Where to begin with this game? Somehow, this game manages to capture all that is good about Japanese RPGs and all that is bad about them at the exact same time. That is quite a feat. I've pretty much finished this game now, but I don't really feel up to writing a full review of it yet. I think that I will at some point, if for no other reason than a game like this deserves a full review, but I am not quite ready to give it a full review yet. I'll instead start with a short list of "Good" and "Bad" in my mind about the game. Good: The characters in the game interact with come each other in excellent cut scenes where you see their personalities really come out. Bad: You're a mostly silent protagonist who never really has anything that resembles a personality to speak out. The interactions of the other characters with you is quite limited. Good: The explanation for why mostly high school students are the only ones who can save the world is a reasonable one. Bad: It doesn't matter where you are at in the process of saving the aforementioned world...nothing, and I mean nothing at all, interferes with the fact you still need to go to school and take your tests. Very Bad: Once again, 16, 17 and 18 year old kids are the ones saving the world. Also, a second grader, a dog, and an extremely sexy looking robot also get to come along and help save the world. Good: There is an astonishing variety of "Personas" that you can acquire and use. Bad: You are changing your Personas so often that none of them really ever have a chance to feel important. The Personas have about as much personality as magic spells do. Good: The voice acting of at least the main cast is much better than normal for a Japanese RPG. Bad: The music is atrocious. Whomever decided that Japanese Pop music should mixed in with a game that has you saving the world on a nightly basis while everyone else is in a coffin should be shot. Repeatedly. In the nuts. Good: The game is long...clocking in easily at 70+ hours. It also has a "New Game+" feature that lets you replay with most of the stuff you had when you beat the game if you so choose. Bad: More than half of the play time should have been cut to make the game shorter. There is a ton of level grinding, both in terms of fighting monsters and building social links or your main attributes. Very Bad: Building social links involves next to zero role playing. It is, instead, a torture test that has you listening to a variety of people whine for hours on end. So long as you're willing to put in the time and listen, you get the payoff.

Good: The storyline is rich and complex.

Bad: At times, trivial things like logic and cohesiveness go out the window. Good: Impressive looking for a PS2 game. Bad: Anime, anime and more anime. This is a VERY anime game, wfhich pretty much limits the appeal to either fanatic fans of the genre or people who are REALLY desperate for an rpg to play. Very Good: This game comes with a hardcover artbook and a CD with music from the game at no extra charge.

I could go on and on. The point is, for everything this game does right, it does something equally wrong. It is like some bizarro form of physics in video game form. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. To me, that just about sums up what it means to be a JRPG these days. It does some things so right, and others are like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who have ever lived -- an entire generation pumping gas and waiting tables...slaves with white collars. Advertisements have us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy **** we don't need. We are the middle children of history, with no purpose or place. We have no great war. No great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We were raised by television to believe that we'd be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars -- but we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed-off. I would say, if we are all to be honest with ourselves (and by "we" I mean not only myself but, in all honesty, probably most of my blog readers) that about one out of every thirty things that I write are really, genuinely worth reading. Let's be honest with each other. After all, if you cannot be honest on the internet with a crowd full of faceless people that you can really only identify with an online handle and writing style, who can you be honest with? Blogging has an unfortunate tendency to descend into me-centric intellectual masturbation We all, at least once in a while, fall into the trap of thinking that just because we find ourselves and our issues/problems interesting, everyone else will find those things fascinating as well. We sometimes conveniently forget that we're not that unique. Our problems. Our issues. Our insecurities. We just are not that different from every one of the other estimated five billion people in the world. We just want to be different because our own problems, issues, and, insecurities are so much more important to ourselves. What did you all want to be when you were kids? Personally, I wanted to be an archaeologist. I was fascinated with dinosaurs. I think all little boys are at some point or another. Later on in my childhood I wanted to be a professional basketball player. Never in my childhood did I imagine myself in a Dilbertesque cubicle existence where I work for a Fortune 100 company as one of a 100,000 undifferentiated white collar workers for said company. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the lifestyle that my job provides me. I've got a nice house. I have enough money that if I really want a certain toy, I can usually manage to afford it. The ChiliDragon and I are financially secure. But there are days where I sometimes wonder if it is really worth it. I've done well with my career. For my age, I am very well scoped/positioned in the company I work for. Yet, I do sometimes wonder if it is all worth it. What is the price that we pay for the positions that we achieve? I'm interested in going after a promotional opportunity that will become available in around six months time. The person who would be the hiring manager for the role sits, literally, right next to me in the office, The situation is that I have known this particular manager for around three years now. I do exceptionally good work. We get along great, and she knows that I am smart and a fast learner. Unfortunately, my resume, when compared to the other folks that are likely to apply for this role six months from now, is probably not going to be that of the leading candidate. I am a long shot to get this job. I am a long shot, not because I am not qualified. I am a long shot not because I am not smart enough or talented enough for the job. I am a long shot because I have not been on this planet long enough to gain the specific job experience that this job calls for. The funny thing is, that I can trace my resume issues to a single thing, three years ago, that happened that was entirely outside of my control. Three years ago, I was a contract worker for the company I currently work for full-time. What that means is that I didn't actually work for the Fortune 100 company that I currently am employed by. I worked for a professional labor-providing company that supplies labor on a temporary, or contract, basis. That meant that I could be paid about half the correct amount and fired at will for no reason whatsoever. Fortunately, a job opening came available that was, literally, for the exact same job that I currently did, only for the Fortune 100 company that I was providing contract labor for. Now technically, having both contract/temporary workers and internal/salaried workers doing the exact same job is illegal in the United States. It is called "co-employment" and a company can face serious legal jeopardy by doing this sort of thing. (Arcadius feel free to comment...you damn lawyer you!) In reality, this is very hard to prove. My company had been sued previously, unsuccessfully, for this practice. Not only had they been sued in a general sense. The particular city-site location that I work at has been sued. But nevertheless, I had been doing the exact same job that a salaried person for the company did for about half the money. I didn't complain because, frankly, I wanted to be hired full-time by the company. Being hired by the company meant about a 50% pay raise, full benefits, job security, etc. So naturally when the job opening to be hired for the same role that I was currently doing became available three years ago I intended to go for it. In fact, I applied for that position, where I was assured that I was a virtual shoe-in. Sadly, about halfway through the hiring process, the company did some layoffs. That meant that the job I was going for changed from an "external" hire to an "internal only" hire. What that means in simple terms is that only people who already worked for the company could apply for the job. Regardless of my qualifications. Regardless of the fact that I was already doing the job they were hiring for, I couldn't apply for it. The person who got the job was the hiring manager's ex-girlfriend. Today, the person who got that job is my boss. In an alternate universe where I was allowed to apply for that job, I am doing my boss' job right now. If I had been doing my boss' job for the past three, or even two, years...then I would be the leading candidate for the job I am now going after rather than the long shot candidate. It is funny how we can trace the trajectory of our lives to a single event that happened four years ago that was completely out of our control. How many of you reading this have a similar story? Probably at least a couple of you do. As you can probably guess by now, I am a little depressed tonight. I am more than qualified for the job that I am going after. I have put in the time building the relationship with the hiring manager (translation...kissing as.s and sacrificing dignity) and I have put in the time learning the business and the specific role. Sadly, five to six months from now when this job becomes available, I probably won't get it. I won't get it, not because I'm not qualified or because I haven't worked my as.s off, but rather because of bad luck with something that happened three years ago that makes my resume weaker than the other candidates. It creates a distinct sense that I have wasted my talent, my sweat, my effort, and my energy the last few years. I could have mailed it in the last few years, submitted my "C-" work effort, and still be in the same place career wise that I currently am in. I know, intellectually, that I'm not alone in my situation. My own, admittedly small, readership probably has at least a dozen people who are in the same boat. As I mentioned earlier, I never imagined as a kid growing up that I would be so subject to forces that are entirely beyond my ability to control. It hurts to know your own self worth, know that you've made the company that you work for, literally, millions of dollars in your four years working for them, and that you're still not likely to be rewarded. The company I work for has "bands" of pay for each different level of employee. I am on the lowest part of the lowest band of my current employer. So, for all intents and purposes, I have been underpaid for the last four years. I have no real point to this post other than to **** and moan and complain. I have no real point other than to say that, anyone reading this who is feeling the same thing, you are NOT alone. At least one other person out there understands how you feel. At least one other person knows that you are underpaid, under-appreciated, and under-compensated.

Well, I'm getting into the game a little bit late, but I have finally gotten my 360 back from Microsoft, which means immediately afterwards I hopped on to play Bioshock. Wow. Um.... Wow. Yeah, I think that about covers it. This game is intense. It is creepy. It scares me in a good way like Fear or Condemned has. I love it. With that in mind, here are a couple of observations from my first couple of hours of playing this game. 1. Is it just me, or do parts of this game remind you of Fallout? I speak for both the general, post apocalyptic tone of the game, and more specifically about certain elements. Namely, this game, like Fallout, seems unafraid to push the envelope with mature content and, also like Fallout, has a certain wry, dark humor to it. The animations when you get a new plasmid for example are very Falloutesque. 2. Is this game, at least in part, a social statement of kinds? It almost seems to be a complete indictment of the extreme right (unbridled capitalism) and the extreme left (no moral checks on science and tossing god out altogether) at the same time. 3. I've chosen to not harvest the little sisters. Why do I get the impression I just made the game about ten times harder on myself? 4. On the other hand, unlimited, instantaneous respawns from the vita chamber without the enemies recovering is one hell of an advantage. It takes a bit of the suspense out of things. 5. I got Viva Pinata from Microsoft as a free game for my broken console troubles. I think the ratio of time I'm going to need to spend playing Viva Pinata to unwind for every hour I spend playing Bioshock is going to be about 2-1. 6. A shooter game with a storyline and character development is hailed as the biggest breakthrough for gaming in years...gee, what a surprise. 7. Shooter games with a darker feel to it, like The Darkness or Bioshock, are going to be the next wave of shooter titles. Shooter games where you mow down wave after wave of just plain human soldiers or aliens or what-not without any super powers are SO yesterday. 8. I'd say more, but I need to now go play Viva Pinata. I never thought I'd say those words. What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I type that? More importantly, why am I still typing rather than deleting? Why are my hands slowly drifting towards the submit buttom? WHY GOD, WHY?!

My buddy the Philosopher King has the scoop. Has anyone else noticed this issue? Also, back by popular demand is my Jedi Stitch avatar. Apparently, everyone found my new avatar to be creepy.

So, I was sitting in my living room with the ChiliDragon last night bemoaning the ending of my weekend and the forthcoming doom of having to face a Monday morning of work where I am several days behind due to sick leave, and I decided to watch some late night (around 11:00...not that late) T.V. before bed. As anyone who has ever been a coach potato knows, all the really interesting shows in the U.S. come on after prime time television ends. Tonight was no exception. As I scrolled down through the listings on my DirecTV programming I spotted a show that described itself as "Pants Off Dance Off" in the title. I admit, I was a little curious. I mean, could it really be any worse than shows such as "Dancing With The Stars" where washed up former world famous celebrities and atheletes trade what remains of their dignity to compete in dance competitions? (Curse you Jerry Rice! I worshipped you as a god as a kid and look what you did to me! LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO ME!) On the other hand, many female partners in monogamous relationships sometimes take a dim view of their significant other viewing nudity in any form from females other than them. Stripping, dancing, and female bodies that aren't theirs often produces toxic results when the male member of the relationship is added to the equation. So I cautiously gave the ChiliDragon a sideways look. She was playing around with her laptop at the time, and during such times I swear that I could likely say something like "Honey, I'm going to set off a small thermonuclear device in the bathroom to see the cat's reaction" and get nothing more than a "yes dear" response from her. Of course, setting off thermonuclear devices is not quite as intense as viewing dancing, stripping people. "Honey, this looks kind of interesting. I have this sort of perverse curiosity. Want to check it out?" At this point, she muttered something along the lines of not being sure if we got that channel or not. After all, much to my chagrin we don't currently order any of the adult entertainment channels with our monthly programming. Still, she hadn't shot the idea down and I was still curious so I clicked away. The result? Well, if this show ever gets some better camera work and a prime time T.V. slot, then we have the next "American Idol" show...hands down. "Pants Off Dance Off" is exactly how it sounds. Regular people get up, strip dance to music, and have a pair of professional exotic dancers judge to see which dancer was the best. It is the natural evolution for attention craving who.res who cannot make it on American Idol. Quite frankly, the show was fascinating. First you get introduced to the contestants, who, in American Idol style, are ordinary people who think they are the next great stripper. In this case the contestants included the following: 1. An S&M style fetish model who loves being tied up 2. A drunken burlesque dancer 3. Two male wrestlers: brothers who did their act together. 4. An east European bartender 5. An exotic dancer We also got introduced to the judges, two professional exotic dancers named "Honey" and "Peaches". (Or something like that. I wasn't paying too much attention to the names.) The hostess was another hot blonde. The format is as follows. Each contestant chooses a song to dance, and strip, to. As they are introduced, the hostess and the contestant in question tell a little bit about the candidate, and why they think they will win the competition. The music video begins and plays behind the dancer, who shakes his or her money makers while baring it all. The hot blonde hostess is superimposed on the screen to the left of the dancer at times to add commentary. Similarly, sometimes the super hot judges are also shown so you can see the reaction of the professionals to how the proletariat is doing. This being the U.S., the T.V. isn't allowed to actually show the breasts and buttocks in their full glory, but they get close. Right when you're about to see everything, a little logo covers the naughty parts, and includes a helpful link back to the website for those who wish to see more. Occasionally, when one of the contestants makes an obvious mistake, the recording is paused for a moment and the blonde hostess calls to one of the professionals to show how the move is properly executed. In my case, the fetish model got her fishnet top stuck briefly in her hair while taking it off and "Honey" was called in to show how it was done. At the end of the show, the two judges pick a winner, who presumably gets bundles of cash. This show was hilarious. It is also the next logical step for Fox to take "American Idol" in. Tell me you wouldn't watch this. I dare you!

Hello everyone! As the topic title indicates, I've been out sick for a few days and therefore haven't been online checking things here. My apologies to everyone. I'll be trying to catch up on what I've missed in the next few days.

I have decided that as a way to keep things moving on my blog, I am going to start a new "Stupidest People in the World" segment a couple of times each week. I read a lot of news beyond simply the latest gaming news. I am reminded of the quote from Denzel Washington in "Training Day". This is a newspaper. It is 90% bull****. But it is entertaining bull***. That's why I read it. It entertains me. You won't let me read it. So you entertain me with your bull****. When you get right down to it, the man was right. So I am going to start cherry-picking things that I find funny as hell and putting my take on the blog every once in a while. Since this is my first try at this, I figured I would go for low hanging fruit and pick on the U.S. Senator that represents me from my state, my very own right honorable Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho. For those of you who don't follow Idaho news, which has to be approximately 99.9999% of the world's population, our boy Larry recently admitted to pleading guilty to a misdemeanor crime of Disorderly Conduct in the Minneapolis Airport bathroom. This was a plea bargain sort of deal where he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to avoid prosecution on the larger issues, which was lewd conduct. Back in June, Larry apparently got a little frisky in his stall. He did the following things: 1. Stared intently through the crack in the neighboring stall at the man in there for a couple of minutes (who happens to be an undercover police officer investigating complaints that the airport bathroom in question is being used for public sex between men) 2. Went into the stall next door and put his bag in front of him to block visibility into the stall 3. Reached his foot under the stall wall to rub against the foot of the man in the next stall over (the police officer) 4. Reached with his hand underneath the stall 5. According to the arrest report, tapped his foot in a "signal often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct." These activities are apparently bathroom code that signals a desire to engage in sex. The officer arrested him. At that point, Larry presented his U.S. Senate credentials and said "what do you think of that?" The police officer apparently thought little enough of it to drag him down to the police station and book him. Fast forward to a couple of days ago, and this little story has finally broken in the news. Calls of hypocrisy are flying right and left in the media, because Senator Craig is one of the leading voices in the U.S. against gay rights. But this isn't what I am interested in investigating at the moment. First and foremost, I was ignorant of these admittedly creepy activities being a coded signal of a desire for sex. Why hasn't Bozanimal covered this in his two part bathroom etiquette segment? But more importantly, how in the world did Senator Larry Craig's speechwriter get his job with the staggering amount of stupidity displayed in his press conference after the story broke. Allow me to list a couple of examples. 1. "Thank you all very much for coming out here today." Generally speaking, opening a press conference to shoot down rumors that an avowed heterosexual man and opponent of gay rights just attempted to engage in airport bathroom nookie with a sentence that contains the words "coming out" in it isn't a good idea. 2. "Let me be clear: I am not gay I never have been gay followed quickly by..."I wasn't eager to share this failure, but I should have anyway -- because I am not gay!" Anyone who knows anything about writing for public speaking is that the first thing you do is never, ever, continually put two words so closely together repeatedly when you are trying to dispel the notion that they are related to each other. Other famous examples include "I am not a crook." by Richard Nixon and, of course, everyone's all time favorite "I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky." Either Senator Craig didn't bother consulting a speechwriter, the speechwriter didn't know this cardinal rule, or Senator Craig didn't listen. 3. "a wide stance when going to the bathroom." This wasn't in the press conference, but I have to toss it in there. Comedians can go for weeks with the phrase "wide stance". It is particularly bad timing right before the start of college football season here in the U.S. I'm eagerly awaiting the first time some smart *** sports announcer says something like..."John Johnson is a great offensive lineman. He has the potential to be an All-American this year. I mean, look at that wide stance he has at the line of scrimmage while blocking. Speaking of wide stances...have you heard about Senator Larry Craig?" 4. "While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else, I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in hopes of making it go away," Seriously, you are a U.S. Senator and you really think that something like this is going to go away indefinitely? You really think that something this funny isn't going to be found out eventually? Senator Larry Craig and Senator Larry Craig's speechwriter, you are the first ever official winners of Jim's "Stupidest People in the World" award.

Well, it is now official. The apocalypse is here. The end is at hand. Halo 3 has gone golden. More significant to someone like me, Halo 3 Legendary Edition, value priced at $129.99, will soon to be shipping to stores where it will certainly sell out on opening day. According to this link, the Legendary Edition will have the following: "For the ultimate Halo fan, Bungie Studios and Microsoft are offering up the $129.99 Legendary Edition--named after the game's highest difficulty level--in limited quantities. As previously reported, the Legendary Edition will include a miniature replica of a Halo Spartan Mjolnir Mark VI Helmet (pictured), the same type of headgear Master Chief dons. For $130, Halo fans will also get a collection of storyboard art from artist Lee Wilson. The pieces depict crucial moments from the Halo story. A pair of supplementary DVDs (in addition to the Halo 3 game) rounds out the Legendary Edition. The first disc adds background to the development process in the form of behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the game and Bungie Studios, and also includes an audio-and-video-calibration utility to maximize home theater performance. The second bonus disc, which is exclusive to the Legendary Edition, features remastered cinematics from the first two Halo games, along with commentary from the Bungie team. Also included is a featurette on "a day in the life at Bungie" and content from Halo machinima series Red vs. Blue and This Spartan Life." I truly debated making what I am about to say appear on the Soap Box, but decided that I just don't have the patience to deal with the flaming that would be the inevitable result. Instead, I'll limit my comment to my regular readership, which I have a much greater respect for than the world at large. Allow me to make a new paragraph so that I can be sure my comment stands out. Anyone who is willing to pay $130 for Halo Legendary Edition is a complete idiot. There. I said it. Anyone who is willing to pony up that amount of cash for the extras that are included in Halo 3 Legendary, like a mini little Master Chief helmet, should be required to surrender the genitals required to propagate their genes onto the next generation right now. As a bonus, they should also all be declared convicted felons so they can't vote in the next U.S. elections. Now, I know that among my readers may exist one or two people who were either dead set on getting the Legendary Edition, or are at least considering doing so, and may have been offended by my blunt statement. I beg your patience a moment to present my argument. Let us say, just for the sake of argument, that a person was willing to settle for the Limited Edition Halo 3 at $70 rather than the $130 Legendary Edition. Here is a partial list of options that are either available right now, or will be in the next couple of months, that you could spend the $60 you saved on. Mass Effect Assassin's Creed Bioshock Blue Dragon Eternal Sonata Grand Theft Auto IV Heavenly Sword Lair Warhawk Lost Odyssey I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Those people who are about to pony up $130 for Halo 3 Legendary are saying, in essence, that they would rather spend $60 on a little miniature helmet than on another AAA title game. That's the most amazing thing to me. People who purchase the $130 version over the $70 version are saying that the extras that come with the $130 are at least as valuable as a second AAA title like Grand Theft Auto IV. Are you really going to spend 20 hours of your life sitting and staring at your little helmet? Wouldn't you rather be playing Mass Effect for that $60? I shudder for the message that this sends to the gaming industry. I have a full time job and so does my wife. Paying $60 for a new game doesn't exactly make us suffer. However, I can remember quite vividly how much money $50 was to me when I was a kid saving for a new NES or SNES game. For everyone out there who complained when it became apparent that $60 games for the new Next Gen consoles was going to be a fact of life, here's a perfect example of why the industry thinks that won't be an issue. Anyone who ponies up a $70 premium for a game that they could have for only $60 hereby loses all rights to complain about the cost of new games from now until the end of time, because any business that is smart charges what the market is willing to pay. You are sending the message that we're willing to pay $130 for a big new game. What's next? What is sad about this is that it will hit kids the hardest. As I said before, paying for my gaming habit is no problem for me. Kids or teenagers on the other hand, well, if the average price of a game jumps again a couple of years from now from $60 to $70, it is those who are least able to pay who are going to take it up the exhaust pipe. (Or, as a reader of mine once called it, "the VIP entrance".) Now, I understand that some people will say that it is only this game and this game alone, that they are willing to pay such a premium on in order to get all the extra bells and whistles. I can understand that. Some games you look forward to so much that you're willing to pay more for extra bells and whistles. I also understand that value varies by user. One man's garbage is another man's gold. But what I don't understand is why these particular bells and whistles are worth more. It would be different if you were getting something of true value for an extra $70. If the Legendary Edition came with some extra levels or deleted scenes or something, I could begin to justify the extra cost. I can't justify the extra cost for the things that come with Halo 3 Legendary Edition, which to me seem to be worth another $25 at the very most. It just strikes me as ego and vanity run amok. I hereby rename Halo 3: Legendary Edition the Halo 3: Extra Stupid Edition after how completely retarded you have to be to buy it.

I've thrown up a comprehensive Suikoden V review. Why can't Gamespot fix its issues with formatting when it comes to posts, blogs or reviews? It isn't like it is an extremely difficult thing to fix. Or at least it doesn't seem like it would be. Bad formatting really hurts a review. The whole object of being able to change paragraphs whenever you want is so that it is clear to the reader when you are switching from one topic to another, or even simply to make it easier on the reader's poor eyes. Oh well. Anyway, I am taking suggestions. What game or games would you like me to review? Please pick from the list of games in my collection. I'll whip up a review and post it in a snappy manner.

One of the things that I hear a lot these days is about how, for certain genres of games, a storyline and character development is "optional" and otherwise unneeded for a game to be a truly great game. This is an argument that I have never understood. The reason that I've never understood this argument is because putting in a half-way decent storyline into a game just isn't that expensive or difficult as compared to, say, optimizing graphics and frame rates at the same time. If I was putting together a video game, the storyline and the characters would be the very first thing that I would focus on. Quite frankly, these are also the areas that really create separation between the good video games and the great ones. Let's take the example of the shooter game genre, since it is the one most often listed as the genre where a good storyline and character development are more or less unnecessary for a game to be a masterpiece. Now, granted, I don't play every single shooter game that comes along, but I do play a very significant number of them. After all, it isn't like I have much of a choice in the matter. These days they are everywhere. Here is the shortlist of my favorite shooter games over the last five years in no particular order. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay Fear The Darkness Can anyone tell me what these shooters have in common that your average shooter does not? If you answered "a storyline" or "character development" then give yourself a gold star. If you answered "a storyline AND character development" then give yourself a cookie as well. More recently, everyone and their grandmother is super excited about the newly released Bioshock. I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet, being as my 360 isn't back from the repair center, but I've heard it is pretty good. ;) Notice that one of the biggest thing that is exciting people about the game is the killer storyline and character development (in the form of moral choices) that is one of the central premises of the game. So why make a storyline optional? To me, this is like deciding to buy a nice HDTV and deciding that you are going to spend $2000 so you can get a really high-end HDTV, and then not bothering to spring for an HDMI, DVI or at the very least a component cable to go with it. What is the point of spending $2000 for a super TV if you're only going to hook it up with AV or composite cables? Technically, it is indeed true that a good cable is optional, but that doesn't make not bothering to spring for a good cable anymore illogical. Similarly, if you're a game developer and you're going to spend the millions of dollars that it takes to create, market and distribute the very best game you possibly can, then why not go the extra distance of throwing in these "minor" elements to go along with? Switching genres for a minute, many people apparently cannot understand why I gave Devil May Cry a 7.8 in my review down below. Is it because I don't like action games? Is it because I am a plebian? Am I just a grumpy old bastard? Okay, that last one may be true. But I spell out very clearly in the review why I didn't like Devil May Cry: The storyline was awful and the character development was even worse. They caused my physical pain to observe, particularly after finishing God of War 1 and God of War 2 prior to playing Devil May Cry. "But Jim, you're missing the point! People didn't play Devil May Cry for a storyline or character development. They played it for the killer combat!" Fair enough, so why are games that include "killer combat" like the God of War or Prince of Persia games able to have that excellent combat and still have great story and characters? It all comes down to a very basic reasoning: yeah, technically some games don't require these things in order to be good, but in my opinion they sure do require them if they want to be great.