On: My To-Do List

 I’ve been chugging along through Chrono Trigger the past… few weeks I suppose. I haven’t been keeping up as well as I should. Especially considering I now have a pile of things to do. Finish Chrono Trigger, replay Ocarina of Time, read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and now play FFCC: My Life as a King. So I’ll touch on each subject today, even the book.

Chrono Trigger is amazing. I haven’t gotten very far, and I’m already in love. The battle style is incredible. It combines the timed waiting system with a paused menu system. Basically, you can’t move until your movement bar is filled. Monsters also have the same system, though the bars may fill faster or slower than yours, and they can attack as many times as their bar fills before yours ever does, as is the case when I was hit with Slow four times on one character. But once you pull up the “Attack” or “Combo” menu, it pauses everyone else’s bars, including your other party members. This is a good system. It lets you scroll through your options without being too rushed, but makes you quick on your feet for when the bars are filling. The story so far is simple, though complex. I’ve travelled in time twice. And I’ve had my actions judged before, well, a judge and jury. I’ve realized I’m not quite an asshole, though I’m well on my way. Seems pretty accurate.

Currently, roswell73 is beginning a journey into my passion, the Zelda series. He had plenty of trouble playing Link to the Past, we figured that we might as well let him move on to Ocarina of Time, which is significantly easier for him. To help him prepare for the more difficult parts, and to help him find the more obscure points, I’m playing through to refresh my memory of the finer details. So far, he’s finished the Forest Temple, and only gotten confused or lost once. Can anyone say Water Temple? I’m making a list of things for him to do or find before he enters that Temple. Along the lines of getting every bottle and filling them with magic potion, getting Din’s Fire, etc. I’m sure we know what that’s for.

The movie for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is coming out soon, and I’ve been told to read the book before they all drag me to see it. So far, it’s interesting to say the least. Written in the fashion of a history book, detailing his life as known from common fact and the diaries the narrator was given. Written by a fictional man, he gave an account of how he came upon the diaries and information before beginning this history of the “greatest vampire hunter of all time”. I don’t have a clear recommendation yet, as I’ve barely begun the novel, but I’m certainly interested.

Now, I’ve played Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, and I loved it to death. Fun game, I highly urge anyone who hasn’t already played to go ahead and try. Based on this, I played FFCC: The Crystal Bearers. It had some interesting gameplay, a story I found myself just barely involved with, plenty of extra things to do, people to knock over, monsters to search out, and items to hunt down. It left me wanting just ever so slightly for a sequel to that particular game. There are other FFCC titles, and I found FFCC: My Life as a King on the Wii shopping channel. I was hoping for a fighting game of sorts. I got a city builder. As Little King Leo, I had to rebuild a city with magic, and then commission the willing sons and daughters of the citizens to find more supplies to build more buildings. It had a clever little way of the adventurers doing the things they were told to. This is hard to get from these kinds of games. However after a point, the solo adventurers just wouldn’t cut it. So eventually, when I gained the ability to make a tavern, they could team up. You can’t imagine my excitement when they all got together into parties and did as they were told, and they weren’t overpowered by enemies anymore. And the new adventurers wouldn’t even try to go out by themselves. They stay in the city and train. This is actually exciting to me for some reason. Considering this is a stupid game, I’m way too involved in their success.

On: The Kokiri

   Something that’s always bothered me in Ocarina of Time are the Kokiri. A race of children created by the Great Deku Tree, they live out their lives in the fashion that regular children would in such a setting. You have the leader, who seems like a bully, that merely takes that stance as a father figure, or perhaps an older brother to his fellow Kokiri. The mother, or older sister, figure, who protects her friends and keeps watch over their home. These things would be the natural flow in any society of children. However they’re still a mystery to me.

   These children seem to be curious, they seem to seek the unknown. The Know-it-All brothers are a testament to that. They sought knowledge, and they found it. Children, when interested, are insatiable in their curiosity and capacity for searching. But they won’t leave the forest. They say that they will die if they leave the forest. But come on. In every group of children is the one that wouldn’t care. That would be so curious, he was just pulled in and had to find out. Would he really die? Or would he merely age. Every time they leave the forest do they begin to age ever so slightly? Was it once that a child left the forest, and became so entranced by the outside world that he spent long enough to hit a growth spurt? Maybe the Great Deku Tree used to allow them out of his anti-aging magic, but as adults they were no more than the average Hylian? Was it him who kept a mental barrier on the children, keeping them within his protective gaze? One could argue That Link himself is the embodiment of curiosity in this group. But he’s meant to be the purest form of courage in the whole of Hyrule. So why would he be something different to the Kokiri? Then you could imagine that Fado, the little girl with the poufy blonde hair at the end of the trail of bridges over Kokiri forest, is the embodiment of curiosity. Later in the game, if you enter the Lost Woods and turn immediately left, you find her standing in the lit clearing. She tells you that anyone who gets lost in the Lost Woods gets turned into a Stalfos. Return, and you find a Stalfos in her place. Was she the curious one, who instead turned to the corners of the Lost Woods, only to lose herself and be trapped as a monster?

   That certainly would stifle the curiosity in any of the others. 

On: Etrian Odyssey

   Today, I take yet another venture into the Labyrinth. I’ve made many attempts to finish Etrian Odyssey, but I have a bad habit of picking up tedious games when I’m bored out of my mind. I bought this game on a whim, and though it takes up time when I have way too much to spare, I find myself fantasizing about the lives and personalities of the characters more than enjoying the game itself.

   So I begin the game anew. It tells a small story about an unending labyrinth that attracts adventurers of all kinds. I begin as a new adventurer, and have to create my party to delve into the dungeon. I name my guild Fay, as my creativity and caring are slight at the time. There are five slots. I am not ashamed to have my Zelda fan show through a tiny bit. My team consists of the survivalist, Link, complete with bow and blonde hair. I admit that a sword wielding landsknecht would also be appropriate, but there were no blondes for the image. Zelda, the blonde alchemist. Sheik, a dark hunter. I figured I might as well give her a whip and a title that sounded shadowy. I made Ganondorf, AKA Ganon, a landsknecht. I might as well let him join in. And the medic is Navi, simply for the fact that other fairies tend to heal you. And I never claimed to be very original.

   So I’m given a map. A blank map. I’m told to map out the floor myself for money. Well then. Okay. I can do that. I go on in, and after talking to a surly guard, I come across a group of flies. They nearly kick my ass. I keep going, mapping my progress. I run into a few more groups of monsters, and by the time I get to the point I was trying to reach, which is a door back to the beginning of the floor, I’m dying. Everyone is half dead. I’m imagining Navi flitting around, unable to heal yet because she doesn’t have the skill or the supplies, Ganon relying on Link to help him walk, Zelda scowling and arguing with Sheik because they, twins, had a fairly bad relationship. The argument was about their equipment and funds. The only equipment they have is knives, and that is no help to Navi and Zelda. And here comes the Clawbug. This thing is tough. I remember that it was weak to fire, but Zelda doesn’t have the spell yet. So we run. But there are no successful escapes. Sheik, the only one left, trembling in fear, her little knife amounting to nothing. Then it runs away. She doesn’t see why, but she’s thankful, and so drags her companions back to town, hoping beyond hope that the apothecary can save them.

   They sleep at the Inn, delving back into the Labyrinth the next day. They gather supplies, they continue on. Ganon takes a rather large risk, eating some berries he finds. Luckily, they heal him rather than harm him. Navi notes this and scolds him for taking the risk. Navi then makes her first ever kill, in fact her first ever successful hit. They rejoice, Link pats her on the back proudly. And then comes the Clawbug. It seemed to have caught their scent on the wind. The red eyes haunted them through the night, and Link carefully moves Navi and Zelda behind him. Sheik distracts it while the others run. Ganon stays behind, trying to help her. But Sheik takes a fatal hit, and the Clawbug vanishes back into the shadows. Ganon carried the wounded girl back to town, protected by their comrades.

   Sheik didn’t make it through the night. Ganondorf sat by her bedside, held her hand while she took her last breaths. The Fay guild disbanded the next day. Link, Zelda, and Navi traveled the countryside, honing their skills and searching for new partners to take into the Labyrinth. Zelda had little care for her lost sister, merely continued on with her life. Ganondorf however, he vanished into the Labyrinth. Some say he was the only to ever find the bottom of the endless dungeon. They say that he was rewarded by a sublime entity, who granted him his one true wish. The return of his dear companion. No one really knows, however. Secretly, Navi vowed to find out.

   Essentially, what happened was that a Clawbug killed everyone except Sheik, and then ran away, and I barely made it back to the exit before another monster took out Sheik. Then, the next time I went down, a Clawbug killed Sheik then ran away. And then I closed the DS and realized that I didn’t care enough to play anymore. About an hour later I tried again and was killed by a pack of Poison Woodflies. Considering I forgot to save the new file… I’m done with that for the day.

On: Eevees

   The new game is a no-go. It’s getting a bit tiring only having these few systems. I did however find Phantom Dust in the original box, and it even had the booklet. Being as I was introduced to the game without ever having seen these, I was excited. I even almost bought it. However I found a title I’m actually interested in. Harvest Moon: A Tale of Two Towns. The new features intrigue me. An actual dating system? What do you mean I have to take them out on dates? So I have to be a gentleman in the game, too? I do that enough in real life. Another game I’m set to play at the next opportunity is Chrono Trigger for the DS. I’m rather excited, because I’ve heard amazing things about it. This however is on hold until I get the game. So still I am wasting away the day with games I’ve played to hell and back.

   Today is a tad bit different. I decided it would be a good day to delve back into Pokémon Diamond. Now, I am an Eevee trainer. The sad thing about this is that I couldn’t be one until after I beat the Elite Four. So, after getting bored of that generation of Pokémon several times, I finally came upon these five trainers. I beat them even. I go find the person who will give you a free Eevee. I say great, now I just have to catch a female, and I can breed the fuck out of them and get my two sets of dream teams. One which is a fighting force and one which is filled with contest masters. The problem? Took me a week to come across a female Eevee. Then, it took another two weeks to breed the proper genders. I only got males. I needed females for Espeon, Vaporeon, Glaceon, and Leafeon. I only hatched males. I’m specific about my Eevees. So I finally get my first team. The fighters. I evolve them at the proper time in order to get the best moveset. The next problem is that everywhere I want to go has very high level wild Pokémon. I need to train them. Tedious, annoying work. All the while I’m still hatching eggs so that I can get the perfect contest entries. Getting the proper gender, tastes, AND personalities for each one? Nigh impossible. I curse the day I decided to make Eeveelutions my dream teams. I have about three dozen newborn Eevees in my boxes. Sweet. I feel like Ash with his overload of Tauros. The daycare must think I sell baby Eevees to rich old people as pets. Or that I’m trying to overpopulate the world with them. Imagine, finding more Eevees in tall grass than Zubat in a cave. That would be the ideal world to me.

   The other day some friends of mine showed me a website filled with videogame related shots and drinks. Now, I was intrigued, some looked rather interesting, some looked frightening, and some were downright cool. We came across the Pokémon related ones. They pointed out their favorite little beast and what they would have to take for that particular series of evolutions. Then we saw the Eeveelutions. I certainly hope they don’t make any more evolutions any time soon. That would wreck my night. They certainly did fit the Pokémon well, though.

   So anyone need some male Eevees? I have a few to spare.

On: What to Buy...

   With a trip to GameStop imminent, I’m thinking long and hard about what game, if any, to buy. Chances are I’ll rifle through the clearance bin, or station myself in front of the case of old DS and Gameboy Advance games. I have had limited funds over the years, and so my systems are limited at best. DS and all the applicable predecessors, Wii, GameCube, and Xbox. I have limited funds still, but much less limited than they have ever been. So at the top of my mind I have certain titles that I have a distinct desire to purchase.

   Very first is a game I played about a year or so ago. The World Ends with You is a charming little thing, a very dark yet humorous story, a good portion of it based off art. Being an artist as well as a gamer, I found the general experience pleasant at first. As I went on, and the designs and beauty of it became integral to the story, I became immersed in this world of pins and Noise. At every twist your character faced, I sucked in a breath. You never know a single thing more than he himself knows. And in the end, when all is said and done, I found myself emotionally invested in these people, hoping beyond hope that just around the corner was Another Day, brighter than what they faced. By far one of my favorite games of all time, it is also being crossed into the Kingdom Hearts game, Dream Drop Distance. I await that game with a nervous flutter in my stomach.

   I have in mind another game, Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. I enjoyed that game by far more than any of the newer handheld installments of the series. Let’s just say I love me some sidequests. And this game has one, huge, sidequest. The kinstone pieces are one of the biggest undertakings of the series, besides the figurines of Wind Waker of course. Finding the owners of the other halves of the pieces, and finding the proper pieces of all the commonly found kinstones, and then finding whatever you unlocked through that match? My god. That takes me forever. It keeps me busy like no other adventure game could.

   As I mentioned before, I love Harvest Moon. It’s a certain passion of mine, living out this fantasy life. However, there’s a certain game I wanted to play ever since I heard the concept. If Harvest Moon and a monster fighting adventure game had a child, it would be called Rune Factory. I have never seen this in stores, though I have kept my eyes wide open looking. Now I’m not sure which number in the series I would get, if given the option. Quite possibly the second, as it’s a polished, fresh and new version of the first. I like playing the original, the first in a series, but if they’re all the same, I feel the second would be okay too. However as I’ll likely not be given an option, I’ll take whatever I can get.

   Actually, I would honestly look to buying any Harvest Moon title that I don’t already have some experience in.

   I might consider picking up one of the multiple Crystal Chronicles titles. I’ve played the original and one other, Crystal Bearers, to death. If I can get them for cheap, I’ll certainly try out any others. I know there are a few somewhere, and the reviews were terrible, but I have a thing for the original, and I’m curious about them.

   For new titles, I haven’t been keeping all too up to date with anything other than Zelda. I’m looking forward to the new Kingdom Hearts game, of course. Speaking of KH, if I can get an older PlayStation for a good price, I’ll look into getting them again.

   I have a thing for older games. New is nice. But what I played as a kid is what I love.

On: Plot Holes

I may have mentioned this, but the Legend of Zelda franchise is my greatest passion. When Skyward Sword was released, I lunged at the opportunity to play. Now if you haven’t played, or even finished the game, and want to find out for yourself, I highly suggest you turn around now. Come back when you’ve finished. This is spoiler city. When I was going through the beginning, the very landscape intrigued me. I refused to look at the timeline they had released. I didn’t want to know until I finished the game. A good friend of mine came over and mentioned offhand that what I was doing was creating the Master Sword. My heart stopped. I didn’t understand, but I had an idea. When the time came that the game was good and done, I breathed a sigh of relief. I understood. The whole of the franchise made sense. However. I couldn’t make much sense of some things.

If Demon King Demise rose once more in the past, before Twilight Princess, before Ocarina of Time, before Windwaker, why does he have the scars on his forehead and chest? The one on the chest was inflicted in Ocarina of Time, on one of his reincarnations. It shows in Twilight Princess, just as the Demon King’s own. In Twilight Princess, he was impaled through the forehead, thus causing one of the crossed scars. Then again in Wind Waker, causing the other. Now, how would those be, if this was all in the past? Is it just for show? Or are they merely supposed to be there, and then Links of the future destined to wound the King’s reincarnations in his original weaker points? I don’t know. But the implications of either great thoughtfulness or great thoughtlessness make me wonder. Which is it?

Time travel has always made me cringe. In theory, what you do in the past should change the future, as some may say. However if Link had made one mistake, one slight difference in the timeline while he was in the past, then the future would be vastly different. However that would mean he would never go into the past and change it, and then the future would be untouched, but then he WOULD go, and so on and so forth. But if you think along the lines that you can’t change the past, as what you do is destined, then wouldn’t Impa know what was to happen? Don’t you think she’d be a bit more, all knowing? Have undeniable faith that Demise would be defeated? Also, if Demise was defeated, then The Imprisoned wouldn’t even be there. He’d be no issue whatsoever. If Demise was defeated, then Link wouldn’t need to seal him back up. Just. Time travel! It creates more questions than answers those already waiting.

Will there be more installments? How many? If we haven’t reached the end, we’re probably on the brink. I don’t see them carrying on the new continent timeline very far. But also, how many more descendants can the hero have in the only remaining branch? I couldn’t tell you. I do still want a game, or perhaps just a small spinoff based around the lives of the Sheikah. Even if it’s just a small, “Day in the life of,” or about the training of a Sheikah. Kind of like Kingdom Hearts had its little game about Roxas, numberXIII. I would buy that. Out of curiosity, and out of simply wanting more. Maybe a game centering around the events BEFORE Skyward Sword. The Goddess’ war with Demise. I just hope that this isn’t the end of the franchise. I hope someday I can teach my children about the Legend of Zelda, and know that the legend has yet to end, that it is still being written even in their lifetimes. And dress them as the characters for Halloween.

On: Strategic Agriculture

   Since I was young and got my first computer, a used model from my brother that had many quirks, I’ve been spending my sick days in the same way. I play Harvest Moon. Now, I’ll be the first to say I love fighting games and adventure games. However, when I was sick and my brother showed me how to play the game, I’ve always done so. Every time I’m sick and stuck at home, I play Harvest Moon. I’d love to play the original again. This isn’t in my to do list, so I’ll get around to getting the emulator and such, but for now, I can do without.

   Lying here, sick in bed, waiting to have to get up and leave for work and try to force myself through the day, I’ve got my Nintendo DS in hand. Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. I’ve been ambling through this game for years. Now, since I tend to sleep sickness off, I haven’t played very much. But apparently when my head is fuzzy with medications, I am an excellent farmer. Quite wealthy, my wife and toddler want for nothing. However, when the fuck will that kid grow up some more? Jeez. I’m tired of having him scoot around, not talking yet, just pacing through my house. Regardless. The harvest sprites do all the work for me. All I have to do is run and take the crops I want to keep. My animals are all happy, healthy, prize winners. I'm well on my way to having that second house, and it's only year four. Well. I'm at about one out of one hundred million. But I get a good few thousand a day in winter just from my livestock. I'm set to buy a few more cows to amp up my earnings. I'm a master chef, pretty much made every recipe that doesn't involve the special crops I can only get by selling some thousands of other crops. I have a backstock of dresses and perfume for my wife in case I'm ever too busy to give her anything for a while. I'm working on getting the cursed tools right now. After all, winter is the time for that. This isn’t my first pick of games on a normal day, but on a day like this, when I’m conscious, I would never do without a bit of strategic agriculture. Feels good to be filthy rich, even if it is only in a game.