Disclaimer (lol Disclaimer?): This was taken from my blog on another Website.

Y'know, I used to feel quite neutral towards rpgs. When I first played one I had no idea why it was played the way it was, I wanted action and speedy gameplay, I wanted tricky platforming and lightning bolts! I didn't want my Pokemon to just sit there making the screen flash every now and then. I just couldn't fathom how my favourite thing on the planet could be so...boring. But hey, I played it anyway. It was still Pokemon and all my friends seemed to like it. Slowly, I started to understand, I started to love my little critters. I still remember standing out the front of Cerulean City with Charmander and Metapod fearing what a knew to be Misty's water gym.

I put many hours into Pokemon Red and played it right up to the launch of Pokemon Silver and Gold. These games seemed to improve on everything that made Red so good! I was truly hooked. From then on, I played and loved every major Pokemon release. However, before I got my hands on Sapphire, I came across a game called Golden Sun. It was cheap so I coughed up the $15 not knowing anything about it.

**** yeah, Golden Sun

My god, the graphics, the music, the story! I didn't even make the connection back then that this was just like my beloved Pokemon games...I played it for hours on end, I completely lost myself in Weyard and loved every minute of it. This is what I consider my first taste of JRPG but strangely enough, I didn't finish another JRPG untill last year. I somehow got into the mindset that they were all so linear they didn't warrant my time. I started to play games like Morrowind and well...World of Warcraft. Somehow I started playing Final Fantasy IV. Yep. Linear and predictable, I got stuck and stopped playing 8 hours in, I decided it sucked.

Woah, wait. I've got a FFIV themed Avatar and sig. What happened?

I don't know why I started again, I guess I just wanted to say that I had finished a Final Fantasy game. I looked up a guide on IGN and breezed past the area I was stuck on, after giving it just a few more hours of game play I discovered something. I started to actually care about the characters, I realised that the gameplay was incredibly challenging, the story was deep and I wanted to be in this world, and then it clicked... JRPGs are awesome

FFIV - The finest RPG I have ever played

From then on, I just kept playing games like this. The DS has a great selection but I noticed that most of the games I really wanted to play were on the PS2 (mostly the Final Fantasy series). I saved up $75 and got myself a preowned console with a memory card. I already had Final Fantasy X in my collection so I got home, slammed the CD into the tray and shed a tear of joy. Finally, FINAL FANTASY X. It was everything I hoped for, perfect gameplay, a touching story, incredible music, superb graphics and lovable characters. It was just like discovering IV again.

But...it only lasted me a week, I looked around the net for some reviews. This one title kept popping out "Persona 3". Dungeon crawling + demons + Highschool romance anime+ suicide themes. Well, it hits all my interest spots so "sure" I thought, "I'll try it." It came in the mail 2 weeks later and here I am now, after 3 weeks of grinding. I semi finished it and now I'm not so sure about JRPGs again.

Let's get one things straight first. Persona 3 has an amazing story and the creature designs are phenomenal, the mix of highschool life and shadow slayin' in a great concept but gosh darn, it's long. And I mean really, really long, 60-70 hours kinda long. Sure, I know these games usually take a while to finish but for what Persona 3 is, I can't say I agree with the length. You see, they have given the player a tower to climb and a few areas around the school to talk to people. Day in, day out it's the exact same thing - Wake up, go to school, chat up some girl (Just so you get a stronger persona, that is), go home, grind until your character is tired then go to bed.

I feel exactly the same, Tono

This got me thinking. Really, how is the gameplay that different from other JRPGs? I mean, it's got a great story and you run around leveling up so you can beat the next boss, is there much else that a game needs to do within this genre? Sure, those are broad generalisations but that is what seems to make a JRPG. Maybe I just burned out, it's a long game and I've been playing for 4-5 hours a day...I don't know. I've got Final Fantasy VIII coming in the mail soon so I'm going to see of that will "refresh" me.

Yesterday I experienced what it is like to create a vlog!

It was a very unique experience, talking to the camera and all but it was thoroughly enjoyably. I plan to continue doing episodes, hopefully reviewing some retro games and just sharing my life with the world.

Hey look orange, we are on the internet!

So if you're keen, check it out! I would love to hear back from you! Critique is always welcome. Enjoy~!

Click here to watch my vlog!

I don't own one of the 'current gen' consoles but as of late, I have been spending time with friends who do. I can't help but think that as gaming grows into a hobby that's more and more mainstream, we will lose much of that which makes games enjoyable.

I see this generation as the beginning of what I will call 'the Hollywood effect', so much attention goes to giving the game 'flash', something to draw consumers in, developers are scared to take a risk due to the incredible amount of money that now goes into the production of a game and DLC is encouraging the release of semi-finished products in order to maximise profit. What's worse? paying $110 for these new games!

Sure, but what about XBLA and those nifty games you can get off Steam? Well, that's the thing. To get something just a little bit oldschool you have to look at alternative developers who specialise in that field; Classic game production is a dying art. y'know, I really did have more fun playing games as a kid. I'll acknowledge that this cynical rant could come from the fact that I'm merely growing older and more critical of media I consume on whole but I honestly do enjoy older games moreso than anything new; 2D is where it's at.

surely I'm not the only one that has picked up on this trend.

It's widely debated whether games are or aren't a form of art. I'm not going to bring forth many arguments here. Rather, I would like to discuss my personal standing, as a self proclaimed artist and writer. Firstly, I would like to bring your attention towards this fantastic quote I came across whilst studying the implications of censorship. (Which I will blog about in the future.) "The job of a novel at its highest level is to illuminate the human condition. Entertainment is fine and the transference of ideas is nice, too, but the novel, like all art, has as its supreme goal to engage the beholder's emotions, to make him or her laugh and cry and suffer and triumph and - one more thing - understand." - Robert Daley (August 18, 1990, New York Times) See, I consider a good video game to be very close to a novel. It often presents a plot, characters, a theme and a setting and as you play through the plot you uncover more of the story. the only difference is the way in which the "novel" engages the audience. A book will make use of language and syntax to grip the reader, a game, on the other hand, creates the illusion that you yourself are making the story, it merely guides you through a set of events. What better way to engage someone then to actually put them in the story? Once we recognise how synonyms novel is to game it's easier to see the finer points, "to make him or her laugh and cry and suffer and triumph" - How true this is! take the time to count how often a game has made you feel any of these (and make me happy by commenting with examples :P ). Surely, if a game can provoke such emotion it must be considered art. There are so many mediums, "digital" is but one more.

Just something I've been musing over lately. I'm an avid collecter, something just stirs inside me when I can say "Yes, I have this this and this" and the constant search through bargain bins for that elusive under appreciated game always excites me. So when I found a copy of Fatal Frame II with manual for 10 bucks I was absolutely ecstatic! Why did I want this game though? Sure, I love horror... but I don't particularly enjoy survival horror games, the gameplay is often boring and slow. Plus, the puzzles often end with me pulling out hair and storming off to Gamefaqs. The real reason was simply that I wanted to own it, to have it in my collection and to secretly (and shamefully) be able to boast that I obtained it after so many months of searching. This occurred with Beyond Good and Evil and Starwars KOTOR. Neither of which I have finished! This brings me to my next musing; More often than not, I start a game with the goal of completing it. Sure, don't we all? Although, really, I just want to reach the credits so I can add it to my list. It's getting harder for me to find a game that I really want to just play. Henceforth, I've drifted towards shorter, easier games and multiplayer matches where I don't need to "finish" something to claim I've played it. Achievements are making this personal trend even more troubling. I need to collect them...I NEED TO COLLECT EVERYTHING. I'm not completely crazy yet. the aforementioned Fatal Frame is actually drawing me in, it's an incredible game that is really gripping me (Yes, I want to play it, not finish it) and Monster Hunter: Freedom is doing the same but maybe that's because it's so damn hard I don't actually see myself finishing it. I'm loving them both so I think I'll continue to play them while I search for my next rare game: Psychonauts.