Game Diary: Time Flows Like a River, and History Repeats...
Have you ever had a weekend where you just popped back and forth between a handful of games in your collection? That's what this past weekend was like for me. I had this immense craving to go back to a simpler time and hear some of that sweet delicious SNES music once again. I spent my time this weekend with not only retro gaming, but some more recent titles I'd put down long ago.
Secret of Mana - One of my all-time favorite games still holds up to this day. Putting the cart in and turning it on, I realized I still had my original save file from back when I was a kid. There it was: Frodo level 99. I started a new game, however, so Jinny and I could play through together. This game was really magical to me. One of the first games I can remember fully absorbing, just soaking up all of the detailed art, experiencing the music in eardrum-shattering stereo sound. I'd explore every single corner looking for lost weapon orb chests, grinding levels in order to get the best spells. Multiplayer is near-perfect in Secret of Mana, I'd say bested only by Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Really looking forward to playing more and feeling wave after wave of nostalgia. That's what it's allllllll about.
Tales of Symphonia - I picked up the Gamecube version of this off Goozex a few months ago and never really sat down to try it. I love the combat and gameplay elements, but the story (at least in the beginning) is the same trite anime crap as a million other horrible RPGs before it. I sincerely hope that aspect improves because I'm the weird kind of geek who gets really annoyed at anime-style writing.
Rock Band - Back on the horse? After finishing the drum solo tour on hard, I decided to attempt it on expert and absolutely ripped through it. I have about 15 more songs left and have been really enjoying the feeling of accomplishment from my increase in skills. We rocked band world tour as well, grinding through the venues on expert and unlocked the million fan achievement. We were at a total of about 980,000 fans and only needed a small bump to push us over the edge and ended up getting 250,000 fans in one 4 song setlist. I guess gold-starring songs really helps when you're looking to gain fans.
Beautiful Katamari - I was in the mood to roll some stuff up, so I decided to visit the King of All Cosmos for the first time since last year. I don't really prefer this version, actually. While I love being able to unlock achievements and such, I feel that the gameplay is too unfocused and lacks the charm of the original PS2 Katamari Damacy. I attempted a few online matches, which have one of the worst lobby systems I've seen. The other guy just kept walking around instead of starting the match, throwing cookies at me and putzing around. I'm all for the concept of play, but sometimes I want to get down to business. Katamari-related business.
World of Warcraft - My undead priest is now almost level 20 and I'm really excited to be playing a healer again. This time around I know my strengths and limitations and I am having a ton more fun jumping around Azeroth like some spastic bunny rabbit.
For the rest of the week I have a feeling it's going to be ADD gamer time, with me bouncing back and forth between titles. I'm also going to attempt hacking my PSP. Wish me luck!
What say you?!