5 posts tagged “obsession”

In Memoriam Some Video Games

May 21, 2009
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I got realistic and changed the status of quite a few games in my Gamepedia database. It's sad, but with the limited amount of time I have anymore, I need to prioritize more dispassionately.

Status was “stalled”; is now “gave up”:

Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia
Atelier Marie, Elie, & Anis ~そよ風からの伝言~
Phantom Brave
Piaキャロットへようこそ
SIMPLE2000シリーズ Vol.81 THE 地球防衛軍2
Xenosaga I・II
イリスのアトリエグランファンタズム
サクラ大戦物語～ミステリアス巴里～
ファイアーエムブレム封印の剣

Status was “queued”; is now “no plans”:

新世紀エヴァンゲリオン綾波育成計画
VM JAPAN
セガガガ
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~アバタール・チューナー~
フロントミッションザ・ファースト
リーズのアトリエ ~オルドールの錬金術士~(通常版)
同窓会2 ～again&refrain～

Goodbye, games. It was fun spending years and years thinking I'd ever play you. I still have an intense aversion to getting rid of games, so I suppose there's still some hope that I'll pick you up off the shelf someday.

Sleepless

Dec 2, 2008
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I slept terribly last night; I woke often and, when I could sleep, I had anxiety dreams. But somehow I was energetic and productive all day today, and now I'm up again tonight, unable to sleep. I keep going over in my head how I'll probably want to get Persona 2 罪, 3, and 4, and all the artbooks. But I should wait until I'm in Japan to get the best prices and so that I'll have something to hunt for on my game shopping ventures. But I want to take advantage of my pre-Japan bacheloric winter break and get through games.

And if I really want to save money, and support the terrific Atlus USA, I should buy the English versions (of P3 and P4, anyway): Persona 3 FES can be had for $25, and STOP THE PRESSES okay, all along I was assuming that, like in NISA games, there would be an option to listen to the original Japanese voices. But, there isn't. Comments online claim that the English voice actors actually do a fine job, but I'm not sure I could go straight from complete immersion in original Japanese SMT games to completely localized ones. Holy smokes, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever played an RPG that was fully voiced in English: they all were before games had full voice acting, were original Japanese versions, or were localized versions with the Japanese voices available. The closest I've come is Fatal Frame 1 & 2.

Aye, I don't think I could pass up the original voices, especially when they include such all-time favorites of mine as Sawashiro Miyuki (Chroche-sama of Ar tonelico 2), Maeda Ai (Shion Uzuki of Xenosaga), and whoa, Sakamoto Maaya herself (Hitomi of Escaflowne and singer of many a fantastic song).

So... Time to scour eBay for imported copies of Persona 3 FES, I suppose.

Eternal Punishment

Nov 13, 2008
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I've been intrigued by the Megami Tensei series (intensely informative history at HG101) ever since SMT3 appeared on the huge swag bags at Tokyo Game Show 2002. I found Persona 2: Eternal Punishment in the huge box of Japanese video games my friend Andy sent me in 2003, and I have also picked up Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga on my Shinjuku game shopping ventures. Some of my most trusted sources of gaming recommendations, Richmond Scott and Sendai Tom, have strongly recommended SMT games to me. But I have yet to get very deep into any of these games yet.

Lately I finished Etrian Odyssey, and I was ready for a similarly technical but more story-intensive, more mature, more geekoutable adventure. With Persona 3: FES available for cheap these days, and Persona 4 still pretty fresh, I thought that it was a perfect time to finally start in on Persona 2. My upcoming bacheloric geeking out period, between the time the lady goes to Japan and the time when I go to meet her, will grant me lots of game playing time. I intend to spend lots of time with Nathaniel at Ann & Jules's house, playing games and watching Star Trek and eating delicious snacks.

Sometimes I get worried that playing old games when there are so many exciting new games coming out is somehow not the best use of my leisure time. Playing new games adds the enjoyment of discussing the game with others who are playing around the same time as me, being relevant when I post about my experiences, and generally feeling like part of a fan community.

But just yesterday I brought my Japanese PS2 home from the office with the intention of starting Persona 2, and then today I got the email announcement from Atlus USA that they're reprinting the English localization of that very game! This instantly lent currency and weight to my playing of the game; now thousands of people will be playing or replaying that game in anticipation of Persona 4, at the same time as me. Atlus keeps bringing over games that never would have been considered a decade ago; they keep producing careful, gratifying localizations; they keep encouraging and enriching the fan community; and now they even revive classic but overlooked games just for the fun of it. What a terrific company.

Shelf 3 again

Oct 17, 2008
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I did a bunch more work on my web media catalog today. So far, the books and games lists have been done in this new system.

http://jetfuel.metalbat.com/shelf/

iSnoop package tracking

Jan 30, 2008
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Whoa, I just found a really neat universal package tracking app which:

Uses Google Maps to show the progress of your package around the planet
Offers RSS for keeping track of your package
Seems to have more data about my package than the official FedEx site (!?)
Turns out to have been made by the same guy who made MacSaber, the icon for which was created by my friend Stefan.

Isnoop

In Memoriam Some Video Games

Sleepless

Eternal Punishment

Shelf 3 again

iSnoop package tracking

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