Better late than never, I've always believed. So a week and half late, here is June's entry.

Monthly Blog: May

April is up.

It's April 1st, so here is March in Review.

February is posted.

January 2010

The 2nd of my 3 year-end entries is up. Here you'll find a few of my favorite games, as well as stats galore.

I've decided to move my blog offsite. My December blog is posted here.

A sad month as I lost my 3rd 360 to the dreaded red ring of death. It's been about 3 weeks since I sent it out and UPS says it will be returned to me tomorrow. I'm eager to get back into Dragon Age and the used 360 games I picked up this month. My Game-a-Week challenge continues well, though I fear this week may be rough with the week already half over and nothing near complete. I may try to make a quick run through Infamous.

November Gain +1460 - 73 Achievements unlocked


November Gain - Level + 0 Trophies + 0


Backlog increased by 7 in November

Rank 11 on the MyGamercard.net RPG Leaderboard -4

Game spending vs. '08: Monthly -24% | Yearly -42 %
A Gamestop Buy 2 Get 1 Free proved to be my undoing this month.

I was enjoying this quite a bit until my 360 died. Started a Warrior, but having far more fun with the Mage.

Human Noble Fighter Level 7 in Mage Tower.

Elven Mage Level 11...12? in umm... Denerim... exploring and stuff... Memory fuzzy... Need 360 back...

Wonder if I could finish this in three days. Somehow I don't think so. A Bioware main quest that takes more than 20 hrs?! That hasn't happened in awhile.

This game was the subject of a fierce debate last year with a friend over the name of a character. The answer was fairly early into the game so we popped it in to settle the question. The argument was resolved in my favor and it was decided at some point in the future this fine game deserved another playthrough. That time has come.
11:11 - 11 Growth Stars
Serge/Kid/Razzly - Water Dragon Isle, then Mt. Pyre

Dragon Warrior I
Level 20
The difference between levels 19 and 20 was amazing. DracoLord fell with little trouble this time.
Dragon Warrior II
Completed opening scene

Final Fantasy I
13:46 Lv 51 Knight/Ninja/Red Wizard/Black Wizard
Chaos defeated, game complete.
Final Fantasy II
07:09 Firion/Maria/Guy/Leila
In Deist, but the Hill Gigas have proven too strong to overcome. Grinding will be required to continue.

The previous title, Partners in Time, was a bit of a disappointment so I must admit I approached this one with a little trepidation. Thankfully none was needed. While the formula remains largely unchanged, playing as Bowser was a blast. The endgame did drag on for quite awhile. Just when you thought it was over you found yourself in another dungeon. And when you thought it wasn't over... it was. The minigames were a mixed bag. A few were fun, a few were annoying, and forced stylus sections were forgivable. The game was far better at forcasting enemy moves than Partners, giving you slightly more time to react. While this does ease the difficulty somewhat, Bowser's Inside Story is no easy romp. Yoko Shimomura again provides an enjoyable soundtrack. In the end, forget Partners in Time existed. This is the true successor to Superstar Saga. Not quite as good, but certainly close. 8.9 out of 10.

Muramasa looks absolutely beautiful in motion. Gorgeously detailed with an evermoving background, the world itself is a thrill to run through. Unfortunately in this case, beauty is only skin deep for this game has very little depth to it. Combat can be fun, especially against the screen-filling bosses, but is often over after just a few strikes. The story never really makes much sense and the ending (Momohime's story) was rather unfulling. At 8 1/2 hours it didn't take much time at all to run through one story. Of course it will take three runs through both characters stories to get everything out of the game, though I doubt the story makes anymore sense after the two bonus endings. Despite some shortcomings, I have to admit I did have alot of fun with this. I was also impressed with how the music seamlessly shifted from a calm background piece into a more upbeat version of the song when enemies appear. Muramasa gets an 8 from me.

Ah blessed nostalgia. Borrowing liberally from Mario 3 and World, while adding in some current gen elements, this game brings back fond memories of youth. The multiplayer aspect is a new and interesting mechanic. It's nice to have at least one extra player along since as long as both of you aren't dead or in a post-death bubble the stage will continue on. But on the other hand, and especially noticeable with more than two players, everyone starts to get in each other's way. The game hiccups slightly when a player dies and with many players it starts to happen with jarring regularity. The game ramps up the difficult quite quickly, but no stage ever feels impossible. Another new addition is a guide that you can activate after 8 deaths that will show you how to beat the stage. I did not take advantage of this feature, though I have started to make use of the hint room which lets you spend star coins to view infinite 1-up tricks, secret exits, and some amazing displays of skill. A far better assortment of "hint videos" than I was expecting. Fun solo or with friends, Nintendo has crafted a fine platformer and shows that 2-D doesn't just a relic of the past. Now where is my 2-D Metroid? 9.1 out of 10.

It was nearly my Game of the Year last year and that has not changed. When I reviewed it last November I said, "Up there with Vesperia as contender for RPG of the year. Awesome game. 9.2/10". And that was all I wrote. No wonder these blogs are taking so long these days... Anyways, after powering through the expansions on the 360 earlier this year, I had forgotten how challenging the early portions of the game are. I really didn't change the way I played the game. Though I did take a darker path through a few of the quest, I quickly found myself leaning stongly towards good. I've never gotten much pleasure playing an evil alignment. Score remains unchanged at 9.2.

Premontion - Secret of Mana
This album has possible been on my computer for awhile, but I didn't notice it until I did my C76 Touhou update. Odd, because this isn't Touhou; it's Secret of Mana and one of the best arrangements I've heard from the game.

2 Pickups, 1 Additions

Atlus and NIS America

RPG


Fallout: New Vegas

More Monthly Blogs Here

And so dies my 3rd Xbox 360. Having arrived one day after Mass Effect, it gave me nearly two years of service and has been my longest lasting 360. Despite being a brand new system, it still used the original chipset so I knew this moment would arrive at some point. Would have been nice had it let me finish Dragon Age first...