Anways, its later.

So, I was having a discussion on the Disgaea forum... I posted a topic to discuss exactly why so many great Strategy RPG's become so difficult to find so quickly after their release.

I was of course, talking about Disgaea, which practically dissapeared from store shelves a month after its release, and was backordered everywhere online.

Another example I posted was Tactics Ogre: Knight of the Lodis for GBA, which practically vanished the day it came out. I remember waiting for TO:KotL for weeks... didn't preorder a copy = Big Mistake... and I could not make it on launch day. The next day after launch, I went to Gamstop and they were sold out. They never restocked the shelves. I eventually found it on Amazon, used, for 10USD more than its list price new.

Anyways, I was using as evidence for Disgaea AoD being rare a few key points.

A. Not available NEW in stores.

B. I spent four months checking once a week in my local EB Games for a USED copy.

C. EB Games.com / Gamestop.com do not list Disgaea AoD.

D. Target.com does not list Disgaea.

E. Any and all online stores that list Disgaea are "Backordered".

F. (The biggest point.) - Wal-Mart had just that week changed from "Backordered" to "Sold Out".

Now, last week I went to BestBuy.com to take a look and see if the game was still back ordered... it was no longer on the site. Best Buy has stopped selling the game all together.

Now, if the only place you can find a game is overpriced on Ebay or Amazon... that qualifies as rare in my book.

There was a guy in that topic who did not quantify that as being the signs of a rare game.

Yea...

Anyways, I walked into a GameCrazy today on a whim. I chit chatted with the guy working there for a bit, then mentioned to him I was looking for a copy of Disgaea AoD. You know what he did? He LAUGHED in my face. But he still went and ran it through the computer for me... no results in any Game Crazy store.

That's rare if you ask me.

So, last night, a friend and I went on an epic quest. I was in search of a copy of Disgaea, he was in search of Microsoft points.

We traveled around visiting every game store and walmart in the area in search of a copy of Disgaea. I saw many other games I would have liked to have purchased (had I the money for them), including some rare games - Final Fantasy I for instance. Also, I found a 20USD copy, brand new, of Gundam Crossfire for the PS3, which blew my mind - since Gamestop/EB games is selling that game used for 25USD.

I also saw brand spanking new copies of Disgaea 2 and Xenosaga III, at a couple Wal-Marts... only a couple dollars more than EB Games' used copies.

Oh, and I also found Rogue Galaxy for the PS2 for... wait for it... 20USD brand new at a Wal-Mart. EB Games is still selling it at 34USD used. Blew my mind.

Anyways, I only had the money for Disgaea, so I was very sad to have to pass up all these great game deals.

So, I call the night, for me an epic failure. My friend finally bought a new DS Lite to replace his dying DS... He'd been drooling over the new blue DS Lite since it released.

Oh, and I have something to say about a comment by a guy on the forums relating to Disgaea being or not being rare, but I'll save that comment for later.

Bye, bye.

Just a quick blurb. Almost finished with Crisis Core... going through it, and having a lot more fun with the mission system than I thought I would. Though, I'd have to say the environments are getting a little repetitive... there being only five or so areas your missions send you too.

However, the game has started to actually pose an occasional challange, which is great.

Right now I'm debating whether I should go on and finish the story and start a New Game + to complete all the missions or go continue to go mission crazy.

Problem is, I virtually never play a game again after I've beaten it. Ex. I have played Final Fantasy IX to the fourth disk about five times... not once have I actually gotten to the final boss - because I know that once I beat it, I probably won't play it again. Weird, huh?

Not exactly what I would normally use this space for, I'd like to keep it just on game and site related blurbs... but I'm pretty desperate for someone to answer these questions so I can write an essay.

Here's the lowdown. I'm a college student who is taking a Humanities course. I have to write an essay on the experiences of a modern day soldier... a Veteran. The person who I thought would answer my questions for me backed out and decided he wouldn't. So that leaves me in a rut with only a week to find someone to answer these questions and then to write this essay.

The essay compares and contrasts the life of a modern soldier to that of either a Roman Legionnaire or a Greek Hoplite.


I can write it anonymous or personal, depending on your preferences.


Here are the questions.


1.

What were the underlying motivations or desires that prompted you
to enlist and then defend your homeland.


2.

What unique skills did you learn in order to defend your homeland?
3.

What did you endure in order to defend your homeland? For
instance, what were the living conditions and the working conditions while in
the service?
4.

What effects did you experience from separating from your family
for you period of service?
5.

How did you exhibit honor, faithfulness, and integrity while
defending you homeland?
6.

Was there ever a time when you thought that desertion was a viable
option?
7.

What overriding memory have you retained from your experiences
defending your homeland?
8.

In hindsight, would you still have enlisted? Why?

Thanks

I just thought I'd post a little snippet detailing how much I find myself detesting patents.

This year has been full of money hungry people suing game developers over patents on their technology. There was the incident with the Bluetooth technology used in the WiiMote and the PS3 controller. There was an issue with the controllers for Guitar Hero. And today I read that High Definition formatted materials are at risk... including BluRay... because one single person claims to have placed a patent on the technology used to read the disks.

Did you know you can patent genes? That's right. You can put a patent on the human genome. And people have done it. Just like a patent for anything else, you don't even need to know how it works to put the patent on it. You just have to know where it is.

Patents might have been a good idea... but seriously... they are getting way out of hand.

I made an anti-squirrel 'device' for a fourth grade science competition. When I reached high school... I saw one just like it for sale in a store. It had a patent filed that year on it.

That blew my mind... you have any idea how much money I could have made had I filed a patent on that silly garbage can I cut up?

I'm peeved... and I'm not in the mood to type a big long blog. So here's the short of it.

I recieved Final Fantasy Chronicles in the mail Friday. I happily opened it and stared lovingly at Final Fantasy IV. Then I turned the divider and stared at Chrono Trigger... and my heart sunk.

Something was wrong...

I removed the disk, held it sideways... and could not believe my eyes.

The copy of Chrono Trigger I recieved has a giant dent in the surface of the disk. A giant friggin' dent! And to top it off, the guy I bought it from is unresponsive... he says he has a return policy for defective items, but its been two days and he has ignored all my messages.

So I'm really feeling depressed right now... I bought Chronicles for Chrono Trigger... a new copy of Final Fantasy IV was just supposed to be a bonus.

*sigh*

Me = LvL 10 WooT Pheonix Down! Huzzah!

Yay! I made it to level 10. I have absolutely no idea how! I just skyrocketed right on up this week.

On the big news of things happening. (Yea, I know, I'm typing funny.) I finally bought Disgaea for my PSP. Found it on Amazon. At least five weeks till it gets here. Two or three till it ships and one or two for it to ship. Bummer.

Oh, the irony too. I stopped in on my way home to the local EB Games. This is after I had purchased it online. Guess what? They had a friggin copy right there on the shelf Used.

I'd been stopping in that store for five months at least once a week to check their shelves for three games. 1. Final Fantasy I. 2. Tales of the World. 3. DISGAEA. Five months it took them to get a copy in. And it was released, what? Six months ago? And the very day they finally have a copy, I'd already ordered it online.

So~ I picked up a copy of The Legend of Heroes II. Which is why I've been writing this a little funny. Its localization, its translation, is HORRENDOUS!! It honestly pains me to read the dialog. I had the minor hope it might have just been an accent thing, but then I entered battle...

LIGHT Flower is a special attack. You know what it is? A localized ice storm that creates an ICE Flower that shatters on the opponent.

The Post Battle screen... Where it should say something like "Recieved coin" or "Got # coins" it says... "GET #" Get 2314. Get. You get 2343 coins. Might have been alright. But GET #??

That was just the epidemy of it all. The translation errors extend to dialog, menus, and pretty much every aspect of the game.

I could forgive a Game Boy generation game for having incomplete sentences and chopping out words to make it fit. But when you've got space for four lines of text, practially four full sentences and you only have one line... there is absolutely no excuse.

It is so terrible that if I had kids, I wouldn't let them play it for fear they would learn to speak or read English incorrectly.

Without PS2 Backwards Compatability, and only PSX B/C to its name, my 40GB PS3 has instilled in me a strange need for nastolgia. I suddenly decided to browse ebay for old PSX games that I'd never played or that I'd played into oblivion (they don't work anymore).

On that thread, I just bought a new copy of Final Fantasy Chronicles for the Playstation X yesterday.

Final Fantasy IV is one of the few Final Fantasy Games I have not yet played at all.

Chrono Trigger is a game I have wanted to play for years... and just never got around to buying.

So I'm really estatic right now. Can't wait till the pack comes in the mail and I can get down to some serious 'old school' business.

I'll probably rate it after I finish playing.

Even though i've already purchased them, I'm really hoping that the entirety of the original Final Fantasy series comes to the Playstation Store. I'd love to see FF I - IX as downloadable content. I'd probably even toss 15 - 20 bucks a pop if III - VI were upgraded versions with FMV sequences and buffed up graphics.

Now, if VII - IX came out on UMD for my PSP... I would snatch them up in a heartbeat even were the 60USD+.

Now, I know there are not so legal and warranty voiding ways to get my favorite PSX games onto my PSP, but I have no wish to tread those troubled waters.

I finally got my PS3 today. It's been a long time coming, yet earlier than I expected to get it.

I was sure I would purchase a Playstation 3 before the next Final Fantasy game is released... being completely addicted to that series.

A few big hit games brought me over from my 360 along with my disillusionment with my Wii - which I've since sold on ebay to help fund the purchase of this PS3.

The big games of course include:

Final Fantasy XIII

Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Heavenly Sword

Disgaea 3

Metal Gear Solid 4.

These games, along with the victory of Blu Ray, really made me lean towards getting the system now.

The biggest influence though were two articles in Playstation Magazine several months ago. One an interview with key developers from three big name developer studios on the potential of the PS3 and the expreiences they learned from Gen 1. The other an interview with a member of Bethesda, a creator of Oblivion, who discussed the difference in creating for the PS3 over the 360.

Anyways, I got a 40Gig - no need for B/C with my PS2 still alive. I also found Folklore at Target for a bargain on clearance, 30USD.

------------

I set up my PS3, which took a good deal of time, and then put in folklore and began playing. Oh, it was good... but then I started to notice horizontal lines moving up my HDTV. Oh no! So I went on the PS forums to ask for a solution and spent about two hours trying to fix the problem.

Midway through my efforts, I was lead to an article on Ground Loops and how to fix them. Eventually I found the extention plug that used to go to the old fridge - ground plug already broken off - and plugged my PS3 into it and it into a surge protector. Problem solved.

I played a bit more before deciding I really needed to drop 40USD on a HDMI cable, so I popped into a nearby Radioshack, which was having a sale on 6ft HDMI cables - YAY! - and purchased one.

After installing it and finally getting the picture to work, it was "Jaw Dropping" time. Woot! And I'm so happy I picked up one of my favorite movies on Blu Ray - The Fifth Element.

All piggy bank funds now spent, I'm definately going to have to start the "PS3" piggy bank right back up.

Amazing System, Glad to finally have one.

(PS: I miss my Dual Shock 2. Com'on Dual Shock 3!)