I have gotten to the 4D area in Star Ocean but decided to restart the game. I've been trying to get past everything with minimal work. This time I am going to work on building up the characters and tracking down inventors immediately. After figuring out how to skip tons of dialogue, I've been able to make good progress. Boy, I'm glad that they don't force you to read/watch everything again. It is kind of odd to have things like Fayt having a detailed talk with his parents while everyone is getting shot around him. Running first, talking later would be the logical way to go. It could have always been a non-spoken thought.
In Pikmin 2, I've gotten through all of the caves in the first two landing sites. I managed to pay off the debt. The only problem is that I don't have the desire to finish the game now. The objective of getting every treasure seems a little boring. Is there anything cool left? That's it for today.