Ghibli Goodness

Ni no Kuni is a deceptively challenging game. I wasn't expecting this much resistance from a game that hands out tutorials like candy on Halloween. The game constantly explains the most basic concepts of a JRPG from healing to saving, yet, the regular battles are kicking my ass.

I was thinking that the best time to rush through a JRPG is in the beginning since catching up is easier later on when the enemies give out more exp, but I've been forced to grind. I'd almost forgotten this is a Level-5 game. It's difficult when I can't even run past most enemies. They catch up in a matter of moments, so it's either fight them head on or let them ambush me.

As much as failure frustrates me, it's the only way I can learn and master the game's mechanics. Ever since I died mere steps away from a save point which would've restored all my health and magic, I've become much more aggressive when it comes to switching between familiars and taking advantage of my abilities. In a way, I had a breakthrough and I'm now exploring the limits of the battle system.

Something similar happened in Tales of Xillia in the battle against Muzét. All of sudden, I'm forced to learn how to manually position myself against enemies when I just semi-auto'ed my way to victory before. That's still the hardest boss fight in the whole game for me because I leave all the healing and item management to the AI. 

While it's in my best interest to dial down the difficulty if I want to clear my backlog as fast as possible, my gamer pride won't let me. It looks like I'm going to need more than two weeks and a half to complete the game at this rate. I blame the NBA playoffs for my slow pace.

Aside from the challenge, Ni no Kuni is a better Kingdom Hearts than Kingdom Hearts since it deals with parallel words and matters of the "heart" without the convoluted nonsense that plagues KH. It's been a while since I played as a kid. It's a nice contrast to all the killing and cussing I do in BF4. 

If the game didn't force me to grind so much, I'd like it a lot more. Hopefully, the curve evens out a bit because I've already died more in normal battles than I have in the entirety of Tales of Xillia, and in Tales, I only died because of a BS full party petrify.  

I'm enjoying it so far and it's definitely testing me. I just hope the game doesn't throw a huge wall at me later on.

Day One

Money has sort of killed my gaming habits. Funny thing to say, but let me explain for a moment. Back in the good 'ol days when I didn't have a job or financial aid, I had to save up money just to buy games. When the cash wasn't flowing, I had to pick my games carefully, because I was going to be playing it for a long time. I really enjoyed the heck out of my games back then because I had to, it's not like I could keep acquiring titles at an unsustainable rate.

But I don't really play games like that anymore. My current backlog is 18-long. Maybe it's because I have too many games that I can't decide which one to play first and in what order. I guess getting older does things to your mind, makes what you used to like not so great anymore. I'm not abandoning games, not by a long shot, but it's getting much harder for me to get into them.

I used to buy games Day One. It's always nice being the first kid on the block with the latest toy. Nowadays, not so much. Games I eagerly anticipate I play months after they released, even if it's in my possession for the entire time. Given how fast prices drop, I'm paying a $20 premium just to play before other people. With my time limited as it is, there's no reason to invest so much money when I'm not even taking advantage of the early benefits.

Few games force me to Day One, but when they do, it's usually special. Then again, it goes for anything really. It's not just games, it could be movies, TV shows, or just a special person. When you Day One, you make it count.

Destination: Nowhere

When it comes to my first memory of video games, it wasn't as if I opened Pandora's Box, unleashing a torrent of hell-frenzy, 8-bit blips and bloops, pixel storms and scrolling flicker lines. It is a rather humble memory, jumbled, and mixed in with all the subdued undulation of an ocean wave. My first experience with gaming didn't sweep me away in a tsunami, rather, it softly encircled me until I began to float to the shiny reflective surface of sprites and MIDI synth sounds. Retro all the way baby.

I remember Castlevania, Metroid, Mega Man, and of course, Mario. The NES wasn't something I touched, but a divine object, a relic worthy of worship. Gaming to me was something to watch, not to engage in when growing up. The messy and fun task of tackling gaming objectives fell on to my brothers, while I watch enraptured by their ministrations on the d-pad and A and B buttons. It was truly a vicarious experience, but it certainly planted the seeds for my full-blown passion of today, where video games are truly a meaty and substantive part of my every day life. A world without video games is a world without oxygen.

When I think of the toddling doe-eyed youth that absorbed his brother's digital feats on the NES, Genesis, and Playstation, I can only shake my head. How was this little boy supposed to know that one day, he would soon be able to play his own video games? That he would own not one, not two, but three next-generation platforms that include the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC? How was this boy, who, delighted with the Gameboy Pocket, would soon come to possess not one, but two portable platforms that include the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP?

I still remember when I was a boy, tucked away in bed at night, I dreamed of owning my own Playstation and playing "Blasto" (the commercials made it look great, sue me) all by myself. The thought was always "when I'm older," or "when I have enough money." That time has long passed. I've gone a long way since then. I didn't really become a full blown gamer until well into the PS2 generation. Until then, me and my little brother had to be content with playing our own portable gaming devices. Pokemon was a godsend. We couldn't touch the old Playstation, but the Gameboy Pocket was all ours. Pokemon was the perfect game for us to play. Then we steadily advanced to Color (Metal Gear Solid and Legend of Zelda DX, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Time, truly the best GBC games out there), and of course, the Gameboy Advance (Castlevania, Advance Wars, Golden Sun).

It was around this time that restrictions on consoles became lax. My brothers' enthusiasm for gaming had dwindled while mine only increased in fervor. Gaining access to the Dreamcast was a lucid dream come true (Sonic Adventure, Code Veronica, Shenmue 1/2), access to the Playstation was a nice bonus (Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII), but the biggest moment was when we acquired a Playstation 2 (FFX, MGS2, GTA, DMC, GoW, SotC, RE4 -- bonus points for understanding all the acronyms). Suddenly, I am now left with a predicament that I never thought possible: I have too many games to play.

The backlog is an ever present list of games that I've started, but that I've yet to beat. It sits in the back of my mind like a gnawing sensation that can't be satisfied. Some of my biggest and most memorable moments in gaming have to do with beating a game that I've been working on for the longest time. Final Fantasy VIII, which I borrowed from my friend for almost three years and restarted three times was one of the most satisfying accomplishments simply because I've been on it for so long. Hell, I've been working on Persona 3 for that same amount of time and I own the damn thing. Persona 4, Tales of Vesperia, and Yakuza 3 have remained untouched in my gaming library. Psychonauts and Portal has been sitting in my Steam queue for months. And I never got the chance to beat the original Star Ocean: The Second Story (re-releases give me ample opportunity to revisit though). Despite all this, I have the gall to borrow Assassin's Creed 2 from a friend, and just purchased Super Street Fighter IV. There's something to be said for the expression, "He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough." When will the gaming madness stop?!

The problem is, there's still a ton of games that I'm still looking forward to. Having just beat the shit out of Batman Arkham Asylum, I can't wait for the sequel. There's Red Dead Redemption in the pipeline, Alan Wake, StarCraft 2, The Last Guardian, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Halo Reach, etc. etc. It's easy to see where I'm going for vacation: Nowhere.