So, today is the day that, under a few different circumstances, I would have graduated with my Master's degree. Frustrating last few days, to say the least. Since I literally can't do anything until my professors can figure out a date for my exams in a few weeks, I'm on the job hunt.

On the game front, I finished two games recently. Final Fantasy XIII was... well, I'm glad I'm only borrowing it. The lack of battle system control, poor writing, lack of inspiration in designing the world(s), and a severely misguided focus (no pun intended) in what took priority in designing the game only begin to hint at my problems with this. Pretty to look at, but no substance, and thus, very little fun besides some things you can do on Pulse. I had zero reason to care about the world of Cocoon other than the game telling me that I was supposed to, and the ending leaves many, many questions unanswered.

SquareEnix, you made me a fan with FFVI, and I've played every numbered entry besides XI. I was concerned when I first heard about the Cocoon/Pulse dynamic and some of the very odd names and titles for things, but the cinematic mess you made has made it impossible for me to recommend this to anyone for any reason. I never thought I'd say this about a Final Fantasy, but this was a flat-out bad game, and you had 5 years to put the brakes on it and choose to make a good RPG instead. If this is the direction that JRPGs are to go in, count me out, because the writing on the wall for a game like this was there since VII, but I never imagined it would go this far. Bad form on a bad game that took too long to make in the first place. I want to play more, finish the Pulse missions, and get trophies that are impossible to get before finishing the game, but... it's just really hard to motivate myself for it. Perhaps if I knew there would be a better ending for doing so, but it would be the same anticlimax with unanswered questions and the same hollow feeling upon finishing.

*starts playing Rising Sun from Okami on surround sound*

Ah, much much better. :D

So yes, today I beat Okami after what I guess amounts to a year of playing off-and-on... I don't remember when I got it, but what a game. Granted, there were a lot of parts where the game dragged, and many times I wanted to yank Issun off of Ammy's back and throw him against a rock in hopes that it would knock some sense into him, but the last 3rd of the game (Kamui) made it very hard to put the Wiimote and Nunchuk down, despite some questionable drawing control choices from Ready at Dawn. Aside from that, the dodge problem, and the lack of end credits and epilogue, a great port of a great game, and now I can finally let myself look forward to Okamiden. Finished with all 100 Stray Beads, plus I have all 9 Karmic Transformers for subsequent playthroughs. :) Very glad this has a New Game + sort of feature, plus the bonuses are just what you'd want for a game like this.

Short version: lament of what should-have-been today but need to press forward, Final Fantasy XIII makes me embarasssed to call myself a fan of the series, and a very long quest to finish Okami has come to an end. 3 eras end, only one of them I'd currently consider good. :o