This is mostly a quick update on where I'm at in the gaming world currently. I started playing New Super Marios Brothers again last night, I like it, but I hate that you can only save in specific times during the main game, it's so annoying to have to time play sessions vs. how many shines I've collected.

I've beaten Kingdom Hearts after only 3 weeks. Total play time was around 60 hours or so. The only things I didn't accomplish were synthesizing everything and winning the gold and platinum cups. I'm going to go back and do those and then beat it again to get the secret ending.

As to Tales of Legendia, I finished up to Chloe's character quest (SenelxChole <3) and I'm starting on Moses' quest soon. That is truly a kickass game, not as good as Symphonia, mainly because of the 2d battle system (where'd my fun 3d go! ;-;) and the map (no flying? AHHHH!). However, it's still killer fun and I hope to get 10-20 more hours out of it.

I'm going to start playing Metroid Prime Hunters, Mario Kart and Animal Crossing WW again once I finish off the PS2 games. I really have a bad habit of never completely finishing games, and I hope to over the course of this year completely finish every game I've ever owned (cept pokemon, you 150+ monsters can go screw yourselves, I'm not wasting my time to "catch em all" >.>).

Now to general news. If you haven't seen, I've recieved the tagger emblem, wohoo! I'm already at 'Tagger Dabbler'; I should've done this ages ago, it's so easy to get, and it adds a nice splash of color to my emblem profile. Who knows, maybe by this time next year I'll be a Tagger King!

Also, I just started checking on ebay for a used copy of FF7, and I've got to say, who the hell decide to make the game this rare? I just put a $60 bid in! That's most likely all my tip money for the first camp counseling session you fools! I know it's a great game, but my god, I've never paid that much for any video game, ever! I'm actually hoping I get outbid now, if worse comes to worse I'll borrow a copy. If any kind ebayer will sell for a decent price, please send word, I'm poor and would like to be able to get more than 1 game with this session's tip money! ;-;

That's all for now. A quick BTW, if anyone knows how to get the speed runner, walking commercial, or generally any special emblems, please give a holler, I'd like to add a few more emblems to my still vastly tiny collection. Much thanks!

~Nighthawk~

Those of us with a pechant for the video game series The Legend of Zelda know about the two upcoming games for both the DS and Gamecube/Wii. Those who casually enjoy Zelda know about them as well. Even those who've never touched a video game stand a good chance of at least knowing about one of the most hyped up games of the last few years, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
As a Zelda fangirl, I've been drooling over the prospects of this game ever since seeing the first trailer released way back around 2004. It's a radical change from the Wind Waker style back to classic Zelda design, and while I loved the graphical quality of WW, nothing beats what I've seen for TP.
Graphics aside however, there is still a lot of mystery left to the new chapter of the Zelda universe. This will all be revealed sometime before the end of 2006, as both the new Nintendo Wii console and the game Twilight Princess hit shelves in the last gaming quarter. Until then, prospects are high, and forums are overrun with speculation and eager gamers already making preconcieved notions about this game.
Therein lies the problem.
You've got two sides of the fence on this issue that have already made their decision. You've got the diehard Zelda fanatics, who will love this game no matter what. Then you've got the Zelda haters who will condemn it no matter what. These two sides are few and far between when it comes to the majority of the gaming community.
You're left with the middle gamers, who make up the vast majority, those who want an enjoyable game that meets their expectations, but don't hold any fanatical loves or hates of Zelda. They've been looking at TP for the last 3 years, and have been seeing the game hyped up by those both in the know and out of the know, about how this will be the "best Zelda ever" and will "revolutionize the frainchise again like Ocarina of Time did". When the game comes out, how will this affect their opinion of the game once they actually play it?

My main worry here is that while this may end up being the most amazing Zelda ever, it could also be just an average Zelda that was overhyped way too much by both Nintendo and the Zelda fanbase. If this turns out to be the case, I fear disastruous consequences for the overall opinion of this game and for how people view Zelda and Nintendo in the future.

If a middle gamer plays this game after being mobbed by years of overhype, they're going to look at it with disappointment and think "wow, guess Zelda's not as great as everyone says" and end up not buying it again/not reccomending it to friends. Of course, while that exact instance may be a bit extreme, they're still most likely going to end up being prejudiced against future Zelda games, because even though this was a good game, it wasn't a Superb game, and they were let down. Why would they trust Nintendo again if they think the same thing is going to happen?

Adding to all of the praise that the producers and soon to be players give this game, there's also the factor that this game has been delayed for so long because of additions and other things going on with production. A middle gamer is going to look at that and say "they must be doing something really special with this game, I should probably get it". If they were on the line about getting the game, the fact that they delayed it to add even more Zelda fun might tip them over into buying it.

However, when they play it, and it is an average Zelda, and not a superb one, they're going to say "I waited all this time for that? I guess I shouldn't trust Nintendo with delays anymore, it either added nothing to the game or turned a less than average game into something average."

My point is, if this game doesn't meet everyone's expectations of grandeur and magic, I believe that it's going to hurt the Zelda franchise and Nintendo as a whole. People have been seeing this as the game worth waiting for, as the best game ever to cross their gamecubes or any console for that matter. They look at Ocarina of Time, and all the delays it went through, and if it doesn't end up as good as OoT or better, they're going to get jaded, and that's not good for us Zelda lovers.

I've got no doubt that TP will sell millions because of this hype. But what about Phantom Hourglass and the other games down the road? Zelda was lucky that all the hype that went into OoT really produced results. But what if TP falls short of expectations? Will a game that can stand decently well on its own merits be seen as the biggest dissappointment of 2006 because people didn't take a realistic look at it?

Here's to hoping Miyamoto can still produce and improve upon the magic we've seen him come up with before.

~Nighthawk~

W00t W00t! I'm a ring king! I'm going to try to post a lot more reviews so as to hopefully eventually get the review emblem. It doesn't seem too hard, seeing as the lowest is like, 50 reviews. I really want a special emblem, I'll be damned that I missed the Nintendo press conference ><. I need a lot more games, if Yazu can have 2000+, I can at least get into the 100s. How the hell did you afford 2000 games, man! Guh, this is why I need a job >>. When I get a real job, I'm getting PS2 and GC games out the wazoo. Maybe, if I get enough cash, I'll eventually get a PS3. Not until a price drop though.

Wohooo! I've finally gotten a PS2! I got enough money from certain things to finally save up for it! I've got Tales of Legendia and Kingdom Hearts right now, and they're so much fun. It's a little annoying getting used to the controller, I've only ever used the Gamecube's, and the new button placements are a little weird, but I'm getting used to it pretty easily. I expect to get a lot more RPGs and Action Adventures for it, so hopefully I'll have a huge collection soon. And I'm so happy that it's a DVD player, cause now I don't have to ask for one for Xmas or wait until then. That frees up another spot for a nice Xmas present too :D

Anyways, see you all off in PS2 land!

Sweet! Level 12! I feel so special :D. Anyways, not much to say so far, I'm still waiting, dying for Twilight Princess. I think Nintendo would be making a big mistake if they delayed it till fall, with the Revolution coming out, they'll lose a lot of business. They're best plan would be to release TP packaged with Rev for an extra $20 and have a non TP added Rev kit as well. And of course sell TP seperately :D

I picked up Metroid Prime Hunters on Tuesday. So far it's a very nice game, decent adventure mode, a tough multiplayer though, I completely suck at it :D

Weavel is such a cheap hunter. While you're dealing with the turret, the guy can be relaxing somewhere, mocking you. So annoying. I guess I'll have to use him, since samus sucks in the multiplayer. ;)

Just posting so I can increase my level ;)

Nothing much new with me, cept I've become a moderator on Nookbay! *cackle* And I've been wikied!!!

Fun for me!!!

I'm almost done with Ocarina of Time. I've cleared everything, including the six barriers, but I'm going back to collect hearts and other such things.

Something ironic occured to me today. I was watching the cutscene where Zelda reveals herself and gets captured by Ganondorf, and I realized that if Link had gone back to his childhood and found Zelda instead of questing in the future, he could've warned her not to make her identity known in the Temple, and then they could've taken on Ganon with a lot less hassle :D. Also, if Link had been able to go back before he had opened the gateway to the Sacred Realm, the game would have been ended before it started xD. Just tell his past self not to open the gates and to rehide the jewels, and there ya go! I've always wondered about the end game, if that's what Link does when he ends up in the courtyard again, tells Zelda what happened and they rehide the jewels or something. Is Ganon even in the timeline anymore? He got sealed in the Sacred realm at the end, so is he pulled out of both timelines? (Note that I agree with the multiple timeline theory, that Link simply warped between two different timelines in the game, and that after defeating Ganon, that timeline in which Ganon had ruled went on to be the one in which Wind Waker takes place. Otherwise, how did they know that Ganon had ruled in WW if the timeline had been erased back to the point where that part of history was erased?

I wish I had a hacking device, I wanna try all those cool codes I've heard about to make things appear in Hyrule like an Arwing.

I've been thinking for a long while that I should expand my horizons in the gaming world. While MMORPGs are currently out for me due to the time and monthly payments needed, I still have console/handheld gaming at my disposal. In addition, I'm hoping to get a job soon, and I'm trying to look for one at a gaming store, which will hopefully mean discounts. My question is this, is it worth getting a PS2 or Xbox (I'll never be able to afford next gen of either, and Nintendo takes all preference, so that means the Revolution will end up being an Xmas present)? Remember, I'm an RPG/Strategy/Action Adventure gamer. I can handle hardcore (I've played GTA, though only Vice City, I thought it was pretty wimpy compared to what I've heard about San Andreas), and I love anime type RPGs (I'm trying to stray away from games made off of actual animes and lean towards original). I could see me playing PS2, but I don't think I'll ever buy into Microsoft, I just haven't seen enough on there offered to what I would like. If you disagree and can show me something that would interest me on the Xbox, please tell me, I'd love to know that I'm not missing out. So if you please, help me out here! Thanks :)

I finally did it, I beat Tales of Symphonia

....SQUEEE!!!!! ^.^ OMFG it is truly the best RPG EVER. It should so be made into an anime, it's got a storyline that would beat any other anime made. So much freakin fun. And Lloyd looks sexah in his noble outfit :D I'm definitely gonna play over again, but first I have to go back to my almost complete save, get as many titles and things as I can possibly get, and then finish and start from there. I wanna get as much done as possible in the old game before I start a new one. And ya know, I like the Zelos ending, it's nice :). Everyone is ok in the end, and it makes more sense with the whole redemption and everyone deserves to live theme. Plus he looks devilishly awesome in the noble costume :D

Tales will probably go down as my favorite RPG of all time, unless they find a way to make a better Tales for the Revolution. It beats out Final Fantasy by a longshot. Get Tales if you don't have it! GET IT I SAY!