Kevin's Watch

Been playing the New Super Mario Bros. game on my DS Lite. Feels good to be playing some platforming Mario on a new Nintendo system.

My DS Lite is an awesome little piece of hardware--perhaps the best system I've ever owned. But there's one catch: it has a dead pixel on it. Going to send it into Nintendo for repairs. If there's one dead pixel, they'll replace it with a new one for free. Thank God for that warranty!

Murrin wrote:Started a new game of Final Fantasy VII. Going to try to finish it this time.
(I got bogged down in one place last time and eventually lost interest. In fact, how about someone helps me out there:

Spoiler

I think it was just after the end of disc one, and I was floating in the sea on something - a plane, I think. Ended up on Wutai, where there's this tower you can fight a series of bosses to get to the top. I couldn't win, kept trying but couldn't get any further, and eventually lost interest in the game. Now, what I'd like to know is, where was I supposed to go when I was in the sea? I was too low level for the Wutai bit. I think I went to the wrong place, but there was nothing to tell me where I should have gone.

Spoiler

If I recall, you're supposed to go to the Temple Of The Ancients, which is down to the southwest of the "main" continent. But I think you have to go right round the north, east and south coast to get to it. Also I think you can stop off at the dig site on the north continent and get the Kjata summon materia on the way.

And yes, I'm suitably embarrassed that I can remember all that.

Re-installed Countstrike and Half Life 2.

It's a miracle! I took my DS Lite with the dead pixel over to Circuit City and swapped it out for a new one. Knowing my luck, I fully expected the new DS to have a dead pixel as well. But there was NOTHING. The curse of the dead pixel is, well, dead! Hooray! And to think, I was going to ship the first DS off to Nintendo for repairs. *contented sigh*

Anyway: aside from New Super Mario Bros., I'm also playing Yoshi's Island on my DS. Talk about a flashback of classic side-scrolling action! For me, this is the best system I've ever owned, and I've never been so excited about a line-up of upcoming games. Here's my wishlist:

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Children of Mana
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy VI Advance
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Mother 3
Star Fox Command
Yoshi's Island 2

I suppose the new Zelda for DS and Yoshi's Island 2 has me the most excited. Going to be hard to top the first Yoshi, as that game was quite arguably Nintendo's finest moment in platforming.

Hmm, it's interesting that you're so enraptured by your DS. One of my colleagues bought one, then sold it about ten days later, cursing its name. He loathed it.

Well, I used to be leery of handheld gaming myself, but the old problems of the GameBoy (not enough light to see the game or replacing batteries) have been abolished. There's also the affordability factor; the PC upgrades have been taxing. Speaking of: I'm tired of my uber-complex PC games and need some of Nintendo's old simplicity. I guess the childhood demon in me has been crying for some nostalgia.

Then there's the fact that handhelds are about the only systems that have an audience for limited game designs, like 2D platforming. I can't get my 2D fix on any of the current-gen systems. And then there's versatility. I just can't play a GameCube in the car. Could try, I guess, but I'd spill GameCube juice all over the seat.

Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday Great tactical and strategy game.

Jumping back and forth between FF games - not that I can play any of them at home, for I lack a gaming system....

Just added Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga to my DS/GBA collection. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is on the way, via the mail. Can't wait for my first slice of fantasy turn-based strategy!

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.

Awesome game.

Oldskool game! I remember playing that with James.. or was that ony Hawks 3? I am playing Dragon Quest still.

Happily playing GTA SA. (Sorry Esmer, I got it for...free...so I wasn't going to turn it down. )

Also got Hitman 1 & 2, Diablo II and a few others, so I've got more games than time to play them for a change.

--A

Whee. Now that my PS2 works again, GTA 3 has been getting a work-out. I'm such a fool - I left the ambulance missions until after

Spoiler

I killed Catalina

.

So it is hard.

I could never do the ambulance missions, the hospital was too damn hard to drive in and out of. That did make finishing the game rather challenging.

Gran Turismo 4. I like all the little touches , like the little guys who come and clean your car and change the oil, and the whole thing just feels so much more polished than GT3 did.

Started up a game of Final Fantasy X again. I'll probably give up when I get near to the end, as usual. I want to complete all the sidequests this time... but unfortunately on both times I've played it so far, something goes wrong when I try to get Kihmari's ultimate weapon. It appears not to happen to anyone else, either.

Me and a freidn have both started a new file on Zelda - Ocarina of Time.

I've signed up for a 14 day trial on Eve Online.

This is pretty fun. Not sure if I'll start paying, though... it seems like things could get a bit samey. But there also seems to be a lot more depth to it that I've just got to wait a while for.

I tried out the free trial for EVE. It looked great but I felt it was fatally flawed in that:

a) You don't fly the ship directly. All I want is an MMO version of Elite. Is that asking so much?
b) It appeared to me that all the games best features came once you joined a corporation. Of course, nobody will let you join a corporation while you're on a trial membership, so signing up permenantly requires a leap of faith that I wasn't prepared to make.

I've been playing Cybernator.