Lee Babin
This month has seen a total decline on the portable front for me. While I had a total blast with Metal Gear Ac!d, it has somewhat spoiled me for any other portable games. I have tried, with no success, to play through Harvest Moon - Friends of Mineral Town and Megaman Battle Network. Neither of them gripped me the way that MGA did and I truly am starting to believe that I am becoming a graphics whore; even on the portable front. I totally realize that graphics are not everything and I am truly excited about the upcoming releases of Advance Wars DS and Animal Crossing DS; both of which I have no doubt will own me for months to come.
My experience on the front of rooted consoles (IE: my PS2, GCN and XBOX) has a pile of games just waiting for me to finish. Arc the Lad - End of Darkness, Ys VI, Makai Kingdom, Jade Empire and ICO were, up until this weekend, waiting on my shelf begging to be played. The source of the gaming bottle neck? Why, Xenosaga II of course!
I find it strange that, while my favorite game of all time is Xenogears, the Xenosaga series is failing to grip me in the way I had assumed it would. The first one wasn't bad, I actually quite enjoyed it. The second one, however, despite having one of the finest and most intriguing storylines I have recently witnessed, drove me completely, utterly and hopelessly insane. Perhaps it is the ridiculously difficult boss battles, or the way that a random enemy encounter can slaughter you out of nowhere. Or perhaps it is the annoying load times that continually plague the already freakishly boring mini-games. Either way, the final dungeon for Xenosaga II had me stumped at a stand still.
It was after my third "game over" screen that I considered dumping Xenosaga II and moving on to greener pastures. However, my stubborn will to finish games whose final boss beats the crap out of me showed itself in its most desperate hour. After all, I had defeated Arc the Lad 2, Tsugunai, Saiyuki and Phantom Brave; this final stretch could not be harder than those, could it? I once again pressed through and managed (barely) to take down the game and enjoy the sweet thrill of success (and a very fine ending I might add).
In any case, I have now proceeded to become totally, utterly and completely addicted to Makai Kingdom. I can feel the same evil tinge of addiction I last remember from games like Disgaea and Phantasy Star Online; the desire to do whatever it takes to get in even one more hour of play time. The concept of power leveling and micro-managing my army of troops is almost too fun for words. I am currently rooted in the beginning of Chapter 3 as I transmigrate my legion of warriors so that they may become as powerful as possible.
Well, another month, another game. I hope to be back on the portable front as of next month and will absolutely be picking up Advance Wars DS, no matter how much the wife protests. Until next time, I must get back to my daily "hit" of Makai Kingdom.
