BoG

As much as I love JRPGs, they have pretty silly stories. I'm usually in it more for the characters than anything else. Final Fantasy VIII is dear to my heart, but I have a love/hate relationship with the story. Disc 1 contains some of the best few hours of gaming I've ever experienced. I loved the rivalry between Squall and Seifer. I found Seifer's motivations to be fresh for a JRPG, and very human. When I firs played the game, I easily related with Squall, as both of us had a tough time talking to pretty brunettes. Then disc two waltzes on in, throws in the whole GF making every character forget that they've known each other since childhood and now they've been reunited to save the world and time traveling witches and NORG. It's just awful.

FFIX was good. The game focuses on each character and their individual struggles. I loved the way the game explores existence, with Zidane and Vivi having both been created.

Oh, and I'll throw out a curve ball: Paper Mario 2. Less for the main plot, which is the same as most other Mario games. I loved how each chapter of the game was a fun, self-contained story, each with its own quirks and names for Mario. There was also the subplot where the AI falls in love with Peach. TTYD is a seriously underrated game.

Don't listen to Sweep. Just trust me.

You should play Mother 3. One of the few games that made me tear up.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with Shovel Knight's difficulty. It was challenging, but never to the point of being frustrating. I did feel that the boss fights were fa too easy. Staying with the Mega Man comparison, the series' Robot Masters were, generally, fair. They were difficult, but once you knew the set pattern (or had their weakness in your arsenal) it wasn't too difficult to take them down. I didn't ever feel challenged against Shovel Knight's bosses, as it was simply too easy to take advantage of the game's mechanics (Polar Knight is an exception for me, the floor spikes made him tougher).

Oh, damn you. I was going to post the Solstice theme. It's one of my favorite pieces of NES music, and not one I expected anyone else to share.

Well, since my initial choice is taken, and I don't want to say Mega Man, Castlevania, or anything like that (which everyone already know have great soundtracks), here's one of my childhood favorites, Captain Skyhawk. It's got some great tunes.

I purchased the game, but now I'm trying to decide if I want to play after repeated deaths in the second chapter. I feel the first chapter was a good length. I died a lot, but I knew what I had to do, and the randomness made it fun. Now, in the second chapter, the game has become a chore. More than 40 minutes in, a bad lie resulted in Burden being ripped in half. Every time I start over, I know exactly in what order I'm going to do things, I just need to get lucky in the roulette portion and with my lying. Mindlessly clicking for thirty minutes just to get to a point where a dice roll determines my fate isn't my definition of fun.

Sakurai is the gaming world's greatest troll. What a cruel man.

Have you tried lowering the resolution? This didn't eliminate the problem, but the little snags are far less frequent for me now.

I'm utterly puzzled by the fact that the game has no multiplayer. I'm still waiting to relive my Enemy Territory days. Somebody made the best multiplayer game ever in 2013, and a decade later we still don't have a proper follow up.

It just makes me sad is all. So I'm not buying it.

I received a Bulbasaur and a Squirtle, which were nice surprises. I put them back into wonder trade for someone else, though. My best trade was a Vivillon for a Gengar. I have yet to get some crazy level 50 pokemon.

Once I have a good variety of strong pokemon, I want to put them in and see what I get. Hopefully kids will get over flooding it with Bunnelby.