State of Gaming Address

In filling my days with the toils of the exodus and focusing my creative efforts into one poignant project I have neglected to devote any real time to gaming.

It's been an interesting few months, but now things seem to be falling into a rythm. As for gaming, I finally beat Wild Arms 4, which was a fun little RPG, with a bittersweet ending that was quite fitting, I found. It could have been a little longer but it delivered on the essentials in a manner far better than how the game handled the story itself. Many peole have gone on at length about the core premise of the story, that of Kids vs Adults. For the most part, forum denizens have criticized it for being dumb, but I think people fail to see the substance of it and how it applies to the real world. In essence, children have a more optimistic and idealist view of the world and how things should be, whereas adults conform to the status quo so that only a few might benefit at the expense of everyone else therefore hindering the wellbeing of the general populace. It's not a highly philosophical quandary, but it certainly is a truth about the way our world is being run. Food for though, certainly, though sadly that game doens't delve much into the problem itself beyond using it as the vehicle to carry the simple story.

Nowadays, taking up the hobby I have started playing Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law - I am a fan of the Adult Swim show, after all - and am enjoying it very much. The game is part oldschool-Adventure circa early 90's, part Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, with more than healthy dose of the show's trademark humor. Since Capcom handled the game's development it happens to be infused with a nice bit of their classic franchises' cameos. I can appreciate, however, how anyone not privvy to the show would be hard pressed to find much enjoyment in playing it.]

The other game I'vwe been getting at is Gradius V. I can't live without my shmups, so It's been on rather heavy rotation. Not much to say about it, really. As any good shmup, it is a matter of patience, perseverance, pattern recognition and honing of reflexes.

I've recently discovered the first episode of Telltale Games' Tales of Monkey Island: The Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Though, when first announced a few months back, I wasn't too keen on the visual direction adopted (somewhat similar to Escape from Monkey Island yet not quite), I must admidt that it has not deteriorated my enjoyment of the game, as the vintage humor of the originals is very much alive and the visuals do grown on you as one goes on in terms of gameplay. I've been meaning to get my hands on all of Telltale games' episodic series ever since they launched their ill-fated comic-to-game adaption of Bone and I must say, now that I've experienced their handling of such a classic series as Mi, well, I'm sold! I'll be acquiring every bit of gaming I can rend from the talented people there, of which I hope there's plenty more to come.

On another note, I've finally got my dirty mitts on a japanese ISO of Persona 2: Innocent Sin. For those not in the know, Innocent Sin is the first episode of Persona 2, the second episode of which is Eternal Punishment, the only installment to have been brought to America. A fan translation patch has been available online for some time now and I've been meaning to get the full skinny on the story, as I always felt that I was being deprived of something special in having only the second part of the story. After a few attempts at properly burning the patched image and failing - my trusty old first gen psone is rather getting on in age - I decided to give emulation a try. I first downloaded ePSXe, but after spending hours upon hours tweaking and trying out different plugins just to get the stupid thing running, I caved in and decided to look for an alternative. Enter pSX! No need for plugins or tweaking. It's a self-contained emulator which works like a charm. Every game I've got, every image I could muster, it plays seamlessly. So now, Persona 2 is finally gonna get the treatment it deserves from me.

Breath of Fire 4 might be nearing completion. What game shall I play on me old psone after that? Dunno. We shall see.