Loooove Digimon World 4.

Thanks! I liked the spinning gold ring I had as an icon.

Yeah, sometimes it's not worth picking it up launch day. The only reason I do it (sometimes) with Nintendo games is because they never drop in price. But hopefully (and most likely) some good Black Friday deals will be around the corner. Other times it's because I am "so" hyped for the game, like Skyrim or Dark Souls or Skyward Sword.

Oblivion is still a great game. One of my favourites. You won't regret it.

No, she knows about my gaming and stuff. She's okay when I tell her that I want time on X night over the weekend to play something or other, but we usually see each other sometime. It depends on the situation a lot too. She probably relieves me of stress more than videogames, most of the time, because it's good to vent to her or what have you. But she understands that I like/need time for my videogames or to myself in general.

Ah Digimon. I was such a little dork back when that came out. I never got seriously into it, but following the show is still five steps too far into Digimon. :P I also did play one of the games (maybe #2?) on the PS1. I remember thinking it was okay, and if I thought that back then when I was a young fan of the series, I'm sure a more objective view now would obliterate it. :P

I'm actually impressed by MW3's launch figures. Best first day sales of any form of entertainment, other than books, because it certainly didn't outsell Harry Potter on day one. Deathly Hollows sold 11 million its first day, which is nearly double MW3's 6.5 million.

I'm also really impressed by SMG2's amount of content. There's only a couple stars per galaxy, but there are so many different galaxies, and the amount of them that provide edge-of-your-seat fun is staggering. I had always been so skeptical when many sites said this was better than SMG1, but I am seriously starting to see why they said that. I'll have to give it some to mull over, but I may agree. It's an amazing game, and I don't say that lightly. I already beat it, but now I'm going after all the stars, which is actually what I had already been doing. :P

It's too bad you're missing Zelda. If you're not a huge Zelda fan, I understand, but several sites have said it trumps Ocarina of Time as best Zelda game ever. I got Skyrim today! Guess how many hours I put into it! Did you guess zero? You're right! I seriously wish I could have played it today, but I was really close to (what I thought was) the completion of SMG2, so I just decided to finish it, or so I thought. But after I "finished" it, I decided I would go play Skyrim, only to, literally as I'm taking the disc out, have a big discussion/problem with my girlfriend who calls. Now, don't get me wrong, I have my priorities and stand by my decision and would do it again, but I do wish I could had some time to at least create my character or something. Sorry, had to nerd vent.

You're right, I've been too busy to replace it. I'll get a new one after work.

"Nope!" to pretty much all the questions. I don't think the second-player interaction is strong enough to hold her, and I personally wouldn't want to do what that second player does. Playing it all by myself and loving it. I loved the first game a lot, and this one is in many ways impressing me even more. I'm flabbergasted. I'll still be trying to beat U2 before Skyrim releases this Friday, but I give myself the entire month to beat SMG2.

Also nope to getting MW3. Not much of a "war shooter" guy. I think the only one I own is BF: BC2, which was quite good in many ways, but I doubt I'll get BF3 or anything else in that sub-genre.

Ah yes, Bulletproof should be rather horrible. You're a rap fan?

It's my favourite so far for the year, but again, I still expect it to be beaten by Skyrim or Skyward Sword.

Yeah, if you include Uncharted 3, which arrives tomorrow, I'm up to 11! I know it's crazy, but thanks to Amazon's buy 2, get 1 free deal this weak, on average, I've not paid more than $30 for a single game (most of which cost me $20). I only got Heavy Rain today because a friend of mine gave me a GameStop giftcard of $30 today for my birthday (which was over a week ago), and the only PS3 game I wanted that was similar in price at Amazon and GameStop was Heavy Rain, which cost $28 on Amazon and $30 at GS. I think I'll really enjoy it. I love great narratives.

That's kind of bad, though at the same time, it's still always nice to check off a game from your list. I think something similar has happened to me before and I just nulled the game. I understand why you marked "complete" though. I don't really stick hard-and-fast to backloggery's guidelines for the terms, but I think we've spoken about this before.

How long has each mission taken you?

Yes I have pre-ordered Skyward Sword! The Motion Plus bundle, actually, because I think the Zelda-styled Wiimote is really nifty. I've read many previews for this game, and apparently the new control scheme works really, really well. The control scheme, coupled with many other gameplay changes have caused previewers to say that it's amazing how much life has been added to the series. IGN said something along the lines of how the new format gives a similar sense of discovery to SS that OoT had when it came out. Edge Magazine already reviewed it, and they gave it a 10, making it their 13th 10 since inception (they only go by intervals of 1 and if you look them up, can see that they are quite harsh, and are known to be). I think it has the potential to be my and many other legit websites' GOTY. I would pre-order it, but only if you plan to play it when you get it. If it's going to be a while before you have the chance to play a game, just wait until a drop in price. It isn't very logical to buy something you won't/can't use if it'll be cheaper later and you will/can use it later.

Well its not that BF3's campaign is bad...its that its every other FPS game's campaign.

I'm sort of used to dying a lot in online, it's pretty common in Battlefield games, especially when you arent in a vehicle.

No, there are no guilds. There are covenants, which slightly alter the gameplay, but not significantly so. There are different classes, and they each have their own pro and con, but the game is more weapon and armor-based than stat based, though stats obviously do matter. You start out in a class, and in the tutorial area you'll find your class specific equipment and weapons. I recommend Pyromancer, but that's just me. And many others.

[Link] Very interesting. I've never been one to think anything was geeky unless you wore a costume for no other reason than you so wanted to escape reality. I'm okay with escapism, to a degree. I don't mind table-top players or anything else, in fact I could easily see myself be a part of something like that if I wasn't so busy, but don't do it just to avoid real life, and don't do it so much you forget your real life.

Yeah, I haven't played pretty much anything. I only play FFIII when I go to the bathroom. Literally, my DS just sits in the bathroom. It's fine. Certainly not one of the better FFs. I've just been so busy studying so much, I have four exams in the next two weeks, one of which is not class-related but is this Saturday and is an eight hour one that basically decides whether or not I'll ever be hired as an engineer. I think I'll be fine, I've put in a lot of studying effort, but who knows?

Speaking of PS3s, I bought one! You may have noticed that when you saw the recent PS3 game sI added to my collection. I've been mulling it over for the last month and with Uncharted 3's critical success, I decided to just sit down and find every PS3-exclusive game (both retail and on PSN) that would interest me, list them, and see if there's enough to justify the purchase, as well as the exclusive games on the horizon, like the Studio Ghibli/Level-5 RPG coming out, and The Last Guardian. SO yeah, I bought the U3 bundle, and it arrives from Amazon next week Tuesday. Meanwhile I already have some PS3 games I can't play. :P

Hope grading doesn't bog you down too much! I hope your job is making you happy. Ever since I started majoring in engineering, I've always wanted to teach a math class some day. Math is my forte, and I love talking about it, and seeing people get excited over it. I could see me doing it after I retire or something. Whew! Long post!

Ha ha, yeah just wanted to get in the spooky mood. Eternal Darkness maybe aged a bit worse than I expected, but was still a terrific run.

Well, I started playing with Frontier. I think it's better than that so far (Frontier had really bad pacing, and Runeys were a really annoying mechanic). Unfortunately ToD takes out all of the farm maintenance mechanics (you plant, employ monsters to tend, then harvest). You can't even determine what kind of plant it's going to become, since you don't buy seeds.

I think the intent was to take some of the cruft out of the game, though, so despite my initial dislike for the change I think it will end up being better for it. Combat's improved, and there's the new island-searching stuff which I thought would be boring but hasn't ended up being too bad. It all feels pretty fast-paced even though they're introducing the mechanics gradually (or not at all - for forging, pharmacy-work, and accessory making, you just have to explore the town until you find the facilities).

So far I'd say it's better than 2 and Frontier, but worse than 3. There are hints that it might include 3's "invite-townspeople-to-dungeons" mechanic which I really enjoyed, but I haven't looked into it in any more detail.

Well I beat Dark Souls in less than two weeks. Where did I find the time, I have no idea. You are probably going to ask for my final time clocked-in upon beating it and it was about 73 hours. It's a really great game. It's certainly not without its flaws, and while I'm not sure if it's been the best game released this year, it's certainly been my favourite (though Skyrim or Skyward Sword are the two other titles really gunning for that spot). I've never played Demon's Souls, so I can't compare the two. I'm sure the large world is a step-up from just having "levels."

What you said made sense. It sounds like you really didn't enjoy Pirates that much, but that's okay. I hope Vampire Apocalypse starts to pick up. It's always hard to comment on those sort of games because I've never played them, and I have no real desire to.

The Wii is region locked, yes. It is easily modded, without danger to the system, however. You don't even need any games to do it now.

Ya it was and I Have like 1000 atari games I just do not want to add them

Thanks!

Haven't done much DQing as of late, but I'll be getting back into it soon enough.

OMYGOD ITS ATARI!!!!!!!!!!!

As for why Pirates is a horror game, there are skeletons and pirates, right? Those things can be scary... I guess...

I was actually never a big fan of the PoP games. I rented the first one when I was younger (Sands of Time?), and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't spectacular, IMO. I also don't think I ever got into Tomb Raider much either. I really dug Uncharted when I beat the first one and began the 2nd one. Those seem good.

I've been eagerly awaiting for Dark Souls for the past two months. It's as hard as you hear it is. But considering what you told me about The Legend of Alon D'ar (IIRC), you probably have the patience. I would reply more but I have to go. I'll digress further another time.

School is going okay. I had time today to beat Kirby's Epic Yarn with my girlfriend because my Saturday review class got canceled. I have a 5-week review class each Saturday, three of which have the Saturday session last from 8 AM to 5:30 PM, with an hour break for lunch (the other two simply start at 8 and end at noon). Luckily, the professor who would be teaching today's lecture had to go out of town, so it's being videotaped and I'll be able to watch it on my own free time. Which is good, because the one 9.5 hour one done so far was brutal. This all sounds paltry compared to your schedule though. It's good you're so involved though. Do you teach at a high school? If so, do you teach a specific subject? I feel I may have asked you this before, but I couldn't find so in my dialogue box, but if I have I apologize.

As for gaming and time, I have three tests in the next two weeks, and so I made a commitment two days ago that, other than Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby Mass Attack, I would not play any other games until my last test is done, which is the day before Dark Souls releases, which is convenient because I want that game so much and would have a hard time resisting it that first week. Beat Epic Yarn today and my girlfriend and I were sad to see it done. It's really a surprisingly fantastic game. The level of detail in that game is staggering. It's become one of my favourite Wii games.

The banner was made with ten heroes back when there were going to be ten main series Dragon Quest games, but just recently Square Enix announced that the tenth game in the series was going to be Dragon Quest Online, and I don't play MMORPGs, so it's scratched.

I definitely recommend Rock Band 3. It's the best game in the series besides The Beatles: Rock Band, mainly because of the goals, song progress stats, nicely integrated leaderboards and song ratings, vocal harmonies, etc.

Yeah, I've been deprived of sleep sometimes too. Sometimes it's too consistent and you just have to put everything else on hold and get yourself a full eight hours. Sorry that you don't have as much time lately. I do know the feeling. The girlfriend is eating up more time than I probably should be letting her. :P But you know, she's definitely most important to me, so I'm glad to keep her happy. And we play some Kirby's Epic Yarn together at least once a week. She really enjoys it (Who wouldn't? It's adorable).

Yeah, sometimes simple mechanics can become addicting. I can't think of any right now because I just woke up at 5 AM my time as of this post, but I know what you mean and I know I've had similar experiences.

The fall does look really good. I have a lot of pre-orders. I usually don't pre-order, but as you may know, Nintendo almost never lowers their price for games. So I've got Kirby Mass Attack, Super Mario 3D Land, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Skyward Sword, and Mario Kart 7 all reserved. The only non-Nintendo games I've got reserved are Gears of War 3 (because I got it for $40), Dark Souls (because I really wanted to play Demon's Souls and it comes standard as the collector's edition upon pre-ordering), and Skyrim (because it's my most anticipated game of the fall, and sequel to one of my favourite games of all time).

What are you particularly anticipating? If I had a PS3, I'd definitely be hot-heeled for Uncharted 3.