Tickenest's Journal: Still Alive...

Still alive, still working. So my boss hired me full-time from September to June. Not a huge salary, but it's good to be able to stay here another year.

My brother let me have his PlayStation. That's right, after my time of playing Tecmo Super Bowl over the internet, I HAVE FINALLY ENTERED 1997! He only likes sports games, though. I'm a big, big fan of FIFA '99, but I happened to be at Target with my girlfriend and decided to pick up Dragon Warrior VII and Final Fantasy VIII for about $33 combined. Not a bad deal, I'd say.

So I decided to start with Dragon Warrior VII. This game is quite a mixed bag from what I've seen so far (about 14 hours.) I won't spoil any plot, but I'll discuss some elements of the gameplay. First, the 3D perspective. The problem I have with this is that the characters are all sprites, so it looks a little weird having sprites on pre-rendered 3D backgrounds. You get used to it after a little while, though. Rotating the camera is a must in towns, because you can miss a lot of things that way. I like the treasure-hunting aspect of the towns--there are lots of barrels and pots to throw around to find things in, and lots of drawers and chests. My question, of course, is why does no one get upset when you loot their house and break their things?

The battle mechanics are relatively unchanged from previous games, although it's nice that now you can assign different strategies to different party members (and still control them manually if you want.) This is a welcome change. Gold is in short supply, though. However, I actually enjoy this change, because it forces me to think about equipment decisions instead of just thinking, "I'll fight monsters outside until I have enough money to upgrade everyone's equipment." This also makes finding a nice amount of gold in a chest or barrel that much more rewarding, and the paydays from beating a boss monster that much sweeter.

All in all, I'm enjoying the game very much so far. I guess I'll have more to say about it when I'm farther in.

why not?

[freaq]

...why does no one get upset when you loot their house and break their things?

just two mornings ago i was sipping my morning coffee in the vetibule by my front door when a large, armed stranger came walking down my block and turned up my path, came through my door, threw over my bookshelf and smashed my flower vase and started digging through the shards, muttering 'must find the green talisman', i didn't try to stop him . i took meticulous notes in my head, and i tried not to look perturbed. i mean, that sword looked SHARP . 8}

FF VIII

[Villain]

I would really recommend FF VII over VIII. There's really alot of micromanagment in the latter. Just my 2 cents.

Re:FF VIII

[Tickenest]

Well, I already played FFVII, back when my brother left his PSX at home for a while while he was at school (hey, cool, I used "while" twice in a row and it was ok.) Then a few years later I picked it up for $10 for the PC. So I just figured I'd give VIII a shot and maybe get FFIX if I ever find it. Perhaps when I get a higher-paying job I'll increase my video game investment.