or seven hours, and it just wasn’t for me, even though all signs pointed to the contrary, so I stopped.  Next up on the handheld front is Pokemon Platinum, god help me.  I haven’t started it yet, but it’s in my DS, awaiting my perusal.

I think I’m coming close to the end of Halo 2, and my first impressions have remained the impressions I still have; it’s fun and I am enjoying it, but the first was better.  I’m curious to see how I’ll feel about the third installment.  Oddly enough, one thing that seems to be giving me a lot of trouble is the overall brightness of the game.  Maybe I just need to fiddle with my TV’s settings, but seriously, is it just me, or is it really *dark*?  I also sometimes have trouble finding the exits to areas, but I think that’s more a function of me being nonobservant than it is anything to do with the actual game itself.  Anyway, by next week I should have impressions on the end of the game and be ready to leap forward in time to 2007!  Hey, I’m only two years behind!  That’s not so bad.

Current backlog total: 98

Now playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (PS2); Halo 2 (XBox): Pokemon Platinum (DS)

New games added: Grandia II (PS2)

Games completed: Crimson Gem Saga (PSP) (Well, not completed, as such.  But you know what I mean.)

Freshly picked links!

Persona 3

Crimson Gem Saga

Halo 2

King of Fighters XII

Marvel vs. Capcom 2

Wii Sports Resort

DSi update 1.4 brings Facebook to the system in Japan

Red Steel 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Dark Void all delayed to 2010

Trine for PSN delayed again due to bug

Microsoft says Facebook and Twitter will be on the Dashboard before Christmas

Buy all Summer of Arcade XBLA titles and get 800 MS points back

Dead Space, Infamous, and WoW all getting movies

Castle Crashers coming to PS3

GTA IV “Ballad of Gay Tony” dated for October 29

Twilight MMO in development?

Nintendo releases ridiculous lifetime sales numbers for DS and Wii

Plants vs. Zombies coming to XBLA

World of Workout

Send us things!  Hugs are appreciated at podcast@someothercastle.com.

There are seven doors in the Desert of Doors, which is located in the basement of Persona 3’s dorm.  I’m on the boss of the fifth.  I guess that means I’m winding my way towards the end, being eighteen or twenty-ish hours into the content, but as Elaine and I have both discovered in our Persona playing, just because you get through the obvious stuff doesn’t mean there isn’t more lurking afterwards.  I suspect the doors may be most of what there is in this case, given that the content is supposed to take only thirty hours or so to complete (hah, *only* thirty hours…. that really says something about the rest of the Persona universe…. or perhaps it just says something about *me*).  I haven’t changed my opinion of the FES content in any appreciable way; it’s still essentially a really, really simplified version of the main storyline, with no Compendium, no social linking, and in fact, very little in the way of anything that isn’t straight dungeon grinding.  It’s retreading old ground (because I’m still fusing the very same Personas that I already had in my possession at the end of the main storyline), but without much of the content that so enthralled me in the first place.  Since I’ve already invested so much time into this already, I definitely will finish it, despite the frequently bitchy bosses, but honestly, unless you’re really, really strapped for more Persona content, or you have a serious need to see just how whiny Yukari can get without someone slapping her into a wall with a well-placed Ziodyne, I think I’m comfortable recommending that you give this one a pass.  Just wait for Persona 5 (oh, I hope, I hope, I hope….).

Crimson Gem Saga is the reason I habitually buy strategy guides.  In a cruel twist of fate, however, this game doesn’t have one.  What this practically means is that I get lost a lot.  Realistically, this isn’t so much a bad thing, because my ventures into unnecessary areas mean that I don’t have to spend a whole lot of time level-grinding, because it gets done along the way, but in practice, I do tend to get annoyed that I have to backtrack so often in order to find out where it really is that I’m supposed to be.  I suppose this could be because I’m just not a very good navigator, but I tend to think that this particular feature of the game could have been improved by simply blocking off the sections you don’t need to be in yet until they become relevant to the actual adventure.  Or, you know, by providing better directions.  Or a strategy guide.  Seriously, Atlus, would that have killed you?  I still enjoy the actual gameplay, but the frustration I tend to feel when I’m backing down a mountain that I accidentally scaled means that I don’t put very much time into this one at once, hence my slow progress.

I’ve mentioned, on the podcast if not in this column, that my goal is to get through the first three Halo games by the time ODST comes out, because I have developed a strange fascination with it and want to get the whole storyline under my belt so that I actually have some background and don’t end up being totally confused.  Also, you know, because Elaine has threatened me with serious owies if I don’t repay some of the Persona obsession that she, for some reason, seems to attribute to me.  Since last time, then, I have completed the first Halo and have moved on to the second.  I’m still playing on easy, and I’m still very bad at the game.  However, I have experienced enough to make a few blanket statements:

1.  Vehicle segments are not my thing. Yeah, I know that FPS games in general are really “not my thing,” but while I eventually get the hang of the shooty-shooty (sort of), driving that fucking Warthog is something I don’t think I will ever be able to do easily.  I may be the only person in existence who nearly failed the last stretch of Halo 1 because I almost ran out of time.  Elaine actually watched me play that part, and I think it was physically painful for her to not take the controller from me and finish it herself.  I’m even worse with anything that flies.

2.  I think I like Halo 1 better than Halo 2. I don’t know enough about the series to know whether this is a controversial statement or not, but after completing the first game and putting a healthy chunk of time into the second (as of now I’ve taken out the Heretic Leader to complete the first Arbiter section… I’m assuming that there is more than one), I definitely find myself enjoying the second game less than the first.  I think, by and large, this is a function of the way 2 is set up; there are a lot more “kill rooms,” and that just tends to get repetitive and boring.  Yes, I do enjoy killing things.  But really, staying in the same room until I cut down enough for the door to open?  Isn’t that a little 1989 arcade-ish?  However….

3.  The energy sword is fun. Particularly against the Flood.

Current backlog total: 98

Now playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (PS2); Crimson Gem Saga (PSP); Halo 2 (XBox)

New games added: none (again, only borrowed teh Haloz)

Games completed: Halo (XBox)… but sadly, it doesn’t come off the backlog

Since I’ve been a bit of a bully about getting Elaine into playing JRPGs (although really, it’s for her own good), I thought it was probably time to put my proverbial money where my mouth is and take up the opposite side of the equation myself.  What does this mean?  It means I’m playing Halo.  This is super-weird.

It really is like I’m playing in a time-warp; I feel like I’m just now getting around to something that the rest of the world has known for a really long time (this is not an unfair assumption, really…).  As such, while I am actually enjoying the game, it’s more than just a game right now- it’s more like an anthropological experiment.  This was a major part of 2001’s culture, and I missed it, so now when I do things like tweet about how the Flood scared the fuck out of me the first time I encountered them, and how I did the utterly girly scream and sweep with my assault rifle at least every thirty seconds because every goddamn bit of the level looked the same and I kept getting startled, I get laughed at, because this is not exactly new and/or revolutionary.  It is, in fact, the video game equivalent of gushing about that Harry Potter kid…. did you know he can do MAGIC??  Yeah, I feel a little silly.  I’m enjoying the game, though, and I think I’m almost done, but I am very very bad at it, despite thoroughly chickening out and playing on easy, so the last bits may take me a while.

The other two games I’ve been going through are the same as last week; Crimson Gem Saga for the PSP and Persona 3’s FES content for the PS2.  I haven’t really been putting much concerted effort into either one, but rather just doing short stints of time whenever I’m feeling the urge.  Nothing much has really changed in either, although I’m beginning to suspect that I will need to put some grinding time into Crimson Gem Saga; the battles aren’t impossible or anything, at least not yet, but they are getting much more difficult to coast through.  It’s that stupid mage, I think.  GET MORE HIT POINTS, YOU LITTLE BASTARD.

I have also reactivated my World of Warcraft account.  I don’t think we’re going to talk about that, though.

Current backlog total: 99

Now playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (PS2); Crimson Gem Saga (PSP); Halo (XBox)

New games added: none (I borrowed Halo, so it doesn’t count)

Games completed: none (yeah, yeah….)

I think it’s important to note that none of your pre-FES content (that is, your save) has any bearing on The Answer.  This is a completely different game, with different progression and a fully separate slot on your memory card (or, as in my case, on your virtual memory card deep within the bowels of the shiny black mammoth that is your PS3).  This bothers me a little.  No, that’s not right.  It actually bothers me a lot, and I think that’s the main reason I’m not terribly invested in it so far.  I suppose I may change my mind as the story goes along, but right now, I’m a little frustrated that all the time I spent developing these characters has been dumped rather unceremoniously in the trash, and I’m stuck re-discovering and re-fusing the same fucking Personas that I created eighty hours of gameplay ago.  It feels like a gigantic step backward, and I don’t think I’m okay with that.  If they were going to add extra content, I really feel that there should have been some sort of concession to the effort you put in beforehand; it wouldn’t necessarily have to be a direct level conversion, but…. something?  Anything?  No?  Okay, I guess….. I’m planning on toughing it out and sticking with the game through the rest of the content, which is said to take thirty-ish hours, so hopefully my opinion of it will improve.  We’ll see.

Prior to starting up Persona again, I finished Lego Batman, both the hero missions and the villain missions.  Last week, I hadn’t started the villain section yet, but I think that I actually enjoyed it more than the levels featuring the dynamic duo.  This is mostly due to the variety; yeah, you get the same type of variety from the different types of suits that Batman and Robin can acquire in the levels, but I just prefer the use of actual different characters with different abilities with which you’re provided from the very beginning.  I don’t have to backtrack to pick up a suit from three screens ago, because one of the two villains I’m toting has what I need to get out of here.  Also, I’m easily distracted by bright colors and shiny objects, so new characters every level kept me more engaged than staring at the same two sprites for hours.  Overall, Lego Batman was a good time, and probably the strongest of the Lego games that I’ve played (although I am admittedly kind of excited about Lego Harry Potter…. don’t tell anyone, though).

When I wasn’t gallavanting with the Caped Crusader, I was taking orders from a deranged unicorn.  Yeah, Peggle.  More Peggle!  I actually finished, in several marathon sessions, all of the content from both the original Peggle as well as Peggle Nights.  Now, let us never speak of it again.

Crimson Gem Saga was my last gaming venture this week; after very briefly starting it, I hadn’t put much time in, but this week I actually had the time to sink a few hours into it, and I’m really enjoying myself so far.  The game is extremely straightforward, in the “go here, get this, do this” style of RPG, and I am perfectly okay with that, because it’s entertaining along the way.  The dialogue is surprisingly good, the art is well-done, and the combat is easy enough to pick up right away while promising to have the option to become more intricate deeper into the game.  I just picked up my third party member, a mage who likes to die a lot (as mages often do), so I’m working my way towards having what I assume will be a full party.  As a side note, I was well-warned on the prevalence of digi-boobs in this game, and I have found this to be very true.  Someone spent waaaaaay too much time and effort animating those things.  Seriously, sweetie, if you’re gonna be a thief, you probably need a better bra.

Current backlog total: 99

Now playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (PS2); Crimson Gem Saga (PSP)

New games added: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)

Games completed: Lego Batman (360); Peggle: Dual Shot (DS)