Yup, level 12 now. But... whatever, I'm not here to level up. I just like writing about games once in a while.

Man... it's tough to keep playing only Ouendan since there are so many good games to choose (and little time to play, since my father got addicted to New Super Mario). But I think I'm able to write a review 'bout Ouendan and Ouendan 2. Yesterday I finished the second one (and it seemed a little bit harder than the first game - which is good, a game with no challenge can't possibly be a good game).

But I didn't get my Play 2 resigned. In fact, I just bought Prince of Tennis: Sweat and Tears 2. An interesting text-adventure game with a few minigames spread all over the story.

Back to the DS: Harvest Moon for DS. Interesting and funny, though the story is pretty slow in the beggining of the game. It took me a while to get used to the dual-screen system. If you look for that side, it's much more faster to grab the necessary items and to look in the map. ButI guess I like the first stories better.

Didn't begin Zelda nor Final Fantasy III, which were the main reasons why I wanted a DS. Oh, well...

Yossha!!! My parents gave me a Nintendo DS!!!!!!

Oh, man, there are so many games that I want to play that I don't even know where to start!!! So... I guess I'll go with Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! for first. I put Ouendan at my Now Playing list, but it's hard to pick only one to play at a time. There are lots and lots of games and I may be playing more than five at a time. But I still haven't given up the idea of writing a review for each of every game I have... and now it seems I have more than ever to write!!

And yeah, I'm kinda excited with this brand new toy (and I'm playing the second Ouendan right now - just don't ask me how).

But to be more precise, allow me to list the games I'm currently playing (Ouendan, being at my Now Playing list, is currently my priority, but since I already finished it at the Normal mode, I guess I can write a review for it now):

- Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!

- Prince of Tennis: Crystal Drive (yes, FINALLY playing this one)

- Cooking Mama (may seem girlish, but can be extremelly fun)

- WarioWare Touched

- Mario Kart

- Elite Beat Agents

- Phoenix Wright: Ace Atorney

- Ehrm... the second Ouendan (sorry, the name is too long for me to remember - and I'm almost finishing this one at Normal Mode!)

Well, I guess that's the jist of it.There are a lot of other games I want to play, but I don't have that much free time to play since I also work at my winter vacations. But I plan to write a lot about this cutie here.

Oh, I see E3 brought us some pretty good stuff this year...

I didn't follow the news, so I don't know exactly what's going on, but whenever I hear abou E3 I think abou good stuff (even though the part where the entrance was limited to the press didn't really make me happy).

But... I don't know... I think it is too early for me to buy another console. Like my father himself always says, I didn't really enjoy my Play 2 enough yet. And that's true, since I don't play another game until I finish what I'm currently playing (by the way, I didn't give up .hack vol.2, but I'm playing Prince of Tennis now - and this game's profile doesn't exist in GameSpot, that's why I didn't add it at my Now Playing list).

Oh, man, I can't believe we're in the middle of the winter vacations... I feel kinda sad, this also means I'm almost getting graduated...

I'm still trying to figure out why Gamespot hasn't registered the Prince of Tennis game collection. I was supposed to finish .hack//g.u. vol.2, but I'm so damn addicted to Prince of Tennis Smash Hits 2 that I can't think about playing something else. The controls seem kinda lame, but if you get addicted to the game as I am, you'll forget this really quickly, since there are more ways to win a match (using "super powers", for an instance).

I also bought Ar Tonelico a few days ago (I don't remember if I already said that) , but the game resembles Shining Force... at least in the beggining, so I didn't feel really attracted to it. Maybe this was because I was doing only a test to see if the midia was ok. But I can't say much really, since I do this to all the games I buy.

After watching the recently release anime Devil May Cry, I feel like playing the game. I just need to get in vacations first...

OH, MY GOD, why there has to be so many good games to play?????????

Recently I've been quite addicted for Prince of Tennis. I don't know the reasons that led me to it but... oh, well, who cares? What matters is that the only game related to Prince of Tennis that I found here in Gamespot is Crystal Drive, for Nintendo DS. That means that I won't be able to make a review of Playstation 2's game Smash Hits. Ok, I think I can live with this. The only problem is that unlike Japan or United States, in my country Nintendo DS costs as much as your kidney. You can imagine how much the game itself can cost. In other words, it is impossible for people of this country (and I won't say its name because I'm ashamed of what this country represents) to buy original games.

Anyway, back to the game I was mentioning: I played a little bit of Prince of Tennis: Crystal Drive on my friend's Nintendo DS. Oh, man, is that game addictive or what? Its system seems very simple, even though the controls to do the Special Moves aren't that much simple. We only had one DS available, so we couldn't test the online system (which seems to be DS' greatest strenght - I mean, besides the fun of using the stylus). IfI get my hands on my own DS one day, you can be sure that this will DEFINITELY be the second game I'll put in my DS (the first one is Ouendan).

Oh, man... so many things to do at the end of this bimester... I barely have time to scratch my back, that's why I haven't been playing much. I hope a have some time to play on my vacation... I mean, if I ever happen to HAVE vacation...

Yes, I'm a nerd after all.

I thought the Valentine's Day would be more painful since I'm single and all, but after you grow to a certain age, you start not bothering about these sort of things.

Enough babbling, let's talk about games.

Anyway, .hack//g.u. vol.2 is still on my list, as you can see. Well, whenever I get tthe chance to play a little, I dedicate myself full-time. For some people this may seem like a big waste of time, since there are lots and lots of excellent games for Playstation 2, but as I never get tired to say, I like to finish each of every game I play, no matter how boring it gets. If I just gave playing certain games as soon as they get boring, I could end up missing some quite good stories. This happened with Suikoden 3, which is creepingly catastrophic, but has quite a nice ending. This is also happening with .hack//g.u. vol. 2. The beggining was even more boring than the first game, but now that "certain events" happened, the story is getting pretty good.

**SPOILER ALERT!!**

About the game... Alkaid has just become one of the Lost Ones. Man, I felt kinda sad with Haseo's despair toward this fact., but I guess that if she was still "alive" (actually she still is, but she's in comma) the story wouldn't get so exciting.

I also fought Sakubo's Avatar (and I must say that I never really expected Sakubo to be one of the Morganna owners...), which wasn't exactly an easy task and freed Endrance (I even started hating him, but after a few things I started to think he's pretty funny). Now... I believe I must face Sirius (and a few people spoiled that part either). I can't wait to see what happens...

I wonder if I'm still too far from the end of the game...

FINALLY finished Suikoden 3. The last battle ended up being easier than I thought. And of course I'm gonna describe all the details of my last battle ('cause that's what makes all the fun of keeping this blog updated).

*SPOILER ALERT!!!*

So, my final party was Hugo (True Fire Rune), Chris (True Water Rune), Geddoe (True Lightning Rune), Viki (Pale Gate), Futch (Lightning Rune) and Bright (Shining Wind).

As soon as the battle beings, I realize my party was not completely healed from the last battle against Sarah (yeah, the one I described on the other post). I also forgot to change a few items and recover the lost levels of some runes (like Geddoe's last level one, which could've made my life much easier), and that ruined good part of my plans. So I started using Hugo's last level magic, Geddoe ditto, Futch and Bright healing themselves. Good thing that I lose Hugo soon in the first turn. Geddoe was able to use a few magics, but that still wasn't enough to eliminate the runes that were circling the True Wind Rune . After a certain while, Viki kept healing herself and Geddoe as well, Chris healed herself and attacked the Lightning thing, Futch and Bright either. In the next turn, the Earth crystal's effect on the Wind Rune reflects my True Rune magic and I lose Geddoe and Viki, I somehow made it to destroy the Fire Crystal, but now I had only Chris, Futch and Bright to fight. I was lucky Futch and Bright had quite a resistance and Chris still had the healing magic from the True Water Rune, that made my life a lot easier. With Futch and Bright I destroyed the Lightning Crystal and the Water Crystal as well (not after it regenerated the Lightning Crystal, so I had to destroy it again). With the three elemental crystals gone, there was only one left: the Earth Crystal. I used all the members of my party do attack it, Chris healing whenever she could, Futch and Bright always attacking.

Okay, I broke the last Crystal, so I only got the True Wind monster to destroy. I just kept attacking with regular attacks, since it reflected every single offense magic I used. Futch and Bright together caused more than 1500 of damage, Chris kept healing herself and the other pair... until my True Water rune was worn out. Then I've got a problem. Luckily enough, I had equipped both Futch and Bright with Medicines in the other battle, so I managed to heal them and attack at the same time.

It didn't take me more than 10 minutes to bring the True Wind Rune down, but I can assure you it was a lot easier than my fight against Sarah.

After the ending, I started Luc's POV (which was pretty much the main reason I was playing the game - to know why Luc was doing all those things). Just plain fun, man, by using Luc's runes and Sarah's runes you can see why they were do hard to defeat. Too bad Luc's POV is so short, but playing with Yuber in your party is unique.

Overall, a good game (in spite of all the awful aspects that got me frustrated during the entire game). You can be sure that I DEFINITELY won't play this game again. The story is one of the best ones I've ever seen, but just thinking about going through all those boring battles all over again makes me shiver. (**FEAR THE MISSUS** - internal joke, sorry)

I already wrote a review of Suikoden 3, but again I forgot to talk about the camera and the tactical battles. Crap, I always forget to mention something whenever I make a review. But I think I was fair enough with it. I bet a lot of people will disagree with me. *laughs* Oh, well, what do you know, there's always someone who disagrees with you no matter what you're talking about.

Next game I'll finish: probably .hack//g.u. vol.2. I think I'll finish it before finishing Kingdom Hearts 2. I don't take KH2 out of my Now Playing list because .hack//g.u. vol. 2 is not as cool as the first one, so I'm getting bored very easily. I may take a break as well.

And I only know that I'll cool-out my head before diving into Suikoden 4. I played it a little, so I know how frustrating it can be...

I didn't have much opportunities to play today since my cousins were here, but at least I was able to defeat Sarah. Oh, MAN, now THAT was annoying. Yesterday I kept trying to beat her for 6 or 7 times consecutively, and at the EXACT moment I beat here, we have a black out and my Playstation 2 is turned off without giving me a chance to save the game. At that point of the dawn you can imagine how happy I was.

Anyway, I still don't know the right strategy to beat Sarah. I went with Chris, Nash, Franz, Ruby, Edge and Landis at first (Mio as support character), because I had no idea of what would I be dealing with. Well, everybody's weapon was above level 14, so I thought it would be of no trouble at all... But I guess I was wrong after all, wasn't I? The battle didn't last even three turns, since Sarah began using the Pale Gate.

The next attempt was with the same party, this time I tried to use the runes strategy, but this battle happened to be shorter than the first one. It took me quite some good time to figure that those magician fairies could be quite a pain in the neck. ButI still thought there was something wrong with my strategies, so I exchanged Edge for Lucia. Again another loss, but Lucia proves to be quite good with her Fire/Rage runes.

Next attempt... let's see... I believe I exchanged Franz and Ruby for Bright and Futch, and Landis for Roland. Another loss, but I found that it would be easier to finish the enemies before getting to Sarah. I tried to begin the battle with Nash's Silent Lake, but he always stopped chanting whenever Sarah used Pale Gate. At this point of the game I was almost getting desperate, but at least I found out that Futch and Bright received a lot less damage than the other party members. In fact, in this battle, there was a parte where I fought with only both of them. It got quite impossible because I couldn't counter-attack magic and my healing items where over (and weren't enough to heal both Futch and Bright).

Last  attempt, same party, but this time I finally found out what to do: defeat the irritating enemies AND THEN get to Sarah. I kept Nash healing Chris and himself while Chris attacked the huge monster on the front row. Futch and Bright together have long range attacks, so I used them to attack the irritating Azzodesses. Lucia used the best move from the Rage Rune and Roland healed both of them or attacked the Azzodesses as well. So Sarah's first move was the Pale Gate. Heal. Sarah then kept healing herself and her monsters as well. I just kept attacking and healing whenever my energy was below the 250 HP. One by one, the enemies were falling (okay, it may seem like I'm turning this battle into a fantastic adventure) until the moment there was only Sarah. Then, you start to think that the battle is starting to get easy. She used the Pale Gate once or twice, plus a powerful Water Attack (notest that when the rune description says the damage can be caused on allies, this rule only works for you - and you can be assured that I DEFINITELY will put this in my review). Sometimes she also healed herself, but it wasn't enough to surpass the damage my party was causing.

After a few minutes (that looked like hours) of desperate and violent struggle, I FINALLY defeated her!!!!

During the cutscene with Thomas, Cecile, Sasarai and Dios, a blackout occured and I couldn't save the game.

...

Murphy was by my side that hour.

A single tear fell from the corner of my left eye.

Then I turned my Playstation 2 off and went to sleep.

Seriously.

I was sad.

Today, the pain and suffering restarted. I tried using the same tactic, but it wasn't working and I still don't understand why. So I exchanged Roland for the Young Viki with the Pale Gate and repeated the same strategy. This time, it worked, but I got Nash killed in the process. That's sad, but whatever, at least THIS TIME I could save the game.

Just thinking about the next boss gives me shivers. The first one was Yuber, then it was Sarah. Thomas is weak and has very few allies, so I guess he will confront Albert. That leaves Luc for Hugo to confront.

Am I ready?

Nah... I guess not.

Finishing Suikoden 3 may take quite a while. 

Man... it is getting really tough to update this blog... Actually, it's getting tough to do anything on the internet, since I barely have time for myself. I almost don't play anymore (which pretty much explains he reason I removed several games from my Now Playing list, because I know that I'm not gonna play them so soon).

That reminds me I stopped at the final dungeon of Suikoden 3... shame on me. Oh, well, sometimes I simply don't have the patience. I know how frustrating Suikoden 3 can be, so I decided I will only play when I have a whole afternoon to play it calmly. I must've said that I hate playing in a rush, wanting to finish the game as soon as possible (so much that I think I'm gonna start Kingdom Hearts 2 all over again).

I started playing .hack//g.u. vol. 2, but it is so repetitive and boring that I restarted playing Suikoden V, my favorite 'til now. 

Ok, ok, I must say I'm very weak when we're talking about the games I've just bought. I know I still have plenty of "Now Playing" games to finish, but I just couldn't resist keep playing .hack//g.u. vol. 2.

When the time to write a review about it comes, I'm not sure I'll be able to write good things about it. The game doesn't seem to have changed not even one bit. I expected more inovations, but I guess it's gonna be the same thing that vol. 1 was. Technically it's not THAT bad, but I expected some fast progress in the story, you know? Instead, Haseo keeps yelling at Atoli, Kuhn got rebelious, Pi is still bossy, Gaspard is still the same loser... Well, at least you can put Alkaid in your party, but still..! There aren't any new skills... at least for now. And... is it just me or this edition is lagging more than its predecessor?

Oh well, I guess not all things can be perfect, huh? But I still have fun playing this game.