minna ni naisho dayo

Retiring Dragon Quest II

Last night, I finally finished playing the keitai remake of Dragon Quest II. Now that I've successfully maxed out the levels of all three of my party members (they all go to level 50 in this version) and defeated the end boss, I doubt I'll ever turn it on again. I don't know what it is about Dragon Quest that gets me so addicted, but I'm glad this one's over, as I've got several other games I want to get back to ASAP, chief among them the US version of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King.

The first time I played DQII was back in 1990, when it was released for the NES as Dragon Warrior II. A guy in my 10th grade gym class sold me his copy after we got to chatting about it in the bleachers, and the rest was history. DQII is probably the least memorable entry in the series, but it's still a solid game. It's definitely the most non-linear of them all -- once you get your party together and obtain a boat, you can pretty much go wherever you want for the rest of the game. This made things a bit difficult for me this time around, as my memory wasn't so sharp on the locations of some of the key items, but in the end, everything turned out okay. It probably took me about 15-20 hours to finish in total, not counting the extra few hours I spent maxing out everyone's levels.

To be honest, I'm starting to get a little tired of playing these old-school remakes over and over -- wouldnt it be nice if Squenix got Level-5 to remake the first three DQ games in full 3D using the DQVIII engine? THAT would actually be worth playing.

Before I get back to DQVIII, I'm planning to finish up Falcom's spectacular Ys: The Oath in Felghana, which I'm currently about 80% through. It's one of the best games I've played all year, and it's got me completely jazzed for Falcom's next RPG, Xanadu Next, which is scheduled to show up on my doorstep this coming Tuesday. I've been good about not buying too many games lately, but I couldn't resist Xanadu (Falcom's pre-order bonuses are always too good to pass up), and I also have the US versions of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Shadow of the Colossus on the way from America. Beyond that, I don't think I'll be buying too much for a while, as I've got plenty to keep me busy for a while.

Anyway, sorry for the lack of updates lately! Life's been busy -- what else is new? :)

Back in Action

It's been ages since I spent any quality time in front of my television. For most of the last eight months, I've been ridiculously busy, to the point that I literally haven't had time for anything besides work, sleep, and whatever handheld gaming I could sneak inbetween (on the train, in the bathroom, etc.). But now, I'm finally caught up, and for the first time in almost a year, I've got time to sift through my bookshelf in search of new media to consume. Here's what I've been up to the past few days:

Halo 2

Believe it or not, I never finished the single-player campaign in Halo 2 last year when it came out. I got a few levels in, got sidetracked by the multiplayer mode, and then never went back...until now. Why now? Not sure -- I've been in a Halo mood for whatever reason, so I'm runnin' with it. Hopefully this time I'll follow through to the end. I've still got other games everyone else in the world has already played to deal with, like Resident Evil 4, Metal Gear Solid 3, and both Metroid Primes. Yikes.

The Sopranos

The Sopranos is probably my favorite TV show of all-time, and yet I've only ever watched through season 2. It's tough staying caught up with American TV when you live in Japan! In any case, I decided to start over from the very first ep so I could watch it with my girlfriend, who's never seen it before. We're almost done with the first season, and we're both loving it. Having grown up in an Italian-American family only about 30 minutes from where the show takes place, it makes me a bit homesick whenever I watch it...not to mention hungry. I've had Italian food for dinner three days in a row now, thanks to that show. :)

Dragon Quest II: Akuryou no Kamigami

Just because I've got time for TV doesn't mean I've given up on handheld gaming. Right now I'm hooked on two games: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, which hasn't left my Game Boy Micro since I put it in over a week ago "just to check it out real quick" (oops), and the game you see above -- the recently-released cell phone version of Dragon Quest II: Akuryou no Kamigami. I've already expressed my love for all things Dragon Quest several times here, so it should come as no surprise that I'm playing through DQII again. I finished the cell phone version of DQI last summer, and now that II is out, I'm blazing my way through that one as well. It's a wonderful conversion, actually -- the visuals are better than any previous release of DQII thus far (including the Super Famicom version), and it plays really well considering it's on a phone. I'd better finish it before the US version of Dragon Quest VIII arrives, lest I get sidetracked once again...

Anyway, that's all for now -- hopefully I'll be back with more soon. In the meantime, tell me -- what have you all been playing lately?