Done with Kingdom Hearts 2, I have moved on to another Squenix game: Dragon Quest VIII! A friend recommended it to me- said friend also recommended Devil May Cry and Shadow of the Colossus, so his opinion's quite trustworthy- and, having bought the game, I'm enjoying it thoroughly. One of the main characters desperately wants to be Tifa. If you don't know what I mean, look at the female main character. Moving on. The story appears to be entertaining enough, and the VERY British voiceovers are kind of fun (though some voices are a little grating), but the gameplay has me very intrigued. It's traditional RPG combat, but honed to its finest. And the combat is brutally difficult if you're at all unprepared. If anyone else is enjoying the game, lay forth your comments! I will promise to attempt to read them. -Agent Black out

I really just wanted to mention that I'm disappointed in some of you. I haven't seen anyone on my friends list violate this yet, but I wanted to mention that 90% of the GameSpot community has no idea how to write a review. I was looking through the Ghost Recon: AW reviews, and see a review that says "Mixed Reactions" with a score of 9.1. A 9.1 is not a mixed reaction. A 9.1 is a definite like of the game, with some minor issues here and there. There are also some issues with people mixing up genres- according to some users, Advanced Warfighter is the best FPS they've ever played- and a lot of people who begin their reviews with things like "I knew I would hate this game when I rented it", or something like that. It's a little depressing that people are renting games that they know they'll hate. Anyways, if you see anyone with reviews like these, do the world a favor and don't recommend their reviews. Giving them recommendations just encourages them. -Agent Black out

My birthday's come and gone, and man, did I get some fine games. You'll see some new additions to my Collection, but most of 'em are in my Now Playing.

It's kind of a padded list, though; I haven't even taken off the plastic around The Outfit, for example, and I've only watched my brother play Devil May Cry 3 up to this point. I'm really disappointed that I haven't gotten around to playing MGS3: Subsistence, mainly, because the original version is one of my favorite games of all time.

Why are you essentially ignoring these great games, you may ask? Three words:

Kingdom Hearts 2.

Well, two words and a number.

This game is so amazing that few superlatives can describe it. Call it button-mashy, sure, but you're only allowed to be so if all of your character's abilities and attributes have been carefully planned out. The combat is simply remarkable in its fluidity, and boss fights are true cinematic experiences in their intensity and the abilities that you wind up performing.

The main highlight of this game, though, is the story. The first game's story suffered because the Disney-Square combo didn't blend perfectly. The blend has been perfected here. There are myriad twists to be found, the Final Fantasy characters play a MUCH larger role this time, and the experience is, at times, very emotional (play Roxas' story and tell me that you don't just feel empty inside). I'm about midway through the game (sixteen hours- most time I've spent with only one game for some time), and I can't wait to experience the other half.

Oh, yeah, and I know that the "Random Thing of the Week" idea has stagnated and died. Shut up.

-Agent Black out

Hey, I haven't been posting much because I've been obsessed with Oblivion and... other things.

I recently edited my FFX review, not drastically or anything, but I did. I'll explain why later.

Also, my birthday's this weekend! Think of me on April 2nd. My mother literally was holding out my birth all April 1st, saying that she wasn't going to have her baby on April Fool's Day. As such, I was born at, like, 2 in the morning.

That reminds me: don't you hate it when it's your birthday, and you're all happy and everything, and then someone comes up to you and goes, "Hey, what time were you born?", and you say, like, 9 PM, and it's 2 PM, so the guy's all "Well, I guess you're not x years old, then."

Yeah, you know what? It's my freaking birthday, don't tell me I'm not a year older. Of course, I've never experienced this conversation, as people rarely talk to me before 2 in the morning.

This was a fun rant.

-Agent Black out

I'm not joining any more unions! I don't have a desire to co-found your union, or whatever. I don't have the freaking time. It's not a personal statement on you, because if you're sending me an invite to your union I consider you cool, but I don't want to join anything else right now.

I don't want to join your God of War union. I don't like God of War, really. It's Jak and Daxter with Greek gods and blood. And sex. Both are used gratuitously.

I don't want to join your union based around the same game as a union I'm already a part of. That's why I joined the first union.

I'm not dissing you or your unions, you're both dandy in my book. But, come on! I have a life to attend to. Rarely.

By "a life to attend to", I mean my character in Elder Scrolls. What else could I mean?

Just kidding.

-Agent Black out

IT IS MINE!

After such a long wait, the game that led me to purchase an Xbox 360 is within my grasp! Well, not literally. But it's dang close by. Just a few feet, or something.

I am victorious! Now, to save Tamriel... in a manner not really befitting of an adventurer, because despite my conscience I'll be stealing from freakin' everyone.

...

Victory is mine!

-Agent Black out

...I quit out of a ton of unions because I was being an idiot and thinking I could contribute to them all. I've left over only my favorite unions, and unless I see something amazing, I'm not joining any others. So, you know, stop sending me invites, already.

Okay, it wasn't an incredibly long hiatus, but I'm finally back and ready to post and stuff. Why was I gone, you ask? I have but three words for my explanation. World of Warcraft. I kind of underestimated the addictive quality of WoW because, in my first character, I was playing as a Paladin. In case you're not "in the know", the Paladin is the slowest, most unfun class in the game. Now, playing Mage, which is one of the fastest types, and I'm kind of addicted. I made it to level 15 in the span of a ten-day trial. If I were playing Paladin, I would be lucky to be level 7 right now. That might be an exaggeration. And then, just as I gained the ability to slip from Warcraft's grasp, I stumbled onto a Half-Life 2 mod that has just blown my mind. Have you seen this mod? It replaces Half-Life 2's sucky music (come on, you and I both know those songs weren't rivaling Tchaikovsky or anything) with full orchestral scores, many of which should sound familiar if you're a fan of Hans Zimmer or the like, and greatly improves the character models. In the link is another link to where you can download environment mod, that improves the look of the environments; I've had this installed for some time, though, and I haven't paid enough attention to notice much improvement. Also included in the mod are new sound effects for the guns, as well as a re-tuning of their power in order to make the gunfights more cinematic. It's a terrific mod, and manages to take an amazing game and make it superb. If you don't have Half-Life 2 yet, you're using your computer the wrong way. Hey, this gives me an idea. I could do a "Random Thing of the Week" segment. I could introduce you guys to cool stuff, like mods, games, sports drinks, or websites. But mainly sports drinks. Uh... anyways. Rock on. Get that mod! -Agent Black out

My PC is back online! Yay! I'm now rocking the World of Warcraft again (lvl 10 human mage... yeah, I'm that cool...), and have barely any time for my life left over between that, Counter-Strike, and Half-Life 2 mods. This may almost become a problem.

Also, if you happen to be on the Rexxar server and see a mage named Arthelas? Yeah, that's me. Rock on.

I put up my review of Black, and it's kind of not incredibly nice to the game. I liked it, certainly, but it wasn't terrific. So, you know, read it. If you get the chance.