What have I been doing?

[schild]

...since I obviously haven't been reviewing games. Well, I'll tell you. I've been playing them. You see, I went through something of a rebrith with my love for console games over the past few months and haven't really had the will to write something instead of play them. Tis the season and I've certainly been enjoying myself. Here's the sum total of the past two months:

PS2
Digital Devil Saga (again, new one came out on Thursday)
Radiata Stories
Osamu Tezuka's Blood Will Tell
Yoshinoya (Japanese Ramen Restaraunt Sim)
We <3 Katamari
Shadowhearts 2: Covenant
Genji

Xbox
Fahrenheit (the european variant on Indigo Prophecy)
Ninja Gaiden Black
Spartan: Total Warrior
Dynasty Warriors 5
Xmen Legends 2 (well, not really, got bored fast, waiting for PSP version)
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

Gamecube
Hah. Just kidding.

PSP
Virtua Tennis
Starsoldier
Frantix
Death Jr.

DS
Trace Memory
Lost in Blue
Trauma Center: Under the Knife
Lunar: Dragon Song
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Advance Wars 2: Dual Strike
Nanostray

So, I figure it's best to leave this open for discussion. Which ones would you like to see me give a writeup on? Or I can do a brief bit on any or all of them. I figure I've blown through a gauntlet of genres here so there's got to be something interesting to someone else buried in that stack of titles. Fin.

[Cheddar]

I think a brief bit on each would be helpful. 

[Samwise]

I'd like to see something on Fahrenheit.

[voodoolily]

Yoshinoya plzkthx. The only thing better than a Japanese sim is a Japanese food sim. Fuckit, I'll just pick up my own copy.

I'm gonna make real ramen for dinner tonight. With buffalo tenderloin and shitake mushrooms, and lots of ginger and sesame oil.

[Yegolev]

DDS or Radiata.

[Rasix]

DDS or Radiata.

DDS review by.. schild!

[Yegolev]

Oh yeah.  I read that.  Oops.  Now just tell me which, DDS or RS, I should bring home unexpectedly.

[Fabricated]

I'm still looking for a game I wouldn't have to force myself to play.

[schild]

Oh yeah.  I read that.  Oops.  Now just tell me which, DDS or RS, I should bring home unexpectedly.

Well, I'm about to start Digital Devil Saga 2. But uhm, hmm. Radiata Stories is something of a Kingdom Hearts without Disney Characters and like...all of the flaws of Kingdom Hearts fixed. Seeing as I didn't like Kingdom Hearts and I like Radaiata Stories - a lot - it's a touch decision. Digital Devil Saga is Not Easy. It's not hard, but you can do like I did and fuck up your characters stats to hte point that you need to grind for 5 hours before you can beat the game.

[schild]

I'm still looking for a game I wouldn't have to force myself to play.

I think both you and Yegolev should go pick up Shadowhearts 1 & 2. They are the highest caliber RPGs of this generation. Well, maybe not the highest - but fuck if they aren't stellar, I don't know what is (I still like DDS and Radiata a LOT though).

[Yegolev]

Shadow Hearts: Covenant is #2?  Dammit.  Time to put on the Ebay gloves, I guess.

[Fabricated]

I'm still looking for a game I wouldn't have to force myself to play.

I think both you and Yegolev should go pick up Shadowhearts 1 & 2. They are the highest caliber RPGs of this generation. Well, maybe not the highest - but fuck if they aren't stellar, I don't know what is (I still like DDS and Radiata a LOT though).

Maybe...I keep going into Best Buy and EB/Gamestop and I just don't see these interesting releases from the release thread.

[Yegolev]

If it's not Madden or for the X360, it's not at my EB.  That place has gone down the shitter in short order.  They don't even have Ninja Gaiden Black or Forza on the shelf.  Yet there is an entire rack dedicated to UMD movies.  I also suspect that Tit-thong no longer works there.  There is one Fry's in Georgia, but hell if I am driving all that way.  So it's Ebay for my sorry ass.

[Viin]

I noticed that about EB too. I went there looking for a couple of games the other day and, god damn, I couldn't find a single NEW game over a week old. Worthless.

Not everyone wants to buy used copies of UT2004!

[Pococurante]

So we don't need to read too much into it that EB stocks fewer PC games as well.

[schild]

Shadow Hearts: Covenant is #2?  Dammit.  Time to put on the Ebay gloves, I guess.

EB or Gamestop will have #1. It's not hard to find.

[HRose]

Medievil on the PSP.

[Yegolev]

Shadow Hearts: Covenant is #2?  Dammit.  Time to put on the Ebay gloves, I guess.

EB or Gamestop will have #1. It's not hard to find.

Says you.  Georgia, or at least Atlanta-sprawl, is a gaming wasteland.  I also make it harder on myself by avoiding preowned games.  It's in the mail from bahamutgames.com, though.

My EB actually did have Dungeon Siege II in stock, but as expected the PC section is smaller than the GameCube section even when you include all of the MMOG boxes.

[Nija]

You guys need more Fry's over there. When I was hunting for SR2, it took me about 20 minutes to find it. Shelves stacked about 6 ft high and about 50 ft long. On each side of the isle. Filled with everything under the sun. They even had copies of Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Myth 2, 3, and Sacrifice.

[Yegolev]

There is one Fry's in Georgia but I'll be damned if I am going to drive over there.  Looks like they have an online store, though.  I am just going to go entirely mail order.

[edit] outpost.com says I can pre-order SMT:DDS.  Not #2, #1.

[schild]

Gamestop:
Digital Devil Saga 1 - $44.99
Digital Devil Saga 2 - $49.99

Circuit City:
Shadow Hearts 2: Covenant - $19.99

Uh, GamequestDirect?
Shadow Hearts - $29.99

I didn't think any of these would be hard to track down on the net. Yeesh.

[Sky]

I'd ask you to track down goddamned Silent Storm for me, but I got word that the Gold version is coming out in the US this November. So three games to go this year, woot!

Of course, it's been available in Europe for a year or so, goddamned Amazon UK.

[Yegolev]

Ah, schild-san.  I did not properly apply myself to the search, only to the bitching.  I smolder with generic rage.  The first Shadow Hearts is what I have coming in the mail, after I spent about five minutes looking for it yesterday.  It does not quell my thirst for game-retailer blood.  I am thinking about taking a piss in the GameStop this afternoon... not in the bathroom, either.  On the face of the first fucker that offers me some sort of protection plan.

Thanks for looking up stuff for me.  Unnecessary but appreciated.  I will be out of town for a few days and maybe I won't be on the rag when I get back.

I visited GameQuestDirect yesterday but the spider sense went off.

If you are curious, my game-sequence I contructed from your suggestions is: Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Radiata (please dont' suck), and possibly the DDS sequence.  I am going to try to work through Symphonia before then, but for some reason I have lost interest.

[schild]

Tales of Symphonia got boring fast, the characters are flat and terrible.

Gamestop does not have game protection plans. Only EB does.

[Yegolev]

I started liking ToS more when I put all of the combatants on automatic.  If I could do that in SO3, I think I would get more enjoyment out of it as well.  Can't do it in Baten Kaitos but so far the time limit is tolerable.  I think I might be getting tired of the CRPG, but hopefully I am just tired of the shitty CRPG.

I guess I won't be forced to urinate in the GameStop then, will I?

[voodoolily]

Baten Kaitos, aside from its shiny, is a big fat pile of meh. Haven't we had this discussion before? Who the fuck would use a stick of bamboo as food or a weapon? Rotten fruit as a weapon? The evolving nature of the cards is fascinating, but I still found myself using the same 3 characters with the best weapons and thinking how obviously it wanted to be FFX. I didn't play the Kingdom Hearts for the GBA, but Sauced loved it. So it's prolly just a "bad CRPG" thing and not a CRPG thing altogether.