Starcraft II - Complete

Wow, two games in the space of a weekend... the planets have aligned, unicorns are breeding, cats and dogs livin' together... mass hysteria! It almost goes without saying that this is something that doesn't happen all that often. But I took a little bit of time away from watching Farscape to actually attempt some of the more difficult missions (that turned out to be not all that difficult).

As it turned out, I only had two missions left to finish the game, and I had left it in that state for a few months. My typical MO is to play games until they get difficult, but I was pretty proud that I'd kept up with that one. But then (during the course of the missions), you get to a scary, ominous "point of no return" sort of scenario, and I guess I chickened out a bit.

The last mission "All in" was a pretty basic defend-the-base-from-hordes-of-attackers sort of thing. Defending a base is something the Terrans excel at, so it was really a piece of cake. In the previous mission, you could choose to either disable the Nydus network (which keeps worms from spawning hordes of incoming baddies), or disable the air support (which prevents a couple of painful air units from spawning). I chose the latter, since I didn't want to defend every angle on my base, just a few choke points.

I'm debating what to play next. When I'm on public transit, I'm working through Final Fantasy III on my DS. When I'm at home, I think I might try to finish either New Super Mario Bros. Wii or Kirby's Epic Yarn.

I briefly debated getting a 3DS when it came out, but I think I'll wait until later in the year, when a) they are possibly cheaper, and b) Legend of Zelda 3DS is out.

Note: Chiana is ten kinds of hotness. It's a scientific fact!

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass complete!

I just defeated Bellum, the big baddie of Phantom Hourglass. It was actually pretty easy, given that I'd collected all the spirit gems (it allows you to avoid damage and hit harder). You end up using the spirit of courage to stop time so you can hit him when his eye is open. And there's four phases to the fight, including ship-to-ship combat! It was all very cool.

Feels good, man.

I'm not sure what I should go for next. Maybe Starcraft 2?

Back in the saddle

I haven't had much time for single-player games lately. Since the baby is growing up and the other child is starting to get quite active (school, piano, etc), it seems like all my free time has been taken up with either a) World of Warcraft or b) Netflix.

Fortunately, I have resurrected my Nintendo DS from the depths of the electronics basket in our computer room. I've since finished Super Scribblenauts and now I'm working on The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (both of which are excellent, btw).

My only complaint is that Zelda features a timed dungeon. In hindsight, the "Hourglass" in the title should have given away that there was something in the dungeon that was subject to timing, but sadly I'm really dumb. But I've decided that this is one of those things I have to change about myself. I've faced the timed dungeon about seven times now, and emerged victorious.

I've also decided to go for some semblance of completeness. I'm at the point where I could fight the end boss, but I want to collect all the power, wisdom, and courage gems and level up the little spirits that help you out.

All in all, it's a stylus game, which I thought would be a bit gimmicky and lame. It's turned out that it's actually a Zelda game and it's actually very lovely to play.

Though I think I'll get the 3DS when it comes out later this month. I hear it has a bigger stylus and brighter screen.

Netflix has been something of a time thief. Everytime I think I'm done with a television series, it saps me with something new. These days it's been Farscape and Better Off Ted.

Motivation

Some aspect of my personality drives me to play these, games, even if I never do finish them. There's a common aspect to all of them that initially hooks me, and that keeps me playing for a period of time before setting them aside.

I keep thinking about making my own game. I have the technical know-how to implement something one-quarter decent. But thinking about what sort of game I should make has forced me to consider what it is exactly that I enjoy about them.

The games I love are: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, World of Warcraft, Super Metroid, Super Mario World, and Final Fantasy IV and VI.

One thing I can identify is a progression of capability. You do not start with all the things you need to reach the end. From the hookshot to the grappling beam to the airship, finding each of these things is instantly game-changing, allowing new tactics and access to new areas to explore.

I guess that means a second factor is exploration. I should say meaningful exploration... I appreciated the technical aspects of the randomly generated dungeons in Diablo and Diablo 2, but something about them seemed like the computer was throwing busywork in front of me. While the computer is capable of making locations, it seems that so far only artists and level designers are capable of making interesting and beautiful locations.

Another piece of it is a progression of skill. You can make it further and make things easier, not just because you found a bazooka in a chest, but because dammit you've gotten mighty cunning with those two little revolvers.

I guess those three things are part (but not parcel) of something I want to feel when I play my games: awe. This new doodad I found... it's awesome. This level.... awesome. I am becoming... awesome.

For an interesting read, check out TVTropes: Crowning Moment of Awesome, and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Final Fantasy II

Making good progress, though it's more of a difficult game. I've gotten to the point where I am to mount an assault on the Dreadnought (as opposed to assaulting a mount on the Dreadnought, which is probably a felony in both the Empire and the Rebellion). The difficulty has been of my own devising, since I've neglected to properly level up my magic.

I'm used to being fairly conservative with MP's, afraid that I won't have any for the boss when I get to them. Unfortunately, the only way to increase your pool of MP's is to spend them. So I've been finding myself making two or three trips into a dungeon. The first few trips are to blast all the nameless monsters hiding within so I can practice my magic. The final trip is a speedrun through to the boss so I can blast him with unforgiving eldritch energies (which I've just spent a period of time levelling).

It's working thus far.

I think I'm going to play some Neverwinter Nights 2.

Final Fantasy II

Started the next iPod touch Final Fantasy, which was released the same time as the first one, as part of Square's anniversary celebration.

It's a beautiful port of the game. I've never played the original, though I've seen screenshots. It has a lot of depth for something that's decades old. The themes of empire and war are something that are still being explored in the more modern games.

The skill system is taking a little getting used to. I have to remember to cast magic spells or my magic users will be crap. In FFI I tended to conserve magic until I really needed it. If I do that here, my magic users will be unskilled and kind of worthless.

Final Fantasy - Complete!

Well, I've finished it. The difficulty ramps up significantly for the final boss "Chaos". Every fight before that point was at most three or four rounds. This one took about 10 or maybe twelve. I'm not sure. I lost count.

It's happy to have finally finished this landmark game.

Problem is, I don't really feel a sense of accomplishment. I wonder why I'm doing this. Is there something wrong with me?