Kingdom Hearts 2 is damn addictive. Crap.

Seriously, I was playing it all over again, as I already said, and I almost forgot to sleep this night. Well, you know, spend the entire day working, spending a couple of hours at the market buying some food for the house, a fat creep provokes you father... After all these, I just want to lock myself in my room turn my Playstation 2 on and my life off. Obviously I didn't do that, I had a few things to do here and there, homework and stuff (yeah, after 24 years in my life I still have homework to do).

Anyways, yesterday I beat Xaldin. Man, that one is annoying. He makes Demyx look like he is the easiest member of Organization XIII to be. Seriously, Xaldin has some pretty nasty moves which you can't possibly avoid nor defend.

What else... Oh, yeah, I was supposed to be playing Suikoden 3, but whenever I start a game, I just NEED to finish it and since I'm already in the middle of Kingdom Hearts 2... I guess I'll finish it first and then continue Suikoden 3 later. Have you notest the small list of my "Now playing" games? Well, it shows how busy I will be until my summer vacations begin.'Til then, I'll just finish what I can while doing my school-jobs. (man, it even looks like a Kingdom Hearts 2 battle event: "Beat the 'Now Playing' list while studying!")

Oh well, I guess life wouldn't be that much fun if I had that much free time, would it? 

D'you remember 'bout the rule I imposed to myself 'bout not playing more than 3 games from the same console at the same time? Well, you know... I think I'll break down this rule. Whenever there is a good game, it is impossible to play only one at a time. It's like being damn hungry and eating only one piece of pie: it simply doesn't satisfy your stomach.

Anyway, as soon as I finished playing Suikoden 2, I decided I should start a non-Suikoden game, so I decided to play Kingdom Hearts 2 again, since I didn't write a review about it (yet). The part where you have to control Roxas is pretty annoying, but the rest of the game is excellent. If it weren't for my 1 and a half year cousins playing with the cameras of the game, I would've enjoyed going through all that stuff again.

For the moment I must be going to Agrabah (gosh, I hate Agrabah. Agrabah and Port Royal are the worlds I hate the most, even though I don't really hate the characters). Then... I guess it would be the Olympus Coliseum (yeah, again). While playing I found out that after you finish the game for the first time, the second and the third time seem to be a lot faster. I'm not being the fastest player on earth, but I guess the average of time you spend in each of the worlds is about an hour. Considering that I'm skipping pretty much all of the animations (except one or another in Hollow Bastion, the Final Fantasy characters' paradise), I can say I'm going through the game pretty fast. Another thing I really have to say: you can really have loads of fun while playing... I can't remember sweeeeeeeeeeter control responses.

Another one I'm playing is Suikoden 3. I never finished Suikoden 3 before, but a few fellas already spoiled good part of the game (and if you compare me to them, I'm not addicted to Suikoden at all). Even though they told me to get Hugo's POV first, I decided to go with Geddoe (because Jack - or Jacques - is the supreme master). His story is very interesting, I can't wait to see what happens next.

What else... Zelda... Well, I already finished it once, but even though it irritates me sometimes (specially the part of Shadow Temple and a few parts of the Water Temple), I really like this game. The controls also respond fantastically. I'm currently at Dodongo's Cavern and solved all the puzzles of the dungeon. I guess it's only left for me to kill King Dodongo anyway...

Oh man... I miss having a nice weekend to play. There are lots of games that I could finish in a day or two... 

If there's one thing I really like in the Suikoden series is the strong family bounds. When I was watching Suikoden 2's good ending, I started to think of how much Nanami trully cared about her younger brother. Even though she feared losing her brother during the entire game and may seem like a pain during the entire game, she is almost like a mother for Riou. Many people hated her because there are better characters to put in your party and she might not be the best choice for all the battles, but... I don't know, even still I really like her. Her character itself was well-developed and... well, I think she acts like what every person who have lost her family would do.

There's one part that is very hard to forget: there is one part of the game in which you can't refuse her coming wiht you. If you do so, she'll join your party anyway, but later she says: "Sorry I came with you. I know I may be pretty annoying sometimes, but I was really worried about you" (not with these words). 

And it is not only Nanami: Lymsleia from Suikoden V is also a hell of a sister. She may sound annoying at times, just like Nanami, but she also cares very much about her brother (even before the death of Arshtat and Ferid, when Freayjadour was her only family left). Yes, somehow both Nanami and Lym were some sort of "princess in danger" , but they are a lot more useful. Nanami fights pretty well and Lym... well, she can't fight, but you can say she is quite a smart brat. And that's the difference betweem the Final Fantasy series and the Suikoden series. In the Final Fantasy series, the princess will always be stupid, worthless, useless and waiting to be saved. Good cliche, but I'm pretty much sick of always having to do anything by myself, maybe that's why I can't stand playing FFIX (dear princess Garnet, please USE YOUR BRAIN once in a while). Besides, in the Final Fantasy series, you are always one step behind your enemy. In the Suikoden series, your strategist always tries (hard) to keep you in the same level as your enemy... or even better (like in Suikoden V, where you practically have the advantage over the enemy during the entire game - except for the part where everything seems to start falling apart).

Seriously, man. The only "princess" from the Final Fantasy VIII I liked a little more was Rinoa. Yeah, she only get your team in trouble majority of the times, but... I dunno, at least she... she... ehrm... is hot?! (...)

Other thing I really like about Suikoden is that attention is given to each star you recruit. Ok, their story may not be complete, but you'll always have a favorite one, which you can choose to put in your party. In the Final Fantasy series you'll always have to put someone you don't like because... well, the story tells you to do so. I'm not saying Suikoden doesn't have these parts, but dependending on the one you're playing, you can put the star on your convoy and keep using your favorite ones. 

I really can't wait to play the other Suikodens... I'm not the biggest fan of tactical games, but I'm still willing to play Suikoden Tactics. When I bought the game, I thought the beggining was pretty annoying (I don't really like the Suikoden 4 characters - nor the tactical battle style), but there's not much I can say since I think I didn't get to the best part.

By the way... I plan to delay a little playing Final Fantasy XII. I thought it was one of the worst games I've ever played. Maybe I should play it more calmly rather than dashing like I use to do. I think I need to learn to enjoy better the games I have. 

Yes!!!! Finally finished Suikoden 2!!! Didn't I tell you it was a matter of 2 or 3 hours??

I finished the game for the second time in abou 21 hours and 48 minutes (or something like that) with all the 108 Stars. It wasn't a 100% and there were a lot of missing stuff, like the Golden Hammer to sharpen the weapons 'till level 16. I didn't finish all the cook-off events either. I was really in a rush to finish the game, so I finished it as soon as I recruited the 108 stars.

Next job... Suikoden 3, maybe. What I really like in this series is that you can finish one game and as soon as you finish it you can start another one (well, at least I can, I have all the 3 games). 

Now starting a new addiction: Suikoden 3. I only watched the game's opening (the best song is from Suikoden 2, but the best animation sequence is definitely with Suikoden 3) and then loaded the save game and started Geddoe's scenary. Then, stopped playing to write a Suikoden 2 review, as I promised.

But even though I already started Suikoden 3, I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep playing it since I didn't finish Shadow of the Colossus yet (remember the "treaty" I made with myself concerning the number of games from each console that I play. I really mean that)

About the Playstation 1 games... I still have lots to finish, but I don't even know from where I should begin. I think the Final Fantasy series can be pretty boring after you get addicted to the Suikoden series (and the marvelous "Auto" option).

As some may have notest, I also put "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time"  in my "Now Playing" list. Yeah, I am playing it and I already finished it. I know there are already lots of Zelda: OoT reviews, but I really wanted to make my own.

OK... I wonder which I'll finish first: Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX or Chrono Cross? There is also Vagrant Story and Legend of Legaia... I've already finished Chrono Cross and FFVIII, but not the other games that I mentioned. I also have quite a few games in my list, this is not even half of it.

I could also play something more... "informal", let's say, like Battle Arena D.O.N., some fighting games, racing, sports... I guess I'll be busy for a while, huh? 

Finally, I gathered all 108 Stars of Destiny in Suikoden 2!! Now I can finally finish the game once and for all and start a new thing.

 I was talking with my friend a little while ago about the patriotism feeling that the Suikoden series give us. Don't you think the image of the leader holding the country's flag is nostalgic? I mean, the basic reason they fight is because, besides protecting the family, they want to protect the country where they live. Many people may ignore this small symbol of patriotism, but for me this has a strong meaning. Wars are far from being nice, but this feeling of wanting to protect the country and the people who live in it... I truly admire this.

There are lots of these kinds of people. There is one part where you have to go to Two River City so you can get the Two River City as your ally. Soon enough Two City is invaded by general Kiba and his son Klaus. In this part, the Wingers come to defend the place, saying no matter how much they suffer in the hands of the humans, they still love that city and they'll fight to defend it, whether the humans want it or not. Can you see something like this nowadays? No, I bet you can't. Nowadays, in real life, whoever fights in wars don't do it because they want to defend the country (except for the palestins and people from that area, they fight because they trully believe that there is a god), but because they need to defend someone else's interest. In my country, men are forced to enlist the Army and if you are not studying at the university, you must serve the Army. I'm lucky that I chose to study, there's no way I would want to protect a country like this, whose politicians can barely take care of citizen's security (or maybe they don't even want to do so, since they're so worried 'bout bankrupting people). There's no way I'm keeping my family here. As soon as I earn money enough to sustain myself, I'm getting outta here.

Ok, back to the games, where the air is cleaner: I wonder what I'll play after finishing Suikoden 2. I mean, there is still a long way to go (I barely got to Mathilda again - but it's almost in the end of the game), but still... I have Shadow of the Colossus on my list, but sometimes I simply don't have patience to play (you can expect a lot of complains when I write the review 'bout it). Maybe I'll start Suikoden 3, but Suikoden 3's beggining is sooo damn boring!!!!

I was also thinking 'bout playing FFX again, but on a second thought, it would be nice if I just finish FFVII and FFIX, which I didn't finish yet.

You can notest that I'm pretty slow with the reviews. That's not only because I don't have time, but also because some games are pretty long. I've almost 20 hours in Suikoden 2 and, considering that I play only 'bout 2 or 3 hours a week, you can get the figure. Besides, Shadow of the Colossus is that kind of game in which you don't kill the colossus easily. Some of them are quite boring and mean to hit (like the Flying Dragon, whose balls you need to hit with you arrows). Besides, I want to take some time to finish it all over again so I can write a complete review (even though, as I said before, I always forget something).

I'm also replaying Zelda: Ocarina of Time whenever I got a little bit of free time. I know Zelda well enough to finish in one or two days (if I'm able to spend a good time playing it, of course), so I guess after Suikoden, Ocarina will be my next review.

There's something that has been bothering me for these last two hours: I was viewing a few Suikoden fotologs and notest that there's a girl who always posts Suikoden rare stuff. Her blog is pretty nice, you can notest that she chooses her posts very well even though she sometimes doesn't say a word about the post. Today she posted something from Suikoden 1 and said she found some new pictures she's like to share. At the same time, she asked if anyone else felt interested by the Suikoden series. At the comments, someone with some sort of sick intentions said something like "Why would someone ever feel interested by a 'stone age' game? Don't you ever ask yourself why no one ever post comments here?". Maybe the owner of the fotolog didn't mind reading this, but as a good fan of the Suikoden series, I felt kinda offended. "Stone age", you say? What about games from the Final Fantasy series? And the Mario series? Sonic? Tetris?

Man...I really can't understand why people get so cocky to say ill things 'bout series that are not as popular as Final Fantasy. I am a fan of the Final Fantasy series myself, but I still get interested by games that were made before the year of 2000. Maybe if you compare the graphics from the old games with the ones from the new ones, then yeah, maybe they really are old-fashioned and uninteresting, but for a hardcore gamer, any game can be good as long as it has SOMETHING ELSE.

Now... to say that Suikoden series are from the "stone age"... I consider this depreciative. Suikoden 1 is more or less from the same period of time as Final Fantasy VI, just like Suikoden 2 was made in the same year of Final Fantasy VII... and there still are people who play both games. Saying Suikoden is from the "stone age" is the same as saying that Final Fantasy is from a "stone age" and no one cares 'bout it. That's nothing more than a lie!!!

I wonder why the heck did I get so upset by reading that comment... I guess I'm too stressed.

Man... I need some vacations...

Whoa, I'm level 9 now. That's not gonna change my life but, at least for a few seconds, this made me feel a little bit more important. *giggles*

And no, I didn't finish Suikoden 2 yet. On a second thought, I'm barely in the middle of the game, but... well, I guess there's always a moment in the series in which you confront a major enemy. At the moment you defeat him, you know you're right in the middle of the game. O, it may not be this way, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, I was supposed to go to the city of Tinto so I can confront Neclord, but I spent my available time recruiting characters. There are quite a lot of characters for you to find, huh? I couldn't call not even 100 of them (if I remember correctly, I recruited about 75 characters).

I don't know if I'm gonna play my usual amount today. I'm REALLY tired (maybe because it's already thursday? wow, time flies...). It's true I only have a few minutes to play (something about half and hour), but when I go play a little before going to sleep, my eyelashes start to get heavier and heavier... When I was younger, I used to play until about 3 or 4 in the morning. Nowadays I'm sleeping before midnight.

Man... I'm getting old... 

Ok, I beat Luca for the second time, so I musn't be THAT rusty.

This time, beating Luca seemed a little bit harder. Maybe because my parties were not really good. Except for Riou and a few characters, everyone else was under-leveled, and I'm a fat lazy boy, so I didn't level them up (and you don't really have to do this if you use the right techniques).

The parties I used were:

Flik, Camus, Anita, Gadget, Clive and Shilo.

Viktor, Sheena, Wakaba, Viki, Nanami and Yoshino.

Valeria, Miklotov, Humphrey, Riou, Tengaar and Luc.

Compared to the last time I defeated Luca, these parties were pretty much awful (except for Riou's party). I used almost the same technique as before: prepare your party members with Lightning and Water Rune. Keep your front raw healing, back row using magic. As soon as your magic is over, keep your front raw attacking (unless they're all dead, as it happened to Viktor's party) and your back raw healing. Don't use regular attacks, only runes, since your probability of hitting Luca is low.

Then comes the duel. I always lose in the first round and that makes me... well, let's say I don't get really happy after losing.

Yesterday, for a miraculous reason I was able to play a little... only enough to recruit a few more characters. If I remember correctly, it was Stallion, Hoi, Annallee, Killey, Maximillian... well, there was someone else, but I can't seem to remember right now.

Lot of things to do...  Lot of things to do...

Man... whoever sees my "now playing" must think I only play Suikoden 2 and Shadow of the Colossus (and the interesting part is that I'm only playing Suikoden 2 now). It's been quite a while since I last changed my "now playing" games. Well, I guess I can't really be blamed, since I don't have much time left to play, as I must've said once or twice.

I wonder if anyone else hates to play (or actually do anything) when the hands are sweat.The problem is that this country is freakingly hot (and I hate hot places) and there's no way you can do anything without getting your hands sweat. That contributes a lot for my bad mood. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but when I get to sweat too much, I tend to get more nervous, since the clothes seems to stick in the skin and your entire body seems to feel itchy. At this rate my fingers seem to be slower and slower and then I have to stop playing so I can wash my hands and face. That makes me waste time and consequently gets me in a even greater bad mood.

When the weather is cold, things don't get that different since in tension times I tend to have shivers when I get nervous. But the main difference is that whenever is cold you can close the windows, throw a blanket over your legs, drink some hot coccoa and  keep on playing. But at hot days, whatever can you do? Unless you have some money to buy a nice air-conditioning or at least a fan (and that's DEFINITELY not the case) you'll just have to live with this.

I'm gonna pause my post for a while, my cousins are here...

Following quite slowly through the Suikoden 2 story... I've just got my castle after going through South Window. Now I think I'm supposed to go to Two-River City to help Fitcher and the Wingers. I don't really like Chaco, but the part where you have to recruit Sid happens to be one of the funniest parts of the game (of course, the entire game has its own Easter Eggs).

After I got level 42, things seem to be a lot easier (except for the part of levelling up *HEH*). The bosses are a lot easier to defeat (or maybe during all this time I underestimated myself) and the other characters seem to gain experience a lot faster.

I've just remembered that I didn't write a Kingdom Hearts 2 review, but I guess I'll just have to leave it to the end of the year, since my main goal this year is to finish all the Suikoden series (except for the Gaidens) and write a review for each one of them. I also wanted to make a review for Shadow of the Colossus, but by the way things are I don't think there'll be much time left to finish it.

I wonder if I'll finish Suikoden V again. I love that game but there's not much time left to finish it, and since I already wrote a review 'bout it... Too bad, Suikoden V happens to be my favorite RPG 'til now, even though it lacks difficulty. It would be nice if it were a little bit more challenging.

Oh, and there's .hack//gu vol. 2. I'm dying to play it, the first game was excellent, even though its controls are not as precise as Kingdom Hearts 2 controls... well, nothing can be 100% perfect, I guess.

And there are a lot of Playstation games I wanted to finish again, like the Final Fantasy series and the Chrono series. Legend of Legaia is also an excellent game. And whenever I have time (and that means almost never), I play a little bit of Master Quest (yeah, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time), but I guess I should finish the regular game first and then make a review for it.

Oh, man... so much to do in my free time...