Finished the Ice Cave, and got my airship!
This is the defining moment for any Final Fantasy game.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Final Fantasy
I've cleaned out the Earth Cave, and killed the lich. Y'know, for an undead of nearly unlimited magical power, he spent an awful lot of time attempting to beat my fighter to death with his fists. I was prepared for a lot of things, but shit tactics wasn't one of them.
I beat him like a rented mule, of course.
Reading the faq on the game (from gamefaqs.com), it's pretty clear to me that I'm higher level than they recommend, so the games quite a bit easier than I reme mber it. Of course, there's things like "being able to save anywhere" and "being able to buy more than one potion at a time" that have improved the experience, but I'm wondering if they just made the game easier, at some basic statistical level.
Haven't had a lot of time to play NWN2 lately. When I'm not being a father, I'm playing World of Warcraft. I've only been playing Final Fantasy because it's on my iPod, and I can play it during the two hours of commuting I have to and from work.
It's strange... I have something that I love (gaming), but my life essentially has to be empty in order for me to pursue it. It's either living or gaming it seems. I mean, the choice is obviously living, but it's pretty telling about a) the size of the void in one's life that exists in order to be 'hardcore', and b) that gaming does a pretty good job at filling it.
I don't know if this is some sort of truth or not.
I beat him like a rented mule, of course.
Reading the faq on the game (from gamefaqs.com), it's pretty clear to me that I'm higher level than they recommend, so the games quite a bit easier than I reme mber it. Of course, there's things like "being able to save anywhere" and "being able to buy more than one potion at a time" that have improved the experience, but I'm wondering if they just made the game easier, at some basic statistical level.
Haven't had a lot of time to play NWN2 lately. When I'm not being a father, I'm playing World of Warcraft. I've only been playing Final Fantasy because it's on my iPod, and I can play it during the two hours of commuting I have to and from work.
It's strange... I have something that I love (gaming), but my life essentially has to be empty in order for me to pursue it. It's either living or gaming it seems. I mean, the choice is obviously living, but it's pretty telling about a) the size of the void in one's life that exists in order to be 'hardcore', and b) that gaming does a pretty good job at filling it.
I don't know if this is some sort of truth or not.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Final Fantasy
Canal opened, on to Melmond and the Earth cave.
Found an excellent place to level up. There's three chests in the castle to the Northwest of Elfheim. In front of each chest is a guaranteed battle that nets around 200 - 300xp and 900 - 1500 gil. As a result of this, I'm level 20 (nearly 21) before heading into the Earth Cave.
I had 50,000 gil when I got to Melmond. I felt badass. Then I saw that the Knight's Armor was 36,000 gil. And the mage spells are 4,000 each.
I'm broke again.
Oh well, 'tis the destiny of adventurers to be poor. Otherwise they'd have less incentive to adventure. I remember reading the Conan D20 sourcebooks. They actually say that most barbarians spend a good portion (or all) their money whoring and boozing in between adventures. That suits me just fine.
Part of me cringes, though... shouldn't they be putting it into an retirement savings plan of some description? But then agian, y'know, whores.
Found an excellent place to level up. There's three chests in the castle to the Northwest of Elfheim. In front of each chest is a guaranteed battle that nets around 200 - 300xp and 900 - 1500 gil. As a result of this, I'm level 20 (nearly 21) before heading into the Earth Cave.
I had 50,000 gil when I got to Melmond. I felt badass. Then I saw that the Knight's Armor was 36,000 gil. And the mage spells are 4,000 each.
I'm broke again.
Oh well, 'tis the destiny of adventurers to be poor. Otherwise they'd have less incentive to adventure. I remember reading the Conan D20 sourcebooks. They actually say that most barbarians spend a good portion (or all) their money whoring and boozing in between adventures. That suits me just fine.
Part of me cringes, though... shouldn't they be putting it into an retirement savings plan of some description? But then agian, y'know, whores.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Final Fantasy
I beat Astos the Dark Elf, gave the Crystal Orb he dropped to Matoya the witch in exchange for the pep tonic to wake the prince, and now I've got the Mystic Key!
And, as usual in a Final Fantasy game, I'm about four levels ahead of where I need to be, so the game's a smidge easier than if I'd tried to blast through as fast as possible.
My job now is to go visit all the old castles and dungeons I had visited and get all the treasure that was locked up by the mystic key.
Read through a walk-through today... it sounds like the game gets pretty arbitrary and hard. The enemies start using insta-kill spells like Rub and XXXX. I'm not really looking forward to that.
And, as usual in a Final Fantasy game, I'm about four levels ahead of where I need to be, so the game's a smidge easier than if I'd tried to blast through as fast as possible.
My job now is to go visit all the old castles and dungeons I had visited and get all the treasure that was locked up by the mystic key.
Read through a walk-through today... it sounds like the game gets pretty arbitrary and hard. The enemies start using insta-kill spells like Rub and XXXX. I'm not really looking forward to that.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Final Fantasy
No posts for a while. No real reason, other than I haven't been doing a lot of gaming.
Still playing Final Fantasy on my train ride to / from work though. I'm looking for Matoya's cave. Perhaps I've missed something, but I can't find the bloody thing. It's actually pretty interesting going from a game like this to Final Fantasy XIII, where they give you a helpful reminder of what you've been doing and where you're supposed to be going. I guess that's the advantage of a more linear flow... it's a lot easier for the developers to point out what you should be doing next.
Tonight is raid night in World of Warcraft. I think we're supposed to be poking our heads into the Coliseum again to kill Lord Jaraxxus.
Still playing Final Fantasy on my train ride to / from work though. I'm looking for Matoya's cave. Perhaps I've missed something, but I can't find the bloody thing. It's actually pretty interesting going from a game like this to Final Fantasy XIII, where they give you a helpful reminder of what you've been doing and where you're supposed to be going. I guess that's the advantage of a more linear flow... it's a lot easier for the developers to point out what you should be doing next.
Tonight is raid night in World of Warcraft. I think we're supposed to be poking our heads into the Coliseum again to kill Lord Jaraxxus.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Final Fantasy
SquareEnix has re-released Final Fantasy 1 for the iPod. I bought it almost immediately off the Apple AppStore. It was only $9 (which is about the same price as a novel on the kindle, so not bad). I've been playing it on the train to and from work, lost in a happy cloud of nostalgia and awesome.
I've been playing the Final Fantasy games since the first one was released for the NES. I fired it up on a friends machine, and played through to the fight with Garland.
Which, was a bit of a mistake.
You see, the original Final Fantasy on the NES had one save slot. One. And starting a new game effectively blew the old one away. My friend was pretty mad at me, needless to say, and I was banished from his NES for a period of time. I forgot about the game.
Final Fantasy II (North America) came out for the Super Nintendo. I knew about it because I read about it in Nintendo Power magazine (remember that?). There was something different about the game that appealed to me. There was a story, and characters that grew and changed over the course of the game. There was a huge world, and a stupendous amount of things to see and stuff to get. I begged my Dad to pick it up for me next time he was in The City (I lived on a farm, you see). And, miracle of miracles, he did. I missed the bus to school the first day I played it. I laughed at Edward the bard. I cried when Tellah cast Meteo. And I actually got to the moon on the Big Whale and finished the game.
Yeah, one of the few games I've finished.
Ever since, I've made an honest job of trying to finish all the other Final Fantasy games as they come out. Sometimes I've succeeded (VII,X), sometimes I've come close and suffered the loss of a save game with 80+ hours on it (III). Othertimes, I just grew bored with the mechanics (VIII, IX, X-2, Tactics). Regardless, it's always held a special place in my heart.
A few months ago, I went to see a symphony perform the Prelude and One Winged Angel.
I cried during it.
I've been playing the Final Fantasy games since the first one was released for the NES. I fired it up on a friends machine, and played through to the fight with Garland.
Which, was a bit of a mistake.
You see, the original Final Fantasy on the NES had one save slot. One. And starting a new game effectively blew the old one away. My friend was pretty mad at me, needless to say, and I was banished from his NES for a period of time. I forgot about the game.
Final Fantasy II (North America) came out for the Super Nintendo. I knew about it because I read about it in Nintendo Power magazine (remember that?). There was something different about the game that appealed to me. There was a story, and characters that grew and changed over the course of the game. There was a huge world, and a stupendous amount of things to see and stuff to get. I begged my Dad to pick it up for me next time he was in The City (I lived on a farm, you see). And, miracle of miracles, he did. I missed the bus to school the first day I played it. I laughed at Edward the bard. I cried when Tellah cast Meteo. And I actually got to the moon on the Big Whale and finished the game.
Yeah, one of the few games I've finished.
Ever since, I've made an honest job of trying to finish all the other Final Fantasy games as they come out. Sometimes I've succeeded (VII,X), sometimes I've come close and suffered the loss of a save game with 80+ hours on it (III). Othertimes, I just grew bored with the mechanics (VIII, IX, X-2, Tactics). Regardless, it's always held a special place in my heart.
A few months ago, I went to see a symphony perform the Prelude and One Winged Angel.
I cried during it.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Heavy Rain
A friend of mine left his copy of Heavy Rain at my place for a few days. I played through the first few bits. As a new father, it's a bit hard to handle, since it deals with losing a child. Fortunately the game is excellent enough that I want to know what happens next.
Didn't play it yesterday, since apparently starting my PS3 would've caused a meltdown.
Played World of Warcraft instead. Got my deathknight up to 75.
Didn't play it yesterday, since apparently starting my PS3 would've caused a meltdown.
Played World of Warcraft instead. Got my deathknight up to 75.
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