Yesterday I finished Jeanne D'Arc (PSP). I spent almost 43 hours completing the game. Normally I would have finished it a few days earlier but I struggled a bit with the 35th stage (out of 36) : my characters didn't have the right level to outdamage the healing the boss was getting every turn, so I had to go back to previous stages to gain some more levels. Once that done, I had no problem completing stage 35 and finally the last one, stage 36.

In my previous post I said it was possible I would write a review (my first ever). You can find it here. The GS reviewer gave Jeanne D'Arc an 8.0. I gave a big fat 9.0. With the old system it would have been 9.2 or 9.3.

So, now I have to decide which game I'm going to play next on my PSP. It will be Disgaea : Afternoon of Darkness or Final Fantasy Tactics : The War of the Lions. Anyone already played one of these 2 games (or both)? Any suggestions? By the way, I never played the original Disgaea on the PS2 and I never played Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS1 nor Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on the GBA.

But I'll also start playing Lost Odyssey (Xbox360). During the weekend I played an hour or two and I didn't have any of the mentioned problems in the GS review. My longest loading time was 10 seconds. Not 30 seconds or more like Kevin V. said in the review. But the game looks very promising. I'm having a problem though with getting the attack rings perfect. I only succeeded once to get a perfect one. The others were mostly good.

I think I'll mostly play Lost Odyssey and play once in a while one of the two PSP games.

I'm talking of course about Jeanne D'Arc, the turnbased RPG for the PSP. I was looking for RPG's for the PSP and in that list I saw this title. It received an 8.0 from GS, the same score FF Tactics : The War of the Lions and Disgaea : Afternoon of Darkness received.

I read the player reviews and all were positive, some of them even extremely positive (they gave a 9.5). No reviewer gave less than 8.0, most gave 8.5 and higher. I was looking for a good RPG (and I like turnbased RPG's the most) for my PSP so this game had caught my attention. There was one, big disadvantage : it was never released in Europe, like so many other excellent games, sadly enough. Luckily PSP-games are region-free. I had a look on Ebay and there I found several Jeanne D'Arc games for sale. I bought one and a few days later I was the happy owner of Jeanne D'Arc. I started playing right away. And I loved it from the first minute! It's so easy to pick up and play : no complicated game controls or multiple windows where you can equip new items. It's almost intuitive. Everything is so well done in this game : gameplay, animations, the story and the characters (you really start to like them a lot after a while).

I've played now around 30 hours, I'm at Stage 29 (there are in total 36 Stages to clear) and most of my characters are between lvl 45 - 54. So I'm near the end of the game. And I'm having the same fun as I had when I just started to play Jeanne D'Arc. For me , that says a lot about this game because I'm a lifetime member of "The Procrastination Club of Gamers". I really have to like a game to finish it. I don't have this problem with this game; I play and play. I want to see how the story evolves and the battles are really fun. I'm so enthusiastic that I might write my first review ever here on GS for this little gem of a game. If I would have to give it a score right now, it would get a 9.0 or a 9.5 (although, probably with the old system it would have been 9.2 ).

I can't understand why GS gave Jeanne D'Arc only an 8.0. I really can't. But that's all for now. I'm going back to France, killing some more Englishmen........cya! :)

Most of my previous posts were only about gaming. But I've decided to write once in a while a blog entry about other topics. Today I'll be talking about my TV series - DVD collection and in particular, SF-series.

I've always been a big SF-fan. As long as I can remember to be honest. My favourite SF-authors are Frank Herbert, best known for his Dune saga and René Barjavel, the first French SF-author. My favourite book written by Barjavel is called "La nuit des temps". I'm trying to get my hands on every single SF-title they both have written and thanks to the internet, I've been quite successful. Luckily I'm only collecting their SF-books cause both authors also wrote quite a few other books.

But now back to SF-TV series. My earliest SF- TV memories go back to the late seventies when I saw the first episodes of "Battlestar Galactica". I loved the genre from the first look. More series followed like "Buck Rogers" and "V". I enjoyed watching them all immensely but since I'm talking about the late seventies /early eighties, it was impossible to record them on tape, let alone on DVD. They seemed lost forever, they only existed in my memory.

Then the videotape (and with it the video recorder) made it appearance. Finally I was able to record my favourite SF-series and to watch them over and over again. Among those series were, the almost inevitable, Star Trek series and Stargate : SG-1. Imagine the space those tapes took! Unbelievable!

Luckily a few years later, the DVD came on the market and many series started to be sold in seperate seasons or in one big complete package. When you live in the States you have no problem buying these boxes, well, that's what I presume, but when you want to do the same thing in Europe, it's something completely different (a lot of different languages for a rather small market). Most of the time I buy the version with English speech and Dutch subtitles. There's one small (only very small) disadvantage : they are released months, even years, later than the English-only version and when they're for sale in (specialized) stores they're only there for a very limited period of time. Luckily, once again, the internet is present.

For the past 4-5 years I've been collecting most SF-series I watched as a child and as an adolescent. When I watch them now, it's one big Nostalgia-festival. Thanks to Mr. Znuggles I discovered new SF-series like "Babylon 5", it was never on the Belgian TV. Another thing I discovered was that some seasons of series were never showed on TV; for example : we only saw 5 or 6 seasons on TV of "Stargate:SG-1" where, in reality, there are 10. Shame on the Belgian TV!!

Here's an overview of the SF-series in my DVD-collection (mostly in chronological order):

* Battlestar Galactica season 1 and 2 (2004 - ?). I'm talking of course about the new series. Only watched the first season, but it's great. I find it better than the "original" (1978 - 1979) and not only because of the visual aspect. The characters are more worked out. They're more "normal" persons with their own strengths and weaknesses.

* Buck Rogers in the 25th Century(1979 - 1981) season 1 and 2. My favourite activity on free Wednesday afternoons in the 70's/80's : watching Bucky!

*V: The Original Miniseries, V:The Final Battle and V: The Complete Series. These releases form the complete "V" saga(1983-1985). Haven't watched them yet, on DVD that is. To be honest, I'm a bit afraid I'll find them "passé" although they're more recent than for example Buck Rogers.

* Star Trek : The Next Generation seasons 1 to 7(1987- 1994). I also have 10 Star Trek movies, mostly with the actors from the "Originals", like William Shattner and Leonard Nimoy. You may wonder why I haven't bought the "Original" series from the 60's. Well, I really was afraid they wouldn't appeal to me because of their age. But maybe in the future, I'll buy them anyway, to complete my Star Trek collection.

* Star Trek : Deep Space Nine seasons 1 to 7 (1993 - 1999)

* Star Trek : Voyager seasons 1 to 7 (1995 - 2001). What can I say more about the Star Trek series? Ah, that my favourite is Star Trek : DS 9.

* Babylon 5 : seasons 1 to 5 (1994 - 1998 ). A new discovery for me. Watching now the last episodes of season 5. Great story, great characters. I also have 7 Babylon 5 movies. I still have to watch some of them.

* Crusade : 1 season (1999). Bought it because of the maker, Michael Stracynski, the maker of Babylon 5.

* Stargate SG - 1 : 10 seasons (1997 - ?) : started to watch them again, but I'm only at season 1. But I still like it as much as the first time.

* Frank Herbert's Dune(2000) and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003) : couldn't resist to buy these when I saw them in a store cause, as I mentioned before, Frank Herbert is my favourite SF- author. Will these mini-series live up to my expectations?

* Taken (2002) : not a real TV-series but I put it in this list because it's such an excellent production. Enjoyed watching it from the first minute till the last.

* Stargate Atlantis season 1 (2004- ?). New actors, new story. Will it be as good as the first series? It was never showed on the Belgian TV.

* The 4400 : 3 seasons (2004 - ?). When I start to watch one season, I just can't wait to see the full season. Says something about whether I like it or not ;)

* Invasion : 1 season(2005).I bought this one without knowing one single thing about it. But what a surprise it was!!! Just one word : GREAT!!! What a pity that the production house wanted to fully focus on making "Lost" and therefor never made a second season. What a shame.

And there, I said the word...."Lost"(Do I really have to link it? ;) ). Do you call "Lost" SF or not? Don't understand me wrong, I love Lost. When it's on, I'm glued to the TV and always wondering "What's going to happen now again? Again something we didn't expect?". Surely one of the best series in the last 5, or even 10 years.

So...are there any of you who are also SF-fans? If so, what are your favourite SF-TV series? Let me know something.

Hello out there!

Pfew, it's been almost a year since my last post (excluding my short Christmas and New Year posts). Time flies by! But during that period of time, I still paid Gamespot a daily visit for watching some gameplay movies, reading reviews and following the blogs of several bloggers.

During that year I've been active ......playing World of Warcraft : The Burning Crusade. I levelled several characters to level 70 (levelcap in this expansion) and some Alts to a higher level, I went to the Outlands and did an extensive exploration. I even started a completely new character and levelled him to level 70. Here's a summary of my characters:

* Nataure (male) - Tauren Hunter - lvl 70 : my number One, my Main character

* Ananda (male) - Tauren Druid - lvl 70

* Qog (female) - Orc Hunter - lvl 70

* Ninurta (male) - Orc Warlock - lvl 62

* Darcoon (male) - Undead Mage - lvl 40

Nataure is the completely new character I levelled. My dream was to have a character where my favourite race and my favourite çlass were combined.

But Nataure won't be my number One for much longer because I've decided to quit WoW. The last few weeks I didn't feel the same joy as before when I came online to play some WoW. I took a break, away from WoW, to see if my joy would return after a couple of weeks, but it hasn't. During that short break I played other games like Guitar Hero II, Assassin's Creed and Eternal Sonata and I realized how many excellent games I missed during those WoW- years (almost all my gaming time went to WoW). While playing these games I said to myself "Dammit, can't you see that you're having fun now, just plain fun?!?". And for me, gaming is all about having fun, so I decided to quit WoW. It wasn't one of the easiest decisions to take. But to understand me better, I must tell you more.

Playing WoW (and any other game for that matter) was quite important to me. As some of you know, I have CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) which means I can be quite tired, but that's not all : I have to endure daily pains too. While I'm gaming, I focus fully om the game and I forget those pains. Sometimes,I even don't feel them anymore.

But playing WoW was even more important to me for another reason (and here, it's important to keep in mind that WoW is a MMORPG). Due to my CFS my social life is almost zero, nada, nul : when my closest friends here in Belgium have some free time (mostly during the evening) I have my worst period of the day. It's impossible for me to join them, for example, to go out and watch a movie. So, for me, WoW was a way to have some kind of social life : I was in a guild with other players, I talked to them nearly every day. Some of these players have even become more than just other players; a few have become friends. We didn't only talk about the game but also about our daily life, about what happened to us and what we felt.

Three months after the WoW - release in Europe (Spring 2005) I met Daniel, a Spanish guy. We got along so well from the beginning, that we still played together till I decided to quit WoW. We talked every day and he's a very funny guy with a sense of humour I really like. He made me laugh out loud, sometimes even so hard that I almost spilled my drink on my keyboard. He told me many stories about his family : Reyes (his wife) and his 2 little sons Alphonso and Daniel Jr. One of the most memorable moments was the following : we just started to play together, Daniel Jr. wasn't even born and Alphonso was around 2 years old. That specific day, we were playing, when suddenly Dan said he would be back in a minute; he had to check where Alphonso was. A few minutes later, Dan was back and told me he found Alphonso in the kitchen..........................................eating the dog's food!!! Bah!!

Regularly Dan asked about my health, many do, but only a few really listen. For them (those who don't listen) it's just a way to be polite, but nothing more. They aren't really concerned. Dan is. When I didn't play WoW for a couple of days, he sent me an e-mail because he was worried about my health. He always wants to be informed when I start a new treatment.

About a year ago I met Kaat and her twinsister Petra during a WoW-session. They live in the Netherlands. It's Kaat who's my best friend. Like with Dan, we talk a lot, with Kaat even more about real life than with Dan. She's such a caring, kind and funny person.

I wish you all the best in 2008 !! Or like someone said yesterday "That the best of 2007 may be the worst of 2008".

We wish others in our best wishes for NewYear a lot of happiness. Yesterday I read a very inspiring blog post about happiness, written by GabuEx. I have similar ideas and feelings about happiness as Gabu but, because English isn't my mother tongue and Gabu wrote such an excellent piece, I gladly refer to his post "On Happiness". It should be a must-read for all GS-members (players,staff members, bloggers etc.) well, to be exact,for everyone. Thanks Gabu!

Only one thing to say:

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Enjoy the company of your loved ones,family, friends...........well,just enjoy!!!

Chris (a.k.a. Tinoshke)

Hello, hello!

I just came home and I have in my hands my copy of WoW : The Burning Crusade. YAAAAAAYYYYY! And I received a superb free poster of TBC with it ! :) :) :)

And now, boys and girls, you'll have to excuse me. I'm going to some distant lands...

Cya around and don't forget : KEEP GAMING!! :)

Hello again!

All those who read my blog entries regularly , know that I'm a big WoW fan since the release in Europe during Spring of 2005. And this enthusiasm hasn't decreased with time passing by. I leveled several characters till level 60 and I have a bunch of Alts ,most of them higher than level 40. I think ,I had 2 or 3 breaks away from WoW , most of the time during only a week or 2. :)

The last few weeks I'm trying to play other games, especially on my different consoles. This week I started enthusiastically Sudeki, a Japanese RPG for the Xbox. I know that it didn't get a very high score (I saw that after I bought the game; I bought it without first looking at the reviews) here on GS but it wouldn't be the first time I like a game with a low GS score. If I recall correctly "Lord of the Rings : The Third Age" didn't get a high score and still, I had much fun playing it. Of course, that was in pre-WoW time. Now back to Sudeki. The graphics are really nice, no remarks there. The story isn't that bad but....the battle system!!!! It's just awful!!! As long as you play with a melee fighter, btw all battles are real time , all goes well. But then you start to play parts in the game where a ranged fighter comes in and the battles with those characters are awful, suddenly you go from a third person view to a first person view. You only see the mobs coming at you when they are almost close to you and you're a ranged fighter!! But that's not all. Further in the game you start doing real time battles with several of your main characters and the battles are, .............are........."searching".........disastrous. I think this is a good description of them. In those battles you can only control one character at once, so for example, I'm fighting with my strongest melee fighter but he needs a heal. Ok, I have a healer in my team, no problem. But I must control her so that she can do that heal. So during battle I have to scroll through my several characters to get to the healer (you can't just click on her, for example, to get control), ok, I have found her. Now quickly a heal for my melee fighter WRONG!! She can't heal him because she was just attacked by a mob, I'll have to wait till that mob is dead before I can do that heal!! HORRIBLE!!!!! Yesterday afternoon, I decided to quit playing Sudeki, it will be sold as a second hander. You may wonder now why I tell this. Well, I really can't understand how it's possible that a game is released with such a bad and awful battle system. Those guys who designed it, must have tried it out or not? If so, they must have seen that this kind of battle system is so frustrating .

And it's then that I return to WoW. You see in every detail that those people took the time to think it all through. Even when you do your first few battles as a level 2 or 3, everything goes smoothly, almost intuitive. I started as a hunter, I think I can say, that I know how to fight with them but even with all the other classes fighting isn't frustrating or confusing. It goes so easy. And you know what they say "it's when something looks and feels easy, even when it's in reality more complicated, that it's well designed". And for me that's what Blizzard do with all their games. Whether it is a MMORPG (WoW), an action RPG (Diablo) or a RTS (Warcraft, Starcraft). Since I play WoW , WoW has become my standard (graphics, story, several classes, gameplay, battle system, fun factor) and sadly enough it has become difficult for me to find games that meet this standard. I'm not so easily pleased anymore as in the past with a game. It must offer me something. That something is maybe closest to the factor that is used in showbizz nowadays :  a star has a certain X - factor or not.

So, it's with high expectations that I await BC -Day : the release of the first expansion of WoW : The Burning Crusade . Today at midnight , my regular game shop opens exceptionally from 0.00h till 1.00h so that WoW fanatics can buy their copy of TBC, because at that hour the European servers will be online. I'm going to buy my copy the next day, at 10 o' clock in the morning and hopefully by then the big rush to open your account again for this expansion, is over. Maybe, tomorrow at this time, I'm creating my first Blood Elf or Draenei or I'm on my way with my lvl 60 hunter to some big, not yet explored , strange lands.....

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          2007!!!

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My best wishes to you all.  Let's hope 2007  will be filled with only good and wonderful things......

Hello again :)

I hope you all got some nice presents for this Christmas. I got 3 games, one for the Xbox 360, one for the PS 2 and finally one for the PC.

The one I got for the Xbox360 is Enchanted Arms , a Japanese RPG where a special young man is the main character.What is so special about him? He has a "strange" right arm (that's why they chose this specific title for this game, I guess). It's the first JRPG for the Xbox360, so I think I'm going to start playing this right away. Although, it didn't get a splendid score here at GS. But it wouldn't be the first time I like a game ,with a lower GS score, a lot.

The game I got for the PS2 is Suikoden V, again a JRPG, like they're called. Already many, many months ago I read about Suikoden III here at GS and the comments were great but Suikoden III was never released here in Europe. But to my surprise Suikoden IV was. But I saw some gameplay movies and read some comments and they were all very bad, so at that time, I decided to not buy it. And then a few weeks ago I saw Suikoden V in the gameshop. When I came back home I immediately surfed to GS and read the review, the player comments etc. and they were very satisfied about this game, so....I put it on my wish list for Christmas. And now it's here :)

The third and last game I received is Civ IV. Since a few months I really love this genre : turn based strategy(TBS) games. All started with Heroes of Might &Magic III and the demo of HoM&M V. It was  great fun! And now my TBS games library (we should call a games library a "gamerary" :)  ) is still increasing. And I'm glad I received Civ IV now, a TBS game collection isn't complete without a Civ game!! I have many hours ahead playing this game!

Well, these are my Christmas presents for this year and I'm very happy having received them. I hope you all can say the same about yours. But even a greater present can come for me in a month or two, but more about that in a next entry!

In the meantime, have fun and game on!! :)